Ancient Chinese poetry logic: Logic Time and Space Series

Author: Peng Yilian
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-07-01
Features: In April and May 2003, more than 10 mainstream media in the capital reported prominently on the strong call issued by 10 renowned logicians and linguists, expressing concern over the chaos in logic and the lack of proper language use in social life. The People's Daily (reporter Su Xulong) reported on the front page that experts discussed the neglect of logic and the incorrect use of the mother tongue in current social life from different perspectives and proposed constructive suggestions on how to improve people's logical thinking and language expression skills. The People's Daily (Overseas Edition) (reporter Liu Guochang) featured a large headline on the front page of the Education, Science, Culture, and Health section: "Chaos in Logic and Lack of Proper Language Use Need Urgent Change." The article stated that experts expressed concern over the chaos in logic and the lack of proper language use in all aspects of social life and strongly called for further purification of the logical and linguistic environment to improve people's thinking and expression skills. The Guangming Daily (reporter Li Ruiying) highlighted on the front page of the theoretical section that logic is a summary of long-term thinking experience and a theory and tool for correct thinking and successful communication. It serves society with its unique properties and functions, playing an important role in improving people's basic qualities and cultivating their rationality and scientific spirit. Experts called on people to learn logical knowledge and consciously cultivate logical thinking habits and learn logical analysis methods. The China Education Daily (reporter Pan Guolin) published a detailed summary of the experts' remarks under the headline "Calling for to Pay Attention to Logic and Language" in two-thirds of the page. The editor specially noted in the preface that experts reaffirmed the social functions and roles of logic and elaborated on the practical significance of learning and promoting logic science from political, economic, and cultural perspectives, which would be helpful for our educational and teaching work. The Legal Daily (correspondent Mei Shu'e) emphasized under the headline "Logic is the Intrinsic Requirement for Fairness in Legislation and Judicial Administration" that one of the main reasons for problems in China's legislative and judicial fields is that some legislative and judicial personnel lack logical awareness, logical literacy, and logical thinking skills. The Worker Daily (reporter Wang Jinhai) published a full-page headline in the "News Observation" column: "Let Logic Move Out of the 'Ivory Tower.'" The article stated: "We are now facing a certain degree of chaos in logic and the lack of proper language use, and most people have not even realized this danger." The article added that logic is not just a field of study for a few experts; it is closely related to everyone's life and personal interests, and it is necessary to vigorously promote the popularization of logic. The Beijing Daily (reporter Qi Haiyan) reported on the experts' opinions under a large headline on the front page: "The Phenomenon of Logical Deficiency Causes Concern," emphasizing that "popularizing logical knowledge and standardizing thinking and language is an urgent task." The call from the experts was made during the "Logic, Language, and Social Life" symposium held on the 21st anniversary of the establishment of the China Institute of Logic and Language Correspondence University. I participated in this symposium and made a keynote speech. From the strong calls from the experts and the powerful reports from the media, we can sense that:
—Logic, as the theory of correct thinking and successful communication, is a fundamental and tool-based science. Logical thinking has been accompanying humans and permeating all aspects of social life, everywhere and at all times. However, in today's social life in China, the chaos in logic and the lack of proper language use have reached a certain level of severity. Whether it is legal texts, economic contracts, decision-making arguments, advertisements, official speeches, teacher lectures, or media reports, it is almost impossible to find a place without vague concepts, incorrect reasoning, unscientific arguments, or non-standard language. These logical and linguistic issues hinder people's normal lives and sometimes even lead to extremely serious consequences.
—It is encouraging that a group of responsible scholars have paid attention to and emphasized the chaos in logic and the lack of proper language use in social life. They have issued calls and proposed solutions. It is equally encouraging that a group of sensitive journalists have paid attention to the opinions of the experts and promptly reflected their voices. I would like to add that leaders from relevant departments also expressed excellent opinions at the symposium and shared a high degree of consensus with the experts. I believe that if everyone takes action together and jointly promotes the popularization of logic, we can fully leverage its social functions and, in the near future, the phenomenon of chaos in logic and the lack of proper language use in social life will improve.
