Where is the value of analytical philosophy?

Of course, there are many problems in the scientism tendency of analytical philosophy, especially the scientism program of philosophy is almost certainly impossible to realize. However, analytical philosophers' respect for experience, common sense and science, sound scientific consciousness and profound scientific literacy are worthy of imitation and learning from China philosophers and even every ordinary China people. China's traditional thinking lacks obvious scientific awareness and necessary respect for science and technology, but regards it as "strange skills and cunning" and "crooked ways", and science and technology is still not very developed. Today, when China is committed to modernization, it is particularly necessary to highlight scientific awareness and the prosperity of science and technology itself. However, it is very regrettable that under the impact of the tide of commodity economy, mysticism culture is making a comeback in the name of promoting traditional culture in order to obtain commercial profits. At present, it has flooded all kinds of mass media, book fairs and public places, openly occupying elegant halls, including the publication of books such as witchcraft, divination and geomantic omen, the widespread popularity of martial arts novels and the proliferation of all kinds of pseudo-qigong. According to the newspaper, a computer divination company has also been set up in a city, mainly choosing auspicious days to predict the business quality of each company. More tragically, this phenomenon not only hangs over the bottom society, but also invades the intellectual class as a carrier of modern scientific knowledge or as a "social elite". Many of them seem to have lost their basic scientific judgment and never dared to stand up and say "no" to this phenomenon. . In fact, some "intellectuals" or "literati" still wear combat uniforms, which have contributed to the prosperity of mysticism culture. This is manifested in the non-scientific tendency in the study of Zhouyi: it not only affirms the origin significance and extensive and profound influence of Zhouyi on China traditional culture, but also positively affirms the scientific value of Zhouyi itself, and tries to develop some new knowledge from it, such as Zhouyi Foresight. Is this a national misfortune or a scientific sorrow? Or both?

I don't deny that the proliferation of mysticism culture has its sociological, psychological, epistemological and scientific reasons. First of all, although contemporary science has made great achievements, there are indeed many unknown fields waiting for it to explore, and there are many strange phenomena that it still cannot explain. This provides a breeding ground for various pre-scientific, quasi-scientific and pseudo-scientific explanations. Secondly, almost all the public have a curiosity, hoping that in an ordinary, secular and restrictive life, something beyond the general limitations or miracles will happen, so as to obtain spiritual satisfaction or psychological balance, and then provide a social or psychological basis for the emergence of various pre-scientific, quasi-scientific and pseudo-scientific explanations. Thirdly, because of their knowledge and professional habits, scientists generally do not deny all kinds of strange phenomena unless there is conclusive evidence; For all kinds of new theories or explanations, unless there are clear counterexamples, they are generally not opposed or rejected, and will be tested by future scientific practice. Some scientists even devote themselves to or encourage this kind of research. For example, many scientists in history studied alchemy, elixir of life and so on. Because of the authoritative image of scientists in society, their acquiescence, encouragement and even participation are equivalent to issuing licenses and even advertising for the proliferation of mysticism culture. Finally, spreading or engaging in mysterious culture can also gain huge commercial profits or gain special social status, which provides a dynamic mechanism for some people with ulterior motives. All these have promoted the spread of mysticism culture in contemporary China society.

In my opinion, although contemporary science still has many limitations, it cannot provide reasonable explanations for many phenomena. However, great achievements have been made in contemporary science, and many questions have definite answers, for example, perpetual motion machines can't be made, and people can't live forever. Where modern science has provided a clear explanation, mysticism culture can no longer be allowed to flourish. At this point, we should learn from Quine, respect science, learn modern scientific knowledge and cultivate a sound scientific consciousness. It is even necessary for us to revisit the slogan of "publicizing science and breaking superstition" and take practical and effective measures to resist the proliferation of mysticism culture. For those researchers who are keen to say that any modern thought has existed in China's ancient books for a long time, I would like to put forward such an inequality: seeds ≠ seedlings ≠ trees, and draw their attention to Hegel's famous saying: the same motto, when spoken from a young man, is completely different from that of a weather-beaten old man. I also want to ask this question: What kind of responsibility should our humanities and social science scholars bear for the proliferation of mysticism culture in contemporary China? Especially some traditional culture researchers?