标签：philosophy of science

The Significance of Mathematics and Logic for Philosophy of Science

History of Science & Scholarship2006.02.22
The Significance of Mathematics and Logic for Philosophy of Science
The mission of philosophy of science and technology is to “reflect” on science and technology. It is to use philosophical thought to explore topics such as the meaning, foundations, significance, value, and influence of science and technology. Of course, an important prerequisite for carrying out reflection is that one must have some understanding of scientific activity. As the saying goes, “One does not know the true face of Lu Mountain, because one is in the mountain itself” (不识庐山真面目，只缘身在此山中): even the most seasoned natural scientist may not necessarily have a complete understanding of the question of what science is. And to step outside science in the narrow sense and observe it…
philosophy science philosophy of science mathematics
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2006年2月22日
A Few Metaphors About “Drawing Boundaries”—Reflections Organized from My Winter Vacation Reading in 2006 (1)

History of Science & Scholarship2006.02.21
A Few Metaphors About “Drawing Boundaries”—Reflections Organized from My Winter Vacation Reading in 2006 (1)
Reflections from Reading During the 2006 Winter Break I. Several Metaphors Concerning “Boundary Drawing” 1. “Pure Water” and “Soda Water” We know that human beings can never produce anything that is 100% pure; perhaps not even God could do so—for even in the imagined “absolute vacuum,” there must inevitably be virtual-real particle pairs produced along with quantum fluctuations. What we call “pumping out a vacuum” merely yields extreme rarity; it can never eliminate impurities. When factories manufacture “pure water,” at best it is only 99.99% pure, with a few more nines besides, and the very process of making pure water often adds new impurities that were not there before. So…
book reading notes history of science philosophy of science
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2006年2月21日
Huang Aihe (Interview): “Drift—The Story of Peking University Scholar Liu Huajie”

History of Science & Scholarship2006.02.19
Huang Aihe (Interview): “Drift—The Story of Peking University Scholar Liu Huajie”
Huang Aihe (interview): “Drift—The Story of Peking University Scholar Liu Huajie,” Hebei University Press, September 2001 I happened upon this today in Guolinfeng, outside my reading plan, hehe~~ Ahem~~ Any fans of Liu Huajie out there~~? This book is so cute! Hehe, I’m not anyone’s fan, but I very much admire Teacher Liu~~ Page 4 Journalist: I saw in a newspaper that when you were little your family lived in a small mountain valley on Changbai Mountain? Liu Huajie: The full name was “Bahao, Seventeenth Team, Sidaojiang Brigade, Yuanyuan Commune, Tonghua City, Jilin Province.” My family wasn’t even in the team’s settlement area; we lived by ourselves in “Banmiao Valley,”…
book reading science notes philosophy of science
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2006年2月19日
[U.S.] Gerald Holton: “Science and Anti-Science”

History of Science & Scholarship2006.02.19
[U.S.] Gerald Holton: “Science and Anti-Science”
[US] Gerald Holton: “Science and Anti-Science,” translated by Fan Dainian and Chen Yanghui, Jiangxi Education Press, January 1999 P128 p. 161 On the other hand, “cyclicists” often imagine science as an activity that is not goal-directed, progressive, or cumulative.………… Cyclicists are more common among social scientists and historians; and, unlike linearists, they believe that science is driven conspicuously or even primarily by social processes. In extreme cases, they think that science is merely the performance of some general spirit of the age, or even chiefly the product of “social construction,” essentially no different from the game of chess. Generally speaking, for such views that are opposed in their fundamental aims,…
book reading notes philosophy of science faith
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2006年2月19日
[Austrian] Erwin Schrödinger: “Nature and Ancient Greece”

History of Science & Scholarship2006.02.19
[Austrian] Erwin Schrödinger: “Nature and Ancient Greece”
[Austrian] Erwin Schrödinger: *Nature and Ancient Greece*, translated by Yan Feng, Shanghai Scientific and Technical Publishers, May 2002 (Translator’s Preface) p. 3 Although Schrödinger loved mathematics and physics in middle school, he did not reject the liberal arts; he did very well in both Greek and Latin, and also taught himself French and English. Later, he read and wrote the four modern languages of English, French, Italian, and Spanish just as well as Greek and Latin. He once translated Homer’s epic poems into English, and translated French poetry into German. He also published a personal poetry collection in 1949. He loved drawing and sculpture, and had a special passion for…
book reading notes philosophy of science Greece
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2006年2月19日
Wang Hongbo and Ma Jianbo, eds., Crossing the Chasm—Science in a Cultural Perspective

