Promote the Scientific Spirit and Raise the Quality of Our Country’s Citizens

Human beings are the subjects of social development. To build socialism with Chinese characteristics, we must first raise the quality of our country’s citizens. In the sixty years since the founding of the state, the Communist Party of China has relied on the broad masses of the people, fully mobilizing their initiative, creativity and enthusiasm, so that our country’s reform and opening up and the cause of socialist modernization have achieved brilliant successes. Yet we must also see that there remains a considerable gap between the quality of our country’s citizens and the needs of modernization, and that it is still not commensurate with our country’s status as a great power. To realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, we must raise the quality of our country’s citizens and thoroughly transform the ignorant and superstitious ideas of the citizenry. Owing to the influence of traditional culture, our country’s citizens are seriously deficient in the scientific spirit, and this fundamentally restricts the improvement of the quality of our country’s citizens.

人是社会发展的主体，进行中国特色社会主义建设首先需要提高我国国民素质。建国60年来，中国共产党依靠广大人民群众，充分发挥了人民群众的积极性、主动性和创造性，使我国改革开放和社会主义现代化建设事业取得了辉煌的成就。但我们也要看到，我国国民素质与现代化建设的需要还存在不小差距，与我国的大国地位相比还不相适应。要实现中华民族的伟大复兴，就必须提高我国国民素质，对国民愚昧迷信观念进行彻底改造。由于传统文化的影响，我国国民科学精神严重不足，从根本上制约了我国国民素质的提高。

I. Using the Scientific Spirit to Make Up for the Deficiencies of Chinese Traditional Culture

一、以科学精神弥补中国传统文化之不足

The power of culture is deeply fused into the vitality, creativity and cohesion of a nation. Like the air that is always present, it exerts a tremendous influence on the thought and modes of thinking of the citizenry, moulds the national character of a people, and manifests itself as the quality of a country’s citizens. The deficiency of the scientific spirit in our country’s traditional culture has an extremely far-reaching impact on the quality of our country’s citizens. To raise the quality of our country’s citizens, we must start by promoting the scientific spirit and transforming Chinese traditional culture.

文化的力量深深熔铸在民族的生命力、创造力和凝聚力中，它像空气一样无时不在，对国民的思想和思维方式产生巨大的影响，塑造着一个民族的民族性格，表现为一国的国民素质。我国传统文化中科学精神缺失对我国国民素质的影响极为深远，提高我国国民素质必须要从弘扬科学精神，改造中国传统文化做起。

The scientific spirit refers to the concepts, consciousness and forms that are formed in long-term scientific activity and embodied in scientific knowledge, scientific thought and scientific methods. The scientific spirit first manifests itself as a rational spirit of the pursuit of truth. The scientific spirit originates in ancient Greek philosophy and was further strengthened with the development of modern Western natural science. Ancient Greek philosophy revered freedom, possessed a spirit of “seeking knowledge” and “loving wisdom,” stressed the rationality of “theory” and “logic,” and adopted a mode of thought of “objectification-subjectification.” [1]1 The term “objectification-subjectification” (对象化一主体化) refers to a mode of thought in ancient Greek philosophy that posits a separation between the knowing subject and the object known, enabling the latter to be studied as an independent entity. These intellectual traditions cultivated the scientific rationality of Westerners and also provided fertile soil for the development of science, especially natural science. “Science actually arises from the human relation to things.” [2]2 This quotation is from the Chinese scholar Liang Shuming (1893–1988), who contrasted Western and Chinese cultural orientations in his 1921 book *Eastern and Western Cultures and Their Philosophies*. The mode of thought of “objectification-subjectification” sets humans and things in opposition, separates subject and object, and makes things into objective existences independent of human consciousness. People direct their objects of study toward objective existence, adopt experimental methods to probe objective truth, and thereby cultivate the scientific spirit of the pursuit of truth. Modern Western natural science is the direct inheritor of the rational spirit of ancient Greek philosophy. The increasing rigor and exactitude of modern and contemporary natural science has further strengthened the scientific spirit and shaped the rational character of Westerners. By comparison, Chinese traditional culture has been formed and developed over several thousand years in a relatively closed environment. The culture it formed, represented by practical rationality, has a moral-centered tendency and stands in sharp contrast to the Western cultural tradition represented by scientific rationality. Chinese traditional culture was built on the foundation of feudal patriarchal autocracy and adapted to the mode of agricultural production. It became over-ripe too early in the early stages of human development, and although it is not lacking in the profound radiance of human wisdom, it also carries many negative toxins that obstruct the modernization of our country’s citizens and cause the quality of our country’s citizens to exhibit many aspects that are unsuited to the development of modern society. Therefore, promoting the scientific spirit and transforming Chinese traditional culture is of fundamental significance for raising the quality of our country’s citizens.

