From chaos to civilization, from weak to strong, looking back on the development of mankind, the scientific spirit and humanistic spirit blend with each other, illuminating the way forward for mankind. In this issue of Lecture Room, Professor Yuan of China Science and Technology Lecture Hall Group elaborated in detail the formation and development of the scientific view with rationality as the core and the humanistic view with people as the center, as well as its role in human society. Science gives people strength and is the driving force for the development of human society. Three hundred years ago, what human beings did was generally based on experience, that is, blindly producing by experience, then refining technology from long production practice experience, and then producing science in the process of improving technology. However, in modern times, great changes have taken place after the birth of modern science. The first thing to do is to engage in scientific research, find out the truth and principle of things in the laboratory, reveal the law, and then use this principle to do it. Scientific spirit is the scientific concept and the courage to stick to it. It embodies the temperament, personality and psychology of a nation or a person, and the scientific spirit includes five aspects: exploration spirit, argumentation spirit, principle spirit, innovation spirit and independence spirit.

Scientific concept is an important part of modern concept, but it is not everything. Science makes people understand that we can make things that we can't do in the past, but what we make may also benefit mankind, so we should have humanistic thoughts, which is the direction of human development. The appearance of humanistic spirit promotes the emergence of scientific thought, and the development of science further promotes the development of humanistic spirit, which is superior to that of Qi Fei. Scientific thought, like a bright lamp, illuminates the whole human society. Science gives people strength, and humanistic thoughts guide the direction of human progress like stars. In the spiritual world of mankind, we should advocate the combination of science and humanities, and advocate the combination of science, art and humanities, so that the spiritual world of mankind will be more complete, rational and perceptual. Let mankind get better development.

On May 16, Professor Yuan was a guest in Lecture Room to discuss the scientific spirit and humanistic spirit with us. Stay tuned.

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Hello comrades, I am very happy and honored to exchange such a topic with comrades-scientific spirit and humanistic spirit. But here is a question: first of all, what is spirit? So we said, what about spirit? First, an idea, an idea, and then a kind of courage to stick to a certain idea, then this is called spirit. Then we say that the scientific spirit first refers to a scientific concept, that is, we not only have this concept, but also have the courage to stick to it, so it reveals a person's psychology, personality and temperament.

Our human wisdom should include three parts: one is knowledge, the other is method, and the highest level is concept. So generally speaking, this concept is actually two concepts, that is, modern concepts: including scientific concepts with rationality as the core and humanistic concepts with people as the center. The concept of science was born in modern science; The concept of humanism, generally speaking, is a modern concept of humanism, which was born in the Renaissance.

Therefore, we must first have an understanding of modern science. Science and technology should be called science and technology. Science is to know things and discover the truth and principle of things. And technology is to change reality, invent technology with scientific principles and transform it into real productive forces. Maybe we have a saying: No matter whether we are talking about 6,000 years or 5,000 years now, why did human beings crawl slowly in the agricultural society of more than 5,000 years, but develop rapidly with super acceleration in the last two or three hundred years, especially in the last decades, especially in the last decade? There are many reasons, but one of them is very important, that is, 300 years ago, what human beings did generally followed such a mode, that is, starting from experience, that is, a mode of production, technology and science, that is, blindly producing by experience, then refining technology from the long experience of production practice, and then producing science in the process of improving technology. This process has gone through thousands of years. But in modern times, after the birth of modern science, a great change has taken place, that is, human beings are smart enough to engage in scientific research first, discover the truth and principle of things in the laboratory, reveal the law, and then apply this principle to this invention technology, and then transform it into real productive forces. So it follows the pattern of science, technology and production. Then from then on, we call it human beings and enter a rational society.

For example, our four major inventions were mainly invented by experience, and practical experience, production experience and even the invention of steam engines were also mainly invented by experience, so it took thousands of years. But many important inventions after the steam engine, such as the generator, were Faraday, a British scientist who lived 183 1 years ago. He struggled in the laboratory for ten years and discovered the basic principles of power generation and magnetism, which is called science. Then in 1866, Siemens company of Germany invented the self-excited DC generator by using this principle. In other words, when Siemens invented the generator, he either groped in the dark or tried blindly, or he had scientific guidance, took fewer detours and took the wrong road. Then Bell invented the telephone in 1876, Edison invented the electric light in 1879, and Westinghouse invented AC transmission in 1889. Then electricity can be transmitted over a long distance, which brings mankind into the electrical age. It took less than 50 years from discovery to invention, and it can be said that 50 years exceeded the previous 5000 years.

