康熙的科学精神:曾亲自校改欧几里得《几何原本》

正康熙皇帝自己很有科学精神,也非常好学,他一直让张诚和白晋来教他数学,张诚和白晋把欧几里得的《几何原本》翻译成满文和汉文,可他们毕竟是外国人,翻译过来的文字不是特别雅驯,康熙用朱笔再亲自校改,所以他系统地学习过欧几里得的《几何原本》,有着很好的立体几何的知识。康熙在少年时期就接触了一些像南怀仁这样的西方耶稣会士,他亲政之前,鳌拜一直力主用传统历法,而康熙想用西方耶稣     

传教士:《易经》是中国一切科学和哲学的源头

正1700年11月,白晋给莱布尼茨写信,称赞《易经》是中国一切科学和哲学的源头,它高于当时欧洲的科学和哲学。白晋把中国的起源放到18世纪之前三四千年的时代,将伏羲称作第一个立法者。他认为,四千多年前中国古人的知识和西方圣贤的知识之间,有着很多一致。白晋(1656~1730),又作白进,西名布韦(Bouvet),法国人。作为清初来华的耶稣会士,他是     

何国宗、梅瑴成与传教士之间的合作与斗争

自1629年崇祯改历起，传教士在中国天文历法机构中一直占有重要地位。他们与中国科学家之间有时密切合作，有时又血腥斗争，更多的是既合作又竞争。何国宗与梅毂成在数学方面都有良好的家学背景，又在清宫蒙养斋接受数学教育和培养，成为康熙晚期到乾隆前期的官方科学家。他们早期与传教士白晋、张诚、杜德美、傅圣泽等人可能有较为良好的关系，但从1713年他们联合主持编纂《律历渊源》开始，就逐渐和在钦天监工作的传教士纪理安、戴进贤、徐懋德等人产生了矛盾，从相互合作，到相互竞争，最后发展到相互仇视。以一些中文资料和传教士的书信为基础，本文讨论何国宗、梅毂成与传教士之间的合作与斗争关系。他们的斗争涉及到康乾时期几项重要的科学工作，如在编纂《律历渊源》和《历象考成后编》过程中的矛盾与斗争，对于钦天监领导权的斗争，借助推算日食的斗争，利用宗教政策以及古旧天文仪器的保护等发起的进攻，等等。他们之间的这种关系不仅对当时朝廷的天文历法研究和钦天监的日常工作产生了重大的影响，而且对整个清中期的科学评论也产生了重要的影响。     

杨振宁:《易经》阻碍科学启蒙

在刚刚北京结束的2004文化高峰论坛上,著名华裔物理学家诺贝尔奖获得者杨振宁先生向《易经》“开火”。称“易经影响了中华文化的思维方式”,“这个影响是近代科学没有在中国萌芽的重要原因之一”。媒体以《杨振宁指〈易经〉阻碍科学启蒙》为题加以报道。近日,国内易学研究权威学者通过本报谈了对这一事件的看法。杨振宁:近代科学要摆脱天人合一杨振宁先生在演讲中说道:易经影响中华文化的思维方式,所以这个影响是近代科学没有在中国萌芽的重要原因之一。“很多人曾讨论过近代科学为何没在中国萌生,我觉得和《易经》有很大关系。”杨振宁认…     

中华自然科学社与民国科学体制化的演进

中华自然科学社的前身为华西自然科学社,1927年9月在南京中央大学成立,以"研究及发展自然科学"为宗旨,1951年宣告解散。作为民国时期影响较大的一个全国性、综合性科技社团,中华自然科学社通过创办《科学世界》、编纂科学书籍、召开年会、举办演讲等途径,在宣传和普及科学知识的同时,积极致力于中国科学的体制化。与此同时,就中国科学落后的原因、科学研究路径、科学大众化等问题,中华自然科学社社员阐发了自己的见解。     

方以智《物理小识》版本考述

方以智《物理小识》主要有大集堂本、天瑞堂本、"康熙甲辰"翻刻本、四库本、宁静堂本五种主要版本。现有研究对各版本缺乏深入的调查分析,未能详尽梳理其版本源流。本文通过搜访考证海内外存藏的《物理小识》版本,梳理版本源流,分析诸版本优劣,指出了林衡抄本及天瑞堂刊本的价值。     

海峡两岸科学与技术常用词典学术会议召开

2013年5月14—18日,全国科技名词委组织有关专家赴台出席海峡两岸科学与技术常用词典学术会议。编纂《两岸科学与技术常用词典》是对第五届两岸经贸文化论坛所倡议的＂两岸合编中华语文工具书＂项目的具体实施。全国科技名词委受委托承办大陆方的词典编纂工作。台湾方的词典编纂工作由教育研究院来组织实施。     

