Online research in philosophy

Unlike some western scholars who limit their interpretation of modernity and its source to conceptual, cultural, value, and psychological dimensions, Marx pointed out that modernity came mainly from modern production system. Starting from the historical context of his time, Marx explored various aspects of modernity and pointed out that modernity was inherent in the logic of capital, resided in the process of historical evolution, arose in social conflicts and segmentation, and presented itself in a global horizon. The logic of capital, (...) the historical viewpoint, the theory of contradiction and a global perspective are fundamental in Marx’s analysis of the problems of modernity. Marx’s ideas of modernity are methodologically significant to the construction of modernity in contemporary Chinese society. (shrink)

We prove that Rado's Conjecture implies that the nonstationary ideal on ω 1 is presaturated.

The ultimate aim of artistic exploration is to explore the claim that objects are different from experience and beauty is just a by-product of the exploration. In other words, the truth in the eyes of each person may quite literarly not be the same. A typical example is that some art archaeologists attribute the artistic achievements of Vincent van Gogh and Paul Cezanne to their eye diseases.1 Saying this, however, is somewhat unreliable—just like we could not arbitrarily say that the (...) world in the eyes of animals, who have a completely different physciological and optic nerve structure, is quite diferent from that of humans. This indicates that differences in the visual apparatus influence the viewing body’s .. (shrink)

This paper explores the role of ethics in design. Traditionally, ethical questions have been seen as marginal issues in the design of technology. Part of the reason for this stems from the widely held notion of technology being “out of control.” This notion is a barrier to what I call “ethical design” because it implies that ethics has no role to play in the development of technology. This view, however, is challenged by recent work in the field of Science and (...) Technology Studies (STS). Looking into the dynamics of technological change, STS scholars argue that human choices are present at every stage of a technology’s development and, furthermore, that human values are reflected in the very design of artifacts. This alternative view suggests that ethics can and should be included in the design process. Drawing on examples from the privacy arena. I point to some of the potential advantages of addressing ethical concerns early on in the design of a technology. I conclude with some general strategies for bringing ethics back into design. (shrink)

The labor philosophy is a concept formatting by reflection on practical philosophy in contemporary China and a regression from the understanding of Marx’s philosophy foundation to Marx text. That Marx’s philosophy is explained to be practical philosophy by Italian Labriola, Gramsi and Yugoslavia practice school in 20 century produced great effect on research filed of Marx’s philosophy. Practical philosophy has been rising in the study of Marx’s philosophy in China mainland since more than 20 years ago, it is the mainstream (...) discourse in philosophical circles of modern China mainland. In the study course of contemporary China practice philosophy, it general falls into four theoretical patterns: practice epistemology, practice ontology, communicative practical theory and practice materialism and they once promote the study of Chinese Marx’s philosophy effectively. Practice is the key category of Marx’s philosophy. But practice category presents gradually the trend of totalization in the study course of practice philosophy, That the practice form being presented diachronically such as material production labor, the activities of dealing with social relations and science experiment etc. is coordinated synchronically makes the historicity of practice be masked, thus the characteristic of Marx’s philosophy is weakened and the rationality problem of practice philosophy appears slowly: the practice category being totalized has not been a origin category of Marx’s philosophy. The basic connotation of practice in Marx’s philosophy is material production labor. Just on the base of labor category, Marx exploited existence theory in existentialism; Only let labor category be logic starting point can we clarify the basic characteristic of Marx’s philosophy in existentialism dimension. The paper refers to the concept of labor philosophy in order to emphasize that the labor category is the origin of Marx’s philosophy and the breakthrough of his philosophy revolution. With the logical development of labor category, we can give a new explanation on the system, contemporariness and cosmopolitism of Marx’s philosophy in order to reach a new realm of the study of Marx’s philosophy. (shrink)

Since its original publication in Chinese in the 1930s, this work has been accepted by Chinese scholars as the most important contribution to the study of their country's philosophy. In 1952 the book was published by Princeton University Press in an English translation by the distinguished scholar of Chinese history, Derk Bodde, "the dedicated translator of Fung Yu-lan's huge history of Chinese philosophy" ( New York Times Book Review ). Available for the first time in paperback, it remains the most (...) complete work on the subject in any language. Volume I covers the period of the philosophers, from the beginnings to around 100 B.C., a philosophical period as remarkable as that of ancient Greece. Volume II discusses a period lesser known in the West--the period of classical learning, from the second century B.C. to the twentieth century. (shrink)

