scholarly journals Yin-Yang Theory, the Human Organism, and the Bai hu tong: A Need for Pairing and Explaining

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-38
Author(s):  
Paul U. Unschuld
Keyword(s):  
Explanatory Models ◽  
Human Organism ◽  
Complex Issue ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
Natural Categories ◽  
Yin Yang ◽  
Yin And Yang ◽  
Term Storage ◽  
Physiological Theory ◽  
Technical Terms

AbstractThis paper discusses some terminological consequences of the acceptance of a seemingly all-pervasive yin yang dualism by ancient Chinese naturalists, with a focus on the origin of certain technical terms introduced to designate morphological and functional items in the emerging Chinese medicine. These terms were selected from words not originally linked to morphological and physiological notions. They served as metaphors to illustrate both function and the yin yang nature of the items they were chosen to designate. How to translate these terms into Western languages is a complex issue not sufficiently discussed among philologists.In 79 CE, the historian Ban Gu (32‐92) published the Bai hu tong , based on contributions by an unknown number of participants in one of the first documented meetings of intellectuals in antiquity. Chapter 8 offers a discourse on the meaning of qing , ‘emotion’, and xing , ‘moral disposition’. Two terms were available that had been in long use in this arena of meanings, albeit without a clear-cut distinction along the lines of a Yin-Yang categorisation. No metaphors were required here. Rather, a redefinition of qing and xing was required to assign a yang nature to the former and a yin nature to the latter.The Bai hu tong is a telling example of a continuing heterogeneity of explanatory models in early Chinese life sciences. The following discussion offers an impression of the merger of what may originally have been a neutral attempt at a dualistic categorisation of all phenomena in terms of two natural categories of yin and yang with another doctrine. The second clearly valued yang phenomena more highly than yin phenomena and applied this distinction to more and less desirable moral categories. Also, the Bai hu tong offers evidence of different metaphorical usages of the term fu in physiological theory from as early as Han times. To the older meaning: ‘short-term storage facility’ a second meaning of ‘palace’ was added. The question of an adequate translation of such terms in modern languages is worth further thought.1

scholarly journals Introduction: The agents, acts and attitudes of supererogation

2015 ◽  
Vol 77 ◽  
pp. 1-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Cowley
Keyword(s):  
Moral Philosophy ◽  
Technical Term ◽  
Philosophical Discussion ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
Philosophical Debates ◽  
Technical Terms

I confess to finding the term ‘supererogation’ ugly and unpronounceable. I am also generally suspicious of technical terms in moral philosophy, since they are vulnerable to self-serving definition and counter-definition, to the point of obscuring whether there is a single phenomenon about which to disagree. It was surely not accidental that J.O. Urmson, in his classic 1958 article that launched the contemporary Anglophone debate, eschewed the technical term in favour of the more familiar concepts of saints and heroes. Since then, however, the term Supererogation has bedded down to encompass a number of more or less clear-cut philosophical debates, one of which concerns precisely the extent to which saintliness and heroism exhaust the supererogatory. And it has to be admitted that the word ‘saint’ has certain theological connotations that might be misleading in a secular philosophical discussion (in this volume, only Wynn and Drummond-Young invoke theological ideas), while the word ‘hero’ has potentially limiting associations with knights and soldiers and other forms of testosterone-driven accomplishment.

scholarly journals Intentionality: A philosophical-cognitive approach to mental representations

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (39) ◽  
pp. 819
Author(s):  
Cleverson Leite Bastos ◽  
Tomas Rodolfo Drunkenmolle
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Psychology ◽  
Mental Representation ◽  
Philosophy Of Mind ◽  
Mental Representations ◽  
Hard Core ◽  
Explanatory Models ◽  
Cognitive Approach ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
Points Of View ◽  
Definition Of

This article critically analyses the notion of intentionality from several philosophical cognitive points of view. The authors argue that the notion of mental representation in the wider sense and intentionality in the narrower sense remains elusive despite accommodated paradoxes, improved semantic precision and more sophisticated strategies in dealing with intentionality. We will argue that different approaches to intentionality appear to be coherent in their inferences. However, most of them become contradictory and mutually exclusive when juxtaposed and applied to borderline questions. While the explanatory value of both philosophy of mind as well as cognitive psychology should not be underestimated, we must note that not even hard-core neuroscience has been able to pin point what is going on in our minds, let alone come up with a clear cut explanation how it works or a definition of what thought really is. To date, however, intentionality is the best of all explanatory models regarding mental representations.

