Author: 胡翌霖

“A Philosophical History of Poetry”: “A Feast of Thought”

Philosophy & Thought2006.02.05
“A Philosophical History of Poetry”: “A Feast of Thought”
Zhang Rulun, ed.: The Philosophical History of Poetry — Annotated Notes on Zhang Dongsun’s Poems on Western Philosophy, Guangxi Normal University Press, June 2002 Introduction Wanting to wash my tortoise-gut belly, I have not abandoned singing; the Xijiang has become a trickle under my feet. Laughing at the splendor that flits before the eye, I claim only half a day’s shade beneath a awning window. Thales Though all things differ, if they share one source, they may all return to what came from water. This man has turned back to the bottom of all processes, drawing a thousand men to draw again from the spring. Anaximander Only the boundless can…
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2006年2月5日
Roger G. Newton: “What Is Scientific Truth—Is the Moon There When No One Looks?”

Philosophy & Thought2006.02.03
Roger G. Newton: “What Is Scientific Truth—Is the Moon There When No One Looks?”
Roger G. Newton, *What Is Scientific Truth?—Is the Moon There When No One Looks?*, translated by Wu Jike, Shanghai Science and Technology Education Press, May 2001 I had read this book already in my first year of high school. At the time I found it hard to understand, but reading it again now, I realize that it is in fact a book about the philosophy of science. Its author is a quantum physicist, yet his familiarity with the philosophy of science, including scientific epistemology, history of science, sociology of science, and so on, is quite broad. The author criticizes sociologists of science who hold relativistic social constructivist views, and he…
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2006年2月3日
A Brief Discussion of “Money Worship”

Culture & Public Commentary2006.02.01
A Brief Discussion of “Money Worship”
Many scholars, when mentioning the term “money worship,” often simply treat it as a “label” — especially from the standpoint of humanistic scholars, “money worship” is obviously a bad thing. This is somewhat like “idealism,” “agnosticism,” and so on: for example, when a thought has an “idealistic” tendency, it is tantamount to saying that it has a “bad” tendency, and in the case of an idealist philosopher’s agnostic thought, this sort of criticism is almost as good as saying nothing at all and can simply be ignored. Likewise, criticisms of money worship, relativism, and nihilism must avoid falling into this kind of childishness. In certain groups where rejection of money…
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2006年2月1日
Fang Zhouzi: “Ulcer—Confronting Academic Corruption in China”

History of Science & Scholarship2006.01.31
Fang Zhouzi: “Ulcer—Confronting Academic Corruption in China”
Fang Zhouzi: “Ulcer—Confronting Chinese Academic Corruption,” Hainan Publishing House, June 2001 Pages 328–329 Q: Could you give a few examples to explain the corruption in Chinese academia? A: The corruption in Chinese academia mainly manifests itself in these several ways: 1. Plagiarism of papers. For example, Professor Yang Jing’an, director of the Artificial Intelligence Application Research Office at Hefei University of Technology, has plagiarized at least five foreign papers over the past few years, and basically copied them word for word from beginning to end, with not a single result of his own. His brazenness is shocking. 1. Plagiarism of papers. For example, Professor Yang Jing’an, director of the Artificial…
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2006年1月31日
[Eng] Martin Oliver: “The History of Philosophy”

Philosophy & Thought2006.01.31
[Eng] Martin Oliver: “The History of Philosophy”
[Eng] Martin Oliver: The History of Philosophy, translated by Wang Hongyin, Hope Publishing House, October 2003 This is neither a rigorous, in-depth academic book, nor a particularly illuminating or useful introductory guide; it is nothing more than an excessively flashy, so-called “illustrated” popular read. The only reason I thought of reading it was that I happened to pick it up and, since I had bought it before, figured I might as well read it rather than leave it unread; so I leafed through it once. Of course, although I would not recommend this book, it would also be wrong to say that it is merely all style and no substance….
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2006年1月31日
[German] Ernst Cassirer: An Essay on Man

