CIDNESE STUDIES IN TilE IDSTORY AND PIDLOSOPHY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

BOSTON STUDIES IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE

Editor

ROBERTS. COHEN, Boston University

Editorial Advisory Board

THOMAS F. GLICK, Boston University

ADOLF GRUNBAUM, University of Pittsburgh

SYLVAN S. SCHWEBER, Brandeis University

JOHN J. STACHEL, Boston University

MARX W. W ARTOFSKY, Baruch College of the City University of New York

VOLUME 179

Science and Democracy

CHINESE STUDIES IN THE HISTORY AND

PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Edited by

FAN DAINIAN Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing

and

ROBERT S. COHEN Boston University

Translated by

Kathleen Dugan and Jiang Mingshan

Springer-Science+Business Media, B.V.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Chinese studies in the history and philosophy of science and technology / edited by Fan Dainian and Robert S. Cohen : translated by Kathleen Dugan and Jiang Minshan.

p. cm. -- (Boston studies in the philosophy of science : v. 179)

Includes index. ISBN 0-7923-3463-9 (hb alk. paper) 1. Science--China--History. 2. Technology--China--History.

3. SCience--China--Philosophy. 4. Technology--China--Phi losophy. 1. Fan, Tai-nien. II. Cohen, R. S. <Robert SonneJ III. Series. 0174.B67 val. 179 [0127.C] 509' .51--dc20 95-13781

ISBN 978-90-481-4546-1 ISBN 978-94-015-8717-4 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-94-015-8717-4

AII Rights Reserved

© 1996 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 1996

No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,

includ ing photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from

the copyright owner.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

EDITORIAL NOTE I ROBERTS. COHEN ix

PREFACE I FAN DAINIAN xi

PART I I SCIENCE, DEMOCRACY AND SOCIETY

Yu GUANGYUAN I On the Emancipation of the Mind Xu LIANGYING I Essay on the Role of Science and Democracy in

Society 5 GoNG YuzHI I Historical Development of the Chinese Communist

Party's Scientific Policy (Prior to the Founding of the People's Republic) 13

Yu GUANGYUAN I Speeches at the Qingdao Genetics Conference of 1956 27

LI PEISHAN, MENG QINZHE, HUANG QINGHE AND HUANG SHU-E I The Qingdao Conference of 1956 on Genetics: The Historical Back-ground and Fundamental Experiences 41

PART II I PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE

FANG LIZHI AND ZHou YOUYUAN I Concepts of Space and Time in Ancient China and in Modem Cosmology 55

JIN GUANTAO AND HuA GuoFAN I Information and Feedback in Epistemology 61

Luo JIACHANG I Time: A Philosophical Survey 77 FANG Lizm I The Concept of 'Primordial Motion': Past and Present 95 DING DAFU I On the Unity of Biology and Physics 103 CHEN Bu I Homeostasis and Chinese Traditional Medicine:

Commenting on Cannon's The Wisdom of the Body 115 DONG GUANGBI I The Book of Changes and Mathematics 125

PART III I HISTORY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

JIN GUANTAO, FAN HONGYE AND LIU QINGFENG I The Structure of Science and Technology in History: On the Factors Delaying the Development of Science and Technology in China in Comparison with the West since the 17th Century (Part One) 137

vii

viii TABLE OF CONTENTS

JIN GUANTAO, FAN HoNGYE AND LIU QINGFENG I Historical Changes in the Structure of Science and Technology (Part Two, A Commentary) 165

Xu LIANGYING I The Problem of Demarcation of Periods in the History of Science 185

LIN WENZHAO I A Brief Account of Chinese Studies of the History of Science and Technology in China 199

DAI NIANZU I The Development of Modem Physics in China: The 50th Anniversary of the Founding of the Chinese Physical Society 207

QIU LIANGHUI I A Preliminary Study of the Characteristics of Metallurgical Technology in Ancient China 219

MEI RONGZHAO I Liu Hui 's Theories of Mathematics 243 LE XIUCHENG I A Comparison of the Structures of the Mathematical

Systems of China and the West: Several Revelations from Information Theory 255

SoNG JIE I The Historical Value of the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art in Society and the Economy 261

Lu JINGYAN I Studies of the South-Pointing Chariot: Survey of the Past 80 Years 267

LIU DuN I A Comparison of Archimedes' and Liu Hui's Studies of Circles 279

ZHANG BINGLUN AND WANG ZICHUN I The Struggle Between Evolutionary Theory and Creationism in China 289

SONG ZHENGHAI AND CHEN CHUANGKANG I Why did Zheng He's Sea Voyage Fail to Lead the Chinese to Make the 'Great Geographic Discovery'? 303

CHEN Y ALAN I The Effect of the Autocratic Monarchy of the Qing Dynasty on Science and Technology 315

ZHANG BINGLUN I A Preliminary Analysis of Scientific Development and its Causes in Anhui Province during the Ming and Qing Dynasties 327

