The Ambitions of Curiosity

"This book explores the origins and growth of systematic inquiry in Greece, China and Mesopotamia. Professor Lloyd examines which factors stimulated or inhibited this development, and whose interest were served. Who set the agenda? What was the role of the state in sponsoring, supporting or blocking research in areas such as historiography, natural philosophy, medical research, astronomy, technology, pure and applied mathematics and the rise of technical terminology in all those fields? How was each of those fields defined and developed in different ancient societies? How did truly innovative thinkers persuade their own contemporaries to accept their work? Three of the main themes elaborated are, first, the different routes those developments took in China, Greece and Mesopotamia; second, the unexpected result of many research efforts; and third, the tensions between state control and individual innovation, and the different ways they were resolved - problems that remain in scientific research today."--Jacket.