《中华大典·数学典》编纂漫谈北大核心CSCDCSSCI

《数学典》是《中华大典》24个典之一,由吴文俊任名誉主编,郭书春任主编,郭世荣、冯立昇任副主编,于2006年春启动,经过30多位同仁12年多不懈努力编纂完成,于2018年5月由山东教育出版社出版。全典共4卷9册,1491万余字。是有史以来首次以类书编纂的方式,按照现代图书分类和数学学科体系,对中国传统数学资料进行的系统整理和分类汇编。本文叙述了《数学典》启动的曲折历程、编纂过程中的点滴回忆,介绍了《数学典》的内容结构、编纂人员,最后论述了《数学典》的编纂对数学史研究的意义。     

科学、知识与权力——日影观测与康熙在历法改革中的作用

17世纪60年代,受杨光先反教案的触动,康熙开始学习西学。他不仅在业余时间勤奋学习西方历算,也将科学作为控制汉人的手段。作为外来的知识,欧洲科学在康熙的政治生命中扮演了十分重要的角色。根据对1668年和1692年两次日影观测的分析,讨论了康熙学习西学的起因,以及他如何运用科学新知在汉族大臣面前作秀;并根据中西文史料,以1711年夏至日影观测为例,详细分析了事件发生的原委,康熙借助科学控制耶稣会士的目的,以及知识和权力交织的复杂背景,这将有助于理解1713年蒙养斋算学馆的建立和历法改革的真正原因。     

技术与社会的整合研究

虽然与科学相比较,技术的历史更为久远,对社会产生的影响更为直接、深刻,而且对技术的历史学和哲学考察都已形成自己的传统,但它的社会学研究远不如科学社会学。默顿的《十七世纪英国的科学、技术与社会》和贝尔纳的《十九世纪科学与工业》都涉及某些技术领域的兴起和繁荣,他们指出,技术的进步得益于人们对科学兴趣的增长和社会对新科学学科形成的推动,因而社会因素既影响科学的发展,也影响技术的发展。本世纪30年代起,在关于科学技术和社会交互作用的论述中,开始强调科学技术对社会的影响,《科学的社会功能》、《历史上的科学》开创这种倾向的先风,许许多多著述顺着这样的方向涌现出来;当代一些学者更把它椎向极端,他们的观点明确地表达了现代科学技术决定论和技治主     

休闲、信仰与对生命意义的追寻

休闲不是简单的放松、娱乐、玩.通过对历史上休闲与宗教之关系的梳理及对休闲之深层意义的探讨能够看到,在更本质的意义上休闲是我们形成自己信仰的一个基础,从而跟人类最高层次的精神生活有着密切的联系.在休闲中建立信仰要求我们对自己的欲望有一定的节制,但这跟休闲理论中经常强调的自由要素并不相悖,甚至可以说是相辅相成的.     

Gould, Hull, and the Individuation of Scientific Theories

When is conceptual change so significant that we should talk about a new theory, not a new version of the same theory? We address this problem here, starting from Gould’s discussion of the individuation of the Darwinian theory. He locates his position between two extremes: ‘minimalist’—a theory should be individuated merely by its insertion in a historical lineage—and ‘maximalist’—exhaustive lists of necessary and sufficient conditions are required for individuation. He imputes the minimalist position to Hull and attempts a reductio: this position leads us to give the same ‘name’ to contradictory theories. Gould’s ‘structuralist’ position requires both ‘conceptual continuity’ and descent for individuation. Hull’s attempt to assimilate into his general selectionist framework Kuhn’s notion of ‘exemplar’ and the ‘semantic’ view of the structure of scientific theories can be used to counter Gould’s reductio, and also to integrate structuralist and population thinking about conceptual change.     

社会需求、技术缺失与机器的诞生

在肯定前人关于技术发展根奉动力是“需求”的观点基础上,提出了技术改进和技术发明的一般性机制——“技术缺失”的显现和对这种显现的领会,并结合原始手工工具和机器的发明历史予以论证。机器的诞生是资本主义生产需求引发的,没有这种社会需求便不会有“机器缺失”的显现,也就没有弥补“缺失”的发明活动。机器技术的每一步进展,都是从手工工具使用时的局限中发现了改进的方向,前一阶段的技术缺失是后采改进和发明的向导;前一阶段的功能结构,在后一阶段都有一定的保留。现代技术尽管异常复杂,它的发明仍然是以另一个层次的“技术缺失”为基本条件的。     

全球化,科学词汇和生物学的未来

1 Biology for the 21st Century In a recent article in the New York Times (3/23/05), reporting on yet another upset to received views of the ways in which cells make use of their DNA, a prominent geneticist is quoted as remarking, "biologists have gotten used to the unexpected." Indeed, they have, as indeed, they have had to. Over the last few years, our understanding of molecular and developmental genetics has mutated dramatically in response to ever more complex analyses of ever more abundant and more complex data.     

