Natural science includes research in many fields. Natural science usually tries to explain that the world operates according to natural procedures, not by divine means. The term natural science is also used to locate "science", which is a discipline that abides by scientific methods. Natural science is the general name of all kinds of sciences that study inorganic nature and organic nature, including human biological attributes. The object of cognition is the whole nature, that is, various types, states, attributes and motion forms of natural substances. The task of cognition is to reveal natural phenomena and processes, and then grasp the regularity of these phenomena and processes, so as to explain them, foresee new phenomena and processes, and open up various possible ways for rationally and purposefully applying natural laws in social practice.
Natural science is a science that studies the material form, structure, nature and motion law of nature. It includes basic sciences such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, astronomy and meteorology, as well as practical sciences such as agricultural science, biology, medicine and materials science. It is a summary of the practical experience of human beings in transforming nature, that is, the experience of production struggle. Its development depends on the development of production. In primitive society, due to the simple and clumsy production tools and the influence of primitive religion, human beings' struggle against nature is slow. However, every scientific and technological progress made by mankind has promoted the development of production, and at the same time promoted the continuous accumulation of natural science knowledge, which indicates a new breakthrough in science and technology. Therefore, although people at that time were still in ignorance and barbarism, they constantly promoted the development of science and technology with diligence, intelligence and wisdom in their struggle with nature. Ancient residents in China have a long history of understanding and exploring astronomy. As early as the Paleolithic, our ancestors had noticed the changes of the summer solstice, the ups and downs of the moon, the activities of various animals, the growth and maturity cycle of plants and so on, and gradually explored their laws. Therefore, almost at the same time as entering the Neolithic Age, agriculture and animal husbandry appeared. In the future, people urgently need to master the law of seasonal changes, so that the growth of crops will not be delayed. This prompted the emergence of astronomy and calendar knowledge. The materials provided by archaeology show that in the early Neolithic period, people have consciously observed the astronomical phenomena and used this to determine the orientation, time and season. The determination of orientation is of great significance to people's production and life, so people have mastered the knowledge of orientation discrimination for a long time. They explored the different directions of east, west, north and south from the laws of the appearance of stars such as sunrise, sunset and sunset Beidou. They build houses and bury the dead, all of which pay attention to direction. For example, the direction of the house mostly chooses the south direction; In the same cemetery, even in different cemeteries with the same archaeological culture, the heads of the deceased mostly face in the same direction. Although some deviate slightly from the positive direction (due south, due north, etc.) ), the basic direction remains unchanged (several tombs in different directions should be related to the cause of death). For example, the tombs in Anbanpo Cemetery in Xi 'an are arranged very neatly, and the directions are basically the same. Slight deviation shall not exceed 20 U 12290x due west. The tombs 1 14 cleared in the Peiligang cemetery in Xinzheng earlier are rectangular vertical-hole tombs, which are densely arranged and regularly arranged, and all the tombs face south or slightly west. These examples show that people have basically mastered the orientation method 8000 years ago. The determination of the season is probably caused by mastering the agricultural time according to the phenological phenomenon. Because most of our country is located in temperate zone, the four seasons change obviously: when the spring blossoms, people begin to sow with the cuckoo singing; In late autumn, the land is golden, many grains are ripe and people harvest; Migratory birds among animals, such as swallows, come and go in spring and autumn and return to geese regularly. The periodic changes of nature year after year make people associate the fruits of Xia Han, Spring and Autumn with the regular activities of migratory birds, find out the changing rules between them, and thus infer the seasons of agriculture and animal husbandry. Prehistoric ancestors probably lacked a clear concept of the four seasons, but they knew more and more about the seasons of agriculture and animal husbandry. People's observation and exploration of astronomical phenomena have promoted the accumulation of astronomical knowledge and the emergence of astronomy. The star that ancient ancestors first noticed may be the Big Dipper. It is also said that the earliest observed star is the bright red star Antares. Legend has it that there was a "fire official" in Zhuan Xu's time, who was responsible for observing "fire" and guiding agricultural production with its existence. It is estimated that around 2400 BC, when the "fire" was seen on the horizon at dusk, it was around the vernal equinox, which was the spring sowing season. The method of determining the four seasons by observing the astronomical phenomena like this is called "observing the time". According to legend, there was a calendar in the era of the Yellow Emperor. Emperor Yao sent civil servants to observe astronomical phenomena in the east, west, north and south, which reflected the importance that ancient ancestors attached to astronomical observation. Although these legends are still lack of physical proof, it is entirely possible that the original calendar appeared in the late Neolithic age. Ancient ancestors have noticed the number and