Is the theory of yin-yang and five elements superstitious?

Yin-Yang and Five Elements are the ideological system abstracted by ancient philosophers in China through observing, summarizing and speculating the living environment in their long-term life and production practice. It is the origin and foundation of China's ancient philosophy.

The unity of opposites of materialist dialectics is consistent with the theory of Yin and Yang. Yin-yang theory is widely used in all fields of social life, and people use it unconsciously.

The ancients "looked up at astronomy and down at geography", combined with personnel, gradually created a set of yin-yang and five elements theory, which can be divided into yin-yang and five elements. Yin and Yang refer to two opposing and interrelated forces in everything in the world. As the saying goes, "the solitary yang is not long, and the solitary yin is not born", and yin and yang are contradictory and interdependent; The five elements are the movement forms of five basic substances: "wood, fire, earth, gold and water", emphasizing the overall concept, and the five elements contain various relationships that promote and restrict each other.

The five basic forms of material movement, plus yin and yang elements, immediately evolved into many complex patterns. Formed a pattern, or thinking method, for the ancients to look at things.

Natural philosophers in China often turn to this kind of natural philosophy when explaining phenomena. For example, electricity is interpreted as "yin and yang excited into electricity"; The earthquake is considered to be "the sun lies but does not come out, and the shade is forced but does not steam". Therefore, the extreme forms of empiricism and mysticism run through the whole scientific theory system in ancient China.

Many scholars believe that China's ancient view of nature, especially the theory of Yin-Yang and Five Elements, hindered the progress of science and even denounced it as "superstition" for no reason. However, it has not faded out of people's sight with the passage of time and the rapid development of science. Countless people in China spare no effort to study the essence of Yin-Yang and Five Elements, trying to understand some thinking principles and inferences. Many celebrities with high intelligence and profound knowledge also draw nutrients from these theories of Yin-Yang and Five Elements, and some mysterious folk people often use these theories to "accurately predict something".

We should not classify Yin-Yang and Five Elements as "feudal superstitions", but should use their theories to guide our scientific practice and social life. Even the development of modern science and technology is inspired by the theory of Yin-Yang and Five Elements. For example, von Neumann, the inventor of the computer, thought hard for a long time at first and couldn't figure out a way to deal with these data. Later, he saw China's traditional eight diagrams, used "Yin" and "Yang" to draw some figures (hexagrams), and deduced divination images to express some meanings. So, von Neumann invented binary, and computers used binary to process all kinds of data.

Therefore, in any case, the theory of Yin-Yang and Five Elements has been deeply rooted in people's hearts and rooted in the memory of China people. From the height of temples to the distance between rivers and lakes, we can always see these speculative ways. Therefore, her profound philosophy, which has not been fully understood by people, appears in front of us more and more obviously with the sublimation of understanding, making us realize that Yin-Yang and Five Elements are not only simple superstitions, but also a great achievement of thinking philosophy.