World of Patterns

A comprehensive account of the methods of knowledge production throughout human history and across the globe.The idea that the world can be understood through patterns and the principles that govern them is one of the most important human insights—it may also be our greatest survival strategy. Our s...

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主要作者: Bod, Rens
格式: Online
語言:英语
出版: Johns Hopkins University Press 2022
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在線閱讀:ONIX_20220715_9781421443461_776
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author Bod, Rens
author_browse Bod, Rens
author_facet Bod, Rens
author_sort Bod, Rens
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description A comprehensive account of the methods of knowledge production throughout human history and across the globe.The idea that the world can be understood through patterns and the principles that govern them is one of the most important human insights—it may also be our greatest survival strategy. Our search for patterns and principles began 40,000 years ago, when striped patterns were engraved on mammoths' bones to keep track of the moon's phases. What routes did human knowledge take to grow from these humble beginnings through many detours and dead ends into modern understandings of nature and culture? In this work of unprecedented scope, Rens Bod removes the Western natural sciences from their often-central role to bring us the first global history of human knowledge. Having sketched the history of the humanities in his ground-breaking A New History of the Humanities, Bod now adopts a broader perspective, stepping beyond classical antiquity back to the Stone Age to answer the question: Where did our knowledge of the world today begin and how did it develop? Drawing on developments from all five continents of the inhabited world, World of Patterns offers startling connections. Focusing on a dozen fields—ranging from astronomy, philology, medicine, law, and mathematics to history, botany, and musicology—Bod examines to what degree their progressions can be considered interwoven and to what degree we can speak of global trends.In this pioneering work, Bod aims to fulfill what he sees as the historian's responsibility: to grant access to history's goldmine of ideas. Bod discusses how inoculation was invented in China rather than Europe; how many of the fundamental aspects of modern mathematics and astronomy were first discovered by the Indian Kerala school; and how the study of law provided fundamental models for astronomy and linguistics from Roman to Ottoman times. The book flies across continents and eras. The result is an enlightening symphony, a stirring chorus of human inquisitiveness extending through the ages.
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spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-890292024-04-04T19:18:43Z World of Patterns Bod, Rens History of science thema EDItEUR::P Mathematics and Science::PD Science: general issues::PDX History of science A comprehensive account of the methods of knowledge production throughout human history and across the globe.The idea that the world can be understood through patterns and the principles that govern them is one of the most important human insights—it may also be our greatest survival strategy. Our search for patterns and principles began 40,000 years ago, when striped patterns were engraved on mammoths' bones to keep track of the moon's phases. What routes did human knowledge take to grow from these humble beginnings through many detours and dead ends into modern understandings of nature and culture? In this work of unprecedented scope, Rens Bod removes the Western natural sciences from their often-central role to bring us the first global history of human knowledge. Having sketched the history of the humanities in his ground-breaking A New History of the Humanities, Bod now adopts a broader perspective, stepping beyond classical antiquity back to the Stone Age to answer the question: Where did our knowledge of the world today begin and how did it develop? Drawing on developments from all five continents of the inhabited world, World of Patterns offers startling connections. Focusing on a dozen fields—ranging from astronomy, philology, medicine, law, and mathematics to history, botany, and musicology—Bod examines to what degree their progressions can be considered interwoven and to what degree we can speak of global trends.In this pioneering work, Bod aims to fulfill what he sees as the historian's responsibility: to grant access to history's goldmine of ideas. Bod discusses how inoculation was invented in China rather than Europe; how many of the fundamental aspects of modern mathematics and astronomy were first discovered by the Indian Kerala school; and how the study of law provided fundamental models for astronomy and linguistics from Roman to Ottoman times. The book flies across continents and eras. The result is an enlightening symphony, a stirring chorus of human inquisitiveness extending through the ages. 2022-07-15T15:18:49Z 2022-07-15T15:18:49Z 2022 book ONIX_20220715_9781421443461_776 9781421443461 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/89029 eng image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://muse.jhu.edu/book/98273 Johns Hopkins University Press 10.1353/book.98273 10.1353/book.98273 1f9b1002-ec35-4fcf-94be-32cfd0a1dfd3 9781421443461 400 open access
spellingShingle History of science
thema EDItEUR::P Mathematics and Science::PD Science: general issues::PDX History of science
Bod, Rens
World of Patterns
title World of Patterns
title_full World of Patterns
title_fullStr World of Patterns
title_full_unstemmed World of Patterns
title_short World of Patterns
title_sort world of patterns
topic History of science
thema EDItEUR::P Mathematics and Science::PD Science: general issues::PDX History of science
topic_facet History of science
thema EDItEUR::P Mathematics and Science::PD Science: general issues::PDX History of science
url ONIX_20220715_9781421443461_776
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