shape of things in their lives, but the concept of logarithm is not clear. In the process of distribution and exchange, people can't exactly distinguish the difference between more and less. People haven't mastered the concepts of 1, 2, 3, 4 ... these natural numbers. Exchange is carried out according to needs and wishes and is an inevitable process in the process of human development. In the middle of Neolithic Age, perhaps because of the need of recording or exchange, carved symbols began to appear. There are carved symbols on tortoise shells and seven-hole bone flutes unearthed in Jia Hu, Wuyang seven thousand years ago. The symbol carved on the bone flute is next to the hole. After testing, the seven sound holes of this bone flute each emit a sound, forming a complete scale structure. The symbol next to the hole, as an equal sign, reflects the calculation process in the design and manufacture of this bone flute. So some people think that it reflects the ancestors' understanding of logarithm 7000 years ago. According to statistics, there are more than 50 kinds of carving symbols in Yangshao culture and Majiayao culture. It was also found in Longshan period and later archaeological culture. Legend has it that in ancient times there was a period of "tying ropes" and "writing wooden blocks as texts". Perhaps these symbols already contain some recording and carving contents. Therefore, these symbols may be the origin of ancient characters or numbers in China. If compared with Oracle Bone Inscriptions or inscriptions on bronze in Shang and Zhou Dynasties, many inscriptions are identical or similar to the figures in inscriptions on bronze and Oracle Bone Inscriptions, such as one, two, three, five and ten. Some people think that the ancestors of Yangshao culture already had the concepts of one, two and three ... eight. People's understanding of shape is also very early. When they make tools for different purposes, whether they are knives and axes with thick backs and thin edges, sharp needles and cones, round stone balls or curved wooden bows, it shows that people have understood and applied various geometric figures. In Yangshao culture, the shapes and patterns of pottery clearly reflect people's clear concepts of geometric figures such as circle, ellipse, square, diamond, arc, triangle (including equilateral triangle and right triangle), Pentagon and octagon. At the same time, there are many examples in the symmetry of geometric figures and the equal division of arcs. Hollow pottery balls unearthed from Daxi culture are marked with six intersecting "meters" on the sphere with three groups and one grate. It is hard to imagine carving and dividing the surface of a sphere and placing six "meters" on it without certain mathematical knowledge and calculation ability. These examples show that our ancestors' understanding of the logarithm and geometry of Yangshao culture and Daxi culture has reached a certain level. It is people's understanding of these geometric figures. Therefore, in the practice of production and life at that time, whether building houses, making tools and ornaments, or designing, commenting and describing symbols of decorative patterns can well reflect the requirements of square, round, flat and straight. For example, some houses with square planes, such as side lengths, have wooden columns arranged symmetrically and in parallel. The beams, columns and tenons of the wooden components found in Hemudu site meet the mechanical requirements of tension and compression. The right triangle, diamond pattern and face proportion in the drawn pattern are reasonable and symmetrical, which shows that the methods and simple tools of drawing square, circle, flat and straight have probably been mastered at that time. This tool is probably the earliest rule.
Edit this introduction to various fields of natural science.
mathematics
Mathematics is a subject that studies concepts such as quantity, structure, change and spatial model. By using abstract and logical reasoning, the shape and motion of objects are counted, calculated, measured and observed. Mathematicians have extended these concepts in order to express new conjectures with formulas and establish strictly deduced truths from properly selected axioms and definitions. Many people think that mathematics belongs only to logic, which is wrong. Mathematics belongs to natural science, and it has been closely related to mathematics since the birth of natural science. The title of Newton's book Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy can be well explained. Mathematics is divided into basic mathematics and applied mathematics. Basic mathematics is definitely a natural science with the nature of natural science. 1+ 1=2 is an objective fact, not a logical deduction. Applied mathematics, on the other hand, uses mathematical models to set something, which does not necessarily conform to objective facts, which is why many people think that mathematics does not belong to natural science. But the essence of mathematics is at the level of basic mathematics. So mathematics belongs to natural science.
physics
Physics is a natural science that studies the structure, interaction and movement of matter. It is a natural science based on experiments, and an eternal theme of physics is to find various orders, symmetry and symmetry breaking, conservation laws or invariance.
chemistry
Chemistry is a science that studies the composition, structure, properties and changing laws of matter. The world is made of matter, and chemistry is one of the main ways and means for human beings to understand and transform the material world. It is a discipline with a long history and full of vitality, and its achievement is an important symbol of social civilization.
astronomy
Astronomy is a subject that studies the structure and development of celestial bodies and the universe in space. The contents include the structure, properties and operating rules of celestial bodies. By observing the radiation emitted by celestial bodies to the earth, we can find and measure their positions, explore their motion laws, and study their physical properties, chemical composition, internal structure, energy sources and their evolution laws.
