标签：history

[Archive] Keke Forum Lecture 60: “Collapse”…

History of Science & Scholarship2008.11.21
[Archive] Keke Forum Lecture 60: “Collapse”…
Peking University Forum on History of Science and Philosophy of Science, Lecture 60 Time: Friday, November 21, 2008, 3:00–5:00 p.m. Place: Meeting Room, 1st Floor, Department of Philosophy, Peking University (Four Court) Speakers: Jiang Xiaoyuan (Professor, Department of History of Science, Shanghai Jiao Tong University), Liu Bing (Professor, School of Humanities, Tsinghua University) Topic: After *Collapse*: Reflections on the Anxiety of Human Civilization http://hps.phil.pku.edu.cn/bbs/read.php?tid=828&keyword= It’s been a long time since I last wrote a comment after a KeKe Forum lecture. Partly because I didn’t attend some of them, partly because I was lazy, partly because I felt there was nothing much to write, and on top of that the forum…
philosophy book reading history of science notes
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2008年11月21日
What Is “Ideal”?

Life & Notes2008.08.31
What Is “Ideal”?
Today in the freshman group for the 2008 cohort, I mentioned this question (the 08 freshmen are really interesting): what is “ideal”? The concept of “ideal” is one I use fairly often, though I haven’t made many distinctions about it. In “Scattered Notes on Love and Hatred During the Period of Seclusion,” I brought up the connection between “idealism—subjective idealism—philosophy”; in an earlier article I probably mentioned it too (though I couldn’t find it); and more than two years ago, when I talked about “My Life Ideal,” I was using the word ideal entirely in everyday language; while two and a half years ago, in one of the articles that…
philosophy history autobiography knowledge
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2008年8月31日
Revisiting the Meaning of “Suixuan”

Site Matters2008.08.30
Revisiting the Meaning of “Suixuan”
On the meaning of “Suixuan,” I spoke about it once half a year ago, just before I was about to go into seclusion: https://yilinhut.net/2008/02/14/1850.html. Although the experience of seclusion and my return to blogging has not changed Suixuan’s positioning or style, I think I can now give a more comprehensive explanation of Suixuan’s meaning. The most basic point will certainly not change, namely that Suixuan is run entirely selfishly. The reason I make it public for everyone to see is to create an atmosphere more suitable for the development of my own thinking. The very existence of readers is, for me, a kind of spur and stimulus, and readers’ feedback…
philosophy history blog tradition
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2008年8月30日
A Fourth Talk on the Olympics—Assorted Remarks and Miscellaneous Commentary

Culture & Public Commentary2008.08.26
A Fourth Talk on the Olympics—Assorted Remarks and Miscellaneous Commentary
l In the previous few installments I kept rambling farther and farther afield, so in the end I might as well just say a few odds and ends. l What was I doing during the Olympics? Apart from the daily new anime episodes, I basically had the TV on all day watching the Olympics. In the first half, I watched the Olympics while paging through books, mainly getting through 《大问题》 once. In the second half, I watched the Olympics while pedaling a stationary bike, with pretty good results; in the last few days I exercised nearly three hours a day on average. Unfortunately the Olympics ended, and in these past…
China culture history sociology
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2008年8月26日
“‘Pen’ Notes” During My Retreat in 2008

Life & Notes2008.07.20
“‘Pen’ Notes” During My Retreat in 2008
This “Notes” was written from the beginning, when I announced on February 22, 2008 that I was going into seclusion and locking up the blog, all the way to early July, and it was recorded in a notebook I carried with me. It really was because I had shut down the blog as a channel for pouring things out that I had no choice but to switch to another form. Writing by hand feels obviously different from typing, and the articles you produce that way feel different too. The train of thought and the structure both seem more obstructed and less fluent. But being able to jot down, in an…
philosophy everyday life notes history
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2008年7月20日
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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2008年6月3日
Civilization IV (Beyond the Sword) Tech Tree

Life & Notes2008.06.02
Civilization IV (Beyond the Sword) Tech Tree
Technology Name Era Prerequisite Technology Leads To Agriculture Ancient – Pottery Animal Husbandry Animal Husbandry Ancient Hunting Or Agriculture Writing Horseback Riding Archery Ancient Hunting – Bronze Working Ancient Mining Iron Working Metal Casting Fishing Ancient – Pottery Sailing Hunting Ancient – Archery Animal Husbandry Masonry Ancient Mining Or Mysticism Monotheism Architecture Meditation Ancient Mysticism Priesthood Philosophy Mining Ancient – Masonry Bronze Working Monotheism Ancient Masonry And Polytheism Monarchy Theology Mysticism Ancient – Meditation Polytheism Masonry Polytheism Ancient Mysticism Priesthood Monotheism Literature Pottery Ancient The Wheel And (Agriculture Or Fishing) Writing Metal Casting Priesthood Ancient Meditation Or Polytheism Monarchy Code of Laws Writing Sailing Ancient Fishing Calendar Compass The Wheel…
philosophy everyday life history civilization
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2008年6月2日
Immortality from the Perspective of Historicism

Culture & Public Commentary2008.01.22
Immortality from the Perspective of Historicism
Historicism holds that all standards of truth or morality are “historical,” that is, rooted in their own age and culture, and that there is no eternal truth standing outside history. But does historicism imply that people are fated never to “transcend” history? Not at all. We should note that “transcend” does not mean “detach oneself from.” Rather, it means unfolding new history on the premise of standing within history. I have already said before: “Only by relying on history can we possibly transcend history.” Put another way: only by possessing the past can we face the future. Those who have no “past” also have no “future.” The concept I want…
philosophy history pluralism immortality
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2008年1月22日
[Repost] What Is Whig History? (“Whig History” and “Contemporary History,” Whig History of Mathematics and Whig History of Philosophy, and So On)

Culture & Public Commentary2008.01.20
[Repost] What Is Whig History? (“Whig History” and “Contemporary History,” Whig History of Mathematics and Whig History of Philosophy, and So On)
http://hps.phil.pku.edu.cn/bbs/read.php?tid=297 Gu Che What Is “Whig History”? This forum is updated the slowest of all, so let me ask a “layman’s question”~ In a previous post (see: http://hps.phil.pku.edu.cn/bbs/read.php?tid=284), Brother Yuzhile said that the discussion had “changed in nature,” shifting from professional questions to layman’s questions. Since he put it that way, I was no longer comfortable pursuing the matter in that post. But the very basic layman’s question involved there struck me as something really worth pressing further! Brother Yu said: “History is necessarily Whig history. Don’t say that you know the original history, or a philosopher’s original thought, unless you are God.” Good heavens! What does that mean? I’ve…
philosophy history mathematics Whig history
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2008年1月20日
Lecture 45 of the Keke Forum: A Casual Discussion of Transnational Research in the History of Science (December 14)

History of Science & Scholarship2007.12.14
Lecture 45 of the Keke Forum: A Casual Discussion of Transnational Research in the History of Science (December 14)
Peking University Forum on the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, Lecture 45 Time: Friday, December 14, 2007, 3:00–5:00 p.m. Venue: Academic Lecture Hall, Ke-She Center, Chengze Garden Speaker: Wang Zuoyue, Associate Professor, Department of History, California Institute of Technology Topic: A Casual Discussion of Transnational Studies in the History of Science Professor Wang’s talk was excellent, but it was not able to turn into the “roundtable discussion” he had hoped for, because everyone knew too little about “transnational history of science”; today we were mainly listening to Professor Wang’s introduction. Remarkably, today’s forum did not even have a “commentator.” Only Professor Wu raised a question that was said…
science history of science history Peking University
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2007年12月14日