标签：phenomenology

The Definition of “Technology” — A Means to an End, or Something That Can Be Learned?

AI & the Future of Technology2015.08.28
The Definition of “Technology” — A Means to an End, or Something That Can Be Learned?
Recently I have been preparing an article on the historiographical program for a general history of technology to present at this year’s conference on phenomenology and the philosophy of technology. The article has been somewhat hard to bring to term; in fact, I am trying, through this project, to reconsider anew what the essence of “technology” actually is. Here I will first deviate from the paper’s theme and write down some of my recent thoughts. In Heidegger’s mode of approach, we always have to begin by finding an everyday definition, affirming its reasonableness, but questioning its thoroughness, and then, by following the thread, sorting out its more original meaning. Heidegger’s…
technology Heidegger phenomenology General History of Technology
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2015年8月28日
Philosophical Commentary [Episode 2] “What Nice Weather” (Part I): The True Is the Point of Emphasis

Philosophy & Thought2015.08.12
Philosophical Commentary [Episode 2] “What Nice Weather” (Part I): The True Is the Point of Emphasis
The previous installment may still have been a bit too academic in style, so this time I’ll try to speak a little more casually, offering only some prompts and not taking responsibility for digging too deeply. Today I’ll start from an ordinary phrase: “The weather is really nice.” Originally I wanted to write “Beauty, the weather is really nice today,” and discuss truth, goodness, beauty, heaven, earth, and humanity, but it felt like that would involve too much, so I narrowed it down to this one sentence and will talk only about “truth” and “goodness.” “Truth, goodness, and beauty” seem like the most solemn and sacred of all “big words,”…
philosophy phenomenology environment language
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2015年8月12日
Inner Bodily Consciousness

AI & the Future of Technology2015.01.22
Inner Bodily Consciousness
Embodiment is an important concept brought to us by phenomenology, but in the hands of analytic philosophers or cognitive scientists it often becomes reified. The reason for this is, on the one hand, that the very terminology of “embodiment” has already turned the concept into a fixed term (I don’t like this term, especially its Chinese translation); on the other hand, some scholars have given “body” a reified understanding, focusing their attention on the slab of flesh there before them in reality, and thereby turning the problem of embodiment into a problem “about the body.” Thinking of the analyses of time by phenomenologists such as Husserl and Heidegger, we must…
philosophy technology phenomenology Introduction to Philosophy of Technology
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2015年1月22日
An Outline of the General History of Technology

History of Science & Scholarship2014.11.21
An Outline of the General History of Technology
Outline of a General History of Technology Hu Yilin I. A Survey of Western Studies in the History of Technology In the English-speaking world, the history of technology as an established academic discipline roughly began in the 1950s. Its landmark was the publication of the monumental Oxford History of Technology (volumes 1 through 5 were published from 1954 to 1958, the final two volumes in 1978, and the general index for volume 8 was completed in 1984). Another milestone was the founding of the American Society for the History of Technology (SHOT) in 1958 and the launch of its journal Technology and Culture in 1959. From roughly the late 1950s…
technology culture media phenomenology
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2014年11月21日
Exploring the Dark Interstices — A Review of Speculation and Media

AI & the Future of Technology2014.07.25
Exploring the Dark Interstices — A Review of Speculation and Media
(This book review was written as an invited assignment; in fact, I did not manage to read this book through, and I basically never got through the second half, “Speculative Economics.” That may have something to do with its postmodern writing style and with the Chinese translation, of course I also never found my footing, so the review below is actually not quite to the point; if I tricked you into reading it, don’t blame me for leading you astray… Of course, if you do manage to read it with a feel for it, you’re welcome to enlighten me~) Speculation and Media Amazon price: ￥20.10 http://news.sciencenet.cn/sbhtmlnews/2014/7/289950.shtm Born in…
philosophy culture book reading media
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2014年7月25日
Postdoctoral Research Plan (A History of “Trash” from the Perspective of Media Ecology)

