American Science and Modern China, 1876-1936
豆瓣
Peter Buck
简介
American Science and Modern China is an essay in comparative history, originally published in 1980. It focuses on the transmission of scientific ideas and organizations from the United States to China, a topic interesting primarily for what it reveals about the social history of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century American science. The main themes concern how scientific traditions and institutions that were developed in one setting served as models for the creation of new ones elsewhere, what modifications were induced by this change of environment, and what these modifications imply about the interdependence of scientific knowledge and social life. The book deals with a number of individuals and organizations involved in the development of modern science in China. Dr Buck examines their views of science's place among the forces for change in China, describes their efforts to build institutional bases for science, and sets their plans and programs in broad social and intellectual contexts.
contents
Acknowledgments p. ix
Introduction: Orienting American science p. 1
Social diseases and contagious disorders: missionary science and medical missionaries p. 8
Missionary science: social influence, natural theology, and medicine p. 10
Missionary medicine: science and Christian benevolence p. 13
Missionary hospitals: order and cleanliness in unregenerate societies p. 21
Missionary medical schools: professional standards, avocational science, and a native medical fraternity p. 33
Missionary science and its social problems p. 43
"To do their best for their country": the China Medical Board and the Boxer indemnity fellowship program p. 46
Corporate philanthropy and scientific medicine p. 48
Medicine in China p. 64
Checking "the downward tendencies of unregulated industrialism": the Boxer indemnity scholarships p. 74
Science and revolution: China in 1911 p. 91
The Science Society of China p. 94
The ecology of scientific ambitions p. 99
Free associations and voluntary cooperation p. 116
"Science as a vocation": social diversity and scientific specialties p. 122
Cornell University I: Scientific research and industrial science p. 129
Cornell University II: Professional scientists, scientific professionals, and the state p. 139
Cornell University III: Scientific knowledge and country life p. 145
China's response to the West p. 161
Modernization and its discontents: the scientific method in China and America p. 171
The politics of cultural collapse p. 174
Ideology and institution building p. 185
Science and metaphysics p. 189
Scientific methods, American industrialism, and "the last remaining problem of civilization" p. 196
Modernization and methodology p. 205
"A sphere of influence in beneficence": American science and modern China p. 209
Backwardness and dependence p. 216
Tragedy and farce p. 226
Notes p. 237
Bibliography p. 264
Index p. 279