Social Sciences in China Review

No.2, 2018

 

Academic Bubbles Produced from Ignoring Rules of Logic: The Case of Professor Qi Zhixiang’s “Musical Aesthetics”（Abstract）

 

Han Demin

 

Logic is the basic law that governs thinking activities. Without the guidance of this law, thinking will lose its cognitive function, and academic theoretical innovation is out of the question. Professor Qi Zhixiang’s theoretical system of “musical aesthetics” has received much attention recently. It is a system developed around the core proposition “beauty is a valuable musical object.” However, the logic error in this proposition shows that the entire system is vulnerable. A careful analysis of the setting up of this proposition can help understand the harm brought about to theoretical thinking and academic research by the ignorance of rules of logic. The neglect of logic has profound social and cultural roots in China. In the context of contemporary academic research, this attitude lags far behind the requirements of the times. The modernization of Chinese society should first find its expression in human modernization and in the maturity of subjective rational thinking. The sign of this maturity is the full awareness of logic rules. One of the important functions of humanities and social sciences is to provide good examples to the public in their thinking training. Therefore, the observation of rules of logic should be given due attention as the basic standard of modern academic evaluation.