Chongzhen Calendar Reform from the Perspective of Philosophy of Engineering
How to understand and realize the science and technology in ancient China is a crucial academic problem yet not fully solved.Out of the facts that the focus of the philosophy of science on the theoretical premise and the philosophy of technology on the autonomy of technology,we find it difficult to coordinate with the situation that there is a lack of relatively independent space for rational science in ancient China.This paper attempts to rewrite and re-understand the ancient activities of science and technology in China from the perspective of philosophy of engineering.Chinese scholars including Li Bocong founded the Chinese school in philosophy of engineering,proposing three stages of engineering activities,which consist of project,implementation and application of outcomes.The Chongzhen Calendar Reform for the purpose of meeting the needs of the country can be divided into three parts as well:the gestation period of the plan,the implementation period as well as the result of the project and its impact.With the combing of relevant historical materials,the paper proposes that Chongzhen Calendar Reform has gone through three main processes.The first point was that two technical routes of Calendar Reform competed and were selected,and the finally Western Method route won.The main reason was the death of the rivals,leading to the disappearance of competitions,rather than that West Method itself really was recognized by everyone.But this has also caused that the Calendar Reform crossed the stage of whether to reform calendar or not to do.And Xu Guangqi's plan on Calendar Reform became dominant.Additionally,in order to promote the implementation of the Xu's plan,the government has formed a community of engineering with considerable heterogeneity.From the outset,the term Liju was synonymous with the engineering community,which included politicians,engineers,scientists,professional technicians,workers and logisticians.But in fact,the boundary of components of the engineering community extended beyond the previous bureaus,such as Qin Tianjian and Lingtai.Later,a new calendar bureau was established on the east side of the capital of Ming,named as the Dongju,which stood side by side with the original calendar bureau,the Xiju.It also showed the complexity of the engineering community of this Calendar Reform.Eventually,the project was abruptly halted for socio-political reasons,which there is not only political as well as social turmoil and the decay around the country,but also the mistakes in specific personnel decisions.The results of the project,like translated and revised almanacs and wooden astronomical instruments,were inherited and applied by next government,the government of Qing dynasty.After scientific analysis,the study found that the project introduced from overseas has two categories of engineering innovations,which are integration of China and the West in methodology and creative innovation in content.Furthermore,via philosophical reflection,it was found that characteristics with opportunism played a vital role in the process of Chongzhen Calendar Reform.Even we feel it difficult to ignore this feature in modern engineering practice.
国家科技期刊平台
NSTL
万方数据