earth science
Earth science is a basic subject to study the process, change and interaction of the earth system (including the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, biosphere and the space between the sun and the earth). It mainly includes geography (including soil science and remote sensing), geology, geophysics, geochemistry, atmospheric science, marine science and space physics j, as well as emerging interdisciplinary subjects (earth system science and geo-information science).
life sciences
Life science is a science that studies life phenomena, the essence, characteristics, occurrence and development law of life activities, and the relationship between various organisms and between organisms and the environment. Life science, which is used to effectively control life activities, actively transform the biological world and benefit mankind, is closely related to human survival, people's health, economic construction and social development, and is the most concerned basic natural science in the world today.
psychology
Psychology is a science that studies the occurrence, development and activities of human and animal psychological phenomena. Psychology not only studies animal psychology (the main purpose of studying animal psychology is to deeply understand and predict the occurrence and development law of human psychology) but also studies human psychology, with human psychological phenomena as the main research object.
Edit the natural science research methods in this paragraph.
First, scientific experimental methods.
Scientific experiment, production practice and social practice are called the three practical activities of human beings. Practice is not only the source of theory, but also the only criterion to test the correctness of theory. Scientific experiment is the source and test standard of natural science theory. Especially in modern natural science research, any new discovery, invention and theory must be based on reproducible experimental results, otherwise it will not be accepted by others, and even the possibility of publishing academic papers will be banned. Even pure theoretical researchers must have a deep understanding of the experimental results and even the experimental process they are concerned about. Therefore, it can be said that scientific experiment is an extremely important activity and research method in the development of natural science.
Second, mathematical methods.
There are two different concepts in mathematical methods. The mathematical method in the methodology book refers to the thinking method when studying and developing mathematics. The mathematical method to be expounded here is a thinking method often used in natural science research, and its connotation is; It is a scientific and abstract way of thinking. Its fundamental feature lies in putting aside all other characteristics of the research object, only extracting various quantities, changes of quantities and relationships between quantities, that is, symbolizing and formulating scientific concepts or principles under the objective premise, and carrying out logical deduction, operation, calculus and quantitative analysis of conformity with mathematical language (that is, mathematical tools), thus forming a mathematical explanation and prediction of the research object, thus revealing the research object quantitatively. This special abstract method is called mathematical method.
Third, systematic and scientific methods.
System science is a science about systems and their evolution laws. Although this subject only came into being in the first half of the 20th century, it has developed rapidly due to its wide application value, and now it has become a scientific field including many branches. Including: general system theory, cybernetics, information theory, system engineering, large-scale system theory, system dynamics, operational research, game theory, dissipative structure theory, synergetics, hypercycle theory, general life system theory, social system theory, pansystems analysis and grey system theory. These branches study different systems. Nature itself is an infinitely complex system, which contains many different systems, and the system is a universal existence. All things and processes can be regarded as systems with different degrees of organization, thus making the principles of system science universal and highly universal. The method of studying the structure, function and evolution law of various systems by using the principles of system science is called system science method, which has been widely used in various research fields, especially in the biological field (ecosystem) and the economic field (economic management system). System science research has two basic characteristics: first, it is closely related to engineering technology, economic construction, enterprise management, environmental science and so on, and has strong application; Secondly, its theoretical basis is not only system theory, but also depends on various related specialized disciplines, which is closely related to some branches of modern mathematics. Because of this, people think that the system science method generally refers to the study of the mathematical model, structure and design method of the system. Therefore, we will briefly discuss the system science method in the above sense.
Edit this Marxist exposition on natural science.
