On the evening of November 8, 2022, Professor Su Hui, professor and doctoral supervisor of Huazhong Normal University and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Foreign Literature Studies, gave a lecture entitled “Scientific Selection in the Post-Ethical Selection Era” to the students and faculty of the College of Foreign Languages of NKU. Before the lecture, Dean Prof. Yan Guodong expressed his warm welcome and gratitude to Prof. Su Hui on behalf of the faculty and students. Nearly 100 students and faculty members listened to the lecture online.
Professor Su Hui pointed out that with the rapid development of artificial intelligence and digital technology, the combination of literary research and science and technology is a major trend, especially in the context of the construction of the new liberal arts, the need for the integration of humanities and science and technology is increasingly prominent, and the study of science fiction literature is of great practical significance at present. Starting from the theory of three stages of human civilization, Prof. Su pointed out that the “post-ethical selection era” is the period of transition from ethical selection to scientific selection. Taking specific works of science fiction literature as examples, Prof. Su reveals that the scientific selection in the “post-ethical selection era” is still the essence of ethical selection. This is not only because the subject of scientific selection is still an ethical person, but also because the imaginative portrayal of scientific selection in science fiction works by serious writers is unfolded in the context of ethical selection. Prof. Su Hui emphasizes the many challenges that scientific selection poses to the subject of ethical selection. Scientific selection not only violates the natural endowment of the subject of ethical selection, but also may constitute a harm to his life and dignity. Faced with a series of challenges brought by scientific selection, Prof. Su believes that human beings should insist on the ethical value of truth and goodness to lead scientific selection and build a multi-winged post-human community with human beings as the main body. This is not only the need for the harmonious development of human-nature-society, but also the inevitable choice as the main body of ethical selection.
Professor Su Hui’s lecture built a bridge between literature and science, and examined the relationship between science and ethics from a new perspective, which is a successful example of interdisciplinary research in the context of the new liberal arts construction, and has greatly inspired the faculty and students. The content of Prof Su’s lecture is also closely related to the destiny of human beings and is a reflection on the rapid development of science and technology at present. This lecture stimulated the interest and thinking of the students and faculty members, and they raised a series of valuable and in-depth questions, which were answered in detail by Professor Su Hui.
In the end, Prof. Liu Ying and Prof. Wang Lidan from the College of Foreign Languages commented on the lecture and highly praised Prof. Su Hui for constructing new theories and exploring new paradigms in the face of new problems, which provided new impetus and vitality for the development and innovation of critical research in literary ethics.
