标签：human nature

[German] Josef Pieper: “Leisure: The Basis of Culture” — ★

Culture & Public Commentary2009.03.22
[German] Josef Pieper: “Leisure: The Basis of Culture” — ★
[German]Josef Pieper: “Leisure—the Basis of Culture.” Liu Senyao trans., Xinxing Press2005. I often have the feeling of being mischievously—though benevolently—teased by fate: people, classes, books, and so on keep crossing my path at one奇妙 moment or another. As far as books are concerned, it is often just when a set of ideas has taken shape in my mind that a book appears before me that seems as if I myself had written it. Friends who heard me talk about my philosophical views at Xindao yesterday afternoon will probably feel quite亲切 when they see some of the quotations below, as if they were simply repeating what I said yesterday. But this…
philosophy book reading notes human nature
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2009年3月22日
Marx’s Theory of the Human from the Perspective of Philosophy of Technology (Lecture Notes for a Class Report in Marxist Philosophy)

AI & the Future of Technology2008.10.16
Marx’s Theory of the Human from the Perspective of Philosophy of Technology (Lecture Notes for a Class Report in Marxist Philosophy)
Since so many of the selected students are all speaking around Marx’s humanism, I think that as for the overall line of Marx’s anthropology, as well as the sorting out of some basic concepts such as alienation, everyone will probably do better than I can. In particular, the students of Marxist philosophy and Western philosophy should be well practiced in this. And whether in terms of overall grasp or close reading of specific texts, I am an outsider; although I do have some of my own thoughts and takeaways, if other students can speak better here, then I need not make a fool of myself. I am not being modest….
technology freedom human nature Marx
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2008年10月16日
Marxist Human Studies / Text Excerpts from a Philosophy of Technology Class Presentation

Culture & Public Commentary2008.10.16
Marxist Human Studies / Text Excerpts from a Philosophy of Technology Class Presentation
I can’t finish it all…… （The essence of man… sensuous activity, that is, practice） The essence of man is freedom The first precondition of freedom is self-knowledge[①] Freedom is indeed the essence of man[②] Only when news publication is not the product of freedom, that is, not the product of human activity, can it be good. Seen this way, only animals or gods would be able to enjoy the right of news publication[③] Freedom includes not only what I live on, but also how I live; not only doing things that are free, but also doing those things freely. Otherwise, the difference between an architect and a beaver would…
philosophy book reading notes Introduction to Philosophy of Technology
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2008年10月16日
A Third Discussion of the Olympics: Gold Medals and Patriotism

Culture & Public Commentary2008.08.25
A Third Discussion of the Olympics: Gold Medals and Patriotism
This “third essay” was begun not long after the “second essay” was finished, and then written fitfully until today, taking well over ten days in all. So there is no need to be surprised at the confusion of thought in this piece. Generally speaking, the faster I write an article, the more coherent and fluent its line of thought is — on the one hand, precisely because the thought is flowing smoothly, it becomes possible for it to pour out in a torrent; on the other hand, too many interruptions make a line of thought that was already not entirely smooth become even more fragmented. But in any case, since…
China human nature love Olympics
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2008年8月25日
A Second Discussion of the “Olympics” — the “Interestingness” of Games

Culture & Public Commentary2008.08.13
A Second Discussion of the “Olympics” — the “Interestingness” of Games
The “second talk” below is even less coherent, and in fact does not really talk about “Olympics” at all. It is simply continuing to talk about “games.” But since it nevertheless arises from the same occasion as the scattered essays before and after it—namely, the holding of the Olympic Games—I still name it “Second Talk on the Olympics.” Had I not written it at this moment, it might perhaps have been filed under the “nonsense” series. However, although it stands together in the title, the folder in which it is placed on the blog has been changed. The first piece, because it focused on the cultural style of ancient Greece,…
philosophy culture tradition human nature
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2008年8月13日
“United in Hatred Against the Enemy” and “Hating Evil as Though It Were an Enemy”: I Can’t Do That.

