Zhang Junmai pointed out at the beginning that science and outlook on life are fundamentally different: "In science, there are certain principles, and these principles have evidence"; However, "we are all life, because we have different observation points and different views, so the most disunited person in the world, ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign, is the outlook on life." Then he compared science with outlook on life and listed the following five differences:
First, science is objective and outlook on life is subjective.
Second, science is mainly based on logical methods, and the outlook on life starts from intuition.
Third, science can start with analytical methods, while the outlook on life is comprehensive.
Fourth, science is dominated by the law of cause and effect, and the outlook on life is free will.
Fifth, science starts from the same phenomenon of objects, and the outlook on life starts from the oneness of personality.
Zhang Junmai concluded: "The characteristics of outlook on life are subjective, intuitive, comprehensive, free will and single." All this is completely different from the characteristics of science.
Regarding this outlook on life, Zhang Junmai listed the following nine aspects: my relationship with relatives, my relationship with different surnames, my relationship with property, my progressive attitude towards social system, my inner relationship with material things, my relationship with all the people I belong to, my relationship with him and me as a whole, my hope for the world and my belief in the creator behind the world. "These nine articles are all about me, or about things outside me, or about people outside me, things all over the world, up and down, ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign, and there is no certain solution, so these problems are all about life. Life is alive, so it is better to tie the rope with an example."
Next, it puts forward four aspects of "issues related to outlook on life", the first of which is about "spirit and matter". He thinks that science is about matter, while outlook on life is about spirit. He made a comparison between Chinese and western civilizations, and thought that China's was "spiritual civilization" and the western was "material civilization": "Neo-Confucianism from Confucius and Mencius to Song Yuanming focused on the cultivation of inner life, and the result was spiritual civilization. In the past 300 years, Europe has focused on human rule over nature, so the result is material civilization. " However, the culture or outlook on life of western "material civilization" is not enough to solve the problem of outlook on life, which led to the disaster of "World War I"; Only China's "spiritual civilization" culture or outlook on life can solve life problems. It is not difficult to see that Zhang Junmai's intention is actually a comparison between Chinese and Western civilizations. He criticized BenQ, a modern western literature, and praised the traditional civilization of China. However, his argument is based on the distinction between "outlook on life" and "science". His conclusion is: "Science is developing anyway, and the solution to the problem of outlook on life is by no means beyond the reach of science, but only by human beings themselves"; "There is no objective standard for the establishment of outlook on life, so we should return to ourselves."
After Zhang Junmai's "Outlook on Life" speech was published, "My friend Ding Zaijun, a geologist and a person who supports science as a career, also flew into a rage after reading my article. He said, as you said, science can't dominate life, so what's the use of science? The two of us chatted back and forth at two points on the calendar, and then published more than 10,000 words of criticism in "Efforts Weekly". " This is Ding Wenjiang's long article Metaphysics and Science-Comment on Zhang Junmai's "Outlook on Life" published in the 48th and 49th issues of Jinghua Effort Weekly on April/0/2.
Ding Wenjiang dismissed Zhang Junmai's philosophy of life as "metaphysics" and called Zhang Junmai "possessed by the ghost of metaphysics", and refuted Zhang Junmai's philosophy of life from the following eight aspects:
(1) "Can the outlook on life be divorced from science?" Ding Wenjiang first summarized Zhang Junmai's logic as "the outlook on life is the most inconsistent in the world, so the scientific method can't be applied", and then retorted: "It is one thing to have a different outlook on life now, but it is another to never be unified"; "What's more, there is no difference between true and false now, and An Jian sees no truth?" "Requirements are true or false. What else can you do besides scientific methods? "
(2) "Scientific epistemology" is a kind of Mahism, and what Ding Wenjiang elaborated here is an "empirical realism" position, including these meanings: 1. Empirical principle: scientific knowledge begins with perception. "Sensory feelings are the basis of our understanding of materials"; "No matter how complicated the thought is, it is nothing more than the feeling of being an official." The second is the principle of logic: other knowledge comes from logical reasoning based on experience. He took "self-awareness" as an example. "Others are conscious? I can't directly feel that he has it, nor can I directly prove that he has it. I can only infer that he does. " Third, the principle of idealism: the existence of matter ultimately starts from experience-logic. "What we know is nothing more than the psychological feeling of consciousness, the concept of the formation of perception and the inference of the concept. Scientific research is nothing more than this concept and inference. " Ding Wenjiang's argument is based on two "principles": First, "all contents of ordinary people's psychology are essentially the same. The ability of psychological association is to see the experience a person feels (the principle of experience-the introducer's notes) and the strength of his brain's ideological power (the principle of logic-the introducer's notes). " Secondly, "the difference between genius heroes and ordinary people is express trains, not rickshaws and planes." Because we can admit that they are geniuses and heroes, it is precisely because their perceptual concept reasoning method is exactly the same as ours. "These two principles are actually one, that is, the principle of experiential psychological association.
