李约瑟的世界和世界的李约瑟

中国人的“李约瑟情结”主要表现在３个方面：（１）将李约瑟的贡献片面地理解成为中国古代科技成就树碑立传；（２）将其写作《中国的科学与文明》的最终目的理解成回答“中国何以未能产生近代科学”的问题；（３）为中国的历史由外国人书写的事实感到不安。因此，要想对这位当代文艺复兴式的学者有一更清楚的认识，就必须跳出中国的圈子来审视他的思想和工作；而要想看清“世界的李约瑟”，就得对“李约瑟的世界”有所了解。 所谓“李约瑟问题”并非始于李约瑟，早年来华的耶稣会士和欧洲一些启蒙思想家就已关注到中国社会与科技的“落后”问题，任鸿隽１９１５年的文章《说中国无科学之原因》首开中国知识界讨论这一问题的先声，２０世纪 ４０年代李约瑟与中国知识分子的讨论互相启发，构成他日后写作《中国的科学与文明》的一个重要动力。 受到生物进化论和马克思主义唯物史观的影响，李约瑟成为一个“科学进步论”的坚定信奉者。他与当时在剑桥的一批左翼知识分子一样，对社会问题倾注了极大的热情，并相信科学是一种推进社会进步的强大力量。这导致他投身反法西斯运动来到中国领导中英科学合作馆，其后又担任联合国教科文组织科学部的首任主席。但是李约瑟又是一个虔诚的基督徒，基督教的博爱精神

Needham's World and the World's Needham

What may be called the "Chinese Needham complex"mainly appears under three aspects: (1) Considering the contribution of Joseph Needham as consisting merely in extolling the achievements of science and technology in pre-modern China; (2) Believing that the final goal of the Science and Civilisation in China project is to solve the question"Why did not China develop modern science?"; (3) Being disturbed by the fact that it was a foreigner who first wrote the history of Chinese science and technology. Therefore , if we hope to comprehensively understand this "Modern Renaissance Man", we ought to survey his thought and works adopting a wide perspective; and if we hope to see clearly who Needham is in the world's view, we ought to seek to understand the worldview of Needham himself. The "Needham Question" did not originate from Needham himself. The Jesuits who first came to China around 1600 as well as some Enlightenment thinkers of Europe noted the "lagging behind" issue. Ren Hongjuan's article "On China's lack of science" (1915) initiated the discussion of this kind of question among Chinese intellectuals. In the 40s of the 20th century, the mutual discussions and illuminations between Needham and his Chinese academic friends became one of the most important motives for his later initiative in the writing of SCC. Influenced by biological evolutionism and a materialist view of history, Needham was a firm believer in the "inevitability of scientific progress". like some other left-intellectuals in Cambridge in that time, Needham felt passionately about social problems, and he believed science was a huge force which could push society forward. This led him to devote himself to the struggle against fascism ,to come to China where he directed the Sino-British Science Coopera tion Office ,and then to serve as the first Head of the Natural Science Section of UNESCO. On the other hand, Needham was also a devout Christian. The philanthropism of Christianity and Socialism's spirit of equality were two foundation stones of his thought, in addition to ancient Chinese philosophy. His understanding of and sympathy towards non-Western civilizations came from the following faith: science was the common heritage of the whole of mankind, the unity of nature was reflected in the unity of science and the latter was an affirmation of the unity of mankind. Most contemporary historians of science regard the "Needham Question" as being somehow connected with the "scientific revolution" issue. To supply essential intellectual context for some Chinese scholars who are still bogged down in the "Needham Question", the author introduces some recent researches made by foreign scholars on relevant topics. Meanwhile, he also points out the modern significance of Needham's works: They set out the contribution of non-Western civilizations to the development of the whole human race, using ancient China as an example, and seriously criticize "Occident-centralism" in terms of cultural diversity and scientific oecumenism. Finally, the author provides a comment on the argument whether there was science or not in ancient China".