From Needham to STS (and Back to Needham): Why East Asian History Matters
Wen-Hua Kuo, Professor at National Yang-Ming University
Moderator: Victor Seow, John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences, Department of the History of Science, Harvard University
Abstract: Witnessing the emergence of East Asian STS and the rise of East Asia in the global STS landscape, this talk touches upon my academic journey from the history and philosophy of science to STS, and an iconic guide of Joseph Needham (1900-1995), a renowned biochemist who devoted his later career to understanding Chinese science and technology. Drawing from close reading of Needham’s work and archival studies concerning medicine, the talk offers an assessment, with critical eyes of STS, on this towering figure and how Chinese medicine was treated in Science and Civilisation in China, the intellectual enterprise he created. I argue that Needham’s STS legacy is multilayered; it should be understood not only in the context of Cold War science and science diplomacy; it has to do with his peculiar approach to Asian medicines, which were shared by his historian colleagues as well as physician contemporaries. Only with this understanding can we approximate Needham’s vision about medicine in the future, where, in a Kuhnian sense, knowing the past is essential and necessary.
About our speaker: Wen-Hua Kuo is a professor at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taiwan, where he teaches social studies of medicine. A certified acupuncturist and physician, his STS experience includes serving as the Editor-in-Chief of East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal (2016-2022) and Associate Editor of Social Studies of Science since 2023. He will serve as the President of 4S from 2025 to 2027.