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JOURNAL OF DIALECTICS OF NATURE
A Comprehensive, Academic Journal of the Philosophy, History, Sociology and Cultural Studies of Science and Technology
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Published ahead of Print
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More Content
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Author Guidelines
About Us
About the Journal
Editorial Board
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Latest Articles
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Reflections on the Empiricist Assumption of Large Language Models: A Study from the Perspective of Miki Kiyoshi’s Theory of Imagination
Abstract: From the Japanese philosopher Miki Kiyoshi’s point of view, the empiricist notion of “experience” is too thin to accommodate temporal extension, reference to external objects, as well as the interplay between experience-owing agents and their environments. Once properly modified, the foregoing Miki’s criticism can be easily applied to the still-fashionable approach of Large Language Models (LLM) in AI. Paralleled with the empiricist philosophy, the LLM-builders construct the digital counterpart of the Humean notion of “impressions”, namely, “tokens” by treating the text as tokens. Moreover, similar to the Humean route-map of reconstructing “ideas” from the accumulations of “impressions”, LLM-builders also intend to reconstruct the semantic features of tokens via a proper statistical treatment of them, namely, a treatment routinely under the label of “word embedding”. Nonetheless, since such reductionism-oriented route-map has deliberately bypassed nearly all middle/high-level architecture required for a full-fledged notion of “cognition”, such rout-map could hardly account for why human’s cognitive machine can deliver creative decisions and be competent in counter-factual reasoning even when the size of the training data is much smaller than that is required by an empiricist theory. And the LLM-builders’ incompetence of accounting for all of this in turn philosophically explains the origin of the socalled “machine hallucination”. Key Words: Imagination; Empiricism; Large language models; Tokens; Word-Embedding
Author:
XU Yingjin
Issue:Volume 47, lssue 8, August 2025
Page: 1-9
Large Language Models and the Ladder of Causation
Abstract: Judea Pearl’s three-tiered ladder of causation was once a widely accepted critique of AI and a guiding program for AI practice. However, with the emergence of some phenomenal large language models such as GPT-4, its AI critique has been thoroughly disproved, and the causal theory of Structural Equation Modeling behind it has also been faced with challenges. The goal of this paper is threefold: first, it intends to elaborate on the core elements of the causal triad and the inner mechanisms of the large language Model, and to show the sense in which the latter reinvents Pearl’s original conception. Second, it also clarifies the theoretical significance for structural causal models of the emergence of such a large-language model capable of “demonstrating causal competence,” which destroys Pearl’s critique but opens up new possibilities for causal research. Finally, and more importantly, the theoretical value of structural causal models remains, and the idea of equipping intelligences with causal inference engines to help them make causal inferences is not obsolete. Key Words: Structural causal models; Large language models; Ladder of causation
Author:
WU Xiaoan
YU Qinyuan
Issue:Volume 47, lssue 8, August 2025
Page: 10-19
The Possibility of Machine Intelligence: Research on Turing’s Concept of Intelligence
Abstract: The Turing Test is often interpreted as an “operational” or “behaviorist” definition of intelligence, and the ability to pass the Turing Test is considered a criterion for determining whether a machine possesses intelligence. In fact, this is a misunderstanding. Turing never claimed that passing the Turing Test implies that a machine has intelligence. Attempting to directly address whether machines can think or possess intelligence was not the original purpose of the Turing Test. By examining Turing’s early conceptualization of intelligence, it becomes evident that he consistently maintained a firm belief in the possibility of machine intelligence, and he had already outlined potential approaches to achieving machine intelligence even before proposing the Turing Test. Key Words: Turing test; Machine intelligence; Turing; Intelligence
Author:
DENG Ketao
ZHANG Guihong
Issue:Volume 47, lssue 8, August 2025
Page: 20-27
The Influence of Kant’s View of Logic on Thinking About Mathematical Foundation
Abstract: From the perspective of intellectual history, logicism, formalism and intuitionism are intricately linked to Kant’s conception of mathematics. A fundamental aspect of Kant’s view of logic is the assertion that the applicability of logic is confined to possible experiences. The acceptance and subsequent critique of this view have catalyzed a significant inquiry into the foundations of mathematics. This paper investigated the impact of Kant’s view of logic on Hilbert’s theory of finite proofs, delineated the similarities and distinctions between Kant’s conception of mathematics and the formalist and platonist interpretations of mathematics, and elucidated that Kant’s logic provides the philosophical framework essential for comprehending Hilbert’s program. Furthermore, it also emphasized that a comprehensive understanding of Gödel’s incompleteness theorem necessitates an adequate grasp of Hilbert’s finite proofs theory. Ultimately, the author illustrated the enduring relevance of Kant’s view of logic in contemporary scientific inquiry, by exemplifing the double-slit experiment in quantum mechanics. Key Words: Kant; Logic; Formalism; Platonism; Double-Slit experiment
Author:
BAO Xiangfei
GUI Shujie
Issue:Volume 47, lssue 8, August 2025
Page: 28-36
Probability Theory in Tractatus
Abstract: This paper delves into Wittgenstein’s Tractatus to unearth the two distinct probability notions within it: logical probability and epistemic probability. Our study yields three pivotal conclusions. Firstly, the concept of logical probability is susceptible to an axiomatic framework, but its practical utility remains restricted. Secondly, the interpretations of 5.152 pertaining to probability and independence present certain challenges for some readers. Finally, epistemic probability emerges as a logical deduction derived from hypothetically assumed natural laws, impervious to empirical validation or refutation by observed frequencies. Key Words: Tractatus; Logical probability; Epistemic probability
Author:
SHI Weijun
Issue:Volume 47, lssue 8, August 2025
Page: 37-46
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How Could AI Develop Its Self-consciousness?