Another example is 1905. When Einstein, a 26-year-old Jew, put forward the theory of relativity, he deduced a formula, that is, he found that mass and energy can be transformed into each other, and e = e = the square of MC, which is an amazing discovery. Then 40 years later, the atomic bomb exploded at 1945, so the scientific principle was transformed into atomic energy technology and so on. It is this series of examples that show that in modern times, human beings have been smart enough to understand the fundamental principle of this thing before doing anything. Therefore, mankind has entered the era of scientific history and rationality. Then we call this idea a scientific concept. The contribution of science and human beings is not only transformed into technology, but also into realistic productive forces, especially into a brand-new concept. Then this concept is what we often call scientific thought now.

What is scientific thought? Of course, it is difficult to define it now, but we can generally say that scientific thinking is a common value of scientists. We call it scientific values for short, and then we call it scientific concept for short. It is a kind of courage to realize this concept. What about this courage? Let's call it scientific spirit. Then, there are three concepts: scientific thought, scientific concept and scientific spirit.

In other words, the scientific spirit not only has this concept, but also has the courage to persist, so it reveals the temperament, character and psychology of a nation or a person. So in general, we summarize the scientific spirit into five aspects.

One is called the spirit of exploration. Science begins with curiosity. "There are countless stars shining in the sky." The first is curiosity: why are people born? Cats are born cats? Dogs are born dogs? Curiosity, so human curiosity is the first driving force for the birth of science. Therefore, we often say that education should keep children curious. Then with this curiosity, it is to explore why. What is matter made of? We talked about the fire, water and soil in Jin Mu before, so we didn't discuss it further. Then modern science discovered that Jin Mu's fire, water and earth are composed of molecules and atoms, and molecules and atoms are composed of protons, neutrons and electrons. Protons, neutrons and electrons are the most basic electrons, and basic electrons are composed of more basic electrons. So far, three pairs of quarks have been found, so what are quarks made of? Scientists are still exploring. If you don't understand that matter is composed of atoms and molecules, there will be no chemical industry now, so the scientific spirit is first manifested as exploration.

The second is called positivism. Science originates from facts and becomes thinking. One is reality, and the other is proof. We need to repeat the facts many times to find the law, but we still need to think. For example, when Copernicus first proposed Heliocentrism, he used his own eyes to observe, and more importantly, he used his own brain to think, because there was no telescope at that time, so the observation was still very rough. Because according to the geocentric calendar, if the nine planets revolve around the sun at the same time, then the whole natural order is orderly. The earth revolves around the sun for 365 days, with a little error, that is, February is the 28th or 29th, that is, observation, experiment and thinking. What about the scientific way of thinking? Generally speaking, we can conclude as follows: First, inductive thinking method; One is deductive thinking method. Of course, plus imagination, inspiration, intuition and so on. Well, then, then the scientific spirit shows that a person is good at observation, and he is good at doubt, which is the so-called well-founded skepticism. Then make assumptions about what you observe, and then prove it slowly.

The third scientific spirit, we also call it the spirit of principle. Is to pursue the most fundamental and fundamental principle in everything. Like our physics, F=ma, that is, we find that force is the cause of acceleration, not speed. Then the motion of any object is constant, so is the static, the principle of inertia and the principle of acceleration, so we explain the most fundamental things of some things. Of course, if I have this idea again, human society has the basic principles of governing society. What is the basic principle of market economy? Market mechanism. What is the basic principle of market mechanism? As long as we understand the basic principles, we will be more rational and realistic in building a market economy.

The fourth scientific spirit is the spirit of innovation? Any scientific theory must be able to explain reality and predict the future. When a scientific theory can neither explain the reality nor predict the future, there will be a breakthrough and a revolution. Just like 65438+the end of 2009 and the beginning of the 20th century, everyone thought it was a perfect classical physics, even thought it was the next step to improve the decimal places, but suddenly found that it could not explain the principle that the speed of light was constant, that is to say, there were two dark clouds floating in the sky at that time, which really brought a crisis to physics, and Einstein's theory of relativity was born. After Einstein's theory of relativity came out, it was unconventional. At that time, many classical physicists resolutely opposed and disapproved. As a 26-year-old young man, he dares to put forward new ideas, so he must innovate. Of course, this innovative spirit must be produced in a relatively relaxed social environment. That is to say, we don't agree with your opinion for the time being, but we respect your opinion, so it is very interesting that most people in the Nobel Committee disagreed with Einstein's theory of relativity at that time, and finally the Nobel Prize was awarded to Einstein, so he was in a relatively relaxed environment, which was conducive to people's creativity.

