Li Zhizao' History Of Learning Western Knowledge

Li Zhizao is one of the famous "mainstay of Confucianism $ Catholic " in late Ming Dynasty in China. Comparing to the other two mainstay, Xu Guangqi and Yang Tingyun, his history of learning western knowledge is so characteristically that it could be divided to four stages, which are:"science introduction", "quest for scientific laws by mathematics", "pursue the various science" and "separation of theory and technology". Trough these stages we can find some modern significance containing in his ideas. And the reason of the modern significance also is this paper's aim.I.The purpose of this paperBecause of the deficiency of Li Zhizao's history materials, modern researches about him is relatively limited,which focused either on the analysis of the reasons that he joined Christian, or on his contributions to different categories. This paper will give an overall idea of his researches.â…¡. The method of my studyingAnalysis of content:There are some content of Li Zhizao's works in this paper, through which I will show Li Zhizao's history of learning western knowledge.Comparative Analysis:In this paper, I compare Li Zhizao and Xu Guangqi to find the driving force of Li Zhizao's thoughts.â…¢.ConclusionWhen Li Zhizao started learning western knowledge from astronomy, he the basic role and metaphysical function of mathematics. On the basis, his focus then shifted to the philosophy. This process is summarized as from " science introduction" to " separation of theory and technology" in the paper. Objectively, his thought and history of learning western knowledge is uniquely among the contemporary intellectuals, because he built up the meeting point of academic exchange between Chinese and Western-the metaphysical foundation of silhak seeking, which contains some modern sense. The root cause lies in the deep-rooted Confucian ideology subjectively. In addition, Li Zhizao's interest in science and technology, scholarly character, and the induction of the missionaries also played a role which can not be ignored. Integrated speaking, there is some important reference for the modern cultural exchanges between Chinese and with Western in his thoughts.