科学规范的内涵、类别、功能、结构和形式

提出科学规范论的十大问题。阐述科学规范的内涵、功能与类别;阐述科学规范系统的逻辑结 构与科学规范的存在和表达形式。     

Newtonian Emanation, Spinozism, Measurement and the Baconian Origins of the Laws of Nature

The first two sections of this paper investigate what Newton could have meant in a now famous passage from “De Graviatione” (hereafter “DeGrav”) that “space is as it were an emanative effect of God.” First it offers a careful examination of the four key passages within DeGrav that bear on this. The paper shows that the internal logic of Newton’s argument permits several interpretations. In doing so, the paper calls attention to a Spinozistic strain in Newton’s thought. Second it sketches four interpretive options: (i) one approach is generic neo-Platonic; (ii) another approach is associated with the Cambridge Platonist, Henry More; a variant on this (ii*) emphasizes that Newton mixes Platonist and Epicurean themes; (iii) a necessitarian approach; (iv) an approach connected with Bacon’s efforts to reformulate a useful notion of form and laws of nature. Hitherto only the second and third options have received scholarly attention in scholarship on DeGrav. The paper offers new arguments to treat Newtonian emanation as a species of Baconian formal causation as articulated, especially, in the first few aphorisms of part two of Bacon’s New Organon. If we treat Newtonian emanation as a species of formal causation then the necessitarian reading can be combined with most of the Platonist elements that others have discerned in DeGrav, especially Newton’s commitment to doctrines of different degrees of reality as well as the manner in which the first existing being ‘transfers’ its qualities to space (as a kind of causa-sui). This can clarify the conceptual relationship between space and its formal cause in Newton as well as Newton’s commitment to the spatial extended-ness of all existing beings. While the first two sections of this paper engage with existing scholarly controversies, in the final section the paper argues that the recent focus on emanation has obscured the importance of Newton’s very interesting claims about existence and measurement in “DeGrav”. The paper argues that according to Newton God and other entities have the same kind of quantities of existence; Newton is concerned with how measurement clarifies the way of being of entities. Newton is not claiming that measurement reveals all aspects of an entity. But if we measure something then it exists as a magnitude in space and as a magnitude in time. This is why in DeGrav Newton’s conception of existence really helps to “lay truer foundations of the mechanical sciences.”     

"生物积累"等三个术语概念的探讨

对辞书术语的定义格式作了查证,并通过与教材中的术语定义的对比,探讨两种定义格式的特点。根据参与术语翻译和标准评审的点滴积累与正反体验,将翻译定名中的常见问题尝试概括为十种。每种问题都举出实例,从逻辑、语法与格式三方面加以分析。文中举例虽取自信息技术和对定义的翻译,但所概括的定义的特点和常见问题适用于科学技术其他学科,适用于自行撰写定义。     

Emergence,Evolution, and the Geometry of Logic: Causal Leaps and the Myth of Historical Development

After sketching the historical development of “emergence” and noting several recent problems relating to “emergent properties”, this essay proposes that properties may be either “emergent” or “mergent” and either “intrinsic” or “extrinsic”. These two distinctions define four basic types of change: stagnation, permanence, flux, and evolution. To illustrate how emergence can operate in a purely logical system, the Geometry of Logic is introduced. This new method of analyzing conceptual systems involves the mapping of logical relations onto geometrical figures, following either an analytic or a synthetic pattern (or both together). Evolution is portrayed as a form of discontinuous change characterized by emergent properties that take on an intrinsic quality with respect to the object(s) or proposition(s) involved. Causal leaps, not continuous development, characterize the evolution of human life in a developing foetus, of a thought out of certain brain states, of a new idea (or insight) out of ordinary thoughts, and of a great person out of a set of historical experiences. The tendency to assume that understanding evolutionary change requires a step-by-step explanation of the historical development that led to the appearance of a certain emergent property is thereby discredited.     

道德的双重作用与自然界的权利、利益和价值

本文从道德的第一重作用：“维护人的利益”出发，认为尊重自然界及其中物种和其他组分的权利就是维护生态平衡。物种、生态系及地球生物圈其他组分的内在价值也就是对系统稳定性的价值。利益也就是物种的需要、习性。从道德的第二重作用：“满足人精神需求和实现自身价值”出发，认为自然界及其中的生态系统、物种、动植物个体的权利、利益和价值就是热爱生命、满足精神需求和实现自身价值的依据。并针对非人类中心主义环境伦理学把“是”等同于“应该”这一难点问题，认为这些流派提出的权利、利益、价值的依据就是寻求动植物个体、物种、生态系统、自然界中与人相似的特征把他们当做人来爱护。     

Percept Variance,Subadditivity and the Metric Classification of Similarity,and Dissimilarity Data

Percept variance is shown to change the additive property of city-block distances and make city-block distances more subadditive than Euclidean distances. Failure to account for percept variance will result in the misclassification of city-block data as Euclidean. A maximum likelihood estimation procedure is proposed for the multidimensional scaling of similarity data characterized by percept variance. Monte Carlo and empirical experiments are used to evaluate the proposed approach.