Chaos Daily Essay | Philosophy.

write in front

Not long after I went to bed due to fatigue, I suddenly remembered that I hadn’t done anything yet. It turned out that I hadn’t published an article that I had written for a long time , and by the way, I added a few whimsical emotions. Life was a bit explosive this week, two part-time jobs, graduate studies, and next week it was my turn to read the Nietzsche book that was difficult to sort out systematically.

If you want to read some articles related to philosophy, it is better to read the two articles I wrote a while ago. The study of moral psychology, " Good People Are Always Self-righteous ", a book that gave me deep inspiration.

This short essay is my confession to philosophy , and therefore constitutes my most important daily essay , not philosophical thinking .

enlightenment

I was enlightened by "Zhuangzi" in a Chinese class in high school. I still remember that the article discussed in the class was "Paoding Jie Niu". In the whole class, it turned out that I was the only one who kept asking the class instructor after class, hoping that he would explain "" What does it mean when officials want to stop and the gods want to do?

As for the teacher's response, I really don't remember it. If I am impressed, I should still remember it by now. I remember it very clearly, but after that class, I went to buy a copy written by teacher Chen Guying. The thin "Zhuangzi Philosophy" mentioned the stories of Kunpeng and Xuejiu of "Xiaoyaoyou".

Those who are suitable for the luxuriant desert will turn back in three afternoons, and the belly is still as expected;
How do you know the second worm! A small knowledge is not as good as a big knowledge, and a small year is not as good as a big year. Does Xi Yi know that? —— "Zhuangzi·Xiaoyaoyou"

empathy

After reading it at that time, my mood changed from "enlightenment" to "resonance" and profound "movement". Let's call this special feeling " resonance ". So, I entered the Department of Philosophy with this naive and stupid energy, and I have become a philosophy graduate student in dire straits with the pure pursuit of philosophy until today.

The more in-depth research into philosophy, especially the " Chinese philosophy " that I like, I find that there are very few colleagues who are interested in it, and my position in the academic world is between the Department of Chinese and the Department of Philosophy. Awkward location.

The two major factions in the academic circle of philosophy are analytic philosophy and continental philosophy . Only Chinese philosophy, or more broadly, Eastern philosophy, sits aside with its own business.

image

One day when I was in college, a teacher from the Chinese Department of the National University came to the school to give a speech and mentioned that the major discoveries of the research on unearthed documents in recent years are actually enough to make Confucianism look at it from a comprehensive and different perspective. Therefore, his vision develops this point of view. , not only Confucianism, but a new perspective on the study of traditional Chinese philosophy in the past.

Whether his point is correct or not, this is not what I am going to do in this article. But I still remember the first time I was listening intently in the audience, and the hands that were taking notes seriously stopped for the first time. I raised my head and looked at the speakers on the stage with admiration, thinking: This is the pattern and creativity ! It turns out that this is what a scholar should pursue !

Immediately, I remembered the thoughts of Zhuangzi, which I have always been interested in, and the words of this scholar, which produced some kind of chemical reaction that I don’t know how to explain. More and more profound, and with some unfamiliar feelings, the lines are drawn more and more so that people can distinguish: so it is !

anticipation, confusion

I looked forward to moving toward that ideal, and I realized that I had indeed become a graduate student at the school where the scholar belonged. At the same time, reading the famous works of many other scholars, the more I go on this path of exploring philosophy, the more I realize how far away I am from those scholars I admire from the bottom of my heart.

On the one hand, I also found a lot of academic preferences or conventions that I couldn’t accept. I went to the new school to audit the courses I was most interested in, Mr. Z, in the university department, and he offered a compulsory course for the freshman. He commented on the works of the past academic circles and the current academic phenomenon , At present, in the philosophical circles of Taiwan, discussions are always too pedantic or not innovative enough , or basic concepts are not explained in detail enough .

Mr. Z is a humble scholar in the face of his own research, but he is quite original and sharp when criticizing other people's works. Many scholars seem to be 120% prepared for his own views, but he always only infers 100%. Even less than 80%.

He never elaborated on arguments he didn't have much preparation for, but always kept the space for discussion, constantly emphasizing that these were just his own. Although , in the eyes of many scholars, he has done a complete comb and inference . He is always modest without inferences and develops too many theories and systems .

I began to feel confused about this, even such an excellent scholar dared not come up with too many breakthrough ideas, let alone me, a young boy, a master student who tried the water temperature of the academic circle for the first time, when I said the real innovative ideas , who will pay attention to me ? Not to mention support me ?

I'm getting more and more confused. Philosophy, for me, is the constant questioning of reasons, expecting the two sides to come up with a persuasive confrontation, and a fierce collision to produce a more sound point of view. I found that the more courageous people in academia are to challenge old views , the less likely they are to be taken seriously .

Everyone is speaking for themselves, and everyone is not listening to everyone .

When I was eager to jump out of the old framework and didn’t want to be a cheerleader for the mainstream views in the academic world, when I had this realization, I immediately thought of those philosophers in history. Aren’t they also rejected by the public in front of me ? Isn't it also ignored and not accepted by the community ?

Oh ! I can't imagine it !

Philosophy , Philosophy , whenever I follow my steps but dare not take a step forward, when I am ready to walk towards you and finally take this step, you take two steps back; when I stand still, You came to me again, and as long as I made a little response, you would gradually move away from me again.

What if I wasn't so uneasy , but instead actively moved towards you ? Is this the only possibility that has not been tried yet ?

Oh ! I can't imagine it !