Year: 2009

What, Exactly, Is the Scientific Revolution?

History of Science & Scholarship2009.01.13
What, Exactly, Is the Scientific Revolution?
This semester has finally ended~~ The topic of this essay does not particularly satisfy me. What on earth is the Scientific Revolution? — A critique of Shapin’s “No Scientific Revolution” claim “The Scientific Revolution”—referring specifically to that stretch of history around the seventeenth century, “from Copernicus to Newton”—has been the greatest focus of history of science research since Koyré, and the literature commenting on this “Scientific Revolution” from different perspectives and lines of inquiry is so abundant as to be immeasurable. Yet in the opening of his famous book The Scientific Revolution, Steven Shapin drops a bombshell: “There was no Scientific Revolution, and this book is about that.”[1] So, how…
book reading science book review Scientific Revolution
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2009年1月13日
How Is Scientific Realism Possible?

History of Science & Scholarship2009.01.10
How Is Scientific Realism Possible?
Although every paper I write leaves me feeling revolted and miserable, it has been a long time since a paper made me this uncomfortable. After finishing it, I barely even read through it once before hastily printing it out and rushing to school to hand it in. The process of composing this paper was especially unpleasant too—I did read a lot of books: Quine, Dummett, Goodman, Putnam… all sorts of textbooks and handbooks on philosophy of science, metaphysics, epistemology… of course, all in Chinese translation. You ask why I still didn’t look for English materials? First, there wasn’t enough time; second, I really didn’t want to read them. I found…
history of science philosophy of science paper truth
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2009年1月10日
On My Research Plan for the Next Few Years—Coursework for Reading and Writing

Life & Notes2009.01.07
On My Research Plan for the Next Few Years—Coursework for Reading and Writing
In academic matters, I am not used to setting plans or goals for myself. That does not mean I am a person who drifts with the tide; on the contrary, at any given moment I have a clear understanding of the road beneath my feet, and I will decisively take the next step, but I am not attached to some distant goal that has not yet entered my field of vision. Up to now, the path of my growth, seen in detail, has seemed as though every step were natural and continuous, yet taken as a whole it appears unexpectedly—although looking back now one can hardly find any obvious break…
philosophy everyday life phenomenology Wu Guosheng
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2009年1月7日
Philosophy and Nudity

Philosophy & Thought2009.01.06
Philosophy and Nudity
Heaven knows why, amid the pressure of several entirely muddled papers, I still have the mind to write so many essays. But there’s nothing to be done: when you need to let it out, holding it in is miserable. Once I finish this one, this round of catharsis can come to an end. That is to say, from “From Fisherman to Pirate” on to this piece, one could say that a series has taken shape, and that it can be understood as the final complaints before setting sail. From here on out…… whew—anyway, I’m no longer sitting and waiting in the palace. This piece has been given a rather eye-catching…
philosophy China phenomenology pursuit
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2009年1月6日
Why Do You Read or Not Read My Articles?

Site Matters2009.01.04
Why Do You Read or Not Read My Articles?
Those who do not read my blog out of contempt or disdain are people I respect quite a lot. Indeed, there are so many things worth reading, in China and abroad, past and present, that one lifetime would not be enough to get through them all—so why insist on reading my blog? Although I believe that one day my writing may well become a classic, it is certainly not now. So the people who look down on me are right. If my blog is worth reading right now, that is only on the basis of the following fact—I am alive! And I am right here within your reach, opening my…
philosophy philosophy of science blog website
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2009年1月4日
Preliminary Completion of Keyword Addition Work

Site Matters2009.01.03
Preliminary Completion of Keyword Addition Work
I only added them roughly from memory, and the categorization is pretty chaotic as well (I’ve never been good at writing keywords), so this is about as far as I can go…… Some of the keyword arrangements may seem unreasonable, but there was a rationale behind them on my part; other keywords may also seem unreasonable, but in fact I simply typed them wrong myself…… It seems that, overall, they’re not of much use anyway…… In short…… readers, make of it what you will…… Anyway, there aren’t really any readers…… January 3, 2009 Latest Comments mist 2009-01-04 11:32:55 Anonymous 124.205.78.223 You said it。。。 anyway, there aren’t any readers。。。 Add this…
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2009年1月3日
This Episode’s Music: Handel: The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba

Life & Notes2009.01.01
This Episode’s Music: Handel: The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba
http://www.musicec.com/videmo/1442/BK_Handel_The_Arrival_of_the_Queen_of_Sheba.mp3 New year, new atmosphere; looking ahead to a new era, I had originally wanted to find a piece of New Age music to suit the occasion, but as luck would have it I couldn’t find one appropriate, so I’ll just turn to a classical piece instead—but in fact, in all sorts of ways, it suits my present mood rather well. The anecdote of the Queen of Sheba probably goes something like this: the Queen of Sheba heard that King Solomon was quite something, so she traveled a long way bearing spices and jewels to meet him, and posed him many difficult questions to test him…… ……the rest doesn’t matter;…
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2009年1月1日
There Are No Experts in Philosophy

Philosophy & Thought2009.01.01
There Are No Experts in Philosophy
I said very early on—sophomore year, maybe freshman year?—something like, “I don’t want to be an expert; I want only to be a master.” At first it was just something said privately among friends, but then it spread, and so I could only regard it as public speech. Of course I have always been able to stand behind that sentence. It is based on how I situated myself and on my understanding of philosophy. Over these years I have, I think, come to understand philosophy more deeply, and so now I can offer some more penetrating interpretation of what I said back then. First, we need to ask: what exactly…
philosophy culture scholarship experts
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2009年1月1日