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Christian and Chinese World Views in the Seventeenth Century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2024

Jacques Gernet

Extract

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China was the first country beyond Europe with an important civilization to receive scientific theory from the West in the modern era. Neither in India nor in Japan (where the first Western works arrived from China and were quickly banned) nor a fortiori in other missionary countries was there an early acquaintance with European sciences. In China the first handbook of Western geometry was printed in 1607, the first treatise of astronomy in 1614. After 1584 a map of the world, inspired no doubt by that of Ortelius of 1570, was engraved in stone. Printed versions spread quickly in China and continued into Korea and Japan. The algebraic notation of Viète, plane and solid trigonometry, logarithms (called then the rules of Neper), the cosmology of Aristotle and the methods of astronomical calculation of Tycho Brahe were all introduced into China during the course of the 17th century.

Type
Research Article
Information
Diogenes , Volume 27 , Issue 105 , March 1979 , pp. 93 - 115
Copyright
Copyright © 1979 Fédération Internationale des Sociétés de Philosophie / International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP)

References

1 Lecture given to the Collège de France, 27 April, 1978.

2 See Itô Tasaburô, "The Book Banning Policy of the Tokugawa Shogunate", Acta Asiatica, Bulletin of the Institute of Eastern Culture, XXII, Tokyo, 1972, pp. 36-61. This censorship was applied after 1630 indiscriminately to scientific as well as religious works.

3 These two errors are precisely the ones committed by George H. C. Wong in his article, "China's Opposition to Western Science," Isis, LIV, 1, 1963, pp. 29-49. The author goes so far as to attribute Chinese hesitations to the fear of a "complete domination of Chinese society by Western technology". But such a fear cannot be justified simply because of several clocks which had to be set daily and repaired often, nor even by cannon which occasionally exploded accidentally killing their operators.

4 Daniel Mornet, Les sciences de la nature en France au XVIIIe siècle, Paris, A. Colin, 1911.

5 Matteo Ricci, Della entrata della Compagnia di Gesú e Christianità nella Cina, book IV, chap. 5, original manuscript edited by Pasquale M. D'Elia in Fonti Ricciane, voL 2, Rome, 1949, p. 55. The Elements of Euclid was a handbook of geometry composed by Clavius, teacher of Ricci at the Rome College and author of the Gregorian calendar reform.

6 On the content of these scholarly handbooks see Willard J. Peterson, "Western Natural Philosophy Published in Late Ming China", Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 117, August, 1973, pp. 295-322.

7 Opere del P. Daniello Bartoli, Della Cina, Turin, 1825, vol. III, chap. 63, p. 150. According to Henri Maître, "Adaptations chinoises d'ouvrages européens", Monumenta Serica X, 1945, 1-57, the Jesuit visitor to Japan and China, Andrea Palmeiro, also manifested his disapproval of all scientific activity in 1629.

8 Certain Chinese seem to have accepted this reasoning. Ricci's first student in mathematics, at least, thought that scientific precision was one of the best means to combat the absurd concepts of Buddhism. P. D'Elia, Fonti Ricciane, II, p. 54 (Ricci's text): "E sapendo quest'huomo l'intentione de' Nostri che era d'estirpare la falsa setta degli idoli [Buddhism] e seminare la vera di Christo benedetto, disse al Padre che non era necessario confutar la dottrina degli idoli, ma che solo attendesse a insegnare matematica. Percioché, sapendo i Cinesi la verità delle cose del cielo e della terra materiali, per se stessi avevano da vedere la falsità de' libri degli idoli."

9 T'ien-tchou chen-kiao che lou, by Michel Ruggieri, Fonds chinois de la Bibliothèque nationale, N. 6815-6818, 4th §. The first version of this catechism, two copies of which are in the Roman archives of the Society of Jesus, contains the same details.

10 T'ien-tchou che-yi (in latin Dei vera ratio) in T'ien-hiue tch'ou-han ("First Collection of Christian Works"), 1628, republished in T'ai-pei in 1965.

11 On the difficulties associated with modifications of earlier teaching in China see L. Pfister, Notices biographiques et bibliographiques sur les Jésuites de l'ancienne mission en Chine, Shanghai, 1932, II, p. 551 (quoted in J. Needham, Science and Civilisation in China, vol. III, p. 450). In 1710 Jean-François Foucquet (born in Vezelay in 1665, died in Rome in 1741) and others wished to use the new planetary tables published by La Hire in Paris in 1702. The Jesuit visitor was opposed "for fear that we give the impression of criticising what our predecessors had established with such care and so furnishing new accusations against our religion." In a letter of around 1733 P. Antoine Gaubil objects strongly to the imprudence of those missionaries who had shown the Chinese the different systems of numbering the years in the Septuagint and in the Vulgate. "This evil has been present for 80 years now … and you see how the Chinese have taken advantage of it." A. Gaubil, Correspondance de Pékin, 1722-1756; published by René Simon, Geneva, Droz, 1970, p. 355.

