Keywords: Needham puzzle; Science and technology policy; Scientific spirit; Zhi Zhi property right
First, the practical significance of the Needham issue
Needham, a famous British biochemist in modern times, put forward the famous Needham puzzle in his History of Science and Technology in China (Volume 15): "Why was China more effective than the West in applying human knowledge of nature to practical purposes between the 2nd century BC and the 6th century AD? Why did modern science, mathematicization of natural hypothesis and related advanced technologies only rise brilliantly and briefly in Europe in Galileo's era? "
The glory of Chinese civilization in human history has lasted for thousands of years, once leading the historical trend and standing at the peak of the times. However, since the 20th century, social unrest and the baptism of previous movements have changed the inheritance of traditional culture in China. It seems that young people nowadays rarely take the initiative to read The Analects of Confucius and Mencius, and rarely talk about Confucianism. Whether we admit it or not, it is an indisputable fact that traditional Confucian culture is dying out. Most of the cultures and aspirations we come into contact with every day come from the west, and food and daily life are "imported" from Europe and America. Coca-cola and McDonald's in the United States are far more attractive to young people than herbal tea and Chinese fast food, and the popularity of pop singers in Europe and America is higher than that of folk music singers ... all of which confirm the predicament faced by traditional culture from the side. Especially in science and technology, as analyzed by Needham's puzzle, there are profound reasons why we have lagged behind the West in the attainments of natural science in modern times: it may be social, economic and more likely cultural. The author believes that among many reasons, cultural differences and property rights system are the most telling factors. Some scholars blame Needham's dilemma on the atmosphere of traditional society and the restriction of national political system. In fact, these factors can be traced back to the differences in traditional cultural characteristics and intellectual property systems between the East and the West. The author tries to analyze the causes of Needham's problem from this angle.
Second, the lifting of Needham's puzzle.
If the current human knowledge system is roughly divided into three categories: natural science, social science and humanities, then China traditional culture can basically be classified as the last category. Science is an activity for people to explore the unknown world, and the social and cultural system and composition are of great significance to the gestation and development of science. Some people think that social and cultural owners suitable for the development of science and technology should include rational value, utilitarian value, universal value and opposition to authority. These factors are exactly what western society has, and provide a strong impetus for its scientific and technological development. On the other hand, China's traditional culture has embarked on the road of morality, self-discipline and peace from the very beginning. Intellectuals are not concerned with the knowledge and mysteries of nature, on the contrary, they are concerned with the moral norms of treating people in real life and the practical knowledge of governing the country and safeguarding the country. The formation of this culture is attributed to the long-term self-sufficient small-scale peasant economy, and it also determines that the traditional culture of China has a strong closeness and exclusiveness from the beginning. Small-scale peasant society pays little attention to efficiency and benefit, and even shows different degrees of rejection of both. Self-sufficiency and relying on the weather also made everyone uninterested in scientific and technological innovation, so that ministers in the late Qing Dynasty saw the advanced science and technology in the West and dismissed it as "strange skills and cunning, thinking that they lacked knowledge." All these make our traditional culture basically isolated from science, especially natural science, and present a humanistic knowledge system with strong poetic and romantic feelings and practical and utilitarian colors.
Historically, traditional China did not establish perfect and effective private property rights, especially intellectual property rights. This also makes the property right system environment for the growth of science and technology relatively lacking. The ruler's intention is only for the need of ideological control and convenient rule, not to provide people with the protection of technology patents and encourage society to carry out technological innovation. Perhaps this is the main reason why traditional China did not produce a real intellectual property system.
Three. Enlightenment of Needham Problem on China's Science and Technology Policy Innovation
(A) improve the scientific education system with the cultivation of scientific spirit as the core.