Feng Youlan emphasizes the concept of “creativity” in his article “Explanation of Mencius’ Chapter on Strong, Moving Vital Force”, in particular highlighting the problem whether the “strong, moving vital force” is “innate” or “acquired”. Cheng Hao and Zhu Xi believed the “strong, moving vital force” was endowed by Heaven, so was therefore innate; “nourishment” cleared fog and allowed one to “recover one’s original nature”. Mencius’ theory on “the good of human nature” is illustrated in the concept (...) of integrated “original endowment”. So Cheng Hao and Zhu Xi’s theory of “recovering the original nature” proposed that the “strong, moving vital force” was innate, which is in complete agreement with Mencius and of which there is ample evidence in Mencius . However, “nature” is “created by the accumulation of righteousness”. Namely, it is the completion and presentation of the process of creation and transformation of human beings. Only when we consider both Cheng Hao and Zhu Xi’s theory and Feng Youlan’s theory can we fully understand Mencius’ theory of “the nourishment of the strong, moving vital force”, which is of great theoretical and academic value in accurately understanding Mencius and the Confucian theory of mind-nature. (shrink)

Feng Youlan’s Xin Shixun 新世训 (New Treatise on the Way of Life) written in the late 1930s differed from traditional moral teachings because it focused on nonmoral life lessons and how to virtuously pursue success. It advanced an interpretation of traditional virtues as life lessons for young people, so that these virtues could transform an individual life in modern society. Thereby the morals of ancient sages could transfer to the modern, individual, and morality. The problem is just how the (...) ideals of traditional Chinese culture have adjusted themselves to modern society. Following the phrase after-virtue , this effort can be called a pursuit of after-sage. (shrink)

Feng Youlan's (1895-1990) "History of Chinese Philosophy" is at present still the most well-known introduction to Chinese philosophy in any Western language. During the 1980s Feng Youlan published a seven-volume new version of his "History" in which he further developed his view on history so that the work itself can be considered part of the history of Chinese philosophy in this century. This paper presents a preliminary analysis and comparison of the different versions of the "History.".

: Feng Qi is widely acknowledged in mainland China as one of the few consummate and most original thinkers to have emerged there since 1949. The essence of Feng's thought is to provide a solution to the time-honored problem of the confrontation between fact and value, between a positivistic/ scientific approach and a humanistic/metaphysical approach. Feng tries to solve this conflict by constructing what he calls "epistemology in a broader sense," at the core of which is his (...) theory of the "transformation of knowledge into wisdom.". (shrink)

Feng Qi is widely acknowledged in mainland China as one of the few consummate and most original thinkers to have emerged there since 1949. The essence of Feng's thought is to provide a solution to the time-honored problem of the confrontation between fact and value, between a positivistic/scientific approach and a humanistic/metaphysical approach. Feng tries to solve this conflict by constructing what he calls "epistemology in a broader sense," at the core of which is his theory of (...) the "transformation of knowledge into wisdom.". (shrink)

Abstract This paper discusses the use of role models as a means for political socialization and moral education in the People's Republic of China. It looks at the use of role models in historical context and shows the ways in which children were encouraged to learn from the socialist role model, Lei Feng. In answer to the question, ?What are the children really learning from Comrade Lei Feng?? the paper suggests that Chinese children in post?Liberation China were actually (...) learning a set of core virtues that have their roots in the Confucian tradition and that individual Chinese constructed their own versions of the role model in accordance with their own beliefs. Finally, the paper suggests that although the socialist role model, Lei Feng, may disappear as China becomes increasingly capitalistic, the use of role models as a pedagogical tool will not. Indeed, the excesses of ?commodity socialism? may call for new role models who perpetuate certain values like benevolence which are rooted in Confucian and communist thought. (shrink)

There are three major theses in Plantinga’s latest version of his evolutionary argument against naturalism. (1) Given materialism, the conditional probability of the reliability of human cognitive mechanisms produced by evolution is low; (2) the same conditional probability given reductive or non-reductive materialism is still low; (3) the most popular naturalistic theories of content and truth are not admissible for naturalism. I argue that Plantinga’s argument for (1) presupposes an anti-materialistic conception of content, and it therefore begs the question against (...) materialism. To argue for (2), Plantinga claims that the adaptiveness of a belief is indifferent to its truth. I argue that this claim is unsupported unless it again assumes an anti-materialistic conception of content and truth. I further argue that Plantinga’s argument for (3) is not successful either, because an improved version of teleosemantics can meet his criticisms. Moreover, this version of teleosemantics implies that the truth of a belief is (probabilistically) positively related to its adaptiveness, at least for simple beliefs about physical objects in human environments. This directly challenges Plantinga’s claim that adaptiveness is indifferent to truth. (shrink)

