Nov 26, 2004

small topics that to be enriched

1. the importance of feedback in university administration
2. The advantages of changing subjects from time to time in a day during the exam-review
3. slow in reaction of daily conversation : my advantage or disadvantage
4. the power of analytical thinking: divide things into pieces will make learning easier.

small simple thoughts

I found I am still a creature of emotion, not a creature of only logic during the stay in Singapore.

"yealah."--Typical singlish.

small life gains hehe

冰水降火,no coffee,
早五成,午晚七。
前额痛,不可用,每周动。
back up file very wee.
谦虚,谨慎,戒骄,戒躁。
Update Norton.

Nov 25, 2004

simple thought: a way to make a difference

create a website of my experience in singapore. and it may develep as a writing website or a chemistry website.

small life experience: a swimming girl

I met cool girl in swimming pool today. She swiming without stop from when I began to swim to when I left the pool. Two things I appreciated in her. one is the persistency in the long run of swim with unchanging speed and the other is cool of her dark swimming suit and glass of the same color. I like it.

some quotes for the memory of my finished philosophy module

"Curiously enough, one cannot read a book: one can only reread it. A good reader, a major reader, an active and creative reader is a rereader."--V Nabokov

"This is how philosophers should salute each other: 'take your time!' "--L Wittgenstein

"Ask two philosophers what is philosophy, and get three answers. Definitions tend to be either trivial or controversial."

"Philosophy...unintelligible answers to insoluble problems." H Adams

"There is nothing so ridiculous but some philosophers has said it." Cicero

I like the first one most, for it is the one that I have experienced and am going to pratice.

Nov 20, 2004

Poet Robert Frost

Singapore Travel Agent. Outbound Tours & Travel Agency : singaporetours.com.sg
Two roads diverged in the wood,
and I took the one less traveled by,
and that has made all the difference.

Making a difference is not so difficult according to Robert, all I need is the courage to choose the road "less traveled by".

Nov 12, 2004

the dialectic thinking


Cicero studied his opponent's case with equal effort or even greater effort. Mill was trained by his father to argue both sides of every question.
I have heard the word "Dialectic" since I was in middle school. It was not until recently that I found its importance in writing as well as in daily life. When I write a critique, the dialectic approach is required in considering whether the article contains important counterargument and hence is balanced or not. In daily life, equipping with dialectic thinking appears to be more important. Today, I apply for a visa to US in order to make a trip to visit my aunt and uncle after my exchange semester is over. Though my uncle, aunt and I had fully prepared for it thinking that the material is convincing enough, my application is denial. The reason, from the consular officer, is "my tie to the Singapore is not strong", and he also gives advice that I'd better apply in China. The case itself is not interesting. What matters here is the feeling of confidence before I applied the visa. Making such argument, I studied my case carefully, but not study the opposite—in what situation that I will be denied for a visa. So there should be no reason for me to be so confident before applying.
Studying the opposite not only matters in daily argument; it is also crucial in self- examination. I am the habitual tendency to consider only the positive side of a case, which may contribute to my optimistic character, and which also prevent me from seeing the fault. Back in home university, I received much more praise than criticism. Praise lead to my pride and sometimes arrogance. I need criticism to see the true self. If such criticism is not able to reach me from the out, I will make myself its source.

what can be generalized from experience


In the last post, I conclude that experience, providing concrete example to life criteria, is important to me. The experience not only serves as an opportunity in which I can practise life criteria; they are also the source of new life criteria. I generalize my experience and make conclusion. I conclude from my personal experience that when weather changes, it is easy for me to get cold and it is the time to take some Vitamin C. But because of various reasons, generalization from personal experience can go too far from being true. I once drink the coffee in the Hall Canteen, and it tastes awful. So I generalized that all the coffee are bad, and I will remain drinking tea. You can imagine how soon I will change my mind. So, what can I generalize from the experience? I think the crucial thing is to find essential reasons. The change of weather results in the decrease of my immune system, and so I am easy to get cold. The decrease of my immune system is the essence of that generalization. However, the bad taste of coffee I had tried is not the essential property of all the coffee, though it is for those offered by my Hall Canteen. So find the essence is key of generalization from personal experience.