科学精神是指在长期科学活动中形成的，体现于科学知识、科学思想、科学方法中的观念、意识和形态。科学精神首先表现为追求真理的理性精神。科学精神源于古希腊哲学，伴随着西方近现代自然科学的发展而更加强化。古希腊哲学崇尚自由，具有“求知”、“爱智”的精神，讲求“理论”、“逻辑”的理性，“对象化一主体化”的思想方式。① 这些思想传统培育了西方人的科学理性，也为科学，尤其是自然科学的发展提供了肥沃的土壤。“科学实起自人对物”，②“对象化一主体化”的思想方式使人与物相对，主观与客观分离，物成为不依赖于人的意识的客观存在。人们把研究对象指向客观存在，采取实验的方式去探求客观真相，从而培育出了追求真理的科学精神。西方近代自然科学是古希腊理性精神的直接继承者，近现代自然科学的日益严格苛刻，也进一步强化了科学精神，塑造了西方人的理性性格。相比而言，中国传统文化几千年来一直在较为封闭的环境下形成和发展，它形成的以实用理性为代表的文化，具有道德中心倾向，与西方以科学理性为代表的文化传统有很大的反差。中国传统文化建立在封建宗法专制基础上，与农业生产方式相适应。它在人类发展的初期就过分早熟，因而其中虽不乏人类深邃的智慧光芒，但也带有许多消极的毒素，对我国国民的现代化形成阻碍，使我国的国民素质表现出许多不适应现代社会发展的方面。因此，弘扬科学精神，改造中国传统文化，对提高我国国民素质带有根本性的意义。

II. Promote the Scientific Spirit and Raise the Ideological and Moral Quality of Our Country’s Citizens

二、弘扬科学精神，提高我国国民思想道德素质

The scientific spirit first manifests itself as a rational spirit of exploring truth. The scientific spirit is the value norms, modes of thought and behavioral standards that are formed in the process of scientific development and that scientists, in the course of engaging in scientific research and exploring the mysteries of nature, society and thought, universally recognize and follow. It is the concentrated embodiment of human rationality. The scientific spirit creates a rationalized personality and temperament. It is first internalized by scientists as an individual character, becoming the “conscience” of the scientist, and then influences the whole of society, sublimating into a social spirit and personality and becoming a precious asset of society. In particular, the development of contemporary science and technology has made the mutual influence, penetration and connection between science and technology and the social sciences ever closer. The scientific spirit thereby enters the domain of cultural values and becomes an important human value in the age of science and technology. In contemporary China, the main aspect of the low quality of our country’s citizens is the lack of rational spirit. On the one hand, owing to the influence of traditional culture, our country’s citizens have formed a vague and fuzzy mode of thought, are unaccustomed to precise and rational thinking, and feudal superstitious ideas are deeply entrenched. On the other hand, contemporary China is in a period of intense social transformation; many people lose themselves in this transformation and easily develop a character of seeking quick success and instant benefits and of impetuosity. Therefore, cultivating a scientific and rational ideological character among the whole population is extremely necessary. Once the scientific spirit is formed, it can not only inspire people to learn, master and apply science, and encourage people to keep climbing and advancing on the path of science, but it is also of great significance for establishing a correct worldview, outlook on life and value system, mastering scientific working methods and approaches, and doing a good job of leadership and management work in the economic, political and cultural spheres.