(3) Zhang Junmai's Outlook on Life and Science Ding Wenjiang pointed out from five aspects: Zhang Junmai's outlook on life "can never escape the scope of science". There are several points worth noting: first, "what cannot be criticized and studied by ethics is not true knowledge." Secondly, "scientific materials are all psychological phenomena. If what you say is true, you can't escape from the category of science. " Third, "science pays attention to individual intuition, but the individual intuition recognized by science is' suggestion based on experience, which comes from life experience'."
(4) The History of War between Science and Metaphysics Ding Wenjiang briefly described the history of the separation and independence of science from philosophy, and sentenced philosophy to death.
(5) The Metaphysics of the Combination of Chinese and Foreign Countries and Its Harmfulness Ding Wenjiang pointed out: "Part of Zhang Junmai's outlook on life comes from the metaphysical master Bergson"; "The ghosts of western metaphysics came to China, and they joined the spirit of a group of friends who had a heart-to-heart relationship with Lu Xiangshan, Wang Yangming and Chen Baisha. They all got into Zhang Junmai's' I'."
(6) Misunderstanding of Science Ding Wenjiang listed three kinds of misunderstandings about science: outward, material and mechanical. He argued: first, "scientific materials are the content of all human psychology"; "Zhang Junmai said that science is outward, how can it make sense?" Second, science is not only "matter"; Science is of great benefit to people's hearts: "Science is not only indifferent to the outside world, but also the best tool for education and self-cultivation"; "Even those who study science have the ability to seek truth and the sincerity to love truth"; "Take the theory to train his intention, and the intention is increasing; Using experience to show his intuition, intuition is more vital. " Third, science is not "mechanical"; "Know the various relationships in the biological psychology of the universe, to truly know the joy of life. This kind of' lively and splashing' state of mind can only be fully understood by those who look up at the emptiness of the sky with binoculars and look down at the exquisiteness of creatures with microscopes. "
(7) "The Responsibility of European Culture Bankruptcy" Ding Wenjiang does not recognize the theory of "European Culture Bankruptcy" and thinks: "What I want to say is that even if European culture goes bankrupt (not yet), science will never bear this responsibility, because the main reason for bankruptcy is international war"; "The people who bear the greatest responsibility for the war are politicians and educators. Most of these two kinds of people are still unscientific "; "Although European and American industries use scientific inventions, their political society absolutely lacks scientific spirit."
(8) "Spiritual Civilization in China" Ding Wenjiang disagreed with Zhang Junmai's popular statement that "the West is a material civilization and China is a spiritual civilization", pointing out: "As for the culture of the East, it is by no means a so-called material civilization and spiritual civilization, which can be summarized by such a general term."
Finally, Ding Wenjiang quoted a sentence from Hu Shi as a "conclusion": "Observing the requirements of our times, we have to admit that the greatest responsibility and need of mankind today is to apply scientific methods to life problems."
After Ding Wenjiang's article was published, Zhang Junmai wrote a long article "Re-discussing Outlook on Life and Science, Answer Ding Zaijun", which was published in the Beijing Morning Post Supplement to fight back. The core problem of this refutation still lies in the boundary between outlook on life and science. He answered Ding Wenjiang's retort from twelve aspects:
(1) Regarding the classification of material science and mental science, Zhang Junmai thinks: "According to the strict scientific definition, mental science can no longer be regarded as science."
(2) With regard to "the history of scientific development and the nature of natural conventions", Zhang Junmai, like Ding Wenjiang, proved his point of view through a tit-for-tat description of the history of science: the "natural conventions" of science are not omnipotent; "Pure psychology" about "pure thoughts" has no "common rules" to find.
