Looking at it from Asia: the Processes that Shaped the Sources of History of Science

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xlvi

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2. Collecting documents: which impact on the material and social life of documentand on historiography?s

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. Formation and Administration of the Collections of Literary and Scholarly Tablets in First Millennium Babylonia

      • Philippe Clancier

      Pages 3-35

   3. The Textual Form of Knowledge: Occult Miscellanies in Ancient and Medieval Chinese Manuscripts, Fourth Century B.C. to Tenth Century A.D.

      • Donald Harper

      Pages 37-80

   4. Sanskrit Scientific Libraries and Their Uses: Examples and Problems of the Early Modern Period

      • Christopher Minkowski

      Pages 81-114

   5. The French Jesuit Manuscripts on Indian Astronomy: The Narratology and Mystery Surrounding a Late Seventeenth – Early Eighteenth Century Project

      • Dhruv Raina

      Pages 115-140

   6. Scientific Texts in Contest, 1600–1800

      • Chu Pingyi

      Pages 141-166

3. Reading Actors’ Collections And Archives, Reading Beyond Collections AndArchives That Shaped The Present Day Historiography: New Perspectives On TheHistory Of Science In Asia.

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 167-167

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   2. A Chinese Canon in Mathematics and Its Two Layers of Commentaries: Reading a Collection of Texts as Shaped by Actors

      • Karine Chemla

      Pages 169-210

   3. On Sanskrit Commentaries Dealing with Mathematics (Fifth–Twelfth Century)

      • Agathe Keller

      Pages 211-244

   4. Mesopotamian Metrological Lists And Tables:Forgotten Sources

      • Christine Proust

      Pages 245-276

   5. What Shaped Our Corpuses of Astral and Mathematical Cuneiform Texts?

      • David Brown

      Pages 277-303

   6. Knowledge and Practice of Mathematics in Late Ming Daily life Encyclopedias

      • Andrea Bréard

      Pages 305-329

   7. Is the Lower Yangzi River Region the Only Seat of Medical Knowledge in Late Imperial China? A Glance at the Far South Region and at Its Medical Documents

      • Florence Bretelle-Establet

      Pages 331-369

   8. Imperial Science Written in Manchu in Early Qing China: Does It Matter?

      • Catherine Jami

      Pages 371-391

   9. Sinification as Limitation: Minh Mạng’s Prohibition on Use of Nôm and the Resulting Marginalization of Nôm Medical Texts

      • C. Michele Thompson

      Pages 393-412

4. Back Matter

   Pages 413-426

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How do Documents Become Sources? Perspectives from Asia and Science Florence Bretelle-Establet From Documents to Sources in Historiography The present volume develops a specific type of critical analysis of the written documents that have become historians’ sources. For reasons that will be explained later, the history of science in Asia has been taken as a framework. However, the issue addressed is general in scope. It emerged from reflections on a problem that may seem common to historians: why, among the huge mass of written documents available to historians, some have been well studied while others have been dismissed or ignored? The question of historical sources and their (unequal) use in historiography is not new. Which documents have been used and favored as historical sources by historians has been a key historiographical issue that has occupied a large space in the historical production of the last four decades, in France at least.

• Archiv
• China
• document
• historiography of science
• history of collections
• history of science in Asia
• libraries
• social history of documents

From the reviews:

“The resulting collection is a complex and stimulating blend of detailed scholarly investigations and general historiographical observations contributed by an impressive line-up of researchers. … serve the two sets of readers who will no doubt be interested in this book, those who are curious in the specialised treatments and … those who are drawn to the broad themes that these detailed studies offer. … scholarly erudition throughout the book as a whole is commendable, and it is an asset to the advancement of the field.” (Clemency Montelle, Metascience, Vol. 21, 2012)

• CNRS-UMR 7596, Equipe REHSEIS, Université Paris 7, Paris CX 05, France

  Florence Bretelle-Establet

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