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在近代科学的早期,大约从十六、十七世纪以后,机械论在科学中已相当地盛行了。这种机械论正好是与古代科学中的机体论相对立的。这是人类认知自然的方式的重大转变,它深刻地影响到各该时代的科学的形态:古代科学是机体论的,它力图对各种自然现象作出拟人化的理解;近代科学是机械论的,它力图对各种自然现象构建力学机制的模型,然后从力学原理中导出各类自然现象,或对各类自然现象作出机械论的解释。近代科学中机械论的典型表现是牛顿在《自然哲学之数学原理》一书中所表达的科学纲领。本文并不试图阐明从机体论到机械论这种人类认识方式重大转变的社会历史原因,而仅仅试图从正面说明近代科学中的机械论科学纲领本身。关于前者,作者将另文阐述。
In the early days of modern science, mechanics had become quite prevalent in science about sixteen and seventeenth centuries later. This kind of mechanistic theory is precisely the opposite of the organism in ancient science. This is a major shift in the way mankind learns of nature. It profoundly affects the science of each era: the ancient science is an ontological one, which seeks to provide a personified understanding of various natural phenomena. Modern science is a theory of mechanics It attempts to construct a model of mechanical mechanism for various natural phenomena, then derives various kinds of natural phenomena from the principle of mechanics, or makes a mechanistic explanation of various kinds of natural phenomena. The typical manifestation of mechanistic theory in modern science is Newton’s scientific program as expressed in the Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy. This article does not attempt to elucidate the social and historical reasons for the significant shift in human understanding from mechanistic theory to mechanistic theory, but only tries to illustrate positively the mechanistic scientific program itself in modern science. About the former, the author will elaborate on others.