Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 7, The Social Background, Part 2, General Conclusions and Reflections (Hardcover)

Joseph Needham

ISBN 10: 0521087325 / ISBN 13: 9780521087322

Published by Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2004

About this Item

Hardcover. It would be difficult to overstate the importance of Joseph Needham's Science and Civilisation in China series. For nearly fifty years, Needham and his collaborators have revealed the ideals, concepts and achievements of China's scientific and technological traditions from the earliest times to about 1800 through this great enterprise. During his long working lifetime, Needham kept in draft various essays, some written with collaborators, in which he set out his broad views on the Chinese social and historical context. These essays, edited by one of his closest collaborators, Kenneth Robinson, are contained in the present volume. A reading of this material makes it possible to reconstruct the assumptions and problematics that underpinned and drove the Needham project throughout the nearly one half century during which he was at the helm. The documents gathered here reveal the intellectual foundations of one of the greatest scholarly enterprises of the twentieth century. A Science and Civilisation in China volume addressing questions that drove the entire project. Shipping may be from our Sydney, NSW warehouse or from our UK or US warehouse, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9780521087322

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 7, The Social Background, Part 2, General Conclusions and Reflections (Hardcover)
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
• Publication Date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521087325
• ISBN 13: 9780521087322
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

Joseph Needham, who died in 1995, was the greatest British historian of China of the last 100 years. His Science and Civilisation in China series caused a seismic shift in western perceptions of China, revealed as perhaps the world's most scientifically and technically productive country in pre-modern times. But why did the scientific and industrial revolutions not happen in China? Joseph Needham reflects on possible answers to this question in the concluding volume of this series and provides fascinating insights into his great intellectual quest.

About the Authors

Joseph Needham FRS (1900–1995) was the founder of the Science and Civilisation in China project.

Kenneth Girdwood Robinson joined Joseph Needham in 1979 in Cambridge to help him complete the unpublished volumes of Science and Civilisation in China, and wrote several of the pieces included in the present volume.