华东师范大学(哲学社会科学版) ›› 2015, Vol. 47 ›› Issue (6): 10-28.doi: 10.16982/j.cnki.1000-5579.2015.06.002

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语言限制逻辑限制科学:为什么中国产生不了科学?

朱晓农   

  1. 香港科技大学,香港;哈尔滨工业大学深圳研究院,深圳,518055
  • 出版日期:2015-11-15 发布日期:2015-12-13
  • 通讯作者: 朱晓农
  • 作者简介:朱晓农
  • 基金资助:

    本文系香港研资局基金项目(GRF 16402114)阶段性成果。

Language’s Restriction on Logic and Science: Why Science Cannot Developed in China?

ZHU Xiao-Nong   

  • Online:2015-11-15 Published:2015-12-13
  • Contact: ZHU Xiao-Nong
  • About author:ZHU Xiao-Nong

摘要: 李约瑟问题“为什么近代科学没有在中国产生”应该是个弱问题,甚至假问题。强问题应该问:为什么中国产生不了科学;真问题应该去探索:为什么欧洲产生科学。爱因斯坦认为科学产生的一个必要条件是演绎逻辑。进一步提出主谓结构的语言是产生演绎逻辑的必要条件,因为逻辑命题也是主谓结构。汉语有不同于印欧语的语法原理:句子结构以话题-说明为主,主谓结构只是其中一个特例;各层语法单位词-短语-句子同构;句子成份的主要功能是起对比作用。这些语法原理规定了中国式推理方式(秦人逻辑)以同构推演和对比推演为主。以往讨论李约瑟问题的大多以政治经济文化地理哲学观念等外因为主,但也许只有在内因确定之后,讨论外因才有意义。由此,提出一个科学产生三期(语言期、逻辑暨形式科学期、经验科学期)六阶理论:1A)主谓不占优势的前逻辑阶段,1B)主谓为主语言的逻辑筑基阶段;2A)演绎逻辑阶段,2B)发展出其他形式化系统(各种几何、各种逻辑、数学、电脑语言)的阶段;3A)发展出实证检验的经验科学的个体形态前阶段,并将之系统化的后阶段3B)经验科学社会化阶段。前五个阶段是由内因决定的思维-工作方式,最后一个阶段才由外因起抑制或促进作用。总之,科学产生的必要条件之一是演绎逻辑,而逻辑最初产生的必要条件是以主谓结构作为主导句式的语言。主谓结构虽然普遍存在,但把它在推理过程中作为唯一合法的句式,这有一定的随机性;也就是说,逻辑的出现在发生学上多少具有偶然性。不过,意识到这一点的重要性并行动起来,把自然语言中非主流的主谓结构提升为推理说理过程中唯一合法的句式,从而促进科学发展,这有一定的必然性。这方面过去一百年来我们在世界上做得名列前茅。如果有意识地在教育中加以重视,必将在新世纪中取得更辉煌的成就。

Abstract: “Needham puzzle”, that is, “why modern science hadn’t developed in China”, is a weak and even fake question. A strong version of this question shall be why science cannot develop in China, and its true version shall be why science can develop in Europe. In Einstein, one of the prerequisites for the development of science is deductive logic. Furthermore, a language with a subject-predict structure is necessary for the development of deductive logic because a logical proposition is embodied in a subject-predict structure. The grammatical features of Chinese language are different from those of Indo-European languages: A sentence is mainly built in a topic-explanation structure, of which the subject-predict structure is an particular case; grammatical units at all levels, including word, phase and sentence, share a similar structure; the main function of sentence elements is to make comparison. These grammatical features have determined that the Chinese way of reasoning is dominated by analogy and comparison. Previous discussions about “Needham Puzzle” focus on political, economic, cultural, geographical, philosophical and other external causes. However, it won’t be meaningful to discuss external causes until the internal cause has been discovered. This paper puts forward a theory that there are three stages (language stage, logic and form science stage and empirical science stage) with six phases for science to develop. In spite of the ubiquity of the subject-predict structure, it is really random to take it as the only legitimate sentence structure for reasoning; in other words, it is accident for logic to emerge to some extent. However, it is necessary to realize the importance of the subject-predict structure, promote the non-mainstream subject-predict structure in a natural language as the only legitimate sentence structure in reasoning and argumentation, and thus advance science. In this respect, China was among the best in the world in the last one hundred years. If we attach importance to this in education, we will gain greater achievement in the new century.