The form and grasp of representation

Representation is repeatedly mentioned in Stoic philosophy and is an important concept. To some extent, this is an important issue in philosophy. Many philosophers have thought deeply about epistemology, hoping to get the standard of truth.

Representation is the representation of things. Schopenhauer wrote the world as will and representation, which established his position as a representative of voluntarism. In his view: "The world is a representation, which has been cited and abandoned many times in the history of philosophical development, but it has always played a role in promoting and guiding the development of philosophy. As early as in ancient India's Vedanta philosophy, Indian wise men have regarded it as a fundamental proposition, and this is also the first scholar who has a clear understanding of this truth. " He believes that Kant's philosophy failed because it ignored this truth.

In modern philosophy, the definition of representation is the process in which the image of the objective object and the image of the object stored in the concept reappear in the concept when the objective object is not presented to the subject. In psychology, representation refers to the process in which the image of things perceived in the past reappears in the mind. Epiktetos's expression is more psychological. Representation is not only a person's image, but also an operation, that is, image thinking. The psychological operation of representation, image thinking and conceptual thinking can be in different interactions.

In the introduction of Stoic philosophers, expression and impression often replace each other.

Four forms of expression. Stoicism distinguishes the concept 1 from the concept 2. The pre-concept state of the concept 1 is to truly establish a cognitive state of grasping the impression in the impression, which is the so-called unity of logos and nature. On the contrary, concept 2 is often influenced by many dogmas and habits, distorting the impression of things themselves.

There are 25 1 entries in the parameter set of epiktetos. According to him, there are four forms of expression. First, things are actually like this, and so are behaviors; Second, things are not like this, nor are they like this; Third, the thing is actually like this, but it is not; Fourth, this is not the case. The four representations mentioned by epiktetos are actually concept 2, which contains the cognitive states of necessarily true, necessarily false, possibly true and possibly false, and impossible true and impossible false.

Stoic philosophers believe that since God has brought people into this world, why should people have the ability to understand and distinguish performance? Is it to let humans observe him and his works, and also to explain his works? This is an important issue that needs us to take seriously. As far as Kant is concerned, representation is a concept with wide meanings and many uses. Concept, intuition, perception and feeling can all be called representation, and the concept of representation will be limited in a specific context.

Kant once made it clear that representation is a concept that cannot be further defined, and he himself did not give it. Impression is a concept he seldom uses. When it appears, it is generally close to the concept of impression in the empirical context and refers to perceptual representation.

The world of representation is the world of our senses, such as these works, buildings and all the real world that exists in material form. The sensory world is the representation world, or the mapping or symbol of the real world in our brains. For example, you can easily think of where you put something in your daily memory. This "image" presented in your brain is the sensory world.

The world of ideas is the real world of things, Plato's ideas, Kant's things themselves and Schopenhauer's intentions. A person can see the appearance, but can't feel it, such as a vegetable. The function of his eyes is complete, but he may not be able to "see" the existence of objects, because there is something wrong with his brain, and he cannot handle the results of sensory perception.

The early stoics believed that there were four types of expertise and knowledge: medicine, divination, dialectics and virtue. Medicine is a skill, and the latter is knowledge. The Stoic discussion of representation, knowledge and opinions involves methodology. They think that knowledge is different from pure expertise, knowledge is stable in terms of its structure, and it is not allowed to have poor degree, while skills have the nature of poor degree.

Stoicism endowed the mind with duality. First of all, the mind is the foundation of knowledge certainty. Second, the mind synthesizes appearances. When the comprehensive representation completely presents the individual image of things, it is knowledge itself. Knowledge is not the promotion of appearance, it just completely and accurately reproduces the existence of the object as an individual.

Zhi Nuo often uses the word "impression", which means appearance. Zhi Nuo often used gestures to determine the unique possession of scientific knowledge by sages. He held out five fingers and showed people with his palm, saying that his impression was similar. Then he held his finger slightly to show his agreement. Then he completely clenched his five fingers into a fist and said it was a guarantee. Then he took out his left hand and held it tightly against the fist of his right hand, saying that scientific knowledge is like this, and only sages have it. He used the change of knowledge in the palm of his hand to explain the relationship between impression, identification, grasp and knowledge, similar to explaining the formation of knowledge from the changing process of human cognition. This is an interesting expression, which shows that the acquisition of real knowledge needs a comprehensive and in-depth grasp, and it also needs metaphysical knowledge support.

There are three links in grasping appearances. First, it comes from who it is. Second, it reflects what it is; Third, all the characteristics of "yes" are presented as an impression and a mark. The impression of Stoicism is equivalent to the "note" in Wittgenstein's philosophical research. Stoics use fists as a metaphor for firm faith. When we hold something tightly in our hands, we are sure that we have grasped the whole thing or what it is, and it will never slip away from us again. This grasp of things is the grasp of the true face of things.

