The book sounds interesting. When I read your quote from the book, I initially misinterpreted it as a anti-philosophy comment of the sort one occasionally encounters but after reading the blurb for the book on Amazon, realized the quote was contrasting Eastern vs Western thought.
One thing I am curious about - if the Eastern mode of thought is really superior to the Western mode of thought for “understanding the contribution knowledge makes to the technical accomplishment of our civilization”, how does the author explain the fact that the scientific method, the industrial revolution, and (to use his words), “the multiplicity of artifactual interfaces in a global technoscientific economy” grew out of the Western intellectual tradition?
However, I do think that there are interesting differences between the traditional Eastern way of thinking and the traditional Western way of thinking, and that each has its unique strengths. An interesting book on this topic is The Geography of Thought by Richard Nisbett; it points out the differences between Eastern and Western thought without really painting one as “better” than the other. Note that Nisbett’s book is aimed at a general audience whereas I suspect that Allen’s may be aimed at an academic audience.
I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts about Allen’s book once you’ve finished reading it. I’m putting it on my “to read” list, but I’m not sure when I’ll get to it.
how does the author explain the fact that the scientific method, the industrial revolution, and (to use his words), “the multiplicity of artifactual interfaces in a global technoscientific economy” grew out of the Western intellectual tradition?
Whether the industrial revolution came out of the intellectual tradition is up for debate. If you take Henry Ford as of of the core people of the industrial revolution, Ford didn’t go to university. I think most of the knowledge that made Ford successful wasn’t about him believing in justified true statements but of more implicit nature.
The people who invented the steam engine also didn’t have university degrees. They were rather tradesman who relied on mechanical skill for their inventions. Western intellectuals didn’t concerns themselves with optimal systems of pumping water out of mines like Thomas Newcomen did.
The book sounds interesting. When I read your quote from the book, I initially misinterpreted it as a anti-philosophy comment of the sort one occasionally encounters but after reading the blurb for the book on Amazon, realized the quote was contrasting Eastern vs Western thought.
One thing I am curious about - if the Eastern mode of thought is really superior to the Western mode of thought for “understanding the contribution knowledge makes to the technical accomplishment of our civilization”, how does the author explain the fact that the scientific method, the industrial revolution, and (to use his words), “the multiplicity of artifactual interfaces in a global technoscientific economy” grew out of the Western intellectual tradition?
However, I do think that there are interesting differences between the traditional Eastern way of thinking and the traditional Western way of thinking, and that each has its unique strengths. An interesting book on this topic is The Geography of Thought by Richard Nisbett; it points out the differences between Eastern and Western thought without really painting one as “better” than the other. Note that Nisbett’s book is aimed at a general audience whereas I suspect that Allen’s may be aimed at an academic audience.
I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts about Allen’s book once you’ve finished reading it. I’m putting it on my “to read” list, but I’m not sure when I’ll get to it.
Whether the industrial revolution came out of the intellectual tradition is up for debate. If you take Henry Ford as of of the core people of the industrial revolution, Ford didn’t go to university. I think most of the knowledge that made Ford successful wasn’t about him believing in justified true statements but of more implicit nature.
The people who invented the steam engine also didn’t have university degrees. They were rather tradesman who relied on mechanical skill for their inventions. Western intellectuals didn’t concerns themselves with optimal systems of pumping water out of mines like Thomas Newcomen did.
The Industrial Revolution was pretty much complete decades before Henry Ford was born. Newcomen is much more to the point.