方以智對西方天文學的接受、反省及其時代意義

Fang Yizhi’s Encounter with and Reflection on Western Astronomy and the Significance of His Thoughts during the Ming-Qing Transition

方以智與明末天主教傳教士往來，對於西洋所傳入的天文學知識有濃厚的興趣。方以智樂於學習新知之餘，仍保持獨立反省與批判的能力。他面對歐洲中世紀天文學與神學混和的學說時，會通過驗算對利瑪竇等人傳播的理論和數據提出質疑；當他接觸歐洲科學革命的新典範伽利略、哥白尼、第谷學說時，也能欣賞其優點，納入自身的質測之學中。為了探明17世紀東、西方新、舊宇宙圖像的變動，以及明代中國對新學說的傳播與理解模式，本文擬從方以智學習西學的歷程著手，接著考察其對地圓說、水晶球宇宙、光肥影瘦論、三際與四行說等觀點的評析，深入理解其宇宙觀的變動與其在明清之際思想與科技史上的意義。

During the late Ming dynasty, Fang Yizhi had extensive contact with Catholic missionaries and exhibited a strong interest in the astronomical knowledge introduced from the West. While eagerly embracing new knowledge, Fang maintained the capacity for critical thinking and self-reflection. When considering the medieval European theories that blended astronomy and theology, Fang employed verification-based calculations to challenge the theories and data disseminated by Matteo Ricci and his colleagues. When Fang encountered new paradigms developed by scholars of the European Scientific Revolution, such as Galileo, Copernicus, and Tycho Brahe, he appreciated their scientific merits and incorporated their theories into his own study of object-observation (“Zhi ce”). To investigate the transformations of old and new visual representations of the cosmos from both Eastern and Western perspectives in the 17th century, as well as to inspect the dissemination and interpretative models of new doctrines during the Ming dynasty of China, this paper begins by examining Fang’s learning process of Western knowledge and then proceeds to investigate Fang’s evaluations of various cosmological discourses, including the concept of Spherical Earth, the model of crystalline celestial spheres, the theory of Guangfei Yingshou, the Three-Region Theory, and the Theory of the Four Primordial Elements. This research deepens our understanding of the changes in Fang’s cosmological views and the significance of his thoughts in the history of ideas and technology during the Ming-Qing transition.