Research On Material Technology Of TCM Theory

ObjectiveHuman labor began with material technology and then it could be said that the history of technology is as long as that of human society. The technology improves the quality of human life, but people think rarely about the connotation or meaning of technology to human. In accordance with the meaning of technology, proposed by the American philosopher Joseph C Pitt, "human at work", the work of the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is to cure the disease, by observing the external changes through four diagnostic technology to conjecture the internal pathological information. That shows that the TCM diagnostic technology has much "tacit knowledge", which is difficult to teach by oral transmission alone. The development of TCM will be hindered if there is tacit knowledge too much in TCM. The ancients were also aware of this point and used material technology in the diagnosis of disease. This is a kind of "technical innovation" under the meaning of technology. In addition, the materials used by the ancient Chinese in the diagnosis mainly came from the daily life. This is very similar to TCM theory of putting daily life experiences and objects into practice. For example, a piece of white paper was used as a diagnostic tool of urine test in the book, Zhou Hou Bei Ji Fang, to judge the patient with jaundice or not according to the color of the urine in the paper. Chinese medicine and acupuncture in TCM are well-known examples of utilization of material technology for treatment today. In the face of material technology and its theories, what people focus on for the most part is how to use, not their origins. However, finding out the origins of TCM material technology and theories can learn from the history and then be used in guiding clinical practice. In other words, the way we are able to innovate the ancient knowledge is to understand the past first.MethodsIn the course of knowledge construction, it generally starts with the natural and simple practical experience, which forms the common laws abstractly and then becomes a theory with a guiding value. The production of Chinese traditional philosophies, emphasizing rationality and practicality, is not an exception, so TCM must also be constructed in this context. Chinese traditional philosophical theories are so diverse that the fusion among the theories may happen. It is difficult sometimes to discern the relations of the theories, one theory derived from another one or infiltrated with others. The way we explore the origins of the TCM theories should be like what the phenomenologist Husserl said, explaining the nature of things from the visual experience with its overall setting and an intuitive description. Accordingly this paper was investigated from the perspective of interdiscipline and philosophy of material technology. For instance, the paper objectively tried to realize the formation and development of TCM theory by intentional theory of phenomenology, understand the TCM language by cognitive metaphor of cognitive linguistics, and reflect the changes for the understanding and treatment of disease in the ancient and modern age with the processing steps of problem solving and creativity-- what is it, why does it form, and how to do through the theory of cognitive psychology.ResultsTechnology is emerged by a range of actions under a decision, from knowledge or planning to manipulating of tools and techniques. This course forms a model of technology, which can be defined as "human at work". This definition focuses the process of technology on the human cognitive activities, a human’s rationality and initiative. People judge their belief and target setting appropriate or not by a feedback loop, so the procedure of technology is ongoing through change and adjustment constantly. This shows that technology is defined in a dynamic way. On the relationship between "people and technology", understanding the world by means of material technology, it suggests that material technology is in an intermediary position and technology is always prior to science in the history. The material technology is able to extend the human’s perception and knowledge only when it is "suitable for" being used. Consequently the chief difference between the ancient and modern times is not a new theory produced in this day and age, but expansion of human perception through new material technology. Especially the human’s vision has broadened into macroscopic or microscopic world previously unknown; that is, human can see cosmic objects and microorganisms, which cannot be observed purely with naked eyes. Besides, the manipulation of material technology has been transformed into human’s familiar action once, human will "forget" its existence of the technology, which becomes "transparent". Human behavior is controlled by an "internal" system, the invention, so the use and improvement of material technology might be also driven by it. In fact, this internal system is human cognition and mind, constructed by the knowledge hierarchy. The knowledge is used to recognize things or problems first and then the proper response is extracted from the memory. Recognition is the most simple type of extracting knowledge. A solution to a problem is actually a process of extracting knowledge, which people have to recognize the characteristics of the problem first. This means that correct recognition of a problem is the key to solve it successfully. People tend to use familiar methods to recognize things or to solve problems, which call it "mental orientation". The mental orientation is able to make the thinking efficiently, but may also