The Yin and Yang of smartphones: an interview study of smartphone use and its effects

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Naresh Kumar Agarwal ◽  
Wenqing Lu
Keyword(s):  
Negative Effects ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Real ◽  
Uses And Gratification ◽  
Uses And Gratification Theory ◽  
Frequency Of Use ◽  
Yin Yang ◽  
Yin And Yang ◽  
Pros And Cons ◽  
Smartphone Use

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study smartphone use and its positive and negative effects and to provide recommendations for balanced use. Design/methodology/approach To study phone use, this paper applies the uses and gratification theory and gathered interview data from 24 participants on the participants’ frequency of use, mode of communication, people contacted and the reasons for using their phones. This paper analyzes the pros and cons of using smartphones using the Yin-Yang worldview. Findings This paper finds that people use their smartphones for communication, entertainment and other specific functions. Ease of communication and multitasking are the key benefits, and overuse and disconnect from the real world are the detriments in smartphone use. Research limitations/implications The findings can enable future researchers and practitioners to view smartphones and their effects more holistically, rather than seeing it only from the negative or the positive lens. Practical implications The proposed framework can help the reader to consider their daily use of smartphones and their ways of balancing their presence in the virtual and the real worlds. Originality/value This paper proposes the Yin-Yang framework of smartphone use and provides recommendations for effective usage.

Yin–yang

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger T. Ames
Keyword(s):  
Full Range ◽  
The Other ◽  
Hierarchical Relationship ◽  
The World ◽  
Yin Yang ◽  
Yin And Yang ◽  
Dynamic Relationships ◽  
The Way

Yin and yang always describe the relationships that obtain among unique particulars. Originally these terms designated the shady side and the sunny side of a hill, and gradually came to suggest the way in which one thing ‘overshadows’ another in some particular aspect of their relationship. Any comparison between two or more unique particulars on any given topic is necessarily hierarchical: one side is yang and the other is yin. The nature of the opposition captured in this pairing expresses the mutuality, interdependence, hierarchical relationship, diversity and creative efficacy of the dynamic relationships that are immanent in and give value to the world. The full range of difference in the world is deemed explicable through this pairing.

scholarly journals Law of Creation and Grand Unification Theory

2018 ◽  
Vol 02 (04) ◽  
pp. 1850010
Author(s):  
Zhi Gang Sha ◽  
Rulin Xiu
Keyword(s):  
String Theory ◽  
Pair Interaction ◽  
Fundamental Principle ◽  
Grand Unification ◽  
Grand Unification Theory ◽  
Unification Theory ◽  
Space And Time ◽  
Yin Yang ◽  
Yin And Yang ◽  
The Law

The understanding about the creation of our universe is explored in many philosophies, natural sciences, religions, ideologies, traditions and many other disciplines. Currently, natural science cannot answer this question at the most fundamental level. In this work, based on the ancient Chinese Tao wisdom about creation, we propose the Law of Tao Yin–Yang Creation. This law states that everything is created from emptiness through yin–yang interaction. Yin and yang are the two basic elements that make up everything. Yin and yang are opposite, relative, co-created, inseparable and co-dependent. The Law of Tao Yin–Yang Creation gives us a deeper insight about space and time. We propose that space and time are two basic measurements we conduct. Time relates to the measurement of movement and change. Space relates to the measurement of stillness and solidity. Space and time are a yin–yang pair. Interaction of two fundamental yin–yang pairs, the space and time yin–yang pair and the inclusion and exclusion duality pair, create our universe. We demonstrate that from this insight, one can derive string theory, superstring or M-theory and the universal wave function interpretation of string theory. We suggest that the Law of Tao Yin–Yang Creation presents the exact process how “it from bit” and it could be the fundamental principle leading to the grand unification theory and the theory of everything.

