In the 404th classroom on the 5th floor of Wuhan University, the front door was open, and several students stood in the corridor and looked at the classroom; the back door was also open, but it was blocked by several standing students.

Reporter Wang Ruochen, this newspaper,

At 7 p.m. on Thursday, at , classroom 404 on the 5th floor of Wuhan University, the front door was open, and several students stood in the corridor and looked at the classroom; the back door was also open, but it was blocked by several standing students. Looking in from the corridor, students stood around the classroom, holding notebooks in their hands; students were also sitting in the aisle, holding schoolbags, and looking at the blackboard with concentration.

The classmate who was studying in self-study passed by, stopped and whispered to the listener standing by the back door: "Which company's job fair is this? So many people?"

The listener replied: "There is class here."

"What class is it, so popular?"

" metaphysics ."

"What learning?"

"What learning?"

"What learning?" l1

failed to answer, and the teacher's question came from the classroom: "There are 1,000 Hamlets in a thousand readers. Can we say in the same sense that there are 1,000 students studying mathematics, 1+1=2?"

's frowns due to doubts, and because of this question, the passing classmate put away his steps and fell into thinking with more than 100 students standing or sitting in the classroom. She leaned against the back door frame, held her glasses, and looked at the professor in her early 40s and not tall on the podium - Su Dechao .

On September 19, 2018, Professor Su Dechao was teaching students.

"Heat" unpopular courses

metaphysics is more abstract. If you want to tell them to your classmates, you must have an "interface". In other words, you have to be "user-friendly" and be able to attract students. After that, we must find the "boiling point" of the classroom and let students "not change the channel"

Su Dechao's latest "famous" was due to a power outage. November 9, 2017, still Thursday. At 18:30, the class bell rang, and Su Dechao walked up to the podium, looking at the students in the classroom, and the sound of footsteps started to sound: "A person was so painful that he fainted, is this person still in pain?"

After a brief silence, a student raised his hands. Su Dechao was about to ask him to speak when a power outage suddenly broke down and the whole classroom suddenly became dark. In the darkness, Su Dechao still asked the student who raised his hand to speak, and said, everyone would discuss for half an hour, and if there was no call, get out of class would be terminated in half an hour. A student turned on the flashlight function of his mobile phone and shone it on the podium. Su Dechao smiled and said, "I'm already shining enough."

They waited for the call, but it was already two hours later. During these two hours, more than 100 young people and a professor had been discussing metaphysics in the dark, and no one left. After class, the students walked out and found that the entire teaching building was empty, and only their classroom seemed to have no power outage.

This class that was in the dark was later included in the graduation song of the 2018 graduates of Wuhan University - the dialogue on philosophy of the night, and a lighthouse rose in his eyes.

Time goes back to 2013, Su Dechao, a professor at the School of Philosophy at Wuhan University, was preparing to offer an elected course on campus to teach metaphysics for various majors. Other teachers in the college found it a bit incredible - philosophy is already "cold" enough, and metaphysics can be called an unpopular among the unpopular, and it is not easy to win students.

. The fact is that in the Wuhan University students evaluate teachers, in the system of more than half of the semesters in the past few years, students have given Teacher Su high scores of more than 99 points. This does not include the many students standing in the classroom and voting with their feet.

An unpopular class, how did Su Dechao "heat" it?

"Metaphysics is relatively abstract. If you want to tell the students, you must have an ‘interface’. That is to say, you have to be ‘user-friendly’ and have to make the interface well. Once the interface is done and the ‘users’ are attracted, you will start selling metaphysics." Su Dechao "revealed the secret".

For Su Dechao, the "interface" that attracts students is to ask all kinds of questions that sound funny at first glance and are very profound when you think about it carefully. For example, the paradox of Theseus warships - the wooden boards and parts on the Theseus warships are gradually replaced. When all the wooden boards and parts are replaced, is Theseus warships still the original warship? If the replaced wooden boards are reassembled, which one will be the original one? The question raised by

is like litting a fire. The students start to speak, and the speech gradually becomes discussion, argument, and debate.Su Dechao grasped the heat, or "the fire turned into a small fire", commented and corrected; or "the fire turned into a large fire", igniting a new climax.

stimulates confrontation and often helps Su Dechao find the "boiling point" in the classroom. "Everyone is limited, and confrontation is a good way of communication. You won't know each other without fighting. Confrontation is also an emotional investment, which allows students to 'not change the channels' in class,'" said Su Dechao.

