In addition to Pan Wei, Song Qin, and Cai Yuncheng, the last scholar to go overseas with the group was Li Sixiao.
Just when Song Qin was summarizing scientific research methods, Li Sixiao came into the room with "Principles of Philosophy" and said excitedly: "Brother Yang, the book you recommended is so well written. Descartes is really a great European Confucian."
!”
Song Qin smiled and said: "I can't even speak of a great Confucian. He is not a Confucian, but he is indeed a European sage."
"Otherwise," Li Sixiao shook his head and said, "this Descartes is indeed a great Confucian, even if he has not read the Confucian classics. The truth he understood, I will translate it as 'mind-matter theory' (mind-matter dualism), which coincides with Yang Minggong's
The Great Way of Learning from the Heart!”
"ah?"
Song Qin was confused when he heard this.
Li Sixiao analyzed: "Descartes doubted everything. He believed in God, but he said he was not sure whether God existed. Because only doubt is real, and belief is doubtful. Doubt proves that people are thinking, and thinking is human
Proof of existence, so 'I think, therefore I am'. After he was convinced of his own existence, he tried to prove the existence of God and the world. Thinking is the heart and conscience. I think, therefore I am, is there nothing outside the mind?
"
Song Qin muttered: "Isn't this explanation too far-fetched?"
"Not far-fetched!"
Li Sixiao began to talk endlessly: "There is nothing outside Yangminggong's heart, since the heart and the things are of the same body. Without the spiritual heart, there will be no ghosts, gods and all things in the world; without the ghosts, gods and all things in the world, there will be no spiritual heart. Descartes said that he
Only by thinking about yourself can you prove the existence of God and the world. If God does not give the mind a soul, and without this world, he cannot think. Are Yangminggong and Descartes not talking about the same truth?"
Song Qin didn't like frivolous things, so he didn't bother to refute, nodded and said: "Maybe."
Li Sixiao added:
"Descartes said that the world is very complex, and people can never truly see a problem comprehensively. Only God can do this. Therefore, the way people study the world is to divide the problem into details and study it as isolated and static as possible.
"
"Yang Minggong also said that Tao cannot be expressed. He also said that doing good and eliminating evil is to do good things. Furthermore, people must practice and do kung fu in things. What is Yang Ming Gong's "gongfu" in doing things? He also said that doing things is tempering and doing kung fu.
We should adapt ourselves to the circumstances of the time. Isn't it just discussing things as they happen? Isn't it not studying things in divisions? The ready-made school, Guiji school, and the orthodox school of mind science each have their own methods. And we scholars who study the world must find another way to understand the mind science. This flute
Karl's knowledge is about understanding the world in conjunction with the mind, and guiding our research into the world."
"Descartes had the mind-matter theory, and Yang Minggong said that the mind is rational. Things can be reduced to qi. Isn't the mind-matter theory the theory of qi-principle?"
Song Qin was stunned when he heard this. Well, he turned around in a big circle and returned to Neo-Confucianism of the Song and Ming Dynasties.
Li Sixiao said: "Qi and reason are inseparable. To be irrational means to have no mind, to be unable to think, and to understand the rules of all things in the world. Without Qi, neither people nor things exist. Qi and reason, Descartes believes, are principles.
Existed first. Since God existed first, only with God can there be all things and only the human heart."
"Can we understand Descartes' God as Zhu Zi's Wuji or Taiji? The heart is the principle. Qi is the world. We have a heart, a conscience, can think, and can study the world. Those who are born to know are saints, we
If you are not a saint, you need to study things to gain knowledge. Studying the world and studying knowledge is to develop conscience, and to explore all things in the universe. There are obstacles to knowing, so you must doubt, so you must put aside your prejudices."
"The existence of intellectual disabilities and ignorant minds requires what you call epistemology and methodology."
Song Qin didn't know much about mind science, and even had only a superficial knowledge of Neo-Confucianism. He was not interested in traditional things and focused entirely on scientific research.
However, it is indeed possible to wear layers of leather.
Li Sixiao continued: "There is actually no essential difference between the worldviews of Neo-Confucianism and Xinxue. We do not need to overthrow them, but can use them."
"Therefore, there is a world view for doing research. First there is Wuji or Taiji, which is the God mentioned by Descartes. Taiji is divided into two rites, which breeds Qi and derives everything in the world. Li is the heart, conscience, and the rules of heaven and earth.
It is also human’s thinking ability. Qi is all things in the world and is the object of our study.”
"And the theory of knowledge is also there. We are not saints and cannot know it from birth. Confucius and Meng Yasheng are only the most holy teachers, not real saints. What they say is not necessarily right. So we have to doubt and study rationally.
In the world, we have to doubt any principles and rules that cannot be clearly proven. Even if it is what Confucius said, we should also doubt it. Use doubt to study everything, as Yang Minggong said, work hard on things. Doing good and eliminating evil is
When looking at things, good is truth and evil is falsehood.”
"So there are methodologies, the ones Descartes said!"
Song Qin just doesn't care about worldly things, but he is not a real fool.
