My experience is that as long as it is a recognized classic, it is difficult to read if you don't understand it. Being unable to read usually means that you don't have the necessary knowledge to understand the text, which can only be obtained by reading.
Yanzhao Dayuan Shudu Column
Although I majored in law, when I was in college, I read more law books than law, partly because there were not many law books to read. In addition to literature and history, when I graduated from my senior year, I began to look for some classic works on politics and philosophy.
I remember that the first classic of political philosophy I read was Rousseau's On Social Contract. After crustily skin of head, there is only one feeling: everyone deserves to be everyone, and I basically don't understand what I wrote I also tried to read Russell's History of Western Philosophy, but I gave up at the beginning and really couldn't read it.
It was not until the graduate stage that I picked up On Social Contract that I realized that this book was not that simple. Russell's History of Western Philosophy was also completed during his master's degree.
Students often ask me, what should I do if I can't read books?
My experience is that as long as it is a recognized classic, it is difficult to read if you don't understand it. Being unable to read usually means that you don't have the necessary knowledge to understand the text, which can only be obtained by reading.
Give up easily if you don't understand, and you may never have a chance to understand. On the contrary, little by little, knowledge will be accumulated bit by bit, understanding ability will become stronger and stronger, and accumulated knowledge will become richer and richer. This spiraling process is called "interpretation cycle".
In the process of reading, I often only see the cycle without rising, and it is easy to doubt myself: after reading so much, why does it seem that there is no progress?
The accumulation of knowledge is slow, it is difficult to be clearly perceived, so be patient; Moreover, the growth of knowledge sometimes does not make people feel full and complacent because they know everything. On the contrary, it may make people feel empty and afraid of knowing nothing.
There is a simple way to test whether you have made progress: after a year or two, look back at the books you have read before. If it feels as difficult as it was at the beginning, it probably means that you have not made progress; If you feel relaxed, it means that your knowledge has increased.
Students often ask me: What if I can't read the secretary?
No one can remember all the books he has read. If you are always obsessed with remembering, it may explain two problems: first, taking memory as the reading goal, which may be a subconscious formed by years of exams; Second, there is too little reading.
There are good and bad memories, and the good ones can be unforgettable. But for better or worse, memories will fade with time. The less you read, the more you will cherish the books you have read and the more you want to remember them. Paradoxically, the less reading, the less knowledge and the shorter memory maintenance time.
There are two ways.
The first method is to forget what you remember first, find literature on similar topics and read one by one. After reading enough, it doesn't matter whether you can remember the content of a document, because you have mastered the subject or the knowledge system of the subject.
Since I was a student, I have spent many years systematically reading the classic literature of utilitarianism, positivism, liberalism, hermeneutics and new institutional economics. My academic study was gradually formed in the process of combing these topics.
This method tells us that it is more important to master the knowledge system than to remember the specific contents of the literature. The only way is to read more books and take notes often.
If you think this book is too classic, you must remember it, then try the second method. In fact, this method is to read more books, that is, to read a certain book repeatedly.
Students who have listened to my lectures or recorded classes should know that I especially like John Mill, and he is often mentioned in class. I have an idol list, and he has topped the list for a long time. I can't remember how many times I have read John Mill's books, especially about freedom and autobiography. I still have to read them again and again.
Repeated reading can keep memory, and more importantly, classic works should be read and updated frequently. Reading in different periods will have different gains. By the way, you can also check whether you have made progress.
Classics are often read and always new, which I have a deep understanding of, including Jin Yong, who has never tired of reading since junior high school. Therefore, for academic classics, don't expect to fully understand them once. It is better to read it once in a while.
Mr. Huang Jigang, a primary school student in Huang Kan, ranks first among the "Five Kings" in Zhangmen, and his talent is rare in the world. But his self-awareness is:
"Have you ever seen someone who works hard like me? People say that I am talented, but it is useless to rely on it. "
How to "study hard"? Or in Miss Huang's own words, "I am a better reader than my teacher Liu Jun". I have learned many books in my life. For example, Selected Works has been built ten times and Hanshu three times, and I have learned a lot. "New Tang Book" is read first, then Zhu Dian, and then Mo Dian, which is also three times. Shuowen, Erya and Guang Yun are almost impossible to remember. "
Genius is still like this, let alone ordinary people?
But the question is, what should I do if I have to read so many books repeatedly and broaden my reading range?
