Rethinking the Needham Question

A Non-Eurocentric Framework Transcending Dialogism
2025
ISBN: 978-981-97-9471-3
Verlag: Springer Nature Singapore

Buch, Englisch, 358 Seiten, Format (B × H): 153 mm x 216 mm, Gewicht: 596 g

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.  

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Lau, Raymond W. K.

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziologie Allgemein
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Weltgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Wissenschaftstheorie, Wissenschaftsphilosophie
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, Formalen Wissenschaften & Technik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

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.

Über Autor(innen)

Raymond W.K. Lau, PhD, was Professor of Sociology at the Hong Kong Metropolitan University until retirement in 2017; he is currently Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Hong Kong Shue Yan University. He has published primary research on the philosophies of Xunzi, Laozi, and Zhuangzi. In (2020), he formulated a theoretical-methodological framework for analyzing intellectual development on a non-essentialist basis, which also underpins the present work. His research into the Needham Question is an extension from that previous work. He is a co-editor and contributor to the volume titled (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024).