Culture & Public Commentary2006.01.29
[German] Ernst Cassirer: An Essay on Man
[German] Ernst Cassirer: An Essay on Man, translated by Gan Yang, Xiyuan Publishing House, 2nd edition, July 2004 It seems I read this book a very long time ago, and it was the Shanghai Translation Publishing House edition; but I have forgotten almost everything I read. Now I happened to pick up a discounted copy bought somewhere for 30 percent of the original price, and I don’t even know whether it is genuine or pirated, a good edition or a bad one. In any case, I just picked it up and gave it another quick read. This book is also introductory in nature. In a not very long span of…
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2006年1月29日
[German] Luckmann: “The Invisible Religion”

Culture & Public Commentary2006.01.28
[German] Luckmann: “The Invisible Religion”
[German] Luckmann: The Invisible Religion: The Problem of Religion in Modern Society, translated by Qinfang Ming, China Renmin University Press, October 2003 This book was published in 1967, and we can see that even after forty years, its insights still feel strikingly up to date. For me, this was an inspiring read; I did not study it especially carefully, but read it through in one breath while standing up (though I still did read every word from beginning to end). I have always felt that all the predicaments faced by modern society can ultimately be traced back to two topics—science and religion—and, in particular, when examining Western society and Western…
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2006年1月28日
Zhao Lin: “Hegel’s Philosophy of Religion,” Wuhan University Press, April 2005

Philosophy & Thought2006.01.27
Zhao Lin: “Hegel’s Philosophy of Religion,” Wuhan University Press, April 2005
Zhao Lin: Hegel’s Philosophy of Religion, Wuhan University Press, April 2005 Philosophy of religion is a rather important link in Hegel’s thought. In fact, Hegel’s entire system of thought can be called a kind of rational theology. Concern with religion runs through Hegel’s whole life, and the contradictions and uncertainties in his view of religion are precisely the fuse that triggered the split in the Hegelian school. For that reason, philosophy of religion ought to be an excellent entry point for studying Hegel. This book is both highly organized and theoretically deep; in fact, it can also be read as a guide to Hegel’s thought. Of course, it is also…
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2006年1月27日
Sun Xiaoli, editor: Philosophical Debates on Modern Science

Philosophy & Thought2006.01.27
Sun Xiaoli, editor: Philosophical Debates on Modern Science
Sun Xiaoli, ed.: *Philosophical Disputes in Modern Science*, 2nd ed., Beijing University Press, August 2003, (editor in charge: Su Xiangui~~, Gu Weiyu) Du XunSun Xiaoli: New Features of Modern Mathematics Pages 8–9 While mathematics was moving toward “specialization” and “complexification,” many ideas in the major disciplines were gradually becoming unified, and the boundaries among the major disciplines were becoming increasingly blurred. Therefore, although the content of mathematical science is immensely abundant and its scope enormous, the holistic conception of mathematics has reappeared, and workers in all kinds and branches of mathematical science have once again realized that they are engaged in a common undertaking. ////——This is good news. Liu Xiaoli:…
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2006年1月27日
[U.S.] Tom Rockmore: “Hegel: Before and After”

Philosophy & Thought2006.01.26
[U.S.] Tom Rockmore: “Hegel: Before and After”
[U.S.] Tom Rockmore: “Hegel: Before and After—An Introduction to the Historical Thought of Hegel,” translated by Ke Xiaogang, Peking University Press, April 2005 This is a very good introduction to Hegel’s thought. As the blurb on the cover says: “The main aim of this book is to provide a very simple—but by no means simplistic—road into Hegel, serving as a guide to the thought of a man who belongs among the most important philosophers of all time.” After reading this book, I have deeply felt the profundity and importance of Hegel’s thought, even though my appreciation of Kant’s philosophy still seems to far exceed my appreciation of Hegel’s. But I…
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2006年1月26日