ON NEWTON-RAPHSON METHOD

Recent versions of the well-known Newton-Raphson method for solving algebraic equations are presented. First of these is the method given by J. H. He in 2003. He reduces the problem to solving a second degree polynomial equation. However He’s method is not applicable when this equation has complex roots. In 2008, D. Wei, J. Wu and M. Mei eliminated this deficiency, obtaining a third order polynomial equation, which has always a real root. First of the authors of present paper obtained higher order polynomial equations, which for orders 2 and 3 are reduced to equations given by He and respectively by Wei-Wu-Mei, with much improved form. In this paper, we present these methods. An example is given.newton-raphson

I Know You Are, But What Am I?: Anti-Individualism in the Development of Intellectual Humility and Wu-Wei

Virtues are acquirable, so if intellectual humility is a virtue, it’s acquirable. But there is something deeply problematic—perhaps even paradoxical—about aiming to be intellectually humble. Drawing on Edward Slingerland’s analysis of the paradoxical virtue of wu-wei in Trying Not To Try (New York: Crown, 2014), we argue for an anti-individualistic conception of the trait, concluding that one’s intellectual humility depends upon the intellectual humility of others. Slingerland defines wu-wei as the “dynamic, effortless, and unselfconscious state of mind of a person who is optimally active and effective” (Trying Not to Try, 7). Someone who embodies wu-wei inspires implicit trust, so it is beneficial to appear wu-wei. This has led to an arms race between faking wu-wei on the one hand and detecting fakery on the other. Likewise, there are many benefits to being (or seeming to be) intellectually humble. But someone who makes conscious, strategic efforts to appear intellectually humble is ipso facto not intellectually humble. Following Slingerland’s lead, we argue that there are several strategies one might pursue to acquire genuine intellectual humility, and all of these involve commitment to shared social or epistemic values, combined with receptivity to feedback from others, who must in turn have and manifest relevant intellectual virtues. In other words, other people and shared values are partial bearers of a given individual’s intellectual humility. If this is on the right track, then acquiring intellectual humility demands epistemic anti-individualism

DAOISM AS CRITICAL THEORY

Classical philosophical Daoism as it is expressed in the Dao-De-Jing and the Zhuang-Zi is often interpreted as lacking a capacity for critique and resistance. Since these capacities are taken to be central components of Enlightenment reason and action, it would follow that Daoism is incompatible with Enlightenment. This interpretation is being refuted by way of developing a constructive dialogue between the enlightenment traditions of critical theory and recent philosophy of action from a Daoist perspective. Daoism\u27s normative naturalism does neither rest on a primitivist call for a return to the past, nor does it suggest future-directed activism. By way of reconstructing its descriptive, explanatory and emancipatory dimensions, it is shown that Daoism constitutes an alternative form of critical theory. In contrast to future-directed purposive action or blind rule-following, Daoism\u27s key normative concept of wu-wei emphasizes effortless non-calculative responsiveness in the present. Drawing on recent insights in the philosophy of action, a reconstruction of wu-wei allows to conceive of a promising form of emancipatory agency

On a problem of Wu Wei Chao

Answering a question posed by Wu Wei Chao [2], we determine all solutions / : R -¥ R of the equation

Artist Note: What I Feel In A Wooden Box And Moisture Cream

This note is scripted in English (translated from Chinese by DONG Wei). (Jerry Wu\u2723).https://digital.kenyon.edu/zhoudocs/1157/thumbnail.jp

Artist Note: Random Thoughts on Thread-Winding

This brief essay is scripted in English (translated from Chinese by DONG Wei). (Jerry Wu\u2723).https://digital.kenyon.edu/zhoudocs/1156/thumbnail.jp

The "Songs" of Wei Ying-wu

The T'ang poet Wei Ying-wu (737?-790?) has left some 40 poems with the title "Ko-hsing" or "Songs." In content they tend to fall into two categories, those which are strongly colored by religious Taoism, and those which express social and political criticism. Both categories derive from the poet's experiences as a member of the aristocracy and an official at the court of Emperor Hsilan-tsung (685-762). Emperor Hsüan-tsung began his reign in 713, and when Wei Yingwu first entered official service as a member of the imperial guard, the T'ang court was strongly imbued with an atmosphere of religious Taoism, the founder of Taoism being worshipped as an ancestor of the imperial family. The life of the court was marked by a brilliance and lavishness that made it seem to belong to the world of the Taoist immortals rather than to the mundane world, and Wei Ying-wu's poems capture the full brilliance of the time. But this world was wiped out by the An Lu-shan rebellion, which led to Emperor Hsüan-tsung's abdication in 755 and his death not long after, and Wei Ying-wu was compelled, like so many others of the time, to undergo great hardship. Determined to work toward the restoration of the glory of Emperor Hsüan-tsung's time, he took the civil service examination and became a member of the bureacracy. But his official career was beset by frequent frustrations, while at the same time he could not help but observe the numerous ills that beset the society of his age. His observations in time took form in his poems of political and social criticism. Thus it may be seen that both types of poems entitled "Ko-hsing" are very closely related to Wei Ying-wu's career as a courtier and an official, and are therefore very different in tone from his more lyrical works, which abound in an air of Buddhist quietism. But it is perhaps precisely because he had the "Ko-hsing" poems in which to give expression to his observations and criticisms of society that his meditative poems were able to concentrate upon the creation of a mood of pure lyricism