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Joseph Needham on Taoism and Western Science

Many of the most attractive factors in Chinese character originate from Taoist thought. Without Taoism, China would be like a big tree whose deep roots have rotted away.

Mr. Fu Sinian, the former acting president of Peking University, said in the "Opening Speech at the Sixth International Conference on the History of Science and Technology in China":

"Joseph Needham insisted that in ancient China Taoism's natural knowledge is the most comprehensive. Taoist natural knowledge should not be interpreted in a mystical way.

"Needham attributed the reason why this ethical school overwhelmed the naturalistic philosophical school. For the political and social environment of the Han Dynasty. I totally agree with this…. ”

Why did the modern scientific revolution appear in Western Europe and not in China? Why did China lead Europe in science and technology for more than two thousand years before the scientific revolution? Why did Taoist culture appear in China and not in the West? ?

Fifty-two years ago, Joseph Needham gave a speech entitled "Science and Agriculture in China and the West" at the meeting of the Chinese Agricultural Society in Chongqing. He said:

"I believe in the following two things. The following points are correct propositions: First, the ancient Chinese, like the ancient Greeks who are often considered to have produced science, were able to explore the nature of the world we live in. Your ancestors had great philosophical schools, such as Taoism and Legalism. I believe (and I can say this without having to do some research) that they are on par with the Greek philosophers whose studies of nature became the beginnings of Western science. Most Chinese scholars can say the same thing. But due to various reasons, it did not develop.

"Second, over a long period of time, we can say about 2,500 years, the Chinese have made some discoveries that are absolutely important to the entire history of mankind. Some of them are of course something that we all know Familiar, and the existence of these discoveries after all shows that the Chinese were not only able to contemplate nature in the past, like the Taoists and famous logicians, they were also able to conduct experiments...

"If China had. With climate, geography, society, and economy like the West, and we in the West have the same conditions as China, modern science will emerge in China, not in the West. Westerners had to learn square characters in order to fully grasp the heritage of modern science, just like Chinese scientists now have to learn Western languages. "

Joseph Needham's views are increasingly supported by many scholars. In the preface to the second part of the fifth volume of "History of Chinese Science and Technology", he pointed out that Taoist thought preserves "the inner and unborn, the most important things." Science in the full sense of the word." Joseph Needham believed that the development of Taoist thought would eventually lead to modern science. The Chinese Taoist tradition would pave the way for the future development of science and thus become the guiding principle of science.

As early as 1941, Joseph Needham The article "Chinese Contributions to Scientific Humanism" published in "Free World" pointed out: "...However, in some aspects, Confucianism is too humanistic, although humanism is scientific. It has never been interested in the world outside human society. It hinders such interests, hence the great rebellion of the Taoist philosophers the dim Lao Tzu and the brilliant yet lovely Zhuang Tzu. The Taoists discussed similar issues to Epicurus, the ancient central Mediterranean man, and Lucretius said the same things that the Taoists said. Because of the desire for ideal tranquility and protection from all unrest (similar to the tranquility of Epicurus), they left human society and went to the mountains to think in order to achieve an understanding of nature. Desiring to achieve physical immortality, or at least to prolong life as long as possible, they practiced all types of exotic regimens and experimented with food and medicine. In this process, alchemy, the root of all modern chemistry, was born. Desiring the ultimate good of mankind, they were not interested in any direct proposals, for they felt that, no matter how much the very officious Confucians kept nagging, until mankind could gain some understanding of the vast world in which it lived, , human society will never get better. "

From the perspective of the development of natural science, Taoism has played a very positive role. Joseph Needham used 150,000 words to discuss "Taoism and Taoist Thought" in "History of Science and Technology in China". He used a lot of Historical facts have confirmed that "the most important thinkers of Taoism are among the most outstanding writers and poets in history... It is true that Taoist thought is religious and poetic; but it is at least as strong as alchemy and science." , democratic, and politically revolutionary.

Joseph Needham reminded the world significance of Taoist thought from the comparative perspective of the two major civilizations of Europe and Asia: "Why the history of European thought has not shown a system that is truly similar to the comprehensive system of Taoism is an intriguing question. I often feel that if we can have a complete answer to this question, then most of the mechanisms of the two major civilizations of Europe and Asia will be revealed.

Of course, there were Taoists in European history. Smell groups and individuals, for example, as schools there were Pythagoras and the Gnostics; as individuals there were Roger Bacon, Nicholas of Cusa, and Bruno at Lagli in the mid-seventeenth century. A group of people around Lady Conway, among them Van Herport and Dr. Henry More of Christ's College, were in many ways 'Taoists' among the later thinkers. William Black was extremely Taoist in his religious naturalism, and when I read Taoist works, many of Black's words came naturally to me. This happened to me too often. So much so that the question arises whether by any chance Blake might have encountered some Taoist way of thinking - this seems to be no more than a possibility

Confucian classics as well. The interpretation of it by Neo-Confucianists, through the famous work "The Chinese Philosopher Confucius" (1687) by Intorcett, Couplet and their colleagues, had a huge impact on Europe in the eighteenth century. Everyone is familiar with it - if the Taoist classics had been translated at that time, how different the effect would have been! ..."

Why didn't the West produce Taoism with overall characteristics? This question is worth pondering.

Joseph Needham pointed out the influence of Taoist thought in contemporary China: "...Taoist thought and behavior patterns include various resistances to traditional customs, individuals withdraw from society, love and study nature, refuse to hold official positions, As well as the embodiment of the paradoxical "no desire" in the "Tao Te Ching", there is no desire in life, no rebellion in action, and no destruction in growth. Many of the most attractive factors in Chinese character come from Taoist thought. . Without Taoism, China would be like a big tree whose deep roots have rotted.”

To sum up, Taoism has had a huge impact on science in China and the world. It will have a greater impact on world science and open up a broader path for the transformation of science and the emergence and development of new science in the world.