Abstract: The danger of AI will come from its self-consciousness rather than its capacity. AI would be a challenge to mankind if it develops a capacity for reflection on the system of its own, so that it would know how to remake its system with new rules, especially when it could invent its own language for all purposes, equal in capacity to human natural language, it could do anything it would. And AI would be most dangerous if it would be able to learn human desires, emotions and values, because all hostilities are based upon human desires and values.
From A Man-Machine Relationship to Inter Human Relations: Definition and Strategy of Artificial Intelligence
Abstract: In order to distinguish the intelligent machine as a tool from the robot as a subject, the definition of human must change from essentialism to functionalism. So far, artificial intelligence has gone through three stages of development: formalization, empiricization and rationalization, but it is still not in the structure, but in the function of simulating human thinking. Only a functionalist definition of human beings can be compatible with the future of new species and new humans-"uncontrolled" robots. If "uncontrolled" robots emerge, the relationship between natural person and robot will develop from human-machine relationship to inter-human relationship. This relationship is neither the relationship between man and machine, nor the relationship between man and animal, nor the relationship between natural people. Natural people should not adopt the previous strategy to treat robots. Human supremacism is not self-evident. Natural man's self-re-evolution, man-machine parallel and man-machine fusion are feasible schemes for natural man to avoid being overtaken, replaced and eliminated by robots.
Non-Reductive Explanation in Biology: Context Arguments
Abstract: Biological practice over the last several decades has shown that in many cases we cannot properly explain a higher-level phenomenon of interest only in terms of phenomena or mechanisms provided by lowerlevel explanations; to properly explain the higher-level phenomenon, information provided by the higher-level is also indispensable. One typical case is the context dependence of biological phenomena, namely, the occurrence of a higher-level phenomenon depends on its relevant environmental factors (e.g. cellular environments) which cannot simply be reduced to the lower-level (e.g. molecules) . On the other hand, the occurrence of the higher-level phenomenon can sometimes be independent of its lower-level underpinnings, since a change to the lower-level underpinnings does not necessarily result in corresponding changes in the higher-level. Facts based on these two sides constitute a ground for rejecting explanatory reductionism. This essay, by reference to examples drawn from biological practice, will discuss how contextual facts pose a challenge to explanatory reductionism.
Organismic Traits and the Explanatory Scope of Natural Selection
Abstract: Could natural selection explain why an individual organism has the traits it does? Debates over this topic have lasted for decades in the philosophy of biology. Indeed, the negative view and the positive view have different interpretations of the very why-question. The two sides have posited different explananda: a whole explicit fact (for the positive view) vs. a particular contrastive focal aspect of the explicit fact (for the negative view). Both explananda are reasonable and acceptable. However, elimination of misinterpretation does not render the negative view true. Rather, I argue that the negative view as a universal proposition is indeed untenable, for there are counterexamples for it in cases of symbiosis, lateral gene transfer, and genic selection. Key Words: Organismic traits; Natural selection; Scientific explanation
Dr. Edward Hume: The Intermediary Who Promoted the Rockefeller Foundation’s Initial Public Health Practice in China
Abstract: The Rockefeller Foundation intended to carry out hookworm disease treatment and prevention campaigns in many countries around the world at its initiation. Dr. Edward Hume, as the founder of the Yali Hospital and the Hsiang-ya Medical College in Hunan, tried to seek financial support from the Rockefeller Foundation in order to fulfill his plan in public health education in China. He used his connections and influence in Hunan to help the Rockefeller Foundation introduce the hookworm disease treatment and prevention project into China. In this transnational undertaking, Dr. Hume essentially played the role of an intermediary, who considerably promoted the Rockefeller Foundation’s earliest public health practice in China.
Kinnosuke Ogura: A Pioneer in The Study of Social History of Mathematics
Abstract: Kinnosuke Ogura was a renowned mathematical historian and educator in modern Japan. He has made outstanding contribution to the study of mathematics education and the history of mathematics. In the filed of mathematical history, he began to study the social problems of mathematics in the late 1920s. He believed that the sociality of mathematics must be concretized in the study of mathematical history, and investigated the relationship between the ideology, the economic foundation and the development of mathematics. He was a pioneer in the social history of mathematics. Key Words: Kinnosuke Ogura; Mathematical history; Sociality
News & Events
Video Playback of the Ninth Session of New Perspectives on the History of British Science from the 17th to the 19th Centuries
On May 8, at 9 p.m. Beijing time, the ninth session of New Perspectives on the History of British Science from the 17th to the 19th Centuries was held online as scheduled.
