The Rise of Early Modern Science: Islam, China, and the West

By Toby E. Huff, Cambridge University Press, 1993

Book Review

The question of why “modern science” emerged only in west has long been debated.

Although the Islamic and Chinese civilizations had far exceeded the west with technological and

scientific advances up through the fourteenth century it failed to progress after that point. In
The Rise of Early modern Science: Islam, China, and the West Sociologist Toby Huff explores

the reasons for the rise of modern science in the West while analyzing the lack of progress in

Islamic and Chinese civilizations. Huff stresses that the underlying cultural values and legal

systems of each of these civilizations give the impetus to inhibit or encourage scientific

advancement.

Huff breaks down each civilization from their view of science and technology to the social

and cultural mores needed for the growth of scientific inquiry. He discusses the “problem” of

Arabic science as being two dimensional, first the failure to give birth to modern science and

second the decline of scientific thought.1 He surmises that the factors which hold responsibility

for the decline to be both political tyranny and religious orthodoxy. Huff sees the religious and

legal doctrines as being the impetus for growth or decline of intellectual progress. “In the case of

Arabic-Islamic civilization, the architects of both law and theology tightly circumscribed the

rational capacities of man.”2

The author sees the problem of Chinese progression in the sciences being caused by the

nature of the cultural and institutional foundations as inhibiting to the “development of original

thought”. Chinese thought revolved around the institutions of Confucian philosophy and the

greater good of revering and respecting the past. This viewpoint would add to the stagnation the

growth of scientific thought.

1
Toby E. Huff, The Rise of Early Modern Science: Islam, China, and the West. New York:
Cambridge University Press, 1993, 47
2
Ibid,. 116
 Huff discusses the corporate and legal institutions of Europe and considers the “legal

revolution” as the primary player in the growth of scientific inquiry. He states that Islamic law

set limits on education which stifled the development of scientific thought.3 “The legal and

institutional arrangements of China…suggest that there were no official efforts to encourage

autonomy of thought or action.”4 Yet the recovery of Roman legal thought, the reemergence of

Greek philosophy would open the door to scientific inquiry within the Western sphere. The

founding of new institutions of learning would encourage a new logic which included such

elements as an integrated body of knowledge, systematic explained of operations, knowledge

acquired by a combination of observation, hypothesis, verification and experimentation.5

Huff’s comparison give a clear view of the historical roots of natural philosophy and the

educational systems of Europe, the Islamic civilization and Confucian China but does not give a

clear picture of the application of the how they gained or utilized this knowledge.6 His research

is solid he as his sources range from Said Nasr’s Science and Civilization in Islam to Joseph

Ben-David’s work The Scientific Role: The Conditions of its Establishment in Europe yet his

thesis falls short of its promise by not giving concrete evidence to support it. Gray Dorsey in his

review states that Huff‘s use “of the same structure of inquiry” for all three civilizations is not

appropriate given the different natures of belief and inquiry in each given culture.7

While Huff expand on the works of Max Weber and Thomas Kuhn, rather than exploring the

historical significance he is exploring the sociological dynamics of each culture and evaluating

what causes were behind the retreat of all but European progress for scientific inquiry. His
3
Ibid,. 231
4
Ibid,. 285
5
Ibid,. 129
6
Benjamin A. Elman. The American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 100 No. 3 (Nov 1994). p817-
819 Jstor accessed 1/15/2011
7
Gray Dorsey. Society 32, No 3 (1995) 84-86. EBSCO Host Accessed 1/14/2011
argument that Islamic society was unable to reconcile rational inquiry with its faith is too simple.

If the theology of Islam stunted scientific inquiry and Chinese commitment to the past spurred

the decline in mathematic progress then why were Islamic and Chinese sciences so advanced

before the end of the fourteenth century? He leaves this question unanswered. So although

Huff’s work is impressive in its coverage of primary and secondary sources there remains a hint

cultural superiority which impedes a clear prognosis.8,9

The author has structured his book by revolving between the three cultures by reviewing

colleges, universities, law, inquiry, theology, and authority chapter by chapter. It is often

repetitive as he restates points made in previous chapters.10

Toby Huff is a sociologist who with his interest in Islamic Science has approached the history

of science and its development from a historical perspective. He has published two major works,

the first being reviewed here and the second being Intellectual Curiosity and the Scientific

Revolution (2010). He taught courses on Women and Islam at UMass Dartmouth for a many

years. He is currently a Research Associate in the Dept. of Astronomy at Harvard University.

In the context of trying to understand the beginnings of modern science, Huff’s book does an

excellent job of contributing to the existing historiography. In his research he combines a half

century of inquiry which with its comprehensiveness has the consequence of noting the fallacies

of previous arguments on the subject. Yet the problem lies in the point that he does not

demonstrate the exact cultural relationship between modern science and the west. He misses the

complexity of the issue by generalizing the cultural aspect of scientific inquiry. So we lose the

8
Scott B. Noegal. Digest of Middle Eastern Studies 5/2 (1996), 72-76 Accessed 1/14/2011
9
Babak Nahid, Comitatus: A Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 25(1995) Accessed
1/15/2011 http://escholarship.org/uc/item/44z102r6
10
Sal Restivo, Social Forces 75, No.1 (1996) 364-365 EBSCOhost accessed 1/12/2011
distinctions among the scientific activities themselves and making it difficult to come to any firm

conclusion as to why during certain periods things such as medicine advanced while

mathematics declined. This book does bring to the forefront the importance of understanding a

true understanding of Western science is not possible without an understanding of Islamic and

Chinese science. This book would be excellent reference material for further research about the

emergence of modern science and a good read for anyone interested in the intersection of science

within the three different cultures.

Bibliography

Ben-David, “The Scientific Role: The Conditions of its Establishment in Europe” Minerva 4, 15-
54, 1965
Cohen, H. Floris, The Scientific Revolution: A Historical Inquiry. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1994

Huff, Toby E., The Rise of Early Modern Science: Islam, China, and the West. New York:
Cambridge University Press, 1993