The rise of the prince

Chapter 563 The Spirit of Ancient Science
Why Xunzi's study?

Li Xingzhou actually thought it through.

If you ask whether there were ideas with scientific spirit in ancient China?
The answer is yes, and it is still very early. It appeared as early as the Warring States period, and that is Xunzi's learning.The person who proposed this idea was the last great master of Confucianism, Xunzi.

However, the spirit of science means opposing the imperial power!
After summarizing and refining Xunzi's viewpoints, the most important thing is - "the deeds of heaven are permanent" and "people can control the destiny and use it".

The translation means: nature has its own constant laws, so people can discover these laws and use these laws to benefit themselves.

This is the core of Xunzi's view.

I am afraid that people in the future will exclaim when they see it, isn’t this a scientific thought!
Yes, Xunzi's thought is so scientific, and so advanced that it is unbelievable.

But it is also very regrettable, the regret is not in this kind of thinking, but in the environment at that time.

Once this point of view is explained in depth, smart people will find that Xunzi's thinking is completely opposed to the imperial power at that time!

Xunzi wrote at the beginning of "Tian Lun": "Heaven has permanence, it does not exist for Yao, and does not perish for Jie."

The translation means: the laws of nature have always remained the same, and will not exist just because the emperor is Yao (Ming Jun), and the emperor is Jie (tyrant) of the Xia Dynasty.

Xunzi told the world directly that nature has its own laws, and it has nothing to do with who is the emperor, whether it is a faint emperor or a wise emperor, it does not matter.So next, if people want to live well, they must "control the destiny and use it".Discover and use these unchanging laws of nature to your benefit.

So here comes the question, since that's the case, what the hell is the emperor?Why is he the emperor? People can discover the laws of nature to benefit themselves. What is the use of the emperor who claims to be the son of heaven?

In this spirit, would the emperor dare to use it in order to stabilize the imperial rule?
I dare not even mention it!
In fact, even in the mainstream thinking of the Ming and Qing dynasties, when there were natural disasters and man-made disasters in a local area, all officials would report that the emperor's lack of virtue caused these disasters, and that the emperor should cultivate his virtues (such as Emperor Wanli of the Ming Dynasty), and natural disasters and man-made disasters would naturally disappear.

Or the emperor himself made a self-examination, saying that his own virtue was not good enough to cause these disasters (such as Emperor Kangxi).

And this kind of thinking was put forward by Dong Zhongshu during the Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty - the interaction between heaven and man.

Dong Zhongshu's idea had the practical significance of restricting the ambition and power of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty at that time, but it has been like this since then, and it has not changed until the end of the Qing Dynasty!

Some people say that if the Ming Dynasty never ends, it may enter modernization and modernization.

In fact, rationally speaking, that is basically impossible, because the Ming Dynasty did not have the support of scientific spirit at all.In the Ming Dynasty, the whole country believed in the connection between heaven and man, not Xunzi's idea of ​​"heaven has permanence, and man can control the destiny of heaven." This kind of thought has a scientific spirit.

Therefore, even if they accidentally achieve achievements in a certain field of science and technology in a short period of time, they will go astray because they do not have the guidance of the correct scientific spirit.

The so-called scientific spirit is often more important than specific scientific discoveries and explorations. A scientific enterprise supported by the scientific spirit is the source of water and the tree of roots, otherwise it will be short-lived.

The rise of modern science and technology in the West is inseparable from the support of the scientific spirit after the Renaissance to derive scientific principles, such as Occam's razor principle as the foundation of basic science, so that it is possible to produce fruitful fruits of science.

Thinking of this, Li Xingzhou felt very regretful.

Because ancient China can be used as the ideological and theoretical support point of scientific spirit was born so early, as early as about 300 BC.

The result is that it is forgotten by people and lost in the long river of history.

Xunzi, as the master of Confucianism in the pre-Qin period, combined the teachings of Confucianism and Mencius, filled in the gaps and filled in the gaps, and developed the earliest scientific thought: "Heaven has permanence", so "man can control the destiny and use it".

But it has never been mentioned by later generations. When people talk about Confucianism, they mention Confucius more, but Mencius dare not say more, because Mencius is a straightforward revolutionary.

