An observer at Iguazu Falls tries to make sense of the inexpressible natural wonder through the texts of Jorge Luis Borges's essays and poems. Borges's paradoxes of time, immortality, and eternity give meaning to th...An observer at Iguazu Falls tries to make sense of the inexpressible natural wonder through the texts of Jorge Luis Borges's essays and poems. Borges's paradoxes of time, immortality, and eternity give meaning to the vision, while the natural wonder gives substance to those idealist concepts derived from Berkeley. As a reader of Borges's fictions, I yield up my personal identity to an impersonal dreaming consciousness that resembles Berkeley's mind as a consciousness sustaining the reality I perceive. Borges writes in his poem "Dawning" that "ideas are not like marble, everlasting, but ever-renewing like a forest or a river". The cataracts of Iguazu are both eternal and immortal, eternal in the sense of removing our consciousness of time and confusing past, present, and future in constant repetition, and immortal in the sense of only existing in individual drops of water constantly disappearing and renewing in infinite repetition. The cataracts are perfect emblems of this immortality. The cataracts are time, infinite moments of immortality, moving forward, accelerating, repeating themselves identically, until they achieve a certain eternity, no motion, suspended in time. I am Berkeley's Eternal Spirit, the consciousness evoked by Borges in his essay, "A New Refutation of Time". Distance from the immediate impact of the Falls helps transform fear and horror into sublimity. The closer to the Falls, the more the observer feels fear and anguish at his own insignificance, a fear of annihilation. Aesthetic distance requires an image or word, something that exempts us from immediate contact, and allows us to descend into the whirlpool and come back to the calm surface. The vision evoked in writing and reading fiction is both prior and subsequent to the reading. Our vision of the universe is always inexpressible, a problem of accommodating something overwhelming to the limited schemata we use to grasp existence.展开更多
This paper analyzes the concept of Narcissism which stands behind the theory and critique of particular psychological manifestations of personality. I argue that this concept is essentially a trope of reflection and t...This paper analyzes the concept of Narcissism which stands behind the theory and critique of particular psychological manifestations of personality. I argue that this concept is essentially a trope of reflection and that reflection is thought of itself as itself which involves a "turning around upon oneself." But we do not see ourselves as we actually are, or in our entirety as a physical entity; self knowledge is limited by our nature. What we do not see or attend to is glossed over with the idealizations that are attached to our interest and these are informed by instinctual, or unconscious, intent. The relation between self and other is both contained by and expressed in interpersonal and societal interaction, but still there is an inner aspect that remains sovereign and intimate. Societal values inform our identity, but cannot touch the inner self (or intimate self). We only ever experience ourselves no matter how similar or intimate we are to others. Although physically different from others we mostly aim to be known (identified) in accordance with our own sense of value and self estimation, yet we do not escape judgment from others. One may resist any evidence or opinions about themselves from others that are not in accord with this sense of self value whilst easily accepting ideas and values to be true or accurate facts about them that they only wish to be true. From these two sources of ideas of oneself, internal and externally derived, we form a sense of ourself in comparison to ideal others. This sense of identity informs our actions and choices. We may continually monitor the effect our self-belief has on others and adjust our self-attitude accordingly. Or we may fail to see that others do not share those beliefs we have about ourselves (e.g., a job interview). Narcissism is a human tendency to either exaggerate or underrate one's power or beauty and this leads to false self beliefs. These ideas about oneself are ego-syntonic, within the boundary of the ego, and are thus not (immediately) experienced as being false. Thus, the question as to what is real and what is imagined is at stake in considering how we reflect upon a self which is essentially also a reflection of how others see them. The concept of Narcissism involves this inviolable choice to act for ourself or for others' sake in the pursuit of freedom and satisfaction in social interactions. Taken as an axiologicaUy neutral mode of analysis, Narcissism illuminates the problem of being self in the world of others and goes to the possibility of self determination and knowledge. Specifically, I aim to show that self reflection is the key element of the idea or thought of self, but that form of reflection alone is not enough to ensure error since it is based on a fundamental illusion of ego integrity. However, the attentive mindfulness or open ideation of a purer form of thought which I term "active reflection" allows the possibility of new perspectives hitherto unavailable to the self to form, ensuring that rectification can proceed from experience展开更多
Since Mr.Tsien brought up his idea of physical mechanics,as a new field in engineering science,to public attention in the early 50's of the 20th century,innumerable application examples of physical mechanics appro...Since Mr.Tsien brought up his idea of physical mechanics,as a new field in engineering science,to public attention in the early 50's of the 20th century,innumerable application examples of physical mechanics approach in diverse fields have manifested its strong vitality increasingly.One of important aspects in applications of physical mechanics is to appropriately choose the microscopic quantity for the system in consideration and build a bridge to connect its relevant microscopic information to its desired macroscopic properties.We present two unique cases of using the physical mechanics approach to study colloidal stability.In the first case we measured the outcomes from artificially induced collisions at individual particle levels,by means of directly observing artificially induced collisions with the aid of optical tweezers.In the second case,by using T-matrix method,the microscopic quantity extinction cross section of the doublet can be accurately evaluated and therefore the measurement range and accuracy of the turbidity methodology for determining the CRC are greatly improved.展开更多