the ladder of abstraction


"Semanticist S.I. Hayakawa discussed the idea of an abstraction ladder in which language starts on the ground, so to speak, with an object available to our sense of perception, and moves up to concepts abstracted from, derived from, the concrete source-for example, from a specific cow to livestock to farm assets to assets. He stressed that our powers of abstraction are indispensable. 'The ability to climb to higher and higher levels of abstraction is a distinctively human trait without which none of our philosophical or scientific insights would be possible.' But he cautioned against staying at too high a level of abstraction. "
This passage, from Writing Logically Thinking Critically, reminds me of the importance of richness of personal experience. I used to be very confident of how to lead my life, a little overconfident I think, because I once thought that all the necessary knowledge of life are criteria, such as being honest, being brave, being kind to the old and so on. But as I grow up, I find that if I have not my own experience, those criteria alone are empty. For example, take honesty. It is easy to say I will be honesty to everyone, but sometimes other factors may be more important, like the happiness of patience. More recently, I find I may lie to someone simply because I am tired of explaining again and again what my department is in my home university because in NUS, there is no correspondent department. It is through specific experience that I realize that those criteria alone do not provide reasons strong enough for my action. They may be right, but are so abstracted that they prevents me from fully comprehend what they really mean.
By the way, J.S. Mill also warns that "an opinion of on a point of conduct, not supported by reasons, can only count as one person's preference", which means more of less the same thing.

Nov 11, 2004

Nov 8, 2004

when my spirit is low


It is rare for me. I am usually in high spirit which may be due to constant self-appreciation. (Another interesting topic for self-analyzing) But after having today's critical writing tutorial, I feel depressed. I thought I had well prepared for the Critique on the issue of funding a university. But in the class, I was shocked by how narrow my mind is when the teacher mentioned the possible counter-arguments I have never thought about. Not only by narrow-minded, also am I shocked by my lack of skill of handling whole article which requires taking an overall view of the article. I only addressed the fallacies on the sentence level. After filling myself with unhappiness for a while, I met Sharad later this day. He said that this issue of funding a university is under subjects like economics and probably politics, neither of which I am not familiar with. Suddenly, I feel better. I see a way of catching up. I decided to read some stuff on economics and political science before the final exam of critical writing.

criticism and praise

Recently, I am reading Dale Carnegie's book, How to Win Friends and Influence People. In his book, he tries to persuade us not to find fault of others, but to find ways to praise others. On the other hand, another module that I takes, the critical writing, tends to teach me to find fault in others' argument. It will be a long way until I can find a balance between the two.

Nov 6, 2004

critical thinking

1. Do not focus on labeling the fallacies, rather, fucus on pointing out where the faults are.
2. Study the two-sides of the case, and use dialectic approach to dress the difficult situations, especially when dealing with the analogy.
3. For examining the analogy, always think about the emotion expressed by the analogy. And evaluate it whether it is proper to arouse such emotion.
4. Do not dig one pit too deep, that is, not to analyze one fallacy in great detail. Especially in exam, there is a the word limit.

Nov 2, 2004

Science Watch

Science Watch
this website provides "rankings, interviews, and reports on today's most signigicant science", "tracking trends and performance in basic research".
however, the free online version is out-of-date -- one year late.

science websites: Special Topics

Special Topics
as the main page claims, it provides "citation analyses and commentary for selected scientific research areas that have experienced notable recent advances or are of special current interest."

science websites: Science Watch

Science Watch?
It provides similar information as in-cites, but a little professional, and so a little bit out-of-date.

science website:in-cites - The Most-Cited Institutions in Chemistry, 1994-2004

in-cites - The Most-Cited Institutions in Chemistry, 1994-2004: "1584752150"
This is page of in-cites under the category of institutions.
other categories of in-cites are scientists, papers, institutions, journals, countries and also other viariety of analysis and essays.
as the homepage of the websites claimed, "incites provides a behind-the-scenes" look at the scientists, journals, institutions, nations, and papers..."

sience websites: [ISI Highly Cited Researchers Version 1.1]

[ISI Highly Cited Researchers Version 1.1]
China has 13 highly-cited scientist, 10 of whom are in HongKong.

reasons for taking such modules in NUS

Lao shi ling jing men, xiu xing kao ge ren.

The first sentence gives exact explanation of why I take the arts module in Singapore

The second enlighten me on the way of exploring science frontiers.