guide people to the wrong way of thinking. As a result, when people are in a stalemate, they had better re-recognize the problem. Besides the sprouting of human creativity is by no means without foundation, but enough knowledge has been absorbed and unremitting efforts have been paid. This indicates that creative thinking requires prior knowledge also.ConclusionsThe formation, enrichment and deepening of TCM theory happened in the process of practicing, so the developmental process of the theory must be related to the operation of a certain (some) living or working technology. About the origin of the five phases in the traditional theory, there are mainly three claims today, four-season, five-direction and five-material doctrines. The four-season and five-direction doctrines are based on improving the efficiency of farming, developing a lunar calendar to guide farming. The establishment of the lunar calendar needs to determine seasons and directions, both time and space. The text talking about four-season, five-direction and five-phase in ancient books did not point out definitely what the five phases were. This situation suggests that the four-season and five-direction doctrines may be the foreshadowing for the emergence of five-phase doctrines. According to the mention above and technology development of the age which the five-phase theory appeared, the five-phase theory should be evolved from the use of five materials and then become the theory of a category system with classified things and interpretations on the occurrences and evolutions of things. Besides, "Lingshu Jing" is also known as "Needle Scripture". It indicated that the Chinese ancients had rich practical experience so that a meridian theory involved in stone needles and acupuncture techniques was able to be completed at that time. In Chinese ancient age. the meaning of "nine" is the majority, pole or change. Accordingly, the meaning of "nine needles", so called in Lingshu Jing, would be broader rather than nine kinds of needles. They represented diverse tools and techniques in order to treat people’s various diseases, so "nine needles" might cover stone needles. In addition, the ancient books "11 Feet and Arms Veins" and "11 Veins of Yin and Yang" showed that the emergence of meridian theory was earlier than that of acupoint theory. This suggested that meridians were found from the remedies of moxibustion and nine needles on a pain and the routes of meridian transmission were discovered during the course of treatment. Then the meridian theory gradually formed after many times of clinical trials. The main value of meridian theory today provides the flexibility in the treatment of disease because the theory expresses the connection of up and down, left and right, front and back, acupoint and organ reflected in the human body. Moreover, with regard to the theory about the processing of Chinese medicine, the Chinese ancients might transplant cookery to it because Chinese medicine is homologous with food, the discovery of food must be prior to the medicine, and people deal with new things through known knowledge or technology naturallyModern technology of a laboratory has a positive impact on disease diagnosis and treatment of TCM. For example, it can show the evidence of disease before the symptoms are found in the early stage of liver cirrhosis, coronary heart disease, diabetes, or chronic renal failure, hence the disease can be treated early to prevent its development. Besides, it can inspire the TCM doctors today to create a new treatment of disease, different from the ancients. For instance, there is the treatment of relieving endogenous wind and spasm in coronary heart disease and asthma due to the pathological phenomenon of a spasm in the coronary artery or trachea through imaging. An axial theory of kidney-tiangui-chongren-uterus emerges because modern technology shows the physiological cycle of uterus. Moreover the cause of infertility can be found clearly by the inspective technology, from the reproductive system or another disease so that the treatment is more targeted.The treatment of disease actually like a problem-solving process. In ancient times, the pathogenic germs and mechanism of human body could not be observed so that the ancient Chinese doctors understood the disease by their embodied cognition and the method-of analogy and metaphor. This may inevitably bring about a phenomenon, ontological commitment, which called by the American philosopher Quin in twentieth Century. With the introduction of western medicine to the East, especially the applications of medical instruments, a kind of visual technology of physical examination, modern TCM doctors can see what ancient Chinese people could not see, for example, bacteria, viruses and fibrosis. Nowadays although TCM doctors still expound the cause and syndrome of disease like the ancient doctors such as wind cold, wind heat or phlegm, blood stasis, the statements have been different from what ancients said. What TCM doctors today say has been based on "ontological truth" rather than "ontological commitment". The intervention of experimental technology has produced an inevitable impact on the TCM treatment of disease. A good method of realizing the differences of TCM treatment between in the ancient and modern times is to review the ancient books and then to compare with the treatment today. Does the TCM treatment get innovation in the face of rapid progress of laboratory technology? Will TCM treatment become so westernized and commercialized, and overemphasize inspection reports owing to laboratory technology with convenience and profits? This is probably a question of time.