Chapter 29 Nothing new, don't write articles

Among all living beings, there is a kind of person, that is, a teacher like me, or a better name, called a "scholar".It is inevitable for people like us to write some articles from time to time.According to my analysis, articles can be roughly divided into two categories: one is passively written articles, and the other is actively written articles. The so-called "passively written articles", the "eight-legged essays" and "test post poems" that have been popular in Chinese history for more than a thousand years, are the most typical examples.Most of these articles are "speech on behalf of the saint", or "praise the saint", and you are not allowed to say what you really want to say.In other words, you must be able to talk nonsense.I remember Lu Xun gave an example of nonsense in an article: "Heaven and earth are the universe, and my heart is in my arms. For thousands of years, it has not been a day." (There seems to be more later, I can't remember.) It was typical nonsense, but it was pronounced with a clang. There are also good works in the "Test Post Poems". In the Tang Dynasty, Qian Qi's poem about Xiangling Guqin was praised by Mr. Zhu Guangqian, and Mr. Zhu's praise was satirized by Mr. Lu Xun.Today, it is not uncommon for us to passively write articles.The nonsense we write, the lies we tell, and the big words we boast can be seen everywhere.In my opinion, there are many articles that can be unnecessary to write, and many books that can be unnecessary to print.If fewer articles like this are printed and books like this are published, there will be less deforestation and less paper production; it will be of great benefit to protecting the environment and maintaining ecological balance; it will also reduce harm to the future of human existence of.

As for the articles written on the initiative, it cannot be generalized.Careful analysis shows that there are many kinds. Some people need to submit "writings" in order to get promoted, so they rush to concoct them;For such a person, there is no need to be deeply responsible, this is human nature.The works produced are not necessarily "defective products", and there are some excellent things among them. People like our "crawler" can only write articles to earn some manuscript fees. Only relying on our wages will surely make us lose our food.Those of my generation who are "respected" as professors are no exception.

In Chinese academic circles, among the scholars who take the initiative to write articles, many of them have noble academic ethics.They are single-minded, only learn and do business, think hard, explore in many ways, although the articles they write are a bit uneven; but they are all worthy of admiration and praise. They are the backbone of our Chinese academic circle. Genuine academic works, roughly speaking, can be divided into two categories: single papers and costly monographs.The importance of the latter is self-evident.Many tomes of monographs from ancient and modern China and abroad, such as Sima Qian's "Historical Records" in the Han Dynasty and Sima Guang's in the Song Dynasty, are all famous and brilliant masterpieces that have lasted through the ages, and they are treasures of our country.It will not be discussed in detail here.I shall say a little more about the problem of individual papers.The core of a single paper is to talk about one's own views and new ideas that are different from those of the predecessors, and to publish answers that have not been published before.With such articles, academics can move forward step by step and from generation to generation.If you write a monograph, there may or may not be new ideas of your own.Because most monographs are comprehensive, comprehensive narratives.Even if it is not your own novelty, it must be included, otherwise it will not be considered comprehensive.The dissertation does not have such a burden, its purpose is not comprehensive, but in-depth, but innovative, and its relationship with the monograph can be said to be complementary.

I mentioned "new ideas" several times above. Where did "new ideas" come from?Some may have fallen from the sky, out of "inspiration". For example, in the legend, Newton realized the force of gravity when he saw an apple fall to the ground.But we must note that this kind of inspiration is not available to everyone.Newton must have thought about this kind of problem very early, thinking about it day and night, and once he encountered the corresponding opportunity, he suddenly realized it.I am an ordinary person who eats apples every day and only thinks they are crispy and sweet, so why bother with "gravity"!In the history of science and technology, many similar examples can be cited, so let's not talk about it now.

When extreme leftism was rampant in the past, the academic circles used the method of "finding articles from magazines" in large numbers, because in this way they could not "stand for the saints"; one must first have a preconceived dogma in mind to promote, such articles Only in line with the program.Having "academic novelty" is a violation of the "rule of heaven".Such articles are eloquent all over the world for a while.However, such articles are printed and then sold as garbage to junk collectors (I think this is also a kind of "white garbage"). Apart from wasting paper, it does not contribute to academic progress at all.I'm making a new point now: In most cases, new ideas can only be found in the cracks of magazines.In the tomes of monographs, new ideas can also be found between the lines. The old saying "reading well" refers to this situation.Because, generally speaking, articles published in magazines often only talk about one problem, a new problem, and there is something new in it.After you read it, you are inspired, draw inferences from one instance, and generate new ideas yourself, and then write an article, so that other scholars can also be inspired, and then infer other cases from one instance.In such a reciprocating cycle, academic progress resides in it.

It's a pity—I think it's a pity—at present, the atmosphere of reading magazines in domestic academic circles is quite sluggish.Not only do they not read foreign magazines, they don't even read Chinese magazines.Build a car behind closed doors, how can you get it right?I don’t read other people’s articles, I don’t know other people’s opinions, I don’t pay attention to the opinions that others have already expressed, I just write and write blindly.How can this promote academic progress?Even more frightening is that almost no one has asked this question.Some people shouted "in line with international academic standards".Without reading the new magazines and new works of foreign counterparts, can you know where the "track" is?I don't even know where the "track" is, so I just yell "connection", isn't it a big joke?

1997