Adversaries and Authorities: Investigations into Ancient Greek and Chinese Science

by G. E. R. Lloyd

Overview

Did science and philosophy develop differently in ancient Greece and ancient China? If so, can we say why? This book consists of a series of detailed studies of cosmology, natural philosophy, mathematics and medicine that suggest the answer to the first question is yes. To answer the second, the author relates the science produced in each ancient civilization first to the values of the society in question and then to the institutions within which the scientists and philosophers worked.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521553315
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	07/13/1996
Series:	Ideas in Context , #42
Pages:	276
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.75(d)

Table of Contents

1. Comparative studies and their problems: methodological preliminaries; 2. Adversaries and authorities; 3. Methodology, epistemology and their uses; 4. The techniques of persuasion; 5. Causes and correlations; 6. Greek and Chinese dichotomies revisited; 7. Finite and infinite in Greece and China; 8. Heavenly harmonies; 9. The politics of the body; 10. Science in antiquity: the Greek and Chinese cases and their relevance to the problems of culture and cognition; Glossary of Chinese and Greek terms; Bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"...another valuable book from Lloyd..." Roger French, Isis

"This book will be of great value to cultural and religious historians as well as to scholars of Greek and Chinese cosmology." Linda L. Lam-Easton, Religious Studies Review

From the Publisher