Harris Steven J
Department of History of Science, Science Center 235, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA.
Isis. 2005 Mar;96(1):71-9. doi: 10.1086/430680.
Within the context of national traditions in colonial science, the scientific activities of Jesuit missionaries present us with a unique combination of challenges. The multinational membership of the Society of Jesus gave its missionaries access to virtually every Portuguese, Spanish, and French colony. The Society was thus compelled to engage an astonishingly diverse array of cultural and natural environments, and that diversity of contexts is reflected in the range and the complexity of Jesuit scientific practices. Underlying that complexity, however, was what I see as a unique combination of institutional structures; namely, European colleges, overseas mission stations, and the regular circulation of personnel and information. With this institutional framework as a backdrop, I briefly trace what I see as the most salient themes emerging from recent studies of Jesuit overseas science: (1) the Societys ability to use scientific expertise to its advantage amid the complex web of dependencies upon which it missionary activities rested; (2) the ability of its missionaries to become intimate with a wide range of cultures and to appropriate natural knowledge held by indigenous peoples, especially in the fields of material medica and geography; and (3) the different ways Jesuits used published accounts of "remote nature" (i.e., natural histories of overseas colonies) to advance their corporate and religious causes.
在殖民科学的国家传统背景下，耶稣会传教士的科学活动给我们带来了一系列独特的挑战。耶稣会的多国成员身份使传教士能够进入几乎所有葡萄牙、西班牙和法国的殖民地。因此，该修会不得不涉足极为多样的文化和自然环境，而这种环境的多样性反映在耶稣会科学实践的范围和复杂性上。然而，在这种复杂性的背后，我认为是一种独特的制度结构组合，即欧洲学院、海外传教站以及人员和信息的定期流通。以这个制度框架为背景，我简要追溯一下我认为近期耶稣会海外科学研究中出现的最突出主题：（1）该修会在其传教活动所依赖的复杂依存关系网络中利用科学专长为自身谋利的能力；（2）其传教士熟悉多种文化并汲取当地居民所拥有的自然知识的能力，尤其是在药物学和地理学领域；（3）耶稣会利用已发表的“偏远地区自然”（即海外殖民地的自然史）记述来推进其团体和宗教事业的不同方式。
