Tess:a Phenomenal Body

Few people read Tess from Maurice Merleau-Ponty's"body theory".In Phenomenology of Perception,Merleau-Ponty states that it is body as the subject that perceives the world;such body is a phenomenal body in contrast to an objective body.Tess's"being in the world"through the body connotates a new way of looking at the classic Tess.Tess's way of perceiving and understanding the world also enlightens us about relationship between human and self,human and other,human and society,human and nature.

Phenomenal Consciousness, Self-Consciousness and Animal Suffering

In this article I will confront Antonio Damasio＇s theory （exposed in his last book Self Comes to Mind） with the criticism it received from Ned Block. The latter holds that Damasio does not distinguish the concepts of phenomenal consciousness and self-consciousness and this has two kinds of consequences. One is that it cannot satisfactorily explain certain mental states （dreams, vegetative states）; the other is that it has harmful consequences for animal ethics. I maintain that to compare the two theories we can only rely on our pre-theoretical intuition of consciousness. Thus, I argue that Dam^tsio＇s theory combines more with our intuitions. One of the reasons is that the cases that Block describes as phenomenal consciousness without access consciousness （and without self-consciousness） are best explained as being cases of mind without consciousness. Dam^sio＇s theory can also explain those referred cases which are theoretically problematic. Moreover, Dam^isio has a threshold model （an expression by Barry Dainton）, which is something that Block seems to ignore. This model fits well with the intuitions and neurological knowledge that we normally have on animal consciousness. Dam^isio＇s core self and his theory of emotions and feelings allow us to understand why we feel compassion for animals. Therefore, we are able to develop an animal ethics, which does not mean that we are required to do so. So even though Damasio does not solve the mystery of consciousness, he should not be the subject of Block＇s criticism.

On the Historiographical Reform of General History of Chinese Science and Technologyin the Post-Needham Era

The research of General History of Chinese Science and Technology(GHCST) has so far failed to transcend the"positivist history", a program of historiography initiated by Joseph Needham. The historians after Needham have made important explorations on the historiographical reform of GHCST. However, nearly all of these explorations are still the methodological reflections of the positivist history perspective, failing to reflect metaphysically on such historiographical presuppositions as views of science, technology and history, which means they have failed to break away from the positivist history perspective. To go beyond the limitations of positivist history calls for the introduction of the perspective of phenomenology of body and reflecting on and criticizing the historiographical presuppositions of positivist history on a metaphysical level. Such reflection will lead us to a new program of historiography in the post-Needham era, that is"phenomenal history"or the GHCST from the perspective of the phenomenology of body.

Does consciousness overflow cognitive access?Novel insights from the new phenomenon of attribute amnesia

The moment we open our eyes,we experience a rich and detailed visual world,but the amount of information available to report is rather limited.This dissociation relates to a major debate regarding the nature of visual consciousness.The overflow argument suggests that our conscious experience is quite rich and far beyond what can be reported,standing in sharp contrast to the nooverflow argument that visual consciousness is severely impoverished and limited to what can be reported.In this paper,we systematically reviewed existing evidence in favor of the overflow argument,including studies of several variations of the iconic memory paradigm and the divided attention paradigm,as well as studies of neural correlates of consciousness.Simultaneously,we expounded some critical objections and alternative interpretations to such evidence,as well as some opposing evidence.Finally,we introduced a series of our recent studies based on a striking phenomenon of attribute amnesia,which we believe could provide new insight into the overflow view of visual consciousness.