scholarly journals 中國文化中的人論與醫學: 儒家之醫學模式

2015 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 49-66
Author(s):  
Shui Chuen LEE
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Philosophy ◽  
Medical Model ◽  
Evolutionary Process ◽  
The Body ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Western Model ◽  
Chinese Model ◽  
Religious Doctrine ◽  
Recent Trends ◽  
Based Medicine

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English.西方醫學界近年有學者提出新的「生物心理社會精神」醫藥模式以回應西方現代醫藥模式的問題。本文首先指出西方傳統之以醫藥為針對身體的正常功能之失效為主，而此一失能是身體之物理生理的表現，因而其他心理或精神的病狀或病態都必須能化約為身體的物理生理情狀，才被認可為疾病。此自然排除了心理或精神，以及由社會宗教價值失調而來的疾病。雖然此模式需要修訂，但此缺失不足以重新引入宗教教義作為診治疾病的判準。本文同時檢討了西方醫學以物種正常功能作為疾病的判準，以及近年流行的「實證醫學」政策診治模式所延續與隱含的仍然是以物理生理為主的醫藥模式，並不真能包含源自文化與價值的心理與心靈的疾病或病態。由於文化與價值的不同，中醫的醫藥模式與西方醫學不同。中國哲學以人為與天地萬物同出一源，人的生命與宇宙相對應，因此，疾病被理解為人身之小宇宙失調，而治療則以順大自然的運行法則而行。這是建立在中國傳統的儒與陰陽五行的哲學而來。儒家哲學以仁心貫通天人，因而中醫自始即不限於氣化流行的現象，而有深入了解天道運行的意義，視人為與宇宙一體的生命，身體官能之運作與宇宙之陰陽五行之氣化相應，而其中以仁心之天道貫通疾病與醫病之關係，構成中醫之儒醫理念與「醫乃仁術」的模式。心靈與心理的疾病有不同的病源和對治的方式，不能化約為物理生理的情況。在此模式中，社會文化與價值失調的疾病和病態可以被正視和治療，這亦反映了醫藥乃是文化的一環。A new conception of medicine has been proposed in response to some of the problems of the modern Western model of medicine. In this paper, I posit the view that modern Western medicine takes disease to be a bodily deviation from normal species functioning. Such malfunctioning is regarded as of the physical and physiological kind. Other types of deviations such as psychological or spiritual deviations must be reducible to symptoms before they are regarded as a disease in medical terms. Hence, psychological or mental disorders resulting from social or religious values are not catalogued as diseases, and are thus left untreated. I argue, however, that although this situation needs correction, there is no justification for introducing religious doctrine as a category of disease. This paper examines the presuppositions of the normal species functioning criterion and recent trends in evidence-based medicine, and reaches the conclusion that the present Western medical model does not readily admit some of the diseases of the human psyche caused by disorders in culture and values.Chinese medicine, which is grounded in a different culture and different values, takes a different approach to medicine. Chinese philosophy takes human beings to have the same source as the universe, and thus to represent the cosmos writ small. Disease is regarded as a disorientation of the bodily cosmos, and treatment is basically a restoration of the body and mind as a whole in harmony with natural cosmological operations. Chinese philosophy draws on Confucianism, Daoism, and the Yin-Yang School. Confucianism views empathy as unifying human beings with Heaven. Thus, in Chinese medicine the evolutionary process of the cosmos bears deeply humane and transcendental values. The correspondence between body and universe results in a conception of medicine as the operation of the principle of ren, or humanity. Accordingly, the physician is honored as a Confucian doctor, and medicine is seen as an art or humanity. Mental and psychological diseases can have independent sources, and should never be reduced to the physical and physiological. In the Chinese model, social, cultural, and value disorders are regarded as proper diseases, and can be treated as such. It allows full realization of the cultural factors at play in medicine.DOWNLOAD HISTORY | This article has been downloaded 895 times in Digital Commons before migrating into this platform.

scholarly journals 中國傳統的整體觀的思維模式對意義與神聖價值的拯救

2015 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-125
Author(s):  
Yu CAI
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Culture ◽  
Chinese Philosophy ◽  
Medical Model ◽  
The Body ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Western Model ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Sacred Values ◽  
Digital Commons ◽  
The Mind

