中西古代金丹术的比较研究

通过对古代中西金丹术的比较研究，着重分析了中国炼丹术与西方炼金术在产生的物质基础、追求目标、理论体系、操作方法等方面的相同点和特殊性。从认识论的角度指出了金丹术是化学发展的必经之路，阐明了不同的文化传统对化学发展的影响。并在此基础上对中西金丹术不同演化方向的原因做了初步探讨。最后指出，中国炼丹术和西方炼金术是在各自的文化背景中独立产生的发展起来的。

COMPARATIVE RESEARCH ON ALCHEMY IN CHINA AND IN THE WEST

Through comparative research on the ancient alchemy of China and the West, this paper emphatically analyses the similarities and particularities between China and the West with regard to their material bases of emergence, the objectives they were after,their theoretical systems, and their operating methods. From the angle of the theory of knowledge, it points out that alchemy had been the inevitable way to develop chemistry,and illustrates the different influences exerted by differed cultural backgrounds on the development of chemistry. In it, the causes for the difference of Chinese and Western evolution directions is also initially approached. The paper concludes that alchemy in China and in the West emerged and developed independently under their respective cultural backgrounds.