From dialectics of nature to STS

the historical evolution of science studies in China

Lu Gao

pp. 267-288

in: Elena Aronova, Simone Turchetti (eds), Science studies during the Cold War and beyond, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2016

Abstract

This chapter discusses the evolution of dialectics of nature as the Chinese equivalent of Western science studies from its beginning in the 1920s, and then in the 1960s, 1980s, and 1990s. Dialectics of Nature was introduced into China as a part of Marxism only a few years after the publishing of Engels's book. Its influence was not only on the debate on science in China, but also in the shaping of the science policy system. The chapter thus examines how it informed the building of China's communist regime and scientific projects which aimed to strengthen China's infrastructures (dams, agriculture) and defense (nuclear weapons). The chapter concludes with an examination of the gradual decline of dialectics of nature following the introduction in China of Western science and technology studies (STS).

Cited authors

Marx Karl

Engels Friedrich