Yang, Guorong 楊國榮: The Self-maturating and the Maturating of Things: The Becoming of the World of Meaning 成己與成物—意義世界的生成. Content Type Journal Article Pages 269-271 DOI 10.1007/s11712-011-9214-5 Authors Feng Xiang, Department of Philosophy, East China Normal University, 500 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai, 200241 People’s Republic of China Journal Dao Online ISSN 1569-7274 Print ISSN 1540-3009 Journal Volume Volume 10 Journal Issue Volume 10, Number 2.

Concerns with improper collection and usage of personal information by businesses or governments have been seen as critical to the success of the emerging electronic commerce. In this regard, computer professionals have the oversight responsibility for information privacy because they have the most extensive knowledge of their organization's systems and programs, as well as an intimate understanding of the data. Thus, the competence of these professionals in ensuring sound practice of information privacy is of great importance to both researchers and (...) practitioners. This research addresses the question of whether male computer professionals differ from their female counterparts in their self-regulatory efficacy to protect personal information privacy. A total of 103 male and 65 female subjects surveyed in Taiwan responded to a 10-item questionnaire that includes three measures: protection (protecting privacy information), non-distribution (not distributing privacy information to others), and non-acquisition (not acquiring privacy information). The findings show (1) significant gender differences exist in the subjects' overall self-regulatory efficacy for information privacy, and, in particular, (2) that female subjects in this study exhibited a higher level of self-regulatory efficacy than males for the protection and non-acquisition of personal privacy information. The identification of the factorial structure of the self-regulatory efficacy concerning information privacy may contribute to future research directed to examining the links between privacy efficacy and psychological variables, such as ethical attitude, ethical intention, and self-esteem. Studies can also be extended to investigate how different cultural practices of morality and computer use in men and women may shape the different development patterns of privacy self-efficacy. Understanding the different cultural practices may then shed light on the social sources of privacy competence and the appropriate remedies that can be provided to improve the situation. (shrink)

Retrospect and prospect for contemporary Chinese thought -- Resolving the tension between tradition and modernity : reflections on the May Fourth cultural tide -- The May Fourth tide and modernity -- Radicalism in the cultural movement of the twentieth century -- Modern Chinese culture and the difficulties of Confucian learning -- Liang Shuming's early view of Oriental and Western culture -- The establishment and development of Feng Youlan's view of culture -- A reflection on the new school of principle (...) and thoughts on modernity -- Confucian thought and the world of modern East Asia -- Confucian ethics and China's modernisation -- East Asian tradition according to modernisation theory -- A sense of predicament and inter-dependency -- Liang Shuming and Max Weber on Chinese culture -- Values, authority, tradition and Chinese philosophy -- The difficulty of undertaking national studies research in the nineties : the problem of the national studies fever and research into traditional culture -- The value and status of traditional Chinese culture. (shrink)

By analyzing Zhu Xi and Zhang Zai’s three representative explanatory paradigms—that of Feng Youlan, Mou Zongsan and Zhang Dainian, the paper tries to show that studying Chinese philosophy in a Western way and emphasizing logical consistency will unavoidably lead to the defects of simplicity and partiality. In addition to Buddhism and Daoism, Song-Ming philosophy had also absorbed thoughts from the Pre-Qin, Han, Wei and Jin dynasties. The existence of multiple philosophical thoughts and their new synthesis lead to internal contradictions (...) in Song-Ming philosophy and Li Xue 理学 (Neo-Confucianism in the Song and Ming dynasties). The contradiction between the doctrine of tiandao 天道 (the way in which the world runs) and that of xinxing 心性 (mind and human nature) was even sharper. Li Xue and Xin Xue also overlapped one another. The transition from the doctrine of tiandao to that of xinxing was a long journey. It was begun by Zhu Xi in his later years, and was finally completed by Wang Yangming. Unveiling the complexity and special characteristics of Song-Ming philosophy is a task for scholars on the history of Chinese philosophy. (shrink)

