So technology can always be summed up through long-term practical exploration. But science is different. Science needs not only practice, but also a spirit-the spirit of seeking knowledge and understanding the internal causes of things, not just the spirit of understanding external phenomena.
Why didn't China brew scientific spirit like ancient Greece? I think the most fundamental thing is the geographical environment.
If we take a casual look at the coastlines of Europe and China, we can find that the coastline of Europe is jagged and there are many offshore islands. More importantly, there is a Mediterranean that is not very big and easy to conquer, and there is also a Atlantic that is not very big. In this way, from offshore islands to the Mediterranean, Europe's navigation experience has a gradual process from near to far, from backward to advanced, and Europe's navigation technology is ahead of the world and advanced in the world. China's coastline is smooth and orderly, and there are almost no big islands offshore. The east is the largest Pacific Ocean in the world, the west is the highest Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in the world, the northwest is either desert or vast grassland, and the south is either mountain or sea. Such an embattled geographical environment is a barrier that human beings can't avoid. Who will think of developing navigation technology when they die in the vast Pacific Ocean? At the same time, there are plains suitable for farming in a closed geographical environment, so people don't have to go outside to compete for resources, and they can survive well through self-sufficiency, so it is difficult for the outside world to break through the natural barrier. Of course, China people only need to develop farming techniques and fight all day. This is the reason why China people's agricultural civilization is so developed and has a throat national character. The geographical environment in Europe is conducive to the formation of many competitive small countries, while the closed geographical environment in China is conducive to the formation of a unified empire, which also determines the different development trajectories of the two regions.
According to the adaptability of geographical environment to human beings, it can be divided into three categories: excellent, medium and poor. A good geographical environment will make people care more about social problems than natural problems, because a good geographical environment is easier to meet the needs of human survival. They don't need to spend most of their energy thinking about how to understand nature and how to get more food from it. Their main problem is to consider social problems and how to manage society well. China's geographical environment is extremely suitable for agricultural civilization. The Yellow River basin has vast land suitable for farming, and loess is relatively soft soil. Chinese civilization has many characteristics in this respect. Almost all philosophers in China are social and political scientists. They are not keen on natural issues, but they are concerned about governing the country and ensuring peace. China's philosophy is a philosophy after China's entry into WTO. Few people in China have real religious feelings. They care about the life in the world, not the expectation of heaven. China's culture attaches great importance to diet, and it is also extravagant and wasteful. It tends to indulge in material life, which is related to the fact that our geographical environment can easily satisfy our life.
Too harsh geographical environment will make people full of fear and fear of nature, and will make their philosophy produce more supernatural fantasies and expectations. Too harsh geographical environment will breed philosophy, not secular philosophy. India is a typical example. The basic spirit of Indian philosophy is that the world is bitter and the way out is life. Indian philosophy is a philosophy of abstinence, why abstinence? Because their living environment is difficult to meet their living needs, they have to abstain from sex!
Only a mild environment will make them care about social and natural problems to a certain extent-prudent attention rather than supernatural fantasies and expectations. The geographical environment of ancient Greece was basically like this. I think this is the fundamental reason why ancient Greece was able to brew scientific spirit.
If the harsh geographical environment is not suitable for human development, everyone will agree. But I'm afraid not many people believe that superior geographical environment is not conducive to human development. But that's the truth. For example, there are many nationalities in primitive society today. The reason why they stayed in the primitive society stage and failed to continue to develop is because their environment is superior, which makes them have the inertia of evolution, or more accurately, the orientation of evolution relative to the environment they adapt to.
In fact, the development of everything in the universe conforms to this law. Although the superior environment will make things living in this environment develop greatly in this environment, it will not help things to develop to a higher stage. Only the right environment between the superior and the inferior is most conducive to the development of this thing.
The reason why Chinese civilization stayed in the stage of agricultural civilization and could not spontaneously evolve to a more advanced stage of industrial civilization is precisely because of the extreme adaptability of the geographical environment of ancient China to agricultural civilization. We have to say pessimistically that China has created the best agricultural civilization because of its superior geographical environment, but because of this, she can only stay at this stage and cannot spontaneously enter the stage of industrial civilization. Western civilization did not create the best agricultural civilization only because its environment was not the most suitable for agricultural civilization, but her civilization contained the seed of evolution to a higher stage of industrial civilization-scientific spirit.
The scientific spirit was almost completely formed in the middle and late period of ancient Greece, so it is necessary for us to carefully study several important factors that produced modern western science.
