I

  Chapter 767 764【Gewu School】

  Besides Pan Wei, Song Qin, and Cai Yuncheng, the last scholar who went to sea with the group was Li Sixiao.

When Song Qin was summarizing scientific research methods, Li Sixiao entered the room with "Principles of Philosophy" and said excitedly: "Brother Yang, the book you recommended is really well written, Descartes is really a great European Confucian !"

  Song Qin said with a smile: "I can't talk about 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 though he has never read Confucian classics. The truth that this person comprehends, I will translate it as 'mind-matter theory' (mind-matter dualism), which coincides with Yang Minggong's Great way of learning!"

"what?"

  Song Qin was dumbfounded.

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 it is doubtful to be sure. Doubt proves that people are thinking, and thinking is human. Proof of existence, so "I think, therefore I am". He was convinced of his own existence, and then 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 heart? "

  Song Qin muttered, "Isn't this explanation too far-fetched?"

   "It's not farfetched!"

Li Sixiao began to eloquently: "There is nothing outside Yang Minggong's heart, since the heart and things are in one body. Without the spiritual heart, there will be no heaven, earth, ghosts, gods, and everything; Only by thinking about oneself can we prove the existence of God and the world. Without God endowing the mind and the world, he would not be able to think. Duke Yangming and Descartes are saying the same thing?"

  Song Qin didn't like things that were empty-headed, so he didn't bother to refute, nodded and said, "Maybe."

  Li Sixiao said again:

"Descartes said that the world is very complicated, and people can never truly see the problem comprehensively. Only God can do this. Therefore, the method for people to study the world should divide the problem into details, and study it as isolated and static as possible. "

"Yangming Gong also said that Tao cannot be spoken. He also said that to do good and eliminate evil is to study things. Besides, people must practice kung fu in things. It should be adjusted according to the current situation. Isn’t it just a case-by-case discussion, isn’t it a way to divide and study things? The ready-made school, the Guiji school, and the orthodox school of the mind study have their own methods. But we scholars who study the world must find another way to understand the mind study. This flute Karl's knowledge is just like understanding with psychology to guide our research world."

  "Descartes had a theory of mind and matter, but Duke Yangming said that mind is rational. Matters can be attributed to Qi. Isn't the theory of mind and matter the theory of Qi?"

  Song Qin was dumbfounded when he heard that, well, he made a big circle and returned to Song-Ming Neo-Confucianism.

Li Sixiao said: "Qi and reason are inseparable. To be unreasonable is to have no mind, to be unable to think, and to be unable to understand the rules of all things in the world. Without Qi, neither people nor things exist. Qi and reason, Descartes believed, are reason. Exist first. Since God exists first, everything exists and human beings exist only when there is God.”

"Is it true that Descartes' God can be understood as Zhu Zi's Wuji or Taiji. The heart is the principle. Qi is the world. We have a heart, a conscience, and can think and study the world. Those who are born to know are sages, and we If you are not a saint, you need to study things to gain knowledge. To study the world and study knowledge is to develop conscience and explore everything in the universe. Knowing has obstacles, so you have to doubt, so you have to 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 the science of mind, and even only superficially knew about Neo-Confucianism. He was not interested in traditional things, and he was all focused on scientific research.

  However, it is possible to layer skins.

  Li Sixiao continued: "There is actually no essential difference between the worldviews of Neo-Confucianism and Psychology. We don't need to overthrow it, but can use it."

"Therefore, there is a world view for doing research. First there is Wuji or Taiji, which is the **** that Descartes said. Taiji is divided into two forms, which breeds Qi and Li, and derives all things in the world. Li is the heart, conscience, and the rules of heaven and earth. It is also the thinking ability of human beings. Qi is everything in the world, and it is the object of our research.”

"And epistemology is also available. We are not saints, and we cannot be born to know it. Confucius and Meng Yasheng are only the most holy teachers, not real saints. What they say may not be correct. So we have to doubt and rationally study The world. We have to doubt any principles and rules that cannot be clearly proved. Even what Confucius said, we should doubt it. To study everything with doubts is what Yangming Gong said. Put effort into things. To do good and to eliminate evil is Investigating things, goodness is truth, and evil is falsehood.”

   "So there is also a methodology, which is what Descartes said!"

  Song Qin just doesn't care about vulgar things, but he is not a real fool.

  He knows about natural science research, which is still a by-path. The current emperor supports it, but the future emperor may not necessarily, and may even suppress and oppose it. If you want natural science to be recognized and become the academic mainstream, you cannot abandon everything traditional.

  Suddenly, Song Qin smiled and said, "You and my brother, how about doing this together?"

