Jos de Mul. Preface. In: Zha Changping. World Relational Aesthetics. A History of Ideas in Pioneering Contemporary Chinese Art. Volume One. Shanghai: Sanlian, 2017, xiv-xvi, xvii-xx.

In 2006, as part of a lecture tour through China, which brought me to cities as different as Urumqi and Shanghai, I also participated in a conference of the International Association of Aesthetics in Chengdu. It was on this occasion that I met Zha Changping for the first time. I was introduced to him by a common friend of us, the Shanghai-based historian Chen Xin. During my stay in Chengdu, Changping and I had several conversations, and I especially remember one hot evening in June, whenwe, together with museum sculptor Zhu Cheng and my wife Gerry, were sitting on a terrace near the Fu river, discussing the state of contemporary art, religion and politics in China and Europe, meanwhile enjoying the delicious Sichuan food and cool beers and watching the joyful play of the little children on the terrace. It was a wonderful evening, to which my memories often return.

Since that first meeting more than ten years have passed, in which Changping and I kept in touch. I followed his publications (unfortunately only being able to read the English ones, as I am not able to read Chinese) and was impressed by his productivity andthe broad scope of his publications, ranging from art criticism and art history – such as the very informative Up-On Chengdu, Somatic Aesthetics and Scene Connection (2013) - to studies in the logic of history, Japanese history, New Testament studies, and a series of translations. What moreover impressed me was his profound familiarity with Western art theories and the creative way he applied them within a Chinese context. Changping proved to be all-round humanities scholar with an inspiring intercultural approach.

Jos de Mul. Human nature after Neo-Darwinism. in: Eidos .A Journal for Philosophy of Culture.Special issue: Is the Category of Human Nature Still Relevant? Vol 1 (2017), 1: 5-17. 

Abstract

In the course of the 20^th century the so-called Modern Synthesis of Neo-Darwinism has become the dominant paradigm in modern biology. First, it is explained how and why Darwin’s broad definition of evolution, in which the environment plays an important role, was narrowed down by Neo-Darwinism to a radical gene-centric view.  Next, the paradigm shift taking place today in ‘postgenomic’ evolutionary biology and genetics is discussed. It is argued that this shift opens the way to a more humane conception of evolution, more in line with Darwin’s view. Finally, I will discuss some of the implications of this paradigm shift for human self-reflection, taking The Music of Life. Biology Beyond Genes of systems biologist Denis Noble as a starting point.

Keywords

Neo-Darwinism, Dennis Noble, gene-centrism, postgenomics, agency, human self-reflection

Jos de Mul. From Yijing to Hypermedia: Some Notes on Computer-mediated Literary Theory and Criticism. In: Peng Feng (ed.), Aesthetics and Contemporary Art. International Yearbook of Aesthetics. Volume 16. Beijing University: 2016, 114-125.

The development and global dissemination of computers - from the mainframe computers in the middle of the 20^th century up to the smart phones that enable us to be online everywhere at any time - has an enormous impact on virtually every domain in human life, including art and literature. In the past decades, we have witnessed the emergence of different kinds of new media, that – among many other things – also have given birth to new art forms and genres, such as computer animations, hypertext, and interactive netart. All these new (that is: computer-mediated) media can be called “hypermedia”, because they share two fundamental characteristics: they are media that are both multimedial and non-linear.

In this contribution I will discuss the impact of hypermedia on literary theory and criticism. More particularly, the question I will focus on in my lecture is: how to write about hypermedia? In what ways do hypermedia affect literary theory and literary criticism. However, when writing about hypermedia, literature can only be a point of departure of our examination. After all, hypermedia are media that absorb and thereby re-mediate the other “old media”, literature included.[1] And this, as I will argue, also applies to literary theory and literary criticism, which at least partly is going to be transformed into hypermedial criticism.

Geert Maarse. Panic in the Polder. Interview with Jos de Mul. Erasmus Today, March 28, 2017.

Panic in the Polder or how the Netherlands can survive populism. Days before the Dutch elections professor Jos de Mul spoke on Erasmus Studio, presenting his book ‘Paniek in de polder’ (Panic in the Polder) in which he analyses the so called fight between ‘the people’ and ‘the elites’. He also explains the popularity of Donald Trump and Geert Wilders among populist voters. The question is: who are these populists? And is our democracy in crisis?

