Source: SYSU Student Bulletin  Issue No. 78
Written by: Wang Yanze
Edited by: Ian Heuer, Wang Dongmei

Human beings are never to be treated as a means but always as ends.
                                                                                                          ——Immanuel Kant

Since 2013, I have been pursuing my bachelor’s degree as an undergraduate at the Department of Philosophy at Sun Yat-sen University. From January to May, 2015, I was studying as an exchange student at the Department of Philosophy, University of California Berkeley (also called UC Berkeley, or just Berkeley). The exchange program is conducted by the Department of Sociology at UC Berkeley and the Department of Sociology at SYSU. The exchange program requires the applicants to pass an interview held by Berkeley teachers and allows 10-15 students to study at Berkeley each semester. In order to grasp the chance to study at Berkeley, I spent two months writing a personal statement and preparing for my interview. When I heard that I had passed the interview, I was so excited that my efforts had eventually paid off.

For me, UC Berkeley is the best public university in the world. Berkeley faculty, alumni, and researchers have won 72 Nobel Prizes. It is ranked third on the U. S. News’ 2015 Best Global Universities rankings, conducted in the U. S. and nearly 50 other countries. The Department of Philosophy at UC Berkeley is extraordinary; it was ranked ninth on the QS World University Rankings by Subject in 2015. It has had a profound influence on the history of western philosophy, especially philosophy of language and logic. Distinguished philosophers including Donald Davidson, Paul Grice, and Alfred Tarski have all taught there.

"There is no stupid question, but the question whose value is still not discovered”—this is the most impressive assertion I heard at Berkeley. It was not spoken by a professor, but by a junior philosophy student. The life of philosophy is mainly sustained by questions. Endless questions, endless reflections will make the life of philosophy more permanent. In Berkeley’s classes, what you see and what you hear are endless questions and the debates about the questions. During my exchange, I was deeply influenced by the questions—there is no question without reflection and there is no life without reflection.

Professor John Searle’s course, “Philosophy of Society” made a deep impression on me. Aged 83, John Searle is one of the most influential philosophers in the world. He is widely regarded as an authority in the fields of the western philosophy of language and philosophy of mind. One of his most famous contributions is to propose the thought experiment “Chinese Room”. It sharply challenges “strong Artificial Intelligence”. In his class, there are not just students who major in philosophy, but also students who study cognitive science and computer science. Students repeatedly attempt to refute Searle’s opinions and propose various counter examples in class. Professor Searle was quite pleased to respond to those refutations. Graduate Student Instructors (GSI) would raise even more challenging questions, but Professor Searle would always be ready with a strong defense. The atmosphere of the class can be animated during the process of mutual debate. Professor Searle often mentions some of his discussions with distinguished mathematicians or philosophers, such as Alfred Tarski, Bernard Williams, Michael Foucault, Noam Chomsky and Thomas Nagel. Professor Searle respects their contributions to philosophy, but at the same time, rebuts them in a clear and direct way.


Professor Timothy Clarke’s course “Special Topics in Greek Philosophy” has given me a deeper understanding of ancient philosophy. He uses a very distinctive way to reconstruct the arguments proposed by Pre-Socratic philosophers. His reconstructions of the arguments proposed by Parmenides, Empedocles and Protagoras impressed me deeply. In the class, Professor Clarke assigns several must-read books. Whenever he discusses a philosopher, he will attach a paper that profoundly discusses one of the philosopher’s thoughts. Professor Clarke respects every question proposed in the class and when he finds a question to be creative and important, he will allow the students to discuss that question for a long period of time. For him, what’s important is not how much he has spoken, but how much students have thought. His solicitude for and respect to students deeply moved me. When his class ended, I would ask him questions actively. I still remember that once, Professor Clarke was discussing Heraclitus. At the end of the class, I told him that “there are some incredible similarities between Buddhism and Heraclitus’ thoughts.” He seemed a little bit shocked because it was highly unlikely for Heraclitus to have philosophical communications with a Buddhist due to geographical distance. However, he encouraged me to keep thinking about the question. After I went back China, he told me that “It was quite good to have you in my class!”

