Description

Immediate dispatch from Somerset. A used book that has been read but is still in great condition. Some pages have some underlining/notes mainly in first couple of chapters. See images.

About the book >.>.> A scientific theory or hypothesis contains two components: empirical facts and an explanation of these facts. The empirical facts can be referred to metaphorically as valuable pearls with the explanation of these facts taking the role of the string. The basic form of scientific advancement can be seen as a contin- uous process of changing the string while preserving the pearls and the “channel” theory is no exception: In “Channel” theory however the pearls and string are tightly tangled together and are difficult to dif- ferentiate. This perplexity leads to the situation that no one has been able to clarify what “channels” are despite the fact that modern research on this question has been continuing for more than four decades. One study shows that students who have modern medical backgrounds Chinese and foreign alike are not able to understand what the “channels” really mean. To understand the value in the “Channel” theory it is crucial to separate the valuable pearls from the string. Above all the “Channel” theory has conveyed the precious message that there is specific interrelat- edness between different parts of the body surface and between the body surface and viscera. The “Chan- nels” themselves reflecting the physiological knowledge of the ancient doctors who created them serve only as a tentative explanation of this interrelatedness. The “Channel” theory has successfully accomplished its historical mission of preserving and develop- ing acupuncture now it has become the narrow neck of the bottle which is impeding the further development of acupuncture medicine in the 21st century.. Our research on the literature of classic acupuncture has identified the “pearls” that need to be con- nected with new biomedical “string.” The inevitable biomedicalization of classic acupuncture will result in an increase in scientific understanding of the interrelatedness of the human body. (LL)