Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 2, History of Scientific Thought
Cambridge University Press
Edition: Illustrated, 1/3/1956
EAN 9780521058001, ISBN10: 0521058007
Hardcover, 722 pages, 24.9 x 19.4 x 4.5 cm
Language: English
Originally published in English
The second volume of Dr Joseph Needham's great work Science and Civilisation in China is devoted to the history of scientific thought. Beginning with ancient times, it describes the Confucian milieu in which arose the organic naturalism of the great Taoist school, the scientific philosophy of the Mohists and Logicians, and the quantitative materialism of the Legalists. Thus we are brought on to the fundamental ideas which dominated scientific thinking in the Chinese middle ages. The author opens his discussion by considering the remote and pictographic origins of words fundamental in scientific discourse, and then sets forth the influential doctrines of the Two Forces and the Five Elements. Subsequently he writes of the important sceptical tradition, the effects of Buddhist thought, and the Neo-Confucian climax of Chinese naturalism. Last comes a discussion of the conception of Laws of Nature in China and the West.
List of illustrations
List of tables
List of abbreviations
Acknowledgements
Author's note
8. Introduction
9. The Ju Chia (Confucians) and Confucianism
10. The Tao Chia (Taoists) and Taoism
11. The Mo Chia (Mohists) and the Ming Chia (Logicians)
12. The fundamental ideas of Chinese science
14. The Pseudo-Sciences and the sceptical tradition
15. Buddhist thought
16. Chin and Thang Taoists, and Sung Neo-Confucians
17. Sung and Ming idealists, and the last great figures of indigenous naturalism
18. Human law and the laws of nature in China and the West
Bibliographies
General index.