| List of illustrations | |
| Preface to the second edition | |
| Preface to the first edition | |
| Acknowledgments | |
| Introduction | 1 |
| 1 | The comparative study of science | 8 |
| 2 | Arabic science and the Islamic world | 47 |
| 3 | Reason and rationality in Islam and the West | 89 |
| 4 | The European Legal revolution | 118 |
| 5 | Madrasas, universities, and science | 147 |
| 6 | Cultural climates and the ethos of science | 209 |
| 7 | Science and civilization in China | 240 |
| 8 | Science and social organization in China | 289 |
| 9 | The rise of early modern science | 325 |
| Epilogue: educational reform and attitudes toward science in the Muslim world and China since the eighteenth century | 362 |
| Selected bibliography | 385 |
| Index | 407 |