We can say that Confucianism, like most religions in the world, is not interested in nature.
Christianity is indeed superior to other religions in knowledge of nature.
Look at the early history of western scientific development:
The origin of modern western science is rooted in ancient Greek scholarship. The ancient Greeks summarized natural phenomena and tried to explain them. Scientists like Aristotle, Thales and Eratosthenes appeared. Although many of their explanations seem absurd now, they are the origin of science after all.
At the same time, even earlier, people in other places tried to explain natural phenomena-unlike ancient Greece, they tried to explain them in ways other than "God" and "super power", and their work was very detailed.
The work of the ancient Greeks was a great achievement of Aristotle. Aristotle's works summed up the natural phenomena he knew, covering astronomy, geography, geology, animals and plants, and varied. He tried to explain it in a non-theological way.
The academic achievements of ancient Greece came to a standstill after the decline of Greece. The Roman Empire paid more attention to those cultural things in the academic achievements of ancient Greece. Natural science stagnated in Roman times, and only Pliny wrote a natural history.
The Romans respected Aristotle and others' natural science, but did not study and develop it. Anyway, the Romans preserved their works and fire.
Later in history, we know that Christianity became the official religion of Rome, Rome was divided and the Germans invaded. The Germans destroyed the Western Roman Empire and accepted Christianity. Their culture is backward, so the Middle Ages in Europe are considered as "dark ages".
During this period, these works were preserved in East Rome (Byzantium), and the wise men of the emerging Arab Empire became interested in them and translated them into Arabic. Arab science has developed again.
The development of Arab scholarship includes calendar, medicine, optics, methodology and so on. Master Ibn-Tem put forward the experimental method and compared it with the comparative theory. He is called the second Ptolemy in Europe. With the turmoil caused by the invasion of Mongolia, Arab academics gradually stagnated.
During the European Middle Ages, although there were pragmatic techniques, there were few theoretical achievements.
In medieval Europe, politically, different religious Germanic ethnic groups divided their ruling areas and fought against Arabs. In the late Middle Ages, national boundaries tended to be stable, and the danger of Islamization passed. Nobles and priests who lived comfortably needed spiritual sustenance, and Arab academics were gradually sold back to Europe.
According to Dante's Divine Comedy, Aristotle, an ancient Greek philosopher, was at the top of hell. Given a higher status than ordinary pagans, but not as good as ordinary Christians. In Dante's time (1300 or so), western Europeans had just come into contact with the ancient Greek philosopher who was sold back and dared not put him in a too high position. For hundreds of years, the status of ancient Greek philosophers has risen. 15 1 1 year, Raphael, the famous painter of the Pope, painted murals of the Athens Academy in his palace and treated them like Christian saints.
The recognition of the church stimulated the development of natural science, and the atmosphere of advocating natural science was formed in Europe. Although the church later became an opponent of science, it played an active role in the Enlightenment.
The development of European universities: Frederick, the red beard of Shenluo, was interested in Roman law. He founded the University of Bologna, the first university in Europe to teach law. Since then, many universities such as Oxford University have appeared. In the early days, universities taught law, theology, mathematics, medicine and other disciplines. Later, astronomy, geography, art, accounting and other disciplines appeared one after another, and universities became academic centers.
Universities are usually funded by churches and nobles. The University of Bologna was founded by Frederick, while the University of Paris was founded by the church. Before the Reformation, there were dozens of universities in Europe.
After the emergence of Protestantism, Europe experienced many years of religious wars. During this period, the influence of the Pope declined, and the universities in Protestant places were taken over by nobles. Catholicism turned to a conservative attitude in science, and the center of scientific development shifted to Protestant territory. Academics in Italy and Poland stagnated, while Britain, France and the Netherlands began to flourish.
The emergence of the Royal Academy of Sciences: Britain has two universities in Europe, Oxford and Cambridge. /kloc-At the end of 0/6, Gresham College appeared in Britain. It was not an ordinary school, but a free public lecture. Prestigious scholars can apply for lectures and gradually evolve into scholars' gatherings, many of whom are politically influential figures. Later, scholars who met frequently hoped to establish a new organization. Because of their aristocratic status, they quickly applied for the royal brand and became the Royal Academy of Sciences. The first members were a group of aristocrats who loved science.
France subsequently established a similar institution, but it was named a country after 30 years.
The establishment of the Royal Society indicates that this country has become a driving force of science. Coincidentally, the great scientist Newton just appeared in this era, and Newton joined at 1670. 1684, Newton published the mathematical principles of his natural philosophy, which laid the foundation of classical physics. After Newton, science has become an irreversible guiding theory.