History of Science & Scholarship2006.02.16
Wang Hongbo and Ma Jianbo, eds., Crossing the Chasm—Science in a Cultural Perspective
Wang Hongbo Ma Jianbo eds.: Cross the Gorge—Science in a Cultural Perspective, Fujian Education Press, February 2002 Kang Yanwu: An Incomprehensible Humanistic Spirit (Second Paragraph) Page 16 In the fourth paragraph of Zhou Wen, he says: “The real danger of modern technology does not lie in visible consequences such as the explosion of an atomic bomb, but in this mode of dealing with things already contained in its very essence: it strips all things of their real existence and intrinsic value, leaving them only a functional, false existence.” This is truly an arcane piece of abstruse talk. What exactly is “this mode of dealing with things”? How does it “strip all things…
book reading notes philosophy of science value
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2006年2月16日
Noya Keiichi: “Kuhn—Paradigm”

History of Science & Scholarship2006.02.09
Noya Keiichi: “Kuhn—Paradigm”
[Japanese] Noya Keiichi: “Kuhn—Paradigm,” translated by Bi Xiaohui, proofread by Chen Huabei, Hebei Education Publishing House, January 2002 There are some books that one must read, cannot not read, books it is impossible to imagine not reading; for me, Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions is a typical example. And yet I seem to have this lazy habit: since I will have to read it sooner or later, there is no harm in reading it a little later. And so, dragging it on, I still haven’t read it. Next semester I will officially begin studying philosophy of science, and the books that must be read have finally become impossible to…
book reading notes philosophy of science Scientific Revolution
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2006年2月9日
[Fr.] Poincaré: “Last Thoughts”

History of Science & Scholarship2006.02.09
[Fr.] Poincaré: “Last Thoughts”
[French] Poincaré: “The Last Reflections,” translated by Li Xingmin, proofread by Fan Dainian, Commercial Press, December 1996 Poincaré was such a great, even legendary, figure! Poincaré is widely regarded as the “last all-around mathematical genius,” comparable to Gauss; in fact, it would not be at all excessive to remove even the word “mathematical.” “Poincaré’s achievements in the four main branches of mathematics—arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and analysis—were all pioneering; in particular, he made outstanding contributions to branches such as function theory, algebraic geometry, number theory, the mathematics of strings, differential equations, and algebraic topology.” (p. ii) “In astronomy, Poincaré’s main work fell into three areas: the equilibrium shapes of rotating fluids;…
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2006年2月9日
Roger G. Newton: “What Is Scientific Truth—Is the Moon There When No One Looks?”

Philosophy & Thought2006.02.03
Roger G. Newton: “What Is Scientific Truth—Is the Moon There When No One Looks?”
Roger G. Newton, *What Is Scientific Truth?—Is the Moon There When No One Looks?*, translated by Wu Jike, Shanghai Science and Technology Education Press, May 2001 I had read this book already in my first year of high school. At the time I found it hard to understand, but reading it again now, I realize that it is in fact a book about the philosophy of science. Its author is a quantum physicist, yet his familiarity with the philosophy of science, including scientific epistemology, history of science, sociology of science, and so on, is quite broad. The author criticizes sociologists of science who hold relativistic social constructivist views, and he…
book reading notes philosophy of science truth
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2006年2月3日
Fang Zhouzi: “Ulcer—Confronting Academic Corruption in China”

History of Science & Scholarship2006.01.31
Fang Zhouzi: “Ulcer—Confronting Academic Corruption in China”
Fang Zhouzi: “Ulcer—Confronting Chinese Academic Corruption,” Hainan Publishing House, June 2001 Pages 328–329 Q: Could you give a few examples to explain the corruption in Chinese academia? A: The corruption in Chinese academia mainly manifests itself in these several ways: 1. Plagiarism of papers. For example, Professor Yang Jing’an, director of the Artificial Intelligence Application Research Office at Hefei University of Technology, has plagiarized at least five foreign papers over the past few years, and basically copied them word for word from beginning to end, with not a single result of his own. His brazenness is shocking. 1. Plagiarism of papers. For example, Professor Yang Jing’an, director of the Artificial…
book reading notes scholarship philosophy of science
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2006年1月31日