He knows that natural science research is still a sideline. The current emperor supports it, but the future emperor may not necessarily support it, and may even suppress and oppose it. If you want natural science to be recognized and become the academic mainstream, you cannot abandon traditional
everything.
Suddenly, Song Qin smiled and said, "How about you and I, brothers, do this together?"
Li Sixiao said happily: "That's what I meant! It's a pity that there are no real great Confucians among the envoys. The two of us can only set a general framework first. When we return to Nanjing, we will visit famous Confucian scholars. We need to find those enlightened Confucian scholars.
, such as Huang Zongxi, Gu Yanwu, etc. Whether they criticize or encourage, you can ask them to point out mistakes and omissions. Then call on all the scholars from Qintian Academy to enrich this theory. In time, it will be successful!"
In a word, the two wanted to use the old Confucian bottle to hold the new wine of science.
This kind of thing is perfectly normal, especially in the late Ming Dynasty, when the Chinese intellectual world was in chaos, with a lot of diverse ideas. Even Neo-Confucianism and psychology, which were incompatible with water and fire, were improved and tied together to form various
Various new schools of thought.
Li Sixiao's theory, among countless new ideas, actually does not seem too outrageous, because there are many people who are even more outrageous.
Nowadays, traditional Neo-Confucianism no longer monopolizes the academic world. It is the best time for new ideas to be born, and it is also the best time for natural science to form theories.
Their core point of view is that what Confucius said is not necessarily correct, that is, the spirit of scientific skepticism. This kind of thinking is also not out of line. There were many non-Confucian people in the late Ming Dynasty, and many Confucian scholars wanted to break out of the cage of Confucius and Mencius. However, history
It was only interrupted by the Manchu and Qing Dynasties. In order to establish legitimacy, the Manchu and Qing Dynasties erected Confucius. All active and advanced ideas died under the power.
"Cheng and Zhu had Neo-Confucianism, and King Lu had Xinxue. What should we call this?" Song Qin asked.
Li Sixiao smiled and said: "When we study the world, our worldview is generally consistent with Neo-Confucianism. The key lies in investigating things, and investigating things involves doubt. It is in doubting the truth of things. How about calling it 'investigation science'? Maybe a hundred years later, someone will use your method to
The surname called the study of geology as 'the study of Song Dynasty and Li'."
Subjects such as mathematics, astronomy, and geography are all traditional miscellaneous subjects.
As for physics, there is no need for Zhao Han to name it. It already existed in the late Ming Dynasty, and it was taken from the "Principles of Observation of Things".
Li Sixiao had great ambitions. He wanted to unify all miscellaneous studies, that is, natural sciences, into "Gewuxue."
The principles derived from the investigation of things must stand verification. We must doubt everything. What cannot stand verification is false truth, and what can stand verification is truth. From now on, there will be no academic authority, only doubt and reason. There will be no saints.
, only scholars who constantly study things and develop their conscience.
Confucius is still the same Confucius, but he is not the same Confucius.
At this moment, far away in Paris, the Queen Mother Anne ordered a convening of scholars and artists. The main convening targets were young celebrities from the French Academy, or disciples of older scholars, and ten people were to be sent to China for exchanges.
Of course, it is not about communicating about natural science, but about learning Chinese theory of loyalty to the emperor, music, painting, architecture, sculpture, etc.
Blaise Pascal, who was only thirty years old, had just completed "Essays on Liquid Equilibrium and Air Weight". As early as sixteen years old, he had completed "On Conic Sections" and left behind "Pascal's Theorem". He
He invented the calculator, studied vacuum and atmospheric pressure, improved the mercury barometer, and used the barometer to make weather forecasts. Even Leibniz used Pascal's research manuscripts for reference when he invented calculus.
If we follow the historical trajectory, next year, such a scientific expert will turn to theological research in an all-round way.
Starting from skepticism, this person actually came to the religious conclusion: neither perceptual nor rational knowledge is reliable, so faith is above all else!
Later, while studying theology, he took time off due to illness to recuperate. When he was free, he also engaged in some scientific research. For example, he corresponded with the mathematician Fermat, and together they laid the foundation of modern probability.
His name is Pascal, and the unit of pressure is simply "Pa".
"Can I go to China? When I corresponded with Mr. Descartes, he said that China's mathematical research is very advanced." Pascal asked.
The official said disgustedly: "We only recruit scholars from the academy, or disciples of scholars. You are just a peripheral member of the academy, what qualifications do you have to go to China?"
Pascal said: "The emperor of China is a mathematician. Mr. Descartes once corresponded with Jesuit priests. The Chinese emperor, like Mr. Descartes, invented analytic geometry very early. If the envoys
There are mathematicians here, and I think we can have a common language with the Chinese emperor."
When the official heard it, it seemed to make sense, and Pascal was also very famous. So he no longer refused and just said: "I'm going to ask the Prime Minister for instructions."
Pascal added: "I have a friend named Pierre de Fermat. Although he is a lawyer, he is also very interested in mathematics. He also has analytic geometry ideas from different angles, which he had before Mr. Descartes.
Now. Maybe, he can also go to China."
"Lawyer?" the official said amusedly, "Did he go to China to study law? That's Fermat, forget it. Even you have to ask the Prime Minister for instructions."
