Is the Human Culture Expressed in Language and Writing:

"Reality" or "Nihility"?

------Facing the Cultural World that is Different from the Natural World, and Exploring the System and Mechanism of Ideological Innovation

Li Zongrong

Institute of Philosophy, Huaguang Academy of Information Science at Wuhan,China

Abstract: The author of this article question a "metaphor" that "information" is "moon in the water, flower in the mirror". The author explain that human culture, which has been passed down and developed for 5000 years, although its constituent "material" is not "material" but language and writing, it is a "direct" "reality" rather than an "indirect" nihility （emptiness or nothingness）. Aristotle's "Four causes theory" can explain material phenomena, but not cultural phenomena. The "measurement-data-formula" method of physics cannot be applied to Humanities and social sciences. To implement the world outlook and methodology of the Zeitgeist of "Informationism" is the real "philosophical" paradigm of "information". However, the "information philosophy" about "material" cannot guide the establishment of Information science, and it is difficult to lead the paradigm change of Information science. Based on the above understanding, it is possible for us to break free from the constraints of the natural world thinking mode, explore the system and mechanism of ideological innovation in the cultural world, and truly make ideological contributions that are compatible with China's 1.4 billion people and the world's second largest economy for all humanity.

    Keywords: language, human culture, reality, nihility, Information science, information philosophy.

Introduction

The IS4SI 2023 Beijing Summit, with the theme of "Discipline Paradigm Change", provides impetus and opportunity for Huaguang Academy of Information Science at Wuhan (hereinafter referred to as Huaguang Academy) to sort out the achievements since the Moscow Summit in 2013. We worked in groups and wrote 8 papers, which were submitted to the three forums of "Information Society", "Information Philosophy", and "Information science" respectively. Then, Li Zongrong wrote an "Open Letter" to the Founding Presidents of IS4SI and the Chairmen of the Beijing Summit, describing the logical connections between the eight articles. While waiting for the results of the forum's "peer review", Li Zongrong's thoughts couldn't help but continue to move forward, resulting in the manuscript that the reader is currently seeing. Li Zongrong felt that this 9th manuscript had basically clarified the meaning of the "Light of Chinese New Theory and New Thoughts" (abbreviated as "The Light of China") that the Huaguang Academy believed could "ignite a prairie fire". Of course, whether this "one family statement" really has some truth or not must be tested by practice, and needs to be revised, supplemented, and developed in peer review.

1、 Conceptual Discrimination: "Materialism" and "Physicalism"

The author of this article advocates translating the English word Materialism into "物质主义" in Chinese. The advantages of such translation lie in: (1) avoiding the dilemma of "Monism" without "only one". "One divides into one", so there is no other branch, which excludes the possibility of "combining two into one", cannot accept "Dialectic", and rejects the Development theory of "Unity of opposites". (2) A term that naturally forms a counterpart to it, Im-materialism, which means "非-物质主义" in Chinese; It is convenient to extend and express the concepts of "Intangible cultural heritage", "intangible civilization", "intangible existence", "information", "informatism", etc.

The author's "basis" is: (1) in the original English basic textbook of Western philosophy, the ontological "presupposition" of the so-called Plato's "idealism" is that the universe is "divided into two": "material being" and "immaterial being". Plato analyzed the characteristics of two types of existence and pointed out that humans are composed of a body and a mind; the mind has higher value than the body. (2) Since Material and Immaterial appear in pairs, then materialism and immaterialism are translated as "物质主义" and “非物质主义”in Chinese. The author believes that since we define “information” as “immaterial existence” in philosophy, so Immaterialism logically means “informationism”.

We have noticed that some domestic "information philosophy" researchers, out of consideration of political principles, stand on the position of "Materialism" and criticize the "Physicalism" research ideas on "information". However, the researchers totally ignore the connection and difference between the two concepts of "Materialism" and "Physicalism". This article quotes the first paragraph and the last paragraph of "Physicalism" (pp. 617-618), which is an entry in The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy (chief editor: Robert Audi; Cambridge University Press; 1996).

