This book is mainly concerned with elaborating an account of the unique theoretical essence and activities of philosophy. What manner of civilization should modern humans forge? On what developmental path should a nation embark? What lifestyle should each individual choose? These are the most fundamental issues of our time. Profoundly implicit in the choices outlined above is a deeper question: What are the criteria of choice? An examination of these criteria is a reflection on the premises constituting thought, or a critique of the premises underlying thought. Using a "critique of the premises underlying thought" as the basic idea and hermeneutic principle in philosophy will open a wider theoretical space for contemporary philosophy so as to avoid the predicament of being "pseudo-scientific" or "pseudo-artistic." It will also present contemporary philosophy with a realistic path of development for the task of reflecting on the criteria of choice. This book seeks to formulate concrete philosophical arguments for a critique of the basic beliefs, logic, modes, concepts, and philosophical ideas which constitute thought, with the aim of demonstrating the vigorous self-critique and inexhaustible theoretical space found in philosophical development. This book provides a new principle of interpretation for understanding philosophy and, in turn, uses this principle to develop a critique of the premises underlying thought, thereby furthering the contemporary development of philosophy. This book encompasses a critique of the premises underlying thought, which mainly includes the basic beliefs, logic, modes, concepts, and philosophical ideas constituting thought. Such a critique should comprise five aspects: First, the basic beliefs constituting thought propose a critique of the identity of thought and being; second, the basic logic constituting thought refers to a critique of the formal, intensional, and practical logic of thought; third, the basic modes constituting thought denote a critique of the basic modes by which humans comprehend the world, including commonsense, religion, art, and science; fourth, the basic concepts constituting thought entail a critique centering on being, the world, history, truth, value, and other basic concepts; and finally, the philosophical ideas constituting thought indicate a critique of philosophy itself. A critique aligned on these five aspects will provide a general philosophical overview of the premise critique of thought.

The Olympic torch relay held before the 2008 Games was the moment when East met West on the media stage. This book analyses the torch relay and its representation, offering a discursive construction of Olympic ideology by and through the media in both East and West. The author argues that the discourse used by the media in different social contexts reflected the diversity of ideologies and cultural values with which the Olympic flame was imbued. A corpus-based Discourse-Historical Approach in Critical Discourse Analysis (DHA-CDA) is applied to media discourse in the United Kingdom and in China to examine the complexity, contradiction and conflicts in linguistic interpretations of Olympic ideology. Corpora drawn from the China Daily, BBC News and The Guardian are described, interpreted in their linguistic contexts, and then explained in terms of the broader historical and socio-political contexts surrounding the dynamic life of the Olympic torch relay. This unique study sheds light on the significance of the Olympic Games for East-West media discourse and analysis.

Metamaterials: Beyond Crystals, Noncrystals, and Quasicrystals is a comprehensive and updated research monograph that focuses on recent advances in metamaterials based on the effective medium theory in microwave frequencies. Most of these procedures were conducted in the State Key Laboratory of Millimeter Waves, Southeast University, China. The book conveys the essential concept of metamaterials from the microcosmic structure to the macroscopic electromagnetic properties and helps readers quickly obtain needed skills in creating new devices at microwave frequencies using metamaterials. The authors present the latest progress on metamaterials and transformation optics and provide abundant examples of metamaterial-based devices accompanied with detailed procedures to simulate, fabricate, and measure them. Comprised of ten chapters, the book comprehensively covers both the fundamentals and the applications of metamaterials. Along with an introduction to the subject, the first three chapters discuss effective medium theory and artificial particles. The next three chapters cover homogeneous metamaterials (super crystals), random metamaterials (super noncrystals), and inhomogeneous metamaterials (super quasicrystals). The final four chapters examine gradient-index inhomogeneous metamaterials, nearly isotropic inhomogeneous metamaterials, and anisotropic inhomogeneous metamaterials, after which the authors provide their conclusions and closing remarks. The book is completely self-contained, making it easy to follow.

