The research object of linguistics is the spoken characters, or the spoken language, which follow the principle of linearity. However, Chinese is an exception, with its characters as the second language. This is why Saussure concludes that Chinese is absolutely diverse. His second conclusion, then, is that Chinese is a language for critical thinking. This paper explores the Chinese language system, starting from segmenting the acoustic chain, where the issue of segmentation comes naturally. How can we segment Chinese characters? We find that the components of characters imply the way of segmentation, as is shown in the number of Seven and Eight. Why Seven and Eight? We attempt to find the reasons through two myths about the origin of Chinese character writing: He-tu and Luo-shu. This paper also studies the structure of symbols of Chinese characters with the support of the first Chinese dictionary, Shuowen Jiezi, and confirms Saussure's assertion of Chinese. The exploration of the segmentation approach also verifies Saussure's conclusion that linguistic symbols are a pure value system, and that the critical nature of Chinese is fully realized in the exploration of value systems. The Chinese language system and Saussure's theory fit each other well.

The purpose of this article is to shed a philosophical light on the nature of the living, and to do so on the nature of the various vital operations, the symbolic and sensory embodiments of which will be studied. That phenomenology will be firstly done from a general point of view: what is life? what is a vital act, a vital operation? But that general definition being an abstraction made from the diversity of reality, we will also consider that diversity, i.e. acts such as development, sensible knowledge, intellectual knowledge, inclination and transmission. That approach is part of a general context in which many reflections are carried out about what a “living machine” could be. Furthermore, a context in which emerging hypotheses make connections between vital characteristics on the one hand, and confidence and attachment to objects on the other hand. That invites us to question the nature and diversity of vital operations, as well as their tangible characteristics.