Chinese Medicine Culture Colloquium

Author: Wang Xinlu, Editor-in-Chief
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-11-01
Features: According to modern scientific classification, medicine undoubtedly belongs to the natural sciences. Although medicine has begun to shift toward the bio-psycho-social model since the 1970s, and recently some have defined it as an "interdisciplinary field where natural sciences and humanities intersect and permeate," people's understanding of the essential nature of medicine as a natural science has not changed significantly. Especially in terms of research, pure natural science methods have been consistently adopted. As a branch of medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), whether judged by logical reasoning or the subjective wishes of scholars in the TCM field, being classified as a natural science is almost equivalent to being labeled "unscientific," an argument unacceptable to both the TCM community itself and those who love TCM. For this reason, since the introduction of Western learning to China, TCM research has naturally adopted the Western medical model, chosen modern natural science methods and approaches, and strived to use modern scientific technology methods, standards, and interpretations to validate or prove its scientificity, aiming to achieve development through this means.