Just as philosophy of technology has distinctive origins in Europe and in the United States, so too in China. Here we aim to give an introductory narrative account of Chinese origins for English language readers, anchored in the lives and thought of Chen Changshu 陈昌曙 and Yuan Deyu 远德玉, two leading influences on what is sometimes been called the “Northeastern School” in the philosophy of technology. A general introduction to this school is developed through a narrative account of Chen’s and (...) Yuan’s interactive lives and work in historical context followed by appreciations of their philosophical achievements, most particularly Chen’s 1999 _Jishu zhexue yin lun_ 技术哲学引论 [Introduction to philosophy of technology] and two Yuan interviews from 2018 and 2022. Our claim is that Chen and Yuan were much earlier paying attention to the empirical experience of engineers than Western counterparts who later started the “empirical turn” movement and that their originary contributions are pertinent for anyone in the West who desires to engage with Chinese thinking about engineering and technology, if not in fact to the placing of Western philosophy of technology in a more global perspective. (shrink)

An engineering colleague and collaborator of Chen Changshu, who has been called the founder of contemporary Chinese philosophy of technology, Yuan Deyu recalls early efforts to develop philosophy of technology that took place at Harbin Institute of Technology in the 1960s. Case studies based in the idea of learning from workers and frameworks adapted from Japanese theory of technology scholarship constituted the original philosophy of technology in contemporary China. The importance of this work is largely unknown in the West and (...) even among Chinese scholars born after the Cultural Revolution. Against this background, Yuan questions many of the ways Chinese philosophers have tried to adapt or relate to Western studies in philosophy and technology. (shrink)

The supply network becomes more fragile as it becomes more complex, affecting the core firm’s performance. While previous research on supply network complexity existence paradox. Therefore, to study the nature of supply network complexity, this paper divides the supply chain complexity utility into positive and negative valences based on the valence framework and divides supply chain complexity into supply base complexity, customer base complexity, and logistics base complexity. Based on the trustworthiness and transparency characteristics of blockchain technology, this paper investigates (...) how to use blockchain technology to reduce the negative valence of supply chain complexity while adapting to or improving the positive valence to improve enterprise competitiveness and supply chain sustainability. As a result, the focus of this paper is on how to better manage supply chain complexity using blockchain technologies to increase supply chain sustainability and viability. (shrink)

Under the influence of natural science, twentieth century philosophy departed from its Socratic heritage and increasingly isolated itself within the discipline. This new disciplinary way of doing p...

Objective: To assess the overall mortality of methadone maintenance treatment clients in China and its associated factors. Methods: A total of 1,511 MMT clients, all of whom enrolled in China's first eight MMT clinics between March and December 2004, were included in this cohort study and followed for approximately six years, until June 2010. Mortality and its predictors were examined using Cox proportional hazards regression models. Results: A total of 154 deaths were observed within 5,391 person-years of follow-up for an (...) all-cause mortality rate of 28.6 per 1,000 PY. The leading causes of death were drug overdose, HIV/AIDS-unrelated disease, and HIV/AIDS. The all-cause mortality rate of clients engaged in MMT for one year or less was roughly three times that of clients who stayed in MMT for four years or more, HIV-positive subjects was nearly four times mortality rate than that of HIV-negative individuals. ART-naive HIV-positive subjects had approximately two times higher mortality rate than those receiving ART. After adjusting for confounding variables, we found that being male and being HIV-positive were both associated with higher risk of death whereas increased durations of methadone treatment were associated with a lower risk of death. Conclusion: Overall mortality was high among MMT clients in China. Specific interventions aimed at decreasing mortality among MMT clients are needed. Our study supports the need for keeping client at MMT longer and for expanding ART coverage and suggests the potential benefits of integrated MMT and ART services for drug users in China. © 2013 Cao et al. (shrink)

Drawing on the conservation of resource theory, we theorized and tested a serial mediation model linking empowering leadership with employee radical creativity through job control and willingness to take risks. We tested our hypotheses using data collected from a time-lagged and multisource survey of 385 employees in 84 research and development teams from 20 different companies. The results demonstrated that empowering leadership had a positive indirect effect on employee radical creativity via job control and willingness to take risks, and the (...) error management climate was found to strengthen this indirect effect. Theoretical and practical implications are also provided in the discussion section. (shrink)