For example, in chess, the numbers may not necessarily change, but the results may be different with different routines; Another example is diamond and graphite, the amount has not changed, but the molecular structure has changed, and qualitative changes can also occur.
Three basic forms of quantitative change
Nature is changing and developing, human society is changing and developing, and everything in the universe is also changing and developing. Without the change of things, there is no thing itself. The emergence of new things and the demise of old things are all qualitative changes of things. The qualitative change of things cannot be separated from the quantitative change of things, and qualitative change is a qualitative change based on a certain quantitative change. When we deeply study the results of quantitative change, we will find that there are three different basic forms of quantitative change-inevitable quantitative change, accidental quantitative change and non-qualitative change.
The inevitable quantitative change of things refers to an inevitable trend of things from quantitative change to qualitative change, and it is a quantitative change that will inevitably cause changes in the nature of things under any conditions. A remarkable feature of the inevitability of quantitative change of things is that without any additional conditions, things have a regular and definite trend of transition to qualitative change, which is irreversible and has a clear direction ... We usually say that "people always die", which means that people's life itself is an inevitable quantitative change process from birth to death. Broadly speaking, everything in the universe is in this kind of change and development from its birth to its death, so the inevitable quantitative change of things is absolute. Trees will inevitably die when they grow to a certain stage, primitive society will inevitably enter class society when it develops to a certain stage, and capitalism will be replaced by socialism, etc., all of which are the results of inevitable quantitative changes leading to changes in the nature of things. In short, the disappearance of all old things is a qualitative change caused by the quantitative change of inevitability.
The development direction of inevitable quantitative change is certain, and the result of qualitative change is irreversible, and people cannot change it through their own strength. The first emperor in China's history, Qin Shihuang, completed the great cause of unifying the whole country and building the Great Wall, and began to look forward to the magic of immortality. At first, he believed that Xu Fu was looking for an elixir for him to help Xu Fudong cross the river. As a result, Xu Fu never returned and became king on his own. Later, following the advice of the fortune teller, he went to sea five times to look for the elixir of life. The fifth cruise, due to fatigue all the way, died in Dune Palace before returning to Korea. As a great monarch in the history of China, Qin Shihuang could unify the whole country, build the Great Wall and create great achievements, but he could not change the fate of death.
Although the result of inevitable quantitative change is irreversible, people are not completely passive in front of it. People can slow down or speed up the inevitable quantitative change through subjective initiative, prolong or shorten the time of the inevitable quantitative change, and make the occurrence of qualitative change as beneficial as possible to human beings. For example, "capitalism will be replaced by socialism" is a historical necessity, but the proletariat can not give up its struggle with the bourgeoisie and wait for the arrival of socialism, but should persist in its struggle to accelerate the demise of capitalism; So is life. We should not be pessimistic and disappointed because "people will die" and deny the meaning of life. Life is limited, but it's worth living. Although "everyone dies", people can improve their living environment, pay attention to diet and daily life, persist in physical exercise, maintain an optimistic attitude, pay attention to disease prevention and treatment, and enrich their spiritual life, thus improving their quality of life and prolonging their life (prolonging the time when inevitable quantitative changes occur).
The quantitative change of parity refers to the quantitative change that causes the change of the nature of things under certain conditions. In other words, the continuity (quantitative change) of things contains the possibility of continuity interruption (qualitative change). Under certain conditions, when the quantitative change reaches the critical point and exceeds the limit of degree, this possibility becomes a reality (qualitative change); Under certain conditions, when the quantitative change is limited, it cannot reach the critical point and exceed the boundary, and this possibility cannot become a reality (no qualitative change). The process of hatching chicks from fertilized eggs is a process of accidental quantitative change. When certain temperature and other conditions are met, fertilized eggs hatch chickens (produce qualitative change); When these conditions are not met, the fertilized egg cannot hatch the chicken (no qualitative change).
The accidental quantitative change of things is strongly restricted by external conditions. Produce qualitative change under certain conditions; Under certain conditions, it will not produce qualitative change; Under different conditions, different qualitative changes occur. This characteristic of contingent quantitative change determines that people have much greater subjective initiative when facing contingent quantitative change than when facing inevitable quantitative change. First of all, people can limit or speed up the quantitative change, and extend or shorten the quantitative change time. For example, in order to shorten the cooking time of food, people invented the pressure cooker; In order to prolong the fresh-keeping time of food, people invented refrigerators. Secondly, we can grasp the development direction of things and make them develop in a favorable direction. For example, beans will take root and sprout under certain conditions and rot and ferment under certain conditions. If you want beans to become seeds, you must create conditions for them to take root and sprout; If you want to turn beans into fermented beans, you must create moldy fermentation conditions for them. For another example, people can become thieves and criminals, as well as talents and elites. We should educate, train and guide people through family, school and society, so that as many people as possible can become talents and elites, not thieves and criminals. Thirdly, the accumulation of quantity can be limited, so that it can't reach the critical point, can't exceed the limit of degree, and can't cause qualitative change. For example, it is inevitable for a person to make a mistake, but when the mistake develops to a certain stage, it will change qualitatively beyond the limit and become a crime. Everyone makes mistakes, and everyone has the possibility of committing crimes, but there are very few people who actually commit crimes in reality. This is because social, family and especially self-factors have played a role in limiting the accumulation of quantity, so that this quantity (making mistakes) always changes within the critical point and is kept as low as possible. As Japanese psychologist Kiyoshi Yamagen said: "Although many people have more or less criminal consciousness experience, they are not criminals."
The qualitative quantitative change of things refers to the quantitative change that cannot cause fundamental changes of things under any conditions. Some things, although there are quantitative changes in a certain direction, can not cause changes in the fundamental nature of things under any conditions. Always in the quantitative change stage, never reaching the critical point (some things have no clear critical point). For example, the limit and asymptotic line in mathematics, although a number (or a line) is infinitely close to another number (or another line), it will never reach this number (or this line); A high jumper, he can jump higher than ordinary people, but he can never fly into the sky like a bird; People can prolong their life through hard work, but they will never become "immortals"; People can constantly improve themselves, but they will never reach the peak (no peak). It is this truth that "no one is perfect, and gold is not enough".
When we study qualitative quantitative change, we should pay attention to distinguish between things with qualitative quantitative change and things without some quantitative change at all. People can never become "immortals", but people still have the possibility of prolonging their lives, and the direction of "immortals" has changed quantitatively; Stones can never be turned into eggs, and the direction of eggs has not changed.
Mastering the principles of qualitative change and quantitative change is of great significance to guide our study, work and life. This truth is a powerful weapon for us to criticize the so-called "supreme instructions", "how bold people are and how productive the land is" and "the yield per mu is 10,000 Jin".