First, Aristotle's system was dogmatic in the Middle Ages, and Aristotle established a very huge system of scientific philosophy. Of course, his system is not a rigorous scientific theory, but more a philosopher's understanding. As we all know, many of his views are wrong. For example, he thinks that force is the reason why objects move. If there is no continuous force, the object will be at rest. But what matters is not that his point of view is wrong, but that he has raised meaningful questions. Imagine that if no one asks a question at all, no one will solve it. Once a question is raised, if it is meaningful, many people will solve it. Although many people may give wrong answers, some people will eventually give correct answers. This is the role of Aristotle. The huge system of his philosophy of science is actually a huge problem system. Many of his answers are wrong, but as long as someone corrects his mistakes, this system will become a very rigorous and valuable correct system. Newton's system is actually a revision of Aristotle's mistake, but the system itself is consistent. It is often said that China had developed science in ancient times, but the question is who in China clearly put forward this view like Aristotle-force is the cause of the motion of an object, and if there is no continuous action of force, the object will stand still. We all regard this view as a very obvious fact, not as an important issue like Aristotle, so we will never have scholars like Galileo and Newton to correct this mistake, so we will never get Newton's scientific system-the most basic scientific system, so we will never spontaneously bloom the flowers of science, and thus we will never be able to develop hand industry into industry. This is the fundamental reason why China has not entered the stage of industrial civilization from the stage of agricultural civilization.
Secondly, Galileo's observation and experimental methods, Aristotle's point of view can be said to be a philosophical understanding of natural phenomena, rather than a conclusion drawn through careful observation, experiment and research like Galileo. This is the fundamental reason why many of his views are wrong. Aristotle said that force is the cause of the motion of objects. If there is no continuous force, the object will be at rest. If we don't observe the experiment carefully, each of us will come to Aristotle's conclusion. The role of Galileo's observation and experimental methods is to exclude some external interference factors, such as friction, and focus on specific research objects, thus ensuring the reliability and correctness of the research. Galileo's observation and experimental method is the correct way to correct Aristotle's wrong conclusion and draw a correct conclusion.
Finally, the axiomatic system of Euclid geometry. Euclidean geometry, like a bright lighthouse, shines on the road of western scientific research. Compared with the geometric knowledge in Euclid's Geometry, it is not the knowledge itself that is more important, but the method she provided-the axiomatic system. By deducing theorems from axioms and then deducing various inferences and conclusions, a rigorous and correct system is constructed, thus ensuring the relevance and correctness of all knowledge. Since the establishment of Euclidean geometry, western scholars have always regarded her as a model. They hope that all knowledge and disciplines can be based on a few axioms like Euclid geometry, and then correct propositions and conclusions can be drawn through rigorous reasoning. Although Aristotle established a huge system of scientific philosophy, it was not rigorous, and there was no rigorous argument between viewpoints. This system still belongs to the understanding system of philosophers, not the argumentation system of scientists. If Galileo's observation and experimental methods are the way to correct Aristotle's wrong conclusions and draw correct conclusions, then the axiomatic system of Euclid geometry is the way to ensure the rigor of the system itself. It is these two points that completely solve the problems existing in Aristotle's philosophy of science system, and thus obtain the correct system-Newton's scientific system. Newton's scientific system is a huge scientific system based on the three laws (axioms) of Newton obtained by Galileo's observation and experiment, and then deduces various theorems and conclusions through reasoning. Newton's book Mathematical System of Natural Philosophy is completely modeled after Euclid's axiomatic system.
Needham thinks that China did not produce modern science, because China people pay more attention to practicality than analysis. China's bureaucratic system lasted for thousands of years. At first, it was very suitable for the development of science, but it hindered the formation of mercantilist values. Therefore, it can't combine the skills and inventions of craftsmen who initially promoted the development of science and technology with the mathematical and logical reasoning methods invented by scholars, so that the development of science transcends the individual activities of craftsmen and transitions to a new era based on mathematics and logic.
The Greeks thought about matter and nature, and they cut in from the perspective of human thinking, including atomism, although it was very different from modern atomism. It can be said that Greek philosophy is a product of speculation and a theory about nature. So why did the Greeks make great contributions to mathematics and geometry? This is related to their position as a corner and the center where various cultures meet. As we all know, Greece is near the Aegean Sea, and there are many islands around it, so the traffic is very convenient. Moreover, the city gang system prevailed at that time, and the administrative units were all small city gangs. In relatively small cultural units, it is easier to form ideological groups. Without that kind of unified control, various ideological trends will surge.
In this respect, China is different from Greece. China's unification is half as long as its division. Generally speaking, there are more cases of unification than of division. Although China has a long coastline, there are not many islands nearby. I have been to Zhejiang and Jiangsu, and local people often choose to go inland instead of by boat if they want to save each other. In this sense, such a long coastline is not very beneficial to communication. The history of China just proves this point. The most admirable era of freedom of thought is the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Life at that time was worth thinking about, which was related to the situation of state separatism and coexistence of powers at that time. China is really too big for great ideas.