Chapter 218 The Spark of Thought
Li Zhi looked at Su Ze. Su Ze's words once again subverted his three views.
The connection between heaven and man originated from the prophecy theory of the Han Dynasty. It was a shackle placed on the imperial power by the Han Confucian Dong Zhongshu.
Well, Su Ze not only overthrew the system of studying things and seeking knowledge from Zhu Xi to Wang Yangming, but now he even wants to dig out the roots of Confucianism.
Li Zhi was indeed arrogant, but he never thought that Su Ze could be so arrogant!
good!
Li Zhi originally liked these deviant knowledge. He asked: "How does Rulin calculate?"
Su Ze pointed to the sky and said: "Count the day."
"Count the day?"
Li Zhi did not expect Su Ze to give such an answer, but He quickly understood that the sun was the largest star in the entire sky and the most important star to humans.
Ancient Chinese Confucian scholars actually had a better understanding of the movement of the stars than their Westerners of the same generation.
From the Qin and Han Dynasties, Chinese ancestors began to compile calendars to guide agricultural production. When Wang Chong of the Han Dynasty wrote "Lunheng", he had already realized that the sun and the moon were just two stars hanging in the sky.
Su Ze said he wanted to measure the sun. Li Zhi continued to ask: "How to measure it?"
Su Ze pointed to a tree outside and said: "Measure the length of the sun's shadow. Mr. Zhuo Wu, Su can calculate the length of the sun's shadow at any time. ."
Li Zhi was stunned again, measuring the length of the sun's shadow? Can you calculate the length of the sun's shadow at any moment? Now Li Zhi sounds almost like metaphysics. Can this be calculated?
"What does this have to do with the movement of the stars?"
Su Ze asked Fang Aizhu to get a pen and paper and said, "Of course it has something to do with it. Mr. Zhuo Wu, please look at this, this is the earth we live on."
Su Ze wrote flowers on the paper He picked up a ball and continued: "This is the intersection of the ecliptic and the equator."
Li Zhi nodded. He was well-known for his erudition. Although the Ming Dynasty prohibited people from studying astronomy privately, there were actually many scholar-bureaucrats who secretly studied astronomy. Nanjing Imperial College There is also a collection of astronomy books.
The yellow-red angle is the angle of rotation of the earth calculated by ancient astronomers.
Then Su Ze drew a larger sphere and said: "This is the sun."
Su Ze drew the trajectory of the earth rotating around the sun and said:
"The earth revolves around the sun. Because the earth moves around the sun, the earth and the sun change. Winter is near and far away, so there are changes in the four seasons."
Li Zhi nodded, this was something he could understand.
"The rotation of the earth causes the change between day and night."
Li Zhi nodded again. There is also such content in ancient astronomical almanacs. The ancestors had already studied and understood this principle when they compiled the calendar.
At this time, Su Ze had finished the drawing, and he added a small picture in the corner of the picture.
"Shading light is a shadow. Take a candlestick as an example. If you set up a candlestick and a pillar in the house, can you calculate the shadow length of the pillar as long as you know the positions of the candlestick and the pillar, as well as the height of the pillar itself?"
Su Ze drew a picture, and Li Zhi nodded and said, "This is about finding the number. I can understand this."
Finding the number is solving geometry problems. For Li Zhi, this is not a complicated subject.
Su Ze said: "The sun is a big candlestick, and the sun's shadow is because the sun is blocked by things. Similarly, if I set up a pillar on the earth, I can also calculate the length of the sun's shadow using the method of finding a few. The only difficulty is that The earth's rotation has a declination, and to determine the length of the sun's shadow, you also need to know the position of the earth."
Su Ze drew pillars on the earth and a schematic diagram of the shadow cast by sunlight. Li Zhi exclaimed: "It can really be calculated. ? Can you calculate the sun's shadow, that means Rulin can calculate the position of the sun?"
Li Zhi is a very smart person. He has understood the importance of the length of the sun's shadow through the schematic diagram. If Su Ze can accurately calculate the length of the sun's shadow, it means It means he can calculate the position of the sun in the sky at any moment!
If solar energy counts, can’t the positions of other stars also count? If this is the case, the movement of the heavenly bodies is just a complex geometry problem, and it really has nothing to do with people's hearts!
Li Zhi pointed to a dead tall tree outside the yard and said:
"Then please Ru Lin calculate the length of the sun's shadow on that dead tree after one hour!"
Su Ze nodded and said: "I also need to calculate the length of the sun at this time. The length of the shadow and the height of the dead tree."
"Please!"
