Research Catalog

The shorter Science and civilisation in China : an abridgement of Joseph Needham's original text

Title
The shorter Science and civilisation in China : an abridgement of Joseph Needham's original text / Colin A. Ronan.
Author
Needham, Joseph, 1900-1995.
Publication
Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1978-<1995>

Items in the Library & Off-site

Filter by

2 Items

StatusVol/DateFormatAccessCall NumberItem Location
vol.2TextUse in library DS721 .N392 vol.2Off-site
vol.1TextUse in library DS721 .N392 vol.1Off-site

Details

Additional Authors
Ronan, Colin A.
Description
volumes <1-5> : illustrations; 24 cm
Summary
Joseph Needham's Science and Civilisation in China is a monumental piece of scholarship which breaks new ground in presenting to the Western reader a detailed and coherent account of the development of science, technology and medicine in China from the earliest times until the advent of the Jesuits and the beginnings of modern science in the late seventeenth century. It is a vast work, necessarily more suited to the scholar and research worker than the general reader. This paperback version, abridged and re-written by Colin Ronan, makes this extremely important study accessible to a wider public. The present book covers the material treated in volumes I and II of Dr Needham's original work. The reader is introduced to the country of China, its history, geography and language, and an account is given of how scientific knowledge travelled between China and Europe. The major part of the book is then devoted to the history of scientific thought in China itself. Beginning with ancient times, it describes the milieu in which arose the schools of the Confucians, Taoists, Mohists, Logicians and Legalists. We are thus brought on to the fundamental ideas which dominated scientific thinking in the Chinese Middle Ages, to the doctrines of the Two Forces (Yin and Yang) and the Five Elements (wu hsing), to the impact of the sceptical tradition and Buddhist and Neo-Confucian thought.--Publisher description.
Series Statement
Volume 2 contains Volume III and a section of Volume IV, Part I. of the major series
Uniform Title
Volume 2 contains Volume III and a section of Volume IV, Part I. of the major series.
Subjects
Genre/Form
History
Note
  • Volume 2 contains Volume III and a section of Volume IV, Part 1 of the major series.
  • Volume 3 contains a section of Volume IV, part I, and a section of Volume IV, part 3 of the major series; volume 4 contains the main sections of volume IV, part 2 of the major series.
  • Volume 5 contains the first section of volume IV, part 3, and the final section of volume IV, part 2 of the major series.
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographies and indexes.
Contents
v. 1. Vol. 1 and 2 of the major series -- v. 2. Vol. 3 and a section of vol. 4, pt. 1 of the major series -- v. 3. Vol. 4, pt. 1 and a section of vol. 4, pt. 3 of the major series -- v. 4. The main sections of vol. 4, pt. 2 of the major series.
ISBN
  • 0521218217
  • 9780521218214
  • 0521292867
  • 9780521292863
  • 0521235820
  • 9780521235822
  • 0521462142
  • 9780521462143
  • 052146773X
  • 9780521467735
  • 0521315360
  • 9780521315364
  • 0521252725
  • 9780521252720
  • 0521315603
  • 9780521315609
  • 0521329957
  • 9780521329958
  • 0521338735
  • 9780521338738
  • 0521632625
  • 9780521632621
LCCN
77082513
OCLC
  • ocm03345021
  • 3345021
  • SCSB-44500
Owning Institutions
Princeton University Library