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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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Food Chains as Complex Systems: Distance, Scale, Emergence
Abstract: During the “long” nineteenth century (1775-1914), the systems supplying Britain with food underwent dramatic and permanent transformation. First, Britain went through what is known as the “nutrition transition,” a shift to a diet rich in animal proteins, wheat, and sugar. Second, the chains supplying these foodstuffs became global in scope. This article explores some of the consequences of this dietary transition, with particular focus on the history of meat and milk. Food chains became considerably longer with the development of steam navigation, which created problems of preservation, leading to innovations in refrigeration technology. Food production became concentrated and scaled-up in processing hubs, most notably the large abattoirs constructed in Australasia and America. These longer and more complex food systems generated public health problems through the emergence of novel pathogens: salmonella, listeria, E. coli O157:H7, and prions causing variant Creutzfeldt- Jakob Disease. These three phenomena—distance, scale, and emergence—allow us to make some conclusions relating to agency and topology. Key Words: Food systems; Meat; Milk; Distance; Scale; Emergence
Author:
Chris Otter
Issue:Volume 48, lssue 9, September 2026
Page: 1-16
The Pursuit of Natural Flavors in Ancient Chinese Diets
Abstract: The pursuit of natural flavors refers to the concept and practice of valuing the inherent taste of food, representing the natural aspect of flavor. This tendency has persisted throughout Chinese history. Since the pre-Qin period, the preference of natural flavors began to emerge, expressions such as “shi bu er wei” and “wei wu wei” vaguely conveyed an advocacy of natural flavors, while the flavorless taigeng provided an example of unseasoned food. Literati of the Song Dynasty demonstrated a strong pursuit of natural flavors through their aesthetic appreciation of simplicity and practice of rural living. At that time, people preferred the light and bland taste from unseasoned food, though the standard for what counted as “unseasoned” was not strictly defined. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, umami flavors emerged as a distinct and highly sought-after taste within natural flavors, which required meticulous cultivation through culinary practices. Under the shared discourse of naturalness and simplicity, the pursuit of natural flavors manifested varying standards yet consistently relied on frameworks of health, virtue, and aesthetics. Then the flavors became a cultural symbol of through which literati consolidated their identity and distinguished themselves from others. The changes mentioned above were adjustments within this very system. Key Words: Natural flavors; Flavorlessness; Light flavor; Umami flavor; Naturalness
Author:
CHEN Shu
Issue:Volume 48, lssue 9, September 2026
Page: 17-24
The Multiple Ontologies of “Freshness” and the Technological Changes in Wet Markets
Abstract: Freshness is a core symbol of quality and the paramount criterion for ingredient selection in Chinese food culture; its connotation is not a fixed concept, but has developed into diverse and dynamic practical meanings against the backdrop of the evolution of modern and contemporary food technologies, the innovation of distribution systems, and the transformation of market practices. Taking wet markets in China as the core research setting, this paper investigates the notion of freshness within the historical and practical context of the development of the modern food industry. The study reveals that Chinese consumers’ perceptions and practices of freshness do not align with the standardized “technological freshness” defined by the modern food industry; instead, they converge into a profound and enduring pursuit of immediacy, locality, and wildness. Freshness in Chinese wet markets is not only a continuation of the local dietary perceptual framework and cultural traditions, but also multiple ontologies that is constantly shaped and reshaped amid the continuous advancement of cold-chain and preservation technologies, artificial breeding, and cross-regional circulation technologies. It thus serves as a pivotal nexus connecting local culture, natural ecology, and social relations. Key Words: Freshness; Wet markets; Local food; Wildness; Food culture
Author:
ZHONG Shuru
Issue:Volume 48, lssue 9, September 2026
Page: 25-32
The Overlap of Scientific and Tacit Knowledge and Skills in “Learning About Tea”
Abstract: The overlap and interaction between modern science and traditional tacit knowledge and skills are clearly evident in the process of acquiring tea knowledge and skills—what may be called “learning about tea”. This article traces the emergence of tea education in modern and contemporary China. Drawing on anthropological participant observation and interviews, it reveals the diverse pathways individuals take to acquire tea knowledge and skills, as well as the contextual application of scientific and tacit knowledge and skills in tea sensory evaluation and production. Within the “learning about tea” trend, which possesses a strong grassroots foundation, one can observe the increasingly prominent guiding role of scientific standards. Simultaneously, the enduring vitality of traditional tacit knowledge is evident in individuals shaped by local cultures. Key Words: Learning about tea; Scientific standard; Tacit knowledge; Tea art; Intangible cultural heritage
Author:
ZHANG Jinghong
Issue:Volume 48, lssue 9, September 2026
Page: 33-40
Good Bacteria Moving East: The Scientific Transformation of China’s Yogurt Industry
Abstract: The history of food industrialization in developing countries has long been unexamined by existing research. Based on historical materials such as annals, memoirs, archives, and oral histories, this article traces the introduction into China of the “good” bacteria known today as lactic acid bacteria (LAB), as well as the corresponding scientific transformation of the yogurt industry. The article finds that, rather than the Republican-era intellectuals’ translation and introduction of Élie Metchnikoff’s theory of the life-extending benefits of fermented milk, it was the practice of “mass science” during the state-farm period and Danish development aid after Reform and Opening-up that together shaped China’s yogurt industry. The underdeveloped level of logistics (including the cold chain) and the lagging development of nutritional science in China were also crucial in this process. Key Words: Yogurt; Lactic acid bacteria (LAB); State farm; Denmark; Development aid
Author:
WANG Chengwei
Issue:Volume 48, lssue 9, September 2026
Page: 41-48
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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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