Diqin Designer

Chapter 534 Master Aristotle Was Wrong Again
This time, when the delegation traveled to the Western countries, all the schools of thought that could send people sent their disciples, and even the agriculturalists and novelists sent people.

The purpose of the agricultural mission was to investigate the differences between agriculture in the western countries and that of the Qin Dynasty. This included observing what crops the western countries grew, how they cultivated them, whether there were any aspects that the Qin Dynasty could learn from, and whether there were any suitable crops or livestock that could be brought back to the Qin Dynasty to enrich its agricultural production.

Novelists, on the other hand, are there to record stories. The Western countries are different from the Qin Dynasty, and the legends and stories that happen there must also be different from those in the Qin Dynasty. For novelists, this is excellent material.

The scholars from the Qin scholar group introduced the doctrines of their respective schools of thought one by one, much to the amazement of the Bactrian scholars. Not only were there many schools of thought in Qin, but their doctrines were also quite interesting: some studied how to be a better person, some studied medicine, some studied law, and others studied military warfare…

Many of the schools of thought were doctrines they had never heard of or even imagined before.

Perhaps the "Hundred Schools of Thought" mentioned by the people of Qin truly referred to hundreds of schools of thought.

Fortunately, they were no less capable than the people of Qin.

After the Qin scholars finished their presentations, it was the Bactrian scholars' turn to introduce their doctrines.

The elderly scholar leading the Bactrian scholar group laughed and said, "Your scholarship is novel and exquisite, truly deserving of the title 'a group of many sages and hundreds of schools of thought'."

Upon hearing the translator's words, Li Shiqi and the others thought for a moment and realized that the phrase "there were many wise men and hundreds of schools of thought" referred to the "Hundred Schools of Thought".

While that's not entirely wrong, it still feels a bit strange.

The old man laughed again and said, “We also have many wise men, but they do not address each other as ‘Master’. Our wise men include Aristotle, Socrates, Plato, Pythagoras, Diogenes, Zeno, and Democritus. Each of them has made amazing contributions in their respective fields, especially Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.”

"My main studies are in Aristotle's teachings; Master Aristotle was a polymath!"

At this point, the old man's expression became reverent, even somewhat fanatical, clearly showing that he was an admirer of Aristotle.

The old man said, "He is not only proficient in poetry and law, but also in ethics, politics and education. He also has a deep understanding of economics, mathematics, psychology, strategy and natural philosophy."

"He was not only a scholar, but also an excellent poet and a distinguished teacher. It was through his teachings that the great Alexander came to be!"

The old man's face showed an even stronger fervent reverence; it was clear that he truly admired Aristotle.

"Mathematics is your arithmetic, natural philosophy is the study of all things in the world, and ethics and psychology are the study of human nature..."

The old man gave a brief explanation to make it easier for the Qin scholars to understand. Then he looked at the Qin scholars and asked with a smile, "What do you all think of this world?"

To help the Qin scholars understand his question, the old man elaborated on it: "For example, what does this land beneath our feet and the sky above us look like in the whole world? What are we humans, everything around us, and even the whole world made of?"

The Qin scholars understood now. This person wanted to use questions to explain Aristotle's teachings: Hey, you Qin people don't know the answers to these questions, but the great Aristotle does.

However, the Qin scholars decided not to give him this opportunity. The young man from the Daoist school laughed and said, "Our world should be a sphere. The sun we see during the day and the moon and stars we see at night are all spheres, and they all have material entities. Their true appearance is not what we usually see."

The old man's smile froze at the Taoist youth's answer, his expression becoming extremely complex, a mixture of shock, incomprehension, confusion, and disbelief, as if he were saying, "How do you know that the world we live in is a sphere, and that the sun, moon, and stars in the sky are also solid spheres?"

Shouldn't it be that the people of Qin don't know these things and can't answer them, so he should be the one to tell the people of Qin?

The people of Qin not only knew, but seemed to know even more than he did, but how could that be!

The people of Qin did not have Aristotle, so how could they possibly know these truths?

To his surprise, the young Taoist answered his question, disrupting the rhythm the old man wanted. Unwilling to give up, the old man asked again, "Do you all know where our world stands in the whole world?"

