摘要
日、月、五星右旋说在中国古代占主导地位,其说缘起不晚于战国时期。历家多取此说进行日、月、五星位置的推算。日、月、五星左旋说首见于两汉晚期,后经宋代张载、朱熹等人的提倡,在宋、元、明时期曾风靡一时。两说的论争,涉及到日、月、五星是否附着于天壳的不同观念、对日行轨道的不同理解,以及君臣、阴阳关系等伦理问题,故备受天文历法界、思想界以至最高统治者的重视。由于右旋说对日、月、五星运动的描述远较左旋说精到,特别是对日行黄道等现象能提供更合理的说明,经由元代黄必寿、清初王锡阐等人的阐释,遂成定说。而左旋说在天体层次观念和力学机制的建立等方面亦有所长,也不可一概否定。
In ancient China, people all believed that the stars rotate leftward from east to west. However, whether the Sun, the Moon and the five planets rotate leftward or rightward, there were controversial ideas. In this paper, the author would like to discuss it systematically. The right-rotation theory of the Sun, the Moon and the five planets had been predominant in ancient China. This theory appeared no later than the Warring States period. Astronomers often took it for calculating the position of the Sun, the Moon and the five planets. The left-rotation theory of the Sun, the Moon and the five planets made its appearance in the later period of Western Han Dynasty. Advocated by Song philosophers Zhang Zai and Zhu Xi, it had been quite popular in the Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasties, exerting a great influence on Confucian scholars. The controversy between left-rotation and right-rotation is related to different concepts of whether the Sun, the Moon and the five planets are attached to the sphere of the sky, as well as different concepts of the orbit of the Sun. It also deals with the ethical problems between emperors and officials, and the Yin and Yang concepts. Therefore, astronomers, thinkers and even emperors paid great attention to the controversy. For instance, the first emperor of Ming Dynasty supported the right-rotation theory. Because the right-rotation theory is much more precise and more reasonable than the left-rotation theory in describing the movements of the Sun, the Moon and the five planets, especially in the description of the Sun moving around the ecliptic. After the descriptions of Huang Bishou of the Yuan Dynasty and Wang Xichan of the early Qing Dynasty, the theory of right-rotation became a definite theory. However, we can not negate the left-rotation theory, because it is better in the descriptions of the concepts of different spheres of the heaven and of the founding of the mechanic principle.
出处
《自然科学史研究》
CSCD
1997年第2期147-160,共14页
Studies in The History of Natural Sciences
关键词
日月五星
右旋说
左旋说
星系
中国
天文学史
the Sun,the Moon and the five planets,right-rotation,left-rotation,controversy
