科学如何构建秩序的宇宙——基于卡西尔的“符号形式”解读

How Science Constructs an Ordered Universe——Based on Cassirer’s Symbolic Form Interpretation

科学在卡西尔符号哲学体系中占有重要的位置,被认为是人类文化最独特的成就。卡西尔的符号形式所具有的功能性、建构性和生成性同样在科学符号中被体现出来。尽管科学的基本要求是普遍性和确定性,但作为科学语言的“数”的概念早期却与人的空间直观、时间直观和语言发展紧密相连,体现了人的主体性的成就和鲜明的精神印记,从而使世界进入到宇宙的逻辑和有序的状态中,依照其本性进行运作。从直观表象的数发展到具有逻辑关系的序数的数,再发展到具有类的概念的数,人类精神由此获得了关于数的智性原则。科学形式中“数”与“关系”的概念,体现了符号形式的建构性和关系性的特征,使得科学知识在它自己的领域内被确证并实现了人类精神的普遍结构法则。

Science occupies an important position in Cassirer’s symbolic philosophy system and is regarded as the most unique achievement of human culture.The functionality,constructiveness and generativeness of Cassirer’s symbolic form are also reflected in scientific symbols.Although the basic requirement of science is universality and certainty,the concept of number as a scientific language is closely linked with the development of human space intuition,time intuition and language in the early stage,which embodies the achievements of human subjectivity and distinct spiritual imprints,thus making the world enter the logical and orderly state of the universe and operate according to its nature.From the number of intuitive representation to the number of ordinal number with logical relationship,and then to the number with the concept of classification,the human spirit has acquired the intellectual principle of number.The concepts of number and relation in the form of science embody the characteristics of constructiveness and relation in the form of symbols,which makes scientific knowledge confirm and realize the universal structural law of human spirit in its own field.