Philosopher Chen Jiaying: In the era of AI, how do we recognize the world and know ourselves?

"Perception, Rational Knowledge, Self-Awareness" by Chen Jiaying, Republic of China, Beijing Daily Press, January 2022 edition

Recently, philosopher Chen Jiaying's recent thinking masterpiece "Perception, Rational Knowledge, And Self-Cognition" was published by the Republic of China Beijing Daily Publishing House.

"Perception", "Rational Knowledge" and "Self-Knowledge" are the themes of long-term thinking and research of the famous philosopher Mr. Chen Jiaying. Adhering to the characteristics of consistent discourse, in this book, he starts from the subtle conceptual analysis to analyze the rational path behind such theoretical words in philosophy, and then tears down the walls of concepts, runs through and opens them up, so that we can see the connection between them and our lives. Whether he talks about perception, knowledge or self-knowledge, he is always talking about the life of each of us, the whole era, the era that human beings have experienced.

In today's era of the end of knowledge, in the face of the technical and digital situation, how to recognize our position in the world, how to recognize our own position among people, the book provides a deep and innovative perspective, so that we can re-feel the world, more powerful to deal with the current problems.

This is not a difficult philosophical treatise, nor a research work, but a philosopher who has always been concerned with how man lives in the world tells us in an easy-to-understand way about his years of thinking.

Chen Jiaying is currently a senior professor in the Department of Philosophy at Capital Normal University. He has taught at Peking University and East China Normal University. His research interests include modern Western philosophy, including phenomenology (especially Heidegger's philosophy), philosophy of language (especially Wittgenstein's philosophy), philosophy of science, and ethics.

He studied phenomenology and the philosophy of language, and was good at analyzing philosophical problems from the discernment of small words, and finally mastered the question he had been thinking about, that is, the ancient Socrates question: "How should man live?" This book is Chen Jiaying's latest masterpiece to understand this philosophical question from the perspective of conceptual analysis such as perception and knowledge in light of the current era.

In the era of AI, how do we think about the position of people and the relationship between people and the world? In today's era of science is moving forward, artificial intelligence has surpassed people in many aspects, how should we look at the position of people in the world, and the meaning of human existence, as a philosopher who has long paid attention to the relationship between science and philosophy, Chen Jiaying provides us with another perspective of thinking in the book: starting from feeling, understanding the world with understanding yourself, and understanding the world to understand yourself.

Whether it is the study of phenomenology, the philosophy of language, the philosophy of science or ethics, "how people should live" has always been the core of Chen Jiaying's thinking. What is the difference between humans and animals? What is the value of human beings? In the face of today's era of the end of reason, how should we better live in this world? The book may provide the answer you are looking for.

This is a book for both professional readers and the general public. The content of the book is based on Chen Jiaying's series of courses "Perception and Knowledge" this spring, which not only involves the topics he has been thinking about, but also involves the latest development research in science, especially cognitive science, while retaining the language style of the lecture and the Q&A session, and talking about abstract philosophical issues in easy-to-understand language.

"I admit that I lecture with my own tendencies." Author Chen Jiaying said, "Of course, knowledge is a special endowment of human beings, as a human being, we cannot but cherish our own endowments, but the value of human knowledge is that it is always intertwined with perception, animals have perception and irrational knowledge, and the appropriate conclusion seems to be that human beings not only perceive, but also know, rather than only rational knowledge." If you really know that there is no sense, it is not the specialty of human beings, that is the specialty of AI. The knowledge with perception, the knowledge of feeling, fundamentally speaking, is to understand the world with understanding oneself, to understand oneself with the world, to put it more simply, that is, to live to understand. ”

Preface to Perception, Knowledge, And Self-Awareness

Author: Chen Jiaying

In recent years, I have given reports at Capital Normal University, East China Normal University, Fudan University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and other occasions on topics such as "Knowing with Feelings," "Two Types of Cognition," "Perception and Knowledge," and "Self-Knowledge." Friends who have listened to lectures and friends from publishing houses have encouraged me to organize them into books. After the summer, I began to devote myself to this work, and I had this little book in front of me.

These interrelated reports are the most systematic of the nine consecutive reports presented this spring at the Simian Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at East China Normal University, and I have added the contents of other lectures based on the transcripts of the recordings of these reports. I prepare a fairly detailed lecture before I give a lecture, but when I get to the podium, I usually take it out. Sometimes it is very abetting, sometimes the examples are not good, sometimes it is simply distorted, and when the book is written, these are all in the revision. But I still want to keep the tone of the lecture as much as possible, the repetitive exposition has not been changed to be simplified, the expression is clumsy, extensive and still old, and some sentences are not grammatical, as long as the meaning is smooth, do not change. Due to the teaching situation and class time constraints, some parts of the lecture notes are not mentioned or only briefly mentioned, and are now added. In particular, the quotations and comments of others are mostly skipped when lecturing because they may interfere with the flow of ideas, and these are also added, sometimes into the main text, and more often as footnotes. When sorting out, the content of some lectures was adjusted, not divided into one lecture and one lecture, but divided into introduction and eleven chapters. The audience's questions and comments, select some, and place them after the relevant chapters.

As always, I try to annotate Chinese translations of foreign quotations, but the citations may be my own translations.

This little book is not a research work, and there is no intention of seeking a complete approach to the topics involved, such as the topic of "reasoning", which cannot be covered by many books, and I have only talked about a little bit, thinking that what I am talking about is a little new, or that others do not often talk about. There may be a view here and there, but I dare not expect them to have a deep and broad meaning. Even if I touched some deep and subtle points, I did not stop to investigate carefully, secretly hoping that which one would arouse interest, pick it up, and turn the stone into gold. The form of the lecture is relatively free and relaxed, which is just suitable for my current state of mind, I often feel that the current philosophical papers, serious and serious, lack of interest, it is inevitable to read a little dull. However, I would like to admit that some of the lectures are more rambling, some of the lectures are improvised, without consideration, and I myself have not thought clearly, all of which, the reader does not have to take too seriously, I explain to the students at the beginning of the course, please listen to this course more as a chat, that is, an old teacher to some students to talk about his thinking, experience. Of course, these are not excuses for refusing criticism, in fact, if there are readers who are willing to criticize and correct the errors, ambiguities, and incompleteness in the book with a high standard, I would be deeply honored.

The origin and formation of this small book is attributed to many fans--the leaders who invited me to make reports, the teachers who arranged the reports, the scholars and students who participated in the discussions. I would like to thank Zhou Yutong, Zhang Yuxian, tan bin and several young students for compiling the recordings of the lectures; and I would like to thank Liu Xiaoli and Yin Wenqi for reading through the whole draft and putting forward many useful revision suggestions. I would like to give special thanks to Xiao Haiou and Wu Yunfei, who participated in all aspects of the book's compilation and added editor's notes when reviewing the full manuscript. I would like to thank Liu Ruilin, the presiding officer of the Republic. Finally, what I should be most thankful for is my audience and the readers in my heart, all of which would not have started unless you were willing to listen. I talk about it sloppily, but there are often intricate rationales behind it, and it is normal for the reader to feel that it is not clear at first reading. However, even if the path is not followed smoothly, the reader may still feel a spiritual effort, and in this era when the sound of the spirit is gradually fading, even if it is not a decent effort, it seems that it may be desirable to listen.

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