Video Playback of the Eighth Session of New Perspectives on the History of British Science from the 17th to the 19th Centuries
On April 10, at 9 a.m. Beijing time, the eighth session of New Perspectives on the History of British Science from the 17th to the 19th Centuries was held online as scheduled.
Seminar 8. Empire and Gender(New Perspectives on the History of British Science from the 17th to the 19th Centuries )
Welcome to join the Seminar Seminar 8. Empire and Gender of New Perspectives on the History of British Science from the 17th to the 19th Centuries .
Video Playback of the Seventh Session of New Perspectives on the History of British Science from the 17th to the 19th Centuries
On March 13, at 6 p.m. Beijing time, the seventh session of New Perspectives on the History of British Science from the 17th to the 19th Centuries was held online as scheduled.
Seminar 7. Optics and Astronomy(New Perspectives on the History of British Science from the 17th to the 19th Centuries )
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Video Playback of the Sixth Session of New Perspectives on the History of British Science from the 17th to the 19th Centuries
On February 13, at 9 p.m. Beijing time, the sixth session of New Perspectives on the History of British Science from the 17th to the 19th Centuries was held online as scheduled.
Seminar 6. Imperial Economies and the Exchange of Natural Knowledge in the 17th and 18th Centuries(New Perspectives on the History of British Science from the 17th to the 19th Centuries )
Welcome to join the Seminar 6. Imperial Economies and the Exchange of Natural Knowledge of New Perspectives on the History of British Science from the 17th to the 19th Centuries .
Video Playback of the Fifth Session of New Perspectives on the History of British Science from the 17th to the 19th Centuries
On January 9, at 9 a.m. Beijing time, the fifth session of New Perspectives on the History of British Science from the 17th to the 19th Centuries was held online as scheduled. The theme is The Chemical Revolution and Climate Change. The first speaker is Jan Golinski, whose speech title is : Climate Change and Society in Britain, 1790-1820. The next speaker is TONG Yichen, whose report title named Between Atomism, Elementalism, and Empiricism: The Chemical Studies of Étienne-François Geoffrey. The meeting was hosted by Professor Bernard Lightman.
Seminar 5. The Chemical Revolution and Climate Change(New Perspectives on the History of British Science from the 17th to the 19th Centuries )
Welcome to join the Seminar 5. The Chemical Revolution and Climate Change(New Perspectives on the History of British Science from the 17th to the 19th Centuries ).
Video Playbacks of the Four Session of New Perspectives on the History of British Science from the 17th to the 19th Centuries
On December 12, at 12 noon Beijing time, the four session of New Perspectives on the History of British Science from the 17th to the 19th Centuries was held online as scheduled.
Seminar 4. Gardens as Scientific Sites in the Early Modern Period(New Perspectives on the History of British Science from the 17th to the 19th Centuries )
Welcome to join the Seminar 4. Gardens as Scientific Sites in the Early Modern Period(New Perspectives on the History of British Science from the 17th to the 19th Centuries ).
Video Playback of the Third Session of New Perspectives on the History of British Science from the 17th to the 19th Centuries
On November 14, at 10 p.m. Beijing time, the third session of New Perspectives on the History of British Science from the 17th to the 19th Centuries was held online as scheduled.
Seminar 3. Darwin and the Big Picture(New Perspectives on the History of British Science from the 17th to the 19th Centuries )
Welcome to join the Seminar 2. Imagination and Innovation in Natural Philosophy of New Perspectives on the History of British Science from the 17th to the 19th Centuries.
Video Playback of the Second Session of New Perspectives on the History of British Science from the 17th to the 19th Centuries
Welcome to join the Seminar 2. Imagination and Innovation in Natural Philosophy of New Perspectives on the History of British Science from the 17th to the 19th Centuries .
Seminar 2. Imagination and Innovation in Natural Philosophy (New Perspectives on the History of British Science from the 17th to the 19th Centuries )
Welcome to join the Seminar 2. Imagination and Innovation in Natural Philosophy of New Perspectives on the History of British Science from the 17th to the 19th Centuries .
Video Playback of the first session of New Perspectives on the History of British Science from the 17th to the 19th Centuries
On September 19, at 9 a.m. Beijing time, the first session of New Perspectives on the History of British Science from the 17th to the 19th Centuries was held online as scheduled. The theme of the first session is Issues in Nineteenth Century Astronomy. The first speaker is Huang Hsiang-Fu, whose speech title is Visual Technology and Religious Sentiment in Nineteenth-Century Popular Astronomy Lecturing. The next speaker is Robert Smith, whose report named The Retellings of the Discovery of Neptune. The seminar is hosted by Professor Bernard Lightman. The following is the video playback of the seminar.
Seminar 1. Issues in Nineteenth Century Astronomy (New Perspectives on the History of British Science from the 17th to the 19th Centuries )
Welcome to join the Seminar 1. Issues in Nineteenth Century Astronomy of New Perspectives on the History of British Science from the 17th to the 19th Centuries
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Starting from the “Springtime for Science”—An Academic Symposium in Celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the Launch of the Journal of Dialectics of Nature and the 40th Anniversary of the Founding of the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
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