标签：logic

The “Nonsense” that Scientifically Combats Scientific Nonsense — Preface to Recommending Exposing Data Nonsense

History of Science & Scholarship2022.04.07
The “Nonsense” that Scientifically Combats Scientific Nonsense — Preface to Recommending Exposing Data Nonsense
In the past I always wrote book reviews for newspapers; this time, for the first time, I was invited to write a recommendation foreword, which can be found in CITIC Publishing Group’s newly released Debunking Data Bullshit. Since it’s a recommendation and a bit of promotion, I suppose it can also be reposted here. One thing needs to be explained: when I received the advance copy, the tentative Chinese title was The Signal and the Noise of Science; by the time it was officially published, it had been changed to the current Debunking Data Bullshit. So when I wrote the recommendation, I started from the translated title, and the part…
book reading science philosophy of science book review
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2022年4月7日
Selected Readings from the Original Texts of Philosophy of Science: Reichenbach (Post-Class Notes by Zhuowu)

Teaching & Courses2017.11.03
Selected Readings from the Original Texts of Philosophy of Science: Reichenbach (Post-Class Notes by Zhuowu)
Note: This is the text record I asked the students to submit after class. The style and length of this post-class text are unrestricted: it can be a lightly revised version of the lecture notes, or a reorganized account. The purpose is first, to make it easy to review or commemorate at any time; second, to extend the classroom discussion. So I am posting it publicly on the blog, and all students and other friends can continue the discussion here in the comments (especially by using the page-side annotation function). The following text is all provided by student Zhuowu (I’m using nicknames here; everyone is free to comment using either…
philosophy of science course discussion logic
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2017年11月3日
Three Meta-Disagreements with Analytic Philosophy

Philosophy & Thought2011.05.13
Three Meta-Disagreements with Analytic Philosophy
Dialoguing with analytic philosophy is difficult, because what analytic philosophy does best is precise argument over fine details, and it is all too easy to get drawn into the minutiae of a specific problem. We can hold the opposite view from certain analytic philosophers, but by then we have often already walked into their trap. Just as there are surely all kinds of opposing views within analytic philosophy itself, endlessly debated with great fervor, they especially welcome opposing views; then you present your rigorous argument, accept refutation one point by one point, and still have to consider countless possible counterexamples not yet raised. In this way, once you have won…
philosophy phenomenology analytic philosophy logic
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2011年5月13日
The Secrets of the Turing Machine

History of Science & Scholarship2010.09.20
The Secrets of the Turing Machine
The second lecture of “What Is Science” was delivered by Yao Qizhi on the life of Turing. Before the class, as a teaching assistant, my dealings with his female secretary already left me with a very bad impression; I hadn’t expected the lecture itself to be disappointing as well. After the lecture I had already written some thoughts, which I’ll paste below first: Frankly speaking, today Teacher Yao’s lecture was disappointing. The introduction to Turing was too watery, and it hardly introduced what Turing’s enormous contribution actually was. It only said that he designed the “Turing machine,” that the Turing machine is a universal computer, that is, the modern computer….
philosophy science history of science mathematics
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2010年9月20日
How Should We Understand Why “Proof” Is the Core Concept of the “Foundations of Mathematics”?

History of Science & Scholarship2010.07.02
How Should We Understand Why “Proof” Is the Core Concept of the “Foundations of Mathematics”?
First, it is necessary to note that “proof” is an ancient concept, whereas “mathematical foundations” is a much newer one; ever since ancient Greece, “proof” has been one of the central concepts in the Western mathematical tradition, whereas the topic or subdiscipline of “mathematical foundations” emerged mainly only in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The demand for “proof” makes mathematics in Western culture different from arithmetic and surveying. Mathematics pursues not merely the obtaining of a valid result, but even more the process of rigorous deduction and argumentation. But even within the Western tradition, the understanding of mathematical proof has by no means been static. And the reason…
philosophy science mathematics Wittgenstein
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2010年7月2日
Notes from Today’s Xin Dao Salon 09-10-03