科学精神首先表现为一种探索真理的理性精神。科学精神是在科学发展过程中以及科学家在从事科学研究、探索自然、社会和思维的奥秘的过程中形成的普遍认同并加以遵循的价值准则、思想方式和行为规范，是人类理性的集中体现。科学精神造就的是一种理性化的人格气质，它往往首先被科学家内化为个人品格，成为科学家的“良心”，进而影响整个社会，升华为精神和社会人格，成为社会的宝贵财富。特别是当代科学技术的发展，使得科技与社会科学之间相互影响、渗透，联系越来越紧密，科学精神由此进入文化价值领域，成为科技时代一种重要的人类价值观。在当代中国，我国国民素质不高的主要方面表现为缺乏理性精神。一方面，由于传统文化的影响，我国国民形成了笼统、模糊的思维方式，不习惯于精确化、理性化的思维，封建迷信思想也根深蒂固；另一方面，当代中国正处于剧烈的社会转型期，许多人在社会转型中迷失自我，容易形成急功近利、浮躁的性格。因此，在全民中培养一种科学理性的思想品格是十分必要的。科学精神一旦形成，不仅可以激励人们学习、掌握和应用科学，鼓励人们不断在科学的道路上攀登前进，而且对树立正确的世界观、人生观、价值观，掌握科学的工作方式和方法，做好经济、政治、文化等方面的领导工作和管理工作，也具有重要的意义。

The scientific spirit is a spirit of pursuing goals that fears no hardship. On the long path of scientific development, there has been a process full of difficulties and dangers. In the long, dark Middle Ages of the West, religion subjected science to every kind of suppression and cruel persecution. Copernicus risked publishing *On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres* and proposed the heliocentric theory; Bruno was burned alive by the Roman Inquisition in the Campo de’ Fiori; Galileo was sentenced to life imprisonment. Since the twentieth century, outstanding scientists such as Einstein have suffered persecution by fascism… In the more than four hundred years of modern scientific development, science has waged a bloody struggle against religious theology, secular power and fascist dictatorship. Those pioneers, with their blood and lives, opened up a rugged and winding path for scientific development in a wilderness full of thorns. Marx wrote in the preface to the French edition of *Capital*: “There is no royal road to science, and only those who do not dread the fatiguing climb of its steep paths have a chance of gaining its luminous summits.” This is an encouragement to the reader, and also a portrayal of Marx’s own life. In order to pursue revolutionary truth, he spent his whole life suffering persecution, displacement and poverty, but he feared no hardship, was filled with a spirit of revolutionary optimism, and through arduous exploration finally founded Marxism, making an immortal contribution to the cause of human liberation. He devoted forty years of hard, tenacious and meticulous labor before writing the great work *Capital*. The scientific spirit of the pursuit of truth embodied in Marx is an incomparably precious spiritual wealth, a model for countless later generations to emulate, and is transformed into an inexhaustible spiritual force for transforming the world.

科学精神是一种不畏艰险的追求精神。在科学漫长的发展道路上，经历了一个充满艰难险阻的过程。在西方漫长黑暗的中世纪，宗教对科学进行了百般压制和残酷迫害。哥白尼冒险发表《天体运行论》提出日心说，布鲁诺被罗马教廷烧死在罗马广场，伽利略被判处终身监禁；20世纪以来，爱因斯坦等优秀科学家遭到法西斯的迫害……在近现代科学发展的400多年中，科学与宗教神学、世俗力量和法西斯专政进行了血与火的斗争，那些先驱者以鲜血和生命在布满荆棘的荒野中开辟了一条科学发展的崎岖小道。马克思在《资本论》法文版序言中写道：“在科学上没有平坦的大道，只有不畏劳苦，沿着陡峭山路攀登的人，才有希望达到光辉的顶点”。这是对读者的勉励，也是马克思一生的写照。他为了追求革命真理，一生都处于遭受迫害、颠沛流离、贫困交迫之中，但他不畏艰辛，充满了革命乐观主义精神，经过艰苦的探索，终于创立了马克思主义，为人类的解放事业做出了不朽的贡献。他付出了40年辛勤、顽强和一丝不苟的劳动，才写下了《资本论》这一宏篇巨著。在马克思身上所体现的这种追求真理的科学精神，是一种无比珍贵的精神财富，成为无数后来者学习的榜样，转化为改造世界的无穷精神动力。

The scientific spirit also contains a lofty moral personality, moral character and moral cultivation. The scientific spirit is the crystallization of the excellent ideological and moral qualities of scientists. Looking through the history of science, many scientists have displayed lofty characters, such as indifference to fame and fortune, seeking truth from facts, fearing no hardship, and willingness to dedicate themselves, which are worthy of study by each of us. Copernicus, Bruno, Galileo, Marie Curie, Franklin, Einstein, and also Qian Sanqiang, Zhou Peiyuan, Zhu Kezhen, Qian Xuesen… they are like a brilliant galaxy of stars. They all took promoting scientific and technological progress to serve the motherland, serve society and benefit humanity as their lifelong goals, constantly perfecting their ideal personalities. They are the spiritual models of their respective eras. As Einstein pointed out in his article “In Memory of Marie Curie”: “The significance of first-rate figures for the course of the times and history may, in their moral qualities, be even greater than in their purely intellectual achievements.” Since the founding of New China, our country’s scientists have displayed a spirit of patriotism, a spirit of seeking truth and innovation, a spirit of hard work and dedication, and a spirit of unity and cooperation. They have become models for people to learn from, forming a powerful spiritual force throughout society and inspiring people to work hard for the modernization of the motherland.

