The Ambitions of Curiosity
Understanding the World in Ancient Greece and China

A 2002 study of the development of systematic inquiry in ancient Greece, Mesopotamia, and China.

G. E. R. Lloyd (Author)

9780521894616, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 21 October 2002

200 pages, 31 b/w illus. 1 table
22.8 x 15.4 x 1.2 cm, 0.36 kg

'… an important work … recommended for undergraduate use.' Scott Rubarth, Bryn Mawr Classical Review

In The Ambitions of Curiosity, first published in 2002, one of the world's foremost philosophers of science explores the origins and growth of systematic inquiry in Greece, China, and Mesopotamia. Professor Lloyd examines which factors stimulated or inhibited this development, and whose interests were served. He asks who set the agenda? What was the role of the state in sponsoring, supporting or blocking research, in such areas as historiography, natural philosophy, medical research, astronomy, technology, pure and applied mathematics? How were each of those fields defined and developed in different ancient societies? How did truly innovative thinkers persuade their own contemporaries to accept their work? Professor Lloyd explores the different routes those developments took in China, Greece and Mesopotamia, and demonstrates the unexpected results of many research efforts, as well as the tensions between state control and individual innovation and the different ways they were resolved - problems that remain central to scientific research today.

1. Histories, annals, myths
2. The modalities of prediction
3. The number of things
4. Applications and applicabilities
5. The language of learning
6. Individuals and institutions
Glossary of Chinese and Greek terms
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: History of science [PDX], History of ideas [JFCX], Philosophy [HP]