The roots of the silver tree: Boyle,alchemy, and teleology

Though Robert Boyle called final causes one of the most important subjects for a natural philosopher to study, his own treatise on the subject, the Disquisition about Final Causes, has received comparatively little scholarly attention. In this paper, I explicate Boyle's complex argument against the use of teleological explanations for inanimate bodies, such as metals. The central object of this argument is a mysterious allusion to a silver plant. I claim that the silver plant is best understood as a reference to alchemical product: the Arbor Dianae, an offshoot of George Starkey's recipe for the Philosophers' Stone. Then, I show how the context of alchemy not only clarifies Boyle's argument but also places it within a wider dialectic about matter and teleology. I then contrast the parallel arguments of Boyle and John Ray on the question of whether metals have divine purposes and show that the difference is explained by Boyle's belief in the transmutation of metals.     

Newtonianism and the enthusiasm of Enlightenment

The career of John Jackson (1686-1763), Arian theologian and controversialist, provides a key to unlocking the early reception and quick collapse of a Newtonian natural apologetic originally developed by Samuel Clarke. The importance of friendship and discipleship in eighteenth-century intellectual enquiry is emphasised, and the links between Newton and his followers are traced alongside those of a group of Cambridge Lockeans, led by Jackson’s direct contemporary Daniel Waterland, who proved instrumental in the initial dismantling of Clarke’s brand of Newtonian apologetic. The controversial context of this engagement is shown to have been largely provided by the religiously compromising rise of freethinking, and Tindal’s Christianity as old as the creation (1731) signalled the dangers to proponents of natural religion as an adjunct of Christian apologetic in such a heated atmosphere. Religious division of the sort that resulted paradoxically played into the hands of the freethinkers in the anticlerical atmosphere of the 1730s, and accusations were exchanged between Newtonians and Lockeans accordingly. The dynamic of England’s Enlightenment experience is, then, a complicated one, and, as the career and writings of Jackson and William Whiston demonstrate, it was one which absorbed as well as repudiated ‘enthusiasm’.     

现代科学的复杂性审视--齐曼科学社会学思想的新发展

约翰·齐曼是一位科学家出身的科学社会学家。他认为现代科学正在从学院时代走向了后学院时代,因此其传统的学术规范即默顿规范随之也要作出相应的修正;科学进步也像生物进化,有自然选择但也有自组织能力;科学虽然并不具有绝对可靠性,但它仍然有理由值得我们去信赖。     

罗尔斯的正义原则及其启示

罗尔斯的正义论对我国社会转型时期制度正义、社会公正的建设有重大启发意义。现代中国社会面临的主要问题之一是社会正义的缺失，正义论的思想无疑会给我们重建社会正义提供很多有益的启示。     

Early eighteenth-century Newtonianism: the Huguenot contribution

John Theophilus Desaguliers’s allegorical poem The Newtonian system of the world, the best model of government (1728) crystallizes the contribution of several important French Protestant exiles to the construction of early Newtonianism. In the context of diverging interpretations of Newton’s scientific achievement in terms of natural religion, writers such as Des Maizeaux, Coste, Le Clerc and others actively disseminated a version of Newtonianism which was close to Newton’s own intention. Through public experiments, translations, correspondence, reviews and books, they managed to convey a vision of Newtonian science which coincided with their propaganda of English liberties in Church and State. Therefore their effort on behalf of Newtonianism can be interpreted as part of a wider strategy of assimilation into English society at a time when most exiled Huguenots had given up hope of ever recreating a French Reformed Church at home.     

中美自然写作中“鸟”意象的生态意蕴探微——以约翰·缪尔与张炜的生态散文为例

约翰·缪尔被誉为美国自然保护的领袖,其力作《我们的国家公园》曾产生极为广泛的影响。我国作家张炜的散文集《我选择,我向往》蕴涵着浓郁的生态意识。文章运用叙事学相关理论,从叙事方式、叙事话语、叙事视角等方面分析缪尔、张炜上述作品中以＂鸟＂意象为载体的生态意蕴及各自的艺术魅力。     

德贞:东西方医学文化的交流使者

德贞(John Dudgeon,1837-1901)是享誉中外朝野的良医和名人,他是北京协和医院的最早创始人;中国最早的官方医学教育由他开始;他翻译了世界经典的解剖学教科书《全体通考》(Gray’s Anatomy)和哈维的《心血运动论》。德贞主动承担着将中国的健康理念和医疗方式推广至西方世界的责任,他在欧洲医学界演讲中医健康术、在英文医学杂志发表探讨中医的论文。本文介绍了德贞如何以旧学新解的方式开创近代以来东西方医学跨文化传通的先例,担当起东西方医学文化的交流使者。以此探索既存传统医药文化和卫生习俗与新兴医学知识间的互动和彼此影响,发现彼此间的相似性和普适性,寻求可能的学术汇通。     

次可微函数的一阶最优性条件

讨论了具有等式与不等式约束条件的次可微优化问题的一阶最优性条件．在等式约束只有一个的情形下．给出了ＦｒｉｔｚＪｏｈｎ必要条件．并在一定凸性假设下．讨论了Ｋｕｈｎ－Ｔｕｃｋｅｒ必要条件和充分条件．     

《剑桥中华人民共和国史 1949--1965年》质疑

麦克法夸尔与费正清主编的《剑桥中华人民共和国史1949—1965年》基于其特殊的历史观和研究方法，依据“王朝循环”的理论，从政治学角度将中国几千年的历史看成一个延续不断的整体，新中国的历史在他们眼中自然就成为了封建王朝史的延续，不仅逻辑上说不过去，在情感层面和理论层面也是为新中国历史研究工作者所难以接受的。     

约翰·亚当斯海权思想研究

约翰·亚当斯是美国早期的外交家和美国第二任总统，也是最早关注美国海权建设的政治家之一。约翰·亚当斯海权思想的形成深受美国的繁荣和安全对海洋严重依赖的现实，他的职业背景特别是他参与美国政治活动的经历，以及关于中立国自由航行的国际法和国际惯例的影响。其海权思想主要包括坚持中立权利和海上航行自由、海军对维护国家独立和海洋权益的作用以及对发展强大海权的信念。约翰·亚当斯的海权思想十分理性，极具现实主义色彩，对美国海军政策和海洋战略的发展有重要影响。