Professor Tim Crockett’s course, Locke, emphatically analyzes John Locke’s work, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. He reconstructs Descartes, Locke, Leibniz and Berkeley’s arguments in clear forms. During the process of clear argumentative reconstruction, students gain a deeper understanding of the conflicts between empiricism and rationalism. They also understand how those philosophers debate with each other. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding is a profound and influential book in the history of philosophy. Though Locke’s language is very distinctive, he still treats some questions ambiguously. To better understand Locke’s actual opinions, GSI Adam Bradley argues that we should focus on what Locke actually says when interpreting Locke’s opinions, even if there are some contradictions in Locke’ opinions. If there are contradictions, we should argue that Locke’ views are wrong. However, Professor Crockett views that we should be more concerned about what Locke should say, which means defusing Locke’s self-defeating views, but at the same time, providing reasonable solutions. With the different interpretive standpoints, the class is not only limited to discussing Locke’s texts, but also comes into the discussion of academic attitude: what is a better interpretative attitude, caring about “what the philosopher actually says”, or "what the philosopher should say”.

Professor Hans Sluga’s course “Individual Morality & Social Justice” was my favorite class. Professor Hans Sluga is Williams and Trudy Ausfahl Professor of Philosophy in UC Berkeley. He has worked extensively on the early history of analytic philosophy and continental philosophy. Professor Sluga’s class made me understand the beauty of philosophy and philosophy researchers’ sense of their historical mission. Professor Sluga has said that “My overall philosophical outlook is radically historicist. I believe that we can understand ourselves only as beings with a particular evolution and history.” He uses very explicit language to introduce the development of western ethics, from Plato’s Republic to Mosaic Laws, and then from Kant’s categorical imperative to John Rawls’ “veil of ignorance”. When teaching Kant’s categorical imperative and hypothetical imperative, Professor Sluga speaks out Kant’s famous quote in a graceful way: “Two things fill me with constantly increasing admiration and awe, the longer and more earnestly I reflect on them: the starry heavens without and the moral law within.” Though Kant’s ethical system is complicated and sophisticated, Professor Sluga wisely catches the mainstream of Kant’s ethical thoughts and displays it in a fluent way. He clearly analyzes the actual meaning of “categorical imperative” and proposes some possible criticism of it. The most impressive class for me is his discussion of “death”. At the beginning of the class, he spoke with a deep feeling of grief: “Unfortunately, last weekend, one of the classmates in the class has passed away because of car accident in Los Angeles. We never know when we will pass away. Even our dearest lovers, we never know how long we can live with them. But our life still needs to keep going, we still need to stick together.” From my perspective, the aim of his teaching is not just introducing philosophers’ thoughts, but also cultivating students’ soul, to motivate students to pursue the beauty of thoughtfulness. In his class, philosophy is not tedious, but is filled with a sense of historical mission—a kind of profound defense of human ethics. At the last class, all students clapped to show their highest admiration to the distinguished professor. Fundamentally, philosophy is not just the practice of critical thinking, but also the shape of internal spirituality.

Many of Berkeley’s courses have a weekly discussion section, especially philosophical courses. During the discussion section, GSI will logically and clearly lead about 10 students to reconstruct the philosopher’s arguments mentioned in class. GSI will question students constantly and debate with students. In my impression, the best content in the class will be summarized in the discussion section and everyone will be helped to explicitly understand the professor’s arguments. Locke’s discussion section has made the deepest impression on me. GSI Adam Bradley will use a very simple and clarified way to show the profoundness of Locke’s thoughts. At the same time, students have to reckon Locke’s actual meaning. When I attended the discussion section for the first time, I wasn’t quite adapted to it. However, Adam’s continuous encouragement helped me get accustomed to this kind of discussion. I became completely adapted to it within two weeks and could discuss with other students actively. Not matter in lectures or discussion sections, “good question” is the sentence I heard most. Professors and GSIs are very enthusiastic in answering students’ questions and they treasure the value of these questions. Under such an encouraging educational pattern, students’ learning motivation is high and everyone gains a lot from the class.

