This open access book presents a new translation, interpretation and analysis of selected passages from the so-called Mohist Canon, a Chinese text from ca. 300 BCE, and discusses the role of the text in the world history of science, arguing that it represents an early emergence of theoretical, systematized knowledge that is independent from parallel developments in ancient Greece. It is aimed at historians of science, of knowledge and of philosophy, and generally at readers interested in these topics from an intercultural perspective and particularly with respect to China.
Author(s): Matthias Schemmel, William G. Boltz
Series: Archimedes, 63
Publisher: Springer
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 214
City: Cham
Preface
Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction to the Mohist Canon
1.1 The Mohist Canon and Historical Epistemology
1.2 The Text and Its Tradition: Background
1.3 The Text and Its Tradition: Reactions to the Breakdown of World Order
1.4 The Text and Its Tradition: The Mohists
1.5 The Text and Its Tradition: Modern Reception
1.6 Structure and Transmission of the Text
Chapter 2: The Mohist Canon and Alternative Origins of Theoretical Science
2.1 Structure and Theoretical Character of the Scientific Sections in the Mohist Canon
2.2 Theoretical Knowledge in the Mohist Canon: Foundations and Elementary Structures
2.3 Theoretical Knowledge in the Mohist Canon: Corporeal Extension
2.4 Theoretical Knowledge in the Mohist Canon: Images and Weight
2.5 The Place of Mohist Theoretical Knowledge in a Global History of Science
Chapter 3: Text and Translation
3.1 Epistemological Foundations, A 1–A 6
3.2 Definition of Force, A 21
3.3 Spatial and Temporal Contingency and Inevitability, A 40–51
3.4 Corporeal Extension (“Geometry”), A 52–A 69
3.5 Model and Duplicate, A 70, A 71
3.6 Spatial and Temporal Contingency and Inevitability—Reprise, B 13–B 16
3.7 Shadows and Mirror Images (“Optics”), B 17–B 24
3.8 Vertical Tendency of Weights (“Mechanics”), B 25a–B 29
3.9 Mechanical and Temporal Bases for Judgment, B 52–B 53
3.10 Spatial and Temporal Paradoxes, and Spatiotemporal and Modular Correspondences, B 60–B 65
3.11 Sets of Indeterminate or Unknown Extent, B 73–B 75
Chapter 4: Lexical Appendix
Textual Appendix: Reproduction of Liang Qichao’s “Preface” to the Mojing jiaoshi 《墨經校釋》 梁啟超自序
Bibliography
Chinese Primary Sources
Literature
Index
