标签：philosophy

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 book reading culture media
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2014年7月25日
An Initial Exploration of Simmel’s Philosophy of Money

History of Science & Scholarship2014.07.01
An Initial Exploration of Simmel’s Philosophy of Money
From ancient times on, philosophy has always concerned itself only with the pure world of ideas and grand ultimate questions, and has prized “useless learning.” Money, by contrast, plainly sat ill with the interests of mainstream philosophers. Even after contemporary philosophers began to turn their gaze toward technology, money as this distinctive artifact still rarely became a topic of central concern. Georg Simmel (1858–1918) was an exception. From *The Psychology of Money* to *The Philosophy of Money*, money was one of the focal points and pivots of his philosophical system. In particular, the massive *The Philosophy of Money* has had a far-reaching influence; even today, whenever one speaks of “philosophy…
philosophy freedom media Kant
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2014年7月1日
Postscript to the Doctoral Dissertation

History of Science & Scholarship2014.06.04
Postscript to the Doctoral Dissertation
On June 1 I finally completed my doctoral dissertation defense. At last I’ve set down one major burden, and can gradually begin rebuilding this blog, which has long lain barren. Let me start with a couple of post-defense reflections. My dissertation did not include a “postscript” or “acknowledgments”; instead, in the final paragraph of the conclusion, I embedded a note of gratitude to my teachers and friends in the Wu circle in the form of a reflexive examination. On the one hand, this was part of my dissertation’s design of “self-entanglement”; on the other hand, I also did not really want to stage a deliberately sentimental expression of feeling at…
philosophy scholarship discussion paper
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2014年6月4日
Art: The Margin of Technology

AI & the Future of Technology2013.10.19
Art: The Margin of Technology
**Art: The Margin of Technology** **Explanation:** This was a philosophy of technology talk I was invited to give to the young artists at the West Five Arts Center. The original title was “Toys and Art: The Margin of Technology,” but in the actual talk I still mainly talked about technology and art; toys were only mentioned in passing. So now I’ve changed the title a bit. What I call “margin” could also be called “defect.” To speak of art as technology’s defect sounds somewhat offensive, so “margin” sounds more positive. A defect always means something that can be supplemented; hitting a wall always means there is room to turn back….
philosophy technology Aristotle Heidegger
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2013年10月19日
Human-Centricity or Humble Solipsism? — A Discussion of Whether Heidegger’s Philosophy Is a Philosophy of Subjectivity

Phenomenology & Heidegger2013.04.01
Human-Centricity or Humble Solipsism? — A Discussion of Whether Heidegger’s Philosophy Is a Philosophy of Subjectivity
Jing Qi reposted an article by Ran Shi, “Is Heidegger’s Early Philosophy a Philosophy of Subjectivity?,” as well as the related discussion—among the participants were Jing Qi, Ran Shi (who is this, anyway? His blog is rather interesting), Professor Meng Qiang, and Professor Li Zhangyin, among others. I also chimed in. My comments leaned toward Ran Shi, and were also endorsed by him, but as always I was still set in opposition to Jing Qi (which, of course, is a very good thing). For the context of the discussion before and after, you can go look on Jing Qi’s or Ran Shi’s blog; I won’t reproduce it here. I’ll simply…
philosophy Aristotle Heidegger discussion
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2013年4月1日
The Two Falls of the Concept of “Nature” and Nature as “Anti-Normative” in Its Original Sense

History of Science & Scholarship2012.12.21
The Two Falls of the Concept of “Nature” and Nature as “Anti-Normative” in Its Original Sense
Today Professor Wu gave a talk, “The Discovery of Nature,” at the Friday philosophy forum of the Institute of Foreign Philosophy. Although the topic was something Professor Wu has always thought about, and I am already fairly familiar with it, it is quite rare to hear him speak at the Institute of Foreign Philosophy; especially with Liu Zhe, Wu Zengding, and Wu Fei all taking part in the questions, it was extremely interesting to listen to. Professor Wu mentioned that “the discovery of nature” actually contains two “falls” of the concept of nature: first, nature as “nature, origin”; second, the emergence of “the natural world” as a special domain of…
philosophy technology science media
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2012年12月21日
Travel Notes from the Guangzhou Conference

History of Science & Scholarship2012.12.16
Travel Notes from the Guangzhou Conference
In Guangzhou I caught a cold, and after coming back I spent several days recuperating, so the task of writing up the trip was delayed by several days as well; I only began writing on December 8…… First, a bit of emotion: how time flies. In a daze, the annual conference on phenomenology and philosophy of technology has already been held six times, and this was the fourth conference I have attended. I took part in the Nanning conference as a master’s student, and in the blink of an eye I am almost done with my doctorate. As for these conference “takedowns” of “I love my teacher,” this is already…
philosophy China technology philosophy of science
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2012年12月16日
A Supplement to “Media History as Transcendental Philosophy”: The Relation Between Ontology and Epistemology; Nature Is Naturally the Boundary of Technology

AI & the Future of Technology2012.11.20
A Supplement to “Media History as Transcendental Philosophy”: The Relation Between Ontology and Epistemology; Nature Is Naturally the Boundary of Technology
Today’s discussion seminar covered that earlier article, and the result seemed pretty good. Of course, Wu’s comments and those of the students pointed out that while my article reads smoothly overall, a close look reveals many gaps in the logic, especially the final section, which seems overly hurried. This is certainly something that can be improved in part—particularly, the last section ought to have been written in more detail. At the time I probably felt that I was almost done, breathed a sigh of relief, and then slackened off, lacking patience in handling the most crucial part of this section. But in a certain sense logical gaps are impossible to…
philosophy technology media Aristotle
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2012年11月20日
On Elitism and Esoteric Truth

Culture & Public Commentary2012.10.18
On Elitism and Esoteric Truth
Today I went to sit in on the World Congress of Chinese Philosophers, took a look at some academic celebrities whose names I had only heard before, and was greatly disappointed. I’m too lazy to go again tomorrow. That Tang Yijie was unreliable I already knew; that Chen Lai was reliable I also already knew. But I didn’t know many of the other famous figures very well. After listening to one round today, basically the only one of any interest was Chen Lai; the others, such as Lin Yusheng, sounded academically fairly sound, but the reports themselves were a little dull. As for the much-vaunted Gan Yang and Liu Xiaofeng,…
philosophy culture China media
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2012年10月18日
[Reprint] Zhou Ruixuan: Lovers of wisdom, the things you don’t know — A note on Hu Yilin, a doctoral student in the Department of Philosophy, Class of 2010

Life & Notes2012.09.18
[Reprint] Zhou Ruixuan: Lovers of wisdom, the things you don’t know — A note on Hu Yilin, a doctoral student in the Department of Philosophy, Class of 2010
Note: The author is a girl I met back then when I was a TA for the “What Is Science?” course, and of course I was very honored to accept the interview. This should count as the first time I was written into an interview article, though of course one can still find an interview from when I was in middle school, as the “Dong Gezhi Star,” but that interview was fake; what I said was made up. This piece, however, really was the product of an actual conversation, and the author also used a lot of material from my blog. She showed it to me before publication, so it…
philosophy China autobiography Peking University
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2012年9月18日