Synopses & Reviews
This is the first volume of an abridgement of Joseph Needham's Science and Civilisation in China, and covers volumes 1 and 2 of the larger work.
Table of Contents
List of illustrations; List of tables; Preface; 1. Introduction; 2. The Chinese language; 3. The geography of China; 4. Chinese history: (i) the pre-Imperial Ages; 5. Chinese history: (ii) the empire of all under heaven; 6. The travelling of science between China and Europe; 7. Confucianism; 8. Taoism; 9. The Mohists and Logicians; 10. The fundamental ideas of Chinese science; 11. The pseudo-sciences and the sceptical tradition; 12. Chin and Tang Taoists and Sung Neo-Confucians; 13. Sung and Ming idealists and the last great figures of Chinese naturalism; 14. Buddhist thought; 15. The Legalists; 16. Human law and the laws of nature; Bibliography; Index.