Author: 胡翌霖

The Difference Between “Argumentation” and “Bamboozling”

History of Science & Scholarship2008.01.22
The Difference Between “Argumentation” and “Bamboozling”
Sometimes, out of irony, I also call activities such as argument, persuasion, and admonition “brainwashing.” But if we really press the matter, I must insist that “argument” and “brainwashing” are by no means equivalent. In fact, we can all feel the difference between the two; otherwise we would not laugh at the “brainwashing” displayed in Zhao Benshan’s comic sketches. First of all, the purposes of “argument” and “brainwashing” are simply not the same. On the one hand, the former requires the other person to “actively” come to accept it, whereas the latter only requires the other person to “passively” receive it; on the other hand, the former is oriented toward…
scholarship modernity democracy science communication
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2008年1月22日
On “Feyerabend Quotations”

History of Science & Scholarship2008.01.22
On “Feyerabend Quotations”
Xinzhai Lao Jiang Quotations from Feyerabend I’m a fanatical admirer of Feyerabend, so from now on I’ll post some of the old gentleman’s quotations whenever I have nothing better to do: A free society is one in which all traditions have equal rights and equal opportunities to enter the centers of power (this differs from the usual definition: that everyone has equal rights to enter the positions defined by one special tradition—namely, the tradition of Western science and rationalism). A tradition acquires these rights not because it is important to outsiders, but because it is meaningful in the lives of those who participate in that tradition. Science in a Free…
philosophy science freedom politics
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2008年1月22日
Immortality from the Perspective of Historicism

Culture & Public Commentary2008.01.22
Immortality from the Perspective of Historicism
Historicism holds that all standards of truth or morality are “historical,” that is, rooted in their own age and culture, and that there is no eternal truth standing outside history. But does historicism imply that people are fated never to “transcend” history? Not at all. We should note that “transcend” does not mean “detach oneself from.” Rather, it means unfolding new history on the premise of standing within history. I have already said before: “Only by relying on history can we possibly transcend history.” Put another way: only by possessing the past can we face the future. Those who have no “past” also have no “future.” The concept I want…
philosophy history pluralism immortality
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2008年1月22日
The Politics and Jurisprudence Behind the Philosophy of Science

History of Science & Scholarship2008.01.21
The Politics and Jurisprudence Behind the Philosophy of Science
From Plato onward, from the “freedom” of ancient Greece to the “Enlightenment” of the modern era, the issues of philosophy of science and political philosophy have always been entangled, impossible to disentangle. By the time we reach the “official history” of twentieth-century philosophy of science, we see this especially clearly: from Popper’s liberalism to Kuhn’s “revolution” and then to Feyerabend’s anarchism, the development of philosophy of science was practically a debate in political philosophy. Looking back at the history of thought from ancient Greece to the Enlightenment, we can be certain that philosophers of science borrowing political terminology is by no means merely a coincidence or a metaphor. Ancient Greece…
science politics Kant Plato
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2008年1月21日
[Repost] Related Discussion on “Zhang Tiankan: For Maglev, We Must Persuade the Public with Scientific Evidence zz”

History of Science & Scholarship2008.01.21
[Repost] Related Discussion on “Zhang Tiankan: For Maglev, We Must Persuade the Public with Scientific Evidence zz”
http://hps.phil.pku.edu.cn/bbs/read.php?tid=316&fpage=1&toread=1 It is obvious that the discussion in this thread is mainly aimed at Teacher Tian (the Lean Knight). Schopenhauer’s swagger is long gone; what is being displayed now is basically my own swagger. Personally, I find this sort of dispute quite interesting. Although such arguments are hard to develop into something profound, they can still expose problems fairly well. Many of the ways I now phrase things first emerged in similar disputes—in the past on Teacher Liu’s and Teacher Jiang’s blogs, and now with BBS as an even better venue. I’ve been eagerly hoping that someone would come to my blog too and “provoke” me. How interesting that would…
science discussion sociology scientism
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2008年1月21日
How to “Persuade” Extreme Irrationalists?

