Philosophical Study of "Problem"

Author: Zhang Zhangran
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-12-01
Features: There is a story in the history of Western philosophy: Wittgenstein studied under the great philosopher Moore at the Department of Philosophy, University of Cambridge, UK. One day, Russell asked Moore, "Who is your best student?" Moore replied without hesitation, "Wittgenstein." "Why?" "Because among all my students, only he used to look confused when listening to me and always had a lot of questions." Later, Wittgenstein's fame surpassed that of his teacher Russell. Someone asked him, "Why has Russell fallen behind?" Wittgenstein replied, "Because there are no more questions." "No more questions" is how terrible a thing it is, yet it has become the predicament of Chinese philosophy: most scholars have plenty of opinions, yet precisely no questions. The author chooses "the question itself" as the object of study and conducts a systematic and in-depth exploration of it, undoubtedly demonstrating his sharp academic insight and strong philosophical mission. He not only examines and organizes the concept of "question" from multiple disciplines such as psychology, linguistic logic, philosophy of science, philosophy of technology, general philosophy, and Marxism, but also conducts fruitful research and discussion on what a question is, the structure of a question, its basic characteristics, its basic functions, the discovery of questions, the evaluation of questions, the selection of questions, and the resolution of questions. This book has a novel purpose, clear reasoning, elegant language, and rigorous, well-supported arguments. It delves into this major challenge of the current academic world with depth and thoroughness, which is no easy feat. Moreover, as an academic work with strong originality, this book itself possesses certain pioneering and theoretical value, and to some extent, it will promote the progress of Chinese academic research, i.e., "shifting from opinions to questions."