Su Dechao, who once served as the instructor of the debate team, often emphasizes to students that "present facts and reason" rather than "giving examples and feeling". "Presenting facts is not the same as giving examples, because the lonely evidence cannot support a complete argumentation process; reasoning is not about feeling, and there must be reasonable support behind the views." Su Dechao believes that universities cultivate thinkers with critical thinking, rather than opinion leaders who are good at inciting emotions.

Most of the time, Su Dechao plays the role of listeners in the student discussion session. "What I want to do is to guide the students occasionally, let them 'go down the current' and swim to the ocean of philosophy without realizing it." After a fierce discussion, Su Dechao would tell the students who spoke just now that what you are talking about is actually the view of a certain school of so-called schools, and what he is talking about is actually the view of a certain school of so-called schools, and these schools have really debated this issue in the history of philosophy. When students hear the teacher say this, they are often very happy and feel that they can think of themselves with philosophers, and metaphysics is not so "vague".

Usually after the bell rang, a group of students gathered on the podium, surrounded Su Dechao in the middle, and discussed for thirty or forty minutes. When the lights of the teaching building are all gone, the students hugged the teacher and walked a long way on campus, with metaphysics in their mouths and vast night above their heads.

Su Dechao's courses are sought after by students. After class, Su Dechao was submerged among the students who came to discuss the problem.

Open your mind "To the boundary of imagination"

From each class to the last exam questions, Su Dechao seemed to be wielding an invisible magic wand, making everyone's minds open again and again. "The fundamental reason for my class is that metaphysics can make people have a big brain-opening, much bigger than science fiction novels, and reaching the boundary of imagination."

In fact, before Su Dechao became popular, the final exam questions he gave were already "traffic big names".

Last semester, the final exam questions of Su Dechao were like this "style": in the 22nd century, all humans immigrated to Proxima Centauri. After thousands of years of reproduction, the symptoms of "incompatibility with the environment" of human beings became more and more intense, so he sent historian "you" to return to the earth to obtain his hometown. "You" returned to Earth and saw that the intelligent robots were still performing their duties faithfully and in an orderly manner. They had emotional changes and even had lifespans. They worked, studied, and lived like humans. In the library of humanoid robots, "you" see their mathematics and physics, which is almost the same as the human level of Proxima B. The question is - what will "you" see in the philosophy magazine of humanoid robots?

This test question has attracted more than 240,000 onlookers in the Zhihu community.

is more than just this exam question. From the original hazy love micro-fiction to the injured case of stray dogs in Hedong District, Tianjin, from "Can Alpha Dogs Play Go?" to "How to evaluate Yale University dead brain resurrection experiment" - "Teacher Su's exam questions", it has become a scene for students to be both curious and worried about "being crushed", and has also become a hot search on the Internet. "The mind is very open" is like the label of the Su-Dechao exam questions.

"Metaphysics is very 'minded' because metaphysics challenges many basic concepts in daily life," said Su Dechao.

For example, the paradox of Theseus warship mentioned above is essentially exploring the issue of identity of things. This is not a small problem - "If today's me and yesterday's me are not the same me, then I have taught a class for a year, who should I give to the year-end bonus?" Su Dechao gave a realistic example.

Su Dechao admits that his courses and exam questions are difficult. "If you don't have the Great Wall, you are not a hero, and if you don't learn metaphysical things, you will be in vain to learn philosophy."He said that metaphysics contains a lot of logical reasoning and requires very intensive thought experiments. It is closer to mathematics in many aspects.

Su Dechao sets his teaching objectives to challenge IQ, stimulate imagination, and sharpen feelings. In class, he has to lead students to conduct long and coherent logical reasoning. If anyone is absent in the middle, he may not be able to keep up with it. He throws out brain-opening questions to students, which also attracts brain-opening answers to students, encouraging students to think about what others dare not think or imagine. He emphasizes the importance of sharpening feelings to cultural identity and analyzes why Chinese humor is difficult to make Americans laugh.

and the final exam every Every heated discussion also contains the discussions that have not been completed in the course teaching, and it also carries Su Dechao's hope: when the course is over, students will not stop thinking about metaphysical issues. In fact, every time Su Dechao's test questions are announced, students can't help but publish them to the Internet. Many graduates, even netizens who have not taken Su Dechao's class, will also give Su Dechao the answers.

From each class to the last exam questions, Su Dechao seemed to be wielding an invisible magic wand, making everyone's minds open and open. "The fundamental reason for my class is that metaphysics can make people's minds open to a big mind, much bigger than science fiction novels, and reach the boundary of imagination. "Su Dechao summarized the reasons why he was sought after by students and insisted on humbly waving his magic wand.

