文献(学)视域中的西方科学思想:基于学术史的考察

Western Scientific Thought in the Perspective of Literature from an Investigation Based on Academic History

对西方科学思想的最切近的研究应该从基于“二手文献”的跟踪研究回到它的经典形态或“原典本身”。从学术史维度看,西方科学思想存在于拉尔修等人的“学述”或“传记”传统、经典“诠释”传统和按“七艺”编撰的“博物志”传统之中;这三种传统形成了西方科学思想的三种主要经典形式:名人传记、辞书典籍和经典研读。一部西方科学思想(史)其实就是西方经典文献被撰写、被流传、被重写的过程。中国学界对西方科学思想的研究,不论是科技史还是科技哲学,应该正确处理经典存续与理论创新的关系,问题导向与学科/学术体系建设之间的关系。

This article believes that the most recent research on Western scientific thought should return to its classic form or the “original canon itself” from the tracking study based on “second-hand literature”. From the perspective of academic history, Western scientific thought exists in the traditions of “biography”, classic hermeneutics and the “natural history” with “liberal arts”;these three traditions formed the three main classic forms of Western scientific thought: biography research, dictionaries compilation and classic studies. A Western scientific thought(history) is actually process by which Western classics are written, circulated, and rewritten. The study of Western scientific thought in Chinese academic circles, whether it is the history of science and technology or philosophy of science and technology, should correctly handle the relationship between the classics reserved and theoretical innovation, and the relationship between problem orientation and the construction of disciplines/academic systems.