Chinese traditions of Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism have a profoundly philosophical dimension. The three traditions are frequently referred to as three paths of moral teachings. In this book, Mou provides a clear account of the textual corpus that emerges to define each of these traditions and how this canonical axis was augmented by a continuing commentarial tradition as each generation reauthorized the written core for their own time and place.   In his careful exegesis, Mou lays out the differences between the more religious reading of these traditions with their defining practices that punctuate the human journey through life, and the more intellectual and philosophical treatment of the texts that has and continues to produce a first-order culture of annotation that become integral to the traditions themselves.   At the center of the alternative religious experience reflected throughout the teachings of Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism is the project of personal cultivation as it comes to be expressed as robust growth in family and communal relations. For Mou, these three highly distinctive and yet complementary ways of thinking and living constitute a kind of moral ecology, wherein each of them complements the others as they stand in service to a different dimension of the human need for an educated spirituality.

This book is mainly concerned with elaborating an account of the unique theoretical essence and activities of philosophy. What manner of civilization should modern humans forge? On what developmental path should a nation embark? What lifestyle should each individual choose? These are the most fundamental issues of our time. Profoundly implicit in the choices outlined above is a deeper question: What are the criteria of choice? An examination of these criteria is a reflection on the premises constituting thought, or a critique of the premises underlying thought. Using a "critique of the premises underlying thought" as the basic idea and hermeneutic principle in philosophy will open a wider theoretical space for contemporary philosophy so as to avoid the predicament of being "pseudo-scientific" or "pseudo-artistic." It will also present contemporary philosophy with a realistic path of development for the task of reflecting on the criteria of choice. This book seeks to formulate concrete philosophical arguments for a critique of the basic beliefs, logic, modes, concepts, and philosophical ideas which constitute thought, with the aim of demonstrating the vigorous self-critique and inexhaustible theoretical space found in philosophical development. This book provides a new principle of interpretation for understanding philosophy and, in turn, uses this principle to develop a critique of the premises underlying thought, thereby furthering the contemporary development of philosophy. This book encompasses a critique of the premises underlying thought, which mainly includes the basic beliefs, logic, modes, concepts, and philosophical ideas constituting thought. Such a critique should comprise five aspects: First, the basic beliefs constituting thought propose a critique of the identity of thought and being; second, the basic logic constituting thought refers to a critique of the formal, intensional, and practical logic of thought; third, the basic modes constituting thought denote a critique of the basic modes by which humans comprehend the world, including commonsense, religion, art, and science; fourth, the basic concepts constituting thought entail a critique centering on being, the world, history, truth, value, and other basic concepts; and finally, the philosophical ideas constituting thought indicate a critique of philosophy itself. A critique aligned on these five aspects will provide a general philosophical overview of the premise critique of thought.

Metamaterials: Beyond Crystals, Noncrystals, and Quasicrystals is a comprehensive and updated research monograph that focuses on recent advances in metamaterials based on the effective medium theory in microwave frequencies. Most of these procedures were conducted in the State Key Laboratory of Millimeter Waves, Southeast University, China. The book conveys the essential concept of metamaterials from the microcosmic structure to the macroscopic electromagnetic properties and helps readers quickly obtain needed skills in creating new devices at microwave frequencies using metamaterials. The authors present the latest progress on metamaterials and transformation optics and provide abundant examples of metamaterial-based devices accompanied with detailed procedures to simulate, fabricate, and measure them. Comprised of ten chapters, the book comprehensively covers both the fundamentals and the applications of metamaterials. Along with an introduction to the subject, the first three chapters discuss effective medium theory and artificial particles. The next three chapters cover homogeneous metamaterials (super crystals), random metamaterials (super noncrystals), and inhomogeneous metamaterials (super quasicrystals). The final four chapters examine gradient-index inhomogeneous metamaterials, nearly isotropic inhomogeneous metamaterials, and anisotropic inhomogeneous metamaterials, after which the authors provide their conclusions and closing remarks. The book is completely self-contained, making it easy to follow.