We prove that for every family I of closed subsets of a Polish space each Σ 1 1 set can be covered by countably many members of I or else contains a nonempty Π 0 2 set which cannot be covered by countably many members of I. We prove an analogous result for κ-Souslin sets and show that if A ♯ exists for any $A \subset \omega^\omega$ , then the above result is true for Σ 1 2 sets. A theorem (...) of Martin is included stating that this result is also true for weakly homogeneously Souslin sets. As an application of our results we derive from them a general form of Hurewicz's theorem due to Kechris, Louveau, and Woodin and a theorem of Feng on the open covering axiom. Also some well-known theorems on finding "big" closed sets inside of "big" Σ 1 1 and Σ 1 2 sets are consequences of our results. (shrink)

If philosophy is the only discourse that has ever intended to receive its name from itself, and to leave nothing outside itself, what would be (Western) philosophy's relation to its (Chinese) other? This question is rethought through a rereading of three major Western philosophers, Hegel, Husserl, and Heidegger, and a Chinese philosopher, Feng Youlan. Philosophy is seen, on the one hand, to dialecticize its other but necessarily to fall short of its aim and, on the other, to claim for (...) itself uniqueness and originality but necessarily to be constituted by and through an other. Also, the claim made by the other of philosophy to the rightful title of "philosophy" can also turn out paradoxically to be a claim by philosophy to its other. (shrink)

The Kripkean metaphysical modality (i.e. possibility and necessity) is one of the most important concepts in contemporary analytic philosophy and is the basis of many metaphysical speculations. These metaphysical speculations frequently commit to entities that do not belong to this physical universe, such as merely possible entities, abstract entities, mental entities or qualities not realizable by the physical, which seems to contradict naturalism or physicalism. This paper proposes a naturalistic interpretation of the Kripkean modality, as a naturalist’s response to these (...) metaphysical speculations. It will show that naturalism can accommodate the Kripkean metaphysical modality. In particular, it will show that naturalism can help to resolve the puzzles surrounding Kripke’s a posteriori necessary propositions and a priori contingent propositions. (shrink)

I argue that the most popular versions of naturalism imply nominalism in philosophy of mathematics. In particular, there is a conflict in Quine's philosophy between naturalism and realism in mathematics. The argument starts from a consequence of naturalism on the nature of human cognitive subjects, physicalism about cognitive subjects, and concludes that this implies a version of nominalism, which I will carefully characterize. The indispensability of classical mathematics for the sciences and semantic/confirmation holism does not affect the argument. The disquotational (...) theory of reference and truth is discussed but rejected. This argument differs from the Benacerrafian arguments against realism, because it does not rely on any specific assumption about the nature of knowledge or reference. It differs from the popular objections to the indispensability argument for realism as well, because it can admit both indispensability and holism. This argument motivates a new, radically naturalistic and nominalistic approach to philosophy of mathematics. (shrink)

The purpose of this study is to explore the ethical orientations of Taiwan's school leaders by means of a questionnaire survey of 573 school leaders. A multidimensional ethical framework, including utilitarianism, justice, care, critique, and virtue, was used. The results demonstrate that the most frequent ethical orientation of Taiwan's school leaders is justice. Second, the ethical orientation of Taiwan's school leaders is influenced by Confucian ethics to some degree, especially in terms of virtue ethics. However, the ethical orientation of school (...) leaders significantly varies depending on gender, age, position, years of teaching experience, and educational administration ethics training. (shrink)

We show that the following results in the classical theory of unbounded linear operators on Hilbert spaces can be proved within the framework of Bishop's constructive mathematics: the Kato-Rellich theorem, the spectral theorem, Stone's theorem, and the self-adjointness of the most common quantum mechanical operators, including the Hamiltonians of electro-magnetic fields with some general forms of potentials.

The concept of self-efficacy is concerned with people''s beliefs in their ability to produce given attainment. It has been widely applied to study human conduct in various settings. This study, based on Albert Bandura''s social cognitive theory, proposes the employment of self-efficacy for investigating people''s ethical conduct related to computer use. Specifically, an ethical computer self-efficacy (ECSE) construct concerning software piracy is developed and validated. The measurement model of the construct was rigorously tested and validated through confirmatory factor analysis. The (...) results suggest that ECSE can be operationalized as a second-order factor model. The first order constructs are termed use&keep (do not use), distribution (do not distribute), and persuasion (persuade others not to commit piracy). These factors are governed by a second-order construct of ECSE. This construct could be useful to research a wide range of information ethics in the future. (shrink)