Restart life

Chapter 411 0401 [Thesis Defense]

After Chen Guiliang finished his phone call and returned to the classroom, two more judges arrived for the defense.

After a little while, all the teachers finally arrived.

There are four in total.

Three philosophy professors and one sociology professor.

Today's session is the philosophy department's dissertation defense. An external committee member invited a sociology professor, which both meets the requirements and is specifically aimed at Chen Guiliang's dissertation.

Soon, the first student took the stage.

"Good morning, judges and fellow students. My paper is titled 'Fear and Nothingness: A Comparative Study of the Paths to 'Authentic Being' in Heidegger and Taoism.' This paper attempts to compare Heidegger's path to authentic being in *Being and Time*, through the experience of facing death and fear, with Taoist thought, especially Zhuangzi's practice of dissolving subjectivity and merging into the state of nothingness through practices such as fasting of the mind, sitting in oblivion, and the equality of all things..."

The chair of the defense was Professor Chen, who teaches the history of Western philosophy: "Your choice of topic is very courageous. Comparative philosophy is quite difficult. My question is very direct: how do you avoid this comparison from becoming a mere analogy? Heigl's existence and Laozi and Zhuangzi's Dao, Heigl's fear and Zhuangzi's sitting in oblivion, are concepts that arise from completely different cultures, languages, and problem consciousness..."

The student was a little nervous and stammered at first, but gradually became more fluent: "Thank you for the reminder, Professor Chen. I understand your concerns. I tried not to directly compare the concepts, but rather to compare the problems they face. They all face the predicament of people being obscured by the mundane and a state of decadence..."

Chen Guiliang listened from below and thought this classmate was pretty impressive.

Or rather, at that time, Peking University's philosophy department was quite impressive. It was the best in Asia and among the world's best.

Most of the students in the philosophy department were assigned there by other departments.

However, some exceptional individuals actively choose to major in philosophy. These individuals are generally very talented and often take a large number of non-philosophy courses.

Chen Guiliang listened in for about 40 minutes before it was finally his turn to speak.

"Good morning, judges. My name is Chen Guiliang. The title of my paper is 'The Paradox of Modernity: Subjective Alienation and Population Reproduction Crisis in Industrial Civilization—An Interdisciplinary Study Based on Weber's Theory of Rationalization and the Theory of the Second Population Transition'..."

The four judges exchanged glances and winked. Although they didn't intend to deliberately make things difficult for Chen Guiliang, they still wanted to know his true level.

Because Chen Guiliang was busy managing the company for a long time, he had no time to attend classes or read books.

What if this paper was ghostwritten?
Or perhaps, his two thesis advisors were feeding him.

I definitely have to pass, and this is also a test.

Professor Chen said, "Student Chen, your paper has a very broad vision, and it has ambitiously integrated the theories of Weber, Habermas, and Foucault with empirical demography. My question goes back to the fundamentals of philosophy, namely the definition of concepts."

"Throughout your essay, you use the core concept of alienation of subjectivity. In the Hegelian-Marxist tradition, alienation refers to the separation of the subject from its species-essence. In your argument, what exactly has modern man alienated from his reproductive essence?"

Are you implying the existence of a pre-modern, unalienated, and more authentic state of procreation? If so, how do you define it and avoid falling into a romanticized notion of tradition?

That's a really sharp question!

Chen Guiliang took a deep breath: "Thank you, Professor Chen, for this very profound question. You have accurately pointed out a core philosophical challenge that my thesis must face. My answer will unfold on three levels: First, clarify the lineage of the concept of 'alienation' that I use; second, explain what exactly the 'essence of procreation' that I am referring to is; and third, respond to criticisms about the premodern 'authentic state'."

"First, I must admit that the concept of alienation in my paper is more theoretically grounded in Max Weber's theory of rationalization than in the classical Hegelian-Marxist theory of alienated labor. In the Hegelian-Marxist tradition..."

"Therefore, the alienation I'm referring to is more accurately described as the separation of reproductive behavior from its inherent, human-based value rationality, and its systematic colonization by the logic of instrumental rationality. This is an alienation of meaning, not an alienation of the product of labor..."

It took Chen Guiliang a full four minutes to answer this question.

No one found it boring or a waste of time, including the other philosophy students present; they all listened to Chen Guiliang's explanation with great interest.

They used to think Chen Guiliang was great at business, and subconsciously assumed he was just messing around in school.

It's only now that I realize Chen Guiliang actually studied philosophy seriously.

In fact, Chen Guiliang had always enjoyed reading books before his rebirth. However, he had just been flipping through them randomly without any systematic approach. It was only after attending Peking University in this life that he began to organize and process the books he had read before.