main body
In the history of Marxism, questions about natural science often provide people with an attractive choice of idealism and utopianism. Utopian socialism and scientific socialism, extracted from Engels' anti-Turin theory, have been published in the form of pamphlets for decades. It has always been the most popular Marxist reading. Both Marx and Engels deeply realized that science is a kind of progress, showing the thinking characteristics of the 65,438+09 century. Some of the most influential interpreters of their theories-Bernstein, Kaucki and plekhanov-relied on the models and analogies of natural science to explain the scientific nature of Marxism, especially what they got from Darwin's theory of evolution. Marx and Engels once expressed deep or shallow views on Darwinism, and the interpreters of their theories regard these views as the theoretical basis for linking the concepts of human beings and society with scientific methods and ideas. Marx once mentioned that Darwinism is the natural history foundation of their view of history (see Complete Works of Marx and Engels, Volume 30, page 13 1), and Engels' speech at Marx's grave also compared Marx's discovery of the basic laws of human history with Darwin's discovery of the development laws of the organic world. However, they are also shocked by the vivid image of nature derived from Darwinism-Malthus' law of struggle and Hobbes' law that all people oppose all people (see the Complete Works of Marx and Engels, Volume 30, page 25 1-252). Engels even distinguished the concept of labor between apes and human beings in his most concerned works on natural science (see Selected Works of Marx and Engels, Volume 3, page 508-5 17). Marxists, especially Engels, pay close attention to the scientific development of mathematics, biology, physics and chemistry. Engels made much progress than Marx in combining dialectics with natural laws (see the article Dialectics of Nature). Marx paid more attention to science as a means of productivity and labor management. He pointed out: "Natural science is increasingly entering people's lives through industry in practice, transforming people's lives and preparing for people's liberation, although its direct role is to deepen people's dehumanization." He went on to say: "Natural science will lose its abstract substance or, more precisely, its idealistic direction, but will become the foundation of human science, just as it has now-albeit in the form of alienation-become the foundation of real human life; As for life, it has a foundation, and science has another foundation-this is simply a lie. " (Complete Works of Marx and Engels, Volume 42, p. 128). In the Outline, Marx emphasized the close relationship between industry and science, and predicted that this relationship would continue to develop. (See the chapter "Capital"). In Volume 1 of Das Kapital, he quoted Yule's words in the passage coldly describing how technological inventions are used to control workers: "This invention confirms the theory we have already expounded: capital forces science to serve itself, thus constantly forcing rebellious workers to submit" (Volume 1 of Das Kapital, page 478, People's Publishing House 18) Many schools of Marxism emphasize that Marxism is science, but as long as we look at the word "science", we can see that it is often used as a means to establish its legitimacy, and it is often not a natural science (see the scientific and technological revolution). When it comes to natural science, it usually refers to scientific research information that meets the needs of production. Boris Hessen's "On the Social and Economic Roots of Newton's Law" (see bibliography) is the most telling article, which links the most famous literature in the scientific revolution with the economic problems in the17th century. Other papers with the same viewpoint emphasize that scientific theory is another way to continue practice. Bukharin believes that the idea of scientific self-sufficiency is a wrong consciousness, which confuses the subjective enthusiasm of professional scientists and the objective social role of science. The social function of science still stays in the production process (see Bibliography ②, p. 19-2 1 page). Gramsci, on the other hand, thinks that all scientific hypotheses are superstructures and all knowledge has historical connections (see pages 446 and 468 of Prison Notes). He said: "Therefore, things themselves are not subjective, but how to organize production in society and history, so natural science should be regarded as a historical category in essence, which is the relationship between people ... Can we say that the opportunities provided by nature are not the discovery and invention of pre-existing forces, that is, the pre-existing nature of things, but the interests of society, the development of productive forces and this?" (prison notes, pp. 466-465). The role of natural science and the development of science as a productive force lead to the narrowing of the difference between science and technology, so that capitalism can be adjusted around microelectronics and bioengineering. At the same time, people pay more attention to the necessity of applying political science to science, technology and medicine because of the continuous change of progress, supervision and management means. Generally speaking, Marxists adhering to the tradition of dialectical materialism (see the entry of dialectical materialism) regard scientific practice as something with neutral value and above class struggle (see the entry of Beenaert), while "critical theorists" (see the entry of Frankfurt School) regard the category, hypothesis and orthodox function of natural science as the core of revolutionary change. But Marx and Engels said in German Ideology: "We only know a unique science, that is, historical science" (Selected Works of Marx and Engels, vol. 1, p. 2 1).
philology
(1) Andrew Arato: Second International Re-examination, English version 1973- 1974. ② Nikolai Bukharin, et al. Science at Crossroads (193 1), English version 197 1. (3) Gramsci Antonio: Selected Notes on Prison (1929— 1935), English version 197 1 year. (4) Russell Jacoby: Criticizing the automation of Marxism-the politics of philosophy. From Lukacs to Frankfurt School, 197 1 English version. ⑤ George Leigh Sheeheim: Marxism-A Study of History and Criticism, English version 196 1. ⑥ Collective Creation of Basic Science Magazine: Science, Technology, Medicine and Socialist Movement, published in the 2nd issue of Basic Science Magazine, 198 1, English version.
Edit this passage of Zhang Xiulin's exposition on natural science.
