Tagore's View on Science and His Cross-Civilization Dialogue
From the perspective of scientific attitude,there were two triggering factors for Tagore's shift from advocating science to being anti-science and making anti-scientific remarks during his visit to China.The first factor was the association of science with Western material civilization,which promoted the latter in contrast to Eastern spiritual civilization.This perspective was rooted in a biased view of civilization divisions,leading to the perception of science as exclusively a Western pursuit.The second factor was the opposition of science and technology to nature,driven by concerns about the destruction of the environment caused by modern technological civilization.While this perspective reflected a forward-looking insight,it proposed an ineffective remedy.From the perspective of scientific cognition,Tagore understood science from the perspective opposite to art,thus grasping the different essence and characteristics of science and art,which is rational.His view on science embodies a strong sense of dialogue.His dialogue with Einstein on science,religion,and truth was a profound exchange and collision between East and West and between art and science.Based on the religious philosophy of unity of the self and the ultimate reality,his view on science had idealist and mystical tendencies,which,though not recognized by Einstein,inspired Heisenberg,bringing Eastern wisdom to new scientific research represented by quantum mechanics.His view is comparable to that of contemporary thinkers in the East and the West such as Husserl and Lu Xun.Both the similarities and differences are valuable intellectual resources for cross-civilization dialogue.
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