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract in English only.The failure to reform the modern Western model of medicine stems from the reductionist mode of thinking, as demonstrated by Prof. Jeffrey Bishop. Since the Enlightenment, the popular mode of thinking in Western medicine has been a kind of mechanical materialist reductionism, which is characteristic of instrumental rationality. It is also a spatial pattern of thinking—the body becomes separable from the mind. The thinking underlying Chinese medicine and Confucian bioethics based on Chinese philosophy, in contrast, is holistic in nature. Meaning and sacred values appears only in the mindset of the whole. From the Confucian bioethical perspective, a reasonable medical model is one based on the patient’s overall biological, social, psychological, and spiritual existence, rather than on any one of these as a discrete factor. Confucian bioethics is a mix of uncompromising realism and reasonable belief in the Dao of Heaven and the virtue of ren (humanity). It is rooted in traditional Chinese culture, and remains what the Chinese need today.DOWNLOAD HISTORY | This article has been downloaded 33 times in Digital Commons before migrating into this platform.

The integration of traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine

2003 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 225-235 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHEN KEJI ◽  
XU HAO
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Medicine ◽  
Traditional Chinese Medicine ◽  
Western Medicine ◽  
Chinese Philosophy ◽  
Medical Science ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
The Body ◽  
Theoretical Research ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Future

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is one of the world's oldest medical systems, having a history of several thousands of years. It is a system of healing based upon the Chinese philosophy of the correspondence between nature and human beings. Its theories refer to yin and yang, the Five Elements, zang-fu, channels-collaterals, qi, blood, body fluid, methods of diagnosis, the differentiation of symptom-complexes, etc. TCM has two main features: a holistic point of view and treatment according to a differentiation of syndromes. The therapeutic methods of TCM involve different approaches, such as acupuncture, moxibustion, tuina bodywork, herbal medicine and qi gong, in order to allow the body to heal itself in a natural way. Western medicine was first introduced into China from the middle of the 17th century. During the first two centuries several different views, related to the future of TCM and the relation between TCM and Western medicine, emerged. Some advocated ‘complete westernization’ of Chinese medicine, others were in favour of keeping it intact, whereas again others recommended the ‘digestion and assimilation of TCM and Western medicine’. Nowadays, more and more people realize that each of the two medical traditions has its own merits and advise that the two systems should benefit from each other's strong points. We offer an argument for integrating Western medicine with TCM. In the 20th century China has maintained and developed three kinds of medical science, that is, TCM, Western medicine, and ‘integrated medicine’. Much has been achieved in clinical, experimental and theoretical research. The development of any science can be furthered by cross-fertilization based on absorption and fusion of whatever useful theory and experience. It is our dream that, in the future, diverse modalities – including TCM, Western medicine and possibly other variants – can work in conjunction with each other as part of a unified team rather than in competition. This integrated approach will ultimately lead to safer, faster and more effective health care.

scholarly journals Vormt moderne antropologie een probleem voor het Christelijk geloof?

2013 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Luco J. Van den Brom
Keyword(s):  
Social Insects ◽  
Physiological State ◽  
Biological Evolution ◽  
Evolutionary Process ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Body ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Social Infrastructure ◽  
Communion Of Saints ◽  
Theory Of Everything

Does modern anthropology pose a problem to the Christian faith? Contemporary scientific anthropology proposes a naturalistic conception of human personhood because of humankind’s place somewhere in the larger evolutionary process of life. Some authors use the theory of biological evolution to explain phenomena in other areas as well, and due to its success suggest it has universal application in cultural and religious studies too, as if it were a theory of everything. Darwin’s idea of a common origin of all life undermined a supposed superiority of humankind. It signalled the end of an Aristotelian metaphysical notion of classification and constituted a real blow for classical individualistic anthropology. Dawkins explains religion in terms of empirical immanent biological processes in the human brain. He views religious ideas as ‘memes’ that act like an infectious virus in mental processes. His hypothesis seems to be a relapse into the old Aristotelian pattern. Michael Persinger interprets religion as an internal physiological state of an individual brain and reduces the language of mental concepts to physiological states of a material brain. Persinger’s, and also Dennett’s, materialistic view presupposes a God’s Eye Point of View as an Archimedian perspective outside the world. If a God exists, the neurologists Newberg and d’Aquili argue that he needs a point of contact within our brain: the God spot. Sociobiologists Edward Wilson and David Wilson consider religion a form of group adaptation, because cooperating individuals show the primary benefits of cooperation and altruistic behaviour, just as social insects. Religion is an evolutionary support of altruistic instincts and creates a social infrastructure to benefit a cooperative society. However, social insects merely act on their instincts whereas human beings can act intentionally even against their primary instincts, because of motives for altruist practices inspired, for example, by the narratives and concepts of a Christian tradition. The communion of saints does not take place merely because of a social instinct, but because of the shared motive of the community as a whole, that is, the body of Christ, which acts altruistically irrespective of persons, including outsiders!

