Today there weren’t many people who came, but the good thing was that at last a newcomer dropped by again. From our initial contact, judging by things like his motivation for study, academic background, interests, and personality, he belongs to the type I look favorably upon. I hope you’ll continue to take part in my salon or other activities next semester.
As for the specific conversation, it mainly included my asking about his situation, and my restating some of my own basic ideas, introducing a bit about philosophy of technology, as well as talking about philosophy department courses and other casual chatter. I won’t go into that further here.
As for next semester’s salon plans, aside from the short presentation activities mentioned last week, I still intend to organize things like reading groups. And as for what to read, I personally am not inclined to gnaw through the likes of The Critique of Pure Reason and other classic bricks. Perhaps once this ship has settled on three or five fixed sailors in the future, we can tackle those classics together; but as for a reading approach suited to the present state, perhaps some relatively more popular books would be more appropriate. What I first mentioned was The Structure of Scientific Revolutions; however, now that I consider that my salon will more likely be aimed at the younger undergraduate students in the philosophy department rather than graduate students in philosophy of technology, then although The Structure is also worth reading, it is not especially a priority. Before that, it would be better to first take a look at history of science. Given that next semester I will be serving as a teaching assistant for Wu’s course on the general history of science, I’ll be skimming history of science once again anyway, so I might as well use the opportunity to read a few books on history of science. Some of them can simply be the recommended readings provided by Wu. These books on history of science are generally quite accessible; in other words, they can be read without any particularly special background in science or philosophy, and at the same time they have plenty of room for extension and excavation, allowing one to connect them with questions in the history of philosophy, history of religion, history of civilization, and so on. They should be quite suitable for reading in my salon. Especially those friends who will be taking the general history of science course next semester are lucky~; no matter how much they gain in Wu’s class, taking the chance to read a few books and participate in some discussion will always be beneficial. Depending on the pace, over the course of the whole semester we could read three or five books, or even more. There’s no requirement to read them in great depth; it’s enough just to get a feel for them. Then everyone can put together and exchange the various bits of insight gained from different perspectives and backgrounds, and perhaps inspire one another, multiplying the gains.
In addition, aside from reading books, we can also choose some short articles to read. This kind of activity can be done impromptu—someone brings along an article they themselves think is interesting and worth discussing (preferably with a few photocopied copies). It could be a paper, a lecture transcript, an excerpt from a book; the author could be a major figure like Kant, or it could even be your own work. At most it shouldn’t exceed ten-odd thousand characters, so that the other students present can quickly read it through on the spot and then discuss it impromptu. I think this relaxed, casual way is more in keeping with the style of this salon than grinding through big bricks in a solemn fashion, yet it also doesn’t sink into empty talk.
Of course, all of this is for next semester. During the summer vacation I won’t be heading back anytime soon, and the salon will continue at least until early July. But around July 22 I will definitely have to go back, so the salon will probably stop for one or two sessions, perhaps more; please pay attention to the blog or the campus site. The time and place of next semester’s salon may also be adjusted, so let’s discuss the specifics in August.
Today’s presence here: dr/lca
Possible topic next time: coming to New Island to study on your own would also be fine。。。
Translated from the Chinese original with AI assistance. The original text is authoritative.
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