My suggestions are: First, try to choose high-quality books. Time for reading is limited, and there are infinitely many books to read. If you want to devote your limited time to unlimited reading, try not to let junk books take up too much time. If the knowledge or ideas provided by junk books are wrong, it is not just a waste of time. Second, choose some books that can particularly impress you and especially influence your ideological direction, and read them repeatedly.
In short, read the best books, and among the best books, choose the one with the most * * * to read repeatedly.
The more beginners, the more necessary it is to read high-quality books, because when entering a new field, the first contact with knowledge is the most impressive, while beginners do not have the ability to distinguish, and they are often misled unconsciously. Mud and sand are all there, and there is nothing to do.
However, the lack of discrimination means that it is impossible to judge the quality of books. What should I do?
There are three ways.
First, look at the author's reputation. Among mature disciplines, the most prestigious and often outstanding scholar, whose works are also the most trustworthy. However, this is only a feature of mature disciplines. China law, this standard is not very reliable.
Therefore, the second method should be combined with the recommendation of teachers, especially the teaching teachers. Teachers are usually familiar with the literature of teaching profession, and their recommendations are generally screened, which is more reliable than the reckless reputation of beginners, but it also depends on the teacher's discernment and intention.
I mainly use the third method myself, which is to use reliable book review literature. Among them, reading helped me the most, including Hayek and isaiah berlin, who had a great influence on my academic philosophy. They all contact reading first, and then follow the map to find their own works to read.
However, book review documents are of little significance to the choice of legal works, because such documents rarely involve law, especially pure legal works.
For law beginners, the second method is more conventional, so what kind of teacher you meet is very important. Of course, most law students have no chance to choose teachers. What kind of teachers they will meet after entering the university is somewhat fateful. Fada is no problem. There are many teachers to choose from in each course.
The reason why I mainly use the third method is because in my reading experience, self-study is relatively large. Not only in the university stage, but also in the master's stage.
Master's degree, assigned to my tutor is very good. I originally planned to give targeted guidance according to my characteristics, but I met twice. Unfortunately, her breast cancer recurred and she could no longer take students. I asked the mentor group to reassign the mentor. Mentor group reply: Mentor group is in our charge. You can ask any teacher if you have any learning problems. Why must there be a nominal tutor? So I have a master's degree for three years, and I have no nominal tutor.
I may be the only master student in the history of Fada without a tutor. I hesitated to fill in the tutor for master's thesis, and finally decided to fill in the tutor for future doctoral students. During the defense, a teacher also specifically asked: Teacher Yang is not your instructor, why did you fill him in? I have to say: because I don't know who to fill in.
Usually fine. Anyway, I am used to self-study, nobody cares, and reading is free and comfortable. One day in a year, I will feel lonely, and that is Teacher's Day. Until this day, everyone claimed it, only I was like a lonely ghost, and no one wanted it. But there is only one day a year, and the problem is not too big.
After finishing my Ph.D., Teacher Yang ignored me and continued to let me study as I please. Every time I meet Mr. Yang, he just asks: What books have you read recently? What have you learned? Never say: What books should I read?
This experience has a little influence on the students I trained. I often tell students not to rely too much on teachers, and autonomous learning ability is very important.
I know the students are afraid of me. One of the reasons is that when I ask questions, I usually have a bad attitude.
It must be admitted that I am really not a persuasive and gentle teacher.
Every year in the first class of the National People's Congress, I will quote two sentences from John Mill to express my teaching philosophy.
In a word:
"If you don't ask a student to do what he can't do, he will never do what he can."
Another sentence is:
"My father never teaches me what I can think of, but only gives me advice on problems that I can't solve with my best efforts."
Two thousand years ago, Confucius said something similar: "Don't be angry, don't be angry, don't be unhappy." If you don't turn around for three times, it won't be there. "
From these words, I can understand why I always like to "torture" students.
In class, I will emphasize that you are welcome to ask questions, but it is best to think about the questions first and look up the information yourself. So when students ask me questions, I often ask: What do you think? In most cases, students feel embarrassed and may be thinking: I want to know, ask you? Actually, I mean, what is your own thinking?
My basic attitude is: many questions can be answered by consulting the information yourself. If you can't solve them, please discuss with me with confusion; If you don't think about a question, look up the information yourself, which shows that you just want a simple and clear answer, but if you only get one answer, your knowledge will not increase.
More importantly, being stingy with your own thinking shows that you are not careful enough.
