标签：culture

Film and Television Appreciation Midterm Assignment

Life & Notes2006.11.17
Film and Television Appreciation Midterm Assignment
Midterm Assignment for Film Appreciation A、“Request for Feedback” Questions: 1. Is the difficulty and depth of this course appropriate? Is there enough knowledge content? Please give examples. I feel the difficulty is appropriate. As for the depth, since I don’t have much else to study as a point of comparison, it’s hard to say. Through this course I learned a great deal about the artistic and technical aspects of film, and came to understand that film, as the “seventh art” and as a kind of “culture,” is something very special and important. Compared with the vast topic of film art, the “knowledge content” a general elective course can provide is…
book reading culture notes art
阅读全文

2006年11月17日
A Supplement on “Preserving Common Ground While Seeking Differences”

Philosophy & Thought2006.11.08
A Supplement on “Preserving Common Ground While Seeking Differences”
Today, in the course on globalization issues, the topic of dialogue among civilizations happened to come up, and I went ahead and advocated my own position of preserving commonality while seeking difference. There were many issues raised in the discussion. I’ll make a few supplementary remarks here. I acknowledge that diversity is a reality. But in what sense is it a reality? On the level of ontology, differences are certainly prior to dialogue; the fact of plural coexistence already existed long before plural dialogue got underway. But that is the ontological level—what about the level of knowledge? From the epistemic point of view, those differences may be known to us,…
philosophy culture discussion pursuit
阅读全文

2006年11月8日
Preserving Common Ground, Seeking Difference—A Pluralist View of Dialogue

Philosophy & Thought2006.11.07
Preserving Common Ground, Seeking Difference—A Pluralist View of Dialogue
Keeping the Common While Seeking the Different “Seek common ground while reserving differences” is a good phrase. When the various parties differ in position and judgment, one can first set aside hostility, consider those claims on which everyone agrees, cooperate first, and then gradually negotiate the differences. This attitude is very important in many practical activities that require cooperation, and especially necessary for urgent issues such as ecological protection. However, “seeking common ground while reserving differences” is not enough to capture the attitude toward exchange held by pluralism. It is a very good attitude for cooperation, but not quite the best attitude for dialogue. The pluralist view of dialogical coexistence…
philosophy culture China discussion
阅读全文

2006年11月7日
What Is Art? — On Whether “Super Girl” Is Art

Culture & Public Commentary2006.11.04
What Is Art? — On Whether “Super Girl” Is Art
A little earlier, in the school debate contest, I heard that the new students of our department’s 2006 cohort put on an excellent performance. The final loss was really not a matter of ability; apparently we drew the position “Super Girl is art,” and our opponents were, incredibly, the School of Art…… Some people say that “Super Girl is art” is practically like saying “Snow is black” — there’s simply no way to argue it. At the time, I thought that made sense too, and could only sigh at our bad luck. But after thinking it over carefully later, it didn’t seem to be quite that way. If I had…
philosophy culture art
阅读全文

2006年11月4日
Actuality and Possibility; and the Question of Academic Norms

Culture & Public Commentary2006.11.02
Actuality and Possibility; and the Question of Academic Norms
Yesterday’s dispute over globalization again flared up with ZW. In fact, the point at issue is the same as in last week’s and even earlier disputes: in the end, it all comes down to the use of words and concepts. Let me begin with the concrete issue: possibility and actuality. ZW pointed out that the “possibility” of a global government used by the student giving the report at the time was inappropriate, and that it might as well be changed to “actuality.” This is because the word “possibility,” in the context of analytic philosophy, refers to logical possibility—for example, that the sun will rise in the west tomorrow is logically…
philosophy culture scholarship pluralism
阅读全文

2006年11月2日
What Do the Mythic Theology, Civic Theology, and Natural Theology of Ancient Greece and Rome Refer To, and How Are They Related?

Culture & Public Commentary2006.10.29
What Do the Mythic Theology, Civic Theology, and Natural Theology of Ancient Greece and Rome Refer To, and How Are They Related?
宗教学导论第一次作业 What Do the Mythological Theology, Civic Theology, and Natural Theology of Ancient Greece and Rome Mean, and What Is Their Relationship? The Roman scholar Varro (Terentiu Varro) distinguished these three kinds of theology—that is, three different ways of explaining the gods: the mysterious (mythicon) (that is, the mythic (fabula)), the civic (civile), and the natural (physicon). Myth is directed toward the theater; it is the stories of the gods told in poetry. Civic theology is directed toward the city; it is the worship of the gods and the activities of festivals and celebrations. Natural theology, by contrast, is directed toward the world; it comes from philosophers’ rational reflections…
philosophy culture Aristotle religion
阅读全文

2006年10月29日
Some Questions from the Classroom Discussion on “Studies of Globalization Issues”

Culture & Public Commentary2006.10.25
Some Questions from the Classroom Discussion on “Studies of Globalization Issues”
On the Question of Quoting Authorities I would never deny the importance of basic reading of the literature, and I certainly would not oppose making citations in an article; my own style of writing places quite a strong emphasis on quotation. But writing is one thing, discussion is another. At first I mistakenly thought that the text written in ZW’s class was aimed at our earlier discussion, and so I reacted with displeasure. If it was only written as a private note to himself, then of course there is no problem. In discussion, even in scholarly discussion, the ultimate purpose of citing the classics is either to explicate another person’s…
philosophy culture humanities
阅读全文

2006年10月25日
What Should “Commodity” Be?

Culture & Public Commentary2006.10.11
What Should “Commodity” Be?
What Should a “Commodity” Be? —In Defense of Marx’s Definition of “Commodity” “What has ‘consumption’ brought?”—If you were to let modern people discuss this topic, especially if you handed it to Chinese youth—the most enthusiastic group about the “market economy” in today’s world[①]—their general line of thought would probably be: consumption promotes exchange, exchange promotes production, production in turn promotes consumption, and so on; in short, consumption will ultimately bring “abundance”—the abundance of wealth, the abundance of life, and so forth. Thus we often hear slogans such as “stimulate consumption” and “boost domestic demand.” In any case, consumption is always a good thing; surplus generates consumption, consumption creates prosperity… This…
culture value Marx capitalism
阅读全文

2006年10月11日
From “Life Is Like a Play” to “Money Worship”

Culture & Public Commentary2006.09.25
From “Life Is Like a Play” to “Money Worship”
“Life is like a play, and a play like life” is an old saying. This metaphor is very apt—on the stage of life, each person is both audience and actor. On the one hand, one must find one’s role correctly and act it brilliantly with one’s whole heart; on the other hand, one is also a spectator and applauder of this drama. “Life is like a play” can also be interpreted from a negative angle: for example, life is false just as acting is false, and being a person is hypocritical just as actors are hypocritical; one can only honestly follow the script and obediently play the role arranged for…
culture value modernity game
阅读全文

2006年9月25日
The Guangling Melody

Life & Notes2006.09.17
The Guangling Melody
Today, at Sanliji, under Lao Yang’s instigation, I casually bought a CD of the ancient guqin piece “Guangling San,” and when I listened to it I unexpectedly felt that it was extraordinarily good. A long time ago, when I heard “Guangling San,” I wasn’t all that moved; it felt like beating cotton, as it were. But this time I really felt it was very good. Could it be that my “level” has improved? Hehe～ The version I found online is different from the CD, but it is also very pleasant to listen to. By the way, the Sanliji Bookstore now has a newly added batch of academic books, and they’re…
everyday life culture book review
阅读全文

2006年9月17日