scholarly journals The Inevitable Contingency of Ethics on Theistic Foundations

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 159-174
Author(s):  
Muhammad Rasheed Arshad
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Process ◽  
Ethical Code ◽  
Western Civilization ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Moral Principles ◽  
Ethical System ◽  
Western Model ◽  
Religious Significance ◽  
Religion And Modernity ◽  
Psychological Evolution

In this article, the author examines the dependence of ethics on theistic foundations. The Western conception is that ethics is a result of a natural evolutionary process. The Modern West has never accepted or believed in any ethical system governed by religion, and modernity has tried to establish that the universal moral principles are independent of any metaphysical context. The modernity project and rising secularization have taken charge of the field, and religious significance has gone absent from the mainstream, on account of which many challenges have occurred in moral and ethical matters. We will also examine whether Modern Western Civilization has established an ethical code independent of religion and whether we should follow the Western Model, if any. Moreover, this article examines how ethics is a cause and consequence of the development of personality, and no ethical system is ever there without any religious foundations. Human beings are built on the essence of servitude, and virtues evolve from the foundation of servitude. Another area the article focuses on is the challenges faced by the Muslims and how Modern Western Civilization made morality appears as a result of social and psychological evolution. We also study the possibility and impossibility of Good without an omniscient and omnipotent authority. The absoluteness of moral principles and values and the necessity of consciousness are also discussed in this article. 

Touchy-Feely History: The ‘Stuff’ of American Culture

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-18
Author(s):  
Lauren Rebecca Sklaroff
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Race And Ethnicity ◽  
The Body ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Historical Significance ◽  
Research Perspectives ◽  
Economic Trends ◽  
Recent Trends ◽  
New Research

This state of the field essay examines recent trends in American Cultural History, focusing on music, race and ethnicity, material culture, and the body. Expanding on key themes in articles featured in the special issue of Cultural History, the essay draws linkages to other important literatures. The essay argues for more a more serious consideration of the products within popular culture, less as a reflection of social or economic trends, rather for their own historical significance. While the essay examines some classic texts, more emphasis is on work published within the last decade. Here, interdisciplinary methods are stressed, as are new research perspectives developing by non-western historians.

All Animals Are Equal, or Are They? The Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ’s Animal Epistle and its Unhappy End

2014 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 42-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarra Tlili
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
Final Outcome ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Main Text ◽  
Nonhuman Animals ◽  
Privileged Status

The Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ’s animal epistle is an intriguing work. Although in the body of the narrative the authors challenge anthropocentric preconceptions and present nonhuman animals in a more favourable light than human beings, inexplicably, the narrative ends by reconfirming the privileged status of humans. The aim of this paper is to propose an explanation for this discrepancy. I argue that the egalitarian message reflected in the body of the narrative is traceable back to the Qur'an, the main text with which the authors engage in the fable, whereas the final outcome is due to the Ikhwān's hierarchical worldview.

