Author: 胡翌霖

[Eng] F. Bacon: Essays

Philosophy & Thought2006.02.12
[Eng] F. Bacon: Essays
[English] Francis Bacon: Essays, translated by He Xin, revised edition, Hualing Publishing House, April 2001 This may well count as one of the oldest and most famous “self-help” books in the world. The edition I read is precisely one of the so-called “New Century Youth Self-Help Bookshelf” series; among the same series are Machiavelli’s The Prince, Adler’s Overcoming Self-Doubt, Schopenhauer’s On the Sufferings of Love and Gender, and Rousseau’s Reveries of a Solitary Walker. These sorts of “self-help” books are obviously far more meaningful than things like The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People or Live Happily and Wealthily All Your Life. Of course, as a rule I don’t read…
philosophy book reading notes value
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2006年2月12日
[German] Rickert: “Cultural Science and Natural Science”

History of Science & Scholarship2006.02.11
[German] Rickert: “Cultural Science and Natural Science”
[German] Heinrich Rickert: “Culture and Natural Science,” translated by Tu Jiliang, proofread by Du Renzhi, Commercial Press, March 1986 http://rwxy.tsinghua.edu.cn/rwfg/ydsm/ydsm-qw/j06/000.htm Page vi On the other hand, although the scope of any historical concept is limited by a certain object or phenomenon, it must itself necessarily contain something general. For example, although no one would doubt that Goethe was only a particular individual, that there was no second Goethe, does Goethe not have the same characteristics as others? Can one explain Goethe’s characteristics without using certain general concepts? Can historians give a scientific account of any historical figure without understanding the universal laws governing social and historical development? In fact, no…
philosophy book reading culture notes
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2006年2月11日
[Eng.] Raymond Firth: “Human Types,” translated by Fei Xiaotong

Culture & Public Commentary2006.02.10
[Eng.] Raymond Firth: “Human Types,” translated by Fei Xiaotong
[UK] Raymond Firth: “Human Types,” translated by Fei Xiaotong, Huaxia Publishing House, January 2002 Page 124 Science and magic are usually regarded as the two extremes of the rational and the irrational. Yet if human behavior is sharply divided into two parts, the rational and the irrational, this boundary is not easy to draw. Take, for example, the relation between technical knowledge and magic: we see that in various kinds of attitudes and activities, there are elements of both rationality and irrationality. Some of the substances used in healing magic do seem to have curative effects. Other healing magicians are enthusiastic about reasonable experiments. On the other hand, science in…
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2006年2月10日
Noya Keiichi: “Kuhn—Paradigm”

History of Science & Scholarship2006.02.09
Noya Keiichi: “Kuhn—Paradigm”
[Japanese] Noya Keiichi: “Kuhn—Paradigm,” translated by Bi Xiaohui, proofread by Chen Huabei, Hebei Education Publishing House, January 2002 There are some books that one must read, cannot not read, books it is impossible to imagine not reading; for me, Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions is a typical example. And yet I seem to have this lazy habit: since I will have to read it sooner or later, there is no harm in reading it a little later. And so, dragging it on, I still haven’t read it. Next semester I will officially begin studying philosophy of science, and the books that must be read have finally become impossible to…
book reading notes philosophy of science Scientific Revolution
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2006年2月9日
Two Leisurely Books: “The Shards of God” and “The Universe of Spirit”

History of Science & Scholarship2006.02.09
Two Leisurely Books: “The Shards of God” and “The Universe of Spirit”
[U.S.] Scott Adams: *The Dilbert Principle: A Workplace Survival Guide*? No—this is actually Scott Adams: *The God Particle Residue—An Alternative Reflection on a Complex World*, translated by Gao Zimei, Xinjiang People’s Publishing House, January 2003 This is a book one can read straight through in fifteen minutes; it is entirely a throwaway diversion I picked up just to make up the numbers. The book claims to be “the world’s best-selling E-Book in history,” which I do believe, because I myself have bought no fewer than ten copies of it! That was simply because, back then, on Dangdang, the price of this book stayed at 1 yuan for a long time!…
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2006年2月9日
[Fr.] Poincaré: “Last Thoughts”

