Author: 胡翌霖

An Email about “Sociology of Religion”

Life & Notes2006.07.20
An Email about “Sociology of Religion”
Teacher Sun, I am Gu Chu, from the Class of ’04 Philosophy. Since I am not good at debate, when discussing things I inevitably fail to express myself adequately, whereas when I write, my train of thought becomes clearer. So now I am writing this letter in an attempt to explain my point of view once more. First of all, I hope you will certainly not misunderstand me as debating for the sake of debate; that is indeed very uninteresting. I do not even like debating in order to attack other people’s views; I only like debating in order to defend my own views. I am a very clear pluralist,…
everyday life philosophy of science religion sociology
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2006年7月20日
Summer Reading Notes, 2006

Life & Notes2006.07.19
Summer Reading Notes, 2006
2006Summer Reading Notes After wasting a good while, the summer reading plan is finally going to get underway in earnest. But even during that utterly wasted stretch, I still read quite a few books; however decadent one may be, it’s not as if one can stop reading altogether, ha. Today I’ll first finish up the notes on the books I read during the wasted period, and tomorrow I’ll begin to get back on track~ [German]Suzanne Paulson: Eating the Sun, translated by Chen Ying, Sanlian Bookstore, December 2005 Just from the title alone, this book is already incredibly lovely, isn’t it? And indeed it is a lovely book: the prose is…
philosophy book reading science notes
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2006年7月19日
Predetermination as Vast as the Sea, Freedom as Small as a Boat

Philosophy & Thought2006.07.16
Predetermination as Vast as the Sea, Freedom as Small as a Boat
For some reason, this sentence suddenly came to mind. “Predestination is like the sea, freedom like a small boat.” — This saying comes from Islamic doctrine. There was a period when I was quite fascinated by Islam—though of course I still retain a strong interest in it now. But as for its doctrines and tenets, I know very little; the only line I can really recite from memory is probably this one. Yet these ten characters already capture the relation between freedom and constraint very aptly, and with considerable depth. On the question of “fate,” this sentence can be understood in two ways: one is pessimistic—no matter how “apparently” free…
philosophy freedom pluralism Islam
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2006年7月16日
A Casual Recollection of My Growing-Up Years (Part Two: Cao Guangbiao Primary School)

Life & Notes2006.07.13
A Casual Recollection of My Growing-Up Years (Part Two: Cao Guangbiao Primary School)
——(continued from the previous articleCasual Reminiscences of My Growth Experience (Part One: Before Fourth Grade of Elementary School))————— At the beginning of the first semester of fourth grade, the math-competition training for cross-grade participation gradually began to intensify. (Students like me who relied on competition math to dodge the pressure of the lower-stakes exams, the middle school entrance exam, and the college entrance exam may have borne less spiritual pressure when facing the big exams, but the academic pressure was by no means light; this bowl of rice was not eaten for nothing, after all…) Naturally, this would have some effect on regular schoolwork. In fact, from a certain point…
education autobiography
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2006年7月13日
An Analysis of “The Half-Fee Lawsuit”

Philosophy & Thought2006.07.11
An Analysis of “The Half-Fee Lawsuit”
The so-called “Half-Fee Lawsuit” is said to be a story related to the ancient Greek sophist Protagoras: Protagoras was the founder of the Sophist school and one of the earliest fee-charging teachers in ancient Greece. A man named Euthlus once became Protagoras’s student to learn the art of litigation and defense, and the two signed a contract: when Euthlus enrolled, he would pay half the tuition fee; the other half would be paid in full when Euthlus won his first case after graduation. However, after graduating, Euthlus kept delaying and did not appear in court to argue cases for others, so the remaining half of the tuition fee had to…
philosophy logic paradox
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2006年7月11日
Long live Italy!

Life & Notes2006.07.10
Long live Italy!
The victory of blue! The victory of defense! The victory of collective play! The victory of classical football! Oh!!
everyday life
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2006年7月10日
A Casual Recollection of My Growing Up (Part 1: Before Fourth Grade in Elementary School)

Life & Notes2006.07.06
A Casual Recollection of My Growing Up (Part 1: Before Fourth Grade in Elementary School)
The memories from before elementary school have grown too blurry; when I try to recall them, it feels as if I’m recounting someone else’s life. When I was little, I changed kindergartens twice, but I hardly ever actually went—mostly I just hung around at home. I really was too spoiled rotten back then. Because I was overindulged, my health was terrible as a child; because my health was terrible, I was indulged even more… At home, the division of labor was very clear when I was young: my father was responsible for earning money, my mother for my education, my grandmother for cooking, and my grandfather for taking care of…
education autobiography mathematics children
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2006年7月6日
Kant’s Significance for the Philosophy of Science

History of Science & Scholarship2006.07.04
Kant’s Significance for the Philosophy of Science
My own view is that Kant’s philosophy has great heuristic significance for the philosophy of science, but among the group of philosophers of science who continue empiricism in the contemporary era, it has been widely neglected. Of course, Kant’s exalted place in the history of philosophy is something very few philosophers would dare to deny, and philosophers of science are no exception. In writings on the philosophy of science, Kant is still often mentioned. But the problem is this: nine times out of ten, when philosophers of science mention Kant, they refer only to his “transcendental theory.” It seems as though Kant’s contribution to the philosophy of science amounted to…
philosophy science philosophy of science Kant
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2006年7月4日
Some Casual Notes Before the World Cup Semifinals

Life & Notes2006.07.04
Some Casual Notes Before the World Cup Semifinals
Originally I had planned to write a few articles and read a few books during this period, but now basically all of that has come to nothing. Because the World Cup is simply too captivating, not only have I hardly missed a single post-exam match, I’ve also been too excited during the day to have any 마음 to read. Hehe, after all, the World Cup comes only once every four years; wasting a bit of time can be understood, can’t it? This World Cup has truly been exciting. Although the refereeing has been less than perfect, it is much better than last time. The traditional powerhouses have mostly played as…
everyday life pluralism
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2006年7月4日
Application for “Friends of Nature”

Life & Notes2006.06.30
Application for “Friends of Nature”
I had wanted to join for a long time. At first, though, it was simply because I thought the organization’s name was badly chosen, and figured that if I didn’t join, so be it; then I thought about it again and realized there was nothing I could do about it anyway—if it were up to me, I wouldn’t be able to come up with a better name either. Later I found remitting payment troublesome, but recently I’ve often been ordering books by mail from Kongfuzi, and I’ve come to feel that remitting money isn’t all that troublesome after all. In the end, I was put off by the trouble of…
philosophy everyday life philosophy of science environment
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2006年6月30日