12 On all these questions see the remarkable study by Nathan Sivin, "Coperni cus in China," in Studia Copernicana, Warsaw, 1973, p. 63 ff.

13 This is also the opinion of W. J. Peterson, loc. cit.

14 Liu K'ouen tchö-hiue siuan-tsi ("Selected Philosophical Writings of Liu K'ouen (1536-1618)"), edited by Heou Wai-lou and others, Peking, 1962, p. 77.

15 Lou Che-yi (1611-1672), Sseu-pien lou tsi-yao, edited by Tchang Po-hing at the beginning of the 18th century, chap. 14.

16 The theses relative to the inevitable condensation and dissipation of universal energy were formulated by Tchang Tsai (1020-1077) in his Tcheng meng.

17 Liu K'ouen tchö-hiue siuan-tsi, p. 46.

18 T'ang Tchen, Ts'ien chou, chap. 29.

19 Wang Fou-tche (1619-1692), Sseu wen Lou wai p'ien, Tch'ouan-chan yi-chou, ed. 1866, chap. 30, pp. 28b-29a.

20 Cf. Wang T'ing-siang tchö-hiue siuan-tsi ("Selected Philosophical Writings of Wang T'ing-siang (1474-1544)"), edited by Heou Wai-lou and others, Peking, 1965, p. 8. The same kind of remarks, however, can be found in Chen Koua (1031-1094).

21 Wang Fou-tche, op. cit., p. 44b.

22 Yang Kouang-sien (1597-1669), P'i sie louen in Pou tö yi (a collection of works written against the missionaries entitled "Finally I Must Explode"), chap. 1, p. 20b-21a. "From the year keng-shen of the Yuan-cheou period of the Han dynasty (date of the birth of Christ) to the year ki-hai of the Chouen-tche era (1659), 1660 years have passed. From the year kia-tseu of the establishment of the world … till now there have been 19,379,496 years in all…. If Jesus is the Lord of Heaven, all the periods before the Emperor Ai of the Han dynasty lacked the Heaven (of God)."

23 Text of Teng Mou (1247-1306) quoted by J. Needham, Science and Civilisation in China, vol. III, section 20, p. 221. See also Lo-shu Fu, "Teng Mu, a Forgotten Chinese Philosopher," T'oung Pao, LII, 1-3, 1965, p. 60.

24 Yuan tao p'i sie chouo of the monk T'ong-jong in P'o sie tsi (1639), Japanese re-edition of 1855, vol. VIII, pp. 6a-7b.

25 P'i sie louen of Yang Kouang-sien, chap. 1, p. 19b.

26 T'ien-tchou che yi, p. 465.

27 Kiao yao siu louen of P. Verbiest. See the note of Siu Tsong-tsö in his Ming Ts'ing kien Ye-sou houei-che yi tchou t'i yao, T'ai-pei, 1958, pp. 162-163. According to the Church Fathers, the infusion of the soul by God is fixed uniformly at the 80th day after conception for both boys and girls.

28 Since before 1300 the Chinese knew the so-called Pascal triangle used in the calculation of binomial coefficients, a method for approximating polynomial roots (called the Horner method), a process for resolving simultaneous systems of second degree equations, and they had discovered a theorem for the solution of simultaneous congruences. Cf. N. Sivin, ed., Science and Technology in East Asia, Science History Publication, New York, 1977, p. 209.

29 Cf. the note of Sseu-k'ou ts'iuan-chou tsong-mou t'i yao, XXII, Ts'ouen-mou on the Piao tou chouo of Sabbatino de Ursis (1614). "At that time the theory of the roundness and the smallness of the earth surprised a great number of people when they heard the theory suddenly discussed."

30 The statement can be found in Song Ying-sing (born in 1587), Song Ying-sing yi-chou sseu tchang, Shanghai, 1975, p. 101.

31 Nie king ("The Monsters in the Mirror"), preface dated in the summer of 1662 in Pou tö yi, vol. 2, pp. 67b-72a.

32 As J. Needham points out (Science and Civilisation in China, III, p. 224) this idea can be found in a text of the first century before Christ. "At the winter solstice the Earth is in a high position to the north and then begins moving toward the west about 30,000 li (about 15,000 km). At the summer solstice it is in a low position and begins moving toward the east the same distance. At the two equinoxes it is in an intermediate position. The Earth is constantly in movement, but humans are not aware of it. They are like passengers on a large ship whose windows are closed; they feel nothing even though the ship is in movement." Wan T'ing-siang at the beginning of the 16th century was even in favor of explaining changes in climate by the movements of earth relative to the sun.

