Article ID: CBB491161982

The Universality of Science and Traditional Chinese Medicine (2021)

unapi

This paper represents a philosophical appraisal of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) from the point of view of the philosophy of science. As it is generally the case with other versions of Traditional Medicine, rather than a coherent research program Traditional Chinese Medicine constitutes an array of various techniques and practices coupled with a diversity of very different speculative doctrines regarding the physiological structure of certain body parts as well as the purported etiology of disease and malfunction. This chapter starts off by describing some of the theoretical assumptions on which TCM relies with the aim of casting light on whether they, alongside the clinical techniques TCM encompasses, can significantly be considered as a scientific theory comparable with that of conventional medicine. In so doing the chapter examines a plurality of demarcation criteria between science and non-science coming from various existing philosophical frameworks old and new. While, as will be shown, a wealth of research based on RCTs (randomized control trials) points out that TCM´s degree of effectiveness is low, that is not the point this paper intends to make. Instead of such an empirical criticism, the author sustains a comparably stronger epistemic contention, namely: even if the clinical results of TCM fared better than they actually do, that observation alone would not be a good reason to consider this branch of traditional medicine as a scientifically respectable endeavor.

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Article Michael R. Matthews (2021) Feng Shui in Science Programmes. Science and Education (pp. 1319-1332). unapi

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https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB491161982/

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Authors & Contributors
Wu, Yi-Li
Damian Fernandez-Beanato
Rice, Collin C.
Michael John Paton
Dear, David
Zhang, Meifang
Concepts
East Asia, civilization and culture
Medicine, Chinese traditional
Cross-cultural interaction; cultural influence
Medicine
Philosophy of science
Epistemology
Time Periods
21st century
Medieval
Ancient
20th century, late
18th century
Qing dynasty (China, 1644-1912)
Places
China
Latin America
Tibet
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