The Rise of Early Modern Science

The author has shown great courage in undertaking an endeavor thathas daunted historians of science, intellectual historians, Islamicists, andSinologists. Huff utilizes excellent sources and makes insightful hypothesesin this multidisciplinary work. If the book is not perfect, the failure issmall compared to what he has achieved. Building on this work, otherscholars will be able to sharpen the on-going debate and propose boldconclusions for years to come.The Rise of Early Modern Science concentrates on why science "tookoff' in the West but not in China or the Islamic world, where it had muchlonger histories. By "takeoff," Huff means the explosion of scientific discoverythat flowered in the West, especially during the early seventeenthcentury. His basic premise is succinct: "Modem science depends on thebelief that the natural world is a rational and ordered world" and that"man is a rational creature who is able to understand and accuratelydescribe the universe." Claiming that such Greek tenets never occurred inChina and noting that the Arabs passed them on to Europe, he enwnerateshow they took hold in the West and facilitated the modem world.Huff compares the legal systems of the three cultures as institutionalizationsof their social, political, and intellectual experiences. While comparisonsof their legal systems produce interesting results, contrasting theirthought processes, educational systems, and practices of science couldhave shed more light on the differences in their utilization of scientificmethodologies. His recourse co legal systems for comparisons in scienceis not successful, for law parallels scientific methodology in that bothemploy rigor, empiricism, and deduction. But induction, essential for science,was used in law mainly for purposes of legislation. His comparisonof Islamic law with the West's fails because the former includes everyaspect of life, whereas the latter is more limited to criminal, civil, and corporateaspects. China's law, on the other hand, is concerned with the socialorder.Huff notes that China concentrated more on the organization ofhuman society than on the natural environment. Emperors and their minionsopposed searching for "truths" lest the established order be troubled.China did not codify or institutionalize its laws in ways comparable toIslam and the West. Given this history, China should be effectively out of ...