Culture & Public Commentary2008.01.20
How to “Persuade” Extreme Irrationalists?
Does this kind of “extreme irrationalist” simply not exist at all, merely a target I’ve erected for myself? Not necessarily. Although no great philosopher has been so absurd, such tendencies are not uncommon among general theorists. Many people do indeed take irrationalism as a “refuge” in order to evade their intellectual laziness. Every utterly and extremely radical position is an impregnable fortress: those outside cannot break in, but those inside cannot fight their way out either. For a completely irrationalist, how can one be persuaded? A completely irrationalist cannot be “persuaded,” because “persuasion” means “arguing reasonably,” “convincing by reason”; but if the other party is completely irrational, then no amount…
philosophy culture reason violence
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2008年1月20日
[Repost] What Is Whig History? (“Whig History” and “Contemporary History,” Whig History of Mathematics and Whig History of Philosophy, and So On)

Culture & Public Commentary2008.01.20
[Repost] What Is Whig History? (“Whig History” and “Contemporary History,” Whig History of Mathematics and Whig History of Philosophy, and So On)
http://hps.phil.pku.edu.cn/bbs/read.php?tid=297 Gu Che What Is “Whig History”? This forum is updated the slowest of all, so let me ask a “layman’s question”~ In a previous post (see: http://hps.phil.pku.edu.cn/bbs/read.php?tid=284), Brother Yuzhile said that the discussion had “changed in nature,” shifting from professional questions to layman’s questions. Since he put it that way, I was no longer comfortable pursuing the matter in that post. But the very basic layman’s question involved there struck me as something really worth pressing further! Brother Yu said: “History is necessarily Whig history. Don’t say that you know the original history, or a philosopher’s original thought, unless you are God.” Good heavens! What does that mean? I’ve…
philosophy history mathematics Whig history
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2008年1月20日
Singing Karaoke at 17 Mile, 2008-1-16

Life & Notes2008.01.18
Singing Karaoke at 17 Mile, 2008-1-16
17-Mile Drive K-singing 2008-1-16 Gu Chu posted 2008-01-18 14:42:56 A few photos. Each photo basically came with a 10-second recording, which can’t be posted online. A Fei and Xiao Long were very high, San Shi was dazzling, and Ya Li of course had nothing to say either. As for me, of course I was just there to make up the headcount, mainly listening in. I was forced to sing the climax of “Fairy Tale,” picked on my own initiative the “Yeliya Girl” that I’d had tucked away for more than ten years, and in the end sang a bit of “Serve the Country Loyally,” which I learned during military training—so…
everyday life music
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2008年1月18日
The Search for “Possibility”

Philosophy & Thought2008.01.14
The Search for “Possibility”
The following statement may be regarded as a certain “translation” of Heidegger, though of course it cannot conform to Heidegger’s original intention. Traditional Western philosophy, or rather the entire history of Western thought, has taken as its main thread the “search for certainty.” Around this craving for certainty have unfolded philosophy’s pursuit of “being,” science’s pursuit of universal laws, ethics’ pursuit of clear rules, religion’s pursuit of immortal bliss, and so on. All learning seeks certainty, seeks what is fixed and unchanging. Originally, the search for certainty and the search for possibility were not necessarily in conflict. However, the search for certainty eventually expanded beyond measure, so much so that…
philosophy freedom Heidegger tradition
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2008年1月14日
Talking Again About Guo Degang

Culture & Public Commentary2008.01.12
Talking Again About Guo Degang
It was nearly two years ago that I wrote an essay called “Also on Guo Degang.” At the time, I was responding to an article by ZW; astonishingly, he actually looked down on Guo Degang. I had only listened to a few short audio clips then, so I mainly said a few words from the angle of “tradition,” arguing that Guo Degang had certainly contributed to the development of crosstalk. But recently, on the advice of an older fellow student, I learned that Guo Degang’s crosstalk really has to be watched on video; only then did I go back and find a lot of videos to watch again. Ah, OMG,…
culture commentary tradition art
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2008年1月12日