Comrade Chen Boda:
Comments on the Article “On Hypotheses” Published in the Guangming Daily
(October 9, 1961)
This article [2] may be read; please return it to me afterward. Kindly investigate what kind of person the author is and where he is currently located.
Mao Zedong
October 9
Chuan
Chen Boda, at that time a candidate member of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau, editor-in-chief of the journal Red Flag, and Mao Zedong’s secretary.
[2]
Refers to the article “On Hypotheses—A Discussion of the General Characteristics of Hypotheses and Their Formation,” published in the Guangming Daily on October 6, 1961. The article is divided into seven sections: “What Is a Hypothesis?” “Hypotheses as a Form of Scientific Development,” “The Internal Structure of a Hypothesis,” “Hypotheses and Worldview,” “The Steps for Forming a Hypothesis,” “The Origins of Hypotheses,” and “Points to Note in Forming a Hypothesis.” The author, Zhang Juqing, was a lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at Wuhan University.