Foreign scholars say that Confucianism has not contributed to science, is this really the case?

Chinese science can actually be traced back to the earliest period of the four great inventions, and the time of the four great inventions: compass - the Warring States period gunpowder - the end of the Tang Dynasty, papermaking - the Eastern Han Dynasty, printing - the Tang Dynasty, it can be seen that the ancestors have already had some exploration of science. -Eastern Han Dynasty, printing - Tang Dynasty, it can be seen that the ancestors for science has existed some exploration. With the wisdom of our predecessors, it is common sense that it would be extremely easy for future generations to reach the top again. But after the Tang Dynasty, few world-shattering inventions appeared in history, and Chinese science seemed to be on the decline.

If we talk about the reason, we can actually look at the time of the four great inventions. The earliest of the four great inventions was in the Warring States period, and the latest was in the Tang Dynasty, so it can be said that the period of the four great inventions spanned the slave era and the feudal era. The reason why society changed from the slave era to the feudal era is inevitably inseparable from the productive forces of society, but the other reason for its existence is also related to the monarchical dictatorship of the emperor, and the tool that serves for the imperial dictatorship is precisely Confucianism.

Lee Joseph, a famous British scholar, also believes that in the 1st century B.C. to the 16th century A.D., Chinese science can be called the peak period, but in the Renaissance period, Chinese science is far behind Europe. The reason for this, Joseph Lee argues, is that the cascading advance of Confucianism shackled the people's labor and creativity.

In the process of ruling the world by successive dynasties, Confucianism did play an indelible role, in which the grand unification of the country and the feeling of family and country were amazing. Liang Qichao once pointed out that the so-called Confucian doctrine and science actually do not contradict each other, and that Confucianism advocates the philosophy of morality, which is mainly people-oriented, emphasizing the physical and mental cultivation of human beings, and the improvement of the harmonious relationship between human beings.

Confucianism aims at saints, and the highest standard is the conquest of oneself, not nature. Thus, from what Confucianism advocated, it did not block the emergence of science. The so-called cultivation of one's moral character is the only way to pacify the world, and from this point of view, Confucianism still has a certain role to play in promoting science.

Confucius first advocated, is to teach the people, but not for the service of the imperial power, but with the gradual strengthening of feudalism, Confucianism has become a tool of the imperial power to serve as a means to paralyze the people's minds, weakening the people's labor and creativity.

Later Confucianism centered on the Three Principles and Five Rules, which aimed to maintain the rule of the feudal system. The overly rigid hierarchy suppressed the opening of minds. And science itself is a kind of equality, but the king can not exist under the rule of this equality, the people in the long term under this kind of rule, will only be submissive can not be born under the rebellion, too much to do things, naturally, can not have amazing achievements to create out.

Later, China's agrarian civilization lasted 5,000 years, which was the basis for the survival of feudal society, but for science, the agrarian economic ideology has eroded the driving force behind the development of science. And the Chinese people are not specialized in creating science, the ancient people's science and technology is actually the accumulation of life experience, or unintentionally obtained, for example, the emergence of gunpowder is the alchemy of the result.

The first stage of science, although there is a coincidence, but the feudalism was not prevalent, Confucianism did not paralyze the people's minds. But in the later period, the science of thinking was suppressed by the monarch, ethical principles became the basis of social judgment, feeling and perception became the guide to do things, abstract thinking would be exceptionally weak, the ancient saints could not make amazing achievements naturally is normal.

Chinese science was more than 1,000 years ahead of the West, but in a short period of time, the West overtook China, and even after the beginning of the Opium War, China had no power to fight back. The reason for this was the Renaissance, the great emancipation of ideas that prevailed in the West.

China has not lacked a period of intellectual emancipation in the past 5,000 years, and the Hundred Schools of Thought Controversy is one of the highlights of history, and the emancipation of the mind has reached a climax, and all the way up to the Song Dynasty there was a scientific and technological emergence. But during the Ming and Qing dynasties, the popularity of some of the doctrines began to brutalize the people's physical and mental behavior, directly cutting off the germ of scientific thought.

Dong Zhongshu deposed the hundred schools and honored Confucianism alone, opening up the precedent of Confucianism as a tool for the service of successive dynasties, followed by the Cheng-Zhu rationalization and the eight-legged soldiers, ossified the people's minds, and turned Confucianism into an unshakeable authority. The prevalence of these two in society, the provisions of the human three, six, nine classes, the scholar becomes the upper class, businessmen become the last generation, the so-called science is conducive to the national government has become the eyes of the scholar of the strange skills and tricks, carving insect skills.

The negative ideas of Confucianism have been criticized by many scholars, who believe that Confucianism obliterates human personality, departs from human nature, becomes a tool of monarchical rule, and hinders the progress of scientific development.

But Confucianism is not to be blamed for China's backwardness in science, as the 5,000-year-old agrarian civilization predestined China to be a country where peasants are in the majority and workers are in the minority. It is important to realize that workers are the labor force that produces science, but at that time workers were not able to play a role. But today's China has inspired a spirit of creativity, a great emancipation of thought, and the age of science has long since arrived.