Languages Learning

I have no interest in obtaining anyone’s “true philosophy” certification. I find it strange, to put it mildly, that people who profess to love philosophy are enthusiastic about such certifications. A viewpoint is just a viewpoint. If you disagree with it, you can ignore it. If you want to argue against it, you can rebut it. No one cares how you value the viewpoint, let alone the character of the person who said it. Your “true philosophy standards” are not as universally applicable as you think. ...

Philosophers must be wise and experienced, with a deep understanding of life and death, rise and fall. They must have drifted among the sea of people and formed strong rational intuitions about the world. Without this kind of intuition, philosophy is nothing more than a waste of space full of jargon and saintly quotes. Good philosophers are not just good talkers. They are also able to accomplish things, unite people, and take care of themselves in work and life. If the purpose of studying philos ...

Philosophy: Not for the Young or Timid Only after experiencing something firsthand can you truly understand it. History infuses certain things into your soul, guiding your intuition to convey them to the world through your writing. The writer is simply a mouthpiece, and does not actually grasp the full meaning of the words they are writing. Their age is irrelevant. The true soil and nutrients for the seed are those who are meant to hear, remember, and ponder those words. These are the people wh ...

Philosophy is a vast and complex subject. It cannot be understood by reading a few introductions, general reviews, or even 100 million characters of text. It is like reading a 500-character Baidu Baike article on Buddhism, Christianity, or Communism and thinking you understand those religions or ideologies. It is also like listening to a high school teacher read from the textbook for 400 characters and thinking you understand the topic. To truly understand philosophy, you must have life experie ...

Philosophy education is inevitably narrow in scope, due to the practical problem of limited time and resources. This narrowness permeates all aspects of the academic community, from your teachers to the editors and translators of the books you read. Even you, the student, are not immune to it. The Western academic community prides itself on freedom, but even here, there is a hierarchy of knowledge. Those who have gone before you have laid the foundations for your education, and you are expected ...

When it comes to philosophy book lists, there is a tendency to recommend the same ones over and over again. However, it is not the materials that need preparation, but our mentality when approaching them. We should not adopt a mindset of “I’ll read this material and then I’ll understand philosophy,” or “As long as I read enough good materials and get a good score on the test, I’ve learned philosophy.” Rather, we should approach philosophy with a mentality of exploration. What is the difference? ...

Wang Anshi wrote this poem to express his admiration for Mencius.

With every move, a master’s grace, A warrior’s strength, a sage’s pace, The Kongfu master stands in awe, A symbol of a martial art’s raw. Their fists, like lightning, strike with speed, A flurry of blows, an artful deed, Their feet, like roots, stand firm and strong, A stance of power, a lifelong song. They teach the way of harmony, A path of peace, for you and me, A lesson that transcends the fight, A virtue that shines in the light. We bow to you, oh Kongfu master, A true embodiment of the wa ...

Because even one tone error changes the meaning of the sentence completely. In English, we put stress on different syllables. economy - the stress is on the second syllable. economist - the stress is also on the second syllable. economics - the stress is on the third syllable. I have come across non-native speakers of English who, when saying “economics”, place the stress on the second syllable. It sounds out of place sure, but I still know what they’re referring to. Same with “photography”. The ...

This exact debate has happened in China. A poet wrote this poem to explain the problem of only using pinyin: “Shi and the Ten Stone Lions”: Riddle or Nonsense? & Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den - Wikipedia Since no one can solve the problem the attempt to get rid of character has mostly stopped. Update: One of the things that I’ve noticed about modern Mandarin is that most words now come in pairs that often have almost the same meanings or are combined to mean something. If there is no se ...