科学精神还包含着一种崇高的道德人格、道德人品和道德素养。科学精神是科学家优秀思想道德品质的结晶。纵观科学史，许多科学家表现了崇高的品格，如淡泊名利、实事求是、不畏艰险、乐于奉献等，值得我们每个人学习。哥白尼、布鲁诺、伽利略、居里夫人、富兰克林、爱因斯坦、还有钱三强、周培源、竺可祯，钱学森……宛若璀璨的群星。他们都把促进科技进步以报效祖国、服务社会、造福人类作为自己的毕生奋斗目标，不断完善自己的理想人格，他们是各自时代的精神楷模。正如爱因斯坦在《悼念玛丽•居里》一文中指出：“第一流人物对于时代和历史进程的意义，在其道德品质方面，也许比单纯的才智成就方面还要大”。新中国成立以来，我国科学家表现了爱国主义精神、求实创新精神、拼搏奉献精神、团结协作精神。成为人们学习的榜样，在全社会形成了强大的精神动力，鼓舞着人们为祖国的现代化而努力。

III. Promote the Scientific Spirit and Raise the Scientific and Cultural Level of Our Country’s Citizens

三、弘扬科学精神，提高我国国民科学文化水平

Scientific quality is an important component of the quality of the citizens. That citizens possess basic scientific quality generally refers to understanding necessary scientific and technological knowledge, mastering basic scientific methods, establishing scientific thinking, esteeming the scientific spirit, and possessing a certain ability to apply these to handle practical problems and participate in public affairs. Raising citizens’ scientific quality is of great significance for enhancing citizens’ ability to acquire and apply scientific and technological knowledge, improving their quality of life, and achieving comprehensive development; for improving the nation’s capacity for independent innovation, building an innovation-oriented country, and achieving comprehensive, coordinated, and sustainable economic and social development; and for constructing a harmonious socialist society. However, at present, the majority of our country’s citizens still do not possess basic scientific knowledge and the scientific spirit. Over the 30 years of reform and opening up, the scientific and cultural quality of our nation’s citizens has greatly improved, the illiteracy rate has dropped substantially, and many regions have basically eliminated illiteracy among young and middle-aged adults. Yet compared with developed countries, there remains a considerable gap in the scientific and cultural quality of our nation’s citizens. “According to relevant surveys, the level of scientific quality of our country’s citizens is far behind that of developed countries; the urban-rural gap in citizens’ scientific quality is particularly pronounced; the scientific quality of the working-age population is not high; most citizens have a low level of understanding of basic scientific knowledge, and are even more deficient in scientific spirit, scientific thinking, and scientific methods; some unscientific concepts and behaviors are widespread; ignorant and superstitious thinking is prevalent in certain places; the low scientific quality of citizens has become one of the bottlenecks restricting our country’s economic development and social progress.” [3]3 This is a quotation from the *Outline of the National Action Plan for Scientific Quality (2006-2020)*, a state policy document issued by the State Council of the People’s Republic of China. In our country, feudal superstitious thinking still lingers in people’s ideology; pseudo-scientific and anti-scientific fraudulent activities are still rampant in some places; and the forces of cults cause great harm to society. Therefore, we must “promote the scientific spirit, disseminate scientific knowledge, and improve the ability of cadres and the masses to identify and resist feudal superstition and pseudo-science.” [4]4 This is a quotation from the *Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Strengthening the Party’s Governance Capacity*, adopted at the Fourth Plenary Session of the 16th Central Committee in 2004.