Then the last rule of scientific spirit is the spirit of independence. Because science is a social undertaking, it studies the phenomena of natural or humanistic society. But it is a * * * body and a part of social behavior, which is bound to be restricted by various social influences. Then people who are generally engaged in scientific research must have an independent spirit, not attached to some authority or power, and must put forward their own views realistically. Then, just like the five I just mentioned, it embodies a person's courage, not only a scientist, but also a nation.

So now some people may ask, what are the values shared by scientists, or what is the scientific concept? So first of all, what are values? Values are the standard system for people to judge right or wrong, good or bad. So we often talk about changing our minds. Change my mind, so today I'm actually changing the standard of judging things. Generally speaking, we used to regard the planned economy as the standard of socialism, so it is difficult for us to move forward. Later, we changed our ideas, and socialism can also engage in a market economy. Once this concept is changed, we will open up a very broad road to reform, and then our market economy will be integrated into the market economy of the world.

So what are we going to talk about now? Scientific values are the criteria for judging natural and social phenomena. We know that 300 years ago, before the birth of modern science, human beings judged the standards of natural phenomena, such as why is it windy for a while? Will it rain later? Will there be earthquakes in the future? Three hundred years ago, the criteria for all mankind to judge this natural phenomenon and social phenomenon can be summarized in one word: there are wind girls, rain gods, Raytheon and Raytheon. In short, one word is God. Therefore, we call the human society 300 years ago the value of God. So what I want to emphasize today is that the values based on God are not less in the West than in the East. Because our values based on the eastern gods are still scattered, here is the Jade Emperor, there is the Yan King, and there is the Buddha. In the west, however, in the Middle Ages, a set of strict theories was formed, called the theory of God's creation. It believes that the universe was created by God, so when God created the universe, the earth was the turn of God's son, that is, it was arranged in the middle of the universe, and the sun, moon and stars all existed to shine on the earth. Therefore, it is embodied in our natural science, which is called geocentric theory, which in turn becomes the basis for proving the existence of God. But the power of science is enormous, and a series of discoveries have provided mankind with a brand-new concept. What is this concept? That is to say, the universe is not created by God, it exists objectively and is regular, so a brand-new consciousness is born at this time, which we call regular consciousness. Of course, we can also say that we have changed from being based on God to being based on law. Of course, we generally don't talk about the legal basis now, but talk about legal consciousness. Then mankind knows from now on that the world can be known, and we can know this law and use and master it to guide our actions. Then the latter is called rational thinking. So now we can sum up a sentence, what is scientific thinking? What are the values of scientists? Then its core is eight words: legal consciousness and rational thinking. So now there is a problem. What is this? What is the law? Law is a universal and essential connection in the development of things and an inevitable trend of things. That is to say, whether the law must have three basic characteristics: the first universality; Second important; The third inevitability. Individual is not a rule, obviously not a rule, and accident is not a rule.

Of course, when we talk about this place, when we talk about the universality of the law, it does not mean that there is no particularity. Any country, any nation, even any department or unit has its particularity. So I will introduce you to a famous saying: "Science deals with the particularity of things according to their universality". In fact, most of us deal with the particularity of things every day, not the universality. A few scientists, including American scholars, spend more time studying universality. But on what basis do you deal with the particularity of things? According to the universality of things, it is to deal with the particularity of things with laws and principles. A person has mastered the universality of things, so when dealing with the particularity of things, he will stand high and look far, and he will take fewer detours and go astray. So we have mastered the universality of things, and we can get twice the result with half the effort when dealing with particularity; On the contrary, if you don't grasp the universality of things, you may get twice the result with half the effort. Dealing with the universality of things means that we must proceed from reality in the process of operation. But don't distort the universality of things because of the things in the operation process, so we often distort the universality of things when combining with our own reality. When we twist them, they will taste bad, which means that when you are operating, it must proceed from reality. However, don't distort universality because of my reality. If it is twisted, it will taste bad. Then we may encounter such difficulties. This is the second law.

