Knowledge and Law. Issue 1: Selected Writings of the "Little South Lake Reading Group"

Author: Deng Zhenglai
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-09-01
Features: Knowledge: Openness and Closure – Preface to "Knowledge and Law" by Deng Zhenglai
The unique feature of the current collection, "Knowledge and Law," compared to other essay collections lies in the following aspects: First, it compiles book reviews formed by scholars based on specific arrangements, targeting certain texts, and grounded in careful reading. Second, in addition to these scholarly book reviews, it actually records the entire process of the "Xiaonanhu Reading Group," a young student-led reading team from the Theoretical Law Research Center of Jilin University, from its inception, growth, struggles, and progress. It documents the vivid and subtle inner experiences of every member in the group as they engaged in thinking and exploration, reading and discussion, and examined and questioned their relationship with knowledge. Third, if we allow ourselves a slightly historical perspective, in my view, it records a fundamental, arduous yet extremely important step in the construction of the academic tradition of Chinese social sciences and the formation of academic autonomy in China.
Regarding the direct producers of the "Xiaonanhu Reading Group," the "Zhenglai Study Hall" website (dzl.lawtheory.com.cn) has the following records in the dedicated section for the "Xiaonanhu Reading Group":
The "Xiaonanhu" Reading Group was established on November 18, 2003, named after the "South Lake Park" in the "Spring City." Professor Deng Zhenglai served as the general organizer and leader. It was an open reading organization targeting doctoral students in jurisprudence at Jilin University in 2003. As a voluntary participation group, it encouraged freedom of coming and going while strictly adhering to the rules of the reading group. At the request of Professor Huang Wenyi and Doctor Wu Ning, they were admitted as special members of the reading group. The purpose was to immerse oneself in reading, clarify issues, refine academic skills, exchange ideas, and improve together. The activities involved regular discussions on reading materials designated by Professor Deng Zhenglai, with each session guided by Professor Deng Zhenglai, featuring one host, one main reporter, two main commentators, and all participating members submitting book reports. The "Xiaonanhu" Reading Group aimed to foster a vibrant academic atmosphere, create a positive academic environment, and further promote the flourishing of academic activities through the establishment of an academic small group. In fact, creating and organizing the "Xiaonanhu Reading Group" can be considered one of the substantial actions I took after accepting the position as a professor at Jilin University in 2003. Having transitioned from an independent scholar to a member of the academic system, I set one of my goals as "promoting and actively participating in the reconstruction movement of Chinese jurisprudence." To achieve this goal, I believed that we must undertake two missions in the present: First, return to classics for critique; second, engage in theoretical construction based on contemporary Chinese social life.
Of course, my understanding of these two missions was primarily derived from my basic judgment about the current state of Chinese academia, which is that although we have introduced a large number of Western classic works since the "Western learning" movement, we have merely the stage of introduction and dissemination rather than research, critique, and dialogue. This is because we have adopted a more "consumerist" attitude toward these Western classics.
Second, in my view, knowledge production and reproduction must adhere to the following two "knowledge iron laws": First, the iron law concerning the relationship between knowledge traditions and knowledge increment; second, the iron law concerning the relationship between knowledge limits and knowledge critique. In other words, if we want to clearly understand our current state of knowledge and our position, as well as the nature and direction of our intellectual work, we must return to classics for critique, because only in the process of critique can we further understand and comprehend our lived world and the relationship between our lived world and the world of knowledge. Therefore, returning to classics for critique is, in a certain sense, critique for construction.
As a university teacher, I not only linked this goal or mission to collective actions aimed at constructing the academic tradition and autonomy of Chinese social sciences but also attempted to connect it with my personal commitment and arrangements in teaching at Jilin University. To fulfill my personal teaching commitments, upon joining Jilin University, I engaged in open discussions with graduate students on themes such as "Problems Facing Chinese Jurisprudence," hoping to gain a preliminary understanding of their knowledge reserves, academic training, ways of thinking, and, most importantly, their views on knowledge. Frankly speaking, the results greatly surprised me. I found that, generally speaking, the students' basic reading volume was severely insufficient, and their knowledge structures were severely distorted due to long-term confinement within their own disciplines. They showed a certain "indifference" to the current state of Chinese academic development, and even in the process of "questioning," they demonstrated a lack of awareness of the importance of academic exchange and a deficiency in academic exchange skills.
Of course, the most important issue, in my view, is not only the students' somewhat closed attitude toward knowledge but also the perceived closed nature of knowledge itself, as revealed in various ways. Clearly, we must face these problems and respond to them through conventional, targeted, and what I call "open" "reading·thinking·discussion" methods. It is precisely based on the understanding and consideration of these fundamental issues that the "Xiaonanhu Reading Group" came into being. Before this, I had already gained successful experience in organizing and managing the "Liulangzhuang" Reading Group. However, compared to the "Xiaonanhu Reading Group," there were both similarities and differences. The "Liulangzhuang" Reading Group, strictly speaking, was a completely private, spontaneous reading group based on academic interests, while the "Xiaonanhu Reading Group" was initially an academic group supported by the academic system with a clear hierarchy. In addition to inheriting the academic integrity and equal exchange and discussion atmosphere of the "Liulangzhuang" Reading Group, the "Xiaonanhu Reading Group" also possessed its uniqueness: it was neither a seminar focused on certain topics nor a workshop dedicated to a specific topic, but rather an exploration or innovation of a new teaching and learning method.