Fang Aizhu took a ruler and measured the current length of the tree's shadow and the height of the tree with Su Ze. After he told Su Ze all the data, Su Ze took out his own The navigation manual, he had already determined the longitude and latitude of Quanzhou while at sea.
Now this is a difficult question for a high school geography exam. Given the height, longitude and latitude, and the current length of the sun's shadow, find the length of the sun's shadow in an hour.
Su Ze's mathematics has reached Level 7, 372/3000. In less than a stick of incense, Su Ze calculated the length of the sun's shadow in an hour.
He said to Li Zhi: "Mr. Zhuo Wu, I have already done the calculation."
Li Zhi stood aside and watched Su Ze's calculation. He watched Su Ze write down the mathematical symbols and formulas he did not recognize, and then step by step After calculating the result, although he could not understand the process, he was greatly shocked.
The room fell silent, and Li Zhi was completely confused.
If the movements of the stars can be measured, it really has nothing to do with human will.
The world view he had established for a long time suddenly collapsed. Is it true that in this world, as Su Ze said, there are two roads to sainthood, the study of things and the pursuit of knowledge?
Are Zhu Xi and Wang Yangming really wrong?
Su Ze quietly waited for time to verify his calculations. He couldn't help but smile secretly when he saw Li Zhi looking like he was about to explode his brain.
After the last exchange with Wang Daokun, Su Ze found the ambition of "One Moral" from "The Golden Lotus" and has been thinking about the issue of ideological enlightenment.
Starting from the study of things to achieve knowledge, separating natural sciences and humanities is the first step of Su Ze's "one morality".
Since the Enlightenment, the rapid development of Western science has actually come from the "classification of arts and sciences", and the iconic book is "Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy".
The impact of this book on the world of natural science is definitely not just a few simple formulas. The reason why Newton became the greatest physicist and mathematician in modern times is because the profession of physicist and mathematician started with him.
In the terms of Chinese civilization, Newton is the sage of numbers and things.
Before Newton, natural science and philosophy were integrated. Aristotle and other ancient Greek philosophers were also scientists. They studied phenomena and proposed various hypotheses to explain these phenomena. At this time, natural science was still a speculative game. , and can even be a political tool.
For example, in astrology, which exists in both the East and the West, the movements of celestial bodies are considered to be omens, giving them occult meanings. Beginning with Newton, mechanical materialism officially became the guiding principle of natural science, completely separated from metaphysical philosophical theories.
Mechanical materialism only studies phenomena, summarizes mathematical laws starting from phenomena, and studies natural phenomena in a quantitative way. Starting from Newton, the Western scientific community began a rapid development that lasted for hundreds of years.
Scientists do not need to think about will and psychology that are difficult to observe and quantitatively study like philosophers. Instead, they only need to summarize experimental results and perform calculations and deductions on experimental data.
When mechanical materialism reached its peak, scientists predicted that as long as there was infinite computing power, a Laplace's demon would appear in the universe, and it could know everything like a god.
The purpose of the "arts and sciences division" is to separate the "natural sciences" and "social sciences" that have been mixed together in Chinese civilization for thousands of years. This is tantamount to loosening the "natural sciences" and allowing them to develop without any burden.
After being separated from "natural science", "social science" can also focus more on itself, rather than relying on natural science phenomena to think about its meaning.
Chinese civilization will never lack geniuses. Dividing "the study of things to gain knowledge" into two is equivalent to dividing the group of Confucian scholars into two paths.
Another purpose of Su Ze is to separate the two paths of studying things and leading to knowledge, so that a series of "miscellaneous studies" such as mathematics, which were denounced in the Ming Dynasty, can also be raised to the height of Confucianism. In this way, these "miscellaneous studies" can be elevated. "Miscellaneous Studies" status.
In fact, in this era, scholars like Li Zhi who do not pursue officialdom have appeared. These people are either addicted to cultural activities such as poetry, calligraphy and painting, and concentrate on writing books and studying. There are also miscellaneous scholars like Song Yingxing who record various science and technology, and there are also compilers like Li Shizhen. Medical scientist who writes medical books.
If we can really separate "investigating things to achieve knowledge", it will be equivalent to bringing these learnings that were originally despised by the mainstream to the same status as Confucianism.
Going a step further, natural science is a science that seeks “novelty”.
To conduct any scientific research, you only need to read the most cutting-edge papers on the research, prepare the experimental tools and mathematical tools needed for the research, and then you can start the research immediately. There is no need to look for arguments from scriptures or study complex concepts. Philosophical questions.
This "new" way of thinking is also one of the driving forces that promoted the development of Enlightenment thought to the Renaissance, and then to the comprehensive development of all aspects in the West for hundreds of years.