科学素质是国民素质的重要组成部分。国民具备基本科学素质一般指了解必要的科学技术知识，掌握基本的科学方法，树立科学思想，崇尚科学精神，并具有一定的应用它们处理实际问题、参与公共事务的能力。提高国民科学素质，对于增强国民获取和运用科技知识的能力、改善生活质量、实现全面发展，对于提高国家自主创新能力，建设创新型国家，实现经济社会全面协调可持续发展，构建社会主义和谐社会，都具有十分重要的意义。但当前，我国大多数公民还不具备基本的科学知识和科学精神。改革开放30年来，我国国民的科学文化素质有了很大的提高，文盲率大幅度下降，许多地区已经基本扫除了青壮年文盲。但与发达国家相比，我国国民的科学文化素质还存在不小的差距。“据有关调查，我国公民科学素质水平与发达国家相比差距甚大，公民科学素质的城乡差距特别明显，劳动适龄人口科学素质不高；大多数公民对基本科学知识了解程度较低，在科学精神、科学思想和科学方法等方面更为欠缺，一些不科学的观念和行为普遍存在，愚昧迷信思想在某些地方较为盛行，公民科学素质低下，成为制约我国经济发展和社会进步的瓶颈之一。”③ 在我国，封建迷信思想还残存在人们的思想意识中，伪科学、反科学的诈骗活动在某些地方还很猖獗，邪教势力对社会造成很大的危害。因此，我们“要弘扬科学精神，传播科学知识，提高干部群众识别和抵制封建迷信和伪科学的能力。”④

Promoting the scientific spirit is also of particular significance for developing our country’s educational enterprise and raising the cultural quality of our citizens. Education is an undertaking that concerns the future and destiny of the nation and the people, occupies a primary strategic position in economic construction, and plays a fundamental role in improving the quality of our citizens. However, our country’s educational thought has long been dominated by exam-oriented education, while neglecting quality-oriented education. Our country’s education has consistently emphasized the transmission of ready-made conclusions and the acceptance of existing knowledge, while neglecting the cultivation of the scientific spirit and attitude. Therefore, it can be said that the education we provide to students is incomplete, enabling students at best to learn some scientific knowledge and conclusions, without cultivating a scientific attitude and spirit; indeed, scientific knowledge and conclusions may even degenerate into dogma, in turn constraining students’ future development. In the process of educational modernization and modernization in China, foreign natural science education was directly introduced. After entering semi-colonial and semi-feudal China, science education immediately took on a clear instrumentalist tendency; the scientific spirit and scientific knowledge, which should have been integrated, were artificially dismembered and separated. The Westernization Movement established new-style schools, emphasizing the direct utility of science in bringing “strong ships and powerful weapons” and enriching the country and strengthening the military, without concerning itself with the thought and spirit behind “strong ships and powerful weapons.” The content of natural sciences such as physics, chemistry, and biology could be wholly copied, while the philosophical and logical aspects of scientific thought and spirit were rejected, replaced by traditional Confucian thought. As Lu Xun sharply pointed out: “Learn foreign skills, preserve Chinese old habits; skills must be new, thought must be old.” “In the morning, sound, light, electricity, and chemistry; in the afternoon, the Master said, the Odes say.” [5]5 Lu Xun (1881–1936) was a leading Chinese writer and critic of his era. The quoted phrases are from his essay “On Photography and Related Matters” (1924), satirizing the superficial adoption of Western technology while retaining Confucian ideology. This tendency toward the instrumentalization of education severed the connection between knowledge and skills, on the one hand, and thought methods, attitudes, emotions, and spiritual motivation, on the other. It lacked the ideological foundation that directly produces the brilliant achievements of natural science and technology, and lacked the scientific spirit of seeking truth and being practical. This situation, in the more than one hundred years since modern science was introduced to China, has not been seriously reflected upon but has instead continued. Education in the scientific spirit has not grown well in China. Therefore, it is necessary to change this very utilitarian instrumentalist tendency. While learning scientific knowledge and scientific skills, cultivating students’ scientific spirit and scientific attitude is an urgent problem to be solved in current education.

