Chapter 80 Questions about people's cognition [1]

(August 24, 1964) I came to you today to study Sakata’s article [2].Sakata said that elementary particles are not indivisible, but electrons are divisible.He said this from the standpoint of dialectical materialism. The world is infinite.The world is infinite in time and space.There are countless stars outside the solar system, and the solar system and these stars form the Milky Way.There are countless "galaxies" outside the Milky Way.The universe is infinite in its grand dimensions.The universe is also infinite in its small dimension.Not only atoms can be divided, but also atomic nuclei and electrons can be divided, and they can be divided infinitely.Zhuangzi said, "If you hammer a foot, take half of it every day, and it will last forever" [3], which is correct.Therefore, our knowledge of the world is also infinite.Otherwise the science of physics would not have developed.If our knowledge is inexhaustible, and we have already realized everything, what do we need us for?

People's understanding of things always has to go through many repetitions, and there must be a process of accumulation.To accumulate a large amount of perceptual material will lead to a leap from perceptual knowledge to rational knowledge.Regarding the principle of the leap from practice to perceptual knowledge, and then from perceptual knowledge to rational knowledge, neither Marx nor Engels made it clear, nor did Lenin."Materialism and Empirio-Criticism" written by Lenin only clarified materialism, but did not fully clarify epistemology.Ai Siqi[4] was right when he said this in a speech at the senior party school recently.The ancients in China did not explain this truth clearly.Laozi and Zhuangzi [5] did not explain clearly, and Mozi [6] talked about the problem of epistemology, but they did not explain clearly either.Zhang Zai, Li Zhuowu, Wang Chuanshan, and Tan Sitong[7] did not make it clear.What is philosophy? Philosophy is epistemology. The paragraph [8] before the first ten articles of the "Double Ten Articles" was written by me.I said that matter changes into spirit, and spirit changes into matter.I also said to liberate philosophy from philosophers' classrooms and books[9].

Right now, we don't know much about many things.Awareness is always developing.With a large telescope, we can see more stars.When it comes to the formation of the sun and the earth, until now no one has been able to overthrow Kant's nebula hypothesis[10].If we say that we don't have a clear understanding of the sun, then we also don't have a clear understanding of the large area between the sun and the earth.Now that there are artificial satellites, the understanding of this aspect has gradually increased.We don't know much about the climate change on the earth, and this needs to be studied.Scientists are still arguing about the ice age issue.

(Yu Guangyuan: Just now the chairman talked about telescopes, which reminded me of a question: Can we generalize telescopes, artificial satellites, etc. into the concept of "cognitive tools"?) The concept of "cognitive tools" you mentioned makes sense. "Tools for knowing" should include hammers, machines, and so on.Human knowledge comes from practice.We transform the world with hammers, machines, etc., and our understanding deepens.Tools are extensions of human organs. For example, a hammer is an extension of an arm, a telescope is an extension of an eye, and all five sense organs of the body can be extended.

Franklin [11] said that man is an animal that makes tools.The Chinese say that man is the spirit of all things.There are primates among animals, and monkeys are primates, but they don't know how to make sticks to hit fruit.In the animal mind, there are no concepts. (Yu Guangyuan: Philosophy books usually only use individuals as the subject of knowledge, but in real life, the subject of knowledge is not just an individual, but often a collective. For example, our party is a subject of knowledge. Such a view Ok?) Class is a subject of cognition.At first the working class was a class in itself, and at that time it had no knowledge of capitalism.Later, it develops from a class in itself to a class for itself, and at this time it has an understanding of capitalism.This is the development of cognition with class as the subject.

The water on the earth did not exist from the beginning.In the earliest times, the temperature on the earth was so high that water could not exist. "Guangming Daily" had an article [12] two days ago, saying that it takes millions of years to synthesize water from hydrogen and oxidation.Professor Fu Ying of Peking University said that it will take tens of millions of years. I wonder if the author of the article in "Guangming Daily" has discussed it with Fu Ying? Living things can only grow when there is water.Humans evolved from fish, and human embryos have a developmental stage just like fishes.

All individual and special things have their occurrence, development and death.Everyone is going to die because he was born.Human beings are produced, so human beings will also perish.The earth was born, and the earth will perish.However, the extinction of mankind and the extinction of the earth we talk about is not the same as the end of the world that Christianity talks about.When we say that human beings will perish and the earth will perish, we mean that there are things that are more advanced than human beings to replace human beings, and it means that things have developed to a higher stage.I said that Marxism also has its occurrence, development and demise.This seems strange.But since Marxism says that everything that happens has its demise, doesn’t that apply to Marxism itself? It is metaphysics to say that it will not perish.Of course, the demise of Marxism is that something higher than Marxism has replaced it.