"Seeking innovation without following the past" is the slogan Su Ze plans to put forward in the future. Of course, his influence is still very weak now. Such a slogan will have to wait until Su Ze has a certain say.
After thinking about this, an hour had passed. Fang Aizhu took the ruler and measured the length of the tree shadow again, and then returned to the room to tell Su Ze and Li Zhi the measurement results.
Looking at the data that was almost identical to Su Ze's, Li Zhi completely believed Su Ze's statement.
"Rulin is a great talent!"
Li Zhi said sincerely, "I believe it. The study of things to achieve knowledge is indeed two roads to becoming a saint!"
Li Zhi continued: "Rulin, can I learn the knowledge of things from you?"
Su Ze was stunned for a moment. He didn't expect that his words would actually cause Li Zhi, a famous thinker in the late Ming Dynasty, to be assigned to science?
Su Ze originally wanted to win over Li Zhi and ask him to help him improve the theory of "one morality", but why did he push him to the natural sciences?
The development of any knowledge cannot be completed by one person.
Wang Yangming's philosophy of mind became a prominent one not only because of him alone, but also through the continuous improvement and promotion of his disciples and descendants.
Su Ze told Li Zhi these things because Li Zhi was "one of his own" and could win him over to join him in the construction of his "One Morality" system.
But he didn't expect to be pushed into the field of astronomy by someone who measured the sun's shadow.
Su Ze immediately panicked and said: "Mr. Zhuo Wu, aren't you interested in Zhizhi?"
At this time, Li Zhi was immersed in the grand imagination of celestial calculations. He immediately said: "The human heart is unpredictable, and there are more treacherous things than studying it. It is better to study the unchanging laws of nature than to change people's hearts."
Finished!
Su Ze regretted extremely at this time, why did he pretend that X was the length of the sun's shadow? He could just do a simple little physics experiment!
Now that Li Zhi has been fooled into the field of astronomy, wouldn't it mean that he has lost another support in the aspect of "one morality"?
What a miscalculation!
Li Zhi whispered: "Rulin, do you want to revise the calendar?"
Su Ze glanced at Li Zhi. Sure enough, these people who can leave their names in history are top talents. Li Zhi knew it from the length of the shadow. Understand the connection between astronomy and calendar and ask such questions.
Li Zhi said: "In fact, the Ministry of Rites has been proposing to revise the calendar in recent years. The calendar in the early years of the Kingdom has become increasingly inaccurate. The calculations of several solar and lunar eclipses in recent years have been wrong. For this reason, the court has been in turmoil many times."
Su Ze understood what Li Zhi meant. The theory of induction between heaven and man was a method used by Confucianism to suppress imperial power. Every time there was a sudden change in the sky, the officials could use this to suppress the emperor.
Therefore, the calendar is very important to the imperial power. A Qin Tianjian who can accurately predict celestial phenomena is equivalent to giving the imperial power the right to interpret celestial phenomena. This is why the Ming court has always prohibited private astronomy practice among the people.
Li Zhi said again: "I am confused. Rulin's talent must be high school, and he should take the right path of the imperial examination. The astronomy and calendar are just the emperor's private ministers, not the right path.
" Type of ministers are the personal ministers of the emperor.
For example, the officials of Qin Tian Jian are almost all hereditary. These families have studied astronomy and calendar for generations and specially serve the royal family.
This type of officials, similar to the Ci ministers and the alchemists around the emperor, are despised by officials who came from the imperial examination.
Even if there are a few people who have received awards and are in high positions, they will be considered by civil servants as people who just want to get in.
Although Li Zhi is now open-minded, he has been cultivated under the imperial examination system for more than ten years. The concept of the correct path of the imperial examination is still deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and he has not yet reached the stage of "crazy" who despised famous religions in the later period.
From this we can also see the great influence of the concept of "right path". It can be imagined how difficult it is for Su Ze to get rid of the "theory of studying things to achieve knowledge".
However, ideas are never achieved overnight. What Su Ze needs is to organize his thoughts, and then gradually ignite the fires one by one, and then let these fires ignite more people.
As the saying goes:
A single spark can start a prairie fire.
It’s hard to write about, even if you
don’t count the shadows, it is the final debate and empirical contest between Tang Ruowang and the Qin Tian Supervisor in the early Qing Dynasty.
If you are interested in the struggle between foreign missionaries and local officials in the Qin Tian Prison in the early Qing Dynasty, you can read
"Using the Destiny: Astrology, Magic and Ancient Chinese Society", which is a very interesting book.
(End of chapter)