A New Look at Western Science and Technology
Professor earns international prize for book on rise of the West
by MaryAlice Bitts-Jackson
How do you explain the rise of the West in the modern world? Dengjian Jin, professor of international business & management and John J. Curley '60 and Ann Conser Curley '63 Faculty Chair in International Studies, Business and Management, taps global economic history, cognitive science and cultural, religious and scientific history to reframe that sweeping question, and his intriguing new book recently garnered an international award.
Jin is one of just two recipients of the 2016 Schumpeter Prize, awarded biennially by the International Joseph A. Schumpeter Society (ISS) to scholars who contribute to the study of evolutionary economics. An ISS member since 2000, Jin is the first liberal-arts professor to earn the prize.
He was recognized for his 2016 book The Great Knowledge Transcendence: The Rise of Western Science and Technology Reframed (Palgrave Macmillan). In it, Jin traces the history of knowledge and knowledge evolution from prehistory to the modern era, making the case that tensions between faith and reason, rooted in Western thought and theology, forced European intellectuals to challenge what they knew and how they knew it, and that this led to breakthroughs in Western science and technology.
The prize was presented during the 16th-annual conference of the ISS, held in Montreal July 6-8. It is named for Joseph A. Schumpeter, one of the great economic thinkers of the 20th century, who is widely credited with popularizing the term “creative destruction.” Schumpeter posited that innovation is key to economic dynamism, and Schumpeter Prize recipients are acknowledged for scholarship in the spirit of his work.
Commenting on this accomplishment, Jin noted that “the rich and supportive environment at Dickinson has made all the difference to me” as he performed the work that led to the Schumpeter Prize, the highest honor for scholars in his field.
Ebooks of Jin’s latest work are available at Google eBookstore, Barnes & Noble, Inc., ebooks.com, Ebrary and Gardners Books. Jin also is the author of The Dynamics of Knowledge Regimes: Technology, Culture and Competitiveness in the USA and Japan (Continuum, 2001).
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Published July 22, 2016