The definition of philosophy is very simple. How to understand it? There are two main points. The first is to be fake, large and empty, and the second is being too wise to be wise.
3.PHILOSOPHY IS FAKE, LARGE AND EMPTY
The characteristic of philosophy can be summed up in three words: "fake, large and empty". Not only philosophy is fake, large and empty, but all science is fake, large and empty. The characters of fake, large and empty are the core characters of human civilization, philosophy is the most fake, largest and most empty.
Generally, the words of fake, large and empty are derogatory. The fake words are lies, the large words are boast and bluff, empty talk is unrealistic, do not solve the problem, which is certainly not what the fake, large and empty philosophy means.
What does the character of fake, large and empty of philosophy mean? Say fake first. Don't think that fake is all bad. If the merchants sell fake goods to deceive people, it is of course an immoral behavior, but some fake goods are good and have positive value. For example, precious metals like gold and silver are real money, whereas all paper money is fake. But paper money works. We can't live without paper money. Fang Qingping, a Crosstalk performer, said, "When a monkey learnt to make fake things, it became a human being." That's a brilliant comment.
An architect draws a building on paper. Is the drawing real? Of course not. The building on paper is a fake one. You can't live on paper. If you spend millions on a house, and the real estate agent only sells you a blueprint, you can't accept. But the process of building can not leave the drawings, although the building on the drawings is fake, but if there is no fake buildings, there will be no real building. The better the architect fakes, the better the real building will be.
The car on the drawing doesn't run, it is stationary. But the better the drawing of the car on drawing, the faster the real car will run. To borrow the words in Main Road of Han Feizi: "Virtual is to know the real condition, static is to know the active."[1] Some fake things are good for people and some are bad for people. With these beneficial things, the higher the level of human fake, the more developed human civilization, the happier human life.