Machines as the measure of men : science, technology and ideologies of western dominance
Adas, Michael
Machines as the measure of men : science, technology and ideologies of western dominance - New York Cornell Uni. Press 1989 - xiv,430p.
CONTENTS Maps and Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction i PART I BEFORE THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 17 1First Encounters: Impressions of Material Culture in an Age of Exploration 21 Technology-Perceptions of Backwardness; Qualified Praise 32 Natural Philosophy-Illiteracy and Faulty Calendars 53 Scientific and Technological Convergence and the First Hierarchies of Humankind 59 2 The Ascendancy of Science: Shifting Views of Non-Western Peoples in the Era of the Enlightenment 69 Model of Clay: The Rise and Decline of Sinophilism in Enlightenment Thought 79 Ancient' Glories, Modern Ruins: The Orientalist Discovery of Indian Learning 95 African Achievement and the Debate over the Abolition of the Slave Trade 108 Scientific Gauges and the Spirit of the Times 122 PART II THE AGE OF INDUSTRIALIZATION 129 3. Global Hegemony and the Rise of Technology as the Main Measure of Human Achievement 133 Africa: Primitive Tools and the Savage Mind 153 India; The Retreat of Orientalism 166 China: Despotism and Decline 177 Material Mastery as a Prerequisite of Civilized Life 194 4. Attributes of the Dominant: Scientific and Technological Foundations of the Civilizing Mission 199 Perceptions of Man and Nature as Gauges of Western Uniqueness and Superiority 210 The Machine as Civilizer 221 Displacement and Revolution: Marx on the Impact of Machines in Asia 236 Time, Work, and Discipline 241 Space, Accuracy, and Uniformity 259 Worlds Apart: The Case of Ye Ming-chcn 266 5. The Limits of Diffusion: Science and Technology in the Debate over the African and Asian Capacity for Acculturation271 The First Generations of Improvers275 The Search for Scientific and Technological Proofs of Racial Inequality 292 Qualifying the Civilizing Mission; Racists versus Improvers at the Turn of the Century 318 Missing the Main Point: Science and Technology in Nineteenth-Century Racist Thought 338 PART III THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 343 6. The Great War and the Assault on Scientific and Technological Measures of Human Worth 345 The Specter of Asia Industrialized 357 Trench Warfare and the Crisis of Western Civilization 365 Challenges to the Civilizing Mission and the Search for Alternative Measures of Human Worth 380 Epilogue: Modernization Theory and the Revival of the Technological Standard 402 Index 419
0801497604
609 / ADA
Machines as the measure of men : science, technology and ideologies of western dominance - New York Cornell Uni. Press 1989 - xiv,430p.
CONTENTS Maps and Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction i PART I BEFORE THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 17 1First Encounters: Impressions of Material Culture in an Age of Exploration 21 Technology-Perceptions of Backwardness; Qualified Praise 32 Natural Philosophy-Illiteracy and Faulty Calendars 53 Scientific and Technological Convergence and the First Hierarchies of Humankind 59 2 The Ascendancy of Science: Shifting Views of Non-Western Peoples in the Era of the Enlightenment 69 Model of Clay: The Rise and Decline of Sinophilism in Enlightenment Thought 79 Ancient' Glories, Modern Ruins: The Orientalist Discovery of Indian Learning 95 African Achievement and the Debate over the Abolition of the Slave Trade 108 Scientific Gauges and the Spirit of the Times 122 PART II THE AGE OF INDUSTRIALIZATION 129 3. Global Hegemony and the Rise of Technology as the Main Measure of Human Achievement 133 Africa: Primitive Tools and the Savage Mind 153 India; The Retreat of Orientalism 166 China: Despotism and Decline 177 Material Mastery as a Prerequisite of Civilized Life 194 4. Attributes of the Dominant: Scientific and Technological Foundations of the Civilizing Mission 199 Perceptions of Man and Nature as Gauges of Western Uniqueness and Superiority 210 The Machine as Civilizer 221 Displacement and Revolution: Marx on the Impact of Machines in Asia 236 Time, Work, and Discipline 241 Space, Accuracy, and Uniformity 259 Worlds Apart: The Case of Ye Ming-chcn 266 5. The Limits of Diffusion: Science and Technology in the Debate over the African and Asian Capacity for Acculturation271 The First Generations of Improvers275 The Search for Scientific and Technological Proofs of Racial Inequality 292 Qualifying the Civilizing Mission; Racists versus Improvers at the Turn of the Century 318 Missing the Main Point: Science and Technology in Nineteenth-Century Racist Thought 338 PART III THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 343 6. The Great War and the Assault on Scientific and Technological Measures of Human Worth 345 The Specter of Asia Industrialized 357 Trench Warfare and the Crisis of Western Civilization 365 Challenges to the Civilizing Mission and the Search for Alternative Measures of Human Worth 380 Epilogue: Modernization Theory and the Revival of the Technological Standard 402 Index 419
0801497604
609 / ADA