JAPANESE CHARACTERS AND IKEBANA: FROM YIN YANG BALANCE TO BREAKING OF FORM WITH SHIN GYO SO

2021 ◽  
pp. 95-111
Author(s):  
Maria S. Tretyakova ◽  
◽  
Nadezhda S. Aganina ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Character ◽  
Chinese Art ◽  
Chinese Characters ◽  
Subtle Difference ◽  
Japanese Art ◽  
The World ◽  
Yin Yang ◽  
Cursive Script ◽  
Yin And Yang ◽  
English Speaking

This study investigates a deep connection between Japanese characters and Ikebana, which is due to the fact that Japanese characters as well as ikebana express the same picture of the world. Because the basis of this model of the world is laying in the Chinese tradition, we will first examine the Chinese characters and Chinese art of flower arrangement or chahua, and then the Japanese characters and Japanese ikebana. In the study, we refer not only to the works of Russian researchers, such as V.V. Malyavin, V.G. Belozyorova and V.A. Pronnikov, but, to a greater extent, to sources in Japanese (Nakamura Yasuo, Sasaoki Ryuho, Kumakura Isao, etc.), as well as to English-speaking authors or translations (Li Xia, Li Huilin). Analyzing the structure of the Chinese character, we look at lined paper for calligraphy which is usually being used in China. Lines of this paper indicate the connection of the structure of a character with Taiji or Supreme Ultimate, because a character is inscribed in a circle of Taiji, it has Yin and Yang sides and as we can say ‘exists’ in the ‘circle of changes’ or Bagua. In Japan, Chinese lined paper were not widespread, but the styles of calligraphy (regular script, semi-cursive script, cursive script) that came from China were elevated to the principle of simplified and broken form, Shin – Gyo – So, which became the basis for the Japanese type of beauty, kuzushi-no bi. Then we turn to the Chinese flower art, chahua and show its basic principle, which related to the Chinese characters, we mean the balance of Yin and Yang. Japanese art of ikebana we analyze in more detail and observe three main schools of Ikebana: Ikenobo, Ohara and Sogetsu. In the schemes of the Ikenobo (the oldest school in Japan), we find schemes in which floral arrangements are inscribed in a circle of Taiji (rikka flowers). In a later direction of Japanese flower arrangement (shoka, or seika flowers), we meet the principle of Shin – Gyo – So. We consider the same principle on the example of chabana, that is, flower arrangements for a tea ceremony. We also observe ikebana of Japanese literati Bunjin, who strive for a lifestyle of Chinese literati Wenren. The flowers in Chinese taste in contrast with actually Japanese ikebana do not have any patterns, but it has ‘refined riddle theme’ meigogadai with limited combinations of flowers. Also, it has more obvious connection with Chinese characters form. We conclude that a Chinese character shows subtle difference between manifested and unmanifested world, balance of Yin Yang while in Japanese tradition we can see preference of forms broken or simplified with Shin Gyo So. Chinese flower arrangement сhahua is also based on Yin Yang balance while in Japanese Ikebana it was transformed with Shin Gyo So.

scholarly journals The Yin and Yang of pain: variability in formalin test nociception and morphine analgesia produced by the Yin Yang 1 transcription factor gene

2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 405-413 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. E. Sorge ◽  
M. L. LaCroix-Fralish ◽  
A. H. Tuttle ◽  
A. Khoutorsky ◽  
S. G. Sotocinal ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Transcription Factor ◽  
Formalin Test ◽  
Morphine Analgesia ◽  
Transcription Factor Gene ◽  
Factor Gene ◽  
Yin Yang 1 ◽  
Yin Yang ◽  
Yin And Yang

scholarly journals Investigation and Analysis on Constitution and Syndrome Types of HighNormal Blood Pressure People in Hebei Area in the Year of 2017