Then the third rule is the most basic and essential thing. The more universal, the more essential, the deeper and more important, and the more telling. Seeking truth from facts is to find the most basic and essential principle. For example, we found something made up of molecules and atoms, which is more important than the water, fire and soil in Jin Mu in the past. Of course, we have further discovered protons and neutrons, and they are more essential. The more we can grasp the essence of things, the more we can grasp the root causes when dealing with problems. Of course, if we are a social phenomenon, such as market economy, what is the basic principle of market economy? Market mechanism. What is the market mechanism? The self-regulating relationship between producers and consumers or between suppliers and demanders is interdependent and mutually restrictive. Let's just say that if you have less money, I won't sell it to you, and if your things are expensive, I won't buy yours, so that we can bargain and reach an agreement. What is this agreement called? This is called price. So the market mechanism is also called the price mechanism. What is the basic principle of market mechanism? Why don't I sell it to you when you are short of money? Your things are expensive. Why don't I buy yours? Restriction mechanism of personal interests. So we say that in the market economy, the issue of personal interests is unavoidable, so what is the overall embodiment of personal interests in the market economy system? This is the issue of property rights? Therefore, to establish a market mechanism system, in the process of market economy development, we should gradually refine property rights, which will eventually be refined to people. Because now our government is state-owned, often owned by public institutions. Economically speaking, it should be owned by the people. Of course, most people own socialism. What should be done to form economies of scale? So the most common form is the shareholding system. The means of production, or what we call equipment, are concentrated to form a scale, and its property rights are scattered in the hands of the general public in the form of shares. You must solve the property rights well. Therefore, in our economic system reform, we should grasp the most fundamental thing, that is, property rights reform, which embodies a scientific idea: we should grasp its fundamental principles in everything.

So we can sum up now, what is scientific thought? First, know how to recognize and respect the law; Second, know how to punish those who violate the law; Third, to know what to do, we must understand its fundamental principles and grasp the most basic things. So this is a question of the quality of modern citizens, which we call rational concept. Then if our nation has this idea that everything is a law, we should stop arguing about it and act according to the law. Of course, in the process of discovering the law and discussing whether this thing is a law, there will be many arguments, but once we realize that this is a law, we must work together according to the law. In this way, in the process of reform, some boring arguments in the past may be reduced a lot. This is that we have a unified value, or a common language, that is, we act according to the truth. At the same time, we can do it, and we know how to do things from the root. Governing society should also grasp its basic principles. Of course, as I mentioned just now, this rule is embodied in practical actions, that is to say, in the process of formulating rules, we can repeatedly discuss whether these rules conform to the rules and meet people's needs. But once the rules are made, we must abide by them in our behavior and take them as a habit, a value, or even a matter of course.

Of course, we also want to say that scientific concepts are an important part of modern concepts, but not everything. Science makes people understand that we can make things that could not be made in the past, but what we make may not benefit mankind. For example, atomic bombs and biological weapons are harmful to human beings. Therefore, we should also have humanistic thoughts, which always care about one problem: people. Respecting people, caring for people and caring for people means that things created will always benefit mankind and minimize the harm to mankind. So below, let's introduce what is the humanistic concept.

The concept of human nature, if put in a very popular and simple way, is people-oriented, caring and caring for people. So now a popular saying is called humanistic care and life care, which should be said to be a core issue of humanistic concept.

The concept of humanity has two aspects. One aspect is the Renaissance. As Engels said, it was the Middle Ages in Europe, the dark Middle Ages, which suppressed human nature, so the most important one was asceticism, which suppressed it for centuries, so in the15th century and16th century, human beings could not stand it, and the Renaissance broke out. In fact, the Renaissance was a liberation movement of human nature in a sense. So from then on, knowing, caring and respecting people is a new concept. Man is the yardstick to measure everything. What about the Renaissance? It is more expressed through literature and art, novels, poems, fine arts and music, which is an expression of human feelings. Then there is another angle where humanistic ideas appear, which I want to focus on today.

As I mentioned just now, from Copernicus to Newton, the geocentric theory was reversed, the Heliocentrism was established, the order of the universe was straightened out, the orderly laws of nature were displayed, and a brand-new concept was provided for mankind. What about this concept? What we just talked about is the consciousness of law. This kind of thought has a far-reaching influence on contemporary intellectuals and shocked them. Then one of the more representative figures is John Locke. He was Newton's good friend. He was ten years older than Newton, but he was Newton's best friend. This legal consciousness was deeply influenced from Copernicus to Newton. He wants to know why nature is so regular and orderly, why human society is so chaotic, and whether human society is also regular. Then as a result of his thinking, he thinks that the reason why human society is chaotic is not because there is no law, but because no one abides by it. The reason why the laws of human society have not been followed is because it has been based on a traditional concept for a long time. What about this traditional concept? It is the concept of monarch standard that I just mentioned. With the king as the center, everyone came to atone. Since he is a criminal and a redeemer, of course, he can't have his own desires, so his personal interests, his enthusiasm and his creativity are suppressed. This John Locke is actually very interesting. We can now say such a rational thinking, so where did the monarchy come from? Sovereignty is sacred. Therefore, since Heliocentrism showed that there is no God and the God who granted the monarchical power does not exist, there is no monarchical power, so he proposed that the center of human society is man. So like Copernicus Newton, he reversed the geocentric theory and established Heliocentrism. Then he reversed the monarch standard and established the great theory of human standard. Then I think John Locke is a great thinker. He created humanism with reason. So he proposed that people are the center of society and personal interests are the basis of governing society. The sole purpose of any government is to protect people, create wealth and enjoy freedom and happiness. Then his thought actually laid a theoretical foundation for the glorious revolution in Britain, the Enlightenment in Europe, the American Declaration of Independence, the American Constitution and the French Revolution. This people-oriented concept led to the birth of a democratic political system, which was his greatest discovery. Since we say that science is to discover the truth and principle of things, what is the greatest truth of human society? That is, people are the center of society, and everyone has his own personal interests, so we should respect people's interests. The sole purpose of any government is to protect the people, create wealth and enjoy the freedom of happiness. This is17th century.

