Why was modern science born in the West?

It's not that there is no ability, it's just that the level of science and technology has begun to sprout like the West at the end of the Ming Dynasty at the end of the dynasty, but the internal and external troubles were taken advantage of by the Qing Dynasty, and the tradition of the nomads is to pay more attention to cold weapons, and the development of natural firearms technology has been completely suspended.

This is a big topic, I shouldn't be able to grasp it, if I can write a little bit every day, see if I can be reliable.

1.Science is developed from philosophy, and it can also be understood in this way, philosophy plus experiments become science.

2.Philosophy, which is closely related to theology, is another big topic.

3.There can be no science without democracy, which is also an aspect of the argument.

Let's get into the topic.

The cradle of modern human civilization is the ancient Greek civilization, which can become the ultimate leader of mankind into the future, and the role of ancient Greek civilization is not accidental. Before 500 B.C., a large number of people who thought about the relationship between man and the universe and the earth in the universe all day long were born, and the people who thought like this all day were recognized and respected by the whole society, which was already remarkable in itself, and had distanced itself from other civilizations.

The original human society must not want to see no social rules, no noisy social morality of the chaotic and barbaric society, then the old Nahou ancient Greek idlers began to think, the essence of social morality is how to respect people in the society, and how to formulate rules to let people respect people according to the rules, which formed social rules.

And human society is so complex, the existence of social morality cannot solve all things, the most prominent is the problem of death, the problem of love. To be continued.

The main reason for the leadership of Western science is that it has adopted reductionism and the laws of physics to further understand time and space beyond the reach of the human senses.

According to the British biochemist Joseph Needham (1900-1995), the focus of scientific research in China has always been on the study of the nature of things as a whole and the harmonious and hierarchical relationships between them, from the stars in the sky to the mountains, flowers, and dust on the earth. In this worldview, the objects of nature are inseparable and constantly changing, unlike separate and unchanging as the Enlightenment thinkers recognized. As a result, abstract processes and analytic studies, which appeared in European science in the 17th century, never appeared in China.

Why wasn't modern science born in China, or why was it born in the West? This is the "Needham problem." The basic ideas of the past research on the "Needham problem" are:

Western civilization gave birth to modern science, but Chinese civilization did not give birth to modern science; Comparing Western civilization with Chinese civilization, what Chinese civilization lacks is the reason why Chinese civilization did not give birth to modern science. The problem with this line of thinking is that the birth of modern science is entirely attributed to Western civilization, and the role of other civilizations in the birth of modern science is not seen.

After rethinking the "Needham problem", the author comes to the following conclusion: modern science is not only a product of Western civilization, but also the result of the interaction between Eastern civilization and Western civilization. That is to say, without Western civilization, modern science could not have been born; Without Eastern civilization, modern science could not have been born.

But when and where this convergence takes place is determined by two factors: one is inevitable and the other is accidental. Modern science in the West has both inevitable and accidental factors, so modern science was born in the West.

Here it is"Technology"with"Science"The difference between . Science and technology are often mentioned together, but there is still a distinction between science and technology. A technology solves a single problem, while a scientific discovery affects an entire series of problems.

It even led to great changes in the state of life in this society, such as the discovery of Newtonian mechanics. While our four major inventions are great inventions, they all solve a single problem. Here it is"Invention"with"Scientific discoveries"The difference.

Why do we have great inventions and not great scientific discoveries? The reasons are complex. This is not just a question of whether the Chinese are smart or not, but a question of cultural background and social environment.

Some people like to work on some illusory problems in their spare time, such as:"How the stars move, how the sun rotates"，"Did I push the object? Or is it the object pushing me? "Did the apple fall?

Or did the earth suck it down? "Put your energy into this"Boring and useless"tasks. Others, in their spare time, study it"Is it better to marry another wife, or to marry two concubines? , how to make the apprentice more prosperous"This is a very practical, very real problem. Another reason is the attitude towards theories that explain the world, or the worship of the words of the saints. Or look at the predecessors, reflect on the problem, find the problem, such thoughts.

The ancient Greek sages also believed that the world was made up of water, earth, fire, and air, much like the ideas of Chinese philosophers. However, they later developed the idea that the world has substances, voids, objects, nouns, and things themselves. Wait a minute; Chinese sages think"Tai Chi, Yin and Yang, Five Elements, Bagua"And the world is made up of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, which is the ultimate truth.

The origin of the world and the laws of motion of the universe have been explained, and there is no need to study the origin of the material world anymore.

As a result of this understanding, the Chinese formed"Respect ancestors"with"Emphasis on realism and practicality"and other methods of thought. Therefore, some people in modern times still regard the I Ching and the Five Elements Bagua Diagram as supreme. I feel good, very smart, and proud that I can incorporate the results of other people's research into the I Ching and the Five Elements Bagua diagram, without discovering the scientific principles myself.

It is sad to see that there is not a single scientist under the theory of the Book of Changes and the Five Elements Bagua Diagram. With the Five Elements Bagua Diagram to explain the world, there is no need for us ancients to study science. Since then, people have devoted all their energy to the study of social problems and human relationships.

This is the limitation of worldview thinking brought about by Confucianism and Taoism.

This is very clear to say modern. Not to say ancient. Although a lot of modern technology is based on ancient inventions.

Although China has four major inventions, some of the sciences we use now, mathematics and astronomy that we use are all from Greece, so it is said that the current science was born in the West.

Because China was relatively backward at that time, many people thought that China had no way to develop such good things.

Because China was relatively backward at that time, there was no such thing at all, so there was such a statement.