"Physicalism, in the broadest term, is materialism applied to the problem of the essence of the soul. In this way, the proposition of Physicalism (or called ontological Physicalism) is that anything that exists or happens is ultimately composed of physical entities. But sometimes" Physicalism "is used to refer to an argument that anything that exists or happens can be completely described in physical terms. This view is consistent with the Reductionism or exclusion theory on psychology. The Reductionism here is a view that psychological explanation, including the explanation with the concept of "mass psychology" (such as belief and desire), can be reduced to the formulaic explanation with physical vocabulary, which in turn means that the entities mentioned in psychological explanation can be fully described with physical terms; Exclusion theory is a viewpoint that holds that nothing corresponds to terms in psychological explanations, and the only correct explanation is the interpretation of physical terms.

"If ontology Physicalists (Materialists) are not committed to reducing psychology to physics, then they are also not committed to any form of identity theory, that is, entities selected through psychological or psychological descriptions are identical to entities fully represented through physical descriptions. As already pointed out, materialists as functionalists deny the existence of type identity between spiritual and physical entities. Some people deny the argument of materialism and even focus on symbolic identity, claiming that any psychological event may have different physical components and therefore be different from any purely physical classified event.

We believe that the expression of the entry "Physicalism" in The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy is a consensus of the whole "Western philosophy". Obviously, to criticize Physicalism from the standpoint of Materialism is to "flood the Dragon King Temple", and the whole family does not know each other; The commentator may be completely unaware that they are criticizing themselves.

2、 Humboldt Linguistics: The History of Human Civilization is the History of Language and Writing

Unlike contemporary linguists, German scholar Humboldt, due to his unique life experiences, observes society, culture, and language from a special perspective and proposes a unique language theory, which opens up a fresh outlook and breaks a new path. He is committed to exploring the essence and function of language, the relationship between language and thinking, the cultural connotations of language, and language is the representation of human essence, which has universal significance, thus laying the foundation for modern linguistic thinking.

Humboldt studied philosophy, political science, law, ancient chemistry, and archaeology during his university years. In the first half of his life, he was a politician who served as an ambassador to foreign countries multiple times and represented Germany at international conferences multiple times; He served as Prussian Minister of Culture and Secretary of State for Education and participated in the establishment of Berlin University. He has extensive academic interests and has explored in the fields of aesthetics, Ethnology, classical culture, etc. His education and experience have made him stand higher than contemporary linguists, clearly distinguishing him from the Saussure model of “studying language in terms of language and for the sake of language”; He is committed to explaining the purpose of all human activities using language as a medium, and establishing a unified and complete human knowledge through language research; From this perspective, Humboldt can see the essential characteristics of human language: "Language is not a product, but a creative activity." "Language is not the product of activities, but the involuntary exertion of spirit." "Except language, there is no culture. Language not only accompanies the development of spirit, but completely occupies the position of spirit." He proposed that languages and dialects of various ethnic groups are the result of human spiritual creation activities, and language plays a crucial role in the development of human society; The creativity of language is a reflection of human spiritual creation; Language develops with the growth of a nation, and it is an external manifestation of the national spirit, while also carrying the history and culture of the nation.

Humboldt believed that language is an essential component of human nature, and its emergence is driven by human "internal needs", rather than just the need to sustain external communication, as many people believe. In his opinion, the definition of a person is incomplete if it does not include language. Language is not the invention of any individual, but the result of collective and spontaneous human activities. He regards language as the "structural organ of thought", because ideas become concepts through language, and ideas are clarified, materialized, and realized through language. He sees consciousness and spirit as things with a special origin that do not rely on objective material existence.

Humboldt said in his discourse on the relationship between language and thinking perception ability, "Intellectual activity is completely spiritual and intrinsic, and to some extent passes away without leaving any trace. It is externalized in language through sound and perceived by the senses." The spirit tries to open up a way to the outside through language and lips. At the same time, the result of this effort turns back to the speaker's own ears, that is to say, the idea has gained the true objectivity, but it does not lose the subjectivity." Not only "thought, speech organ, hearing and language are inextricably linked", the consistency between speech and thought is also very eye-catching. Just as thought deters the entire soul, sound first possesses a power that can penetrate and shake all nerves. Sound bursts out from the deep bottom of the chest and finds an extremely suitable intermediary material in the air, the most delicate and easily flowing element. The true material of language is, on the one hand, phonetics, and on the other hand, all sensory impressions and conscious spiritual movements, which are the prerequisites for the concepts formed by the use of language shells.