Then in the18th century, another great thinker appeared. Of course, we generally call him an economist, or Adam Smith, the originator and founder of market economy theory. Then Adam Smith made another great discovery after John Locke. What did you find? Finding a personal interest is everyone's personal interest. We know that before Adam Smith, economy was mercantilism, so Adam Smith put forward free economy. In other words, the government should not directly engage in the economy, and let everyone decide what to produce, how to produce it and for whom according to their own interests, which is conducive to the allocation of resources. Then there will be a problem, everyone is for their own interests, isn't there chaos in the world? Adam Smith made a very great discovery in this place, that is, because personal interests belong to everyone, not one person, and anyone can get his own personal interests only if he satisfies the personal interests of others. The more you want to get your own personal interests, the more you have to satisfy others' personal interests. The more you can satisfy others' personal interests, the more likely you are to get your own personal interests. So he found the restriction of this virtuous circle of personal interests, so he put forward the idea of such a market mechanism. So wasn't there a saying at that time? It is true that everyone produces for his own interests, but there is an invisible hand in society that guides him to meet the interests of society. Although this contribution to society is not intended, it can promote the development of society more than those who keep saying that they are happy for the public. So this is a sentence he wrote in the wealth of nations in18th century. The mutual restriction of personal interests can form a good economic order, and the mutual restriction of personal interests can effectively allocate resources. This is his great discovery.

Of course, there was another Maslow in the fifties and sixties. Then he belongs to the third trend of thought in psychology, and further finds that people's personal interests are multi-level. In addition to economic interests, material interests or survival interests, there is also the realization of security, love, respect, belonging and even self-worth. I think this is one great discovery after another. All people are different from animals. Why do people develop by leaps and bounds, so why does the animal kingdom remain unchanged? That is, people have a spirit and a spiritual world. In addition to material needs, people themselves have a spiritual need. Moreover, for a person, material is the foundation of his happiness, while spirit is the source of happiness. This is called human nature and human law. We used to say it was rich and heartless. Of course, a few people have it, but after meeting their material needs, more people have to consider how to make their lives more meaningful without taking it away. Then the highest level of demand is the realization of self-worth. For example, when we were young, I was a league member and a team cadre. At that time, we learned from Lei Feng and saw an old lady having difficulty walking in the street, so we went to help her. This shows that I am valuable to this old lady, which is called the realization of self-worth. After I helped, I slept comfortably at night. Therefore, such a kind of values, such a sense of value as I said, is a gradual rise of the market economy, leading to the maturity and perfection of the market economy. So what should we say to our society? This is often, of course, what basis should such values be based on? Everyone is the foundation of equality. I serve you in this place and you serve me in another place, so this is mutual, so this is a social mechanism called knowing how to identify this person's personal interests.

The great significance of scientific thought to human society lies in that it is not limited to natural science or a few scientists, but a cultural form, which is injected into the whole society and becomes an important part of human culture. So from now on, we can say that modern culture consists of two parts: scientific culture and humanistic culture. Moreover, science has created humanistic ideas, literature and art from a rational point of view, and infiltrated humanistic ideas into people's souls. Therefore, it should be said that science, art and humanities all fly with me, so that mankind can always move in the right direction. So in the end, I say two words: scientific thought is like a bright light, which illuminates the whole human society, and science gives people strength; And humanistic thought, like a star, guides the direction of human progress. If science gives people strength, humanities give people direction. Originally, in our human spiritual world, science, art and humanities are a whole. Then with the development of mankind, science is specialized, art is specialized, and humanities are specialized, and sometimes they are often separated. So now we should advocate the combination of science and humanities, and the combination of science and art and humanities. In this way, our spiritual world is more complete, both rational and emotional. Science often gives people a kind of pursuit of truth, while human nature gives people a kind of pursuit of love, that is, we can know how to act according to the law, and the core issue of understanding the law is to let human beings develop well, so that our society will move towards a bright future.