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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
Conference
Latest Articles
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Symposium: Ten Person Seminar on the Development of Science and Technology History Discipline
Abstract: This symposium contains 10 articles around the theme of fragmentazation in Science and Technology History based on "the Ten Person Seminar on the Development of Science and Technology History Discipline".
Author:
ZHANG Baichun HU Danian
WANG Zuoyue Fa-ti Fan
TIAN Miao LIU Bing
YUAN Jiangyang ZHANG Daqing
FENG Lisheng SUN Lie
Issue:Volume 48, lssue 4, April 2026
Page: 1-34
Husserl’s Manifold Theory and Gödel’s Program
Abstract: There exist multiple intellectual affinities between Husserl and Gödel, among which the often-neglected one is their consensus regarding the problem of searching for new axioms for formal systems. Husserl’s manifold theory offers a deep and stratified discussion of the completeness of axiomatic systems by means of the concept of definiteness, including extensional dimensions (syntactic and semantic definiteness) as well as intensional dimensions (objectual and axiomatical definiteness). A comprehensive understanding of Husserl’s manifold theory requires situating it within the framework of his formal ontology. Meanwhile, Gödel’s standpoint on the continuum problem is a mathematized philosophical claim. He shares with Husserl the same modern Platonist worldview of mathematics, an intuition-based constitutive theory of knowledge, and a view of the definite expansion of axiomatic systems. Gödel’s philosophical position permeates mathematical theory by shaping mathematical practice. From the perspective of transcendental phenomenology, Gödel’s program can receive a more complete clarification and justification along the dual dimensions of constitution and construction. Key Words: Manifold; Definiteness; Continuum hypothesis; New axioms
Author:
WANG Zhifei
Issue:Volume 48, lssue 4, April 2026
Page: 43-50
The Creative Contribution of Dedekind’s Ideal Theory to the Development of Riemann Surfaces
Abstract: Göttingen, the mathematical town of the 19th century, witnessed not only the birth of Dedekind’s ideal theory, but also the origin of Riemann surfaces. Dedekind combined ideal theory with the analytic structure of Riemann surfaces, thereby enabling a more precise characterization of the properties of algebraic curves and advancing the algebraization of Riemann surfaces. This integration not only deepened the understanding of Riemann surfaces but also laid the foundation for the development of algebraic geometry. This paper interprets the connection between Dedekind’s ideal theory and Riemann surfaces through a close and meticulous analysis of the original literature, and examines its contribution to the algebraisation of Riemann surfaces. It is elucidated that Dedekind’s conceptualism and logicism provided a solid theoretical foundation and methodological guidance for the development of Riemann surfaces, revealing the intrinsic connections and philosophical significance underlying the development of mathematical theory. Key Words: Ideal theory; Riemann surface; Theory of function; Richard Dedekind
Author:
YANG Qiang
WANG Chang
Issue:Volume 48, lssue 4, April 2026
Page: 73-80
Reshaping Life, Intelligence, and Humanity: Philosophical Reflection and Ethical Governance of Organoid Intelligence
Abstract: As a frontier innovation emerging from the deep integration of biotechnology and artificial intelligence, Organoid Intelligence (OI) embodies the dual characteristics of biological authenticity and technological enhancement. This technological breakthrough not only blurs the conventional boundaries between life and non-life, natural intelligence and artificial intelligence, but also fundamentally challenges the traditional cognitive demarcations between human and non-human entities. Its developmental trajectory will inevitably raise profound issues concerning the definition of moral status, the delineation of ethical responsibilities, and the safeguarding of social justice. It is imperative to construct a continuous life spectrum model, establish a generalized ecological intelligence perspective, and develop a multi-agent collaborative ecological philosophy framework from a philosophical dimension. Concurrently, there is an urgent need to implement a three-tier moral status evaluation system, advance a technology-democratized social justice safeguard mechanism, and refine a multi-layered collaborative governance model. These measures are essential to ensure that this cutting-edge technology develops responsibly within an ethical framework, thereby continuously contributing to the welfare of human society. Key Words: Organoid intelligence; Biological intelligence; Artificial intelligence; Philosophical reflection; Ethical governance
Author:
LUO Huiyu
XIE Xiangdong
MA Yonghui
Issue:Volume 48, lssue 4, April 2026
Page: 94-101
A Case of Early Sino-British Nuclear Science Exchanges: Chen-Tsoong Young, Chuan-Tseng Tai, and Department of Physics, University of Liverpool
Abstract: This study is one of the cases of nuclear scientific exchanges between the UK and China during the Cold War. With the leadership of Chadwick and Rotblat, the Department of Physics, University of Liverpool, became an important center of nuclear physics in the UK, mainly focusing on nuclear reactions using large cyclotrons. Chen-Tsoong Young collaborated with Holt, studying Deuteron Clipping Reaction from 1946 to 1950; Chuan-Tseng Tai was supervised by Rotblat from 1947 to 1951, in the study of nuclear emulsions and Deuteron Clipping Reaction. Both of them achieved doctoral degrees. This paper aims to review the research experiences of Young and Tai in Liverpool through primary archives and related literature. They were involved in the cutting-edge research and made significant progress by virtue of advanced research conditions. After returning to China, they made remarkable contributions to the development of nuclear science in China, especially their early research work clearly reflected their experiences during their time in Liverpool. Key Words: Chen-Tsoong Young; Chuan-Tseng Tai; UK-educated; Experimental nuclear physics
Author:
SUN Yihong
LIU Xiao
Issue:Volume 48, lssue 4, April 2026
Page: 118-125
Hot Articles
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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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