An ayurvedic tablet formulation for ulcer protection

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 35-38
Author(s):  
Shiva Kumar K ◽  
Purushothaman M ◽  
Soujanya H ◽  
Jagadeeshwari S
Keyword(s):  
Pharmacological Activity ◽  
The Body ◽  
Gastric Ulcers ◽  
Antiulcer Activity ◽  
Herbal Drugs ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Synthetic Drugs ◽  
Scientific Investigations ◽  
System A ◽  
The World

Gastric ulcers or the peptic ulcer is the primary disease that affects the gastrointestinal system. A large extent of the population in the world are suffering from the disease, and the age group of people those who suffer from ulcers are 20-55years. Herbs are known to the human beings that are useful in the treatment of diseases, and there are a lot of scientific investigations that prove the pharmacological activity of herbal drugs. Practitioners have been using the herbal material to treat the ulcers successfully, and the same had been reported scientifically. Numerous publications have been made that proves the antiulcer activity of the plants around the world. The tablets were investigated for the antiulcer activity in two doses 200 and 400mg/kg in albino Wistar rats in the artificial ulcer those are induced by the ethanol. The prepared tablets showed a better activity compared to the standard synthetic drug and the marketed ayurvedic formulation. The tablets showed a dose-dependent activity in ulcer prevention and treatment. Many synthetic drugs are available for the ulcer treatment, and the drugs pose the other problems in the body by showing the side effects and some other reactions. This limits the use of synthetic drugs to treat ulcers effectively. Herbs are known to the human beings that are useful in the treatment of diseases, and there are a lot of scientific investigations that prove the pharmacological activity of herbal drugs.

A Rapture of the Nerds? A Comparison between Transhumanist Eschatology and Christian Parousia

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 343-367
Author(s):  
Roberto Paura
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Point Theory ◽  
The Body ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Human Species ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Universe

Transhumanism is one of the main “ideologies of the future” that has emerged in recent decades. Its program for the enhancement of the human species during this century pursues the ultimate goal of immortality, through the creation of human brain emulations. Therefore, transhumanism offers its fol- lowers an explicit eschatology, a vision of the ultimate future of our civilization that in some cases coincides with the ultimate future of the universe, as in Frank Tipler’s Omega Point theory. The essay aims to analyze the points of comparison and opposition between transhumanist and Christian eschatologies, in particular considering the “incarnationist” view of Parousia. After an introduction concern- ing the problems posed by new scientific and cosmological theories to traditional Christian eschatology, causing the debate between “incarnationists” and “escha- tologists,” the article analyzes the transhumanist idea of mind-uploading through the possibility of making emulations of the human brain and perfect simulations of the reality we live in. In the last section the problems raised by these theories are analyzed from the point of Christian theology, in particular the proposal of a transhuman species through the emulation of the body and mind of human beings. The possibility of a transhumanist eschatology in line with the incarnationist view of Parousia is refused.

Influence of Ascorbic Acid on the Structure and Function of Alpha-2- macroglobulin: Investigations using Spectroscopic and Thermodynamic Techniques

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 201-209
Author(s):  
Syed Saqib Ali ◽  
Mohammad Khalid Zia ◽  
Tooba Siddiqui ◽  
Haseeb Ahsan ◽  
Fahim Halim Khan
Keyword(s):  
Ascorbic Acid ◽  
Conformational Changes ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
The Body ◽  
Titration Calorimetry ◽  
Spectroscopic Techniques ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Plasma Ascorbic Acid ◽  
Dietary Antioxidant ◽  
And Function

Background: Ascorbic acid is a classic dietary antioxidant which plays an important role in the body of human beings. It is commonly found in various foods as well as taken as dietary supplement. Objective: The plasma ascorbic acid concentration may range from low, as in chronic or acute oxidative stress to high if delivered intravenously during cancer treatment. Sheep alpha-2- macroglobulin (α2M), a human α2M homologue is a large tetrameric glycoprotein of 630 kDa with antiproteinase activity, found in sheep’s blood. Methods: In the present study, the interaction of ascorbic acid with alpha-2-macroglobulin was explored in the presence of visible light by utilizing various spectroscopic techniques and isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC). Results: UV-vis and fluorescence spectroscopy suggests the formation of a complex between ascorbic acid and α2M apparent by increased absorbance and decreased fluorescence. Secondary structural changes in the α2M were investigated by CD and FT-IR spectroscopy. Our findings suggest the induction of subtle conformational changes in α2M induced by ascorbic acid. Thermodynamics signatures of ascorbic acid and α2M interaction indicate that the binding is an enthalpy-driven process. Conclusion: It is possible that ascorbic acid binds and compromises antiproteinase activity of α2M by inducing changes in the secondary structure of the protein.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document