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在1931年于伦敦举行的第二届国际科学技术史代表大会上,苏联著名物理学家赫森(B.Hessen)提交了论文:《牛顿〈原理〉的社会经济根源》(《The social and economic roots of Newton’s‘Principia’》)。与那种认为牛顿力学仅仅是伽利略和第谷以来地面和天体力学研究成果之集大成或牛顿站在巨人肩膀上天才创造结果的流行观点迥然不同,赫森运用辩证唯物主义和历史唯物主义进行研究的结果是:当时水陆交通、工业生产和军事活动等经济和社会需要对于牛顿力学的诞生起了相当关键的作用。作者对马克思主义哲学和牛顿力学的娴熟以及对牛顿力学社会经济根源的精湛、到位的分析,令人折服,在大会乃至整个西方科学界和思想界产生了热烈反响。许多一流学者如贝尔纳、普赖斯、李约瑟、图尔明等都一再表明这篇论文引起了他们的强烈共鸣。大致说来,这篇论文的历史贡献有二:一是开辟了科学外史研究的新纪元;二是在西方科学界和思想界提高了马克思主义哲学的威望。长期以来实证主义、马赫主义和逻辑实证主义在西方世界盛行,导致人们倾心科学知识的逻辑演进,而对科学知识与社会的关系则熟视无睹。赫森的论文使人们在科学知识逻辑演进之外,看到了牛顿力学与当时经济、社会之间深刻的内在联系,极大地开阔了人们的视野。这一方面充分显示了作为方法论武器的马克思主义哲学的巨大威力,同时,也使人们切实看到了把科学置于社会历史背景中进行考察即进行社会外史研究的巨大必要性与可能性。不久,受赫森的直接影响,默顿完成了《十七世纪英格兰的科学、技术与社会》,接着科学外史研究便逐步开展起来了。为此学界公认,赫森的论文不仅是一篇马克思主义科学社会学和科学史的经典文献,而且也是科学外史的开山之作。鉴于这篇论文的崇高学术地位,我们特别约请了几位青年学者将其译出,分期刊发,以飨读者。原版摘自《Science at the cross roads》[byKniga(England)LTD.Bush House,Aldwych,London,W.C.2]第151页至第212页。
At the Second Congress of International History of Science and Technology, held in London in 1931, the famous Soviet physicist B. Hessen presented a paper entitled “The social and economic roots of Newton’s’Principia ’”). In contrast to the popular belief that Newtonian mechanics is merely a result of ground and celestial mechanics research since Galileo and Tychoa or that Newton stood by the genius on the shoulders of giants, Hesse studied dialectical materialism and historical materialism The result was that the economic and social needs of land and sea transport, industrial production and military activities at that time played a crucial role in the birth of Newtonian mechanics. The author’s skillfulness in Marxist philosophy and Newtonian mechanics, as well as the superb and complete analysis of the social and economic roots of Newtonian mechanics, are convincing and have generated a warm response from the General Assembly and even the entire Western scientific and intellectual circles. Many first-rate scholars such as Bernard, Price, Needham, and Toulmin have repeatedly shown that this essay has aroused their strong resonance. Generally speaking, there are two historical contributions to this essay: one is to open up a new era for the study of the history of science; the other is to raise the prestige of Marxist philosophy in the western scientific community and in the world of thought. For a long time, positivism, Machism and logical positivism prevailed in the western world, leading people to devote themselves to the logical evolution of scientific knowledge. However, the relationship between scientific knowledge and society turned a blind eye. Hesson’s essay enabled people to see the logical internal relations between Newtonian mechanics and the economy and society at the time, which greatly broadened people’s horizons. On the one hand, it fully shows the tremendous power of Marxist philosophy as a methodological weapon, meanwhile, it also shows people the tremendous necessity and possibility of conducting the study of social history through placing the science in the historical background of society. Shortly after Henson’s direct influence, Merton completed “Science, Technology and Society in England in the Seventeenth Century,” and the study of the history of science began to take shape. To this end the academic community recognized that Hesson’s thesis is not only a classic Marxist scientific sociology and the history of science, but also a pioneer in the history of science. In view of the lofty academic status of this essay, we specially invited several young scholars to translate them and issue them in phases to readers. Original from “Science at the cross roads” [byKniga (England) LTD.Bush House, Aldwych, London, W.C.2] pp. 151-212.