History of Science & Scholarship2006.02.09
[Fr.] Poincaré: “Last Thoughts”
[French] Poincaré: “The Last Reflections,” translated by Li Xingmin, proofread by Fan Dainian, Commercial Press, December 1996 Poincaré was such a great, even legendary, figure! Poincaré is widely regarded as the “last all-around mathematical genius,” comparable to Gauss; in fact, it would not be at all excessive to remove even the word “mathematical.” “Poincaré’s achievements in the four main branches of mathematics—arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and analysis—were all pioneering; in particular, he made outstanding contributions to branches such as function theory, algebraic geometry, number theory, the mathematics of strings, differential equations, and algebraic topology.” (p. ii) “In astronomy, Poincaré’s main work fell into three areas: the equilibrium shapes of rotating fluids;…
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2006年2月9日
Tian Song: “Don Quixote’s Lance”

History of Science & Scholarship2006.02.07
Tian Song: “Don Quixote’s Lance”
Tian Song: *Don Quixote’s Lance—Passing Through the Mist of Scientific Discourse*, Shanghai Science and Technology Education Press, December 2002 Preface: “Misunderstanding Science,” included in the first part on page xiv, is a work from the early 1990s. Looking at it now, there are many lines that make me inwardly embarrassed, for example: ………… these are things I would absolutely not dare to write now. One could add a few lines of mine that I often use to satirize others: fearing that others will say one lacks learning, one has no choice but to pretend to have learning, only to prove in the end that one lacks learning.…… ////——That satire is…
book reading notes faith scientific spirit
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2006年2月7日
It Turns Out That the People Who Support the Market Economy Most Are the Chinese

Life & Notes2006.02.07
It Turns Out That the People Who Support the Market Economy Most Are the Chinese
I came across an article in yesterday’s Cankao Xiaoxi, and found the full text online: http://business.sohu.com/20060206/n241679830.shtml This passage is quite thought-provoking: For a long time, there have been statements internationally such as “Chinese are born knowing how to make money,” “Chinese are economic animals,” and “Overseas Chinese are the Jews of the East.” A recently released global public opinion survey seems to have, to some extent, confirmed these claims. The University of Maryland’s Program on International Policy Attitudes and the polling organization “Global Scan” jointly conducted a sampled public opinion survey in 20 countries around the world. The results found that Chinese people are even more enthusiastic about the free…
everyday life China economy trust
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2006年2月7日
Jin Kemu: “Candle Flame Ashes—The Melody of Thought”

Culture & Public Commentary2006.02.06
Jin Kemu: “Candle Flame Ashes—The Melody of Thought”
Jin Kemu: “Wind, Candle, Ash — The Melody of Thought,” Sanlian Bookstore, July 2002 Recommended by ZW. This was the last collection the old man personally compiled before his death, so naturally there is nothing to be said about its contents. ZW said I could learn from his style, but how on earth could I manage that?!? To write essays that come so effortlessly, so gracefully and fluently, one needs, beyond vast learning and a mind that remembers widely and knows both ancient and modern, China and the West, decades of hard practice as well. Besides, my own style is only suited to science or philosophy; I can’t do literature…
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2006年2月6日
[German] Feuerbach: “The Essence of Religion”

Philosophy & Thought2006.02.06
[German] Feuerbach: “The Essence of Religion”
Feuerbach [German]: The Essence of Religion, translated by Wang Taiqing, The Commercial Press, July 1999 2: pp. 1–2 Human trust is the basis of religion; and the object of this sense of dependence—that is, that on which human beings rely, and on which they also feel themselves to rely—is originally nothing other than nature. Nature is religion’s original primordial object; this is fully demonstrated by the history of all religions and all peoples. ////—This section states the central idea of the whole book: that the sense of dependence is the basis of religion, and that nature is religion’s original object. I agree with this. 3: p. 2 To say that…
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2006年2月6日