Year: 2017

Comments on the 2nd Tsinghua Forum on the History and Philosophy of Science

History of Science & Scholarship2017.12.15
Comments on the 2nd Tsinghua Forum on the History and Philosophy of Science
The 2nd Tsinghua Forum on the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology was held on December 10, 2017. This year’s forum was somewhat smaller in scale than the first one, but it marked the point at which the forum entered a regular pattern; even if it were held just once a year as a summary report meeting mainly for the disciples of the Wu school, that would already be quite good. After the meeting, Teacher Wu asked me to write a review, but I spent the first day preparing classes, the second day teaching classes, and the third day came down with a cold; I am still in a…
history of science philosophy of science Wu Guosheng Greece
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2017年12月15日
Selected Readings in Philosophy of Science: “Scientific Realism and the Plasticity of the Mind” (Post-Lecture Notes by the Lecturer, by Jalinus)

Teaching & Courses2017.12.11
Selected Readings in Philosophy of Science: “Scientific Realism and the Plasticity of the Mind” (Post-Lecture Notes by the Lecturer, by Jalinus)
Note: Classmate Jalinus was the first to make a PPT since the course began (though the PPT still wasn’t very good, with too many long quoted passages), and the notes he整理ed after class were also very认真, so I hereby commend him~ I was the one who took over for Chapter Five, and in the end I also appended the outline I had sorted out. Discussion-class notes by Jalinus November 28, 2017 Chapter One: The View from Scientific Realism One of Churchland’s major aims in this book is to sketch a new blueprint for human understanding. If one cannot provide an account of human understanding, one cannot speak glibly…
course philosophy of science knowledge realism
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2017年12月11日
The “King of Invention” wasn’t called that for nothing—he was the one who invented “invention” itself

History of Science & Scholarship2017.11.24
The “King of Invention” wasn’t called that for nothing—he was the one who invented “invention” itself
This article was published in the November 24, 2017 issue of the *Science and Technology Daily* on the “Chang’e Supplement.” The original title was “Edison: The Invention of Invention”; the editor’s revised title is also quite good, so I am reposting it according to the edited version. What was Edison’s greatest invention? People usually think of the light bulb. But many people do not realize that, in fact, Edison was only an improver of the light bulb; decades before him there had already been light bulbs, and even in terms of commercial popularization, he was not the first. But Edison was still undeniably the king of invention. His contribution…
technology science history innovation
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2017年11月24日
Selected Readings in the Original Works of Philosophy of Science: “Facts, Fiction, and Forecast” (Post-lecture Notes by Jiepo Qingshan)

Teaching & Courses2017.11.16
Selected Readings in the Original Works of Philosophy of Science: “Facts, Fiction, and Forecast” (Post-lecture Notes by Jiepo Qingshan)
Fact, Fiction, and Forecast Fact, Fiction and Forecast I. Nelson Goodman (wiki) Henry Nelson Goodman (7 August 1906–25 November 1998) was an American philosopher, known for his work on counterfactuals, mereology, the problem of induction, irrealism, and aesthetics. Goodman was born in Somerville, Massachusetts, the son of Sarah Elizabeth (née Woodbury) and Henry Lewis Goodman. He was of Jewish origins. He graduated from Harvard University, A.B., magna cum laude (1928). During the 1930s, he ran an art gallery in Boston, Massachusetts while studying for a Harvard Ph.D. in philosophy, which he completed in 1941. His experience as an art dealer helps explain his later turn towards aesthetics, where…
course philosophy of science counterfactuals
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2017年11月16日
Selected Readings in Original Works of Philosophy of Science: “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions” (Post-class Notes by the Lecturer, by Yiduo Xiong)

Teaching & Courses2017.11.03
Selected Readings in Original Works of Philosophy of Science: “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions” (Post-class Notes by the Lecturer, by Yiduo Xiong)
Note: See the explanation in the previous post; this was handed to me almost at the same time. This one feels stylistically completely different, and in fact a bit too scattered. It might be better to sketch, a little, the particularly interesting or controversial issues that came up in the actual classroom discussion, especially where the discussion was most concentrated. Although I said that all that was needed was to do a light editing of the lecture notes, they still do need some editing after all; it should nevertheless reflect a bit of the fruits of the classroom discussion. Of course, the speaker may also annotate and supplement it here…
history of science course Scientific Revolution discussion
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2017年11月3日
Selected Readings from the Original Texts of Philosophy of Science: Reichenbach (Post-Class Notes by Zhuowu)

