격물궁리지학, 격치지학, 격치학 그리고 과학 - 서양 과학에 대한 동아시아의 지적 도전과 곤경 -

Abstract

It is generally accepted that East Asia did not have a well-defined concept of ‘science.’ After the introduction of Western Learning, however, there followed a transition period, during which the intellectual exploration of the external world through the Neo-Confucian tradition of gewu qiongli (the investigation of phenomena and the full comprehension of their underlying principles), together with the fundamental approach to understanding represented by li (the pattern principle), were transformed into modern science. This paper aims to discover the challenges facing early modern East Asian intellectuals by examining the traditional concepts and categories which were relevant to science, such as gewu qiongli . The transformation of such Neo-Confucian traditions was largely driven by Jesuit missionaries who entered China at the end of the sixteenth century. Thus, they tried to integrate the European Christian system of knowledge with the existing Chinese knowledge system by translating their philosophy and theology and framing it as gewu qiongli studies. In fact, some variation from the existing Neo-Confucian tradition of gezhi (格致) had already begun before the arrival of the Jesuits, particularly among the intellectuals of the late Ming and early Qing periods who used the term ‘gezhizixue (格致之學)’ to refer to boxue (博學, learning); later, in the nineteenth century, the term ‘gezhixue (格致學, natural studies)’ replaced gezhizixue. During this period, however, gezhixue always referred to specific scientific disciplines, allowing East Asian intellectuals to approach the Western knowledge system via the traditional concept of gewu, since gezhi originates from the Confucian classic Da Xue (Great Learning ). However, with the emergence of the term ‘kexue (science)’ coined by Nishi Amane in the Western context, East Asian intellectuals became passive consumers of Western knowledge and the Chinese intellectual tradition lapsed into a backward and localized science.