As for Xunzi, there are almost none. Talking about Xunzi is equivalent to denying the legitimacy of the imperial power proclaimed by the emperor at that time.

After all, "Heaven has permanence, not for Yao, not for Jie." Well, since the sky has its own laws, it doesn't matter who is the emperor. What people have to do is to discover the laws, follow the laws, and use the laws to live better. Well, what's the point of being an emperor?
How can it be proved that the emperor is the son of heaven?
So Dong Zhongshu talked about the interaction between heaven and man, referring to the sympathetic response between heaven and human affairs, and the emperor's virtuous deeds will be responded to by heaven, so as to explain various natural phenomena and prove that the emperor is the son of heaven.

After that, this view continued for more than a thousand years, and there was no Xunzi's scientific spirit.

Li Xingzhou sighed. It is sometimes true that the so-called determination of man can overcome nature, but determination of man cannot win against man.

If Xunzi's learning had been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, it would have been a different situation.
People will advocate discovering and looking for the laws of nature, and then comply with them, and use them to benefit human beings.Rather than attribute natural disasters and man-made disasters to the emperor's virtue.

And because this kind of exploration is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, science and technology will inevitably advance rapidly, thus deriving the experience summary of various explorations, and developing scientific principles, such as the principle of Occam's razor, the entire scientific system will become more and more perfect. more and more healthy.

This is the guiding force of the scientific spirit.

But there is no if in history, and history did not choose Xunzi.

Xunzi couldn't compete with the royal power at that time, and even after that, few people dared to respect his theory, and even his proud disciples betrayed him.

Speaking of Xunzi's disciples are also famous - Li Si, Han Feizi.

That's right, unexpectedly, as a Confucian, Xunzi taught a famous legalist disciple.

This was originally a very fun thing. From Confucianism to Law, it is actually a process of blackening.

At the beginning, Confucius lived in the Spring and Autumn Period. Although it was chaotic, it was okay, so Confucius advocated using love to influence people. Although he didn't directly talk about human nature, it can be basically confirmed.

Confucius thought: "Human nature is inherently good", and human nature is inherently kind.

When it came to Mencius, Mencius felt: "Human nature is evil." There are indeed evil parts in human nature, but most of them are still kind.

When it came to Xunzi, Xunzi felt: "Human nature is good." There are indeed good parts in human nature, but most of them are evil.

To Xunzi's disciples, Han Feizi and Li Si: "Human nature is inherently evil", so Confucianism's enlightenment and salvation theory will not work, and only strict kingly laws can be deterred, so Legalism began to grow.

This is a clear history of the pre-Qin philosophers being driven mad by human nature, from Confucius to Mencius, to Xunzi, and finally blackened into Han Feizi and Li Si.

This is the human nature difference between Confucianism (referring to Confucianism in the pre-Qin period, and later Confucianism has been deformed into a tool serving the imperial power) and law.

Confucianism believes that human nature is good, and it can be rescued.

The law believes that: save a fart, human nature is evil, only knives, guns and sticks, and only legal punishment is the kingly way to restrain people.

Confucianism had the greatest influence among the hundreds of pre-Qin philosophers. It continued to develop and improve, from Confucius to Mencius, and then to Xunzi. It is a pity that later generations talk more about Confucius and less about Mencius, and dare not mention Xunzi who is the master.

This is like Confucianism 1.0, Confucianism 2.0, Confucianism 3.0!

As a result, later generations saw it and said it every day with Confucianism 1.0, but dared not mention version 2.0. Mencius was a revolutionary, and he would say such outrageous things as "the sky sees itself and the people see it, and the sky listens to the people itself". The 3.0 version is even worse, it’s going to kill me, thinking deeply will directly deny the legitimacy of the imperial power.

So until the Ming and Qing Dynasties, throughout the country, people were still in the same way of intuition between heaven and man, and they still embraced the version 1.0 of Confucius to search for chapters and excerpts to please the imperial power.

It's really sad.

In fact, Li Xingzhou had the dream of reviving Xunzi's learning from the very beginning and leading people into the era of exploration and discovery of the laws of natural science.
(End of this chapter)