Abstract:

For a long time, academia has used Western concept systems to study ancient Chinese science and technology, and included it in the category of empirical science. The analysis of the so-called “Needham problem” is also simply regarded as the lack of experimental science in China. Research on compass shows that using Western concepts to study Chinese problems is neither objective nor very appropriate. The characteristics of ancient Chinese science and technology are very different from those in Europe, and it is urgent to build a set of concepts based on the inheritance of the country’s cultural system and the development path of science and technology, and learn from Western research results, in order to establish cultural self-esteem and self-confidence, and sort out cultural and scientific and technological traditions, and promote the development of contemporary Chinese science and technology.

Key words: empirical science, Needham Problem, compass, Shen Kuo, ancient science and technology