约斯·德·穆尔:《从开放设计到元设计——3D打印数据库本体的冲击》，《社会科学战线》2014年第10期。[Jos de Mul, From open design to metadesign. Social Science Front, no.10, 2014, 248-254]

国外社会科学从开放设计到元设计（metadesign）  ——3D打印数据库本体的冲击

约斯·德·穆尔

（伊拉斯谟大学哲学系，荷兰鹿特丹 3062PA）

摘要：3D打印技术日益成熟并开始为诸多领域所应用，已经并将持续对科学技术和人类生活各个领域产生革命性影响。而3D打印与其他科学技术特别是生物技术一样，毁誉参半，对其是否应该广泛应用争论不下。文章将从3D打印对设计界的影响，特别是对于计算机本体数据库的应用角度分析、阐释该技术的优势及其广泛应用的不可回避性，提醒要重视其负面效应。

关键词：3D打印；元设计；本体数据库

3D打印作为一项备受关注的技术，其令人咋舌的功能在医疗、工业、生活领域内引起的巨大变革已经使我们不得不持续对其关注和思考。3D 技术在法律、监管、社会、政治以及经济模型创新等方面都已经有了不同理论维度的探讨。在这篇文章里，我将不同于以往的讨论，从另外一个角度——设计，特别是开放设计（open design）的角度来讨论3D打印的问题。

在Fabricated: The New World of 3D Printing[1]这本书中，Lipson和Kurman认为“3D技术是我们设计和制作东西的方式的一场革命”，因为它把一个物体的软件设计和它的实物显示（physical manifestation）之间的关系变得异常紧密。[2]尽管我认为在信息与通讯技术（ICT）世界里，当说起革命一词，我们应该多少有所怀疑，但是，很明显，3D技术在很多领域都有前途，而且，因其开放的特点（至少在一些方面是）而对传统设计实践提出了挑战。

接下来，我将讨论数据库本体（database ontology）的蕴意，这种数据库本体表征着我们当今设计界。我将要强调，为了发展开放设计的积极一面而不落陷阱，设计者不应该轻易放弃作为设计者的活动，而且更应该重新设计这些活动。未来的设计者不得不成为一个数据设计者，一个元设计者，他们不是设计一种客体对象，而是设计一个空间，在这个空间里，没有技巧的使用者可以通过使用者友好界面（user-friendly）设计自己的东西。

3D打印可以看作设计界的一个发展，它使设计行为的重新定义成为必要。2010年阿姆斯特丹重新定义设计大会[3]的宣传词中对开放设计的状况描述道：“设计工业正在经历着根本性的改变。开放设计、可下载的设计和分散的设计使得设计工业民主化，也意味着任何人都可以成为设计者和制造者。”这则消息的潜在意思似乎是说，开放设计，本质上是好的，我们应该发展它。（为了简略，我用open design 这个词来总括之前提到的那些设计界的发展，包括了可下载的、分散的设计以及重组模块使设计变得个性化，并用3D在家里或街角的专业商店打印出来）。尽管我对开放设计（或者任你管它叫什么）总体上持积极的态度，但是我认为还是应该注意这进程中的困难和陷阱，以避免我们会犯那种将孩子和洗澡水一起泼出去的错误。

文章分三个部分。首先我会对开放设计进行一个简要的描述。大部分人对开放设计是熟悉的，但是由于这个概念具有诸多不同的含义，因此容易产生概念混淆，对这些含义谜团进行说明或许是有用的。在论文的这部分，我也会概括一些开放设计将会或者已经遇到的反对意见。

正像“开放运动”（open movement）的其他成员一样，开放设计在很大程度上与个人电脑和互联网紧密相关（我们将会看到，开放运动包括多个运动，比如开放软件资源、开放科学、开放科技等。特别是开放生物学运动，是开放运动中一个很有意思的例子）。由于这个原因，为了能够对开放设计的机遇和陷阱都看得更清楚，我们应该研究一下数字领域（digital domain）的基本特点。因此，在论文第二部分，我会简要描述数据库本体，它是计算机的基础(ABCD of computing)，也是数字领域的基础。

在论文第三部分，我会探讨一些数据库本体对设计界的影响。我将强调，为了发展开放设计的积极方面，而不掉入陷阱，设计者不应该过多放弃作为设计者的活动，而是重新设计这些活动。今后的设计者应当成为数据库设计者，或者说元设计者，他们不设计物品，而是定义设计空间，以便于那些缺乏技巧的用户以简便易行的方式进行设计。

一、开放设计

Jos de Mul. Database Identity. Invited lecture at the Herrenhausen conference Society through the Lens of the Digital. Hannover, May 31-June 2, 2017.