The standard of a “good paper” is very high. Normally, we are required to write six to eight pages papers. We are supposed to clarify our opinions to GSI before we hand in our paper. I remember when I wrote the final paper of the class “Special Topics in Greek Philosophy”, I went to discuss with GSI Justin Vlasits many times. He was so patient and pointed out possible errors in my argument. I went to discuss with Professor Tim Crockett twice during his office hours and I also discussed with my classmates. These communications made significant contributions to my paper. However, even if you have made your opinions clear to GSI and he agrees with your opinion, it doesn’t mean that you will get a high score for your paper. When GSI evaluates the paper, he will read the paper word by word and pick out the words or sentences that are unclear. As one of my classmates said, philosophical papers should be understood by any student who does not major in philosophy. The pursuit of clarity and rigor requires students to write papers that are concise and yet also profound. Meanwhile, one important factor in achieving a high grade is to emphasize the importance of your opinions in the academic field. In other words, you are supposed to prove why your opinions are correct, why your opponent’s opinions are wrong, or why your opinions are better than his or hers. This requires students to look for all sorts of materials and see what kinds of “authoritative answers” have been given to these questions. Try to refute those “authoritative answers” in a logical way. Through such systematic training, Berkeley students will write their papers in a detailed way and focus on one or at most two questions specifically in a paper.

The library is the soul of a university. UC Berkeley has thirty-two libraries in total, filled with over 10 million books. In the library of Department of Philosophy, there are over 10 thousand books. Valuable books are well preserved in the library. Descartes’ first edition of Meditations and Donald Davidson’s personal writings are completely preserved. Whenever I pick down a book from the bookshelf, I deeply feel that what I am touching is not just a book, but a beautiful mind. It may be enthusiastic, or clam, but it is always the profound reflection of life. The most impressive book that I’ve read is Principia Mathematica, written by Bertrand Russell and Alfred Whitehead. It had significant impact on Wittgenstein. In the book, Russell and Whitehead use approximately 360 pages to prove that 1+1=2. It seems unimaginable for many people, but it shows their painstaking work and strong desire for truth.

In front of the Department of Philosophy, there is a wooden bench in memory of the distinguished philosopher Paul Grice. Whenever I see GSIs and students sitting on the bench and exploring philosophical questions, I can feel an invisible strength. The strength doesn’t come from how loud they speak, or the question that they are discussing, but from the state that they are in – everyone is equal when they are pursuing truth. In academic study, when you feel that you have a strong passion to express yourself, speak it out, justify it and defend it if you believe what you say is true. From my point of view, that is the most important spirit of a university.

I often went to Berkeley’s gymnasium and I found a continuous flow of people coming and going. They left their sweat and their deep love for physical exercise. In addition to academics and PE, Berkeley’s environment also made a deep impression on me. Squirrels are everywhere and they are not afraid of people. When you take some peanuts, they will come closer and “say hi” to you, swinging their beautiful tails. You can always feel the power of details. In the entrance of all libraries and restrooms, there is a button designed for the disabled. Pushing the button, the door will open automatically and it is quite convenient for the disabled. Whenever the bus stops, it will lean for a certain angle, which is quite convenient for the disabled.

It’s been several months since I left Berkeley. However, Professor Searle’s passionate class, the well preserved philosophical books in Doe Memorial Library, and the humorous smiles of the tramps on the streets are still quite clear in my memory. I deeply believe that these memories will remain vivid in the future because what has moved me is not just the pictures themselves, but also the spirit of humanities concealed behind the pictures.