分类：Philosophy & Thought

[U.S.] Daniel Hausman, ed.: The Philosophy of Economics

Philosophy & Thought2007.11.07
[U.S.] Daniel Hausman, ed.: The Philosophy of Economics
[U.S.] Daniel Hausman, ed., *The Philosophy of Economics*, translated by Ding Jianfeng, Shanghai People’s Publishing House, Century Publishing Group, January 2007, 38 yuan This book is about the “methodology” of economics, or rather, an inquiry into how it can count as a “science.” It shows the profound connection between economics and the philosophy of science; in fact, as I was reading it, I would sometimes have the illusion that I was reading an introduction to the philosophy of science rather than an introduction to economics. The introduction alone is almost a primer on the philosophy of science, including an overview of the entire line of development in the philosophy of…
book reading notes philosophy of science Scientific Revolution
阅读全文

2007年11月7日
Fragments, Episode 3

Philosophy & Thought2007.11.03
Fragments, Episode 3
l He—I—you; “I” — freedom; “you” — love; “he” — the real. (Don’t ask me; I don’t know just what I want to say.) l When you complain that others have not understood you, or even suffer because no one understands you, the first thing you should ask yourself is two questions: first, do you understand others (has anyone received your understanding, just as you hope others will for you); second, do you yourself understand yourself? If you never try to understand others, how can you deserve to expect understanding from others? And if even you cannot understand yourself (for example, if your thoughts are always hazy, ambiguous, changeable, so…
philosophy freedom Kant Schopenhauer
阅读全文

2007年11月3日
[Spanish] Fernando Savater: “An Invitation to Philosophy—The Questions of Life” —☆

Philosophy & Thought2007.11.01
[Spanish] Fernando Savater: “An Invitation to Philosophy—The Questions of Life” —☆
[Spanish] Fernando Savater: *The Invitation of Philosophy—The Question of Life*, translated by Lin Jingwei, Peking University Press, September 2007, 24 yuan — ☆ Although there is no longer any need to cultivate an interest in philosophy, I still keep an eye out whenever I find a newly published introductory philosophy book on the market. Introductory books are among the easiest, most interesting, and most colorful kinds of philosophy reading. Introductory or survey works written by different people are surely bound to have their own flavors; if two introductory books read as though they were virtually identical, then chances are they were both written by Chinese people…… This book is touted…
philosophy book reading notes
阅读全文

2007年11月1日
The Philosopher’s Basics

Philosophy & Thought2007.10.28
The Philosopher’s Basics
Yesterday I was once again thinking about some things concerning doing philosophy and being a philosopher. The trigger was a segment of discussion on a QQ group chat; I’ll excerpt it here: Gǔ Chǔ 22:55:08 In order to study the spirit of the Party’s Seventeenth National Congress, to encourage the broad student masses to pay attention to national affairs and the livelihood of the people, and to strengthen students’ ideological and political education, the Department of Philosophy will carry out a series of study activities under the theme “Study the Spirit of the Seventeenth National Congress, Pay Attention to National Affairs and the Livelihood of the People.” The specific contents…
philosophy discussion
阅读全文

2007年10月28日
A Reading Report on Schopenhauer

Philosophy & Thought2007.10.24
A Reading Report on Schopenhauer
I seriously underestimated the extent of my own decadence: I kept frittering away the time until there were barely more than two days left before I even started reading. I also seriously underestimated the difficulty of turning a reading report into prose, dragging it out until the evening of the last day before I began to write. I also seriously underestimated my ability to ramble, so that by §24 I had already run up some 4,500 characters, and when I looked at the clock it was already deep into the night. There was no time to ramble any further, and even if I finished rambling now, there would still not…
book reading notes Kant materialism
阅读全文

2007年10月24日
Peddling Philosophy of Science and Technology (III)

History of Science & Scholarship2007.10.03
Peddling Philosophy of Science and Technology (III)
The previous two “sales pitches,” as my senior brother put it, attacked only and defended not at all. In fact, philosophy of science and technology of course has its fatal weaknesses. What I want to emphasize is that anyone “can,” “may as well,” and “might as well” do philosophy of science and technology; however, I have not said that it is the most suitable choice for everyone. In fact, if a certain kind of work can be done well by anyone, then it is probably mediocre. The advantage of philosophy of science and technology is precisely its most fatal flaw—being too miscellaneous. Philosophy of science and technology runs through all…
science philosophy of science Kuhn Wittgenstein
阅读全文

2007年10月3日
Restating Scientific Pluralism from a Classical Starting Point

Philosophy & Thought2007.09.29
Restating Scientific Pluralism from a Classical Starting Point
When I was being interviewed, Teacher Sun asked me how, after reading so much philosophy of science, I still hadn’t fixed a direction. I hemmed and hawed, dodged and bobbed, and in the end only said that I was interested in the whole field of meta-science, and that I would settle on a specific direction slowly. Was I really completely without a goal? No. Of the main direction I have in mind so far, or rather, of my academic ideal, of course I have one! I just didn’t dare say it during the interview. I only mentioned, “I’ve already made those grand claims in my personal statement,” and Wu-laoshi…
philosophy philosophy of science Kant pluralism
阅读全文

2007年9月29日
Bits and Pieces, Episode Two

Philosophy & Thought2007.09.23
Bits and Pieces, Episode Two
l To say that human nature is inherently good or that human nature is inherently evil both seem to make sense; why not simply say that human nature is both good and evil, or neither good nor evil? In the end, when we want to describe a villain, we still like to say he is “lacking humanity.” In fact, when one says that human nature is inherently good, one is also stressing another side of the matter: goodness is itself human nature. That is to say, goodness comes from oneself; seeking goodness requires only self-help and self-discipline, without looking outward for it. This is similar to Kant’s intention in emphasizing…
philosophy religion human nature
阅读全文

2007年9月23日
Pitching Philosophy of Science and Technology (II)

History of Science & Scholarship2007.09.22
Pitching Philosophy of Science and Technology (II)
Last time, my sales pitch was mainly that any branch discipline of philosophy can come to do philosophy of science and technology. This time, why not go one step further, because what philosophy of science and technology covers is not just the sum of the other seven branches~ Saying that the territory of philosophy of science and technology is bigger than the combined territory of the other seven second-level disciplines is a bit too much, but it is not entirely empty boasting either. That is because the division into the eight second-level disciplines of philosophy is itself unreasonable. Philosophy is not a science—not a “discipline of divisions.” The differentiation and…
science history of science philosophy of science sociology
阅读全文

2007年9月22日
On the Principle of Sufficient Reason

Philosophy & Thought2007.09.19
On the Principle of Sufficient Reason
Today in Schopenhauer class, at the very end, the discussion turned to the principle of sufficient reason. I couldn’t help interjecting a question; in fact, I haven’t even started reading Schopenhauer’s book yet, so I was really rather embarrassed~ Jingang said that Schopenhauer’s argument for the principle of sufficient reason is quite dogmatic, and I agree with that. As for the teacher, he more or less said that the principle of sufficient reason is a prerequisite for questioning and reasoning, and on that point I disagree. At the time I brought up quantum mechanics. I raised it as an example, not because I wanted to drag the cutting edge of…
philosophy causality quantum mechanics Einstein
阅读全文

2007年9月19日