On the evening of November 12, the lecture " Thinking of the Stone — From Hegel, Heidegger to Civilization Cultivation" hosted by the Department of Philosophy and the German Library was successfully held in the lecture hall of the library. Associate Professor Zhang Zhenhua from the Department of Philosophy of the School of Humanities in Tongji University featured the lecture.

From the history of the very beginning that humanities’action on the nature (the Anthropocene), A/Prof. Zhang Zhenhua introduced the interaction between humanity and nature and the understanding of natural matter, e.g. the stone (“Gestein” in German), in the view of both Western philosophy and Chinese traditional ideology. He explained three ways of the understanding of the stone: the interpretation of the stone by Hegel's western mainstream ideology; Heidegger brought the stone to light in phenomenological view; as well as the cultivation in traditional Chinese ideology. At last, A/Prof. Zhang pointed out that the connotation of cultivation was also included in Hegel's interpretation of the "softness" of sculpture and Heidegger's explanation of the original power of the artworks.

Students from various faculties listened attentively and took notes carefully. During the Q&A time, students raised questions to the speaker in the consideration of the combination of their own understanding and the content of the lecture. Besides answering questions in a professional attitude, Mr. Zhang encouraged students to observe the environment and think about the natural things around us. Finally, the lecture ended with enthusiastic applause.

Author: Sun Huiwen
Translator: Zhong Yiyuan
Photos: German Library