Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preliminary Material -- Introduction 1 / Arun Bala and Prasenjit Duara -- 1 The Descent of Theory / Andrew Brennan and Norva Y.S. Lo -- 2 Philosophical Implications of Connective Histories of Science / Sundar Sarukkai -- 3 Kuhn, Nisbett, Thought Experiments, and the Needham Question / James Robert Brown -- 4 Anthropocosmic Processes in the Anthropocene: Revisiting Quantum Mechanics vs. Chinese Cosmology Comparison / Geir Sigurðsson -- 5 Ibn al-Haytham and the Experimental Method / Cecilia Wee -- 6 Averroes and the Development of a Late Medieval Mechanical Philosophy / Henrik Lagerlund -- 7 Barbarous Algebra, Inferred Axioms: Indic Rhythms and Echoes in the Rise of Western Exact Science / Roddam Narasimha -- 8 The Transfer of Geographic Knowledge of Afro-Eurasia in the “Bright” Middle Ages: Cases of Late Medieval European Maps of the World / Hyunhee Park -- 9 Jamu: The Indigenous Medical Arts of the Indonesian Archipelago / Hans Pols -- 10 From Zero to Infinity: The Indian Legacy of the Bright Dark Ages / George Gheverghese Joseph -- 11 The Needham Question and Southeast Asia: Comparative and Connective Perspectives / Arun Bala -- 12 Rethinking the Needham Question: Why Should Islamic Civilization Give Rise to the Scientific Revolution? / Mohd. Hazim Shah -- 13 The Greatest Mistake: Teleology, Anthropomorphism, and the Rise of Science / Franklin Perkins -- 14 Rescuing Science from Civilisation: On Joseph Needham’s “Asiatic Mode of (Knowledge) Production” / Kapil Raj -- Index of Names -- Index of Subjects.

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The European 'dark ages' in the millennium 500 to 1500 CE was a bright age of scientific achievements in China, India and the Middle East. The contributors to this volume address the implications of this seminal era of Asian science for comparative and connective science studies. Although such studies have generally adopted a binary perspective focusing on one or another of the Asian (Chinese, Indian, Islamic) civilizations, this study brings them together into a single volume within a wider Eurasian perspective. Moreover, by drawing together historical, philosophical, and sociological dimensions into one volume it promotes a richer understanding of how Eurasian connections and comparisons in the millennium preceding the modern era can illuminate the birth and growth of modern science. Contributors are Arun Bala, Andrew Brennan, James Robert Brown, George Gheverghese Joseph, Henrik Lagerlund, Norva Y.S. Lo, Roddam Narasimha, Hyunhee Park, Franklin Thomas Perkins, Hans Pols, Kapil Raj, Sundar Sarukkai, Mohd. Hazim Shah, Geir Sigurðsson and Cecilia Wee.

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