We believe that, in the great halo of the "Physicalist" worldview and methodology of the whole "natural science", "linguistics" insists on the equal emphasis of "Empiricism" and "Rationalism", and was initiated by Humboldt, Saussure, Chomsky, etc., to select the main research object as the "non-material" object outside the "voice", that is, the "meaning" of language. This is the "one and only" and outstanding subject in the Humanities and social sciences. The research object of Humanities and social sciences is the "information" (language) of people and society, rather than its "material" carrier (which is already the object of natural science). Except for "linguistics", almost all Humanities and social sciences (including philosophy) hope to use the quantitative and formulaic methods of natural science to establish "hard science" like physics through "experiments" that can be artificially controlled by "variables", the result is a completely different approach, without getting to the point. We believe that the linguistics represented by scholars such as Humboldt is informatics that does not use the concept of "information". Among them, symbols are a "combination of sound and meaning", "sound is the carrier, meaning is the essence", "the meaning of thinking is externalized into sounds that can be perceived by oneself and others", and so on. Their "linguistics" is the "informatics" of the industrial era; In the information age, "Theoretical linguistics" should become the "basic discipline" of all Humanities and social sciences.

Today, information scientists "explain" that only biological gene DNA and cultural gene MEME can survive in the world, and we are just their carriers and inheritors. Obviously, DNA and MEME have their own laws of development and evolution, which are objective laws that are not subject to our will. We can't explain it with the quantitative "formula" of physics, but we can explain it with the logical "program" of Information science. Humboldt said, “In language, a vocabulary and a system of rules are formed, and through them, language has become an independent and autonomous force over thousands of years.” Obviously, writing constitutes a relatively independent world, and its function is mainly reflected in its diachronic aspect. We almost completely agree with Humboldt's proposition of two worlds, two forces, two movements, two sciences, two methods.

Humboldt said, without language, there would be no concept; similarly, without language, our mind would have no object, because for the mind, every external object can only obtain its true existence through concept. On the other hand, the subjective perception of things must be transferred to the construction and use of language. Because words are generated from this perception, words are not impressions of things, but rather a reflection of the images created by things in the mind. Due to the inevitable mixing of subjective elements in all objective perceptions, and within the same nation, there is also a similar subjectivity that influences language so each language contains a unique worldview. Therefore, learning a foreign language may mean winning a new starting point in the field of worldviews to date. We see that in some textbooks, language is defined as "the most important tool for human communication" and "thinking tool". Of course, it's not necessary to say it's wrong, but the definition doesn't put the words in place. Because, referring to Kant's distinction between the two categories of "tool" and "purpose", it can be considered that language is not only a "tool" in thinking and communication, but also a "purpose": language is the thinking and communication itself! What is thinking and communication without language? Body language is also language!

After studying linguistics, we have come to understand that even animals that can produce sound are using "symbols" if there is a "combination of sound and meaning" there. Compared to animals, our language is certainly not on their level. But did you see thousands of birds having meetings and thousands of fish swimming together? And the story of the Ant Kingdom, they also have big cities, languages, national systems, and civilized societies? Giving up "Anthropocentrism" and “Physicalism”, we can see that the phenomenon of "material-information duality" has not only started since the era of language and writing in human society, but also is almost indistinguishable from animals. What we have added is only the invention of words. In this way, the worldview and methodology can be pushed forward in all directions for thousands of years, until Plato!

3、 Human Culture based on Language and Writing: "Reality" or "Nihility"?

In the field of history, there is a concept that "prehistoric culture" refers to the human culture before the emergence of writing. The scope of prehistoric era is human history before the appearance of writing. The popular mainstream view on "civilization" is the theory of the "three elements" of civilization, which means that cities, writing, and metallurgy are essential conditions for civilization. In fact, the emergence of language, writing, and symbols enables humans to think as a "species" as the main body, rather than thinking as individual "individuals" like intelligent animals, in order to accumulate and produce systematic knowledge systems such as religion, philosophy, and science. Therefore, "writing" should be the primary factor of "civilization", and it is the only standard for identifying "prehistoric culture" and "prehistoric civilization".

