The Rise of Early Modern Science: Islam, China and the West
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.17 (966 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0521529948 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 448 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2013-05-26 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Max Weber Redivivus Ashtar Command Until the 14th century, science in the Muslim lands and China was more advanced than in Western Europe. Astronomers in Timurid Iran (of all places!) improved on the Ptolemaic system with epicycles mathematically equivalent to those used by Copernicus much later (although they were still geocentrist). That China was more technologically advanced than Europe still at the time of Marco Polo is well-known. Yet, around the 14th century, science in both the Muslim lands and China went into dec. "Buy This Book" according to Paul Clouser. This is an honest, deep, and well footnoted description of why the Middle East and China did not develop the full power of science, philosophy and technology for the full service of mankind like Western Europe did. I read the book as part of my on-going effort to understand what drives Middle Easterners to act the way they do on the World Stage. I learned that after about 1200 AD, Middle Eastern Islamic scholarly denial of the concept of cause and effect made and makes the scientific met. Adam Wayne said Fantastic. This is a magisterial book, pulling together innumerable threads into a coherent, cohesive whole. It is actually a different book than I expected—it spends much more time on the sociology and philosophy of science, in the abstract and as tied to and generated by each society, and much less time on individual scientific inventions and advances. Those do appear, of course, but more by way of illustration than discussion. So if you’re looking for a catalog of inventions, you may
First Edition Hb (1993): 0-521-43496-3 First Edition Pb (1995): 0-521-49833-3. Huff explores the cultural contexts within which science was practiced in Islam, China, and the West. He finds major clues in the history of law and the European cultural revolution of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, as to why the ethos of science arose in the West and permitted the breakthrough to modern science that did not occur elsewhere. Toby Huff examines the long-standing question of why modern science arose only in the West and not in the civilizations of Islam and China, despite the fact that medieval Islam and China were more scientifically advanced
"Huff provides a thorough, coherent hypothesis and thus helps sharpen the debates on the rise of modern science." MESA Bulletin