Li Sixiao said happily: "That's what I mean! It's a pity that there are no real great Confucians among the envoys. The two of us can only make a rough outline first. When we return to Nanjing, we will visit famous Confucians. We need to find those enlightened Confucian scholars , such as Huang Zongxi, Gu Yanwu and the like. Whether they criticize or encourage them, I invite them to criticize mistakes and omissions. Then I call on the scholars of Qintian Academy to enrich this theory. Given time, it will surely achieve positive results!"

  In a word, the two want to borrow the cover of Confucianism and use the old bottle of Confucianism to hold the new wine of science.

   This kind of thing is perfectly normal, especially at the end of the Ming Dynasty, when the Chinese intellectual circle was full of demons dancing wildly, there were a lot of various thoughts. Even Neo Confucianism and Psychology, which are incompatible with water and fire, have been improved and put together to form various new schools.

  Li Sixiao's theory, among countless new ideas, is actually not too outrageous, because there are many people who are even more outrageous.

  Now is not the time when traditional Neo-Confucianism is monopolizing the academic world. It is the best time for the birth of new ideas, and it is also the best time for the formation of natural science theories.

  Their core point of view is that what Confucius said may not be right, that is, the spirit of scientific skepticism. This kind of thinking is also out of the ordinary. In the late Ming Dynasty, there were not a few people who were not Confucians, and many Confucian scholars wanted to break out of the cage of Confucianism and Mencius. It's just that it was interrupted by the Qing Dynasty in history. In order to establish legitimacy, the Manchu Qing erected Confucius, and all active and advanced thoughts died under the power.

   "Cheng Zhu has Confucianism, Lu Wang has Xinxue, what should we call this?" Song Qin asked.

Li Sixiao smiled and said: "When we study the world, the world view is basically consistent with Neo-Confucianism. The key lies in the study of things, and the study of things emphasizes doubts, and the truth of things is found in the midst of doubts. How about calling it 'Ge Wu Xue'? Maybe a hundred years later, someone will use it to me. Surname, call Gewuxue 'Song Li Zhixue'."

  Mathematics, astronomy, and geography are all traditional miscellaneous studies.

  As for physics, there is no need for Zhao Han to name it. It already existed in the late Ming Dynasty, and it is taken from "Gewuzhili".

  Li Sixiao has great ambitions. He wants to unify all miscellaneous studies, that is, natural sciences, into "Gewuxue".

  The reason behind Gewu must be verified. Doubt everything, what cannot stand the test is false, and what can stand the test is the truth. In the future, there will be no authority in academics, but doubt and rationality will be the authority. There are no saints, only scholars who keep studying things to gain conscience.

  Confucius is still that Confucius, but not that Confucius.

   At this moment, far away in Paris, Queen Anne ordered scholars and artists to be summoned. The main conveners are young celebrities from the French Academy, or disciples of older scholars, and ten people will be sent to China for exchanges.

  Of course it is not to exchange natural sciences, but to learn Chinese theory of loyalty to the emperor, music, painting, architecture, sculpture and so on.

   Blaise Pascal, who is only thirty years old, has just completed "The Essays on Liquid Equilibrium and Air Weight". As early as the age of sixteen, he completed "On Conic Sections", leaving "Pascal's Theorem". He invented the calculator, studied vacuum and atmospheric pressure, improved the mercury barometer, and used the barometer for weather forecasting. Even Leibniz, who invented calculus, borrowed from Pascal's research manuscripts.

  If we follow the historical trajectory, next year, such a scientific genius will turn to theological research in an all-round way.

  Starting from skepticism, this gentleman came to a religious conclusion: perceptual and rational knowledge are unreliable, so faith is above all else!

  Later, when he was studying theology, he took time off to recuperate due to illness, and when he was in a panic, he also did some scientific research. For example, he communicated with the mathematician Fermat and laid the foundation of modern probability together.

  His name is Pascal, and the unit of pressure is referred to as "Pa".

   "Can I go to China? When I corresponded with Mr. Descartes, he said that China's mathematics research is very advanced." Pascal asked.

  The official said disgustedly: "We only recruit scholars from the Academy, or students 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, he once corresponded with the priests of the Jesuits. His Majesty 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 very reasonable, and Pascal was also very famous. So no longer refused, 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 also has a lot of research on mathematics. From different angles, he also has analytic geometry ideas, which have existed before Mr. Descartes. Maybe, he can go to China too."

  "Lawyer?" The official laughed, "Did he go to China to study law? What about Fermat, forget it. Even you should ask the Prime Minister for instructions."

  (end of this chapter)