Hsiang-Yun 9/20/2008

Time: Saturday 9/29 [BBQ 11:30; talk begins at 2]
Location: H&H's
Speaker: Hsiangyun
Host: Hanbing
Topic: Thought Experiment and Philosophical Analysis

I will begin by sketching a picture of what philosophy is----what philosophers do, by briefly going through the following different ways to categorize philosophy (or philosophers).

* from the temporal, regional perspective
* from the topical perspective

I will then take a few examples (from different areas of philosophy) to illustrate how philosophers do what they do---philosophical analysis-- via methods and tools such as thought experiment and logic.

* Descarte's cogito
* Brains in a vat
* Twin-Earth
* The Chinese room
* The king of France is bald? The queen of Taiwan has secret accounts?
* Goedel and the incompleteness theorem
* Trolley problem

The sketch being a sketch is by no means conclusive, but I hope the audience will, after thinking along through these examples, get to enjoy what philosophers enjoy doing.

2008 Fall Schedule

date/speaker/host
9/20 湘韻/寒冰
10/4 珮琳/紀尊(OPEN HOUSE)
10/18 聖程/一帆
10/25 midterm activity(lunch or dinner get-together)
11/8 齊湘/靜慧
12/6 紀尊/珮琳

Kaiman 4/19/2008

Time: Saturday 4/19, 2 PM
Location: CMA3.116
Speaker: Kai-man Chang
Host: Fangas
Topic: 從不散談起：蔡明亮電影裏的停看聽

Presentation summary:很多看過不散的人對於片中似有似無的劇情和屈指可數的對白，多多少少會覺得蔡明亮好像在考驗觀眾們的耐性。片中的兩個主角：一個是瘸腳的售票員（陳湘琪），另一個是在戲院裏尋覓 "同好" 的日本人，兩個人走遍了整個福和大戲院，卻可以完全沒有任何交集。其實打從第一部電影開始，蔡導就愛在電影裏玩 "情慾" 捉迷藏。還記得青少年哪吒中，小康是如何如影隨形地跟蹤阿澤，和愛情萬歲裏的兩男一女又是怎麼在無人公寓裏玩你躲我藏的愛情遊戲。同樣地，不散中的每個角色似乎都在真實和假象中游移，在現在和過去裏徘徊，更在光影明暗之間翻騰隱藏。種種說不出口的情慾和渴望都透過看似簡單而卻複雜的影像和聲音給呈現出來了。我希望藉由觀看不散來對蔡明亮電影中的情慾生態做個停看聽。在短短八十分鐘的影片裏，蔡導利用胡金銓的龍門客棧來借屍還魂，製造出許多餘音繞樑和若隱若現的電影世界。我將藉由停格的Powerpoint 影像來重新拼貼蔡導的電影，看看他是如何（or為何）不靠對白和劇情來說故事。


台灣聊天室：三鶯和溪洲部落相關討論；下學期schedule。

Teh-Sheng 3/22/2008

Time: 3/22/08 Saturday 1:30pm
Location: across from 2809 San Jacinto Blvd
Speaker: Teh-Sheng
Host: Chi-Tsun
Topic:Short talk on neurodegenerative disease and unveiling the Animal Research Center

Abstract:
This will be a short talk introducing neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson's Disease and ALS disease(漸凍症).
I will give you an update about my research results working with the rats and mice model for these diseases. And how through the measurement of their vocalization, we can learn more from a different viewpoint on these diseases. Before the talk, I will give you a short tour of the animal lab that I work in and also the rats and mice that contribute greatly to these types of research.

Chia-Liang 3/1/2008

Time: Saturday 3/1, 2 PM
Location: RLM 9.166 (Robert Lee Moore Hall)
Speaker: Sun, Chia-Liang
Host: Wang, Wei Ching
Topic: How many things are there? （那堆東西有多少？）
Presentation summary:

摘要：「台灣目前居民有xxxxxxxx人，較中華人民共和國居民xxxxxxxxxx人為少」，「上個月立委選舉國民黨政黨票得票數為xxxxxxx，較民進黨得票數xxxxxxx為多」，「新科立委共113人，其中國民黨占xx席，較民進黨的xx席為多」，「我有三個叔叔，三個阿姨」...
以上都是「計數」與「比較多少」的概念。數學家如何將這些概念推廣來回答以下的問題：
所有整數與所有正整數，何者較多？
所有分數與所有整數，何者較多？
一條兩公分的線段上所有的點，與一條200公分線段上所有的點，何者較多？
總之，數不完的兩堆東西可以比較多少嗎？我將以深入淺出的方式，配合實例與故事，一步一步告訴大家這個問題是如何被解決的；並探討「錯覺」產生的可能原因，藉此此說明「定義」在所有學術研究中的重要性；以及現代數學研究的方式。
在背景知識上，除了何謂「正整數」、「整數」、「有理數」（即「分數」）之外，不預設任何數學背景，歡迎大家踴躍參加。

領域：集合論(set theory)