Committed to the same Aristotelian and Ptolemaic principles as their European counterparts, Arab astronomers produced highly accurate records of celestial motions and sought solutions to the same discrepancies between observation and theory. But none of these involved questioning geocentrism; astronomy was often pursued as an aid to religious observance, giving accurate times for holidays and rituals. Copernicus drew on Islamic writings as on many others, but claims that his heliocentrism in some way depended on them are unacceptable, given their unquestioning geocentrism. In his great work on Chinese science, Joseph Needham showed that it was often superior to Western natural philosophy both empirically and in its understanding of basic natural processes. He attributed its failure to produce a Copernican-Newtonian revolution to various external factors. But the notion that it had such potential rests on the false assumption that its strengths were the ground out of which a science capable of overturning the bases of its own practices might emerge. Such a capacity depends instead on the presence of conditions favorable to rendering the sphere of science autonomous. Only in the nineteenth century, spurred by modern chemistry, biology and physics brought by Western medical missionaries, would Chinese science take this turn.

Beginning in the late tenth century, a key feature of the new Song government was the use of the examination system to recruit and select officials. Central to this effort was the need for schools to educate men for governance. The content of education was classical, rooted in the texts of Confucian tradition believed to cultivate loyalty to the state and its ruler, and the ability to administer the laws and regulations of the empire. To that end, the Imperial University in the capital served as the primary educational institution, and a hierarchy of official agencies administered the examinations. By the mid-eleventh century, state schools were promoted to support the recruitment and training of government officials. The spread of print technology was both supported by, and contributed to, the expansion of the examinations. Competition among candidates created a commercial market for cheap printed editions and the availability of these increased access. To what degree did the examination system foster social mobility? How crucial was marriage to the right family, and how important was wealth as opposed to pedigree? How did the Jurchen Jin incorporate Han Chinese scholars and officials along with the examination system in their rule of the north?