What is “characters”? Many ethnic groups in the world have invented and created their own languages and scripts. The United Nations stipulates that there are only six official languages, which are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish in the order of English alphabet; Six languages have equal validity, and representatives can choose any one of them. At any formal United Nations conference, the Secretariat is responsible for providing simultaneous interpretation of representatives' speeches through microphones in six languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish. Human languages are the "carriers" of all human cultures. It not only includes institutional culture and spiritual culture (science, philosophy, religion), but also includes "material culture" and behavioral culture. The core of its "material shell" is also language. Material culture, such as computers, mobile phones, and the Internet; Behavioral culture, such as Beijing opera, is all about language and writing. The stone stool in nature is different from a "wooden square stool", and its design, production, and use reflect culture.

The invention of writing is the fundamental prerequisite for humans to surpass animals. It is now generally believed that the earliest civilization probably emerged from the Sumer people in Mesopotamia around 3500 BC. This certainly makes sense; However, from the perspective of Information science, the emergence of language and characters has led to the record, inheritance, accumulation of human history and the "explosive growth" of today's information. So, two factors truly play a decisive role in human civilization: (1) education; (2) Technology. Everyone, generation after generation passed away, generation after generation was born, and around 100 years later, all members of human society were updated and replaced. What did you leave behind? It is human culture. Where is human culture? It is in words, in the four books and five classics, in scientific papers and works. Where is the history of plants and animals? It is only in DNA. The key to distinguishing the human species from other animal species and all biological species lies in "writing"! With words, "people" can only "think collectively" in the form of a "class", otherwise only the "individual thinking" of animals. On the basis of human language and writing, with the inheritance of education and the accumulation of technology, the emergence of cities, the establishment of countries, and the formulation of legal systems, is it not a matter of time. The invention of writing is a crucial step in the progress of human civilization and society; otherwise, a population without written language will find it difficult to possess wisdom and abilities of other animal species.

4、 Aristotle's "Four Causes Theory" is not Suitable for Interpretation in the Field of Language and Writing

After Plato died, Aristotle wrote "Physics" and "After Physics" (i.e. metaphysics), and put forward his "Four causes theory" to explain that the "principles" and "reasons" of the being is "the being" is. Aristotle said that in the world around us, there are natural things and "products of artificial technology". We have experienced that they are all changing. We can ask a few questions about the process of change. For anything, we can ask four questions, namely (1) what is it? (2) what is it made of? (3) what is it caused by? (4) why is it done for? Aristotle believes that these four reasons represent a broad prototype and structure for an overall explanation of all things. Taking an artwork as an example, four possible reasons are: (1) it is a statue, (2) it is made of marble, (3) it is made by a sculptor, and (4) it is for decoration.

In addition to things generated by artificial technology, there are also things caused by nature. Aristotle believes that there are also four factors (or elements) involved in natural changes. Therefore, Aristotle's "Four causes theory" of all things in the universe is: (1) formal cause, which stipulates what a thing is; (2) material factor: what is a thing made of; (3) motivation, what causes a thing; (4) the purpose: what "purpose" it is for.

We believe that, using the concept of contemporary science and philosophy, because his father is a royal doctor, and Aristotle himself also focuses on nature, biology, and medicine, although Aristotle has followed Plato for 20 years, he is basically a "scientist", then a "scientific philosopher", rather than a typical "philosopher". He not only refused to accept Plato's idealism, but also systematically and seriously criticized it in Category, establishing the basic thought of "Physicalism" worldview and methodology.

Plato's pursuit is to explore the laws and mechanisms of change and innovation in the human cultural world beyond the natural world. Firstly, the understanding of the concepts of "point," "line," and "surface" in geometry leads to the knowledge system of "points without size," "lines without width," and "surfaces without thickness," as well as all the concepts, judgments, inferences, theorems, and so on that are based on the five basic "assumptions". This "network" composed of concepts and their logical connections are a direct and tangible entity. It has existed for 2323 years, that is, 2023+300 BC BC, when Euclidean geometry came into being. We pretend not to have seen this “history” and “reality”, saying that they are both indirect and unreal, is it appropriate? Without "moon", there would be no "moon in the water", and without "flowers", there would be no "flowers in the mirror"; However, there are no “points without size”, but points without size are generated. And in our geometry, we cannot specify the shape, area, and size of points. If a circle with a diameter of 1 millimeter and a thickness of 1 millimeter is the “point”, then all other objects are not “points” anymore. So, what about the theory that physics treats any material object as a "particle" to study its motion and its relationship with other "particles"?

