Suixuan

Author: 胡翌霖

  • What Does Scientific Explanation Explain?

    History of Science & Scholarship

    What Does Scientific Explanation Explain?

    Some people say that the purpose of science is to provide explanations; this is probably right, because science arises from the pursuit of knowledge, and the pursuit of knowledge arises from “wonder.” The common origin of science and philosophy is humanity’s “curiosity” about this world. It is because we ask “what?” that science came into being, and the original purpose of science was indeed to try to explain how various phenomena can be understood. The object of scientific explanation is the “explained sentence” — the “Why is it that…?” sentence. So what different types of explained sentences are there? One distinction divides explained sentences into necessary events and probable events,…

    sciencephilosophy of sciencecausalitydeterminism
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  • Further Thoughts on Guo Degang

    Culture & Public Commentary

    Further Thoughts on Guo Degang

    I do like listening to crosstalk, but I don’t know much about the performing arts, and I’ve not thought about them very deeply either. So in the first place, there was no need for me to choose this topic and write an essay about it. Still, lately I’ve begun to feel that, however much of a philosopher one may be, one ought at least to cultivate a sufficient concern for problems—on any topic worth discussing, if you put in a certain amount of effort, you can immediately spin out a few opinions. Since I’ve always hoped that friends would comment on the topics I discuss on my blog, even when…

    cultureChinacommentaryhumor
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  • On “Preaching the Gospel and Popularizing Science”

    History of Science & Scholarship

    On “Preaching the Gospel and Popularizing Science”

    Professor Liu Huajie, in his essay “Preaching the Gospel and Doing Popular Science” (http://blog.sina.com.cn/u/485ea879010002nu), makes an interesting comparison between science communication and religious communication. My feeling is this: just as religion is not necessarily something loathsome, to say that scientific activity is similar to religious activity, or even that science in a certain sense has become a kind of religion, is not necessarily meant to demean science. If one were truly to spread science with the attitude of preaching the gospel, that devotion would be worthy of respect. However, just as superstition in religion is similar, many “believers” in science are merely “superstitiously” believing in science in a condition of…

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  • The Thinker Fixated on Expectation

    History of Science & Scholarship

    The Thinker Fixated on Expectation

    I do not reject a theory because its conclusion is absurd. What must be despised is its attitude and manner of expression.  Some time ago I read a younger schoolmate’s article on Confucius; now I am reading a younger schoolmate’s so-called “paper” on “desire studies.”  Some articles are unbearable, but I want everyone to know that at present I explicitly hold a pluralist position. The reason I reject some things is not because their views are “extreme.”  It does not matter if the views are extreme; others can refute them, and different views can be set side by side in contest. However, some people are also extreme in attitude, imagining…

    philosophyChinascholarshipdiscussion
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  • Causality and Scientific Explanation

    History of Science & Scholarship

    Causality and Scientific Explanation

    In discussing “causality,” people often consciously or unconsciously confuse it with the “principle of sufficient reason.” The principle of sufficient reason is the belief that for every event there exists a “sufficient reason” that makes it be thus rather than otherwise. This is actually a rather strong claim, and to take it as the basis of scientific explanation seems to set the starting point too high. Then what is “causality”? I think a weaker formulation is “connectedness among events,” that is, the belief that “the occurrence of any event is always associated with other events.” Of course, causality should not be conflated with mere connectedness either. When we speak of…

    philosophysciencephilosophy of sciencecausality
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  • Ancient Greek Natural Philosophy and the Scientific Spirit

    History of Science & Scholarship

    Ancient Greek Natural Philosophy and the Scientific Spirit

    It is generally believed that the beginning of modern natural science lies in the natural philosophy of ancient Greece, and that the rational spirit of Greek philosophy made science possible. So what, exactly, was distinctive about the speculative reason of the ancient Greek philosophers? And what significance does tracing those features have for the development of modern science? The specialist in the history of ancient science, Professor Lloyd, believes that the two important characteristics that make ancient Greek natural philosophy unique are “the discovery of nature” and “rational critical and debating activity.”[1] By “the discovery of nature,” Lloyd means “learning to distinguish ‘nature’ from ‘the supernatural,’” recognizing that natural phenomena…

    scienceAristotlenatureWu Guosheng
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  • Starting with Lottery Predictions

    History of Science & Scholarship

    Starting with Lottery Predictions

    In the past two years, if you flip open a newspaper, turn on the television, or click onto a webpage, you will find all kinds of “lottery prediction” programs growing increasingly hot. With the flourishing of the lottery industry, this “discipline” of “lottery prediction” has become lively, and a large group of “probability scientists” have found themselves a livelihood. Lottery prediction programs on television are generally broadcast right after the lottery drawing, and I, in my idle moments, have even watched a few episodes. The professional “lottery scholars” are quite formidable. They can spend dozens of minutes “analyzing” the numbers from the previous draws, know how to use computers to…

    sciencecausality
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  • Colors of the Wind

    Life & Notes

    Colors of the Wind

    Disney animated film 《Pocahontas》 theme song “Colors of the Wind,” a song of awe before nature~               Colors of the Wind You think I'm an ignorant savage and you've been so many places.                I guess it must be so but still I cannot see.  If the savage one is me, how can there be so much that you don't know, you don't know, you don't know.  You think you own whatever land you land on.  The earth is just a dead thing you can claim.  But I know every rock and tree and creature.  Has a life…

    everyday lifeculturefaithnature
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  • Causality, Premonition, Free Will, Paranormal Powers, Scientific Explanation

    History of Science & Scholarship

    Causality, Premonition, Free Will, Paranormal Powers, Scientific Explanation

    Watching the film Final Destination, I think about what causality is? Can “premonition” be given a “scientific explanation”? Can “supernormal abilities” be justified within scientific epistemology? 1.Laws, causality, time Hume pointed out that causality is only a “habit,” and he was not wrong. When we see “2, 4, 6, 8, ___, …,” even the dullest primary school student knows how to do this kind of “find the pattern and fill in the number” problem; they will unhesitatingly write “10” in the blank, while slightly cleverer students will sum it up into a universal “rule” — “the nth number is 2n.” This problem is far too simple, but its basic principle…

    sciencephilosophy of scienceAristotleKant
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  • The Superstition of Economics

    Culture & Public Commentary

    The Superstition of Economics

    Economics is also part of science, and economic superstition is a part of “scientific superstition”; however, economic superstition has its own distinctive features. In China, not only is scientific superstition very serious, economic superstition is also especially prominent. There are two reasons for superstition: first, ignorance of the object; second, the object displays some kind of powerful force. This is true of science, and even more so of economics. Since reform and opening up, China’s economic takeoff has displayed what seems to be the tremendous power brought by economics, while the public’s ignorance of economics is no less than its ignorance of science. Like scientific superstition, the effects of economic…

    cultureChinaeconomysuperstition
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