The Metaphysics of Traditional Chinese Medicines

[@dr.gaosclassroom]

The metaphysics of medicine is a very difficult topic especially that of traditional Chinese medicine. There are a lot of confusion about this topic. So far, I haven't find any good research work published on the metaphysics of traditional Chinese medicine. I think this is a very important subject-matter. I hope this brief video would, at the very least, clarify some of the confusions. This is the first video I made on this topic. I intend to make more videos on this topic. I would love to hear from you about what you think of this video. Your comments are very important for me and they would help me to made better videos for you. Any feedback will be much appreciated!!

[@dr.gaosclassroom]

Lo's chapter of Imagining Practice: Sense and Sensuality in Early Chinese Medical Illustration is really goo. Thanks a lot for send me this reference. 🥰🥰😍

[@Foma_Stuppa]

Posting the pinyin of characters would be helpful, too! Wonderful lecture. FYI, there is a lot of demand for books explaining the cultural context of Classical Chinese Medicine, I'd love to see you publish one!

[@dr.gaosclassroom]

Thank you. Yes, I would love to write a book exploring the philosophical foundation of TCM. Currently I am too busy with making videos. I'll put it on my to-do list!

[@SeenaMusic]

These 38 minutes just flew by. I feel like you did an amazing job making the first video in this series covering such a huge topic. Appreciate that you started off by speaking about the different approaches to medicine, and I totally agree with your conclusion at the end; we can’t always use western medicine science methods/standards to explain the effectiveness of TCM. I feel like we sometimes can use western medicine science to measure effectiveness, but we just don’t have advanced enough tools to explain all metaphysical things; plus this especially also ties into the reductionist/mechanistic view vs. the holistic view, which you also covered so gracefully. Looking forward to more❤☀ And you definintely need to write that book! I won’t let you forget it now that you mentioned this😜☺🙏

[@dr.gaosclassroom]

Hi, Seena. Thank you. This topic is the area I have done quite a bit research with my colleagues. I am very happy that you enjoyed it. I just think there are still a lot of bias when it comes to medicine. Medicine is never a pure science. It is a service that uses scientific knowledge as well as human wisdom. And we still know so little of how our body functions and the complex connections of the different systems in our body and with the outside world. And we know even less how our emotions and mental states influences our health, etc. You are right. I should write the book. I owe it to myself as a philosopher. Thank you, Seena, your support is very important for me. 😍😍🥰

[@dr.gaosclassroom]

I think it is human nature to measure everything with the reference framework we are familiar with. The point is that we need to learn, or at least, to acknowledge that other people might have a different reference framework. The reductionist/mechanistic view is just one model. There are other models, even within modern western science or philosophical traditions, that can be used as models for medicine, such as complex adaptive system or phenomenology.

[@SeenaMusic]

@@dr.gaosclassroom Yes❤ Totally agree🙏

[@SeenaMusic]

@@dr.gaosclassroom Can't wait for the book! I would like a signed copy please❤😜

[@dr.gaosclassroom]

@@SeenaMusic I have to write the book, now!!😅😀😊

[@PeebeesPet]

In regards to books about metaphysics of Chinese medicine.... A fantastic book is "Chinese Metaphysics and its Problems". Although not strictly medical, it covers a lot of the same topics very well. There's also "Classical Chinese Medicine: Theory, Methodology and Therapy in its Philosophical Framework" which i'm less familiar with. The "Routledge Handbook of Chinese Medicine" has some great articles on the topic. "The Philosophical Foundations of Classical Chinese Medicine: Philosophy, Methodology, Science" also a good source. "Imagining Chinese Medicine" also contains some interesting stuff.

[@dr.gaosclassroom]

Thanks for the references. I am aware of the 2015 collection of papers where only Robin Wang's paper is relevant but not specific for medicine. Maybe she has published more research on the topic. I might give it another search. I reviewed Keekok Lee's second book (The philosophical foundations of Chinese medicine) when she submitted but was not impressed. Judith Farquhar published a few books on Chinese medicine practice and exercise books. She is very good.

[@Foma_Stuppa]

Exactly the books I've been looking for!

[@dr.gaosclassroom]

Manfred Porkert's Theoretical Foundation of Chinese medicine is rather good but he adopts an energetic-mechanistic model to explain the metaphysics claims in Chinese medical text which does not fit well. But on all other aspects, it makes sense.

[@renxu9]

Hi Dr Gao, it’s Gao’s son here. Too much pseudoscience in eastern medicine. I can’t believe it. Nice video still.

[@dr.gaosclassroom]

Hi, Eddie. Thanks for the support! 😀 I used to hold the same view until I know more about it and benefitted from it. I just would like to say, medicine is not a science. It is a service. As long as it offers helps and benefits to a suffering person, it is a good service. Whether it meets the standard of being science does not really matter.

[@SeenaMusic]

Well said❤@@dr.gaosclassroom