标签：scientific spirit

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
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2006年3月25日
Preliminary Thoughts on Whether Traditional Chinese Medicine Is Scientific

History of Science & Scholarship2006.02.25
Preliminary Thoughts on Whether Traditional Chinese Medicine Is Scientific
Whether there was “science” in ancient China, and whether Chinese medicine is scientific—on these questions I had previously read a set of polemical articles, and I found myself more inclined to support Tian Song’s view. Of course, if one thinks carefully about this issue, it is extremely complicated. Neither Tian Song nor the other discussants, as a rule, made clear just what “science” actually is. I have given this question some thought myself, but have not arrived at a satisfactory answer. Today I will only try to write down some preliminary ideas, and may add more later. The question of whether “Chinese medicine” is scientific is in fact also a…
China science Wu Guosheng scientific spirit
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2006年2月25日
Liu Huajie: “China-like Science—From the Perspectives of Philosophy and Sociology”

Culture & Public Commentary2006.02.22
Liu Huajie: “China-like Science—From the Perspectives of Philosophy and Sociology”
Liu Huajie: *China-Style Pseudoscience—From the Perspectives of Philosophy and Sociology*, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press, January 2004 I will read this book again later; mainly because in it, Liu has “collected a great deal of precious historical documentary material” (p. 1, Wu Guosheng’s preface), and it “is a valuable attempt at research into the local social history of science” (ibid.). It is a bit of a pity that “this book has omitted some parts that are not yet suitable for public publication” (ibid.), and the names of many officials in the text are rendered as “×××.” I have absolutely no interest in those hidden names, but the fact that such…
book reading China notes Liu Huajie
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2006年2月22日
Tian Song: “Don Quixote’s Lance”

History of Science & Scholarship2006.02.07
Tian Song: “Don Quixote’s Lance”
Tian Song: *Don Quixote’s Lance—Passing Through the Mist of Scientific Discourse*, Shanghai Science and Technology Education Press, December 2002 Preface: “Misunderstanding Science,” included in the first part on page xiv, is a work from the early 1990s. Looking at it now, there are many lines that make me inwardly embarrassed, for example: ………… these are things I would absolutely not dare to write now. One could add a few lines of mine that I often use to satirize others: fearing that others will say one lacks learning, one has no choice but to pretend to have learning, only to prove in the end that one lacks learning.…… ////——That satire is…
book reading notes faith scientific spirit
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2006年2月7日
[U.S.] R. P. Feynman: “The Pleasure of Finding Things Out”

History of Science & Scholarship2005.12.10
[U.S.] R. P. Feynman: “The Pleasure of Finding Things Out”
[美]R·P·费曼：《发现的乐趣》，张郁乎/译，湖南科学技术出版社2005年 P143-144 ……Scientific knowledge is a kind of capacity: it can do good things, and it can do bad things. But it does not by itself tell people how to use this capacity; obviously, this capacity has value—though that value may perhaps be denied on account of what he does. On my trip to Honolulu, I learned a way of formulating this universal human problem. It was in a Buddhist temple there. The caretaker gave visitors a brief explanation of Buddhism. Then he told the audience that he had some words to say to them, and he wanted them never to forget these words—he ended his speech with them, and…
book reading notes philosophy of science scientific spirit
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2005年12月10日
TV science education is a stronghold for spreading pseudoscience!

Life & Notes2005.08.01
TV science education is a stronghold for spreading pseudoscience!
After patiently observing CCTV for a few days, I found that the science-and-education programs are indeed a breeding ground for pseudoscience! Easter Island stone statues, wild men, Atlantis, UFOs, alien abductions, crop circles… they’ve aired almost every one of those classic, famous pseudoscientific cases. 《Approaching Science》 is basically “Entering Pseudoscience”; “Exploration · Discovery” is 50% pseudoscience; “Mystery Tracking” is 100% pseudoscience—utterly irresponsible pure pseudoscience! Even the programs that are not openly promoting pseudoscience never show the slightest trace of, or even an implied, promotion of the scientific spirit; everything is spreading pseudoscience! The popularity of pseudoscience in modern society: the media must bear 90% of the responsibility! If you want…
everyday life scientific spirit popularization
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2005年8月1日
Perpetual Motion Machines and the Goldbach Conjecture / by Tian Song

History of Science & Scholarship2005.07.31
Perpetual Motion Machines and the Goldbach Conjecture / by Tian Song
《Perpetual Motion Machines and Goldbach’s Conjecture》By Tian Song, Shanghai Science and Technology Press, 2003.11 The most striking manifestation of the current public lack of scientific literacy is how readily people “believe” things; the core of the scientific spirit lies in “doubt”! But I often do not like to bring up this word, because advocating a spirit of “doubt” often leads to misunderstandings. For example, the abuse of doubt. Tian Song’s little book *Perpetual Motion Machines and Goldbach’s Conjecture: Science in the Jianghu* offers many other forms of misunderstanding the scientific spirit—namely, pseudoscience. The prevalence of pseudoscience is also closely related to the direction of public opinion in society. Society has…
book reading notes scientific spirit Copernicus
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2005年7月31日