Year: 2008

Talking Again About Guo Degang

Culture & Public Commentary2008.01.12
Talking Again About Guo Degang
It was nearly two years ago that I wrote an essay called “Also on Guo Degang.” At the time, I was responding to an article by ZW; astonishingly, he actually looked down on Guo Degang. I had only listened to a few short audio clips then, so I mainly said a few words from the angle of “tradition,” arguing that Guo Degang had certainly contributed to the development of crosstalk. But recently, on the advice of an older fellow student, I learned that Guo Degang’s crosstalk really has to be watched on video; only then did I go back and find a lot of videos to watch again. Ah, OMG,…
culture commentary tradition art
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2008年1月12日
Impressions and Notes on Heidegger and Schopenhauer

Philosophy & Thought2008.01.11
Impressions and Notes on Heidegger and Schopenhauer
This semester I only took these two courses: Heidegger’s *Being and Time* and Schopenhauer’s *The World as Will and Representation*. The day before yesterday I finally finished my paper on schedule, so this semester can be counted as a complete success. I still didn’t take these two courses very seriously; I skipped more than half the classes, and I only finished both books at the very last minute. But since the teacher for the Heidegger course was only giving rather general, introductory explanations, and the Schopenhauer course was even more centered on student presentations, skipping class didn’t really matter. At least I seized the opportunity to grit my teeth and…
book reading notes Heidegger phenomenology
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2008年1月11日
Inner Sense, Outer Sense, Time, Space…

Philosophy & Thought2008.01.11
Inner Sense, Outer Sense, Time, Space…
Since Kant introduced the notion of “inner sense” and assigned time to inner sense, it has seemed self-evident that time corresponds to inner sense and space to outer sense. And the idea that time is more fundamental than space—because while time can still be grounded when cut off from all outer sense, space without time has nowhere to stand—has also seemed to follow naturally. But what, exactly, is “inner sense”? What sort of sense is that, really? If the so-called “intuition” of the sixth sense is still some kind of outer sense, then could this be the legendary seventh sense? Thinking of Saint Seiya, just joking~ What I want to…
philosophy Kant space time
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2008年1月11日
A Tentative Discussion of Schopenhauer’s Spirit of Rationalism

History of Science & Scholarship2008.01.10
A Tentative Discussion of Schopenhauer’s Spirit of Rationalism
The epigraph to the first part of *The World as Will and Representation* quotes Rousseau: “Step out of childhood, my friend, awaken!” What did Schopenhauer want to express by this line? We might as well compare it with a fable he wrote late in life: “A mother, with the hope of educating and cultivating her children’s minds, lets them read Aesop’s fables; but they soon send the book back, and the eldest, precocious child says: this is not the sort of book we read; it is too childish, too silly; you cannot make us believe that foxes and wolves can talk, and we shall read nothing of the kind again!…
phenomenology Kant knowledge paper
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2008年1月10日
The Path to “Authenticity”—On the Intent of Being and Time

History of Science & Scholarship2008.01.10
The Path to “Authenticity”—On the Intent of Being and Time
Please choose one of the following topics; of course, you may also write more than one essay, but there will be no extra credit~ 1. Discuss the relation between “authenticity” and inauthenticity in *Being and Time*. 2. Briefly explain the intellectual intention of *Being and Time*, and give your evaluation. (From the description of Dasein itself to the description of Being) 3. Choose your own topic. This is not recommended; unless it is especially well written, it is hard to get a high score. Requirements: 1. Stay close to the text; only with paraphrase can there be evaluation. 2. No fewer than 5,000 characters. The Road Toward “Authenticity” ——On the…
philosophy Heidegger pursuit paper
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2008年1月10日
This Issue’s Music: Elisha’s Smile — from Chuck Brown’s Deep Breath

