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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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Browse
Published ahead of Print
Latest Issue
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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The Dimensions of Writing in Francis Bacon’s Notion of “Experience”
Abstract: From the perspective of historical epistemology, this article situates Bacon within his 16th-to 17th-century context, and points out that “writing” was a central element that Bacon invoked in constructing his notion of “experience”. At the practical level, Bacon drew on the humanist tradition of “loci/topics” to establish the passage between writing, memory and experience as an axis for generating knowledge. He also proposed, under the possible influences of the Llullist ars combinatoria, “tabulation” as the process for discovering the “spelling-book of nature”, which was, in essence, to restore the orderly states of the mind through a structured and reiterative process of experience by writing. Bacon’s conception regarding this kind of “writing-experience” further suggests that early modern “empiricism(s)” may be revealed as a complex genealogy, rather than any straightforward evolution of a consistent philosophical stance. A first step is to rethink Bacon as something other than the stereotypical “inductionism” whose method is based on representational “ideas of things”. Key Words: Francis Bacon; Experientia literata; Textual practice; Order in writing
Author:
HUANG Zongbei
Issue:Volume 48, lssue 7, July 2026
Page: 1-13
The Studies on the Primitive Ontology Approach to Quantum Mechanics
Abstract: The primitive ontology approach to quantum mechanics aims to construct a universal explanatory framework, enabling macroscopic entities and their behaviors in the 3D space to be explained based on the microscopic entities and their behaviors in the 3D space. Bohmian mechanics and the Random Discontinuous Motion of Particles (RDMP) are two primitive ontology theories of quantum mechanics. Bohmian mechanics posits its primitive ontology based on certain a priori principles and explains the wave function on this basis. In contrast, the RDMP theory, combining new empirical facts provided by protective measurements and the universally valid reality criteria in physics (the Ontological Model Framework), adopts a more general and rigorous methodological principle in exploring the ontology of quantum mechanics, emphasizing the correspondence between the formalism of physical theories, physical ontology, and human experience. Key Words: Quantum realism; Primitive ontology approach; Bohmian mechanics; Theory of Random Discontinuous Motion of Particles; Ontological model framework
Author:
FENG Hang
GAO Shan
Issue:Volume 48, lssue 7, July 2026
Page: 40-48
“If You Were Skilled in ‘Catoptrics’”: John Dee’s Early Immersion in Mixed Mathematics
Abstract: This paper aims to understand Dee’s early scientific ideas (1550s-70s) on their own terms and within the context of early modern disciplinary complexities. I argue that Dee developed his new mixed-mathematical approach to physics not only to engage with the sixteenth-century European movement to break the disciplinary barriers between mathematics and physics, but as his own way to manifest the scholastic “occult virtues”. The paper claims that for Dee the key to calculate and manipulate celestial hidden qualities or influences within his newly developed discipline of “astrological physics”, was to be adept in geometrical optical methods such as in “catoptrics”. The foundation of Dee’s optical approach is shown to be indebted to traditions of both Medieval light metaphysics and Renaissance natural magic. Key Words: John Dee; Mixed mathematics; Occult virtues; Light metaphysics; Geometrical optics
Author:
WANG Xiaona
Issue:Volume 48, lssue 7, July 2026
Page: 67-80
Paradoxes and Paradigm Shifts in the Logical Presuppositions of Algorithmic Governance
Abstract: The application of artificial intelligence algorithm technology in government governance practices has led to the emergence of a new governance form known as “algorithmic governance”. This study argues that algorithmic governance rests on “algorithmic rationality” and “algocracy”, yet faces paradoxes of uncertainty, value trade-offs, self-fulfilling prophecy, and de-politicization. These paradoxes generate deep algorithmic risks and undermine its legitimacy. To address these challenges, the paper calls for a reconstruction of its logical presuppositions and a paradigm shift: reestablishing its rational basis in the context of uncertainty, advancing the re-politicization and political control of algorithmic systems, and orienting algorithm design toward the public good. Key Words: Algorithmic governance; Algorithmic risks; Logical presuppositions; Paradoxes
Author:
ZHANG Haizhu
LI Zhixin
Issue:Volume 48, lssue 7, July 2026
Page: 93-100
M. Cantor: The Founder of the Discipline of History of Mathematics in Germany
Abstract: M. Cantor was a renowned 19th-century German historian of mathematics and a founding figure of the discipline. He established the first academic chair in the history of mathematics at Heidelberg University, where he served as its inaugural dedicated professor. His magnum opus, the four-volume Vorlesungen über Geschichte der Mathematik, completed over a 28-year period, integrated methodologies from chronological, intellectual, and social history. Adopting an anti-Whiggish perspective, the work systematically traces the entirety of mathematical history from prehistoric times to 1799 through philosophical and cultural lenses.The publication of Vorlesungen über Geschichte der Mathematik not only served as a foundational work in the history of mathematics but, more significantly, M. Cantor infused new vitality into the field in Germany, fostered international academic exchanges in the field, and established a fundamental framework for global research in the history of mathematics. Key Words: M. Cantor; Vorlesungen über Geschichte der Mathematik; History of mathematics; Historiography
Author:
ZHAN Shengna
DAI Qin
Issue:Volume 48, lssue 7, July 2026
Page: 116-124
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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 )
Welcome to join the Seminar Seminar 7. Optics and Astronomy of New Perspectives on the History of British Science from the 17th to the 19th Centuries .
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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Robert S. Cohen Commemoration Symposium Held
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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