标签：Aristotle

Notes and Illustration Sources for “A Brief History of Scientific Culture”

Life & Notes2014.07.11
Notes and Illustration Sources for “A Brief History of Scientific Culture”
My first “monograph” has finally been published. This book is mainly a compilation of some articles already on the blog, with a bit of revision and stitching-together added to make a small book. Preparation for it began in September 2012, and by the end of that year the manuscript was basically finished. With Wu Laoshi’s help, it was published by Peking University Press as a public-literacy reader. Originally, I had hoped it would give me one more line on my record when I graduated and went job hunting for my doctorate, but after the slow publishing process, it finally came off the press at such an awkward time. By then…
science history of science Aristotle Bitcoin
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2014年7月11日
Art: The Margin of Technology

AI & the Future of Technology2013.10.19
Art: The Margin of Technology
**Art: The Margin of Technology** **Explanation:** This was a philosophy of technology talk I was invited to give to the young artists at the West Five Arts Center. The original title was “Toys and Art: The Margin of Technology,” but in the actual talk I still mainly talked about technology and art; toys were only mentioned in passing. So now I’ve changed the title a bit. What I call “margin” could also be called “defect.” To speak of art as technology’s defect sounds somewhat offensive, so “margin” sounds more positive. A defect always means something that can be supplemented; hitting a wall always means there is room to turn back….
philosophy technology Heidegger Aristotle
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2013年10月19日
Human-Centricity or Humble Solipsism? — A Discussion of Whether Heidegger’s Philosophy Is a Philosophy of Subjectivity

Phenomenology & Heidegger2013.04.01
Human-Centricity or Humble Solipsism? — A Discussion of Whether Heidegger’s Philosophy Is a Philosophy of Subjectivity
Jing Qi reposted an article by Ran Shi, “Is Heidegger’s Early Philosophy a Philosophy of Subjectivity?,” as well as the related discussion—among the participants were Jing Qi, Ran Shi (who is this, anyway? His blog is rather interesting), Professor Meng Qiang, and Professor Li Zhangyin, among others. I also chimed in. My comments leaned toward Ran Shi, and were also endorsed by him, but as always I was still set in opposition to Jing Qi (which, of course, is a very good thing). For the context of the discussion before and after, you can go look on Jing Qi’s or Ran Shi’s blog; I won’t reproduce it here. I’ll simply…
philosophy Heidegger Aristotle environment
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2013年4月1日
Settling Accounts After the Fall and Talking About Shoes

Life & Notes2013.03.27
Settling Accounts After the Fall and Talking About Shoes
A few days ago I reposted and mocked Xi’s “shoe theory” on Weibo, and my dad got unsettled. He immediately called to warn me to be careful with what I said, so as to avoid settling accounts after the autumn harvest. Generally speaking, it is rather awkward when the blogs and Weibo accounts of people born in the 1980s and 1990s come under the gaze of their parents, and I am no exception. Although my writing is addressed to anyone, and even if it is watched by parents and relatives it will not place any real pressure on me, it would be a lie to say that it causes no…
China freedom history tradition
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2013年3月27日
A Supplement to “Media History as Transcendental Philosophy”: The Relation Between Ontology and Epistemology; Nature Is Naturally the Boundary of Technology

AI & the Future of Technology2012.11.20
A Supplement to “Media History as Transcendental Philosophy”: The Relation Between Ontology and Epistemology; Nature Is Naturally the Boundary of Technology
Today’s discussion seminar covered that earlier article, and the result seemed pretty good. Of course, Wu’s comments and those of the students pointed out that while my article reads smoothly overall, a close look reveals many gaps in the logic, especially the final section, which seems overly hurried. This is certainly something that can be improved in part—particularly, the last section ought to have been written in more detail. At the time I probably felt that I was almost done, breathed a sigh of relief, and then slackened off, lacking patience in handling the most crucial part of this section. But in a certain sense logical gaps are impossible to…
philosophy technology media Aristotle
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2012年11月20日
On the Discussion of Intentional History and Actual History