From a general perspective, in such courses, for students, reading classic texts and engaging in discussions aims to encourage them to learn from books and "emulate the sages"; to learn from their peers and achieve what I call "knowledge solidarity"; and to cultivate the ability for independent reflection and critique, as well as to develop the habit of strictly adhering to academic norms in discussions. For teachers, in such courses, teachers are no longer traditional knowledge "imparters," because they are also just members of the discussion and exchange process, and their views do not possess an unquestionable absolute authority, as their views are merely one of many in the exchange process. Furthermore, the ability to appropriately grasp and guide the entire reading and discussion process also poses higher challenges to teachers' academic capabilities.
The "Xiaonanhu Reading Group" is also an open classroom, because in such a classroom, although the main participants are doctoral students in jurisprudence at Jilin University, there are no restrictions on schools, disciplines, or grades. Many members come from other places or schools, including doctoral students in political science, philosophy, sociology, and economics, as well as master's and undergraduate students. In fact, any student interested in the relevant texts and theoretical issues can participate in discussions and make contributions.
Of course, as a reading "course" within the academic system, the "Xiaonanhu Reading Group" also has a certain institutional continuity, passing down naturally from one grade to the next. After the reading activities of the first session, which were primarily led by doctoral students from the 2003 class, they will continue among doctoral students from the 2004 class and subsequent sessions. From January 1, 2004, to November 4, 2004, lasting over ten months, the first session of the "Xiaonanhu Reading Group" read nine texts and conducted nine reading and discussion activities. Emphasizing the reading and discussion of classics, the "Xiaonanhu Reading Group" first addressed the question of how to read/how to think. Given the specific context of Chinese education, even at the doctoral level, it does not necessarily mean that most students have acquired the ability to read and think properly. As readers can see from the book reports included in this collection, the reading and thinking abilities of the members of the "Xiaonanhu Reading Group" gradually improved. Therefore, in their daily reading, the group emphasized basing their understanding on the text itself, entering into the theoretical issues discussed by the authors, and striving to grasp the authors' perspectives and discussions on these issues within the intellectual context and historical background of the theories.
This shows that, on the one hand, the reading advocated by the "Xiaonanhu Reading Group" is an effort to grasp the author's arguments within the theoretical context or their understanding of the theoretical context, avoiding the absence of the author or the "death of the author" in the process of reading. On the other hand, while following the basic reasoning of the authors, the "Xiaonanhu Reading Group" also emphasizes the readers' own grasp, questioning, reflection, critique, and advancement of the issues, preventing the readers from being completely constrained by the authors' thinking logic and, in essence, leading to the "death of the reader."
Based on this, we can say that the reading and thinking process of the "Xiaonanhu Reading Group" is an active and proactive process based on the text, and in this process, self-examination or consideration of aspects such as "intellectual context," "theoretical origins," and "knowledge increment" is particularly important, because only on this basis can the reading and discussion of the "Xiaonanhu Reading Group" both respect academic traditions and advocate academic autonomy, and can it "return to classics for critique."
Second, the "Xiaonanhu Reading Group" is committed to breaking through the cognitive barriers set by existing disciplines and confronting the "knowledge correctness" concept formed by students, which is what I call the "openness" issue in knowledge cognition. This is largely reflected in the selection of reading texts for the "Xiaonanhu Reading Group." During the nine reading activities, I selected the following texts for the students:
(1) Hayek, "Confusion of Language in Political Thought"
(2) Hayek, "Some Principles of a Free Society," "Some Remarks on the Evolution of Systems of Rules—The Interaction Between Individual Behavior Rules and Social Order," "Spontaneous Order and a Third Category—The Action of Man, Not the Design of Man"
(3) Hayek, "Types of Rationalism," "The Fallacy of Constructivism," "The Pretensions of Knowledge," "Two Types of Minds"
(4) Wallerstein, "Open Social Science"
(5) Waldrop, "Complex: Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos"
(6) Wallerstein, "The End of What We Know—Social Science in the Twenty-First Century"
(7) Mulkay, "Science and Sociology of Knowledge"
(8) Barnes et al., "Science Knowledge: A Sociological Analysis"
(9) Geertz, "Local Knowledge: Comparing Fact and Law"
From one perspective, the texts selected for the nine reading activities of the "Xiaonanhu Reading Group," according to traditional disciplinary divisions, clearly belong to important works in political philosophy, sociology, the sociology of science and knowledge, cultural anthropology, and other different disciplinary fields, but there are no strictly academic legal texts among them. The conscious selection and targeted reading arrangement of these texts, such as reading Wallerstein's "Open Social Science" and "The End of What We Know" and Hayek's "Some Principles of a Free Society," aim to make the members of the reading group recognize the artificiality and limitations of existing disciplinary systems and standards, especially to make them recognize the "counter-cognitive" barriers set by these systems and standards in understanding specific issues. Thus, it is hoped that in the process of reading, thinking, and discussion, the students will no longer take existing disciplinary divisions as the natural boundary or premise for knowledge production and reproduction, but will focus on the recognition or construction of problems, carrying out "open" discussions and reflections.
