李约瑟难题的逻辑矛盾及科学价值

The Logical Contradiction of the Needham Puzzle and Its Scientific Value

引言李约瑟 (J.Needham) 博士曾提出一道著名的难题:中国古代有杰出之科学成就,何以“近代科学”崛起于西方而不是中国?尽管李约瑟博士的巨著《中国科学技术史》尚未杀青,他本人关于这一难题的最终解答也还未面世,但国内外学术界却已是众说纷纭。早在1932年,中国大陆就专门召开了有关李氏难题的学术讨论会,会后结集出版了《科学传统与文化——中国近代科学落后的原因》的论文集;在历届国际中国科学史的学术会议上,李氏难题也常常是议题之一;中国的《自然杂志》甚至别具一格地以李氏难题征答的活动,作为对李约瑟老博士90华诞的献礼,而李老博士本人也应约寄上了他的一篇“征答”……

The new idea that the Needham Puzzle, which has been discussed for many years, is a paradoxical question in fact is first proposed by this paper. Using the initial statement of the Needham Puzzle given by Dr. J. Needham himself, the authors argue about the logical contradiction of the Needham Puzzle in different aspects such as semantics and deduction. Some popular transferred explanations of the Needham Puzzle are also analysed by this article. The authors point out that it is impossible to overcome such a logical contradiction in the Needham Puzzle. Having examined some popular tentative answers to the Needham Puzzle, the authors believe that it is not expected to find a complete answer without any logical troubles. Finally, the scientific value of the Needham Puzzle is studied. The authors suggest that the Needham Puzzle should be taken as a new academic topical birthplace serving for the comparison research between Chinese and Western cultures; the past impractical dream of trying to find a final answer to the Needham Puzzle should be given up from now on.