Mr. Zhang Zhongxing has been obedient all his life, with few obsessions, but he "always believed": "Literature has achievements, and life and death depend on each other. At least half of it is absorbed, and half-hearted will not succeed." The same is true if the word "literature" is replaced by "law".
Law students will also face a problem: how to deal with the relationship between law and other disciplines? Especially in recent years, the voice of legal dogmatism is rising rapidly, and correspondingly, the voice of questioning legal dogmatism is endless.
What is legal dogmatism? Simply put, it is to solve legal disputes in accordance with the norms of positive law. This is obviously the basic skill of legal person, and it is a sign that legal person is different from other professions. However, if we think that the knowledge of other disciplines has no or adverse influence on the application of law, we may have gone too far.
No subject knowledge is self-sufficient, and law is no exception. The so-called disciplines are only artificially divided based on research needs, and there is absolutely no need to stick to the rules and bind hands and feet.
Of course, if we think that the study of social science or philosophy can replace the study of legal dogmatism, we will go to the other extreme, which is also insufficient or even less, because it means that law does not have to exist as an independent discipline.
In the previous class of Fada University, I used the argument between the sword school of Huashan School in the legendary swordsman and the style to illustrate this problem. On the surface, the two cases compete for the master and slave of firm but gentle, but in fact, as we all know, the real master must be both. Therefore, this argument is just a fake action, and what is hidden behind it is territory, power and interests.
The argument between firm but gentle is of little significance. What makes sense is how to practice both.
This question is simple and clear, and it is still a "hermeneutic cycle".
The conventional practice is to take law, that is, legal dogmatism, as the starting point and try to master the kung fu of law. When you feel that the challenges brought by legal dogmatism can no longer satisfy you, or when you feel that legal practice has entered a bottleneck, or when you feel that your vision is becoming narrower, it may mean that you need to leave for a period of time to read the literature of adjacent disciplines such as philosophy, politics, economy, history, sociology and even literature and art. After entering other disciplines, when your sensory thinking becomes more and more erratic, or when your sensory thinking mode becomes less and less legal, remind yourself to look back. This completes a small circle. In this way, the literacy of law and adjacent disciplines grows alternately.
Until one day, you suddenly found that the knowledge of various disciplines you had contacted before began to merge, which was a sign of completing a big circle.
The cycle is spiral, with no end and no closing point, but it won't make people feel desperate. On the contrary, every time you complete a circle, no matter how big or small, you will find that every step forward will always see a new knowledge landscape.
Never knowing what kind of knowledge landscape you will see next is a wonderful feeling and the charm of knowledge.
Of course, the starting point can also be abstract knowledge such as philosophy, and then concretized into legal dogmatism. There is no natural and correct starting point in theory. There is no fixed order to practice firm but gentle. Even sword, spear, halberd, axe, hook and fork, which comes first, is decided by practitioners according to their own characteristics.
The reason why I would say that it is a conventional way to start with the law is because this is a picture of "law students".
Being labeled as "fake" sometimes makes ambitious people feel wronged-what about a good gentleman?
Yes, the discipline is the result of artificial division, so there is no need to set traps for yourself. But after all, knowledge is more and more diverse, so it tends to be more professional and accurate. It is impossible for the cleverest and most diligent person to acquire all the knowledge in a lifetime. Even scholars wearing the title of "encyclopedia" are just a few waves in the Wang Yang of knowledge.
This tells us that there must be a division of labor in knowledge. The consequence of knowledge division is that everyone's knowledge is one-sided, and the pursuit of comprehensive and unlabeled knowledge often leads to nothing.
If you don't want to lose the label of "legal person", in the spiral cycle of knowledge growth, you'd better keep the axis of law and let the knowledge of other disciplines serve law.
Selected comments on contract law
Zhu Qingyu/Editor-in-Chief Xin/Deputy Editor-in-Chief
Code commentary is a representative work of legal dogmatism, which marks the maturity of legal system, legal scholarship and legal practice in code countries. Focusing on the application of law, this book integrates theory, precedent, normative change and comparative law, and is the first legal review in the strict sense of China law.
This book brings together outstanding young and middle-aged scholars in the field of civil law in China, selects some provisions of the Contract Law, draws lessons from the annotations of large-scale codes in Germany and Italy and makes innovations. It not only reflects the legislative status, theories and precedents of the corresponding provisions in a panoramic way, but also makes detailed reflections on it, laying a solid foundation for the systematic annotation of the Civil Code.