Life & Notes2008.07.04
“United in Hatred Against the Enemy” and “Hating Evil as Though It Were an Enemy”: I Can’t Do That.
Friends who have long followed Suixuan will probably already have noticed that Unic, who used to be a regular here and once declared how much she agreed with my views and how much she supported my blog, suddenly became so agitated after I came back from my period of seclusion that she eventually left Suixuan. Some people may wonder: what on earth happened? In fact I was quite astonished myself; I really had underestimated a girl’s emotional reactions. But there was nothing to be done about it. Gentleness and deference may put others at ease, but they cannot help them reach a decision. And since she was facing the college…
philosophy faith autobiography human nature
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2008年7月4日
Only when one can love the whole world and all people can one truly love a single person.

Philosophy & Thought2008.05.20
Only when one can love the whole world and all people can one truly love a single person.
“If I truly love one person, then I also love other people; I will love the world and love life. If I can say to one person, ‘I love you,’ then I should also be able to say, ‘In you I love all people, the world, and myself.’” — Fromm That passage above really sounds as if I had said it myself. In fact, I had already said something similar long ago; it’s just that although I read The Art of Loving, I didn’t notice this sentence from Fromm at the time. Clearly, it points to my view very succinctly. Why am I deliberately singling out this sentence? I want…
philosophy human nature love Fromm
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2008年5月20日
Kantian Ethics and “Anthropocentrism” (Draft)

History of Science & Scholarship2008.05.14
Kantian Ethics and “Anthropocentrism” (Draft)
Abstract: The “human-centeredness” represented by Kant has become the main target of contemporary environmental ethics, and whether nonhuman beings possess “intrinsic value” has become the focal point of controversy. Yet contemporary scholars’ interpretation of what exactly “intrinsic value” means is entirely different from Kant’s. Taking as its point of departure the “human-centeredness” widely criticized by environmental ethics, as well as basic ethical concepts such as “value” and “purpose,” this essay sorts through and comments on the features of Kantian ethics, and points out that environmental ethics’ criticisms of Kant are to a considerable extent based on misreading. This essay argues that the so-called human-centeredness in the Kantian sense is, in…
value Kant human nature paper
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2008年5月14日
“Anthropocentrism” and “Pride” as the Root of Sin: A Collaborative Research Proposal

Philosophy & Thought2007.11.10
“Anthropocentrism” and “Pride” as the Root of Sin: A Collaborative Research Proposal
The team-based project topic mentioned last semester (see 团体研究可以考虑考虑) has finally begun to take shape. It seems that because there are hardly any people doing philosophy of science and technology, the teachers have roughly planned to support one project in political philosophy and one in religious studies. Since an excellent term-paper author is needed to take the lead, the religious-studies part is basically a matter for Yali. The elder brother recommended that I also join the religious-studies team, and I am very grateful for that. Of course, whether I can actually join still depends on their decision. Yali originally wanted to set up a project on investigating Haidian Church. Setting…
philosophy freedom human nature modernity
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2007年11月10日
[U.S.] Steven Levitt, Stephen Dubner: Freakonomics

Web3 & Cypherpunks2007.11.01
[U.S.] Steven Levitt, Stephen Dubner: Freakonomics
[U.S.] Steven Levitt and Steven Dubner: _Freakonomics—A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything_, translated by Liu Xiangya, Guangdong Provincial Publishing Group, Guangdong Economic Press, March 2006, 28 yuan I generally don’t read popular books, especially the flashy, business-and-management-type titles that seem to be everywhere in the “social sciences” section of Xinhua Bookstore. But recently I decided to take another stab at economics, so I first picked up the lightest thing I could find, partly to whet my appetite and partly to see what these bestselling business-and-management books are really like. This book is billed as “the No. 1 business-and-management bestseller in the United States in 2005,” and it…
book reading notes human nature economy
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2007年11月1日