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To sum up, there are several important reasons why the West can develop modern science, just like China: 1. Ancient Greek thought. The ancient Greeks became interested in natural phenomena and tried to explain them with ideas other than theology. At the same time, in the pre-Qin period of China, the interest in natural phenomena was obviously inferior, with many records and lack of explanation. At least the ancient books we see now are like this. The rational composition is much worse than that of ancient Greece.
2. Europe is divided but not unified.
A single spark in ancient Greece will not develop into a prairie fire soon. This is probably because the technology has not been fully developed, and the academic achievements of ancient Greece are not enough to support a powerful regime and save the decline of Greece. The victorious Romans did not win by science, and naturally they did not care too much, so they were dormant for thousands of years. During the dormant period, these academic achievements survived through the Millennium Empire Dongluo and the Arab Empire. This is the advantage of Europe's long-term division. If it is a unified country, it may have been destroyed by the war. This is a condition that China does not have.
3. The role of the church
After the ancient Greek thoughts were sold back to Europe in the form of Arab scholarship, the dominant Catholic church in Europe showed respect and interest in these things, which is very rare. Because the works of ancient Greece have nothing to do with the Bible, they have gained a status similar to saints in the church. As an intellectual class in Europe, the attitude of the church has influenced all Europeans' interest in natural science.
In the same period, China ousted hundreds of schools and worshiped Confucianism alone. Unlike the Catholic church, Confucianism has no interest in natural science and is surprisingly cold. Western universities only had liberal arts at first, and then gradually added disciplines, medicine, astronomy and so on. Imperial academy in China has never joined the academic education of nature. There is neither a natural degree nor a natural academic interest. China's "great scholars", through their works, you can't find much natural academic things.
4. The role of nobility
The class that has always enjoyed knowledge is the power class except the religious class. The pioneer of the church, the European aristocrat, later formed a reverence for natural science. During the Renaissance, most early scientists were priests. After the religious reform, the attitude of the church tended to be conservative, and the nobles who were not very particular about religion began to become the supporting force of science. When Galileo was tried and forced to give up Heliocentrism, Kepler was sheltered by Emperor Shenluo and could publish his works publicly.
Galileo was also a red man in the aristocratic circle. Although sentenced to life imprisonment, he was executed outside the prison. His disciple Torricelli was an aristocrat, and Galileo was able to write and publish in Holland during his house arrest. The Netherlands belongs to Protestant territory, and many works were published in the Netherlands to avoid the Vatican. Descartes lived in Holland at the same time. He was worshipped by the Bohemian princess.
At the same time, in Britain, there appeared a group of nobles who loved science. First of all, British Justice Francis Bacon is regarded as a corrupt official, but he has made great achievements in methodology. He also envisioned an ideal country, where there was a "Solomon House" where various scholars gathered to study knowledge beneficial to the people. Solomon Palace is the prototype of the Royal Society. John Wilkins is an English aristocrat and Cromwell's brother-in-law. He was keen on talking about natural philosophy and founded the Royal Society.
The hobby of nobles made scientific activities divorced from the church and carried out with the support of the state.
At the same time, China was still in the age of ignorance. Although Xu Guangqi and others translated the original geometry, and there were several beginners in mathematics, they did not fully introduce western learning. China's local cultural system shows a strong ability of exclusion.
6. Development of technology
European science can usher in great development, and technology is indispensable. What I know: 1. The use of Arabic numerals and the cooperation with the alphabet system are indispensable tools for the great development of mathematics. Europe has been basically popularized in the14th century. In China, the translated geometry still uses Chinese characters and numbers, and the number of branches is complicated, which hinders the continued development of mathematics to some extent. At that time, Chinese people did not seem to have popularized the idea of this imported counting system.
2. Use two mirrors, astronomical telescope and microscope. Astronomical telescope ended the traditional view of the universe, and microscope ended traditional medicine and traditional biology.
3. Glass technology The production of precision glassware provides a novel experimental device.
Although the above technologies were not made in China, they all spread to China, but the atmosphere of scientific research can't rise in China.
Intellectuals in China are not interested in natural science. This board should also hit Confucianism.
Huang Guwang, the three great thinkers in the early Qing Dynasty, was completely unaffected by western thoughts, and his works showed no interest in natural science. Interest in natural science has resumed, which comes from the western military attack.
Having written so much, to sum up, there are several reasons why China can't spontaneously produce modern science: First, his interest in natural science is relatively small. The reason may be purely accidental. Ancient Greece is an anomaly among many ancient civilizations. Two: Confucianism's rejection of other academics and extreme indifference to natural academics. Three: Great political unity and great civilization isolation. The division of Europe gave heresy room to hide and develop, but the unification of China led to the suppression of academic groups other than Confucianism. In addition, China is an "isolated civilization", far from European civilization, and most of the surrounding ethnic minorities are in a backward state, which makes it difficult for China to accept foreign theories.
It is more appropriate than "Why didn't modern science come into being in China" and "Why did modern science come into being in Europe".