Talk:Needham's Grand Question

"He never really did find the Grand Answer to his Grand Question, preferring to believe instead that China was far superior to the West, and almost all Western advances had been pre-dated by Chinese ones."

^Whoever wrote that obviously never read his books, where he admitted that many western inventions that are similar to Chinese inventions were never transmitted.

about merge
IMHO unless a great deal more information can be added to this topic (perspectives from other scholars, etc.), it clearly ought to be subordinated to the needham heading.

Any discussion on this issue must cover a much wider ground than his life. In my view scientific and technological advance, except where institutionalised, as now, prosper most in competing but culturally related societies unable to unify by war. e.g. Greek city states, the Hellenistic kingdoms and early modern Europe.
 * Reply Since it's Needham's Grand Question, what needs to be added is his view, not yours (no offense meant). I think what you have in mind is a much more broad-ranging article on cross-cultural history of science that goes beyond Needham's work. Why not start one? Katherine Tredwell 16:07, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

I think that it is OK to leave Needham's Grand Question as an indepedant article. It needs to be modified, not to be merged. --Neo-Jay 08:34, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

I think they should be merged. Asking the question and trying to answer it is what Needham is mainly known for. Katherine Tredwell 23:34, 8 August 2006 (UTC)


 * This reason is not sufficient. It only indicates that the two articles are related.  Whether this article should be indepedent relys on whether it has enough content to deserve an indepedent article. --Neo-Jay 07:34, 9 August 2006 (UTC)


 * I think it would be difficult to talk about Needham's work and significance without covering the "Grand Question" in detail, which would make a separate article unnecessary. But I don't feel strongly about it. Katherine Tredwell 17:14, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

The Science and technology in China article includes a very short discussion of some of the answers offered for NGQ. If that section could be moved to the NGQ article and expanded a bit, this article would be worth its place. As an aside, if this was Needham's Grand Question, what was Needham's Petty Question? Eightyuu 01:56, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

- I'd say merge, unless this can be expanded a lot. Johnbod 15:45, 22 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Ditto. It would fit in to the art on him, & could be linked to as a section. DGG 08:17, 25 November 2006 (UTC).

Merge Merged article would provide more context. Xiner (talk, email) 20:17, 10 February 2007 (UTC)