1 The Bright Dark Ages: Brennan & Lo 1. The Descent of Theory 1 Andrew Brennan & Norva Y. S. Lo Chapter 1 of: Bala, A. and Duara, P. (eds.) The Bright Dark Ages, Brill 2016 1. Introduction The history of science is beset by difficulties of principle and by problems due to the complex nature of what is studied. On the one hand are questions about the very methods to be used in mapping the growth and development of the sciences, in the face of serious disagreement over what constitutes “science”, and how its construction relates to other forms of knowledge, particularly the impressive forms of knowledge found in a variety of cultural traditions, whether Chinese, Islamic, Hindu, Greek, Babylonian or Egyptian. Within each of these traditions there is subtlety and variety: the major cultures are not like uniformly flowing masses of water, but are instead like broad rivers with their various streams, eddies, tributaries, diversions and back currents (Brennan 2004). Attempts at translation and interpretation across cultural boundaries are also beset with difficulties about commensurability of core concepts and ideas. In this context, studies of the growth, development and interplay among various scientific traditions are fraught with hazard. Some recent constructions of science have been critiqued for their “Whiggishness” – borrowing a term from the political historian (Butterfield 1965). From the Whig point of view, the history of science has been a progression over time towards a sophisticated contemporary science (just as, for the Whig historian, the political evolution of various societies can be supposed to have tended towards the enlightened liberal state as ultimate, and preferred, destination) (Mayr 1990). Such