What's more, in all the Humanities and social sciences, it is not only the problem of "size", "width" and "thickness", but also a concept of "justice" that does not exist in nature or in human society before. It has neither volume nor weight. Rawls wrote a large book of A Theory of Justice. Is this an “indirect” “nihility”? In the man-made world, man-made "Material culture" has volume and weight, such as the Great Wall, computers, mobile phones, etc. The human "body culture", such as Peking Opera, sculpture, and China on the tip of the tongue, does indeed have objects of size, width, and thickness. However, the body culture of animals is completely different. As for human "institutional culture" and "spiritual culture" (religion, philosophy, and science), such as "constitution" and "information philosophy", where are similar "moon" and "flower"?

If it is not easy to explain the "mechanism" of the "changes" in the Constitution and information philosophy, then our own experience is easy to explain. In order to participate in the IS4SI 2023 Beijing Summit, we have written 8 articles. The metaphor of "moon in the water, flower in the mirror" is inappropriate. Aristotle's four causes theory cannot explain it. We believe that we can try to construct the four causes theory of informatics by imitating Aristotle's Four causes theory of "physics". For example, the language and writing of the "material" in 8 manuscripts are not wood or marble; “Form” is a paper, not a monograph or applied writing in daily life; the “purpose” is to qualify as a paper author to attend the conference, not for fun; "Motivation" is the intelligence of the colleagues of Huaguang Academy. For the ability to summarize, analyze, sort out, and express the research results in the past 10 years, we have used the ability of logical thinking, rather than randomly tapping the Computer keyboard like the American "Who knows you are a dog?".

Generally speaking, Aristotle's Four Causes Theory of physics is only applicable to the natural world, and is partially applicable to the material products of human society and the material objects of artistic products. The "Android" system in smart phones cannot be explained in terms of Aristotelian Four Causes, because it is a "cultural product" based on language and characters.

5、 The "Measurement-Data-Formula" Method of Physics is not Applicable to Humanities and Social Sciences

The method of physics is the direct experience of people, that is, the experimental method, the "measurement-data-formula" method. In order to grasp the laws of material motion, it is first necessary to establish measurement standards. The seven basic physical quantities in physics are length m（meter）, time s（second）, weight kg（kilogram）, Thermodynamic temperature K (Kelvins), current unit A (ampere), light intensity cd (Candela), and mass mol (mole). The International unit “m” of length, meter, originated in France; In May 1790, a special committee composed of French scientists recommended that one forty millionth of the total length of the Earth's meridian passing through Paris be taken as the unit of length - meter, which was approved by the French Parliament in 1791. Time is a parameter used by human to describe the process of material movement or event occurrence. To determine time, the time measurement system based on Earth's rotation is called Universal Time system. The result of the measurement is a batch of data. For the analysis of the data, the laws of material movement can be obtained, such as using the formula H=G * T * T/2 to express the Free fall movement, and so on.

However, the methods of physics do not have the ability to express and describe the process of humanistic social phenomena. For example, between February 25th and April 25th, 2023, we submitted 8 articles for the IS4SI 2023 Beijing Summit. If the measurement data formula method is used, the data obtained is: the average time spent on each manuscript is 7.5 days, the English vocabulary of the manuscript is not less than 2000, 6 pages are printed on A4 paper, and the weight is about 1/3 taels (16kg). We believe that it is difficult to describe the laws of the writing process of each paper using these data. If Aristotle's method of physics philosophy "Four causes theory" is used, it is also invalid. On the contrary, if we use the "Four causes theory" of informatics, we can explain the process and law of the production of manuscripts to a large extent. For example, the manuscript signed by Li Zongrong, Zhang Yiqiong, and Tian Aijing is entitled "Comparison and Analysis of the Characteristics of Natural Information and Social Information ---- From Aristotle's “10 Material Categories” to Information science's “12 Information Attributes”. The “material” is English/Chinese characters, the “form” is the paper format, the “purpose” is the conference contribution, and the “motivation” is the cooperation of Li, Zhang, and Tian: discussion, writing, revision, and finalization.