文摘An observer at Iguazu Falls tries to make sense of the inexpressible natural wonder through the texts of Jorge Luis Borges's essays and poems. Borges's paradoxes of time, immortality, and eternity give meaning to the vision, while the natural wonder gives substance to those idealist concepts derived from Berkeley. As a reader of Borges's fictions, I yield up my personal identity to an impersonal dreaming consciousness that resembles Berkeley's mind as a consciousness sustaining the reality I perceive. Borges writes in his poem "Dawning" that "ideas are not like marble, everlasting, but ever-renewing like a forest or a river". The cataracts of Iguazu are both eternal and immortal, eternal in the sense of removing our consciousness of time and confusing past, present, and future in constant repetition, and immortal in the sense of only existing in individual drops of water constantly disappearing and renewing in infinite repetition. The cataracts are perfect emblems of this immortality. The cataracts are time, infinite moments of immortality, moving forward, accelerating, repeating themselves identically, until they achieve a certain eternity, no motion, suspended in time. I am Berkeley's Eternal Spirit, the consciousness evoked by Borges in his essay, "A New Refutation of Time". Distance from the immediate impact of the Falls helps transform fear and horror into sublimity. The closer to the Falls, the more the observer feels fear and anguish at his own insignificance, a fear of annihilation. Aesthetic distance requires an image or word, something that exempts us from immediate contact, and allows us to descend into the whirlpool and come back to the calm surface. The vision evoked in writing and reading fiction is both prior and subsequent to the reading. Our vision of the universe is always inexpressible, a problem of accommodating something overwhelming to the limited schemata we use to grasp existence.
文摘This paper analyzes the concept of Narcissism which stands behind the theory and critique of particular psychological manifestations of personality. I argue that this concept is essentially a trope of reflection and that reflection is thought of itself as itself which involves a "turning around upon oneself." But we do not see ourselves as we actually are, or in our entirety as a physical entity; self knowledge is limited by our nature. What we do not see or attend to is glossed over with the idealizations that are attached to our interest and these are informed by instinctual, or unconscious, intent. The relation between self and other is both contained by and expressed in interpersonal and societal interaction, but still there is an inner aspect that remains sovereign and intimate. Societal values inform our identity, but cannot touch the inner self (or intimate self). We only ever experience ourselves no matter how similar or intimate we are to others. Although physically different from others we mostly aim to be known (identified) in accordance with our own sense of value and self estimation, yet we do not escape judgment from others. One may resist any evidence or opinions about themselves from others that are not in accord with this sense of self value whilst easily accepting ideas and values to be true or accurate facts about them that they only wish to be true. From these two sources of ideas of oneself, internal and externally derived, we form a sense of ourself in comparison to ideal others. This sense of identity informs our actions and choices. We may continually monitor the effect our self-belief has on others and adjust our self-attitude accordingly. Or we may fail to see that others do not share those beliefs we have about ourselves (e.g., a job interview). Narcissism is a human tendency to either exaggerate or underrate one's power or beauty and this leads to false self beliefs. These ideas about oneself are ego-syntonic, within the boundary of the ego, and are thus not (immediately) experienced as being false. Thus, the question as to what is real and what is imagined is at stake in considering how we reflect upon a self which is essentially also a reflection of how others see them. The concept of Narcissism involves this inviolable choice to act for ourself or for others' sake in the pursuit of freedom and satisfaction in social interactions. Taken as an axiologicaUy neutral mode of analysis, Narcissism illuminates the problem of being self in the world of others and goes to the possibility of self determination and knowledge. Specifically, I aim to show that self reflection is the key element of the idea or thought of self, but that form of reflection alone is not enough to ensure error since it is based on a fundamental illusion of ego integrity. However, the attentive mindfulness or open ideation of a purer form of thought which I term "active reflection" allows the possibility of new perspectives hitherto unavailable to the self to form, ensuring that rectification can proceed from experience
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos.11172302,10972217 and 11032011)the Knowledge Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(Grant No.KJCX2-YW-L08)
文摘Since Mr.Tsien brought up his idea of physical mechanics,as a new field in engineering science,to public attention in the early 50's of the 20th century,innumerable application examples of physical mechanics approach in diverse fields have manifested its strong vitality increasingly.One of important aspects in applications of physical mechanics is to appropriately choose the microscopic quantity for the system in consideration and build a bridge to connect its relevant microscopic information to its desired macroscopic properties.We present two unique cases of using the physical mechanics approach to study colloidal stability.In the first case we measured the outcomes from artificially induced collisions at individual particle levels,by means of directly observing artificially induced collisions with the aid of optical tweezers.In the second case,by using T-matrix method,the microscopic quantity extinction cross section of the doublet can be accurately evaluated and therefore the measurement range and accuracy of the turbidity methodology for determining the CRC are greatly improved.