596
C. Xu
verify the doctrines and convictions of Christianity, was at first equated to Christian
mythology and later separated from it. In this process, reasoning gradually shifted
from religious belief to nature and sentimental existence in the empirical reality,
and philosophy that was once mingled with Christian mythology, by obtaining new
contents and methods, evolved into natural philosophy and provided the ideological nest for the emergence of modern science. To fully understand the emergence
and development of natural sciences in modern times and the formation of modern
conception of nature, the ancient age and the Middle Ages should and could not
be overlooked. Ancient Greece and the Middle Ages represented two completely
different directions, but it was in the latter period when ideas of both periods were
at work that the seed of science was planted.
Around the sixteenth to seventeenth century, a new conception of nature as
opposed to the Greek one began to thrive and quickly replaced the latter to become
dominant. The mechanical conception of nature viewed nature not as an organic
entity, but as a machine that, like a watch, a clock or a watermill, had no life or
vitality, no sense or reason, and no independent movement or change. The difference
was that watch, clock and watermill were invented by man, but nature by God. God
invents a set of principles that were applied to manipulate nature’s movement, thus
turning nature into a passive and controlled machine. As such, the idea of “control of
nature” that could trace back to the Jewish-Christian tradition and began to emerge
in the late period of the Reconnaissance finally acquired a complete philosophical
form through the wonderful combination of mechanism and rationalism.
The concept of natural teleology foreboded the disintegration of the mechanical
conception of nature. Teleology is a core issue in western philosophy that involves the
explanation and criticism of “purpose” and “purposiveness.” Teleology had its inception in the pre-Socrates period. Although it was seriously attacked in the 15th to eighteenth century, teleology didn’t go extinct but had been lurking in the philosophies
of Descartes and others till it eventually came to light again through Kant’s philosophy. The teleology in ancient Greece was natural teleology, which held concepts
as the highest guidance on all beings. Other than that, there was also the theological teleology in the Middle Ages. In the eighteenth century, when natural sciences
theories were unable to explain the self-discipline of life and uniformity of nature,
Kant proposed the natural teleology. To make up for the deficiency of mechanical
causality, Kant, when explaining the natural system where living organisms were in
harmony and uniformity, introduced the concept of natural teleology different from
theological teleology and mechanical causality. According to him, organic beings
could be considered as having “intrinsic purpose,” which was different from the relative purpose or extrinsic purpose measured by empirical judgment. A natural object
can be considered to have an intrinsic purpose or a natural purpose because unlike a
sheer machine or a man-made apparatus, it is an “organic being with its own organization.” Hegel continued Kant’s view on organic life and saw a complementary relation
between life and purpose. Hegel’s natural philosophy was an overview of the natural
sciences achievements made in early nineteenth century, and he regarded nature’s
development from the lowest to the highest stage as an inevitable process. Hegel
deemed this kind of inevitability as absolute purposiveness. If we don’t sort through
C. Xu
verify the doctrines and convictions of Christianity, was at first equated to Christian
mythology and later separated from it. In this process, reasoning gradually shifted
from religious belief to nature and sentimental existence in the empirical reality,
and philosophy that was once mingled with Christian mythology, by obtaining new
contents and methods, evolved into natural philosophy and provided the ideological nest for the emergence of modern science. To fully understand the emergence
and development of natural sciences in modern times and the formation of modern
conception of nature, the ancient age and the Middle Ages should and could not
be overlooked. Ancient Greece and the Middle Ages represented two completely
different directions, but it was in the latter period when ideas of both periods were
at work that the seed of science was planted.
Around the sixteenth to seventeenth century, a new conception of nature as
opposed to the Greek one began to thrive and quickly replaced the latter to become
dominant. The mechanical conception of nature viewed nature not as an organic
entity, but as a machine that, like a watch, a clock or a watermill, had no life or
vitality, no sense or reason, and no independent movement or change. The difference
was that watch, clock and watermill were invented by man, but nature by God. God
invents a set of principles that were applied to manipulate nature’s movement, thus
turning nature into a passive and controlled machine. As such, the idea of “control of
nature” that could trace back to the Jewish-Christian tradition and began to emerge
in the late period of the Reconnaissance finally acquired a complete philosophical
form through the wonderful combination of mechanism and rationalism.
The concept of natural teleology foreboded the disintegration of the mechanical
conception of nature. Teleology is a core issue in western philosophy that involves the
explanation and criticism of “purpose” and “purposiveness.” Teleology had its inception in the pre-Socrates period. Although it was seriously attacked in the 15th to eighteenth century, teleology didn’t go extinct but had been lurking in the philosophies
of Descartes and others till it eventually came to light again through Kant’s philosophy. The teleology in ancient Greece was natural teleology, which held concepts
as the highest guidance on all beings. Other than that, there was also the theological teleology in the Middle Ages. In the eighteenth century, when natural sciences
theories were unable to explain the self-discipline of life and uniformity of nature,
Kant proposed the natural teleology. To make up for the deficiency of mechanical
causality, Kant, when explaining the natural system where living organisms were in
harmony and uniformity, introduced the concept of natural teleology different from
theological teleology and mechanical causality. According to him, organic beings
could be considered as having “intrinsic purpose,” which was different from the relative purpose or extrinsic purpose measured by empirical judgment. A natural object
can be considered to have an intrinsic purpose or a natural purpose because unlike a
sheer machine or a man-made apparatus, it is an “organic being with its own organization.” Hegel continued Kant’s view on organic life and saw a complementary relation
between life and purpose. Hegel’s natural philosophy was an overview of the natural
sciences achievements made in early nineteenth century, and he regarded nature’s
development from the lowest to the highest stage as an inevitable process. Hegel
deemed this kind of inevitability as absolute purposiveness. If we don’t sort through