On the multiplicity of scientific culture involving cases in China

Bing Liu

Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine,China

Scientific culture is among the focuses of academic research in China.It includes many disciplines,such as the philosophy of science,the history of science and technology,STS(science and technology studies),and traditional culture.Therefore,it involves interdisciplinary research that draws on the findings of many disciplines.Studies of scientific culture have achieved fruitful results and also involve some controversial ideas.

First,there are ambiguities concerning the word‘culture’.However,its general meaning can be grasped at least within daily language despite trivial differences.

Second,and more crucially,the word ‘science’also has multiple meanings as observed from the perspective of disciplinary scope.Generally,the meaning of science can be simply divided into narrower and broader senses.Science in the narrower sense usually refers to a systematic and logical system of knowledge that has emerged since the scientific revolution in the West.It takes nature as its object of research and is based on mathematics and experiments.The broader sense of science,on the other hand,comprises all systems of knowledge formed in the interaction between humans and nature.It might(or might not)have some connection with modern and contemporary Western science and holds significance and value for independent exploration.In this sense,the sphere of science has been greatly expanded.For example,ancient science in China,as well as a lot of local knowledge found in various countries,regions and ethnic groups that were excluded from the narrower concept of science,can also be included.Therefore,if understood in a broad sense,the word ‘science’ will become a plural term;that is,there is more than one kind of science.Then,accordingly,there is naturally more than one kind of scientific culture.

The origin of the concept of scientific culture can be traced back to the 1950s,when the British scientist CP Snow talked about a split between two cultures (namely,the culture of science and the culture of literature or humanities).Here,Snow paid more attention to the culture of science,which had the narrower meaning and mainly referred to mainstream science in the contemporary West.In that regard,scientific culture is a monistic idea based on a monistic concept of science.This monistic idea of scientific culture may lead to more extreme views that consider modern and contemporary Western science,as well as its value judgements and development paths,as the only objective,correct and effective system of cognition.

At present,the monist view of science is still dominant in China,where most people believe that science in the narrower sense is science pure and simple,while science in the broader sense is often regarded as non-science or even pseudoscience.Traditionally,mainstream research in the history of science is directed at such monistic science.However,as the study of the history of science and STS goes forward,non-Western,non-mainstream sciences are attracting people’s attention.Many philosophers and historians of science have begun to advocate a pluralistic view of science that does not seek unity and standardization.For example,the British scholar GER Lloyd adopted such a pluralistic view when he talked about whether there was science in ancient civilizations.If the answer is ‘no’,then historians of science will naturally face a crisis of legitimacy regarding their research.However,ancient science is obviously very different from modern science(or the contemporary Western mainstream science that grew from the scientific revolution).There was not a term in ancient language that can accurately correspond to the word ‘science’,despite the usually rich vocabulary about knowledge,wisdom and learning.After analysing various viewpoints on the issue of ancient science and their corresponding problems,Lloyd puts forward an extremely broad definition of science: we should describe science from its goal or purpose,which naturally includes understanding,explanation and prediction(and ‘control’ has also been added now because of the developing of knowledge for human purposes).In other words,we should understand objective nonsocial phenomena;that is,the phenomena of the natural world.Then,we could infer that all cognitive activities and achievements serving such purposes are naturally scientific.

In fact,the concept of ‘technology’ today is also one that involves contemporary Western understanding.Since the concept of science has been expanded so as to describe things that were different from the norms of Western science,then the technology(people have to use this term sometimes) in ancient China (and in other places and times) can also be included in this redefined concept of science,but we must remember that this ‘science’ is no longer pointing to that narrow sense of science.

Corresponding to such pluralistic sciences,scientific culture in a broad sense is also a plural and pluralistic concept.Moreover,some of those diverse sciences have continued their existence until the present.Although no longer in the mainstream,they still exert an impact in a limited part of society.With increasingly in-depth reflections on Western centrism in academic circles,related research involving multiple scientific cultures has been growing.We can see some characteristics of such pluralistic scientific cultures from these studies.

First,we no longer admire a particular way of thinking alone,but embrace an inclusive,open and eclectic attitude towards various ways and approaches.For postmodernists,science in a narrow sense is not superior to other sources of knowledge,because scientific knowledge is the same as other knowledge that attempts to control our thoughts and behaviours.The success of science (in the narrower sense) lies not in the correct value of its claims,but in its advocates imposing their understanding on others.Pluralistic scientific cultures would help to break such a monopoly.

Second,in the composition of knowledge,more content has been included in the field of science,and people can accept the broader context behind knowledge with more equal and open minds,so that cultures with different values and goals can be appreciated.In this context,knowledge in different cultural systems that are different from Western modern science is no longer to be regarded as something backward,and different knowledge systems are evaluated from the perspective of whether and how they accommodate the goals,values and purposes of the society in which they originated.

Third,in terms of benefit distribution,pluralistic scientific cultures could bring benefits to a wider range of people.When considering the doubleedged-sword effect of science,one will find that science in the narrower sense sometimes does not enable humanity as a whole to make better use of natural resources,but benefits only those already in a superior position in a social hierarchy,who own and control not only natural resources but also the means of mining and processing these resources.Pluralistic scientific cultures,however,are supposed to be able to break such a monopoly and match different natural resources with the needs of local residents,local knowledge traditions and local cultural systems.

Fourth,when discussing their values,pluralistic scientific cultures are intended to explore the meaning of scientific and technological systems in specific situations.For example,what are people’s needs and wishes in the worlds outside the West?What role can science and technology play in creating and satisfying these wishes and in maintaining and transforming the social structure?Such questions can provide a framework for exploring science and technology in non-Western societies and can reveal many interesting things.

Fifth,the mainstream outlook on science in China,whether in academic circles or mass communication,is still a monistic one,resulting in a monistic scientific culture.Therefore,we should combine systematic review,reflection and theoretical discussion with case studies,especially those related to China’s traditional culture,to promote research on the diversity of scientific cultures and provide inspiration for domestic research in this field.

In view of the above considerations,we have produced this special issue on the diversity of scientific cultures,which includes five distinctive papers.It introduces acupuncture as a basic way of understanding the human body from the perspective of historical study;explores the practice of postpartum confinement as a long-established Chinese tradition from the perspective of local knowledge;and discusses scraping therapy(gua sha)as a popular treatment in health care in terms of its history,current status,controversies and philosophical basis.Australian researcher Michael Matthews,who is influential in the field of science education and the philosophy of science,provides an original study of the scientific testing offeng shuiandqi.

These studies of cases associated with traditional characteristics of China show the diversity and richness of the field of pluralistic scientific cultures and provide inspiration for people to understand scientific culture more completely and comprehensively based on the conceptual framework of pluralistic scientific cultures.

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research,authorship,and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author received no financial support for the research,authorship,and/or publication of this article.

Author biography

Bing Liu is a professor at the Institute of Chinese Medical Literature and Culture,Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine,and the director of the Center for Science Communication and Popularization of CAST-Tsinghua University.His research interests include the history of science,the philosophy of science and technology,STS,science education and science communication.