(3) Regarding the similarities and differences between material science and psychological science, Zhang Junmai compared physics and psychology as typical examples of material science and psychological science, and pointed out that there are essential differences between them. This is the basic logic of Zhang Junmai's philosophy of life: "First, physics in space is easy to experiment, while biology is dominated by vitality, so it is difficult to experiment, and psychology is even more difficult. Second, all substances in space can easily identify the front and back of the phenomenon, so it is easy to find the cause and effect; Although the phenomena before and after the biological world are clear, it is not easy to know why cells become a whole; Ruofu's psychology changes instantly, and there is no fixed state to be found. Third, three or four coordinates can be extended to the sun, the moon and the stars, especially the principle that physiological psychology cannot be applied. Fourth, physical concepts, such as Adon, atom, mass and ability, are abstract and never interfered by concrete objects. As for living things, there are so-called species and personalities; Especially in psychology. Therefore, the two worlds of biopsychology are disturbed by differences in personality, and it is not easy to get its unity. " "Physical phenomena only have these four principles, so they are more and more correct; Biological psychological phenomena do not have these four principles, so it is impossible to be correct in one day. "
(4) Regarding the "outlook on life", Zhang Junmai summed up several key points that Ding Wenjiang questioned, and replied as follows: "The contents of materials science and psychology are different, which can definitely be distinguished; That is, the scientific classification has long been recognized by scholars and can be proved "; "People and animals and plants are alive, but the research objects of zoology and botany are animals and plants, and the researchers of psychiatry are the results of human psychology and psychology, so they can't be compared"; "Anyone who is dominated by scientific methods must be in a fixed state. Pure psychology changes instantly, so it can't be dominated by scientific methods "; "The outlook on life transcends science and cannot be confronted, so the separated language cannot be established."
(5) Regarding the "attack of gentlemen", this is aimed at Ding Wenjiang's satire that metaphysicists are tired of science and take metaphysics, and "it is easy to take it with their attack"; Zhang Junmai retorted that Ding Wenjiang "copied" Pierre's victory.
(6) With regard to the so-called scientific epistemology, I refute Ding Wenjiang's theory of scientific epistemology here: First of all, if the so-called scientific epistemology refers to scientists' views on knowledge, "among ancient and modern scientists, there are advocates of epistemology, not only hershey, Dahl, Zhan, Du Fu and Ma", but also many of them have different views on knowledge. Furthermore, "an epistemologist does everything within the scope of philosophy and has nothing to do with science." Science is knowledge, but it is not a metaphysical theory of knowledge. Only philosophical epistemology, not "scientific epistemology".
(7) Regarding "knowledge beyond science (the boundary of a science)", Zhang Junmai defines "the boundary of science" as "knowledge beyond science" here; Limit the truth of epistemology and establish the truth of axiology. He quoted Thomas Jefferson, a British biologist, to explain that there are three ways to achieve truth and seek truth besides scientific understanding: philosophy (metaphysics), religion (morality) and art (art).
(8) Regarding "whether metaphysics has no place in Europe", Zhang Junmai listed some facts here, saying that the ideological trend in Europe in the last twenty or thirty years can be called the "new metaphysical era".
(9) Regarding "my attitude towards science education and metaphysics education", Zhang Junmai criticized the disadvantages of science education, but he did not fully agree with the education of social reformists, but pointed out that they were biased: "I think education has five aspects: metaphysics, art, will, rationality and physique. Science education is biased towards rationality and physique, while ignoring the other three. The education of social reformers is biased towards will and sacrifice. " He believes that "metaphysics education" should be added to the existing science education, including three items: metaphysics (one beyond the official consciousness), art and free will.
(10) In the article "My Attitude towards Material Civilization", Zhang Junmai further complained about his view that the West is a material civilization and China is a spiritual civilization, and criticized the policy of the "material civilization" western powers to establish a country through science and technology and industry and its consequences, warning China people not to make the same mistakes, but to "find another way".
(1 1) In the article My Attitude towards the Study of Mind and Textual Research, Zhang Junmai compares the advantages and disadvantages of traditional Sinology (Textual Research) and Song Dynasty (Mind Research): he thinks that the dispute between Sinology in China and Song Dynasty is the same as that between European empiricists/materialists and rationalists. He compared the thoughts of the two schools of thought in China and the West by tabular method, and concluded that "the study of nature and textual research, of course, only needs the words of sinologists or European materialists"; "His explanation of life and inner cultivation is of course based on inner words."
(12) Regarding the Reply to Private Criticism, he once again stated the "foothold" of his thought: "(1) Knowledge is a combination of perception and concept. (2) Knowledge in the empirical world is causal, and the evolution of life is free. (3) Transcending science should be unified by metaphysics. (4) The development of mind and nature is the revelation of metaphysical truth, so we should advocate the New Song School. "