"He had a tendency — not entirely justified in the light of more recent research — to think well of Taoism, because he saw it as playing a part that could not be found elsewhere in Chinese civilization. The mainstream school of thinking of the bureaucratic Chinese elite, or 'Confucianism' (another problematic term) in his vocabulary, seemed to him to be less interested in science and technology, and to have 'turned its face away from Nature.' Ironically, the dynasty that apparently turned away from printing from 706 till its demise in 907 was as Taoist as any in Chinese history, though perhaps its 'state Taoism' would have seemed a corrupt and inauthentic business to Needham.[31]"
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Historians from EnglandSocialists from EnglandScience authorsBiochemistsNon-fiction authors from England
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Barrett, Timothy Hugh (2008), The Woman Who Discovered Printing, Great Britain: Yale University Press, ISBN 978-0-300-12728-7 (alk. paper)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Needham
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Joseph Needham
Noel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham CH FRS FBA (/ˈniːdəm/; 9 December 1900 – 24 March 1995) was a British biochemist, historian of science and sinologist known for his scientific research and writing on the history of Chinese science and technology, initiating publication of the multivolume Science and Civilisation in China.
13 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Joseph Needham →
Related Quotes
"We cannot forejudge what the future developments of the history of science will bring forth, but if India was probabl…"
"For three thousand years a dialogue has been going on between the two ends of the Old World. Greatly have they influe…"
"We know that the trigonometric sine is not mentioned by Greek mathematicians and astronomers, that it was used in Ind…"
"To seek the ultimate origin or predisposition of the Indian conviction in the profoundly Hindu world view of endless …"
"It is good to remember, therefore, that our own pious founders were not the only men, and that Christendom was not th…"
"Indian culture in all probability excelled in systematic thought about Nature (as for example in the Sarokhya atomic …"
"Joseph Needham, has stated, "Future research on the history of science and technology in Asia will in fact reveal tha…"
"European and America must stand ready not only to share with all Asians and Africans those treasures of understanding…"
"Cambridge scientist historian Joseph Needham’s loyalty was to Mao’s version of Stalinism as a system, but he got enam…"
"Alas, it was also originally Needham's Marxist and Weberian point of departure. As Needham found more and more eviden…"