From Western science to paradigms of tradition: Zhang Shenfu's notion of mathematical logic in cohesion with traditional thought (1920-30s)
Abstrakt
Zhang Shenfu 张申府 (or Zhang Songnian 张崧年, 1893-1986), one of the most passionate proponents of western science among the May Fourth intellectuals, was among those who first introduced the notion of mathematical logic - especially B. Russell's work - to the Chinese readership.
The post-May Fourth "intellectual enlightenment" was dominated by the search for a new socially applicable scientific objectivity which could transgress the "inner turf" of formal sciences and serve also as a tool for a universal revolution in society. Reflecting contemporary developments in philosophy and structural formal sciences, mathematical logic was presented to the Chinese readership as representing the peak of Western scientific search for universal laws.
This objectivist construct and scientific discipline became significant precisely in the first decade of the post May Fourth search for socio-scientific objectivity, in which Zhang Shenfu played an important role, taking part in various aspects of its formation and incorporation into the Chinese cultural framework. Apart from describing Zhang's role in the introduction of mathematical logic to China, this paper show how mathematical logic was perceived and further developed by Zhang in his model of objectivity, encompassing Western science (mathematics, logics, physics and epistemology) on one hand and Chinese culture on the other.
Chinese traditional concepts (like for example the notion a universal structure embodied in li 理, laws of complementarity, binary oppositions etc.) and philosophy (Confucianism - doctrine of mean (zhong 中), and onto-moral applications of concepts like ren 仁 (}}humanity(() etc. ) shaped the process of Zhang's understanding of mathematical logic, which was also a significant part of his search for the sense of scientific modernisation.