We believe that it is more appropriate to use the general method of theoretical Information science, namely the "information Emergentism" method, or the "logic- algorithm-program" method to express Li-Zhang-Tian's paper. The so-called "logic" is the choice of "Value judgment" and selection of "yes/no". Our goal is to correct the conclusion of the "Monism" of Physicalism in the way of practical experience of Information science, demonstrate that there is also the "information" phenomena of "non-material" in addition to the "material" phenomena, and classify the attributes or characteristics of all things in the universe as "A/non-A", either material or information; Information is an objective existence that is different from matter. In this way, the concept and theory of information have independent research objects from physics (and natural sciences); it has a research method called "logic-algorithm-program" that corresponds to the "measurement-data-formula" in physics. Then, Information science has its own specific presupposition, knowledge system, application scope, etc., which is enough to constitute a scientific discipline. Moreover, according to the standard of philosophical epistemology (theory of knowledge), it has good "conformity" and "coherence", belonging to the knowledge of scientific truth. Therefore, the goal of Li-Zhang-tian's thesis is to lay an empirical scientific foundation for the entire Information science; That is, logical analysis and value creation.

The "algorithm" of Information science can be understood as the algorithm design of computer "software engineering"; It includes two categories: data computation and logical computation. Elementary school arithmetic is about data calculation. If binary is used, then in arithmetic addition, 1+1=10, 1+0=0+1=1, 0+0=0. But in logical operations, addition does not carry, 1+1=1; And the multiplication rule is 1 × 1=1, 1 × 0=0 × 1=0 × 0=0. For example, a person's life = material life × Information Life; Only two lives are “alive” at the same time (known as “1”), and this person is alive. If one or both of them are “0”, then the person is dead. For example, if cancer is advanced and rescue efforts are ineffective, he hopes to live but is useless; Or someone who is determined not to live, succeeds in suicide, and their physical health is of no use.

The "program" of Information science, such as the "algorithm" of seeking the "root" of Quadratic equation, can be programmed in Computer language and operated on the computer; Alternatively, it can be implemented manually. Usually, when we talk about handling things, we need to follow the procedures, and when filing a lawsuit, we need to pursue procedural fairness, which is what we mean. In fact, each of us is our own "programmer". Deng Xiaoping's commitment to solving the issue of "Hong Kong ownership" includes a "procedural" design plan. The fire brigade can have many backup program plans for firefighting.

6、 The Worldview and Methodology of Informationism and its Paradigm of Information Philosophy

Usually, any viewpoint, opinion, theory, or doctrine has its predetermined premise, which is the condition that provides it with a "foundation". For example, when we discuss the issue of "truth", we must involve the "Epistemology" or "theory of knowledge" hypothesis about truth, and even the "ontology" hypothesis. The understanding of "Informationism" must involve the ontological hypothesis of the discussants, that is, the position of "information" in the universe. It depends on the ontological position of the discussants, that is, the views on the constituent elements of the universe are "Monism", "Dualisms", or "pluralism". We believe that in Dualisms, if we assume that the "dualism" here is "A" and "non-A", then according to the Law of excluded middle law of logic, in the same thinking process, two opposite ideas cannot be false at the same time, and there must be one truth, that is, "either A or not A". At this point, there is no 'third party', that is, there is no “existence” that is neither “A” nor “non A”. As a result, "pluralism" was reduced to "Dualisms", and the third was eliminated by Occam's razor.

At present, we can see a variety of definitions of "Informationism", but according to the preset premise of its ontology, it can be divided into "two", one is "Monism", the other is "Dualisms". Ontologists based on Monism, according to Wiener's view of the three elements of "matter, energy, and information", advocate three "isms": "materialism", "energyism", and "informationism" (some scholars call it "informatism" for short).

We believe that due to the maturity and brilliance of natural sciences such as physics, the "Idealism" in Western philosophy has retired, and no philosopher has come forward to claim that he is an "Idealist". Those scholar who support the "material- spirit" Dualisms, in the face of the strong and mainstream Physicalism trend of thought, have strategically "left" (suspended) the ontological status of "spirit". Therefore, "Informationism" is now described as "Informationism only", which belongs to the "scarecrow strategy" in logical speculation, that is, to define Informationism as Monism, and then carry out criticism. The mistake of this strategy is called the “scarecrow fallacy”. It is a wrong way of argument. In the process of debate or argumentation, what it attacks is not the opponent's original intention, but first distorts the opponent's argument, then refutes it, just like creating a pile of lifeless and unconscious straw, then kicking it down with one foot, and finally cheering happily: " Flash kill, victory".