New information and communication technologies are changing the very nature of human identity. In my talk, I will argue that they facilitate a change from narrative to a database identity. Narrative identity is what has traditionally defined people. A narrative identity can be complex, multilayered and dynamic, but it is strung out over a spatio-temporal continuum and has a certain logic and coherence through time. It forms a tissue of stories that makes a person, defining who she is. This narrative identity is being giving way, increasingly, to a database identity. With a database identity a person’s experience, qualities and characteristics all become entries in a database. These can be called up, assembled and re-assembled in never-ending set of combinations. Database identity is a post-modernization of identity. It is a playful pastiche of qualities and characteristics, decoupled from their context of origin and from their role in a person’s history.

Jos de Mul. Théo van Doesburg 2.0. What is Data? In: Mieke Gerritzen et al. From Dada to Data. Breda: Museum of the Image (MOTI), 2016, 23.

théo van doesburg 2.0: What is Data? (Publisher: “No Style” The Hague, 2023).

You will probably be surprised to be hearing something about Data from someone who is innocent of Dataism, from a non- Dataist

Data: the terror of the stock market gurus, of the privacy seeker, the designer, the cultural entrepreneur, the Gutmensch — of everybody?

A subject such as this is perhaps least suitable for a serious lecture, which is not at all what I have in mind.

I will be satisfied if, as an obligation to friends, I can illuminate the Dataistic attitude to life. This seems to me especially important in a country that has been hermetically sealed against any new expression of life since the 60s.

It would indeed be pretentious if I was under the impression that I could make the mystery of Data intellectually intelligible.

Geert Maarse. How can the Netherlands survive populism? Interview with Jos de Mul. Erasmus Magazine. #6 February 2017, 10-14.

The issue. From Trump to Wilders: political populism is making waves across the planet. Philosopher Jos de Mul explains how this came about, what can be done about this trend and which opportunities it presents.

The populist Party for Freedom (PVV) holds a lead in the polls. What’s going on?

“One of the key contributors to the rise of populism is the fact that – despite a large number of new parties – for quite a few years now, voters have had very little to choose between. In a democracy, all segments of the population need to be represented. But at the end of the day, does it really matter whether you vote the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) or Labour (PvdA)? This whole thing started with ‘Purple’ [the socialist-liberal coalition formed by PvdA, VVD, and Democrats 66 and headed by Wim Kok, eds.] and the embracement of the neoliberal model. For part of the Dutch population, the associated globalisation and European unification proved very advantageous: students were able to study everywhere; international trade became a lot easier for companies. But the free movement of persons and goods has also made a lot of casualties – people working in transport or construction, for example. And the same applies for the multicultural society. For some of us, it’s very nice to be able to eat in a Thai or Mexican restaurant and enjoy a novel by Kader Abdolah or Najoua Bijjir. But when you see your old neighbourhood going downhill, are one of the few white people left in your street, and you lose your job to boot, it may be a very different story. At that point, you want someone to stand up and say ‘we’re fed up with this’.”

Bruno Accarino, Jos de Mul und Hans-Peter Krüger (Hrsg.). Internationales Jahrbuch für Philosophische Anthropologie. Band 6 / International Yearbook for Philosophical Anthropology. Volume 6. Thomas Ebke, Sebastian Edinger, Frank Müller und Roman Yos. (Hrsg.). Mensch und Gesellschaft zwischen Natur und Geschichte. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2016, 294 p.

Gegenstand dieses Bandes ist das Wechselverhältnis zweier prägender Traditionen moderner deutscher Philosophie: der Kritischen Theorie und der Philosophischen Anthropologie. Nach Jahrzehnten gegenseitiger Vorbehalte gilt es, Nähe und Differenz dieser philosophischen Richtungen in so grundlegenden Begriffen wie Mensch, Gesellschaft, Natur und Geschichte systematisch zu untersuchen.

This volume explores the interplay between critical theory and philosophical anthropology. After decades of reciprocal misgivings, the time has come to systematically examine the commonalities and differences between these philosophical approaches with respect to such fundamental concepts as the person, society, nature, and history.  

Geert Maarse. Is de parlementaire democratie in crisis? Interview met Jos de Mul. Studio Erasmus. Rotterdamse Schouwburg, 7 maart 2017, 20:00 uur.

Filosoof Jos de Mul presenteert zijn boek ‘Paniek in de Polder: Polytiek in tijden van Populisme’, waarin hij de zogenaamde strijd tussen volk en elite analyseert, het succes van Trump en Wilders verklaart en uitlegt hoe het wél verder moet.