On The Scientific Spirit

The development of science is molding the spirit of science more than the accumulations of scientific knowledge and innovations of the scientific approaches, for scientific knowledge and approaches update continually, while the spirit of science is eternal.Scholars of Chinese and foreign have beneficially discussed about the Spirit of Science, but they didn' t reach agreement. This paper starts with analyzing the concepts of science and ends up with drawing the conclusion that the spirit of science refers to the intrinsic spirit and soul of the science and the scientific activity. It is the unification of the scientific main body (scientist)' s intrinsic energetic makings and the intrinsic nature of scientific activity, who pursue truth and creating as the foundation. Today, science is a sort of knowledge, an approaches, an activity and a social system. The spirit of science goes through the whole process of science. But mastering scientific knowledge, understanding scientific approaches doesn' t mean that one is equipped with the spirit of science. Although the social roles of science become more and more important, the scientism insisting that "science can do all" disobeys the spirit of science.The spirit of science has been started and developed coupled with the development of science . It has been formed through a long history. So it is eternal and vivid. The paper analyzes the beginnings, development and further enrichment of the spirit of science, based on the history of the research of science.The paper states the spirit of science firstly is viewed as the noble quality of the scientists, extraordinary virtues and fine behavior characteristic. It is the spirit of pursing the truth and practicing, the spirit of holding, challenging and creating, the spirit of commitment and devoting in the long time of exploring. When the science has been developed as a sort of social construction, the ethos of scientists naturally has been promoted as the ethos of science and becomes the scientific community consisting of values and norms. The two spirits ofscience integrate on the basement of the truth and creation and their mingling and development compels the science to be improved continually.The paper refers that the absence of the spirit of science and its developing is a question which now we urgently awaits to be solved. The meaning of the spirit of science is greatly significant, but today, the condition of the spirit of science in our country is worried about greatly, mainly in the field of science education and scientific research and dissemination. The phenomenon of preferring knowledge to approaches, more to spirit, is fluent in education and the phenomenon of disobeying the standards in the field of science research is serious. It is certainly connected with the concepts of science both in history and modern time.Facing with the absence of the spirit of science, it is urgent to strengthen developing the spirit of science. The paper reflects on development of education, social coordination , construction of culture and system arrangement, and states that we must hold on the spirit of science even in the course of developing it.The end of the paper makes further brief statements about social significance of the spirit of science.