AI & the Future of Technology2014.04.17
Postdoctoral Research Plan (A History of “Trash” from the Perspective of Media Ecology)
I am currently applying to do a postdoctoral fellowship with Professor Tian Song at Beijing Normal University. This is a rather rare opportunity, and I very much hope it will come to fruition. As early as the beginning of my undergraduate years, I was already reading Professor Tian’s books, such as The Perpetual Motion Machine and the Goldbach Conjecture, Don Quixote’s Spear. Professor Tian can also be regarded as one of the people who first led me into philosophy of science. Of course, in terms of viewpoints and style, I differ with Professor Tian on many points, so later on my writings were basically more critical than supportive. Even so,…
technology media phenomenology nature
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2014年4月17日
On the Question of the Scientificity of Traditional Chinese Medicine

History of Science & Scholarship2013.12.11
On the Question of the Scientificity of Traditional Chinese Medicine
Yesterday, Senior Brother Shengli came back to the discussion group to take our brickbats, and the result turned into Senior Brother Shengli holding the floor against the assembled scholars, arguing from class all the way through dinner in unflagging high spirits. After graduating, Senior Brother Shengli’s research focus shifted entirely to the question of Chinese medicine, and he tried to vindicate the “scientificity” of Chinese medicine on the basis of Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology. Senior Brother Shengli extended Merleau-Ponty’s distinction between the “phenomenal body” and the “objective body” into a distinction between “phenomenal science” and “objective science,” and argued that the scientificity of Chinese medicine could be supported under the category of…
science media phenomenology tradition
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2013年12月11日
Toys, Mirrors, and Art (Reflections on a Seminar and a Preview)

AI & the Future of Technology2013.09.24
Toys, Mirrors, and Art (Reflections on a Seminar and a Preview)
Today’s seminar featured, in addition to the originally scheduled report by Zhe Ran, another report volunteered by Jing Qi, who commented on Wu Ningning’s “Hansen’s Mirror.” Since I had also, in my Lushan Conference Travelogue, offered some elaborations on Wu Ningning’s research, I brought my own elaborations into the seminar as well for discussion. Jing Qi’s presentations have been improving more and more. I used to criticize him all the time for using too much jargon, but that has gradually changed quite a bit. This time I criticized him for presenting “Hansen’s Mirror” in an overly mystical way; that was aimed at the specific point being made. Overall, as for…
technology phenomenology Introduction to Philosophy of Technology self
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2013年9月24日
The Revolutionary History of Media

AI & the Future of Technology2013.09.16
The Revolutionary History of Media
Pre-seminar note: The paper isn’t finished yet, but I’ll say a few things first anyway. I’ve run into some difficulties with this paper, which have stalled its progress. In fact, this section is quite an important part of my doctoral dissertation plan. Here I am trying to establish a connection between the history of technology and the history of science, linking philosophy of technology → history of technology → history of science → philosophy of science into a single chain. But the ambition of the framework is rather large, and so I ended up letting the conclusion come first, while the material has not kept up. Relying mainly on Walter…
technology history of science media phenomenology
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2013年9月16日
Travel Notes on the Lushan Conference

History of Science & Scholarship2013.09.11
Travel Notes on the Lushan Conference
Departing on August 28 and returning to Beijing on September 4, this conference trip, counting from beginning to end, lasted a full week; it was the longest conference I have ever attended, practically a vacation. Ever since I went to Nanning in 2009 to attend the Third Conference on Phenomenology and Philosophy of Technology, I have now attended five consecutive conferences. Aside from Nanning, where I only wrote a little “Miscellaneous Notes,” I went on to write full conference gripe-sessions about Hailar, Yangma Island, and Guangzhou, and I am now in the awkward position of having ridden the tiger and being unable to get off; this time, too, I ought…
Heidegger phenomenology Kuhn Wittgenstein
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2013年9月11日