Annotations on Reading Ai Siqi’s *Methodology of Thought*

(1937)

Methodology of Thought

Chapter One: Methodology and the Methodology of Thought

I. The Method of Changing the World

It is not that there is no faint evolution; there is nothing that is eternally stagnant, I think. p. 3

Mankind’s changing of the world is continuous progress, never halting at the present state; the changing by animals, however, is not like this. Ants and bees always rely solely on their innate abilities to live. [Chapter

II. Worldview and Methodology

Because of development, the varieties increase daily. The things in the world are infinitely diverse and manifold, and all kinds of things each have all kinds of particularities and laws… [p. 9]

Chapter Three: Epistemology and the Methodology of Thought

I. Cognition Is Reflection

Practice is the foundation of human cognition; without practice, there is also no cognition. A person who stays shut up in a room enjoying comfort all year long, compared with one who has tasted the “leaps” and endured countless hardships, has a far poorer understanding of society. Simply reading a chemistry book for a year is not as good as working properly in the laboratory for a month. Cognition is not merely objective reflection; subjective activity also plays a great role in this reflection. [p. 42]