Teaching & Courses2017.11.03
Selected Readings from the Original Texts of Philosophy of Science: Reichenbach (Post-Class Notes by Zhuowu)
Note: This is the text record I asked the students to submit after class. The style and length of this post-class text are unrestricted: it can be a lightly revised version of the lecture notes, or a reorganized account. The purpose is first, to make it easy to review or commemorate at any time; second, to extend the classroom discussion. So I am posting it publicly on the blog, and all students and other friends can continue the discussion here in the comments (especially by using the page-side annotation function). The following text is all provided by student Zhuowu (I’m using nicknames here; everyone is free to comment using either…
course philosophy of science discussion logic
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2017年11月3日
Selected Readings in Classics of Philosophy of Science: Sample In-Class Questions

Teaching & Courses2017.11.01
Selected Readings in Classics of Philosophy of Science: Sample In-Class Questions
We’ve now finished reading two books in the course. Overall, the students have all done fairly well: basically everyone was able to complete the reading and actively participate in discussion. Of course, compared with the format of Mr. Wu’s class, my course still has far too little of a sense of pressure overall. Mr. Wu’s reading class is entirely led by him: he sprays questions at random, asking all kinds of incisive questions. His questions are all tightly keyed to the text, yet none of them can be answered by just skimming it casually. Every class has to be approached with trepidation; after class, you dare not fail to read…
course philosophy of science Scientific Revolution Kuhn
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2017年11月1日
The First Reading Group of the New Semester

Life & Notes2017.10.02
The First Reading Group of the New Semester
After a summer break, although a few core members were either busy with work or away overseas, the reading group still had to keep going. With some new additions, the first session still had seven people taking part. The venue was my newly tidied-up (not really) turnover apartment. This semester we’re reading Foucault’s The Order of Things. I had originally considered reading Phenomenology of Spirit, but since the mainstays of the reading group have thinned out, it just felt like we wouldn’t be able to chew through it. By chance I heard that Jin Shixiang was also leading his students in reading The Order of Things, and I thought this…
everyday life book reading discussion game
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2017年10月2日
Selected Readings from Classic Works in Philosophy of Science: Introduction

Teaching & Courses2017.09.26
Selected Readings from Classic Works in Philosophy of Science: Introduction
This class, as planned, was supposed to be me giving a general introductory lecture, but in fact it still mainly took the form of student discussion. I didn’t prepare a script, so I’m just putting the PPT content directly here. The PPT itself is fairly brief, meant only as a reference for the students in class when they review later. When I feel like it, I’ll add some connective commentary in the margins: What Is Philosophy of Science? SP or PS Scientific Philosophy Philosophy of Science “Scientific” philosophy —unscientific philosophy (“metaphysics”) “Philosophy “about science” —philosophy that discusses other objects (political philosophy, moral philosophy…) —other disciplines that discuss science (sociology of…
course philosophy of science Aristotle Kuhn
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2017年9月26日
Course Syllabus: Selected Readings from Classic Works in Philosophy of Science

Teaching & Courses2017.09.19
Course Syllabus: Selected Readings from Classic Works in Philosophy of Science
This week the new semester has officially begun, and today the course I am responsible for has also opened for business: “Selected Readings in Classic Works of Philosophy of Science.” This is one of the foundational professional courses offered to first-year master’s students and first-year doctoral students not trained in our department. This year there are altogether just 5 new students enrolled, with no students from other departments, and two auditors. Class time is every Tuesday afternoon starting at 1:30, and the class usually ends a little after 4 o’clock. The location is Room 204, Building 1 at Tsinghua University. Auditors are welcome. But because of the nature of this…
scholarship course philosophy of science Scientific Revolution
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2017年9月19日