Culture & Public Commentary2012.11.10
On the Discussion of Intentional History and Actual History
Recently the blog update has come almost to a standstill, mainly because three mountains are weighing on me: first, the discussion-group paper (which also doubles as a submission for the phenomenology and philosophy of technology conference, as well as part of the introduction to the doctoral dissertation); second, the plan to turn the blog posts into a book (*A History of Science and Culture*); and third, using WordPress to build the soon-to-be-relaunched website of the Center for History and Philosophy of Science. These things will probably all be finished within a week. Years of not updating have already caused my blog’s PR rating to drop…… Today, to celebrate my birthday,…
technology history of science media history
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2012年11月10日
Reading Foster: “The Christian Doctrine of Creation and the Rise of Modern Natural Science”

History of Science & Scholarship2012.06.14
Reading Foster: “The Christian Doctrine of Creation and the Rise of Modern Natural Science”
On the relationship between science and religion, if one were to say that the two are irreconcilable, then the focal point of the conflict often lies in Christianity’s doctrine of creation, where Christian teachings about the universe or nature come into direct collision with natural science. Conversely, if one were to say that science and religion complement and support one another, one would still have to begin from creation theory. In 1934 Michael Foster wrote the article “The Christian Doctrine of Creation and the Rise of Modern Natural Science,” attempting to reduce Christianity’s doctrine of creation to a necessary condition for the rise of modern natural science, and offering a…
science Aristotle modernity religion
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2012年6月14日
The Re-Creation of the World: How Modern Science Came Into Being

History of Science & Scholarship2012.04.08
The Re-Creation of the World: How Modern Science Came Into Being
[荷]H·弗洛里斯·科恩：《The Re-Creation of the World: How Modern Science Came into Being》，translated by Zhang Butian, Hunan Science and Technology Press, 2012 This is a slim booklet written for ordinary readers, and may be regarded as a popularized version of the author’s other weighty scholarly work, *How Modern Science Was Born: Four Civilizations, One Breakthrough in the Seventeenth Century*. The Needham Question has long been a topic of particular concern to Chinese historians of science and even to the general public. The Hong Kong scholar Chen Fangzheng recently published *Inheritance and Rebellion: Why Did Modern Science Appear in the West?* Teacher Zhou Cheng translated a book also called *Why Did Modern…
China book reading history of science notes
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2012年4月8日
Western Learning as Substance, Chinese Learning as Application

Culture & Public Commentary2012.03.28
Western Learning as Substance, Chinese Learning as Application
Previously I mentioned that I wanted to write about “why study the West,” and that made me think of the phrase “Western essence, Chinese utility” (西体中用). A quick search online showed that Mr. Li Zehou had already brought it up. He explained “food, clothing, housing, and transportation” as the “essence,” and what he meant by Western essence, Chinese utility was “the ‘Western essence’ of modernization put to use on Chinese soil.” Some of Mr. Li Zehou’s ideas are excellent, but my line of thought is different from his. Mr. Huang Yinong also seems to have mentioned “Western essence, Chinese utility,” but in a more general way. What I mean by…
China culture scholarship education
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2012年3月28日
Notes on “Being and Time” II: “Being and Media”?

Philosophy & Thought2012.03.01
Notes on “Being and Time” II: “Being and Media”?
The portion I read today is, in my view, not especially important; Heidegger lays out the framework of “the book” (including the unfinished second part). To me, this framework is open to question. What I admire most is the first half of *Being and Time*; but once “temporality” is unveiled and the whole thing is repeated on the basis of temporality, I can no longer keep up with Heidegger’s train of thought. Still, broadly speaking, my line of thought remains corresponding to Heidegger’s—only, starting from “time,” perhaps more revisions are needed. Last week I said that what Heidegger calls “that which is asked about” (问之所及), “that which is questioned” (问之所问),…
philosophy technology book reading media
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2012年3月1日