Geoffrey Lloyd engages in a wide-ranging exploration of what we can learn from the study of ancient civilisations that is relevant to fundamental problems, both intellectual and moral, that we still face today. How far is it possible to arrive at an understanding of alien systems of belief? Is it possible to talk meaningfully of 'science' and of its various constituent disciplines, 'astronomy', 'geography', 'anatomy', and so on, in the ancient world? Are logic and its laws universal? Is there one ontology - a single world - to which all attempts at understanding must be considered to be directed? When we encounter apparently very different views of reality, how far can that be put down to a difference in conceptions of what needs explaining, or of what counts as an explanation, or to different preferred modes of reasoning or styles of inquiry? Do the notions of truth and belief represent reliable cross-cultural universals? In another area, what can ancient history teach us about today's social and political problems? Are the discourses of human nature and of human rights universally applicable? What political institutions do we need to help secure equity and justice within nation states and between them? Lloyd sets out to answer all these questions, and to convince us that the science and culture of ancient Greece and China provide precious resources to advance modern debates.

勞埃德（G．E．R．Lloyd，1933～）

英國劍橋大學教授，長期從事古希臘科學思想史研究。1987年始執“古代科學和哲學”講席，1989年起任達爾文學院院長。2000年從這兩項職位上退休，任榮譽教授。1997年因“對思想史的貢獻”而被英國王室賜封爵士。

勞埃德教授著述頗豐，已齣版十餘部專著，其中大多數是研究希臘科學和醫學，或者以希臘科學和醫學為素材，探討科學思想、科學哲學、科學社會學等問題。其著作的特點是：曆史敘述條理清晰，史料翔實，運用恰當；探討問題視角新穎獨特，反映齣科學哲學與科學社會學的最新研究動態。

勞埃德教授近十多年來的研究興趣從古希臘科學延伸到中國古代科學，著有《早期希臘科學：從泰勒斯到亞裏士多德》（1970）、《道與名》（與美國著名中國科學史學者席文教授閤著，2002）、《受製於疾病的想象：希臘思想研究》（2003）、《無可辯駁性的錯覺：古代希臘、中國和今天的智慧與道德》（2005）、《古代希臘和中國科學中的原理與實踐》（2006）、《認知的變種：對人類思維統一性和多樣性的反思》（2007）等。