标签：anthropology

Lecture Notes on the General History of Science 2: The Prehistory of Science

History of Science & Technology2015.03.12
Lecture Notes on the General History of Science 2: The Prehistory of Science
In the last class we mentioned the historiography of the history of science, including different historiographical strategies such as intellectual history and social history. We cannot take science as a ready-made, fixed standard and sit in judgment on history from the lofty vantage point of modern people. We need historical consciousness, and we should try to return to historical contexts in order to understand how things developed. The concept of “science” itself is not ready-made and fixed either; in different perspectives and different contexts, it has different meanings. Every historiographical strategy for the history of science embodies some understanding of what science is. For example, intellectual history tends to see…
history of science philosophy of science course civilization
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2015年3月12日
Jottings from Today’s New Island Salon 09-12–5

Life & Notes2009.12.05
Jottings from Today’s New Island Salon 09-12–5
Last week’s salon took a break once; starting this week, it’s back to normal. However, today no one came to cough… Latest Comments benjaminbai 2009-12-06 06:05:44 Anonymous 219.234.81.110 [Reply] I’ll go next week~ Just in time to start preparing Fei-ge’s paper on religious anthropology. If I get it done before Saturday, I’ll present that one… probably Weber. By the way, there’s also a sociology paper on subculture that I finished writing this week, and I could show that as well… I feel like I haven’t been there in ages Asura 2009-12-07 19:40:07 Anonymous 118.229.147.153 [Reply] I’d like to go too. I wonder what will be discussed next time; could you…
everyday life sociology faith anthropology
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2009年12月5日
An Overview of Theories of Human Origins (Animal Biology Assignment)

History of Science & Scholarship2008.05.28
An Overview of Theories of Human Origins (Animal Biology Assignment)
The second assignment for *Animal Biology* took me a full two days and more, the greater part of which was spent fruitlessly searching Chinese Academic Journals for reference papers. In the end I once again discovered that nine out of ten papers written by Chinese people are garbage; books are still useful. And among books, only those written by foreigners are useful. Although the bibliography includes two Chinese books, one a textbook and the other one I bought specially, both clearly plagiarize whole passages from Richard Leakey’s *The Origin of Humankind*. But does saying that a book is “compiled” rather than “authored” mean one can omit notes? Even if “compiled”…
philosophy book reading notes Chinese
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2008年5月28日
On “Tian Song: Why Does a Human Animal Drink the Milk of a Cow Animal?”

Culture & Public Commentary2008.01.08
On “Tian Song: Why Does a Human Animal Drink the Milk of a Cow Animal?”
http://hps.phil.pku.edu.cn/bbs/read.php?tid=269 A recent series of remarks of mine was prompted, in origin, first by a dialogue with “folk science” enthusiasts, and second by a discussion with Teacher Tian. Although Teacher Tian’s serial has not yet reached its conclusion, my response has long since come to an end. I’ll post it here for the record. (No need to indicate which words are mine, I suppose.) Tian Song: Why Does Such an Animal as Human Need to Drink the Milk of Such an Animal as Cow? (Serialized Essay) Why Does Such an Animal as Human Need to Drink the Milk of Such an Animal as Cow? (Part 1): Beyond Scientific Grounds (2498…
culture Tian Song anthropology
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2008年1月8日
Plans for My Senior Year~~

Life & Notes2007.09.29
Plans for My Senior Year~~
I have never much liked making plans, nor do I really stick to so-called plans. What follows are basically just some ideas; whether I follow them is another matter. First, the legendary, much-maligned thing called English… this is definitely something that needs to be at least preliminarily taken care of before I officially enter graduate school, at the very least to make sure I won’t be dragged down by English again. Come to think of it, my ability to study English doesn’t seem all that bad either. For both the CET-4 and CET-6, I crammed like mad at the last minute and somehow scraped through. Now that there’s no…
everyday life history psychology literature
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2007年9月29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
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2007年9月22日
Simon Critchley: “Hello, Humor”

Philosophy & Thought2007.07.25
Simon Critchley: “Hello, Humor”
[UK] Simon Critchley: *Hello, Humor*, translated by Liu Dongxin and Feng Tao, Guangxi Normal University Press, May 2007, 18 yuan The author’s opening words say, “To try to write a philosophy of humor is an impudent and arrogant act, and that act itself has become a joke.” Laughter requires the movement of a person’s whole body and countless nerves; “humor,” along with the making of humor and theories about humor, also engages nearly all of human capacities and forms of knowledge. Humor is the interweaving of sensibility and reason, a mixture of impulse, desire, silence, and reflection, the convergence of literature, poetry, and philosophy. Theoretical discussions of humor are a…
philosophy book reading notes psychology
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2007年7月25日
Useless Technology? — Reflections on Mumford’s Philosophy of Technology

AI & the Future of Technology2007.04.05
Useless Technology? — Reflections on Mumford’s Philosophy of Technology
Today’s introduction to philosophy of technology class talked about Mumford, and his views are very interesting. Mumford criticized the traditional account of human origins that says “man is the maker of tools,” replacing it with “man is the maker of symbols/meanings.” He upheld an idealist view of human nature, believing that human needs are first and foremost not material but spiritual. He thought that Maslow’s sequence—from the needs of survival, material provision, and food and clothing, all the way up to the needs for safety, aesthetics, and self-actualization—was exactly backwards: humans first have a need for self-actualization, and within any material need there already permeates a prior spiritual need. Mumford…
philosophy technology culture Introduction to Philosophy of Technology
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2007年4月5日