Back to Ming Dynasty with Industrial Revolution System

Chapter 873 Can Dogs Know Syllogisms (Part [-])

"There are mainly four subjects here: theology, literature, medicine, and law. The usual courses include classics, philosophy, Greek, dialectics, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music. The way this Trinity College trains talents is mainly based on Aristotle Dodd's theory. In the past, many universities trained priests, but now they gradually provide suitable administrators, doctors, and judges for the kingdom." The guide introduced the situation here to Li Jinde and others.

If Chu Yun was here, he would have a general impression of this college. Newton, Bacon, Byron, Russell and others all came from here.

Li Jinde didn't know, and was confused about who Aristotle was. He felt that this place was similar to the previous academy, but the learning content was somewhat different.

"Guests from the East, this way please, here is the canteen of Trinity College." After the guide took Li Jinde and his party around Cambridge University, he took them to dinner again.

The dean of Trinity College was directly appointed by the king. He knew that Li Jinde was the king's guest, so he arranged more luxurious dishes for them in the cafeteria, which attracted the envy of many scholars.

"What are they discussing?" Li Jinde asked the guide curiously when he noticed that several scholars at the next table were arguing red-faced and almost fighting.

The guide listened for a while, and smiled wryly: "I don't know exactly what they are arguing about, it seems to be a syllogism in dialectics."

"Dialectics? Syllogism? What is this?" Li Jinde was quite puzzled when he heard the unfamiliar term, just like a Westerner who hears Confucianism is difficult to understand.

"Syllogism is a theory proposed by Aristotle, which is divided into major premise, minor premise and conclusion. Let me give you an example, if all people are mortal, and I am a human being, then I am mortal." The guide Said.

"This reason is very simple..." After hearing the example given by the guide, Li Jinde quickly understood what a syllogism is.

"The syllogism is only the foundation of logic, and a very complicated thing has evolved from it, and my knowledge is limited." The guide said helplessly.

Maybe he didn't know that the development of logic would affect the later fields of mathematics and computers.

"They were discussing a question raised by the former King when he came to stay at Cambridge University 30 years ago - 'Can dogs think in syllogisms'." An aristocratic woman came over and raised her skirt to They said hello, "I am the daughter of Lord Greenville, you can call me Selina, nice to meet you."

"I'm lucky to know a girl, but how can a dog think about syllogism? Even ordinary people don't think like this." Li Jinde paid more attention to this topic than the beauty of the woman after the guide conveyed the meaning of the noble woman.

What the hell are people at Cambridge talking about?And King James I was involved in the debate at the time?
"Can I sit down?" Selina asked.

"Please sit down." Li Jinde's curiosity was aroused, and he said to Selina.

"At that time, scholars participating in the debate at the university were divided into two factions. One group believed that dogs could think syllogisms, and the other believed that dogs could not think syllogisms."

"No way, they can be divided into two factions?" Li Jinde was surprised.

"The school that supports the dog's syllogism thinking is like this. Suppose the owner goes out, and the dog follows the owner's scent to a fork in the road. The dog will think, did the owner go this way or that way? Then the dog smells the owner's scent on one of the roads, and the dog will think that the owner is not going the other way, so it comes to the conclusion that the owner is on the road with the smell. This is the dog's syllogism."

After listening to Sarina's explanation, Li Jinde sorted out the order a little bit, and immediately discovered the problem: "If the dog is only chasing the smell, and won't think that the owner is going the other way, then it won't think about the syllogism. gone."

"Exactly, that's what the school of thought against dogs thinks syllogisms," Sarina said.

"How can a person know what a dog thinks if a person is not a dog? This kind of debate is really a waste of time." Li Jinde thought that Westerners are really leisurely enough to argue over such issues.

However, Li Jinde immediately thought that during the Warring States period, a hundred schools of thought contended, and it seemed that they would also argue about some seemingly insignificant things.

"Debates often fail to reach correct conclusions. Although scholars finally believed that dogs can't think about syllogisms, the former king thought that his hounds could think about syllogisms, so the scholars changed the conclusion to the royal hounds thinking about syllogisms. , and other dogs don't," Sarina said.

reality!Li Jinde and the others smiled knowingly. It seems that the scholars have a strong desire to survive. Anyway, they can't come to a conclusion. It's good to make the king happy in the end, and the debate is successfully concluded.

"Is Ms. Selina also a student at Cambridge University?" Li Jinde patiently explained to him the interesting story "Can dogs know syllogisms" in Selina, and finally shifted the topic to Selina.

"Cambridge University doesn't admit female students. I just visit here when I'm bored, and I learned a lot about the university after visiting many times." Selina said regretfully.

"It seems that the defense between men and women in the West is also quite serious. Our women used to have no chance to study in higher schools, but in recent years we have begun to encourage women to go to school. Our Academy of Sciences in Beijing may be even bigger than here, and there are Many girls and some female officials have become active in the officialdom." Li Jinde said.

He also heard about the Academy of Sciences from other businessmen, but he has not been to the Academy of Sciences himself. Just from the descriptions of other businessmen, the Academy of Sciences in Beijing is many times larger than Cambridge University here, and its concepts are more advanced. Also more.

"I didn't expect that the distant China would be so open, like Plato's utopia. Is there really such a country in this world?" Selina was a little surprised.

"If you have the opportunity to come to our east, you may be able to see our Academy of Sciences, which may be much more prosperous than Cambridge University. It brings together the brightest talents from the capital and [-] provinces, with thousands of students." Li Jinde said.

"Really, maybe I can have the opportunity to go to the east and see the Academy of Sciences you mentioned." Selina immediately became interested when she heard the grand occasion of the Academy of Sciences described by Li Jinde.

Li Jinde didn't know that this noble woman was the daughter of Lord Greenville who was about to go to China with him, and his description of the East made a Western woman have a strong curiosity about the East.

(End of this chapter)