《天步真原》的神秘序文

The Mysterious Author of the Preface to Smogulenski and Xue Fengzuo's Tianbu zhenyuan

《天步真原》是波兰籍耶稣会士穆尼阁与中国天文学家薛凤祚合作编译的一部著作,系统介绍了西方数学天文学和星占学知识,其中的天文学系统实际上是以哥白尼日心地动模型构建起来的.概述的前面有一篇匿名的序言.从该匿名名称的特点以及序文的内容来分析,这位匿名作者当是著名的思想家方以智,序文的内容对于我们理解方以智对西方天文学的态度很有帮助.

The Tianbu zhenyuan （天步真原, True Principle of the Heavenly Pacing） is a book compiled by the Polish Jesuit Jean--Nicolas Smogulenski （穆尼阁, 1611--1656） and his Chinese disciple Xue Fengzuo （薛凤祚, 1600--1680） on the basis of the Perpetual Tables of Celestial Motions by Philip yon Lansberge （1516--1632）, a Belgian astronomer who based his planetary tables on heliocentric models. The book also includes the first systematic introduction of Western astrology. In front of the book there is a preface by an anonymous author. From the anonymous name used here and the points of view expressed in the text, it is clear that the really author is Fang Yizhi （方以智, 1611--1671）, a very important scholar and thinker in the 17th century China. In this preface, he sets forth his opinions about the Western astronomy, which is very important in understanding his attitudes toward Western science that was transferred to China by Jesuit missionaries of the time.