WANG YusHENG I Li Shanlan: Forerunner of Modem Science in China 345 WANG YusHENG I Hua Hengfang: Forerunner and Disseminator of

Modem Science in China 369 GAO PINGSHU I Cai Yuanpei's Contributions to China's Science 395 LI BocoNG I The Treatise on Fevers and Miscellaneous Diseases:

Vicissitudes during the Millenium after its Completion 419 JIN ZUMENG I A Critique of 'Zhang Heng's Theory of a Spherical

Earth' 427 Y AN KANGNIAN I Niels Bohr in China 433 ZHANG WEI I Millikan and China 439 WEI HoNGSEN I Norbert Wiener at Qinghua University 447

NOTES ON THE CONTRIBUTORS 453

INDEX OF NoN-CHINESE NAMES 459

INDEX OF CHINESE NAMES 463

EDITORIAL NOTE

The indisputable contributions to science and engineering by scholars of Chinese origin in the 20th century continue to be recognized, praised, indeed puzzled over; what might account for such creative brilliance, nearly every­where these scholars live and work, whatever the social, political and economic system? Furthermore, the great detailed explorations and interpretive insights into 'science and civilization in China' (to use Joseph Needham's apt con­nective phrase) have stimulated recognition of continuing brilliance from ancient times through middle ages and into the period of Western imperialist confrontation. Although sensitivity to nature was ever present, whether in common-sense technologies or through nature-mysticisms, the development of autonomous science proper, and of instrumental technique, was also admirable in achievements and in intellectual investigation. A new, and perhaps deeper, phase began with the revolutionary changes which culminated in 1949 with the coming to power of Mao's Communist Party. To some extent modelled after the capitalist democracies of Europe and North America, the movement toward a new post-imperial China explicitly linked democracy with science, but so did the contending force which in its tum followed the European Marxist and indeed Leninist linking of socialism and science. The idealist gloss on what science may mean for establishing the new society included two principal issues: the vast utility of science applied to human needs, and the reasonable, open and evidence-based, democratic methods of scientific work.

The democratic hopes of the first years after 1949 and the intellectual vitality of those hopes, so sweetly expressed in the authority's injunction to 'let 100 flowers bloom', were encouraged, then repressed, sometimes reviving here or there, in one field or another, but inconsistently. Still, until the so-called Cultural Revolution, many technical fields flourished, and even then perhaps some were protected for security purposes. However, with the new governing authority led by Deng, with a striking reform of economic powers and oppor­tunities, came a renewed respect for science.

Once more respect for the social and democratic character of science came forward. We see this in the motto of this book, and we recognize a Marxist formulation in Yu Guangyuan's essay 'On the Emancipation of the Mind'. How encouraging it had been to hold the Qingdao conference on genetics in 1956, with ideals of mutually listening scientific debate, and then again, 25 years later, in the new Deng time, to reflect on that conference. How moving and curious it may seen, perhaps somehow old-fashioned, to read Yu Guangyuan's renaming Chen Duxiu's embrace of Mr. Democracy and Mr. Science as Comrade Democracy and Comrade Science! (p. 4)

ix

Fan Dainian and RobertS. Cohen ( eds.), Chinese Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, ix-x. @ 1996 Kluwer Academic Publishers.

X EDITORIAL NOTE

The establishment of the Journal of Dialectics of Nature was one step in the process of undogmatic scholarship in the historical and philosophical studies of the sciences, medicine and technology in the People's Republic. That first half-decade of the journal is represented by the substantial contents of this book. From that time, 1985, these fields have gone on to extensive develop­ments, with new journals too, with books and conferences and university programs, and with critical collaboration with scholarly colleagues throughout the world. But with the first issues of the new Journal, with the understanding that the phrase 'dialectics of nature' has the broad scope to include the full human (and humane) understanding of nature and of mankind's ways with nature, a renaissance of Chinese philosophy and history of science was underway.

Robert S. Cohen June 1996

PREFACE

HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE IN CONTEMPORARY CHINA

1979-1985

The 35 articles in this collection were all selected from the first five volumes of the Journal of Dialectics of Nature published by the Chinese Academy of Sciences between 1979 and 1985.

The Journal, established in 1979 with the philosopher and economist Professor Yu Guangyuan as Editor-in-Chief, is a comprehensive theoretical publication concerning the history, philosophy and sociology of the natural sciences. It's founding was a response to China's reform, particularly the policy of openness to the outside world. The articles published during these years were representative of scholarly work by scientists, philosophers and historians.

For 30 years following the founding of the People's Republic of China the cultural policy of the Chinese government rejected non-Marxist western philosophy and sociology of science, which were considered to be bourgeois ideologies. This situation remained unchanged until 1979. In the following years, Chinese scholars began to undertake distinctive, original research in these fields. This collection provides a cross-section of these efforts during the initial phase.