The question is: since our world is a sphere, what is the position of this sphere in the universe?

The young Taoist chuckled and said, "Are you suggesting that our world is located at the center of the universe?"

Before the old man could answer, the young Taoist shook his head and said, "But unfortunately, our world is not the center of the universe. Our world is actually centered on the sun in the sky, and it revolves around the sun, while the moon revolves around us."

These words caused an uproar not only among the old man but also among all the scholars of Bactria. Even Euthydemus I and others who were sitting in the audience watching the academic exchange were astonished.

What the hell? The people of Qin actually said that our heaven and earth are not the center of the world, but the sun is?
But after a brief moment of astonishment, the old man suddenly became furious. He stared at the Taoist youth and said, "You are referring to Aristarchus's theory, but his theory has long been proven to be nonsense!"

Aristarchus, one of the ancient Greek astronomers, proposed a heliocentric theory, but his heliocentric theory was suppressed by Aristotle's geocentric theory. Therefore, ancient Greek scholars widely accepted Aristotle's geocentric theory, while his heliocentric theory was forgotten.

Of course, this is also because Aristotle established the geocentric model, which allows people to intuitively see how the many celestial bodies in the geocentric model operate, while Aristarchus suffered from the model.

Therefore, the old man became angry when he heard the young Taoist talk about heliocentrism.

This Qin man actually wanted to refute the great Aristotle's geocentric theory and overturn Aristarchus's heliocentric theory, which had been refuted. This was clearly an insult to the master Aristotle whom he believed in.

The young Taoist was unfazed by the old man's anger and laughed, "Truth will not change because of your faith or anger. Whether you believe it or not, our world is not the center of the universe, but rather revolves around the sun."

After calming down, the old man realized that the people of Qin were not trying to exonerate Aristarchus, but rather that Qin did indeed have a theory about heliocentrism.

But the people of Qin must be wrong; the geocentric model established by Aristotle could not be wrong.

The old man continued, "Since you believe that our heaven and earth are not the center of the world, but the sun is, what evidence do you have?"

However, the young Taoist did not answer, but instead smiled and said, "Of course there is evidence, but I cannot tell you all. If you want to know, you can go to Qin to seek it!" Hearing the young Taoist's answer, the old man wanted to say, "You don't know, that's why you won't tell me." There were quite a few Bactrian scholars who shared his thoughts, but some scholars also felt that the people of Qin might really have possessed evidence that the sun was the center of the world.

If this is true, it would be a major event that would upend the literary world today.

Perhaps they should make a trip to the Qin state. If it is true, they will be the pioneers who bring back great knowledge from Qin, and glory and wealth will follow. This may be the most important opportunity of their lives.

The young Taoist said, "As for the composition of us humans, and even all things in the world, they are naturally composed of elements."

Upon hearing the word "elements," the old man said, "In Aristotle's understanding of all things, the matter in our world is composed of the four elements of 'water, fire, air, and earth,' while the sun, moon, and stars in the sky are composed of 'ether.'"

The young Taoist laughed and said, "The elements that my Great Qin believes in are different from yours. In my Great Qin, there are far more than five elements, and many things are not composed of a single element, but rather a mixture of multiple elements."

"You say that the matter in our world is composed of 'water, fire, air, and earth,' then what are gold, silver, and other such things composed of? What is the light we see composed of? And what about plants and trees?"

This question was naturally no challenge for the old man. Although Aristotle's "four elements theory" was considered wrong by later generations, he did come up with a method to summarize all things in the world.

The old man replied, “Plants are composed of the four elements of water, fire, air, and earth. The earth element provides the form and structure of plants, such as their branches and roots, which are composed of earth elements.”

"The water element constitutes the sap and moisture of plants. Plants, like us, need to breathe. The air element is related to the breathing of plants. The fire element warms plants and provides the power for their growth."

“Gold and silver are composed of ‘water and earth’ elements, with earth being the main element. Therefore, gold and silver are solid and are often buried underground. However, water is mixed in with them, so gold and silver can be melted, just like water.”

