The Exchange Of Chinese And Western Scientific Thoughts In The Late Ming And Early Qing Dynasties

With the Jesuits coming to China during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties,and the rise of Western learning,the exchange of scientific thoughts between China and the West was gradually strengthened.The introduction of Western astronomy was an important content of the exchange of Chinese and Western scientific thought.Western astronomy is based on the ancient Greek astronomical system and has other characteristics and concepts differing from Chinese one.The ancient Greeks regarded astronomy as the mathematizational procedure to cosmos,trying to reveal the structure of the universe through the apparent motion of planetary motion,while paying attention to studying the size and shape of the earth.They use geometric and triangular lamp mathematical means to calculate the location of celestial bodies,the sun and the moon to prove that they build a picture of the universe,rather than to try to figure out "God".Ptolemy system which is dominant in the medieval astronomical system in the West,is based on Aristotle's cosmology foundation,Aristotle's cosmology is mainly reflected in his book "Decaelo"."Huan You Quan" was translated from a book of Latin Notes of the Coimbra University which was based on "Decaelo",it is a typical Western medieval cosmology translation,the origin of the universe.The structure of the object,the nature of the celestial bodies and their motion characteristics are discussed in detail.Therefore,"Huan You Quan" has become a work that can not be ignored in the exchange of Chinese and western scientific thoughts between the late Ming Dynasty and the early Qing Dynasty.By using the demonstration methods of literature review and comparative analysis,this paper will focus on the "Huan You Quan",from the following aspects to study the exchange of Chinese and Western scientific thinking:The first chapter,on the basis of previous studies,focuses on the background,compilers and writing styles of Huan You Quan.Based on Huan You Quan,the second chapter summarizes Aristotle's natural philosophy and cosmology.This chapter argues that the "creation","is","quality" and "model" in the "Huan You Quan" correspond to Aristotle's "four causes"."The author of the action" refers to his "first movers",and so on.The third chapter analyzes in details the collision between the ancient Greek four elements theory and the traditional Chinese yin-yang and five-element theory,and points out that the introduction of the four-fluid theory is universal in order to show that the four lines are universal,Of the "four elements," all of which caused the impact of traditional Chinese astrology.The fourth chapter discusses the theological cosmology view in Huan You Quan.These include the cosmology of scholastic philosophy,the cosmological view of Huan You Quan,therejection of the new discoveries of astronomical observations since the Middle Ages,and the conflict with the traditional Chinese cosmological thought.The fifth chapter is the conclusion of this paper.Affirmed the influence and importance of "Huan You Quan" in the exchange of Chinese and western scientific thoughts in the late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty,but was officially excluded because of its strong religious color.