文藝復興時期的科學精神於現代通識教育中的意涵－理念與實踐

Implication of Scientific Spirit in the Renaissance for Modern General Education-Rationale and Practice

劉柏宏(Po-Hung Liu)

《通識教育季刊》 12卷4期 (2005/12) Pp. 73-90

https://doi.org/10.6745/JGE.200512_12(4).0004

摘要

歐洲「文藝復興時期」上承中古時期的士林哲學，下啟十七世紀革命的科學思潮，可說是近代西方文明的一個轉捩點，。這樣的一種雙重性格使得「文藝復興時期」成為一個充滿豐富研究題材的歷史段落。由於人文主義興起，自十四世紀開始歐洲智識社群逐漸摒棄以基督教義為單一觀點來詮釋世界，轉而審視個人身處浩瀚宇宙中的角色。人文學者以「自覺」探討人性價值，希望調和宇宙、人類世俗與宗教信仰間的關係與衝突。他們將研究對象從基督本身轉為基督所創造的世界，也因此開始對大自然現象產生好奇並展開觀察，從而開啟現代科學的大門。哥白尼革命所帶來的影響不僅改變世人的宇宙觀，也促使對宇宙的研究進入數學化的時代。當然人文主義思潮不免對當時的宗教、科學、藝術各層面帶來衝擊。而大學通識教育的宗旨之一在培育學生對人文與科學兩種文化的認識，以發展知識與人格的統整性。史諾於1959年所提到人文與科學的鴻溝在五十年後似乎仍不見改善的跡象。因此本文除探究文藝復興時期的科學精神外，也將介紹一門跨領域的整合性課程，課程中學生除能接觸跨學科的知識外，更鼓勵他們比較及反思各學科本質間的差異、相關性與文化脈絡的連結，進而引發思考人文與科學跟當代社會發展的密切性。

關鍵字

文藝復興時期 ； 人文主義 ； 科學精神 ； 整合性課程

並列摘要

European Renaissance, inheriting Medieval Scholasticism and initiating scientific thoughts of the 17th century, can be seen as a critical turning pint of western civilization. It is of such a dual nature making the Renaissance become a motivating historical period for related research. Owing to the rise of Humanism in the 14th century, European intellectual society gradually threw away the position of taking the Christian perspective as the single criterion for interpreting the living world. Instead, they turned to scrutinize the individuals' role in the immense universe. On the basis of self-awareness, humanists explored the human values to establish the harmonic relationships and resolve contradicts among the universe, human world, and religion beliefs. They shifted the focus to the God-made world and began to observe the Nature, opening the door of modern science. Copernicus revolution not only changed the worldview of human being, but also led the study of the universe to the phase of mathematization. Humanistic thoughts unquestionably influenced other areas such as religion, science, and art. The main goal of college general education is cultivating students' understanding of the connection between science and humanity in order to develop holistic personality. However, little effort has been made to bridge the gap between humanity and science since P. C. Snow's appeal of ”two cultures” in 1959. In addition to discuss the scientific spirit of the Renaissance, this article introduces an integrated curriculum in which student were encouraged to compare the distinct nature among different subjects as well as learn interdisciplinary knowledge. Hopefully, learners are able to gain an understanding of the relationship between science and cultural context, and trigger their own thinking about the intimate connection among science, humanity, and society.

並列關鍵字

Renaissance ； Humanism ； Scientific Spirits ； Integrated Curriculum