It seemed to make some sense, and even to some extent, it was self-consistent, but the Qin scholars knew it was wrong, they just didn't want to refute it.

The young Taoist asked, "Can it be argued that these five elements are the most fundamental components of all things in the world, and cannot be further divided?"

The old man nodded and said, "Of course!"

Upon hearing this answer, the young Taoist laughed and said, "What if it could be divided further, like water?"

The old man immediately shook his head and said, "That's impossible. Water can be transformed into other elements, but it can never be divided. Water is the most basic element in the world."

The ability to transform between elements is a brilliant aspect of Aristotle's theory of elements; without this theory, the theory of elements would be unable to explain many phenomena.

However, the theory of elements also dictates that elements can be transformed but cannot be broken down into more basic substances. In other words, if you put them through an experiment on the electrolysis of water, their faith will immediately crumble.

The Taoist youth did not continue, but the meaning of his words was revealed to the Bactrian scholars: the basic elements can be further divided, and the element theory you believe in is wrong.

The old man also understood, and frowned. Why did it seem like the people of Qin wanted to refute the teachings of the great master Aristotle?
This won't do. Master Aristotle must be right, and the people of Qin must be wrong.

The old man decided to let the people of Qin experience the brilliance of the master Aristotle from another place. He said, "If there are two objects of equal size and shape but different weights, and they are dropped from a height, do you think the lighter one will hit the ground first, or the heavier one?"

The master Aristotle has already provided the answer: heavier objects fall faster.

This conclusion, in retrospect, is quite absurd, but in that era, it was considered "correct" by many. This "correctness" persisted for over a thousand years, leading people to firmly believe it until Galileo overturned it in the sixteenth century.

The Taoist youth did not answer. The one who answered this time was a disciple of Xinmo, also a young man. He said, "Does Your Excellency mean that the heavier one will land first? However, I must tell Your Excellency that both will land at the same time."

Why did the people of Qin give him an answer that was completely unexpected?
But the old man was convinced that the Qin people were wrong this time, and laughed, "You are wrong, sir. The heavier ones will land first, because they are heavier and will fall faster than the lighter ones. This is something even a child can figure out!"

The disciple of Xinmo was not angry that the old man had described him as being worse than a child. He smiled and said, "Some things cannot be figured out by just thinking about them. Sometimes, what we consider to be common sense is not correct."

"Your Excellency has certainly not personally experimented with it; you simply believe it to be true because it was said by the master Aristotle, and you have also made some assumptions out of thin air."

"There's no time like the present, so let's do it today and have someone experiment directly. After all, making the tools isn't difficult."

The old man's heart skipped a beat when he heard the young man from Xinmo tell him to go straight to the experiment.

He never thought there was anything wrong with this theory. Come to think of it, the heavier ones would definitely be implemented first than the lighter ones, so he never personally tested it.

Now that the Qin people are letting us conduct the experiment directly, it must mean they've already done the experiment and seen the results.

Sitting in the audience, Emperor Euthydemus I looked at the old man and then at the disciples of the new Mohist school. He too became interested and wanted to know who would land first. He ordered his guards, "You, go and prepare several balls of the same size but different weights. Drop them from a height and see who lands first. Then come back and report to me."

Several guards hurriedly left the theater to conduct the "Leaning Tower of Pisa ball-throwing experiment," which was 1,800 years ahead of schedule. Of course, this experiment had already been done in the Qin Dynasty.

After several guards left to conduct experiments, the old man continued to expound on Aristotle's doctrines: "Master Aristotle believed that white light is the purest light, and that other lights are not pure compared to white light."

He talked about Aristotle's understanding of light, and hopefully the people of Qin won't refute him this time.

The question of which of the two balls, one light and one heavy, landed first could be directly tested, but the Qin people couldn't possibly prove whether the light was pure.

The old man had just conceived this thought when he saw the young scholar from the Qin state's Mohist school, who was supposedly from the Qin scholar group opposite him, speak again.

The disciple of Xinmo shook his head and said, "That Master Aristotle was wrong again. White light is not the purest light, but the most impure light."

(End of this chapter)