Scientific Implication and Time Value of Confucius' View on Science and Technology

摘要

Confucius wrote a lot works in his life. His compilation of six Confucian classics, such as "The Book of Songs" and "Shangshu", and "The Analects of Confucius" and "The Book of Rites", completed by his disciples and disciples of later generations, not only kept the original appearance of ancient documents, but also recorded and reflected Confucius' political ideals, educational thoughts and a lot of ancient scientific and technological knowledge. It has become a unique Confucian view of science and technology. Although Confucius' view of science and technology is scattered in various classics, its system is relatively complete. It contains rich ideas of heaven, earth, humanity, life, agriculture, mathematics, music and so on. Confucius' view of science and technology is prominently embodied in its scientific implications, such as its strong exploratory spirit of seeking truth and innovation, its distinct scientific characteristics of knowing morality and godlessness, its deep humanistic concern for cherishing life and loving things, and its scientific sense of law of reverence for heaven and fear for destiny. Deeply exploring the contemporary value of Confucius' scientific and technological outlook and drawing on his scientific and technological wisdom of being noble in nature, being objective and realistic, benevolent and righteous will help to guard against the possible harm to human beings caused by the "double-edged sword" of scientific and technological progress. In the past, scholars intentionally or unintentionally forgot, neglected or even criticized Confucius' view of science and technology when they studied and absorbed his political wisdom and educational thoughts. Therefore, it is an important academic task for the study of contemporary philosophy of science and technology to clarify the historical misunderstanding of Confucius' view of science and technology and to pursue its realistic value and restore the original theory of Confucius' view of science and technology.