The Westernization of Chemistry from Different Angles : An Examination of Three Manuscripts by Contemporaries of Yoan Udagawa and His Seimi Kaiso
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概要
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In conventional historiography, the history of modern science in Japan has often been discussed in terms of the introduction of Western science. The development of sciences in Japan used to be ascribed to the process of adoptation of Western knowledge, and is seen as a part of modernization. The history of Japanese science is most of the cases glorified in retrospect as a "successful" non-Western story of modernization with aspects of the Japanese incorporation of Western knowledge and her convergence with the West described according to the "Whiggish" view. However, as a result of reviews of the conventional historiography of sciences in the past few decades, conceptions accompanying modernization theory, such as the linear progress of science, and the simple accumulative nature of scientific knowledge, have been fundamentally questioned. In consequence, questioning of the linear progress of science has led to questioning of the concept of modernization. Modernization understood as a progressive historical process has been gradually discarded, and the concept of modernization is now considered to be a more complex process. Modernization in East Asian cultures should not be understood as a simple movement toward "being civilized", and modernity was not necessarily what everybody sought. Those who live in our modern society have already become used to technological and scientific progress, but at the same time, we have been forced to appreciate the fact that such progress is not a simple buisness of linear development, and techno-scientific innovation brings its problems. Needless to say, the cost of modernizaton is not negligible. For non-Western histories of science, a presupposed linear development of science is no longer taken for granted, and a concept of the simple accumulation of scientific knowledge is no longer persuasive either. To simply understand the introduction of science as a part of a process of modernization is one-sided, and it is important to be aware of the different aspects of the rejection and reception of science, and the selective process of adaptation and adoption. Much attention is now being paid to the strategy of acceptance of Western sciences in non-Western cultures. The formation of different scientific disciplines is now seen to involve, and result from, more complex intellectual and social processes. Instead of progressive growth of science, histories of science now illustrate the process of the interaction and negotiation between different currents of thought, institutions and socio-political struggles. The junctures discontinuities between different disciplines are now more in focus. What has also been argued recently is that science is not simply a cognitive, automatic growth of rationality or the development of internal positivistic proof, but is regarded as a socio-cultural activity and is considered to be embedded in its larger social context. Although the so-called "social constructionism of science" remains a matter for debate and needs further investigation, this aspect needs to be included for non-Western histories of science. Though rigorous sociological examination should be left to sociolo gists of science to argue, it is still for we historians of science to look each case from a wider perspective. The purpose of this paper is to explore a little further into the Japanese history of science, and chemistry in the early nineteenth century in particular. Traditionally, 1820-1840 is characterized as the period of the first introduction of modern Western chemistry into Japan, mainly through the works of Udagawa Yoan 宇田川榕菴(1798-1837), who is praised for his contribution to the modernization of Edo Japan. His Seimi Kaiso 舎密開宗(Fundamentals of Chemistry: 1837-1847) is certainly a breakthrough in Japanese chemistry, and is thought to have established the discipline as an independent field in Japan. Seimi Kaiso is a voluminous work and covers most of the important subjects in Chemistry. Most notably, it summaried and defined technical terminology and concepts of basic chemistry, a large part of which are still valid and used in today's chemical works in Japanese. As a result, Seimi Kaiso is known as the standard work in the history of Japanese chemistry. My point is, however, that while the importance of Seimi Kaiso is evident, such a prevailing understanding runs the risk of oversimplification, and can lead to a potential misunderstanding, separating Seimi Kaiso from any historical context. This paper intends not to present Yoan as a modernizer or a vanguard of Modern Western science, but to examine different factors behind Yoan's intellectual activities. Namely, my intention is to contextualize Seimi Kaiso, and to extend my previous works of the historical examination of Japanese chemistry in the Edo period. In order to do so, this article sheds light on three newly found manuscripts related to chemistry, so far unknown to the majority of historians of science. All three are drafted by Yoan's contemporaries, and the first two are aborted attempts to translate Dutch chemical concepts. Although their attempts were premature and translation was not successful, we can see the process of their efforts to understand Dutch scientific books. We analyze the difficulty they faced and the reasons for their lack of success itself become the focal point of our historical concern. The last manuscript consists of well-organized notes on chemical concepts, which was not published, but circulated widely in the form of hand-written copies. The Dutch originals for these notes have not been identified so far, though the contents of this manuscript was similar to a part of Seimi Kaiso, and thought to have had some originals in common. From the analysis of this manuscript, we are able to distinguish how Yoan's contemporaries dealt with chemistry.
- 日本科学史学会の論文
- 2000-03-30