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 84
Author(s):  
Qingchen Sun ◽  
Xianbing Hou ◽  
Hui Zhao ◽  
Jiangjing Chu ◽  
Yanjun Wang
Keyword(s):  
Blood Pressure ◽  
Normal Blood ◽  
Survey Questionnaire ◽  
Normal Blood Pressure ◽  
Inclusion Criteria ◽  
Mass Survey ◽  
Yin Yang ◽  
Yin And Yang ◽  
Syndrome Patterns

Purpose: To investigate the distribution of population and syndrome patterns in high-normal blood pressure people in Hebei area. Methods: A total of 453 people who met the inclusion criteria were investigated using a high-normal blood pressure human mass survey questionnaire. Results: of the 453 constitution types of high-normal blood pressure patients in Hebei area, 184were the constitution of yin-yang harmony, accounting for 40.62% of the total; 73 were the constitution of yang asthenia, accounting for 16.11% of the total; 59 were the constitution of damp-heat, accounting for 13.02% of the total; 52 were the constitution of qi asthenia, accounting for 11.48% of the total; 8 were the allergic constitution, accounting for 1.77% of the total. In addition, of their syndrome types, the syndrome of liver-fre hyperactivity were accounting for 30.24%; the syndrome of excessive phlegm-dampnesswere accounting for 26.71%; the syndrome of yin-defciency and yang-predominance were accounting for 23.18%; the syndrome of defciency of both yin and yang were accounting for 19.87%. Conclusion: Among the high-normal blood pressure people in Hebei area, the proportion of the constitution of yin-yang harmony is the highest, followed by the constitution of yang asthenia, the constitution of damp-heat, and the constitution of qi asthenia, with the lowest percentage being the allergic constitution. In addition, when it comes to the syndrome of them, the proportion of the syndrome of liver-fre hyperactivity is the highest, followed by the syndrome of yin-defciency and yang-predominance, and the lowest is the syndrome of defciency of both yin and yang.

Cartesian Robotics

2013 ◽  
Vol 124 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Bates
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Processing System ◽  
The Body ◽  
Human Organism ◽  
Information Processing System ◽  
Mind And Body ◽  
New Interpretation ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Physiological Theory

This essay looks closely at René Descartes’s physiological theory, and especially his theorization of the nerves and the brain as an information-processing system, in order to offer a new interpretation of cognition within his philosophy. Rather than opposing mind and body, Descartes showed how the operations of the soul interrupted the automatic cognitive processes of the body to provide adaptive flexibility for the human organism as a whole.

scholarly journals Science in Qi

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
C.P. Ong
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Mitochondrial Dna ◽  
Chinese Medicine ◽  
Electromagnetic Energy ◽  
Yin Yang ◽  
Functional Forms ◽  
Yin And Yang ◽  
Functional Pathways ◽  
New Interpretation

Qi-nurturing exercises like Taijiquan and Qigong produce significant changes in the body's emissions of electromagnetic energy, which evidence the science in Qi. Reviewing Qi in its functional forms of bioenergy brings scientific familiarity of the abstruse concept. The complexity of Qi transformations in the function of food breakdown and the formation of vital Qi essences reflect the biochemistry of metabolism and the production of ATPs. The review leads to the basic Qi form of Zhen Qi as a representation of ATP and to a new interpretation of the premise of prenatal Qi, relating it to the transmission of mitochondrial DNA. While the basis of Qi and Chinese Medicine is the Taiji Philosophy of Yin and Yang, the regulation of Qi flow in accord with the Principle of Yin-Yang Balance translates to the discipline of the dynamics of bioenergy in homeostasis. The trained cognition of Qi allows for the manipulation of Qi energy at functional pathways to reduce the errors of excessive or deficient Qi levels, that leads to Qi harmony and homeostasis. This opens up a role for Artificial Intelligence via the cognitive perception of Qi to establish the science of Qi.

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