Decision-making paradoxes

Mandarin paradox

The Mandarin paradox is an ethical parable used to illustrate the difficulty of fulfilling moral obligations when moral punishment is unlikely or impossible, leading to moral disengagement. It has been used to underscore the fragility of ethical standards when moral agents are separated by physical, cultural, or other distance, especially as facilitated by globalization. It was first posed by French writer Chateaubriand in "The Genius of Christianity" (1802): I ask my own heart, I put to myself this question: "If thou couldst by a mere wish kill a fellow-creature in China, and inherit his fortune in Europe, with the supernatural conviction that the fact would never be known, wouldst thou consent to form such a wish?" The paradox is famously used to foreshadow the character development of the arriviste Eugène de Rastignac in Balzac's novel Père Goriot. Rastignac asks Bianchon if he recalls the paradox, to which Bianchon first replies that he is "at [his] thirty-third mandarin," but then states that he would refuse to take an unknown man's life regardless of circumstance. Rastignac wrongly attributes the quote to Jean-Jacques Rousseau, which propagated to later writings. (Wikipedia).

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The Story of Chinese Character : 介

介 depicts a man standing between two walls, which has the meaning of ‘between’.

From playlist The Story of HanZi (Chinese Characters)

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The Story of Chinese Character : 從

從 is composed of the variant of辵(to go towards, which divides into彳 and the variant of止) and从. 从 has already had the meaning of going after, with a view to making such meaning more clear, 辵 is added.

From playlist The Story of HanZi (Chinese Characters)

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The Story of Chinese Character :竝

竝 is composed of two 立, depicts two standing men, but 竝 is barely used nowadays and 並 is being used instead. Remarks: Although 並, 并 and竝 are different in their forms, their origins, pronunciations and meanings are the same.

From playlist The Story of HanZi (Chinese Characters)

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The Story of Chinese Character : 畍

畍 is composed of 田(field) and 介, 介 depicts a man standing between two walls, which has the meaning of ‘between’, border or boundary lies between two fields. 畍 is the variant form of 界, both shares the same meaning and pronunciation.

From playlist The Story of HanZi (Chinese Characters)

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The Story of Chinese Character : 界

界 is composed of 田(field) and 介, 介 depicts a man standing between two walls, which has the meaning of ‘between’, border or boundary lies between two fields. 界 is the variant form of 畍, both shares the same meaning and pronunciation.

From playlist The Story of HanZi (Chinese Characters)

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The Story of Chinese Character : 親

親 is composed of the variant of 辛(the picture of a chisel )and 見(to see). The variant of 辛 depicts a wood being broken by a chisel, when someone chisels a wood, he need to get close and look clearly , so 親 is used to describe something close and intimate.

From playlist The Story of HanZi (Chinese Characters)

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From playlist Innovation Ecosystems for AI-Based Education, Training and Learning Symposium

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The Story of Chinese Character : 丌

丌 is the picture of a table. 丌 shares the same meaning and pronunciation with 几, they are variants of each other.

From playlist The Story of HanZi (Chinese Characters)

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The Story of Chinese Character : 酉

酉 depicts a container which used to hold liquid such as wine, and this was the original meaning of 酉. For some complicated and unknown reason, now 酉 means the tenth of Earthly Branches(地支), which is an old Chinese system for reckoning time. 酉 is one of the radicals of HanZi.

From playlist The Story of HanZi (Chinese Characters)

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The Story of Chinese Character : 耳

耳 is the picture of a ear, from past til now, 耳 only has such meaning.

From playlist The Story of HanZi (Chinese Characters)

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The Story of Chinese Character :并

并 depicts two people standing together. Remarks: Although 並, 并 and竝 are different in their forms, their origins, pronunciations and meanings are the same.

From playlist The Story of HanZi (Chinese Characters)

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