弘扬科学精神，对发展我国教育事业，提高我国公民文化素质也有特别重要的意义。教育是一项关系到国家、民族前途命运的事业，居于经济建设的首要战略位置，对提高我国国民素质具有基础性的作用。但我国的教育思想长期以应试教育为主，而忽视了素质教育。我国教育一直重视现成结论的传授，重视已有知识的接受，忽视科学精神和态度的培养。因此，可以说，我们对学生进行的教育是残缺不全的，使学生充其量学到了一些科学知识和结论，却没有养成科学的态度和精神，甚至使科学知识和结论沦为教条，反过来束缚了学生的未来发展。中国在教育近代化和现代化中直接引进外国自然科学教育，科学教育在进入半殖民地半封建的中国后，立即带有明显的工具主义倾向，本该一体的科学精神和科学知识被人为地肢解和分离了。洋务运动兴办新式学堂，则着重科学带来的“船坚炮利”、富国强兵的直接功利，并不关心“船坚炮利”的思想和精神。对于物理、化学、生物等自然科学的内容能够全盘照搬，至于科学的思想和精神层面的哲学、逻辑等就加以排斥，用传统的儒家思想取而代之。正如鲁迅先生尖锐指出的：“学了外国本领，保存中国旧习；本领要新，思想要旧。”“上午声光化电，下午子曰诗云。”这种教育工具化的倾向，切断了知识技能与思想方法、态度情感、精神动力之间的联系。缺乏直接产生自然科学与技术的灿烂成果的思想基础，缺乏求真、求实的科学精神。这种状况在近代科学传入中国的百多年里，并没有被认真加以反思，反而继续下来。科学精神的教育在中国没有很好地成长。因此，需要改变这种十分功利的工具主义倾向，在学习科学知识和科学技能的同时，培养学生的科学精神和科学态度，是当前教育亟待解决的问题。

IV. The Scientific Spirit Plays an Important Role in Cultivating the Subjective Consciousness of Our Nation’s Citizens

四、科学精神对培养我国国民的主体意识具有重要作用

Historical materialism holds that humans are the subjects of social development, the driving force of social development, and also the purpose of social development. The objective laws of social development are independent of human consciousness, yet they are realized through humans’ conscious, purposeful activities. The force that determines social development lies not outside humans, but within human activity. However, during the more than one thousand years of the dark Middle Ages in the West, religious theology was dominant; God was the creator of the world and history, God was supreme and exalted, while humans were utterly base and lowly; human subjectivity was replaced by God. Under the long feudal autocratic rule of China, Chinese people were shackled by the fetters of divine power, political power, and clan power; human subjectivity was lost, and people were placed in a passive position; the initiative and enthusiasm of people to create history were greatly constrained. To this day, these poisons still exert influence in people’s thinking, such as low political participation, low quality of political participation, and weak civic consciousness.

唯物史观认为，人是社会发展的主体，是社会发展的动力，同时也是社会发展的目的。社会发展的客观规律是不以人的意识为转移的，但又通过人的有意识、有目的的活动来实现。决定社会发展的力量不在人之外，而在人的活动之中。但在西方一千多年黑暗的中世纪里，宗教神学居于统治地位，神是世界和历史的创造者，上帝至高至上，而人则至卑至贱，人的主体性被神所取代。在中国漫长的封建专制统治下，中国人被神权、政权、族权等枷锁所桎梏，人的主体性丧失，处于被动地位，人们创造历史的主动性、积极性遭到极大的束缚。时至今日，这些毒素仍然在人们的思想中产生着影响，如人们的政治参与度不高，参与政治的素质低下，公民意识淡漠等。

Esteeming the scientific spirit can cultivate an independent and sound personality. The scientific spirit contains the spirit of free exploration, the spirit of skeptical critique, the spirit of bold innovation, and the spirit of rigorous truth-seeking; its core value lies in cultivating a personality and temperament that pursues truth and insists on equality before the truth. People who possess the scientific spirit often display a rational attitude of respecting objective reality, do not blindly worship authority, are good at independent thinking and self-reliance, and possess an exploratory spirit of pioneering innovation and active enterprise; they embody the subjective consciousness necessary for social development.

崇尚科学精神，可以培养独立健全的人格。科学精神包含着自由探索精神、怀疑批判精神、大胆创新精神、严谨求实精神，它的核心价值在于培养人的一种追求真理、坚持真理面前人人平等的人格气质。具备科学精神的人，往往表现出尊重客观实际的理性态度，不迷信权威，善于独立思考，独立自主，具有开拓创新、积极进取的探索精神，具备了社会发展中的主体意识。