Things are in motion.The earth revolves around the sun, its rotation becomes a sun, and its revolution becomes a year.In the era of Copernicus[13], there were only a few people in Europe who believed in Copernicus’ theories, such as Galileo and Kepler[14], and none in China.However, a poem written by Xin Qiji in the Song Dynasty said that when the moon falls from us, it illuminates other places[15].Zhang Hua of the Jin Dynasty also wrote in one of his poems that "Taiyi mediates luck, travels from heaven to earth" [16]. Everything is both conserved and not conserved.Originally speaking of the conservation of parity, Chinese scientists Li Zhengdao and Yang Zhenning in the United States later discovered that at least in the field of weak interactions of elementary particles, parity is not conserved.Conservation of mass, conservation of energy, is it the same? There is nothing absolutely constant in the world.Change, remain unchanged, change again, remain unchanged, this is the development of the universe.Both conservation and non-conservation, this is both balanced and unbalanced, and there is also a situation where the balance is completely broken.

A generator is a good example of motion transformation.The heat released by the chemical motion of coal combustion is converted into motion that expands the volume of water vapor, and then rotates the rotor of the generator, which is mechanical motion, and finally generates electricity. Everything in the world is developing and changing, physics is also developing and changing, and Newtonian mechanics is also developing and changing.The world has gone from no Newtonian mechanics to Newtonian mechanics, and then from Newtonian mechanics to the theory of relativity. This is dialectics in itself.

Things often go out of favor.Sun Yat-sen studied medicine and later became involved in politics.Guo Moruo[17] also studied medicine at first, and later became a historian.Lu Xun[18] also studied medicine and later became a great writer.I also approached politics step by step.I read the books of Confucius for six years, went to school for seven years, and then became a primary school teacher and then a middle school teacher.At that time I had no idea what Marxism was.I have never heard of the names of Marx and Engels, only Napoleon and Washington.I am even more so in the military.I worked in the propaganda work of the Political Department of the National Revolutionary Army, and I also talked about the importance of fighting in the Peasant Movement Workshop, but I never thought of engaging in the military and going to war.Later, he led people to fight and went to Jinggangshan.In Jinggangshan, we won a small victory first, and then we fought two big defeats.So I summed up the experience and summed up the experience of fighting guerrillas in 16 words: "When the enemy advances, we retreat; when the enemy is stationed, we harass; when the enemy is tired, we attack; when the enemy retreats, we chase." Some people in the country, they say that I have no Marxism at all, and they are 100% Bolsheviks.But these 100% Bolsheviks caused the White Areas to lose 100% and the Soviet Areas 90%.