We believe that ontologists based on Dualisms, according to the "theoretical Information science" (theoretical informatics) founded by Li Zongrong in the early 21st century, naturally advocate that "informatics" is a philosophical idea opposite to "Physicalism". If "Monism informationism" can be understood as an upgraded version of "Idealism" in the information age, then "Dualisms informationism" is certainly not; Because it first advocates that all things in the universe have a "material-information duality", just like a "coin". It is the "one and both sides" of our understanding and research objects, both sides/parties are interdependent and inseparable, but at the same time independent and either this or that.

Reflex is the fundamental mode of activity in the nervous system. Soviet physiologist Pavlov divided reflexes into two categories: unconditional reflexes and conditioned reflexes, where conditioned reflexes are further divided into the first signal system and the second signal system. The second signal system is unique to humans and the language and writing unique to humans can replace the first signal to cause conditioned reflexes. Therefore, language and writing are "signals of signals", known as the second signal. It is the foundation of various complex psychological activities in humans, and is a conditioned reflex system established by using words and language as conditioned stimuli. The second signal system can reflect in a person's brain things that they may have never perceived and can never directly feel with their own sensory organs.

Informationists agree with Pavlov's ideas in the field of bioinformatics, where speech and writing can be considered as "signals of signals" (secondary signals). However, in the whole field of Information science, there are not only natural information, but also social information and humanistic information. The common values of humanity are "freedom, equality, democracy, and human rights". If we say these are “second signals”, then someone immediately asks: What are their “first signals”? So, we would rather call it a “symbol”. Symbols can represent both natural and artificial material objects, as well as artificial "abstract things" such as "rights", "obligations", "justice", and so on.

So, we divided the "stimuli" that cause human neural reflexes into two categories: signals and symbols. “Symbols” are language and writing created by humans, and “signals” can be either natural or artificial. Before humans created language and began the history of civilization, all things in the universe were "signals", and concrete and realistic stimuli such as sound, light, and electricity caused people unconditional or conditioned reflexes. However, after the beginning of human civilization, the stimuli caused by abstract language and writing accounted for the vast majority of human information activities. In this way, the definition of "information" in theoretical informatics can be "the meaning of signals and symbols".

We believe that, like the "gods" in the middle ages and the "material" in the industrial age, "information" is the Zeitgeist of the information society. So, what is Informatism? We provide a working definition: this theory holds that everything in the universe has a "material-information duality", so there is no "matter" without information or "information" without carriers; all existence, processes, dynamics, laws, mechanisms, etc. in the universe have a duality. It acknowledges the rationality of all natural scientific concepts, principles, and methods, but its scope of application is limited to the "material" side of natural and artificial things. It believes that "information" and "information energy" are concepts corresponding to "material" and "material energy". The information phenomena of human society, the world of artificial "idea products", and the classic texts in the history of human thought can only be explained by the "Information science" of information phenomena. The concepts of Informationism and Physicalism are relatively similar: Meta Informatics corresponds to Aristotle's Meta Physics; Physicalism is the thinking after physical science, which rejects the existence of "non-material"; Informationism is the thinking after Information science, and it recognizes the science and philosophy about "material" phenomena. It claims that all natural, social, and thinking phenomena in the universe can be explained in the "integration" of Information science with natural science.

With the above definition, the worldview and methodology of Informatism are clear at a glance. We believe that the "information philosophy" established on this basis meets the standards of conformity and integration of truth.

Based on Physicalism, "information philosophy" can also be discussed. Wiener is the first person in the information philosophy of Physicalism. He said, "Information is information, not matter, nor energy. In today's era, materialism that does not recognize this cannot continue." Weiner proposed a concept that distinguishes "information" from matter and energy, which is a creation of philosophy. However, in the ternary combination of "matter, energy, and information", can information be explained as the "attributes" of matter? Moreover, is the "energy" of physics also the "driving force" of the evolution and evolution of information? Li Zongrong proposed a four element combination of "matter, energy; information, intelligence" in theoretical informatics, which is superior to Wiener's "three element theory". Moreover, in the current era of ChatGPT's widespread popularity, human rational thinking and information philosophy cannot continue to deny "intelligence" (human intelligence, biological intelligence, and machine intelligence)!

Some information philosophers advocate that information is like the moon in the water and the flower in the mirror; Without matter, there is no information; Matter is reality, information is emptiness; Matter exists directly, while information exists indirectly; and so on. We believe that this philosophy of information has not transcended Wiener's ideas and theories.

