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Neo-Essentialism: Regulation and Commonality in Subjective World
来源:Lecture Notes in Economics, Management and Social Sciences, Vol.60 (July 15-16,2023), pp.385-392. | 作者:Yong Duan | 发布时间: 2023-08-18 | 7139 次浏览 | 分享到:
Abstract: What we call national character is not an abstract thing that exists in the objective world, but understanding that is abstractly summarized after we observe the thoughts and behaviors of one by one specific person. Abstract things can transcend particular time and space and apply to a very large scale, so abstract things have great value. Regulation and commonality are abstract things. There are two kinds of regulation and commonality: one is in the objective world and one in the subjective world. Regulation and commonality in the objective world are not the source of knowledge, nor are they the criteria for testing truth. Theories about the regulation and commonality of the objective world are dogmatic. Essence offen refers to abstract regulation and commonality. Dialectical Dualism holds that the essence in the objective world has no value, while the essence in the subjective world has high value and is the main contents of human civilization and culture. The main task of philosophical Ontology is to establish the essence in the subjective world, including the Origin, Noumenon, regulations, concepts, commonalities, world views and so on. This is the Neo-essentialism.
Key words: Ontology; Essentialism; Essence; Anti-essentialism; Abstract

4. What is Essence

4.1 Concrete Essence

Essence can refer to concrete things or abstract Dao Li. The definition of essence in Section 4.4.1, Chapter 4, Part 7 of Taiji Evolutionism is that essence is attributes of things related to interests of people.[4]

For example, the actual flight path of the Malaysia Airline plane MH370 before it crashed is unknown, and investigators have only been able to draw a possible range for the plane based on the time it exchanged data with satellites. The flight path of the plane is related to the interests of the families of the victims, so this route is the essence. The actual flight process of the plane is a specific event in the objective world, which belongs to the internal structure of the objective world. The picture drawn by the investigators is a model of the world structure in the subjective world.

According to Barthes, the actual flight route of Malaysia plane did not exist, which is certainly not true. But this actual route is not the source of our knowledge, nor is it the basis for testing truth. The test of truth is based on direct experiences, such as the time records of the Malaysia plane and satellite data exchange, the location of the Malaysia plane wreckage was found and other direct experience.

The Malaysia plane is a substance(Wu), and its flight is an event(Shi). There are substances and events that we can observe directly, and others that we cannot. Whether concrete things can be observed or not, as long as they are relevant to our interests, they can be regarded as essence. When you can't directly observe, the artificial model is the essence.

In many cases, essence refers to those things that cannot be directly observed, such as electron, meson and other microscopic matter and distant celestial bodies, as well as people and objects in the past such as the First Emperor of Qin and Epang Palace. Our understanding of them depends largely on reasoning and conjecture, then making models. They may be regarded as objectively existed, but since they cannot be directly observed, they are not the direct source of knowledge, nor the basis and standard for testing truth. The artificial model of them are the essences.