Speaker: Nathan Sivin, University of Pennsylvania

In his talk, ‘Why Some Comparisons Make More Difference than Others,’ Professor Sivin will explore motivations for East-West and other comparative studies, as well as the methodological challenges that they involve.

Nathan Sivin, professor emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania, is a generalist who has contributed studies of all the sciences and medicine in every period of Chinese history, and comparative studies of these fields in China and Europe. He has taught a range of courses from the Scientific Revolution in Europe to advanced classical Chinese, as well as the sociology of professionalization (with Renée Fox) and ritual in science, technology, and medicine.

Organizer: Technical Traditions in Greece and Rome: Between Theory and Practice, Harvard University GSAS Workshop