When the Earth Was Flat: Studies in Ancient Greek and Chinese Cosmology PDF
Preview When the Earth Was Flat: Studies in Ancient Greek and Chinese Cosmology
Historical & Cultural Astronomy Series Editor: Wayne Orchiston Dirk L. Couprie When the Earth Was Flat Studies in Ancient Greek and Chinese Cosmology Historical & Cultural Astronomy Historical & Cultural Astronomy SeriesEditor: WAYNEORCHISTON,AdjunctProfessor,AstrophysicsGroup, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia([email protected]) EditorialBoard: JAMESEVANS,UniversityofPugetSound,USA MILLERGOSS,NationalRadioAstronomyObservatory,USA JAMESLEQUEUX,ObservatoiredeParis,France SIMONMITTON,St.Edmund’sCollegeCambridgeUniversity, UK MARC ROTHENBERG, AAS Historical Astronomy Division Chair,USA VIRGINIATRIMBLE,UniversityofCaliforniaIrvine,USA XIAOCHUNSUN,InstituteofHistoryofNaturalScience,China GUDRUN WOLFSCHMIDT, Institute for History of Science andTechnology,Germany Moreinformationaboutthisseriesathttp://www.springer.com/series/15156 Dirk L. Couprie When the Earth Was Flat Studies in Ancient Greek and Chinese Cosmology DirkL.Couprie DepartmentofPhilosophy FacultyofPhilosophyandArts, UniversityofWestBohemia Pilsen,CzechRepublic Amsterdam,TheNetherlands ISSN2509-310X ISSN2509-3118 (electronic) Historical&CulturalAstronomy ISBN978-3-319-97051-6 ISBN978-3-319-97052-3 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97052-3 LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2018951782 ©SpringerNatureSwitzerlandAG2018 Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsarereservedbythePublisher,whetherthewholeorpartofthe materialisconcerned,specificallytherightsoftranslation,reprinting,reuseofillustrations,recitation, broadcasting,reproductiononmicrofilmsorinanyotherphysicalway,andtransmissionorinformation storageandretrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilarordissimilarmethodology nowknownorhereafterdeveloped. Theuseofgeneraldescriptivenames,registerednames,trademarks,servicemarks,etc.inthispublication doesnotimply,evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesareexemptfromtherelevant protectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this bookarebelievedtobetrueandaccurateatthedateofpublication.Neitherthepublishernortheauthorsor theeditorsgiveawarranty,expressorimplied,withrespecttothematerialcontainedhereinorforany errorsoromissionsthatmayhavebeenmade.Thepublisherremainsneutralwithregardtojurisdictional claimsinpublishedmapsandinstitutionalaffiliations. ThisSpringerimprintispublishedbytheregisteredcompanySpringerNatureSwitzerlandAG Theregisteredcompanyaddressis:Gewerbestrasse11,6330Cham,Switzerland To the memory of my brother Jan (1924–2012), who could calculate in the dozenal system This book was supported by the Czech Grant Agency Project, GACR 15-08890S. Foreword WhetherornottherewasanactualrelationshipbetweenearlyChinesethoughtand early Greek thought is difficult to determine. But we can really claim that there is analogical relationship between early Chinese thought and early Greek thought. Even with regard to the concepts of Yin and Yang which have been regarded by mostscholarsforalongtimeanduptonowasverypeculiarChineseideas,wecan findthatthereisanalogicalrelationshipwiththeconceptsofthehotandthecoldand thedryandthewetinearlyGreekthought.1Therefore,Istronglybelievethat,ifwe systematically and profoundly try to do comparative research into early Chinese thoughtandearlyGreekthought,weshouldmeetmanysurprisingdiscoveries.And this will help us not only to find many comparable thoughts between the two, but alsotosolvethepuzzleswhichhaveremainedforunderstandingbecauseofthelost andthelackofdocumentsoneitherside. DirkL.Couprie’snewbook,WhentheEarthWasFlat:StudiesinAncientGreek and Chinese Cosmology, is a great attempt in this aspect. In this volume, he continues the research of his earlier work, Heaven and Earth in Ancient Greek Cosmology,andmakesadetailedanddeepstudyofflatearthcosmology.Whilein thepreviousbookhepaidmoreattentiontohowsphericalearthcosmologyreplaced flatearth cosmology andwas acceptedin early Greek thought,inthenew book he devotes much more discussion to the question of how flat earth cosmology has explained all kinds of puzzles of astronomy. It is precisely in this context that he devotesanindependentandspecialparttothestudyofChineseflatearthcosmology, calledthegaitiansystem,whichwascontainedinanancientChinesework,ZhouBi Suan Jing. He makes use of his extensive knowledge of ancient astronomy when studying its thoughts related to flat earth cosmology deeply and professionally, so that although I am a Chinese person, I become a layman with respect to him regarding this Chinese ancient work. But, I dare say, it is by his new book that he illustrates how a comparative research between early Chinese thought and early 1SeeNieMinli(2016). ix x Foreword Greekthoughtmayprovideusefulmaterialtoremedythedeficiencyofliteratureon bothsides. IgotacquaintedwithDirkCouprieinThessaloniki,Greece,inJuly2014,whenI attendedtheFourthConferenceofInternationalAssociationforPresocraticStudies. Inthatconference,DirkCoupriereadhispaper,“ThePathsofTheCelestialBodies AccordingtoAnaximenes,”andmypaperwas“YinandYang,andtheHotandthe Cold.”Inmypaper,Icomparedthecosmologicalconceptsofthehotandthecoldin Pre-Socratics with the concepts of the Yin and Yang in Pre-Qin and paid special attentiontotheanalogiesbetweenLaoTzuandAnaximander.Ididnotanticipatethat thispaperwouldarousetheinterestofDirkCouprie.Wehadanintensediscussion aboutAnaximenes’scosmologyandancientChinesecosmologysuchasthegaitian systemandthehuntiansystem,theformerofwhichclaimstheideaofflatearthand thelattertheideaofsphericalheavens.IfeltshythatasaChineseperson,Icouldnot providehimwithmoreknowledgethanhealreadypossessedaboutancientChinese cosmology.Afterthatmeeting,wemetagaininFebruary2016atthe10thLondon Ancient Science Conference. At that conference, we talked about Anaximander’s cosmology,especiallyaboutthepuzzleinthissentence,“akindofsphereofflame fromthiswasformedroundtheairsurroundingtheearth”(Ps.-PlutarchStrom.2;DK 12A10).Hetoldmethatheintendedtopublishabookaboutflatearthcosmology based on the comparative study of early Greek cosmology and early Chinese cosmology. Now,Ireceivethelastdraftofhisnewbook,WhentheEarthWasFlat:Studiesin Ancient Greek and Chinese Cosmology, which is just what he promised in 2016. I believe this work will be a new beginning in the comparative studies of ancient Western thought and ancient Chinese thought, which tells us about the similarities and differences between their cosmologies. Dirk Couprie tends to stress the differ- ences.Inmyopinion,however,toinquireforthesimilaritieswillgiveusevenmore inspiredideasthantoinquireforthedifferences. RenminUniversityofChinainBeijing, NieMinli Beijing,China Reference NieMinli,“YinandYang,andtheHotandtheCold,”inFrontiersofPhilosophyin China,Volume11,Number1,March2016,pp.73–87. Spherical Versus Flat CoreyMcCorkle,Yayoi(2005),MiddelheimPark,Antwerp.Whatdoweseehere?Asphere,ora diskasflatasthepaperonwhichitisprinted? xi
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