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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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Author Guidelines
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Latest Articles
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The Responsibility Deficiency of “Engineering Bystanders” in Engineering Ecology: Causes and Possible Remedies
Abstract: As an emerging engineering paradigm, engineering ecology not only brings about an ethical turn but also exposes the difficulty of defining and attributing responsibility. Within this context arises a new type of engineering subject—the engineering bystander, referring to those situated within the engineering ecological network yet failing to effectively assume responsibility. The responsibility deficiency of engineering bystanders represents a reflective response to the attribution dilemma in engineering ecology. It stems not only from individual moral disengagement but also from the structural interplay of ecological complexity and intelligent technological embedding. Addressing this issue cannot rely solely on conventional role-based responsibility allocation or regulatory instruments. Instead, it requires elevating ethical responsibility to the ecological level, emphasizing an ecosystem-oriented conception of responsibility as the foundation for reconstructing moral agency and achieving the effective bearing of responsibility within engineering ecology. Key Words: Engineering ecology; Engineering bystanders; Responsibility absence; Engineering-Niche responsibility
Author:
WANG Zongjian
WANG Jian
Issue:Volume 48, lssue 6, June 2026
Page: 1-9
How to Be Evidence: Mechanisms as Medical Causal Evidence
Abstract: Establishing causal relationships in clinical medical research is not only a highly challenging scientific practice problem but also a core topic of concern in contemporary philosophy of medicine. The debate on this topic mainly focuses on what kind of evidence is sufficient to support the establishment of causal relationships. One side argues that association evidence obtained from randomized controlled trials is sufficient to establish causal relationships; the other side argues that association evidence alone (obtained from randomized controlled trials) is insufficient, as mechanistic evidence must also be provided as a supplement. The former believes that association evidence is sufficient, while the latter believes that both association and mechanistic evidence is necessary but not sufficient. This article, by demonstrating the untenability of the above two viewpoints, proposes a third approach: that the mechanism is both sufficient and necessary for establishing causal relationships. Key Words: Causation; Clinical medicine; Mechanism; Evidence; Randomized controlled trials
Author:
FANG Wei
Issue:Volume 48, lssue 6, June 2026
Page: 28-35
Forest Investigation and Development in Gannan During the Republic of China from the Perspective of State Power
Abstract: Since modern times, coniferous timber produced in Northeast China had excellent quality and was widely sold in large quantities in the markets of North and East China. However, after the September 18th Incident, the fall of the Northeast China, and the domestic demand for coniferous timber had to seek new sources. Through field investigations conducted by some forestry experts using modern forestry knowledge and technology, the Gannan region was identified as a natural producing area of coniferous forests in northwest China. Its forests were extensive and their economic value was great. Driven by profits, timber merchants cut down a lot of forests, making the cutting area gradually expand into remote places with poor transportation, while large-scale timber output formed a seasonal pattern of movement. Subsequently, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the Bank of China and the provincial government of Gansu established forestry agencies in Gannan, and implemented measures such as cutting permits, diameter-grade selective logging, and small timber embargoes according to local conditions, which effectively slowed the rate of forest destruction. State power gradually penetrated into the frontier and strengthened the effective control and scientific management of the forest resources. As a new order, forestry shaped the landscape of the frontier and promoted the economic and social relations between the frontier and inland. Key Words: Forest resources; Gannan region; State power; Frontier construction; Forest landscape
Author:
WANG Zhitong
Issue:Volume 48, lssue 6, June 2026
Page: 61-70
Ethical Dilemmas and Governance of Paternalism in Medical Artificial Intelligence
Abstract: With the intelligent development of society in depth, the application of medical artificial intelligence (AI) has become a trend, and gradually gives rise to paternalistic tendencies. Although these participants, the AI systems, may reshape the roles and responsibilities of physicians and patients and they are often justified in domains such as data management and decision support, the hidden ethical risks should not be overlooked. This paternalism of medical AI can constrain both patient and physician autonomy, undermine the realization of the principle of medical beneficence, compromise the reliability and fairness of medical decision-making, and addressing these challenges has therefore become increasingly urgent. In response, patient empowerment promotes meaningful participation of patients in decision-making. At the same time, a moderated form of physician authority remains necessary to compensate for the limitations of machine decision-making and continued technical refinement of medical AI is the key to play its beneficial function. In addition, a more balanced and collaborative relationship among physicians, patients, and medical AI systems is needed to mitigate the ethical dilemmas associated with the paternalism in medical AI. Key Words: Medical artificial intelligence; Paternalism; Decision-making; Ethics
Author:
LV Yujing
DU Yanyong
Issue:Volume 48, lssue 6, June 2026
Page: 79-86
Responsibility, Life and Living: An Exploration of the Ethical Identity of Traditional Chinese Medicine Inheritance
Abstract: Responsibility, life and living constitute a three-dimensional ethical structure of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), in which the contents covered by the three elements are from “far” to “near” and the objects referred to are from “medicine” to “human”, thus laying the foundation for the ethical identity of TCM inheritance. Firstly, the ethics of responsibility manifests the ethical responsibility of TCM in medical affairs, which is accepted and pursued by most members of the society. For example, the ideal ambition that “The best doctors run a country” belongs to the holism position that “There is a responsibility for the rise and fall of a nation”. Secondly, bioethics is the essential concern of TCM, which contains the philosophical thoughts and practical methods of understanding, respecting and treating life well. For example, the value judgment that “human life is the most important” implies the philosophical spirit of “harmony between man and nature”. Thirdly, living ethics is the daily presentation of life ethics, which gives new content and significance to healthy living. The discussion of relevant ethical norms and identification approaches highlights those ever-existing ethical implications, which is conducive to “adhering to the right but not the old-fashioned paths” and promoting the creative transformation and innovative development of TCM culture. Key Words: Traditional Chinese medicine inheritance; Ethical identity; Ethics of responsibility; Bioethics; Living ethics
Author:
CUI Tian
ZHAO Wanli
Issue:Volume 48, lssue 6, June 2026
Page: 110-118
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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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