John Wheeler’s Desert Island: The conservatism of non-empirical physics

This paper argues that non-empirical physics, as paradigmatically embodied by string theory, is a conservative research program, in spite of appearances. John Wheeler's 1950s research program of "daring conservatism" is identified as another non-empirical research program that checks all the same boxes as string theory. This case study is used to further analyze the connection between conservatism and a non-empirical approach. It is concluded that the prime difficulty of non-empirical physics is not that it involves unbridled speculation, but that the lack of empirical input prevents it from achieving revolutionary progress.     

Realism without tears I: Müller’s Doctrine of Specific Nerve Energies

The Doctrine of Specific Nerve Energies has been and continues to be enormously influential in the physiology, psychology, and philosophy of perception. In simple terms, the Doctrine states that we directly perceive in the first instance the activity of our nerves, rather than properties in the external world. The canonical early statement of the Doctrine by the physiologist Johannes Peter Müller had profound influence on both the philosophy and psychology of the 19^th and early 20^th centuries, especially as reformulated and transmitted by Müller’s student Helmholtz. A common assumption of historical and ongoing debate about the Doctrine has been its supposedly idealist or skeptical implications. What is not commonly recognized is that Müller himself advanced a realist interpretation along lines that would be recognized today as a form of epistemic structural realism. This paper analyzes Müller’s structuralist epistemology in detail and reconstructs his articulation and defense of the Doctrine of Specific Nerve Energies in its canonical form. Part II argues for the continued importance of the Doctrine and its structuralist interpretation for contemporary psychology, philosophy of perception, and history of philosophy of science.     

评徐新吾主编的《江南土布史》

做为一部以资料为基础结合分析说明的史料书，《江南土布史》的特点在于：史料来源丰富，涉及面广，个别史料具有独到的学术价值；在体例编排上，采用了按语与史料相结合的方式，错落有致，脉络清晰，具有很强的历史感。     

欧洲音乐“和声发展”基本线索浅说——从产生到古典主义时期

在音乐院校（师范）和声常规教学过程中，和声习作是为了对其功能体系更好地掌握，和声分析是为了阐明、揭示和声学原理在作品中运用的手法。从和声发展的基本线索出发，去了解、掌握、运用和声的思维模式，有助于学习者对不同时期和声风格的分析与把握，提高多角度创新思维能力。为此，和声教学中的“历史观”不可忽视。     

论曼海姆的社会境况决定论

本文考察了知识社会学的中心思想,即曼海姆的“社会境况决定论”,并在此基础上探讨了曼海姆这一理论同马克思主义唯物史观的区别。     

Visual legitimisation of astronomy in the sixteenth and seventeeth centuries: Atlas, Hercules and Tycho’s nose

Images of the virtuous hero Hercules and the crowned King Atlas offered considerable potential for legitimising the new astronomy of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The accomplishments of Hercules, a seeker after virtue, with his exceptional learning, his role as disseminator of knowledge, his significance as an example of ideal manhood and, in addition to all, his achievement of immortality, invited comparison with the endeavours of astronomers. Throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Hercules and Atlas appear as the spiritual authorities of the discipline, and each was called into use to symbolise both the old and the new astronomy. Both figures embodied qualities that were decisive in struggles for patronage: they were politicised, especially Hercules, and used to legitimise claims to power.     

应该让罗隐在中国哲学史上占一席地位——简论《两同书》中素朴的对立

罗隐在晚唐以诗文名世,其实他也是一位哲学家。他的《两同书》中的素朴的对立统一思想,是中国古代对立统一思想发展链条中并不逊色的一环。历来的中国哲学史家从未提及罗隐及其《两同书》,本文认为,应该让罗隐在中国哲学史上占一席地位。     

竹本常松与绞股蓝

论述了日本生药学家，植物化学家竹本常松教授的生平简史（１９１３－１９８９）以及对绞股蓝研究的贡献。     

从软件业的历史看我国计算机教育的发展

试图通过对全球软件业发展历史的回顾,探讨其发展过程中的几个不同时期的特点,并进而结合对未来软件业发展方向的估计,提出我国计算机教育今后应该注意的几个问题.