Research On The Literati And Officials Class’ Attitudes Towards Western Science In Late Ming

The literati and officials class’ attitude towards Western science in Late Ming was an important factor affecting the process of the communication of Western science in China.With different scientific traditions and social environment as the background,the literati and officials have accessed to Western science and have had different attitudes.According to the theory of attitude in psychology,these attitudes can be divided into five categories,which can help to come up with the standards of the evaluation and classification for these attitudes,and make it possible to conduct the textual research on all kinds of attitudes of the literati and officials.On the group level,the characteristics of these attitudes include the differentiation on various subjects,the corresponding between attitudes and the departments,and the contradictoriness between attitudes on the whole were affirmative and the limited number of people who have paid attention to Western science.The harmony between the trend of thought of real learning and consciousness of revere-ancient,missionaries,and the social network has led to the formation of the characteristic of overall attitudes.What enlarged the difference of attitudes towards Western astronomy and mechanics were the different social status between traditional astronomy and mechanics,the cognitive differences between Western astronomy and mechanics,and the transformation of communication model in communication of the Western mechanical.The literati and officials class’ attitudes towards Western science in Late Ming have had an important impact on society in the Ming and Qing dynasties.There were a lot of enthusiasm of scientific research in The Ming and Qing Dynasties,and astronomy became fashionable during this period.At the same time,there were some interactions between these attitudes and style of study in Ming and Qing Dynasties,"Xi Xue Zhong Yuan" led the academic development of China to textual research about the source of Western science,and "pragmatic rationalism" consolidate the orientation of technical research further.In the Ming and Qing Dynasties,the cognition of science between China and the West still had great differences.The results of this study can be used as a reference for formulating science and technology policy and promoting public to understand science.