On terminology

[Guest guest]

Rey,

Thanks for this, and all your other valuable emails.

 

You're making an important point.

 

I would extend that, to say that, since the adoption of CM in both

theWestern world, and also modern world, is a very complex issue, your

point applies not only to translators, but also to practitioners, or

at the very least, the leaders and teachers in the field.

 

The word symmetry is important. Yesterday, I wrote the following:

 

I think it is necessary to distinguish between the hegemonic tendency

implicit in, if not Western culture in general, then at least in

western scientific thought, compared to a relative lack of that in

Chinese culture, which can accept heterogeneity and plurality much

more readily. Western science will tend to want to assess CM, and to

the extent that it accepts its techniques, biomedicalize it; CM will

much more readily accept biomedicine as yet another system in a

heterogenous and pluralistic setup.

 

 

When writing that, I wanted to introduce the word asymmetry - there is

a fundamental asymmetry between the approach towards knowledge between

modern science, and traditional CM. If we submit CM to

scientific/biomedical scrutiny, the result must be a biomedicalization

process, as a result of this asymmetry, because CM accepts

heterogeneity and plurality, while modern science rejects it.

 

Many thanks,

Wainwright

 

 

 

 

 

-

" rey tiquia " <rey

 

Monday, November 17, 2003 12:02 AM

Re: On terminology

 

 

>

> Hi Wainwright,

>

> Thanks for posting this article . While mindful of the fact that it

> is a response to Wiseman's article and Ken is attempting to

> seek the latter's response, I think that the issues raised by this

> articletouches the core of the problem of 'translation' i.e.

> linguistic, cultural and political.

>

> I think that when we translate materials embedded in the

> language and culture of one civilization into that of another

> symmetry is very important.. And to achieve symmetry in

> translation we must have a profound understanding of the

> language and culture of both civilizations. This must be the case

> in the work of translating traditional Chinese medicine

> concepts,litrature , practices , techniques , knowledge into that of

> our civilization i.e. Western civilization. There is over half a

> millenium of history that should guide us here.

>

> Regards,

>

> Rey Tiquia

[Guest guest]

Wainwright,

 

I like the use of the word " assymmetry "

in the context of comparing Chinese and

English in the way you have. I think of

other asymmetries, such as the one

that exists between the sides of a human

body. In fact, one of the questions I

always pose to students in the workshops

I teach is, Where is the difference between

your left hand and your right hand?

 

If you get someone to look for the place

in their body where the left side and the

right side separate/join, you can sometimes

induce useful awarenesses and insights

into how that body is structured, assembled,

and how it functions.

 

I think a similar lesson can be drawn from

seeing English and Chinese as asymmetrical

developments of a similar human characteristic.

 

Language.

 

And in fact I have felt for a long time that one

of the primary zones of medical and scientific

activity in which the marriage of Chinese

medicine and Western medicine can bear

significant results is in the research into

the relationship between consciousness

and language.

 

We are aware generally that Chinese medicine

uses a different model for placing what Western

sciences sees as strictly mental affects throughout

the body. This, naturally enough, is based on

underlying linguistic tendencies and on

notions that Ames has termed " correlative

cosmology " that motivate much of Chinese

thought, very much including Chinese medical

thought.

 

But there hasn't been enough jerking off done

yet by people who actually care about the details

of this curious asymmetry to produce the

kind of interpenetration of opposites that

yin/yang theory suggests as potential when

apparent opposites are brought into communication.

 

Maybe Alon can sort this out.

 

Or maybe we can rely on Todd.

 

Any Unschuldites out there who want to

jerk off about this?

 

C'mon guys, let's get 'em!

 

Hey, you know what?

 

I really appreciate the fact that this discussion

is dragged through the gutter from time to time.

 

It makes it far more entertaining.

 

Ken

[Guest guest]

Wainwright and Ken,

 

It was Picasso, for one, who noted that asymmetry was a sign (or picture) of

life.

 

Emmanuel Segmen

 

-

kenrose2008

Monday, November 17, 2003 6:56 AM

Re: On terminology

 

 

Wainwright,

 

I like the use of the word " assymmetry "

in the context of comparing Chinese and

English in the way you have. I think of

other asymmetries, such as the one

that exists between the sides of a human

body. In fact, one of the questions I

always pose to students in the workshops

I teach is, Where is the difference between

your left hand and your right hand?

 

If you get someone to look for the place

in their body where the left side and the

right side separate/join, you can sometimes

induce useful awarenesses and insights

into how that body is structured, assembled,

and how it functions.

 

I think a similar lesson can be drawn from

seeing English and Chinese as asymmetrical

developments of a similar human characteristic.

 

Language.

 

And in fact I have felt for a long time that one

of the primary zones of medical and scientific

activity in which the marriage of Chinese

medicine and Western medicine can bear

significant results is in the research into

the relationship between consciousness

and language.

 

We are aware generally that Chinese medicine

uses a different model for placing what Western

sciences sees as strictly mental affects throughout

the body. This, naturally enough, is based on

underlying linguistic tendencies and on

notions that Ames has termed " correlative

cosmology " that motivate much of Chinese

thought, very much including Chinese medical

thought.

 

But there hasn't been enough jerking off done

yet by people who actually care about the details

of this curious asymmetry to produce the

kind of interpenetration of opposites that

yin/yang theory suggests as potential when

apparent opposites are brought into communication.

 

Maybe Alon can sort this out.

 

Or maybe we can rely on Todd.

 

Any Unschuldites out there who want to

jerk off about this?

 

C'mon guys, let's get 'em!

 

Hey, you know what?

 

I really appreciate the fact that this discussion

is dragged through the gutter from time to time.

 

It makes it far more entertaining.

 

Ken