自然科学为什么必须以形而上学为基础

Why Natural Science Must Be Founded on Metaphysics

哲学的核心是本体论,即形而上学,它是人们的一种世界观,即人们对整个客观世界终极原因的一种看法或解释。亚里士多德的《形而上学》作为第一本纯粹意义上的哲学著作,其核心内容就是试图通过人类的理性思维揭示出客观世界的原因。在他看来,这是人类最高、最大的"智慧"。而自然科学的本质是人类对自然界具体的、精确的、分门别类的看法或解释,只不过这种看法或解释必须受人类经验的严格检验。因此,哲学或形而上学与自然科学之间的关系是抽象与具体、普遍性与特殊性的关系,作为人的思想观念它们两者是一致的。这就意味着,自然科学必须以形而上学为前提、为基础,没有形而上学作前提或基础,自然科学将成为空中楼阁。康德之所以写《自然科学的形而上学基础》,原因也正在于此。

The core of philosophy is ontology, i.e. metaphysics. It is the world outlook of people, that is a view or an explanation of people to the final cause of the whole objective world. As the first philosophical works of pure meaning the core content of Aristotle＇s Metaphysics is to attempt to bring to light the causes of the objective world by the rational thinking of human. According to his viewpoint, this is the highest and greatest wisdom of human. And the essence of natural science is the concrete, exact and classificatory outlook or explanation of people to the natural world, however, this outlook or explanation must be strictly tested by the experience of human. Therefore, the relation between philosophy or metaphysics and natural science is the abstract and concrete or the universality and particularity relation, as the thinking and idea of human they are identical. This means that natural science must be founded on or presupposed in metaphysics, without the foundation or presupposition of metaphysics the natural science would be the castles in the air. The cause why Kant composed the Metaphysics Foundation of Natural Science is this.