We people do not produce food or machines, but lines and policies.Lines and policies are not created out of thin air. For example, the "Four Cleans" and "Five Antis" [19] were not invented by us, but were told by ordinary people.Scientists must maintain close ties with the masses, as well as young and old workers. Our brain is a processing factory.Factory equipment needs to be updated, and our brains must also be updated.All kinds of cells in our body are constantly renewing. The cells on our skin are not the same as the cells on our skin when we were born. I don’t know how many times they have been changed in the middle. Cao Xueqin[20] still wanted to make up for the sky and the feudal system in the novel, but what was written in the novel was the decline of the feudal family. It can be said that Cao Xueqin's worldview and his creation contradicted.Cao Xueqin's family declined under the hands of Yongzheng[21].Kangxi[22] had many sons, one of them was Yongzheng, who used the secret service to oppress his opponents, and renamed Kangxi's other two sons, the eighth and ninth sons, one dog and the other pig. "Dividing" is very important, Paodingjieniu.When Engels talked about medicine, he also attached great importance to anatomy.Medicine is based on anatomy. The origin of cells needs to be studied. Cells have a nucleus, cytoplasm and a cell membrane.Cells are structured.Before cells, there must be non-cells.What was the cell before? How exactly does it go from non-cellular to cellular.There was a female scientist in the Soviet Union [23] who studied this problem, but there was no result yet. Published based on the transcript of the conversation kept by the Central Archives. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ note [1] This is a conversation between Mao Zedong and Zhou Peiyuan, vice president of Peking University, and Yu Guangyuan, director of the Science Division of the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and deputy director of the State Science and Technology Commission. [2] Refers to the article "On the Interpretation of the Theory of Quantum Mechanics" by Japanese physicist Sakata Shoichi published in the third issue of "Natural Dialectics Research Letters" in 1964. [3] See "Zhuangzi · Tianxia". [4] Ai Siqi (1910-1966), a native of Tengchong, Yunnan, a philosopher.At that time, he was the vice president of the Senior Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. [5] Laozi, according to legend, is Laodan, surnamed Li Minger, born in Kuxian County (now east of Luyi, Henan), a thinker in the Spring and Autumn Period, and the founder of Taoism.Zhuangzi (approximately 369 BC - 286 BC), named Zhou, was born in Mongolia (northeast of Shangqiu, Henan), and was a philosopher in the Warring States Period. [6] Mozi (approximately 468 BC - 376 BC), named Zhai, a thinker and statesman in the late Spring and Autumn Period, and the founder of Mohism. [7] Zhang Zai (1020-1077), courtesy name Zihou, originally from Daliang (now Kaifeng, Henan), born in Chang'an (now Xi'an, Shaanxi), a philosopher of the Northern Song Dynasty.Li Zhuowu, named Zhi (1527-1602), was born in Jinjiang (now Fujian), Quanzhou, a thinker and writer in Ming Dynasty.Wang Chuanshan, that is, Wang Fuzhi (1619-1692), styled Ernong, was born in Hengyang, Hunan, and was a philosopher in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.Tan Sitong (1865-1898), courtesy name Fusheng and nickname Zhuangfei, was born in Liuyang, Hunan Province, a modern reformist statesman and thinker. [8] "Double Ten Articles" refers to the "Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Several Issues Concerning Current Rural Work (Draft)" (the first ten articles) and the "Regulations of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Some Specific Policies in the Rural Socialist Education Movement (Draft)" (i.e. the last ten articles).The paragraph mentioned in this article refers to the main part of the text that Mao Zedong added before the ten questions when he reviewed the first ten drafts in May 1963.In 1964, it was compiled into "Selected Readings of Mao Zedong's Works (Type B)", entitled "Where do people's correct ideas come from?" ".See pp. 320-321 of this volume. [9] This sentence is in a paragraph added to the tenth question when Mao Zedong reviewed the draft of the "Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China Concerning Several Issues in Current Rural Work (Draft)". [10] The nebula hypothesis is a theory about the origin of the solar system proposed by the German philosopher Kant in 1755.This theory regards the formation of the solar system as a process in which matter moves and develops according to objective laws. [11] Franklin (1706-1790), a democrat and scientist during the American bourgeois revolution. [12] Refers to Yu Zhi's article "Is Hydrogen and Oxygenated Water "Combined into One" published by Guangming Daily on August 21, 1964?" ". [13] Copernicus, see note [23] on page 313 of this volume. [14] Galileo, see note [23] on page 313 of this volume.Kepler (1571-1630), German astronomer.He is the author of "Synopsis of Copernican Astronomy". [15] See Xin Qiji's "Magnolia Flower Slow Poor Jinxi Moon".The original words are: "Poor Jinxiyue, where are you going, and you are going? Is it someone else's world, see it there, the light and shadow east? It's outside the sky, empty and sweaty, but the wind is strong and mighty to send the Mid-Autumn Festival?" [16] See Zhang Hua's "Inspirational Poetry". [17] Guo Moruo (1892-1978), a native of Leshan, Sichuan.Historian, writer and revolutionary activist.He studied medicine in Japan in his early years. [18] Lu Xun, formerly known as Zhou Shuren (1881-1936), was born in Shaoxing, Zhejiang.Great writer, thinker and revolutionist.He studied medicine in Japan in his early years. [19] "Four Cleanups", that is, the socialist education movement, was carried out from 1963 to May 1966 in some rural areas and a few urban industrial and mining enterprises and schools to clean up politics, clean up economy, clean up A campaign to clean up organizations and thoughts. The "Five Antis" refers to the nationwide movement against corruption, theft, speculation, extravagance, decentralism, and bureaucracy launched after March 1963. [20] Cao Xueqin (1715-1763), named Zhan, named Mengruan, was born in Manzhengbaiqi, a novelist in Qing Dynasty. [21] Yongzheng, namely Aixinjueluo Yinzhen (1678-1735), Emperor Shizong of the Qing Dynasty, reigned from 1722 to 1735, with the reign name Yongzheng. [22] Kangxi, that is, Aixinjueluo Xuanye (1654-1722), the holy ancestor of the Qing Dynasty, reigned from 1661 to 1722, with the reign name Kangxi. [23] Refers to Leboshinskaya (1871-1963), academician of the Soviet Academy of Sciences and cytologist.