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Full Description
This book offers a new investigation of the Needham Question. Why did modern science emerge in Europe, but not in any of the advanced non-European civilizations? Eurocentric accounts attribute it to certain 'qualities' said to be 'unique' to Europe. Opposed to the Eurocentric view is a position known as the 'dialogical perspective'. Dialogism argues that Europe borrowed heavily from non-European scientific knowledges, and that scientific exchanges were key to the development of modern science. Neo-Eurocentric arguments have emerged in response to the challenge of dialogism, and the debate between Eurocentrism/neo-Eurocentrism and dialogism currently stands at a stalemate.
In this book, Raymond Lau brings a new theoretical-methodological framework to finally settle this debate. The historical analysis developed here shows that to secure the non-Eurocentric case, and decisively rebut Eurocentrism and neo-Eurocentrism, it is necessary to go beyond dialogism both theoretically and methodologically.
Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: The Needham Question, dialogism versus Eurocentrism and neo-Eurocentrism, and the need to transcend dialogism.- Chapter 3: Analyzing intellectual development on a non-essentialist basis: A theoretical-methodological framework.- Chapter 4: Greece and the Needham Question.- Chapter 5: Social essentialism and sociological reductionism concerning Greece in comparison to China.- Chapter 6: The issue of evidence of knowledge transmission across different civilizations.- Chapter 7: Alleged 'cultural obstacles' to knowledge transmission and Huff's 'intellectual curiosity' argument.- Chapter 8: Late-Renaissance scholar agency and the breakthrough into modern science.- Chapter 9: Cultural essentialism and Cohen's Eurocentric-cum-neo-Eurocentric argument concerning the breakthrough into modern science.- Chapter 10: Conclusion.- Chapter 11: Appendix - Deconstructing cultural essentialism at root: The 'maritime vs continental civilizations' narrative.