"red" often comes to the students' hearts, saying that he wants to "package him as an internet celebrity". But he smiled and laughed and laughed at himself that "there is no Internet celebrity condition in image." However, the evaluations of the students made Su Dechao's "red" famous and enduring

. The bookcases in Su Dechao's office were filled with books on philosophy, psychology, cognitive science, physics, mathematics, law, etc., as well as some religious classics. On the desk, there were English papers being read.

" When I was in college, I liked to read all the books I couldn't understand, and I liked the writers Ge Fei and Canxue. Now, I like to read and understand things. "Su Dechao said. In addition to the

class, this professor lives a dull and fulfilling life. He will accompany his daughter to watch movies and discuss plots. In addition to paying attention to academic public accounts such as philosophy, mathematics, and physics, he also pays attention to history, classical music, and non-fiction writing public accounts.

often comes to him, saying that he wants to "package him as an internet celebrity". He always laughs and laughs at himself, "there is no internet celebrity in image."

self-mockery is his self-awakening: "Compared to 'net celebrity', I would rather be a 'school celebrity' and be a popular teacher on campus. "In Su Dechao's view, "Internet celebrity" is often a performative and pleasing audiences, while "School celebrity" is based on academics and has serious content. Even if it is telling jokes, the "School celebrity" meme must be in academics.

"Most of the 'Internet celebrity' courses nowadays, what interests everyone is not academic, but about academics. After all, it is the change of form of mass entertainment, not the new packaging of academic content. "Su Dechao put away his smile and said seriously.

The evaluation of the students of the first session made Su Dechao's "red" famous and lasting.

Some students called him a "candlelight instructor", and his class was "the light of rationality for many people every week".

Some students said, "Teacher Su is a mirror. In the mirror, you can see a more real self. He is a kind of guidance, but in the end it is your own who changes you. "

Some students commented on him as "famous at the seven middle schools in China", some students complained that his class "had not selected it for four years, and unfortunately graduated", and some students put their overseas trip for his class, "I will stay here to finish the class."

does not admire "Internet celebrities", and is committed to "school red", and "red" is in the hearts of students of all classes.

Su Dechao's student, Li Yingdi, a student of the School of Journalism and Communication who has experienced the "power outage", wrote an article on Su Dechao's metaphysics class as the theme, and won the second prize in the competition.

The end of the long article talks about the classmate Li Shuren's after-class thoughts after teaching Professor Su: he was so positive and happy that he had never felt that he had been looking forward to this for a long time, and felt familiar and familiar.

Li Shuren especially remembered a poem that Professor Su read in class, Jacques Prevel's "In the Park":

"For a thousand years and ten thousand years, it is hard to tell the eternity of this moment. You kissed me, I kissed you. In the early morning of the winter, in Monsulli Park, the park is in Paris, Paris is a city on the earth, and the earth is a star in the sky."

At the end of the article, Li Yingdi wrote about Li Shuren: "For her long life, this course is probably the kiss in "In the Park"."

Su Dechao's philosophy class

Question: Is the soul chicken soup nutritious?

Answer: People feel that they are particularly weak in their hearts, and often hope that a voice will jump out and say "right". If this "right" comes from the mouth of a celebrity, or is a popular statement on the Internet, you will be greatly comforted and feel that you stand with most people and you will become powerful. The "good" chicken soup is often because you needed it at that time, not because it was right. However, if you believe in spiritual chicken soup on the one hand and dialectics on the other hand, you can also gain strength from spiritual chicken soup, which is great.

Question: Will rational people be boring?

Answer: Rational people usually regard things as a problem. If a rational person regards getting along with others as part of the problem he wants to think about, he will not be bored and will not "know chat". Whether a rational person is interesting depends on what he uses reason. This is very related to emotional intelligence . It is hard to imagine a person with high emotional intelligence being irrational. It is unreasonable and only by acting cute and coquettish, it is a pet.

Question: Is emotional intelligence the most important for people?

Answer: Emotional intelligence is important, but emotional intelligence alone is not enough, because the world is too rich, and individuals are limited, such as IQ, reverse quotient, idiom (willpower quotient), etc. People should understand their own finiteness. Individuals are only a part of human beings, human beings are just a link of nature, and the earth is just a speck of dust in the universe. When you realize this, you will be more open-minded.

Question: Will rational people still fall into various troubles?

Answer: Aristotle said that humans are rational animals. Even though humans are rational, the animal side is hard to resist and is deeply rooted. Just like the monkey in the movie "Crazy Alien", when you tempt it with a banana, even if it wears an "energy ring" on its head, it will throw away its armor and instantly return to its monkey's nature. This also explains why people are moved and emotionally out of control. These are all the animal side of humans. Animality is a very cute side of human nature. A life without reason is not worth living. Then it becomes AI, and individuals are the same, so it’s nothing if one me or the other is destroyed.