To enable western scholars to understand the historical process of this change in Chinese academics, Yu Guangyuan's 'On the Emancipation of the Mind' and Xu Liangying's 'Essay on the Role of Science and Democracy in Society' were included in this collection. From these, it may be seen that academic circles in China were actively seeking to promote a sound, demo­cratic system to develop science and philosophy, and thereby to contribute to the new policy of political reform and the four modernizations, industry, agriculture, national defence, and, for these scholars in particular, science and technology.

We have included seven papers on the philosophy of science, three of which are discussions of philosophical issues in cosmology and biology. The remaining four, written by philosophers of science, concern information and cognition, homeostasis and Chinese traditional medicine, the I Ching (Yi ling) and mathematics, etc.

Studies on the history of science and technology, particularly research on ancient Chinese science and technology, have an older and stronger founda­tion in China and there are Chinese research institutions, societies and journals devoted to this field. The section 'History of Science and Technology' in the journal emphasizes mainly the history of science. For this collection, we

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Fan Dainian and Robert S. Cohen ( eds.), Chinese Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, xi-xiii. ~ 1996 Kluwer Academic Publishers.

xii PREFACE

selected 23 papers on the history of both classical and modem science and technology, the most distinctive of which are macro-comparisons of the development of science in China and the west. It's worth noting that in 1982 the Journal of Dialectics of Nature organized an academic symposium on 'The Reasons Modem Chinese Science and Technology Lag Behind' which produced six of the papers in this collection. The symposium had a substan­tial impact on Chinese scholars and triggered enthusiasm for macro-studies of science and culture in China. The ten remaining papers discuss national and regional developments of science and technology in areas such as Chinese mathematics, astronomy, metallurgy, medicine, modem physics and biology, and machinery, and they deal with questions such as the demarcation of periods in history and the historiography of science in China.

Studies on the sociology of science in China began relatively late. In 1986, the Journal of Dialectics of Nature convened the first academic symposium on the sociology of science in China. However, applied sociology of science, practical studies of science policy, had begun earlier. This collection includes two papers on Chinese science policy.

The Journal has a special section devoted to 'Biographical Appraisals'. One article in each issue introduces the life, scientific contributions, philosoph­ical ideas, and social and political attitudes of a well-known scientist (ancient or modem, Chinese or foreign). This section has been well received by Chinese readers. In the present collection, we selected biographies of three post­eighteenth-century Chinese scholars, Li Shanlan (1811-1882), Hua Hengfang (1833-1902), and Cai Yuanpei (1868-1940), who contributed greatly to the introduction of western science and scholarship to China. In addition, we included three short papers introducing the interactions between Chinese scholars and three great western scientists, Niels Bohr, Norbert Wiener, and Robert A. Millikan.

Chinese achievements in mathematics and the natural sciences have been and are acknowleged world-wide. But it must be said that although achieve­ments have been made in philosophy of science in China during the years since these papers were written, it may take some time before Chinese studies can fully match western research in either breadth or depth. In an attempt to gradually rectify this situation, the Journal of Dialectics of Nature collabo­rated with the Institute of Philosophy, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and the Chinese Society of Natural Dialectics in convening the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth national symposia on philosophy of science in 1981, 1983, 1985, 1987 and 1993 respectively. Between 1980 and 1985, the section of the Journal devoted to philosophy of science published papers evaluating the work of western philosophers of science including Popper, Kuhn, l.akatos, Shapere, Camap, and Feyerabend. These were enthusiastically welcomed by Chinese intellectuals, particularly by young readers. The articles published in the 'Biographical Appraisals' of Russell, Mach, Poincare, and other scholars were valuable in rectifying the former erroneous, partial appraisals by Chinese philosophical circles. However, because these articles were general introduc-

PREFACE xiii

tions which lacked critical commentary they were not selected for inclusion in this collection.

We should point out that in 1979, a translation journal entitled Philosophical Problems of Natural Sciences was founded by the Research Section of the Dialectics of Nature, Institute of Philosophy, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. This journal introduced many articles written by leading contem­porary western (and Soviet) philosophers of science and was welcomed with enthusiasm.

In 1985, Chinese Society for Dialectics of Nature founded a new journal entitled Studies in Dialectics of Nature described as a journal of philosophy of nature, science and technology. As a sister journal of the Journal of Dialectics of Nature, it pays more attention to the philosophy of nature and technology, less to the history of science.

We are honored that this book can be included in the Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science. This collection can provide our colleagues in other countries with a better understanding of the research by Chinese scholars in the history and philosophy of science and technology in the first half of the 1980s. Therefore, we are particularly grateful to Professor RobertS. Cohen, editor of this series. This book could not have been published without his encouragement and assistance. We are also very grateful to the two excellent translators of this collection, Kathleen G. Dugan and Mingshan Jiang. Their accurate and fluent translation guaranteed the quality of this book. We also wish to express our appreciation to Annie Kuipers of Kluwer Academic Publishers for her tremendous help.

Fan Dainian Editor-in-Chief,

Journal of Dialectics of Nature Beijing, 1980/1994