The Dangers and Promises of Comparative History of Science

Karine Chemla (1)

1 SPHERE (UMR_7219) - Sciences, Philosophie, Histoire

Joseph Needham (1900-1995) is well-known for many essay-articles as well as for being the author, or rather the editor, of Science and Civilisation in China, a multi-volume encyclopaedia whose publication began in 1954 and which deals with virtually every aspect of the history of science and technology in China. However, this is not the sum of Needham’s career and broader activities. To evoke a few other dimensions of this multi-faceted man, Christian-Socialist Needham began his scientific life as a biochemist, specializing in embryology. He experienced and denounced the rise of fascism and National Socialism in Europe, later contributing to the war effort as the Director of the Sino-British Cooperation Office in Chongqing between 1942 and 1946. This position was his first significant engagement for a worldwide scientific cooperation, a task he carried on while being, from 1946 to 1948, the first head of UNESCO’s Natural Sciences Section. The article interprets against this background Needham’s suspicion towards the comparative method in the history of science. It seeks to identify the origins of Needham’s standpoint on this topic, suggesting that the historian Lucien Febvre and his project of a history of mankind in the context of immediate post-war UNESCO might have had a deep influence on Needham in this respect. Finally, the chapter outlines a suggestion for carrying out comparative method in ways that could avoid the traps Needham identified.

Mots clés: Joseph Needham; Lucien Febvre; comparative method; China; algebraic equations; mathematical cultures; The Nine Chapters on mathematical procedures

Domaines: Histoire, Philosophie et Sociologie des sciences

Karine Chemla. The Dangers and Promises of Comparative History of Science. Sartoniana, 2016, pp.174-198. ⟨halshs-01164229⟩