Question: How to cultivate children’s rationality?

Answer: It’s simple. When a child expresses himself, don’t interrupt him and let the child express himself completely. And often ask "why" to help children sort out the causal relationship. This is how I trained my daughter. She did a rational scale test this year, with a rationality degree of 88%. I have also done this test and my rationality is 92%.

Question: How important is going to a good school for children?

Answer: What is more important than a good school is that children receive the most appropriate training. Take my daughter as an example. My daughter attended the Olympiad class when she was in junior high school. The teacher said that if the child wants to get a ranking in the Olympiad competition, he must do the questions at least four times. However, which mathematician’s way of thinking is the same as the problem-solving method taught by primary school Olympiad teachers? Mathematicians are not doing exercises, but solving problems. It is obviously more important to cultivate children to think and solve problems like mathematicians and gain happiness from this process. Of course, good schools and good teachers are very important, but if the child is rejected by a good school, it is also the child who rejects that school, because that school may really not be suitable for him.Don’t rely too much on a good school. Find the one that suits your children best, as they will develop well.

Question: Why did some great scientists in history study some philosophical issues at the same time?

Answer: Philosopher Shirik once said that great scientists are always philosophers. Why do you say so? Because great scientists often change our view of fundamental problems. For example, Einstein changed our view of time and space through general relativity. Metaphysics, as "philosophy in philosophy", studies basic concepts including time and space. The world we see does not constitute facts themselves. To make it a fact, we need concepts to cut it, and concepts to cut it requires concepts. Not only great scientists, but also great thinkers such as Marx and Engels, have also changed our concepts and our views on human society.

Question: Why did Sun Tzu's Art of War surpass civilization and become popular all over the world?

Answer: "The Art of War" solves more human animal dilemmas, such as human suspicion, insecurity and self-interest. "The Art of War" is a tool, and tools are all common, and all civilizations can understand and require them. Many civilizations can give birth to "The Art of War" and the like, but only the soil of Chinese civilization has nurtured the way of Confucius, Mencius and Zhuang Zen. This is where Chinese civilization is the unique cultural concept of Chinese people.

Question: What familiar idioms are illogical?

Answer: For example, "Money is like dirt, benevolence and righteousness are worth a thousand gold." Deriving purely by literal meaning, benevolence and righteousness are equal to a thousand parts of "dirty". However, the concepts of "money" and "finals" here are inconsistent and cannot be recursive, so that the logical contradiction can be resolved. Some of the idioms are "thinking carefully and mistakenly", and the main problem is that it is an isolated evidence or a personal experience. However, it should also be seen that logic is divided into ranks and hierarchies. If we add dialectics and look at it, the idioms will be valid and will not be one-sided.

Question: Why do you still not live a good life after understanding so many principles?

Answer: First, you may not understand the real truth. Second, the truth you understand is not the most important truth. For example, if you only know math principles, no matter how much you know, you may not be able to find a girlfriend. Third, you don’t really understand the principle of making you fall.

Question: Can you use the power of philosophy to prevent yourself from being angry?

Answer: A classmate once told me that he queued up to buy train tickets during the Spring Festival travel rush. When he encountered someone who went to the line, he was so angry that he wanted to become Spider-Man. Becoming Spider-Man to solve problems is essentially the power of physical strength to solve problems. But in fact, the strength of physical power cannot solve the problem, and even the problem cannot be seen. Because what makes us see the problem is our concept. It's raining, is this a problem? If your clothes are hung outside, it may be a problem to rain; but if you think it doesn't matter if your clothes are wet, it may be a problem to rain. Metaphysics' discussion and definition of basic concepts can dramatically change our view of the world. Although human physical power is strong and weak, what really distinguishes one person from another is concept. When a person grows up and becomes stronger, we will feel that he is still him. If his views have changed significantly, we will feel that this person is not very similar to the person before. Concepts make our lives more worthwhile or less worthwhile. It is the concept that causes the difference, not the fact that causes the difference. The facts only provide the material that causes the difference. Why is ideological and political education important? This is the reason. It is the concept that makes the Chinese become Chinese, American become American, Earthlings become Earthlings, and non-Earths become non-Earths. Without ideas, these differences disappear, at least not very important to our lives. Back to the question, whether we are angry or not often depends on the facts, but on our opinions. Philosophy can change our emotional state by changing our perspective. A person with good moral cultivation is not so easy to lose control of his emotions because his views are more reasonable and comprehensive.