Life & Notes2008.01.09
This Issue’s Music: Elisha’s Smile — from Chuck Brown’s Deep Breath
http://www.bioice.net/~92230001/music/1.mp3 Alicia’s Smile – from Chuck Brown’s *Breathe* Give Us a Smile, Alicia From Chuck Brown "Breathe" New-age minimalist aesthetics, immaculate and unadorned piano tones For a long time I’ve been listening to classical music and Bach, so it’s time to change things up a bit. Let’s listen to some minimalist new-age music. Coincidentally, the first track I opened in *Heat Is On* was already quite “pure” (*Pure* — from Chuck Brown’s *Pure*), but I couldn’t find it on Baidu, so I posted another piece by the same person instead. Too lazy to go looking any further; anyway, this one is not bad either~ Of course, when it comes to…
everyday life music
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2008年1月9日
The 7th Beijing Forum on Philosophy of Technology and the 48th Lecture of the Peking University Forum on History and Philosophy of Science and Technology

Philosophy & Thought2008.01.09
The 7th Beijing Forum on Philosophy of Technology and the 48th Lecture of the Peking University Forum on History and Philosophy of Science and Technology
The 7th Beijing Forum on Philosophy of Technology and the 48th Lecture of the Peking University Forum on History and Philosophy of Science and Technology (January 8, 2008) Time: Tuesday, January 8, 2008, 9:30–11:30 a.m. Venue: Academic Lecture Hall, Center for Social Sciences, Chengze Garden Speaker: Deng Bo (Professor, School of Humanities, Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology) Topic: The Architect’s Original Ethical Responsibility Commentator: Wu Guosheng I listened to the recording. But listening to a recording really feels so much worse than listening in person; after listening, I found that it was hard to write a report like the ones I had written for the previous few sessions, so…
philosophy Heidegger Wu Guosheng
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2008年1月9日
On “Tian Song: Why Does a Human Animal Drink the Milk of a Cow Animal?”

Culture & Public Commentary2008.01.08
On “Tian Song: Why Does a Human Animal Drink the Milk of a Cow Animal?”
http://hps.phil.pku.edu.cn/bbs/read.php?tid=269 A recent series of remarks of mine was prompted, in origin, first by a dialogue with “folk science” enthusiasts, and second by a discussion with Teacher Tian. Although Teacher Tian’s serial has not yet reached its conclusion, my response has long since come to an end. I’ll post it here for the record. (No need to indicate which words are mine, I suppose.) Tian Song: Why Does Such an Animal as Human Need to Drink the Milk of Such an Animal as Cow? (Serialized Essay) Why Does Such an Animal as Human Need to Drink the Milk of Such an Animal as Cow? (Part 1): Beyond Scientific Grounds (2498…
culture Tian Song anthropology
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2008年1月8日
Relativism and Absolutism Are Birds of a Feather

Philosophy & Thought2008.01.07
Relativism and Absolutism Are Birds of a Feather
Some people fly the banners of relativism and postmodernism, claiming to oppose absolutism and universalism; in fact, they are unconsciously poisoned by absolutism, and at bottom they are nothing more than a further development of absolutism itself. Relativists will say one moment, “There is no absolute, universal, singular standard,” and then a moment later, either bluntly or obliquely, they say: “There is no standard”; one moment, “There is no interpretation beyond context,” and then a moment later, “interpretation is nothing but telling stories”; one moment, “Every argument has its limits,” and then a moment later they can, with righteous assurance and in complete ignorance of those limits, use their own…
philosophy scholarship Kant modernity
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2008年1月7日
On “Feyerabend Quotations 3 and 4” (Prescribing Remedies for the Age and Traditional Chinese Medicine, Etc.)

History of Science & Scholarship2008.01.05
On “Feyerabend Quotations 3 and 4” (Prescribing Remedies for the Age and Traditional Chinese Medicine, Etc.)
http://hps.phil.pku.edu.cn/bbs/read.php?tid=335 http://hps.phil.pku.edu.cn/bbs/read.php?tid=336 XinZhaiLaoJiang Feyerabend Quotations 3 “I did not say that epistemology should become anarchist, or that philosophy of science should become anarchist. I said that these two disciplines should accept anarchism as a medicine. Epistemology is sick now and must be treated, and the medicine is anarchism. Medicine is not something people have to take all the time. People take medicine only during a certain period, and then stop.” Science in a Free Society: P139-140 [楼主] | Posted: 2008-01-24 01:01 GuChen This kind of “medicine” is too fierce and stimulating; it is not in keeping with the Chinese medicine way of nourishing life and regulating and supplementing the body~~…
philosophy science freedom politics
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2008年1月5日