The sociology professor who had come specifically for this interview asked, “You cleverly used the trilemma model of international economics to construct your core argument, which is very creative. However, models are meant to simplify reality for easier understanding. Please defend your model: Are there any counterexamples in reality, i.e., are there societies that simultaneously achieve economic prosperity, individual freedom, and high birth rates to a certain extent? If so, your model needs to be revised…”

Chen Guiliang retorted, "Why do I need to give examples to prove I'm wrong? If the teacher has any objections, please provide counterexamples."

"Ha ha!"

A few students chuckled softly.

The professor thought for a moment and said, "North America. The United States and Canada are two countries with prosperous economies, high personal freedoms, and whose birth rates haven't declined in the last 20 years." Chen Guiliang smiled and said, "The stable birth rates in the United States and Canada are thanks to new immigrants. This professor probably hasn't read my paper in detail; actually, it's already discussed in the paper. The changes in North America's birth rate are one of the empirical arguments in that paper..."

“Take the United States as an example. The current birth rate in the United States is comparable to that in 1990, but there was a period of low birth rate in between. And that period of low birth rate in the United States happened to coincide with the Clinton Prosperity, when the US economy was at its strongest. The more prosperous the US economy, the lower the birth rate. And vice versa.”

"However, specific situations require specific analysis. I believe that over the next ten years, regardless of whether the US economy prospers or not, the birth rate will gradually decline. I used official US statistics, and in the past three years, the birth rate of native-born Americans has decreased by 6%, but the birth rate of foreign-born immigrants has decreased by 14%. What does this mean? It means that new immigrants to the US don't want to have children anymore!"

"The birth rate among new immigrants has plummeted. First, their living conditions are becoming increasingly harsh. Second, the number of female immigrants, especially Latin American women, is decreasing, as the majority of immigrants from Latin America to the United States are men. Many of them will never be able to marry and have children."

After listening, the professor nodded and said, "Thank you for your answer. I have no further questions."

All the students present who participated in the thesis defense were philosophy majors.

They had never paid attention to this before, and when Chen Guiliang said it, they all felt it was very bizarre, even a bit counterintuitive.

Several students were still recording videos on their phones.

Strictly speaking, recording videos is a violation of discipline.

However, there were no explicit regulations in 2009, and cell phones were not required to be handed in. Simply switching to airplane mode to prevent ringtones and vibrations from interfering with the defense was sufficient.

Then, they asked three more questions, but they were clearly still not satisfied.

The sociology professor said, "In your 'four-dimensional squeeze' model, you mentioned that 'housing cost inflation' is a core squeeze factor and cited CGSS data. Please explain in detail how you used CGSS data to manipulate the variable 'housing cost pressure'? Did you use the housing expenditure-to-income ratio, the house price-to-income ratio, or a subjective perception indicator? How did you ensure collinearity between this variable and another variable in your model, 'the education arms race'...?"

The other students were speechless. This was already the seventh question, and that didn't even include follow-up questions.

The number of questions asked far exceeded the number asked in a normal defense.

Deliberately making things difficult?

Do not!
The professors were very interested in this paper.

Chen Guiliang's paper is absolutely qualified to be rated as excellent based on its quality.

Even if used directly as a master's thesis, it would be an outstanding work.

Chen Guiliang was asked eight questions in total before the judges finally agreed to let him leave.

When he walked out of the classroom, many classmates gave him a thumbs up.

call!
As he stepped into the corridor, Chen Guiliang exhaled a breath of stale air.

Damn, this is as nerve-wracking as an IPO roadshow. Luckily, I prepared thoroughly beforehand, otherwise I really wouldn't have been able to handle the questions from those judges.

However, if Chen Guiliang performs poorly on the first question, the judges will not do this and will definitely ask some simpler questions to help him pass smoothly.

The more brilliant Chen Guiliang's answers were, the more insightful and incisive the judges' questions became.

Riding his bicycle, Chen Guiliang arrived at Dean Zhu's office.

"Is the defense over?" Dean Zhu asked.

Chen Guiliang tossed over an unopened box of cigarettes: "Finally, I can graduate. To be honest, I'm a little reluctant to leave."

Dean Zhu laughed and said, "I haven't seen you for half a year. Apart from coming to the library to look up information, you haven't even stepped onto campus. What makes you so reluctant to leave?"

"I'm so reluctant to leave university life. Once I get my diploma, I'll be a full-fledged member of the working world," Chen Guiliang said with emotion. "People always resist growing up. I especially miss high school. I wish I could have spent a few more years in high school."

Dean Zhu laughed and said, "Then go choose a high school and retake the college entrance exam. I'm sure all the top high schools in the country will be vying for you."

“What’s the point of going to high school now? The classmates are all different,” Chen Guiliang said.

Dean Zhu said, "Just wait to attend the graduation ceremony, and while you're at it, prepare your speech as a graduate representative. You can write whatever you want this time; no one will review your speech."

Chen Guiliang had already prepared the clothes.

What's the significance of Guo Feng and the others wearing traditional Chinese graduation gowns?
Chen Guiliang plans to wear a custom-made flying fish suit to graduation.

(End of this chapter)