We very much agree with the mutual support and cooperation between "science" and "philosophy", and the establishment of Information science really needs the theoretical presupposition of the ontological commitment of information philosophy. However, we cannot deny the difference between science and philosophy and their respective “boundaries”, and cannot advocate that “science equals philosophy”. This is not beneficial for the development of science and philosophy. A philosopher from Renmin University of China discussed "hot topics in philosophy" in an open class, which is clearly not a "hot topics in science". Similarly, the research objects, research methods, presupposition, theoretical framework, application scope, etc. of Information science and information philosophy are obviously different. In the history of human thought, there has indeed been a period when the two concepts of science and philosophy were mixed, but can we still do that now?

In addition, there are both connections and differences between the concepts of "science" and "discipline". Philosophy and religion both constitute disciplines or even subject groups, but they are not sciences. Obviously, "disciplinary paradigm" only refers to "the paradigm of scientific disciplines". Philosophy and religion do not have a “disciplinary paradigm”. Philosophy has gone from the separation of ontology Monism and Dualisms to the confrontation in the fields of epistemology and Axiology, and the fierce competition between two distinct academic schools until today; Philosophers do not have a unified “paradigm”; Not only is there no paradigm, but even the notion of “philosophical infinity” is widely accepted. As for religion, is there a common "paradigm" for Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Confucianism, and so on? There is not only no "common" paradigm between religious factions, but the "differences" between them even lead to the "Holocaust". Therefore, we advocate that in the discussion of "paradigm shift", it is necessary to avoid the misuse and misleading of basic concepts (i.e. basic concepts).

Conclusion

Xi Jinping says that this is an era that requires theory and is bound to produce it. It is an era that requires thought and is bound to produce it. We cannot disappoint this era. The author of this article advocates that scholars in the scientific and philosophical fields of China need to face the cultural world that is different from the natural world and explore the system and mechanism of ideological innovation. In this way, we can break free from the constraints of natural world thinking patterns (paradigms) and devote ourselves to theoretical and ideological innovation in the cultural world, truly making ideological contributions that are compatible with China's 1.4 billion people and the world's second largest economy for all humanity.

We believe that the selection of "changes in disciplinary paradigms" as the theme of the Fifth International Conference on Information Philosophy and the theme of the 2023 Beijing Summit is reasonable and timely. I hope that, as stated in the "Solicitation Notice", "The International Summit on Information Research (ISSI), as a biennial series of international conferences, is committed to bringing experts from all over the world together to exchange ideas, share progress, explore future trends in the field of information science, and promote cooperation among participants to meet new challenges. Previous summits have attracted a large number of enthusiastic participants and achieved substantial success. The author of this paper is willing to actively participate and believes that the IS4SI 2023 Beijing Summit will definitely lead existing research and discussion to depth, achieving great success!

Acknowledgement

Li Zongrong once reported the purpose, tasks, plans, preparations, etc. of attending this Beijing Summit to the advisory group experts of the Academic Committee of Huaguang Academy, and listened to their opinions and suggestions. Here, we would like to thank Professor Ma Ainai of Peking University, Professor Jiang Lu of Beijing Normal University, Professor Wang Jingshan of Communication University of China, Professor Zhang Zhangran of Wuhan University, and Professor He Weiping of Huazhong University of Science and Technology. At the same time, we would like to express our gratitude to Li Yuexin and Liu Genhui, Deputy Directors of the Academic Committee of Huaguang Academy, and to the signatories who participated in the discussion, research, revision, finalization, and translation of 8 papers.

References

【1】 Wu Tieping, Yao Xiaoping. Selected Readings of On the Difference of Human Language construct and Its Influence on Human Spiritual Development. See: Hu Mingyang. Reading of Western Linguistic Masterpieces. Beijing: Renmin University of China Press, 2016.

【2】 Humboldt. On the Difference of Human Language Construct and Its Impact on Human Spiritual Development. Translated by Yao Xiaoping. Beijing: Commercial Press, 2018.

【3】 Saussure, Course in General Linguistics, translated by Gao Mingkai, Beijing: Commercial Press, 2018

【4】 Liu Runqing. Western Linguistics Schools (Revised Edition). Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, May 2013.

【5】 Ye Feisheng, Xu Tongqiang. Outline of Linguistics. Beijing: Peking University Press, 1997.

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