How to Write the Global History of Knowledge-Making, 2020
The historiography of mathematics of the non-Western world long appeared immune to the influence ... more The historiography of mathematics of the non-Western world long appeared immune to the influence of cultural studies or of critiques of Orientalism. The turn to “ethno-mathematics” and the interrogation of the historiography of proof as boundary marker (Chemla 2012), the internal challenge to foundationalism, etc., have all played a role in pluralizing conceptions of mathematics—though inklings of the idea can be found in the work of a thinker scholars have, understandably, treated with kid gloves: namely, Oswald Spengler. And yet the practice of mathematics continues to manifest a dynamic and positive relationship with its past and the different ways of doing mathematics: How else is one to understand why mathematicians pursue problems that are 300 years old, or why the theoretical astrophysicist and Nobel laureate S. Chandrasekhar produced a book on Newton’s Principia at the end of the twentieth century (Chandrasekhar 1995)? Furthermore, recent studies on the historiography of non-Western mathematical traditions in Western histories of mathematics produced at the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century in Europe actually reveal the shaping of the historiographical landscape by the changing representations of the Orient in European historical discourse—splintered, of course, across varying “national interpretative traditions” (Said 1994). Thus, as I have argued elsewhere, the Scottish reading of the Indian mathematical tradition was at variance with the French one (Raina 2001, 2012a). This paper sidesteps the preoccupation of historians with priority disputes and looks more closely at the similarities and differences that might stimulate the development of a cognitively just history of mathematics. This requires closer scrutiny of the historiography of European and Indian mathematics, the modality of construction of the Indian and WestEast mathematical divide, and its relationship with modernity.
Laila Abu-Er-Rub, Christiane Brosius, Sebastian Meurer, Diamantis Panagiotopoulos, Susan Richter (Eds.), Engaging with Transculturality: Concepts, Key Terms, Case Studies, 2019
Lokayata is considered Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya’s magnum opus, a pioneering exploration of the h... more Lokayata is considered Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya’s magnum opus, a pioneering exploration of the history of materialist thought in ancient India. This work not only established his reputation but subsequently provided a rationale for the need to re-position the schools of Indian philosophical thought in terms of their internal diversity, the range of philosophical problems addressed and the ‘family resemblances’ between the schools. He subsequently went on to pursue the study of the beginnings of scientific thought in ancient India between the period of what historians call the two urbanizations. On his birth centenary, this essay explores the issues discussed in his work, the reception of his ideas among historians of science, and their contemporary salience.
Binoy Pichalkkattu (Ed.), Science-Religion Dialogue and its Contemporary Significance: Interdisciplinary Essays in Honour of Prof. Dr. Kuruvilla Pandikattu, 2018
The last two decades have witnessed a revival of research interest in the Cold War, and on scienc... more The last two decades have witnessed a revival of research interest in the Cold War, and on science during the Cold War, from a revised social theoretic perspective. 1 Part of this reframing is evident in explorations of the relationship underpinning the Cold War discourse and modernisation theory. Drawing on this new turn, this article switches the register to the first decades of decolonisation, and revisits the establishment of elite institutes of engineering and engineering science, such as the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai, in order to understand the consequences of the entanglement of the Cold War discourse with decolonisation on higher technological education in India in the 1950s. The article argues that within the realm of technological or engineering science education, across the Cold War divide, the globalisation of higher technological education or the 'Americanization of higher education' as Krige calls it, is evident, as much at the elite IITs in India as elsewhere.
This essay is concerned with theories of the transmission of scientific knowledge, and how postco... more This essay is concerned with theories of the transmission of scientific knowledge, and how postcolonial perspectives of science and the new sociology of scientific knowledge have altered the optic of transmission. The discussion maps different perspectives on the ...
Indian Journal of History of Science, 35.4 (2000) 319-346 JEAN-BAPTISTE BÏOT ON THE HISTORY OF IN... more Indian Journal of History of Science, 35.4 (2000) 319-346 JEAN-BAPTISTE BÏOT ON THE HISTORY OF INDIAN ASTRONOMY (1830-1860): THE NATION IN THE POST-ENLIGHTENMENT HISTORIOGRAPHY OF SCIENCE Dhruv Raina (Received 4 August, 2000; after revision ...
Résumé/Abstract Le processus de cristallisation des disciplines dans l'Europe de la fin ... more Résumé/Abstract Le processus de cristallisation des disciplines dans l'Europe de la fin du XVIII e siècle a été accompagné d'une prolifération d'histoires spéciales des sciences. Celles-ci sont marquées tant par les impératifs des sciences de l'époque que par les ...