Life & Notes2009.10.09
Notes from Today’s Xin Dao Salon 09-10-03
In view of the possibility that someone might mistakenly think last week’s salon had been canceled, I’m adding a belated note on last week’s ramblings. It happened to be the Mid-Autumn Festival, so there was nobody around anywhere. The smoke-free area at Xin Dao was cordoned off; apparently the staff at Xin Dao were going to have a gathering, so I sat in a corner of the smoking area instead. But I wasn’t the only one—dr and jr both came to sit there too (thanks to jr for bringing mooncakes and crispy dates). We read, surfed the Internet, and dispersed after dinner. I heard that Classmate Guawang came looking for…
everyday life logic Introduction to Philosophy of Science science versus metaphysics
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2009年10月9日
Notes from Today’s Xindao Salon, 09-07-04

Life & Notes2009.07.04
Notes from Today’s Xindao Salon, 09-07-04
Today, NKM’s grand visit saved me from turning into a solitary castaway. I showed him his logic paper, “Counterfactual Conditionals in Situational Semantics,” and we tossed around a few things about counterfactual conditionals and possible-world logic. I am completely a layman when it comes to logic, so my opinions probably won’t be of much help to him either (exchanging ideas with laypeople is beneficial for philosophical thinking, but I do not know how it works in a strange specialty like logic). Personally, I do not concern myself with technical details such as the construction of related formal semantic systems. What I mainly care about, as far as counterfactual conditionals are…
everyday life AI logic counterfactuals
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2009年7月4日
A Collection of Questions on the Mung Bean Distribution Problem and a Summary

History of Science & Scholarship2008.11.26
A Collection of Questions on the Mung Bean Distribution Problem and a Summary
After the previous “summary collection” was posted, the argument still continued, but now I’ve made up my mind to cut off the discussion! Professor Wu’s assignment has already been handed out, and other assignments may be close at hand as well, so let me focus on my current affairs for the time being~ This discussion began with a problem provided by the user igeli in https://yilinhut.net/2006/08/05/498.html. Later, because I forcibly closed the comments on that article, the discussion was moved under another unrelated article. I’ve now deleted those comments, but the full content is preserved in this collection. I’ve said before that my interest in philosophy really stems from mathematics,…
science mathematics logic paradox
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2008年11月26日
What Logic Do We Use in Everyday Discussion?

Philosophy & Thought2008.02.18
What Logic Do We Use in Everyday Discussion?
Today I listened to Hu Ge’s “intuitionistic logic.” The first class naturally began with a bit of introduction and overview before moving on to the logical system itself. What I was interested in was the introductory part. Hu Ge works in mathematics, so the philosophical disputes were brushed past in a sentence and did not take up much time. Hu Ge’s sketch of intuitionistic logic was still quite concise and on point: intuitionism is aimed at mathematics, not at everyday communication; in everyday communication, the law of excluded middle remains reliable, because the world with which daily life comes into contact is finite. And intuitionistic logic is not some paranoid…
philosophy discussion mathematics Wittgenstein
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2008年2月18日
Words and Fragments, Episode 4

Philosophy & Thought2007.11.13
Words and Fragments, Episode 4
l What is called the conflict between theory and practice, or the contradiction between ideal and practice, and the like, has since antiquity been a hard-to-resolve opposition. But one cannot simply equate these oppositions with the irreconcilable opposition between philosophy and life; these are not the same thing. In the first place, the problems of conflict, contradiction, or opposition themselves—these views themselves—are already philosophical problems. Philosophy permeates life; a life with not the slightest bit of “philosophy” in it would not be human life. l The preceding paragraph seems to refer to a case I once saw in *Freakonomics*; I have occasionally thought of it lately, and it is still…
philosophy reason Wittgenstein intellectuals
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2007年11月13日