> The point is made very forcefully by Alan Cromer in "Uncommon Sense."
> > The Greeks were certainly odd, and wonderful.
> Roger Cooke
>
>
I think Cromer unfortunately has to put down the Chinese in order to elevate
the Greeks. He claims the Chinese had no interest in other countries (maybe
so in the 18th C but not in the Tang dynasty. See Shafer :The Golden Peaches
of Samarkand. Also Cromer claims the Chinese knew no geography, but the most
comprehensive map in the world was made in Korea in the 15th century. It
included Africa and Europe. Cromer says the Chinese lacked
curiosity--presumably unlike Cromer, who hasn't bothered to look into Chinese
mathematics and science. (I.e. the Chinese did do some rigorous deductive
proof, contrary to the claim that only the Greeks did this.)
Val Dusek