Guest guest Posted October 1, 2006 Report Share Posted October 1, 2006 Random thread that is kinda interesting... I saw Paul Unschuld lecture at Taiwan's China Medical University the other day, and his topic was about how medical theory was established around the same logic as the political structures of the time. However, there was an interesting comment by one of the Neijing professors at the school that posed a different counterpoint to Unschuld's theory. While Unschuld was taking the position that CM theory was constructed (somewhat arbitrarily, some might suggest) to reflect the structure of the empire, the Chinese Neijing teacher came at it from a different angle. He said that the physicians of the time were simply trying to explain the principles of medicine in a language that the Emperor would understand. Since the Emperor wanted to know how medicine worked but lacked a background understanding in medicine, the medical knowledge had to be adapted to a language that made sense to the Emperor, i.e., the language of politics. Thus, he took the stance that the Neijing political structure (spleen holds the office of granaries, etc) was not so much influential in shaping the fundamental theory of CM, but was rather to be viewed as a metaphor adapted for the Emperor so that his Majesty could make sense of the discussion at hand. In other words, the legendary Qi Bo figured out how to translate medical theory into political metaphor to satisfy the Emperor's interest and thereby keep his head attached to his torso. Interesting because one side is positing that medical knowledge was preceeded by and based on political metaphors, while the other side is suggesting that medical knowledge was already advanced and was simply adapted to the political metaphors as a means of explanation to someone who only understood politics, not medicine. Eric Brand Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 2, 2006 Report Share Posted October 2, 2006 Although I'm not all that well versed in what Unschuld has to say I certainly know that he used the military construct. What was Unschuld's response to the professor? Is it Felt and Birch in Understanding Acupuncture who make the water way construct? More reasonable, in any case. I also seem to remember a argument that all CM comes out sexology studies by the " ancients " . I wonder what metaphors we use now and how and if they differ from ancient writings. doug , " Eric Brand " <smilinglotus wrote: > > Random thread that is kinda interesting... > > I saw Paul Unschuld lecture at Taiwan's China Medical University the > other day, and his topic was about how medical theory was established > around the same logic as the political structures of the time. > However, there was an interesting comment by one of the Neijing > professors at the school that posed a different counterpoint to > Unschuld's theory. While Unschuld was taking the position that CM > theory was constructed (somewhat arbitrarily, some might suggest) to > reflect the structure of the empire, the Chinese Neijing teacher came > at it from a different angle. > > He said that the physicians of the time were simply trying to explain > the principles of medicine in a language that the Emperor would > understand. Since the Emperor wanted to know how medicine worked but > lacked a background understanding in medicine, the medical knowledge > had to be adapted to a language that made sense to the Emperor, i.e., > the language of politics. Thus, he took the stance that the Neijing > political structure (spleen holds the office of granaries, etc) was > not so much influential in shaping the fundamental theory of CM, but > was rather to be viewed as a metaphor adapted for the Emperor so that > his Majesty could make sense of the discussion at hand. In other > words, the legendary Qi Bo figured out how to translate medical theory > into political metaphor to satisfy the Emperor's interest and thereby > keep his head attached to his torso. > > Interesting because one side is positing that medical knowledge was > preceeded by and based on political metaphors, while the other side is > suggesting that medical knowledge was already advanced and was simply > adapted to the political metaphors as a means of explanation to > someone who only understood politics, not medicine. > > Eric Brand > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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