The Rise of Early Modern Science
Islam, China, and the West

In this revised third edition, Toby E. Huff charts the rise of early modern science within Europe, China and Islamic civilisations.

Toby E. Huff (Author)

9781107571075, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 6 June 2017

396 pages, 24 b/w illus.
22.7 x 15.1 x 1.8 cm, 0.63 kg

'Why did the scientific revolution take place in Europe and not in China or in the Islamic world? Toby E. Huff gives this controversial question an extraordinarily wide-ranging and deep examination. Surprisingly, the answer may lie largely in the nature of Western educational institutions and in the structure of Western law.' Owen gingerich, Professor Emeritus of Astronomy and History of Science, Harvard Smithsonian Center of Astrophysics

Now in its third edition, The Rise of Early Modern Science argues that to understand why modern science arose in the West it is essential to study not only the technical aspects of scientific thought but also the religious, legal and institutional arrangements that either opened the doors for enquiry, or restricted scientific investigations. Toby E. Huff explores how the newly invented universities of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and the European legal revolution, created a neutral space that gave birth to the scientific revolution. Including expanded comparative analysis of the European, Islamic and Chinese legal systems, Huff now responds to the debates of the last decade to explain why the Western world was set apart from other civilisations.

Introduction
Part I: 1. The comparative study of science
2. Arabic science and the Islamic world
3. Philosophy, science, and civilizational configurations
4. The European legal revolution
5. Madrasas and the transmitted sciences
6. Universities and the institutionalization of science
Part II: 7. Science and civilization in China
8. Education, examinations, and Neo-Confucianism
9. Poverties and triumphs of Chinese science
Part III: 10. The rise of modern science
Epilogue: science, history and development.

Subject Areas: History of science [PDX], Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], European history [HBJD], General & world history [HBG]