Stoicism believes that scientific knowledge is a guarantee, because rationality, first of all, is reliable, strict and unchangeable; Second, it is a knowledge system, similar to the grasp of special propositions among virtuous people. Third, it is a specialized knowledge system with inherent stability, that is, the behavior of virtuous people. Fourth, it is such a state of accepting appearances, which is not changed by reason. Therefore, the strictness of scientific knowledge and the resulting stability are not only the certainty of individual things, but also the certainty of all things.

Stoic philosophy points out the difference between knowledge and grasping appearances. Many people may have a good grasp of appearance, for example, a mother can identify twin sisters and brothers, a doctor can identify diseases and so on. Having this assured appearance does not mean that they have other assured knowledge. But sages have the ability to grasp all mistakes, because they have an overall insight into the laws of the macro universe and a full understanding of the attributes of specific affairs. What a saint has is all knowledge, knowledge of virtue, prudence and wisdom.

It is said that Stoicism has the ability to judge the truth immediately, and Ptolemy King Philippat is interested in verifying this. He designed a pomegranate made of wax and put it on the table. Sforli Road was deceived by the illusion that it was a real pomegranate. The king smiled and said that what he agreed with was actually an illusion. What Wang wants to explain is that saints only hold some opinions, not the truth. Li Wei immediately replied that he didn't agree that they were pomegranates, but that they were pomegranates, which was a rational expression. Even if this answer is very penetrating, it shows that the emergence of guarantee needs further argumentation. In the later period, Stoicism paid little attention to grasping the self-evident of appearance and emphasized rationality.

We must check our appearance. When you think of appearances, you will definitely think of Plato's cave scene. All the proofs show that the cognition obtained only through our senses is unreliable and it is easy to make mistakes when thinking about the conclusion. So Socrates said that an unexamined life is not worth living. What does he want to check? Epiktetos said, check the appearance. He once said: "The most important thing for philosophers is to test appearances, recognize appearances and never use untested appearances."

He called an untested appearance a rough appearance. It is believed that there are two kinds of mistakes made in life, one is the appearance of identity errors, and the other is the appearance of hasty identity that is not understood. Many puzzles and mistakes in people's thoughts lie in appearances, and it is the key to grasp them to understand the existence mode of appearances.

Epiktetos believes that "the task of a truly educated person is to form a correct understanding of these four situations. Where we are disturbed, we must strengthen it. " "In addition to rational ability, what ability can tell us that gold is beautiful? Gold won't tell us. Obviously, only the ability to use appearances can do this. This ability can dominate the ability of all other abilities, that is, the ability to use representations correctly. "

The ability to use appearance. Stoicism does not think that knowledge can be obtained by induction, and there should be no connection between knowledge and induction. This shows the difference between the empirical principle of Stoicism and the empirical principle of empiricism. They are skeptical about the certainty and correctness of induction, and question the view that there is a universal correct sign. "

When someone says that such a person is good because he is rich, we say that he used an incorrect universal symbol, because he can find many terrible rich people, just as there are many kind rich people. "They believe that even the seemingly inductive knowledge or the divination and medical knowledge of grasping the impression is not the knowledge acquired by induction.

The ability to use reason is the ability to analyze, choose and judge by logical thinking. "epiktetos, if possible, I will let your little body and your little property get away with it. However, don't forget that your body is not your own, it is just a delicate piece of mud. Since I can't give you these, I will give you a part of our body.

It is an ability, a driving force that can produce actions and omissions, a willingness to get something, and a willingness to avoid something. In a word, it is a kind of ability to use representation correctly. If you can care about this ability and let it manage everything, then you will never encounter any obstacles, never be bound, never cry, never complain, and never flatter others. "

Epiktetos believes that sophistry should be dealt with by rational reasoning, repeated practice and skilled rational reasoning. We should have a clear and natural understanding of what is wrong and what seems reasonable, just like sharpening a knife and holding it at hand can come in handy at any time. He said, "Even if you reject your senses, what difference does it make to get them?" Which one of you wanted to go to the bathroom but walked into the mill? ""shouldn't we try our best to maintain common sense and guard against arguments that attempt to overthrow this view? "

Therefore, he stressed the need to learn logic, physics and ethics, so that people can master the ability of analysis and judgment and find a rational way of natural life in a meaningless life.

Don't be afraid to ask. They are far away from sages, but they are trying to live, hoping to master the essence of life. There is a saying in meditation:

People should think about this world, understand this world and live a natural life. Without observing all this, they can't die. None of us can fully see the world, and more of us are marching blindfolded. But maybe this is the nobility of people. Even if I can't see clearly, I still think hard. Time is still so tight, no one knows whether the sun will rise tomorrow, so before life passes, we should make ourselves more aware of the purpose of coming and the destination of going.

Epiktetos said: "In that case, why are we still fooling around, being lazy and not making progress?" Why do we have to make excuses, study hard and improve our reasoning ability? "

Knowing, examining and using appearances can make us become people who pursue knowledge and wisdom, which is the inherent requirement of Stoic philosophy and the only way to examine ourselves, enhance virtue and pursue happiness.