How to Write the Global History of Knowledge-Making, 2020
The historiography of mathematics of the non-Western world long appeared immune to the influence ... more The historiography of mathematics of the non-Western world long appeared immune to the influence of cultural studies or of critiques of Orientalism. The turn to “ethno-mathematics” and the interrogation of the historiography of proof as boundary marker (Chemla 2012), the internal challenge to foundationalism, etc., have all played a role in pluralizing conceptions of mathematics—though inklings of the idea can be found in the work of a thinker scholars have, understandably, treated with kid gloves: namely, Oswald Spengler. And yet the practice of mathematics continues to manifest a dynamic and positive relationship with its past and the different ways of doing mathematics: How else is one to understand why mathematicians pursue problems that are 300 years old, or why the theoretical astrophysicist and Nobel laureate S. Chandrasekhar produced a book on Newton’s Principia at the end of the twentieth century (Chandrasekhar 1995)? Furthermore, recent studies on the historiography of non-Western mathematical traditions in Western histories of mathematics produced at the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century in Europe actually reveal the shaping of the historiographical landscape by the changing representations of the Orient in European historical discourse—splintered, of course, across varying “national interpretative traditions” (Said 1994). Thus, as I have argued elsewhere, the Scottish reading of the Indian mathematical tradition was at variance with the French one (Raina 2001, 2012a). This paper sidesteps the preoccupation of historians with priority disputes and looks more closely at the similarities and differences that might stimulate the development of a cognitively just history of mathematics. This requires closer scrutiny of the historiography of European and Indian mathematics, the modality of construction of the Indian and WestEast mathematical divide, and its relationship with modernity.
Laila Abu-Er-Rub, Christiane Brosius, Sebastian Meurer, Diamantis Panagiotopoulos, Susan Richter (Eds.), Engaging with Transculturality: Concepts, Key Terms, Case Studies, 2019
Lokayata is considered Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya’s magnum opus, a pioneering exploration of the h... more Lokayata is considered Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya’s magnum opus, a pioneering exploration of the history of materialist thought in ancient India. This work not only established his reputation but subsequently provided a rationale for the need to re-position the schools of Indian philosophical thought in terms of their internal diversity, the range of philosophical problems addressed and the ‘family resemblances’ between the schools. He subsequently went on to pursue the study of the beginnings of scientific thought in ancient India between the period of what historians call the two urbanizations. On his birth centenary, this essay explores the issues discussed in his work, the reception of his ideas among historians of science, and their contemporary salience.
Binoy Pichalkkattu (Ed.), Science-Religion Dialogue and its Contemporary Significance: Interdisciplinary Essays in Honour of Prof. Dr. Kuruvilla Pandikattu, 2018
The last two decades have witnessed a revival of research interest in the Cold War, and on scienc... more The last two decades have witnessed a revival of research interest in the Cold War, and on science during the Cold War, from a revised social theoretic perspective. 1 Part of this reframing is evident in explorations of the relationship underpinning the Cold War discourse and modernisation theory. Drawing on this new turn, this article switches the register to the first decades of decolonisation, and revisits the establishment of elite institutes of engineering and engineering science, such as the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai, in order to understand the consequences of the entanglement of the Cold War discourse with decolonisation on higher technological education in India in the 1950s. The article argues that within the realm of technological or engineering science education, across the Cold War divide, the globalisation of higher technological education or the 'Americanization of higher education' as Krige calls it, is evident, as much at the elite IITs in India as elsewhere.
This essay is concerned with theories of the transmission of scientific knowledge, and how postco... more This essay is concerned with theories of the transmission of scientific knowledge, and how postcolonial perspectives of science and the new sociology of scientific knowledge have altered the optic of transmission. The discussion maps different perspectives on the ...
Indian Journal of History of Science, 35.4 (2000) 319-346 JEAN-BAPTISTE BÏOT ON THE HISTORY OF IN... more Indian Journal of History of Science, 35.4 (2000) 319-346 JEAN-BAPTISTE BÏOT ON THE HISTORY OF INDIAN ASTRONOMY (1830-1860): THE NATION IN THE POST-ENLIGHTENMENT HISTORIOGRAPHY OF SCIENCE Dhruv Raina (Received 4 August, 2000; after revision ...
Résumé/Abstract Le processus de cristallisation des disciplines dans l'Europe de la fin ... more Résumé/Abstract Le processus de cristallisation des disciplines dans l'Europe de la fin du XVIII e siècle a été accompagné d'une prolifération d'histoires spéciales des sciences. Celles-ci sont marquées tant par les impératifs des sciences de l'époque que par les ...
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