The Place of China in Critical Approaches to Science and Religion

This review of Critical Approaches to Science and Religion argues for a “critique from without” in the study of science and religion, specifically from the perspective of China’s engagement with modernity. It contends that conventional Western paradigms of conflict and complexity, while valuable, are insufficient for understanding the unique ways science and religion function in a non-colonized context like China. Drawing on examples such as traditional Chinese medicine and Confucian sociopolitical thought, the article highlights how Chinese category thinking tolerates apparent contradictions and resists the dualistic, hierarchical logics of Western modernity. Engaging with these alternative category formations in cultures like China can offer a more profound critique of the racist and patriarchal underpinnings of colonialism than internal critiques alone. While China has embraced “science” in its modernization, it continues to articulate its own categories of knowledge, resisting Western scientific and political coloniality.

Duke Scholars

Author James Miller DKU Faculty