STS - Spread of Western Science

Modern Science

• Spread through military conquest, colonization, imperial influence, commercial and political relations, and missionary activity.

• Originating from Western European nations during the Scientific Revolution

Silk Roads

• Network for exchange of goods, scientific knowledge, technology, and culture across East Asia and the Mediterranean. (130 BCE, Han Dynasty to 1450s CE)

• Lucrative trade in Chinese Silk

Caravanserai

• Small structures that provide travelers with a safe place to rest and house a marketplace where merchants could sell and trade their goods.

The Spread of Western Science

• Three-stage model that describes the complex and gradual process the non-European nations interacted with, adopted, and developed their sciences from the Western Europe nations during the 16th to 17th centuries

Phase 1: Science as Discovery

• The “nonscientific” nation provides a source of scientific knowledge for the European colonizers.

• Western Europeans surveys the land and collected information about the environment, and brought it back to Europe for analysis and publication.

Phase 2: Science as Institution

• The scientific activity in the new land is based on the established scientific knowledge and traditions of Europe.

• Colonies begin to produce scientific knowledge, heavily dependent on Western Sciences.

Asiatic Society of Calcutta

• Kolkata, India (1784)

• Sir William Jones (British Empire).

• Established to promote Oriental studies.

• British colonial scholars studied India’s history, culture, and religion.

• Geological Survey of India, Botanical Survey, and Zoological Survey.

Asiatic Researches journal

• One of the first academic journals in Asia

Ecole francaise d'Extreme-Orient

• Hanoi, Vietnam (1900)

• French government.

• Philological and Archaeological study of Southeast Asia's ancient cultures.

• Restoration of Angkor Wat and other temples.

• Published studies of Indochinese civilizations.

Royal Batavian Society of Arts and Sciences

• Batavia, Dutch East Indies (1778)

• Dutch Empire

• Dutch East Indies history, archaeology, culture, and natural sciences.

• Link between Netherlands and the East Indies.

• Founded the National Museum of Indonesia.

• Tijdschrift Voor Indische Taal Land En Volkenkunde (1933).

Phase 3: Science as Dependency

• The “nonscientfic” nation struggles to achieve an independent scientific tradition or culture

• Colonial scientists are to be replaced by the native scientists who work and train primarily within their own countries, build local institutions, and contribute to global science as equals.