Therefore, the reading method of the "Xiaonanhu Reading Group" is an "open" reading method beyond the meaning of disciplines. From another perspective, the texts selected for the nine reading activities of the "Xiaonanhu Reading Group," whether Hayek's "limited rationality" view opposing rationalism, Wallerstein's social science works opposing "ideological" institutions, or the theoretical framework of the famous "Edinburgh" school of the sociology of science and knowledge in the United Kingdom, basically constitute a reflection and critique of the tendency to "truthify" knowledge. The basic orientation of reading by the "Xiaonanhu Reading Group" aims to make its members recognize that knowledge is not something that simply needs to be believed and does not possess an absolute universality, as some argue.
In my view, first, the "knowledge iron law" concerning the relationship between knowledge limits and knowledge critique clearly implies that knowledge has a constitutive limit due to the limits of human reason, and the existence of this limit not only provides the possibility but also the necessity for knowledge critique. Therefore, the knowledge of anyone (including our own knowledge and the knowledge of the teacher) must undergo critical examination. Second, to some extent, we are all knowledge producers and part of the entire knowledge production machine; therefore, we must not only reflect on and critique the knowledge we produce and reproduce but also maintain a high degree of reflection and critique regarding the machine that largely governs our knowledge production activities.
In conclusion, only with an "openness" in the cognition of knowledge can we possibly establish a critical premise for discussion, reading, and thinking, and provide the possibility for the increment of knowledge in some sense, thereby maintaining a high level of vigilance regarding our position and role in the social process that we "intervene" in through knowledge production.
It can be said that in this short ten months of "discipline," the first session of the "Xiaonanhu Reading Group" has, through their respective efforts, not only experienced the academic tempering of each individual but also enjoyed the confusion and joy brought by reading and thinking, and has achieved visible intellectual gains. More importantly, through equal discussions and exchanges among themselves, while strictly adhering to academic norms, they have, to a certain extent, cultivated a good academic atmosphere and, unknowingly, formed various academic groups that can engage in in-depth discussions on theoretical issues. As one student put it: "In the blink of an eye, when we have the opportunity to summarize and reflect on the reading time of the 'Xiaonanhu' Reading Group, more than a year has passed, and the manuscripts of the nine discussions have accumulated into thick stacks. Suddenly, everyone has a lot to say. The mood is no longer what it was at the beginning, and concerns are no longer concerns. Success and failure are cast aside, but emotions surge. Some recall the fierce discussions and boundless critique; some talk about mutual exchange and help among classmates; some describe the joy of thinking and the hardship of writing—trotting back and forth in cramped dormitory rooms like cornered beasts; some joke about the east window already being white, but the lamp still burning; and some cannot help but burst into tears. All kinds of emotions resonate deeply within us. A year of 'Xiaonanhu' has not only been a cultural journey of suffering but also a journey of emotions, feelings, and spirit. Looking back at this year of reading, we experience and feel, and we have all found our own years of fragrance and hardship filled with books" (Liu Xiaoping, "'Xiaonanhu' Reflection: The Joy of Exchange in Reading," http://dzl.lawtheory.com.cn/view.asp?infoid=7610&classid=6).
Of course, these young people, through serious reading and a meticulous grasp and organization of the intellectual context, have gradually acquired a genuine love for learning and the ability for in-depth reflection on theory. Through their efforts, I can say that I have seen a certain vibrant new trend, namely, a tendency to reject the "simple rejection" or "unreflective acceptance" of Western theories, and a tendency to construct China's own academic tradition and autonomy. The second session of the reading activities of the "Xiaonanhu Reading Group" is currently underway.
Of course, for the birth, growth, and publication of this collection of the "Xiaonanhu Reading Group," and for the continuation of subsequent sessions of the "Xiaonanhu Reading Group," I think we cannot view them as isolated events, because in essence, they represent a continuous effort process, a process in which academia can be inherited, accumulated, and even incremented. I published their achievements in the form of "Knowledge and Law" for the following reasons: first, I hope to attract more readers to join in reading and to join the team aimed at developing Chinese jurisprudence, if not Chinese social sciences, and second, I sincerely want to point out that although the "Xiaonanhu Reading Group" originated at Jilin University, it can never belong solely to Jilin University: the students who come out of here, along with their thoughts, will constitute part of the future of Chinese jurisprudence, and even of Chinese social sciences. We have every reason to believe this!
July 7, 2005, at Weimingzhai in the northern suburbs of Beijing