Book

I always feel that I became a mathematician accidentally. But in retrospect, since I was a kid, I did read serial books about mathematics and mathematicians and has always been drawn to a career and life in mathematics. Below are the books which ignore my interest. Nature’s Numbers: The Unreal Reality Of Mathematics Nature’s Numbers This book by Ian Stewart has some interesting facts about the nature of mathematics. It has been decades since I read it, but I still remember that I was awe-filled when I learned form the book that Fibonacci sequences appear the arrangement of a pine cone....

Having recently read through Robert Wright’s book ‘Why Buddhism is True,’ I was impressed by Buddhism’s intricate comprehension of human psychology. While the book doesn’t directly set Buddhism against Stoicism, my previous exposure to Stoic made me see how the two philosophies could complement each other. Stoicism, particularly its modern interpretations, claims that achieving eudaimonia - the good life - implies “living according to one’s nature.” Stoics define our nature as being “social and rational....

The Sixth Tone is an English news website covering stories in China. A DKU (Duke Kunshan University) student just won a writing contest organized by them with an essay titled Moxa, Receipt, Money, and Generations. It is a candid and touching account on how her father’s obsession with moxa damaged their family. This makes me think that perhaps many of our students also similar family issues. If you are in such a situation, reading the memoir The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls might be helpful....

I procrastinate, a lot. And when I think about all the things I could have done had I not procrastinated so much, e.g., all the papers I could have written, I am really regretful 😢. One of the books which I found very helpful is How to Beat Procrastination by Nils Salzgeber. Here are some tips from the book and some of my own thoughts. Hope it help you to not to have the same regret which I have....

When I read the book Strangers Drowning, I was very much impressed by the work of Ittetsu Nemoto, a Japanese Zen Buddhist monk, who dedicated his life to helping suicidal people. The book also briefly described his four-year extremely harsh ascetic training in an especially strict monastery. My interest was aroused. “Why does someone willingly go through such unimaginable hardship willingly?” This is why I picked up Eat Sleep Sit: My Year at Japan’s Most Rigorous Zen Temple by Kaoru Nonomura....

I’d like to thank Dr. Gregory Sadler for helpful comments on this post. \toc Who is Peter Singer? <center> Peter Singer at The College of New Jersey, Oct 2009.<br/> Bbsrock, <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons. </center> I consider myself a follower of Stoicism philosophy. In recent years, I have read attentively ancient Roman Stoics as well as modern Stoic writers. Their inspiring words have helped me tremendously in dealing with everyday challenges....

A summary of Chapter 11 Objectivity Virtue ethics rejects the sort moral objectivity which Kant aspires to. The naturalism describe in the last three chapters also rejects the type of objectivity based on empirical facts accessible from a neutral point of view. However, it also does not assume our standard list of virtues is correct without need of validation. This is the type of objectivity naturalism can offer. But the study of objectivity should also give an account of ethical disagreement....

A summary of Chapter 10 Naturalism for Rational Animals. What Difference Does Our Rationality Make? Unlike animals, it is primarily our actions from reason that we are ethically good or bad human beings. In ethical naturalism, rationality makes a big difference. And adding rationality does not need to add the fifth end to the four other describe in the previous chapter. What characteristics do human have? Comparing to animals, it is hard to summarize....

A summary of Chapter 08 The Virtues Benefit Their Possessor. Can we objectively justify which character traits are the virtues? We can only do this from some already acquired ethical framework, instead from some external neutral point of view. Doing so risk just rationalize what we already believe. But if we think critically, little by little we many radically change our entire ethical outlook. The philosopher’s task was well compared by Neurath to that of a mariner who must rebuild his ship on the open sea....

A summary of Chapter 09 Naturalism. This chapter is about the 2nd Plato’s requirements of virtue in the last chapter – The virtues make their possessor a good human being. Virtue ethics is a type of ethical naturalism, i.e., basing ethics on considerations of human nature, or on what is involved in being a good human. The objective of such an approach is that an account of human nature may be too broad for making moral judgement, or too strong to the extend that it is just a restatement of our ethics....