Guest guest Posted August 6, 2003 Report Share Posted August 6, 2003 All, A question has come up about which I'd like to get your opinions. What is a theory in Chinese medicine? Does the notion of a " theory " in Western science conform to the corresponding concept in Chinese medicine? And vice versa? Thanks, for your thoughts. Ken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 7, 2003 Report Share Posted August 7, 2003 Ken, I'm a college instructor who must create curriculum for human anatomy, human physiology, nutrition, microbiology, cell and molecular biology and immunology. I recall that there are others like me on list based on introductions. Since they've been quiet, I'll begin a little. Then they can add on. First of all, there is a general division in the West between "basic science" that mostly deals with theoretical science and "clinical science" that deals with medicine and it's allied fields. This is mainly in the fields of biology and biochemistry. Sometimes we divide sciences between simply "theoretical" and "applied". I'm a "basic scientist". So I'm always teaching first principles and then looking a clinical correlations or some other areas of applied science to exemplify the principles or theories of the science. Theory is how you proceed from first principles. You have a starting point for research or for applications. There is also a "culture" of research and applications that require you to be familiar with materials and methods. Unless you can propose materials and methods, you are stuck in the realm of first principles. Regarding Simon's dismissal of Jason's quote from Robert Persig, I'm Simon's straw man. I know of no scientist personally who does not assume that virtually all of our current hypotheses will be either wholly wrong or considerably full of holes in 20 years. To put a fine point on it, I didn't say most ... I said virtually all. My degrees in biochemistry, cell and molecular biology and my certification in genetic engineering represent fields of science that entirely did not exist on the day of my birth. I've got to read and meditate on my sciences most days of the week to stay current and even anticipate the general direction in which things are going. If I don't stay ahead of the curve, I can't teach. But I digress. The bottom line, Ken, is you can only propose a theory for which you have clear first principles along with the necessary materials and methods to test your hypothesis. I didn't say that you can't test a theory without first principles, materials and methods. I said you can't propose a theory without first principles, materials and methods. Isn't that interesting? Our culture of science keeps us safe from leaving the domain of our first principles and our technologies. Emmanuel Segmen - kenrose2008 Chinese Medicine Wednesday, August 06, 2003 3:46 PM Traditional (TCM) Theory All,A question has come up about which I'dlike to get your opinions. What is a theory in Chinese medicine?Does the notion of a "theory" in Westernscience conform to the correspondingconcept in Chinese medicine? And vice versa?Thanks, for your thoughts.KenFor practitioners, students and those interested in Traditional (TCM.). Membership requires that you do not post any commerical, religious, spam messages or flame another member. If you want to change the way you receive email message, i.e. from individual to a daily digest or none then visit the groups’ homepage: Chinese Medicine/ From there, click ‘edit my membership on the right hand side’ and adjust accordingly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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