33 Tchen meng of Tchang Tsai, chap. 1, San-liang p'ien.

34 See N. Sivin, "Copernicus in China", p. 74, who quotes Wang Si-chan.

35 T'ien-tchou che-yi, chap. 1, p. 389.

36 Tso p'i ("An Aid to Refutation"), vol. IV of P'o sie tsi, chap. 9, p. 38a-b.

37 Ibid., chap. 4, pp. 23a-24a.

38 Quoted by J. Needham, Science and Civilisation in China, III, p. 441. Needham, who thinks that the arrival of Chinese ideas in Europe contributed to the abandonment of the theory of the crystalline spheres, also quotes (p. 442) the following text, quite Sinophile, of the Rosa Ursina of Christopher Scheiner (1630), IV, 2, chap. 29, "Pro Coelo Liquido Auctoritates Astronomorum" (translated from Latin by Henri Bernard in Monumenta Serica, III, Tokyo, 1937). "The Chinese people never in all their innumerable and flourishing academies taught that the heavens were solid. At least this is what we must conclude from reading their books from all periods of the last 2000 years. There we can see that the theory of a liquid heaven is truly quite old and could be easily proven. This theory was given to all peoples, so they thought, by a natural revelation. The Chinese were so attached to this idea that they thought the opposite opinion was completely absurd, as those returning from China have told us."

39 Sseu-k'ou ts'iuan-chou tsong-mou t'i yao, bibliographical note on the Houan-yeou ts'iuan of Francis Furtado (1628), XXII, Ts'ouen mou.

40 Note on the T'ien wen lue of Emmanuel Dias, ibid.

41 Nicolas Longobardo, Traité sur quelques points de la religion des Chinois, printed in 1701 in Paris by the Missions étrangères (the first work to give an approximate idea of the philosophical concepts of Neo-Confucianism to Europeans, it later influenced Leibnitz), p. 96. Yang T'ing-yun (1557-1627), one of the most distinguished converts of the period, showed the Jesuits of Peking the treatises he had edited in Chinese of which one was called "An Explanation of and Commentary on the Ten Commandments of God", Si-hiue che-kiai tchou-kiai. Wrote Longobardo, "Although in his explanation there were several good things that he had heard from our Fathers, there were also many things that he had taken from the ideas of the Scholars and which better illustrate their thinking…. He says in the preface that all things are of one and the same substance which is the Li (the principle of order inherent in universal energy) so that the only difference among things is their form and accidental qualities." Yang T'ing-yun says in the same preface that all the ancient Sages of China were reincarnated angels. See also p. 97 in the same sense: "The Ie Ko Lao (a work of Ye Hiang-kao, 1562-1627, one of the most effective defenders of the missionaries) says that the Sovereign above or the Lord of Heaven was incarnated in China several times in the persons of Iao, Xun, Confucius, several kings and even other less known figures. The Lord of Heaven was also incarnate in the West in the person of Jesus as the Jesuits tell us." Therefore … "Jesus Christ is in the West what Confucius or other distinguished scholars are in China…. This Doctor Michel (Yang T'ing-yun) then goes on to say that the teaching of Confucius is perfect in all respects and the same as the teaching of God."

42 In general the Chinese attempted to integrate with Chinese tradition information coming from outside which could be easily assimilated. A striking example of this attitude is found in Mei Wen-ting (1633-1721), one of the better informed astronomers and mathematicians of his time, along with Wang Si-chan well acquainted with Western sciences. Cf. what Mei Wen-ting says in relation to European astronomy in Tch'eou-jen tchouan, notes on astronomers and mathematicians of all times by Jouan Yuan, 1799, chap. 39, p. 473 of the edition of Wan-yeou wen-k'ou. "The order of the heavens can only be understood after a long time (i.e. after centuries of observation). Precision in matters of astronomy is attained only through (successive) revisions. Now that the new (Western) astronomy has arrived in China, are we to change entirely our method to adopt (that of the Westerners) and to reject as useless the previous method (which consisted in) accumulating observed data? … If we study this new astronomy, it is because we intend to extract from it that which is superior and use it to supplement the insufficiencies of our ancient methods."

43 T'ch'eou-jen tchouan, chap. 34, p. 422 of the edition Wan-yeou wen-k'ou.

44 Fang Yi-tche, Wou-li siao-che, chap. 1, p. 19 of the edition of Wan-yeou wen-k'ou.

45 Preface to Si-fang yao-ki, "Essay on Western Countries", edited by the Revs. Buglio, Magalhaes and Verbiest and included in the Tchao-tai ts'ong-chou, Kia tsi, 5.