Category: Enlightenment & the Spirit of Freedom

The Responsibility of the Communicator

Culture & Public Commentary2009.05.22
The Responsibility of the Communicator
Today, while riding my bike in the rain on the 21st, as usual my thoughts drifted about, and I connected up a few threads I had recently run into, and so I wrote this essay. As for my attitude toward plagiarism and literary theft, I already made it clear in my undergraduate post “Why Suixuan Is Not Afraid of Plagiarism and Theft.” Now that I compare my own writing to excrement, that too signals my attitude that I am not afraid of plagiarism. And yet, of course, I have always held a deep contempt for paper plagiarism. In a certain sense, plagiarism or theft in academic papers is, in my…
culture freedom media value
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May 22, 2009
Violent Sanctions Are a Helpless Compensation for the Limits of Reason

Culture & Public Commentary2008.09.09
Violent Sanctions Are a Helpless Compensation for the Limits of Reason
I once said, “Violent revolution is unreasonable”—because “violence” is always non-rational, and revolution is always illegal. Yet this gives rise to a still more severe problem: if violence may be lawful, then how is the rationality of law possible? We know that laws are made by the government (whether that so-called government represents God, the emperor, or all citizens), and the implementation of law often has to appeal to violence. It is hard to imagine a rule-of-law society maintained without violent institutions such as police and prisons. Even if a social order established without bodily violent sanctions is at least conceivable in theory, once a public “law” is instituted, it…
culture politics public sphere reason
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Sep 9, 2008
Reading and Freedom (I)

Enlightenment & the Spirit of Freedom2008.06.03
Reading and Freedom (I)
In the essay “Reading as a Way of Thinking,” I said roughly this: if one merely sits there alone thinking desperately and turning things over and over, the effect is often counterproductive; one’s distress only sinks deeper and deeper, while the problem does not necessarily become any clearer. With the aid of reading, by contrast, one can both turn thinking into a pleasure and, with the help of books, carry out broader, clearer, and deeper reflection. However, not only is it not always a good thing to sit there daydreaming in silence, but burying one’s head in books is not always effective either. In particular, when someone reads with too…
philosophy scholarship freedom history
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Jun 3, 2008
Choosing Peking University, Taking on Freedom

Enlightenment & the Spirit of Freedom2008.05.22
Choosing Peking University, Taking on Freedom
The original writing plan for “Yanyuan—The Four Schools” had stalled for a long time because I shut myself away and hid from the blog. Now that graduation is practically upon me, it’s time to restart this task. Just then the student union was organizing a “My Yanyuan Memories — A Commencement Essay Collection for Peking University’s Class of 2008 Excellent Graduates,” asking each department to nominate writers. Although I do not like taking part in essay contests, especially those initiated by official bodies, I was going to write something anyway. So I might as well take part. There was also a call for submissions from 《Communist Youth Garden》, and perhaps…
philosophy scholarship freedom education
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May 22, 2008