Science and democracy are twins. Lenin said: “The illiterate person stands outside politics.” [6]6 This is a paraphrase of a statement by Vladimir Lenin, often rendered as “An illiterate person stands outside politics; first he must learn his ABCs.” The exact source is Lenin’s speech “The New Economic Policy and the Tasks of the Political Education Departments” (1921). If a country’s citizens lack the most basic scientific quality, including scientific knowledge, scientific methods, and the scientific spirit, then that country’s democratic politics cannot develop. In China, a socialist country, the people being masters of the country is the essential requirement of socialist democratic politics; the Communist Party of China exercises leadership and governance precisely to lead and support the people in being masters of the country, and to safeguard and realize the fundamental interests of the masses. At the same time, the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics must rely on the masses of the people, fully unleash their subjectivity, in order to most broadly mobilize and organize the masses to manage state and social affairs, and manage economic and cultural undertakings according to law. Only when the masses truly possess subjective consciousness can they, in the posture of masters, fully display their intelligence and talent in the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics, continuously emancipate their thinking and pioneer innovation, and provide an inexhaustible driving force for the cause of socialist reform and construction.

科学与民主是一对孪生兄弟。列宁说：“文盲是排除在政治之外的”。如果一个国家的国民缺乏最基本的科学素质，包括科学知识、科学方法、科学精神，那么这个国家的民主政治就无法发展。在中国这个社会主义国家里，人民当家作主是社会主义民主政治的本质要求，中国共产党执政就是要领导和支持人民当家作主，维护和实现人民群众的根本利益；同时，中国特色社会主义建设必须要依靠人民群众，充分发挥人民群众的主体性，才能最广泛地动员和组织人民群众，依法管理国家和社会事务，管理经济和文化事业；人民群众真正具备了主体意识，才能以主人翁的姿态，在中国特色社会主义建设中充分发挥聪明才智，不断解放思想、开拓创新，为社会主义改革和建设事业提供源源不绝的动力。

The theory of people’s free and comprehensive development is an important component of Marxism. The Scientific Outlook on Development proposes to take people as the foundation and to promote people’s comprehensive development through scientific development. Raising the quality of our nation’s citizens is not only a need for constructing socialism with Chinese characteristics, but also creates conditions for realizing people’s comprehensive development. The scientific spirit is a basic quality essential for modern people in the era of science and technology. For contemporary China, which lacks the scientific spirit in traditional culture, is in a period of rapid social transformation, and is undergoing reform and opening up as well as socialist modernization, promoting the scientific spirit has particularly important significance. Deeply researching and exploring the important role of the scientific spirit in raising the quality of our nation’s citizens has not only theoretical significance but also important practical significance.

人的自由全面发展理论是马克思主义的重要内容。科学发展观提出要以人为本，通过科学发展来促进人的全面发展。提高我国国民素质不仅是中国特色社会主义建设的需要，也是在为实现人的全面发展创造条件。科学精神是科技时代现代人必备的基本素质。对于传统文化中科学精神缺失，正处于社会急剧转型时期，正在改革开放和社会主义现代化建设中的当代中国来说，弘扬科学精神具有特别重要的意义。深入研究探索科学精神对提高我国国民素质的重要作用，不仅具有理论意义，也有重要的实践意义。

References

参考文献

[1]1 The term “objectification-subjectification” (对象化一主体化) refers to a mode of thought in ancient Greek philosophy that posits a separation between the knowing subject and the object known, enabling the latter to be studied as an independent entity. See Wu Guosheng, “Science and the Humanities,” in *My View of the Humanities* [c], Jiangsu People’s Publishing House, 2001 edition, p. 70.

① 参见吴国盛：《科学与人文》《我的人文观》[c]江苏人民出版社2001年版，70页。

[2]2 This quotation is from the Chinese scholar Liang Shuming (1893–1988), who contrasted Western and Chinese cultural orientations in his 1921 book *Eastern and Western Cultures and Their Philosophies*. Liang Shuming, *The Essence of Chinese Culture* [M], Shanghai People’s Publishing House, 2003 edition, p. 312.

② 梁漱溟：《中国文化要义》[M]上海人民出版社2003年版，312页。

[3]3 This is a quotation from the *Outline of the National Action Plan for Scientific Quality (2006-2020)*, a state policy document issued by the State Council of the People’s Republic of China. *Outline of the National Action Plan for Scientific Quality (2006-2020)* (State Council Document [2005] No. 144).

③《全民科学素质行动计划纲要（2006-2020）》（国发[2005]144号）。

[4]4 This is a quotation from the *Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Strengthening the Party’s Governance Capacity*, adopted at the Fourth Plenary Session of the 16th Central Committee in 2004. *Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Strengthening the Party’s Governance Capacity*, September 19, 2004.

④《中共中央关于加强党的执政能力建设的决定》2004年9月19日。