Studies On Xu Guangqi’s Philosophy Of Agriculture

China has profound tradition in agriculture, with many celebrities in the field and numerous agriculture masterpieces. These experts are not only proficient with agriculture knolwlege but also reflecting deep philosophical reflections. As a master on Chinese traditional agriculture thought, Xu Guangqi formed unique agricultural philosophy based on his research and practice as well as learning from the achievements from Western science and technology while he also inherited the former Chinese agricultural philosophy. The research on Xu Guangqi’s agricultural philosophy not only helps to scholars to make up for the defects which people used to focus on his agriculture science views while ignoring his philosophy thought, but also is a beneficial supplement for the domestic research on agricultural philosophy.Agriculture is production activities under certain conditions mixed with economic, nature, science and technology. Agricultural philosophy is to explore the internal relations and interaction between them. In this thesis, Xu Guangqi’s agricultural philosophy is fully explored from three aspects of agricultural economy, agricultural ecology and agricultural technology through discussing their relationship and interaction.In the Ming Dynasty, agricultural economy occupies a leading position. Xu Guangqi elaborated his thought of agriculture being basis of wealth based on the view of "food to eat, clothes to wear ". At the same time, with the background of capitalism sprouting in the late Ming, he has changed the traditional Chinese theory which agriculture and commerce were set to opposition each other. He put forward the view of "laying stress on agriculture while not inhibiting commerce ", which reflected his pragmatic and enlightening thought characteristics. In his thought about famine which is an important part of his agricultural economic thought, Xu Guangqi analyzed the cause of famine as well as raised the ways to resist. All of these fully reflected his understanding and grasp of the restriction each other and the reciprocal causation relationship between ecological, technical and economic factors in agricultural systems. His views on justice and benefit had both moral dimension and utilitarian dimension by which Xu Guangqi attempted to save Ming Dynasty through morality and the people’s livelihood.Xu Guangqi’s agricultural technology outlook was formed during his agricultural practice and research process. He inherited and exceeded the former agricultural technology in aspect of cultivating rice in southern drought paddy, green manure planting, the promotion of cotton or sweet potato, irrigation and eliminating of locusts, which deepen Chinese traditional agriculture intensive technology system and also formed his own distinguishing feature including mastering and overriding on the Western technology, admitting but not dogmatic to the Chinese ancient Soil suitability theory, especially abandoning some superstitious beliefs such as averting disaster by prayers. Researching into Xu Guangqi’s agricultural practices and technology thought, we can summarize his value on pragmatic technology. His emphasis on taking advantage of mathematics and geometry to guide agricultural technology, his advocating of utilizing tools and skills on agricultural technology, and his proposal on developing his country by technology and morality, are great helpful to develop agriculture and economy in modern China.Having been affected by Confucianism since he was a child, Xu Guangqi formed the Confucian ecological concept that emphasizes man being an integral part of nature. Later, he was baptized Catholics and then also accepted the Catholic ecological view. With his core concept as practicality, Xu Guangqi resolved contradictions between two ecological views and ultimately formed the complementary ecological view that emphasized harmony between man and nature as well as stressed on man’s independence in front of nature. This ecological concept was very similar to modern ecology theory which balances the relationship between the crops and the environment, and stresses sustainable use of the natural resources. Xu Guangqi also summed up ecological agriculture technology system and model including the use of waste, water and energy conservation, pest control, etc. This is of great significance to build a rational and modern agricultural development mode.Xu Guangqi’s agricultural philosophy had showed his own style and feature. Based on the dialectical relationship between "farming" and "politics", He formed the concept of big agriculture "system where economy, technology and ecology as well as agricultural production departments were emphasized to be united and balanced. He recognized the rationality of "private" and "benefit". It is great illuminative value that he stressed development of industry and commerce, granting land to all farmers other than collecting lands to country or few landlords. Also, it made his agricultural philosophy quite different from former agronomists’ for him to make use of modern agricultural thoughts. These unique ideas about agriculture and agronomy which reflected the special historical background not only are great theoretical value to modern Chinese agricultural philosophy but also are helpful to both of Chinese ecology development and global agriculture patterns in the future.