Natural science exists as a science and technology for human beings to conquer nature, because it has two attributes at the same time: first, it has the same function as social science and human art to promote social progress; Second, there is no conflict between interest groups in social reality, such as "rank", "rule", "class", "benefit distribution" and "human rights". Its unique characteristics determine that it always remains "neutral" and has no confrontation with social thoughts, social consciousness and social interests. It can maintain tacit understanding with any social system and any social form-at least it is often used by autocratic and dictatorial rulers-to maintain the so-called "great unity" of academics and ideas, to achieve ignorance and enslavement of the people, to prevent advanced social sciences and arts from opening up people's wisdom, and to deliberately exaggerate and sanctify natural sciences. In autocratic and dictatorial societies, there are often only natural sciences and social sciences and arts of autocratic dictators. In fact, for the development of society, the existence of natural science and technology is not as important as many people understand. Compared with social science and art, the role of natural science and technology is obviously less important. The yardstick for judging a society is democracy and economy (promoting economy is an important function of science), but democracy comes first. If a society does not have revolutionary social science and art, then it can only be an unshakable "monolithic block", and the whole society will have no vitality, let alone any progress in democracy and freedom. In such a society, even the development of natural science itself is bound to be restricted by the system-it is not that development is not prohibited, but that there are no good external conditions for development-even if it is developed, it is difficult to be used. Therefore, the development of society is definitely not driven by the development of natural science. On the contrary, only the pioneering and dynamic development of social science and art can fundamentally promote the progress in all fields of society, including natural science. Natural science, like humanities and arts, has the function of opening up the concealment of language, that is, it has the function of making things or phenomena clear, available, regular and visualized, and transforming them from reality to existence. The difficulty of science and the alienation of art are all caused by the audience's unfamiliarity with the traditional meaning of language. The role of natural science and technology is not necessarily benign, but true to human nature. When talking about existence, we must discuss the function and significance of existence from the perspective of human beings and the vast majority of human beings. This is the most basic and fundamental premise. Without this premise, any existence will have no positive significance. We can see that natural science sometimes goes against human will, squeezing and destroying human living space. Although we can't enslave people's minds and make them slaves of a certain system or a certain group like reactionary and decadent social science and art, we can make people slaves of machines. The existence of natural science that human beings need is by no means such a thing. Few natural scientists care about human existence, human feelings, hearts and spirits as humanists and artists do. This is a natural limitation of natural science. However, natural scientists should at least have a certain spirit of being responsible for mankind and the future, and should have a certain sense of anxiety about the future of mankind. This is also the natural responsibility that natural scientists should bear. Unfortunately, many natural scientists have only become scientific research tools for politics and domination. Not only do they not speak for the disadvantaged groups in society, but they also do not study or study more natural principles and methods that are beneficial to the development of all mankind, so as to improve the labor intensity of low-status and overwhelmed workers. They also use their intelligence to create some weapons, tools and equipment, such as nuclear missiles, tear gas and other so-called military products, to destroy people's will and even their lives and help suppress people's power. As we all know, in Hitler's era, many scientific and technological personnel became tools for him and his ruling group to persecute people all over the world. In fact, throughout ancient and modern times, at home and abroad, have such scientists and such scientific and technological tools of political rule ever stopped? People often think that social scientists and literary artists are easy to collude with the political power, but they have a wrong understanding of natural scientists and are easy to increase their reverence. Really speaking, there are very few natural scientists who have a conscience and a purpose, and have lofty ideals for the development of the whole mankind, and of course they are far less than social scientists and artists. More natural scientists either stand on the opposite side of human beings and become reactionary scientists, or they are bookworm scientists who don't care about society and machine scientists who have no spirituality and temperament. The function of natural science, technology and culture is nothing more than the explanation of the language form of things. The misunderstanding of science and technology culture has caused the essential pseudo-language destruction to the language form of things, making the language form of things become the "other form" in the pseudo-language conjecture system. The so-called civilization composed of natural technology and culture has, to a certain extent, been alienated into cultural technology in the form of "other things". In the "machine discourse" of socialized mass production supported by natural science and technology, man has become a "one-sided man" with materialistic desires, from the real reality of free language to the infinite desire for things, and his spirit has degenerated or even lost. Man becomes a materialized machine against himself.
Edit the relationship between natural science and social science.
differentiate
Natural science is usually objective, while social science has different positions. Natural science includes research in many fields. Natural science usually tries to explain that the world operates according to natural procedures, not by divine means. The term natural science is also used to position "science" as a discipline that abides by scientific methods. Natural science is the general name of all kinds of sciences that study inorganic nature and organic nature, including human biological attributes. The object of cognition is the whole nature, that is, various types, states, attributes and motion forms of natural substances. The task of cognition is to reveal the essence of natural phenomena and processes, and then grasp the regularity of these phenomena and processes, so as to control them, foresee new phenomena and processes, and open up various possible ways for rational and purposeful application of natural laws in social practice.