As a science and engineering professor, it is interesting to read the works and works of thinkers (philosophers, educators, etc.).People with different knowledge backgrounds have significant differences in their thinking patterns and logical reasoning patterns.In my humble opinion, the main role of science and engineering professors is to simplify the complex world and express the interaction system between nature and man in a more explicit way.Before thinkers began to think and express, I used to think that I still had a clearer way of knowing the world, which I knew well.But, once the thinker is re-created, the world becomes again complex and ethereal.
One of the greatest features of thinkers is the symbolicization of seemingly simple concepts, like mathematicians, by performing dazzling symbolic operations to produce many new ideas that are inconsistent with everyday ideas.
It is certain that the following is derived from the background of my scientific knowledge and the mode of thinking, which is not entirely denied to have been influenced by the thinkers, but which has a strong sense of autonomy.
The emergence of intelligent life on Earth is very accidental.In the long time evolution of billions, the universe has its own rules of operation.These initial physical and chemical laws dominated the exchange of matter and energy, reshaping and innovating details through special events such as supernova eruptions.Such objective existence is not transferred by the emergence of human beings.Therefore, I think that the objective existence of the universe exists, and some knowledge about it, we can call it objective knowledge, such as the earth revolving around the sun.What conforms to the laws of cosmic material development can be called truth.
As an intelligent creature, its biggest characteristic and ability is the ability to explore the laws of the world.With the passage of time, its thinking mode, knowledge acquisition mode and knowledge system become more and more complex.All kinds of information related to human society and people themselves have evolved characteristics.
The greatest contribution of mankind is to form a self-characteristic civilization system through several steps of evolution on the basis of objective nature.Humans try to form a protective film between human society and nature in order to maintain the independence of their own minds, although they are also subject to the overall constraints of objective natural environments, such as energy and the environment.
In considering this evolutionary feature, I adopt the principle of energy minimization, which is almost the ultimate law of natural evolution.Both natural and human social evolution is subject to this ultimate law.
Nature is full of phenomena that we call information.In the course of dealing with nature, ancient humans gradually formed knowledge by combing this information and connecting it.It can be seen that knowledge has an information encapsulation structure.By connecting different information into pairs and considering it as a whole, the energy consumed in thinking about the intermediate link can be reduced and the propagation efficiency greatly improved.For example, linking chromatic differences and ripeness of certain fruits is a necessary attempt for tribal women to pick, that is, some kind of knowledge.Even in modern society, this skill plays an important role in the redness of the mouth.
Through the function of the membrane of civilization, human beings can partly independent of nature, and can develop the encapsulation and connection of human-related information to form an independent cognitive system.
It should be said that from the outset, knowledge has acquired both objective and subjective characteristics, namely, natural and social characteristics of knowledge, based on the two attributes of man as well as man as society.
Its complexity lies in, be it natural attribute or social attribute, need human thought carrier to sum up, its thinking, to realize.This inevitably brings the subjective characteristics of human beings into what should be objective knowledge, and influences a part of objective knowledge, and its objectivity is damaged, so it becomes the basis of knowledge sociology.This is reflected in the varying changes and ascension of human knowledge systems.From the center of the earth to the center of the sun, the discovery of the sun is just a matter of fact for an ordinary star.Objectively, it was a victory.Subjectively, however, human self-esteem has been declining.
The world has uncertainty principles and human cognitive boundaries.Beyond that, humanity cannot understand the real rules behind them.Knowledge comes from information encapsulation, and knowledge boundaries are bound to exist.
We also have different scales of cognition of the objective world.We lack the ability to fully understand the world, both macro and micro.Man's greatest breakthrough is in mesoscale behavior, especially when compared to the scale of the world in which he lives (time and space), and man is best at it.Even if it is extended to the millennium scale, it seems that some people cannot understand it.
We can find that the so-called modern theory of cognition is the subject of discussion in recent centuries of development.And the study of some primitive social behavioral tribes on the planet is not only rare, but also discredited, because they no longer exist or are not fully representative.For example, based on observations of primitive tribes in the tropics, it was concluded that decoration was more important than clothing.Therefore, it is deduced that the original knowledge system, non-applicable knowledge status is higher than that of the original knowledge system.This phenomenon should not exist in high latitudes. In the face of cold, the cognition of clothes is certainly more important than decoration, although the latter is also an important part of life.
The biological characteristics of complex systems are not my own invention; I am a more faithful believer.This is reflected in three points: 1) a complex system has its own consciousness and purpose; 2) it evolves; 3) it cooperates with other systems.The first and second points can be called ontology and reality, and the third point can be considered as their social characteristics.Civilization, knowledge, society, customs and so on all have this characteristic.
As far as knowledge is concerned, it is not just a simple symbol, passively produced; it has its own internal purpose and system.Knowledge is active, jumping out of your circle, such as universities and classrooms, and then connecting with society.When discussing the relationship between universities and society, I have used this theory as the theoretical basis of university's active convergence with society.Furthermore, knowledge will form a knowledge community, reflecting the characteristics of each community, and different knowledge communities will further cross-mix, forming new knowledge, that is, innovative knowledge.
Knowledge of the sociality and objectivity in the historical development of their own will also compete.The development of human society's thoughts and paradigms is a spiral process, from the gradual integration of ideas to the extreme conservatism of the Middle Ages to the liberation of thought, to the liberation of human nature.Human nature also needs a period of liberation, first in the free nature to thrive, then to produce good quality ideas, by a new round of social integration application.
Knowledge also has this characteristic.Circular development between its social and self-inherent nature.At a certain time, it is necessary to let the inherent characteristics of knowledge fully develop, otherwise it will form the direction of human-controlled knowledge development and lose diversity.The free development of knowledge is a rebound and a long-term need for social development.The essence of bringing back knowledge is to bring knowledge from social captivity to objective state of freedom and attach importance to its own attributes, although it is closely related to human social goals.
Of course, the best state is to connect the sociality and objectivity of knowledge, not to lose one, so as to best reflect the essence of knowledge, and to give the most comprehensive guidance to practice in the whole chain of knowledge system.
I think the biggest flaw in some symbolic ideas is that they are over-emphasizing the knowledge membrane created by humans themselves.For example, human society has its own unique phenomenon, but also can only be understood and explained by human society's own logic.The advantage of doing so is to study the system of human society more independently, making it an object of study, but the inherent disadvantage is that it does not consider the influence of natural factors outside the knowledge membrane.Human society has not been studied on a larger environmental scale.The inner cycle of human thought will eventually lead to a march of death like ants, which ends in a coherent, seemingly self-contained, but in fact has no way out.
Because of the multiple characteristics of complex systems, thinkers are more blind people feel like region to think of one of the characteristics, and form factions.The advantage of this is to break through individual characteristics one by one, slowly discover deficiencies in the debate, and then make advanced connections to slowly outline more practical theories.I guess this should be a trend in the modern world of thought.incorporate contradictions between different theories with more systematic theories.
Skepticism has an important role to play in this regard.Without skepticism, we will not break through existing thinking.It can't form a spiral way of thinking development.
A book I recently read illustrates this point.
This book is Myerke-Young's book Bringing Knowledge Back, The Transformation of Educational Sociology from Social Constructivism to Social Realism.
Michael's research has become a typical negation and negation feature, the higher the thought, the more integrated the old ideas.From the past emphasis on the sociality of knowledge, and then through the convergence of its sociality and practical objectivity, completed the ideological leap.At this point, I admire Michael's change of mind, the way he embodies it