The Shorter Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 1

The Shorter Science and Civilisation in China #1

by Colin A. Ronan

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.

Genres: History, China, Science, History Of Science, Nonfiction

338 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1978

About the author

Colin A. Ronan was a British author and specialist in the history and philosophy of science.

He was educated at Abingdon School in Oxfordshire and served in the British Army from 1940–1946, achieving the rank of major. After the war he obtained a BSc in Astronomy, and then took an administrative post at the secretariat of The Royal Society. While there he did an MSc in the History and Philosophy of Science under Herbert Dingle at University College London. After leaving the Royal Society he took up writing, and during a long career as an author produced over forty books, mainly on astronomy, and the history and philosophy of science. Later in life he collaborated with Joseph Needham on an abridgement of Needham's great work on China, producing The Shorter Science and Civilization in China in several volumes. He played key roles in the administration of the British Astronomical Association, where he was president from 1989 to 1991, and for many years he was the editor of its journal, and director of the historical section.

For a considerable period in the 1980s and early 1990s he collaborated with Sir Patrick Moore in lecture tours. These lecture tours took the form of weekend residential symposia on single topics such as the return of Halley’s Comet. Notable and hilarious, the interplay between Ronan’s sober and intellectual analysis along with Moore’s more extravagant character, led frequent disagreements that were usually solved over several bottles of red wine. These weekends were an enormous success and made a valuable and irreplaceable contribution to the amateur astronomical scene

With his second wife Ann, he founded the Ronan Picture Library, which specialises in scientific and historical pictures. Among his many books on the history of science were studies of scientists such as Galileo, William Herschel and Edmond Halley. He also wrote scientific books for children, along with books such as The Practical Astronomer (1981) written for beginner amateur astronomers.

Ronan had an asteroid named in honour of his achievements: 4024 Ronan belongs to the Floras family, discovered by E. Bowell on November 24, 1981, at Anderson Mesa.

Reviews

[Micah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think the book's treatment of the history of civilization in China would have been significantly improved had it been authored by someone who actually had significant experience living in a civilized society, i.e., someone who was not British.

[Kyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

An enjoyable read that nicely summarizes Chinese history and then gives a good overview of how the Chinese conceptualized "science". I use "science" here only because science didn't really come into existence until the 1600-1700s (and it's debatable if even that is the same as science of today in many ways), but I will use just plain science, since we usually know what is meant by it [an approach to understanding things through mainly empirical methods] before the Scientific Revolution.

There are a couple of times where I feel like Chinese discoveries are a bit hyped up [for example, blood circulation, which was not really discovered until Harvey with Chinese claims to it being more about flow of qi], but for the most part this is not a problem, as the Chinese have so many impressive true discoveries [paper, silk, tea, printing, magnetic compass] and there isn't too much over-hyping (only a couple of instances, and I would consider these instances simply making the Chinese achievements seem a bit more impressive than they seem).

The main question seems to be why didn't China have the Scientific revolution. This is an interesting framing device for me, although I'm not sure the question is meaningful. But it allows us to go through Chinese thought over the centuries. We get to see how China was affected by its many dynasties and how different groups influenced how technology and knowledge was interpreted.

Overall, I just found it to be a great overview with lots of good information explaining why the Chinese would think about things in a certain way, and how this system made internal sense.

Definitely would recommend, if you would like to know more about Chinese thought pertaining to science before the Jesuits visited China.

[Michal Paszkiewicz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed parts of this book a lot, particularly the discussion of the development of the Chinese language. The rest of the book provides a decent background for the next works, but could probably benefit from some clearer diagrams and maps throughout the book.

[Tim Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a history of the philosophy of science. We learn much about the development of the Chinese intellectual framework, but very little hard Chinese science.

[Rebecca]

5 volumes

[Ben Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

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