(II) Compiling the "Logic in Time and Space" series can be seen as a concrete action to implement the experts' calls. Our starting point is to popularize logical knowledge to society, leverage its social functions, promote healthy and effective thinking across the society, cultivate people's rational character and scientific spirit, and serve the country's economic construction and social harmony. Fifteen years ago, I had the opportunity to read the manuscript of "Effective Thinking" translated by Professor L. S. Stebbing from the United Kingdom by Professor Lü Shuxiang. The book was written in response to the lack of logic and even opposition to logic in British society in the 1930s. However, the author did not write it as a textbook on logic but instead, from a broader perspective of effective thinking, pointed out the various internal and external obstacles and distractions people often encounter during thinking. The author also emphasized that without overcoming these obstacles and distractions, people could not think effectively and would hinder them from making correct actions. The book's arguments are closely tied to the typical examples of social life and daily thinking at the time, with insightful analysis and readability. I believe that although the book was written by the author more than half a century ago for British society, China also needs this book today. I also proposed that Chinese scholars should write a book similar to "Effective Thinking" based on the realities of China today, which would undoubtedly help Chinese people think more effectively. The publication of the "Logic in Time and Space" series is also an extension of the idea I mentioned 15 years ago. The basic positioning of the "Logic in Time and Space" series is popular reading and teaching reference books. The main content of the "Logic in Time and Space" series is to explore and explain logical issues in various fields of social life. The specific writing style is to highlight the most common logical problems in a specific field of social life, combine them with typical cases for explanation, and introduce relevant logical knowledge. When introducing logical knowledge, we do not aim for completeness but rather focus on key points, that is, in a specific field, we write about the prominent logical problems. When explaining logical knowledge, for the convenience of readers' understanding, we appropriately introduce related prerequisite knowledge when necessary. The "Logic in Time and Space" series also selects several logic popularization books that have had a significant impact in China in the past 20 years. These books have all been revised by their authors. The "Logic in Time and Space" series includes 13 books:
1. "The Social Function of Logic," author Zhang Jianjun, Deputy Director of the Department of Philosophy at Nanjing University, Professor, Doctoral Supervisor, Vice President of the China Society of Logic.
2. "Clicking Thinking," author Zhang Xiuting, Professor at Qinhuangdao Radio and Television University.
3. "The Admonition of Logic," author Wang Hong, Director of the Institute of Logic at China University of Political Science and Law, Professor.
4. "Dialogue Between Economy and Logic," author Fu Dianying, Professor at Capital University of Economics and Business.
5. "Logic in the Campus," author Wei Shilin, Professor at Yunnan Normal University.
6. "Game Thinking," author Pan Tianqun, Professor and Doctoral Supervisor at the Department of Philosophy at Nanjing University.
7. "The Logic of," author Li Yanhua, Director of the Logic Teaching and Research Office at the China Women's College, Professor, Professor at the China Institute of Logic and Language Correspondence University.
8. "Public Speaking, Debate, and Logic," author Tan Darong, Director of the Yearbook Editing Office of the Chongqing Association of Social Sciences, Associate Professor.
9. "Logic in Ancient Poems," author Peng Yilian, Professor at the Department of Philosophy at East China Normal University, former Vice President of the China Society of Logic.
10. "Logic Thinking Training," authors Yang Ang and Chen Wei, Logic Teaching and Research Office at the Department of Philosophy at Fudan University.
11. "New Edition of Logic and Wisdom," author Zheng Weihong, Researcher at the Institute of Ancient Books at Fudan University.
12. "Fun Logic," authors Peng Yilian, Professor at the Department of Philosophy at East China Normal University, former Vice President of the China Society of Logic; Yu Shihu, Professor at the Media College of City University of Zhejiang University, Vice President of the Zhejiang Society of Logic.
13. "Jokes, Humor, and Logic," author Tan Darong, Director of the Yearbook Editing Office of the Chongqing Association of Social Sciences, Associate Professor.
(III) The "Logic in Time and Space" series will soon be available to a wide range of readers. At this moment, I sincerely thank the series planner Yang Shulan. Ms. Shulan is an experienced editor and planner at Peking University Press with rich publishing experience. She has also taught logic at universities for many years and has a deep understanding of the functions and roles of logic. On September 30, 2003, when I spoke to Ms. Shulan on the phone about the chaos in logic in social life and people's desire to learn logical knowledge, she said she shared the same feelings as me. Twenty days later, we formed the idea of compiling the "Logic in Time and Space" series. As the planner, she proposed the basic concept of the topic and the basic requirements for writing, helped me find several authors, and maintained frequent contact with them. I will not exaggerate it if I say that without Ms. Shulan's high sense of social responsibility and foresight, the "Logic in Time and Space" series would not have been able to be published so smoothly. I sincerely thank the authors of the series. They are all accomplished and influential scholars in China's logic field, with heavy teaching and research tasks. However, they are willing to contribute to the "Logic in Time and Space" series and have completed their writing as planned. I dare say that all the authors have put in their efforts. Several books in the series are revised and reprinted works. The original copyright holders agreed to include them in the series for publication, and I am grateful to them. I hope readers will enjoy the "Logic in Time and Space" series and look forward to its role in popularizing logical knowledge across the society. I would like to clarify that the writing approach of the "Logic in Time and Space" series is still an attempt for me. Whether this attempt is successful or not depends on the judgment of the readers. I sincerely request that readers share their feelings and suggestions about reading the "Logic in Time and Space" series with us.
President of the China Institute of Logic and Language Correspondence University, Liu Peiyu
March 2005