Today, with the rapid development of science, our understanding of culture should be more comprehensive and objective than that of the ancients. Although people already know the importance of scientific ambition, when talking about the significance of culture, people more or less first associate it with the system of humanistic ambition, and for scientific ambition, it belongs to the technical category of ambition. Therefore, we should change the narrow sense of culture and bring the modern scientific knowledge system, which represents the highest level of human knowledge development, into the cultural vision. Especially the cultivation of college students' cultural quality is indispensable to the cultivation of scientific spirit. The scientific spirit of rationality, fairness, tolerance, criticism, innovation, efficiency and cooperation embodied in scientific and technological culture is the basic factor to promote the change of values and behavior norms in the process of industrialization and modernization since modern times. University science education should attach importance to the teaching of the history of science, strengthen the teaching of science education ideas, attach importance to the humanistic value of science education, vigorously promote college students' grasp and understanding of the connotation and value of science and technology, and cultivate students' sense of historical responsibility for society and science.
Lack of scientific spirit is a major deficiency of Chinese traditional culture. The pragmatic spirit of China people has brought the instrumental rationality of science and technology to the extreme. Science and technology are regarded as tools that only serve politics, production and life, and the scientific spirit hidden behind the technical level has not been discovered. Of course, the cultivation of scientific spirit should also treat traditional culture rationally. Although China's traditional culture lacks scientific spirit, it does not mean that "fever" is not only an important signal of the return of traditional culture, but also shows the strong competitiveness of China's traditional culture in the 2 1 century. For example, traditional culture emphasizes "harmony between man and nature", and modern scientific discourse can be interpreted as a sustainable development theory that pays attention to harmony and unity and environmental protection. In the post-industrial era, people have deeply realized the importance of environmental protection and sustainable development after suffering the negative impact of industrial and urban development. These aspects of China's traditional culture can provide long-term theoretical support.
In addition, the importance of absorbing beneficial nutrients from western science and culture is self-evident. Zhu Kezhen, a famous scientist and educator in China, said that there are two reasons for the underdevelopment of modern science in China: "One is that you don't know how to use scientific tools, and the other is that you lack scientific spirit". The primary goal of our science education should be to cultivate people's scientific spirit, especially young people. Properly adjust the "craftsman tradition" and "scholar tradition" in science, change the biased view that science and technology are pure technology, and explore the spiritual connotation behind science and technology. In a word, in order to better revitalize China's science and technology and build an innovative country, cultivating scientific spirit should be the core content of future science education.
(2) Some suggestions on the innovation of science and technology policy in China.
Needham problem reveals that the general decline of modern science and technology in China is related to the lack of intellectual property system, which makes it impossible to promote modern science and technology even if there are laws and regulations to adjust scientific and technological production activities. Moderate economic benefits play a guiding role in the dissemination and application of scientific knowledge. Of course, the guiding role of market mechanism can not be separated from the encouragement of relevant policies and systems. The innovation of science and technology policy in contemporary China should promote the progress of science and technology by improving the intellectual property system. Writing the protection of private property rights into the Constitution will certainly give people more freedom and rights, and will certainly protect the property rights interests of the subject of scientific and technological innovation rights. In addition, scientific research needs relevant laws and policies to guarantee the freedom of scientific research and speech. Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties made science lose its freedom and tolerance, and finally made science and technology retrogress. The Renaissance in Western Europe advocated the spirit of freedom and rationality, while the people in China were in turn imprisoned by Confucianism for the growth of rational scientific spirit. "China regards Confucianism as the official philosophy, advocates respecting ancient classics and restricts freedom of thought; Emphasis on literature, contempt for skills, and regard science and technology as exotic skills. Scientists have to be thirsty for knowledge under extremely difficult conditions. "
Although modern China legislated intellectual property rights from the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, the actual effect was extremely limited. This example shows that besides the formal intellectual property legislation system and strict judicature, we should also pay attention to the comprehensive influence of cultural factors. Although science and technology policies and regulations can be transplanted, the realization of the functions of science and technology regulations must depend on the cultural atmosphere conducive to scientific and technological innovation. Some scholars vividly pointed out that "science and technology have a strong cultural color, and what kind of cultural soil will cultivate what kind of scientific and technological culture". Many times, it is not enough to have a system. The so-called "disciple method is not enough to be independent" is the truth.