标签：religion

Science—Seen from a Religious Perspective

History of Science & Scholarship2006.04.03
Science—Seen from a Religious Perspective
Human beings are descended from animals; one could even say that human beings are a kind of animal. Of course, human beings are not only animals. Human beings have their own distinctive strengths; their power to understand the world and transform the world is incomparable with that of animals, and rational thought and judgment are the special hallmarks of humanity. To regard human beings merely as a kind of animal is indeed one-sided. But to view human beings from the standpoint from which we view animals, and to examine the commonalities and similarities between human beings and animals, is obviously also highly meaningful. It helps us examine human nature from…
philosophy science philosophy of science faith
阅读全文

2006年4月3日
The Religious Views of Great Scientists: Quotation Piling

Philosophy & Thought2006.03.28
The Religious Views of Great Scientists: Quotation Piling
The Big Scientists’ View of Religion: A Heap of Quotations Einstein: You will have a hard time finding among scientists of deep attainment anyone who does not have his own religious feeling. — “The Religious Spirit of Science,” in The Collected Works of Einstein, vol. 1, p. 67 A person inspired by religion has already, to the greatest possible extent, freed himself from the shackles of selfish desire, and is wholly devoted to thoughts, feelings, and aspirations that possess transpersonal value and which he holds fast to. What I consider important is the power of this content that transcends the individual, and the depth of the belief in its far-reaching…
book reading notes history of science philosophy of science
阅读全文

2006年3月28日
On “Preaching the Gospel and Popularizing Science”

History of Science & Scholarship2006.03.25
On “Preaching the Gospel and Popularizing Science”
Professor Liu Huajie, in his essay “Preaching the Gospel and Doing Popular Science” (http://blog.sina.com.cn/u/485ea879010002nu), makes an interesting comparison between science communication and religious communication. My feeling is this: just as religion is not necessarily something loathsome, to say that scientific activity is similar to religious activity, or even that science in a certain sense has become a kind of religion, is not necessarily meant to demean science. If one were truly to spread science with the attitude of preaching the gospel, that devotion would be worthy of respect. However, just as superstition in religion is similar, many “believers” in science are merely “superstitiously” believing in science in a condition of…
philosophy science Aristotle religion
阅读全文

2006年3月25日
Brief Notes from the First/Third/Fourth Day of Classes in the New Semester

Life & Notes2006.02.23
Brief Notes from the First/Third/Fourth Day of Classes in the New Semester
A Brief Note on the First Day of the New Semester’s Classes Xingding posted on 2006-02-20 22:12:01 1. Liu Zhuanghu: Set Theory — Teacher Liu is very likable. Unlike Xing Taotao, who paced back and forth slowly in front of the blackboard, Teacher Liu dashed rapidly back and forth… I copied the textbook; at first glance, set theory still seems like a difficulty one can bear. Set theory is quite important. If one is studying philosophy of science and technology, one must understand science; it is unacceptable to stand on a humanistic position and speak in airy abstractions while having no understanding of science at all. One can begin to…
philosophy everyday life philosophy of science religion
阅读全文

2006年2月23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
阅读全文

2006年2月19日
[Eng.] Raymond Firth: “Human Types,” translated by Fei Xiaotong

Culture & Public Commentary2006.02.10
[Eng.] Raymond Firth: “Human Types,” translated by Fei Xiaotong
[UK] Raymond Firth: “Human Types,” translated by Fei Xiaotong, Huaxia Publishing House, January 2002 Page 124 Science and magic are usually regarded as the two extremes of the rational and the irrational. Yet if human behavior is sharply divided into two parts, the rational and the irrational, this boundary is not easy to draw. Take, for example, the relation between technical knowledge and magic: we see that in various kinds of attitudes and activities, there are elements of both rationality and irrationality. Some of the substances used in healing magic do seem to have curative effects. Other healing magicians are enthusiastic about reasonable experiments. On the other hand, science in…
book reading culture notes faith
阅读全文

2006年2月10日
Two Leisurely Books: “The Shards of God” and “The Universe of Spirit”

History of Science & Scholarship2006.02.09
Two Leisurely Books: “The Shards of God” and “The Universe of Spirit”
[U.S.] Scott Adams: *The Dilbert Principle: A Workplace Survival Guide*? No—this is actually Scott Adams: *The God Particle Residue—An Alternative Reflection on a Complex World*, translated by Gao Zimei, Xinjiang People’s Publishing House, January 2003 This is a book one can read straight through in fifteen minutes; it is entirely a throwaway diversion I picked up just to make up the numbers. The book claims to be “the world’s best-selling E-Book in history,” which I do believe, because I myself have bought no fewer than ten copies of it! That was simply because, back then, on Dangdang, the price of this book stayed at 1 yuan for a long time!…
philosophy book reading notes religion
阅读全文

2006年2月9日
[German] Feuerbach: “The Essence of Religion”

Philosophy & Thought2006.02.06
[German] Feuerbach: “The Essence of Religion”
Feuerbach [German]: The Essence of Religion, translated by Wang Taiqing, The Commercial Press, July 1999 2: pp. 1–2 Human trust is the basis of religion; and the object of this sense of dependence—that is, that on which human beings rely, and on which they also feel themselves to rely—is originally nothing other than nature. Nature is religion’s original primordial object; this is fully demonstrated by the history of all religions and all peoples. ////—This section states the central idea of the whole book: that the sense of dependence is the basis of religion, and that nature is religion’s original object. I agree with this. 3: p. 2 To say that…
philosophy book reading notes faith
阅读全文

2006年2月6日
[German] Luckmann: “The Invisible Religion”

Culture & Public Commentary2006.01.28
[German] Luckmann: “The Invisible Religion”
[German] Luckmann: The Invisible Religion: The Problem of Religion in Modern Society, translated by Qinfang Ming, China Renmin University Press, October 2003 This book was published in 1967, and we can see that even after forty years, its insights still feel strikingly up to date. For me, this was an inspiring read; I did not study it especially carefully, but read it through in one breath while standing up (though I still did read every word from beginning to end). I have always felt that all the predicaments faced by modern society can ultimately be traced back to two topics—science and religion—and, in particular, when examining Western society and Western…
book reading notes religion value
阅读全文

2006年1月28日
Selected Diary Entries of Kierkegaard

Life & Notes2006.01.23
Selected Diary Entries of Kierkegaard
[Denmark] Søren Kierkegaard: Selected Kierkegaard Diaries, selected and edited by [Denmark] Peter P. Rohde, translated by Yan Kejia and Yao Beiqin, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences Press, 1996 Kierkegaard is one of the philosophers of irrationalist currents whom I admire rather more. What I admire in him chiefly are his “three stages of life” and his view of religion (it seems that a thinker’s attitude toward religion is what most determines how much I like him; only after that comes his attitude toward science). Of course, admiring a thinker’s ideas does not in the least mean agreeing with them. I take a reserved attitude overall toward the excerpts below that…
philosophy book reading notes faith
阅读全文

2006年1月23日