Turn: Why Western medicine is science and Chinese medicine is not science

In the debate on Chinese and Western medicine, it is often said that Western medicine is just a technical discipline that utilizes the knowledge of chemistry, biology and so on, and cannot be considered as science. Although this accusation can not cause any damage to the effectiveness of Western medicine can indeed cure the disease, but in the minds of some people who regard science as the standard, can not be called science, seems to be a little bit of price suspicion, although they do not realize that, as the basis of all the sciences: mathematics, can not be regarded as science!

Here, I would like to tell these people: modern medicine (Western medicine) is not only science in the broad sense, i.e., a discipline that utilizes the scientific method, thinking, and conforms to the scientific paradigm, but modern medicine also conforms to the definition of science in the narrow sense, i.e., explanations of the objective world, which are observable, and which can be proved or disproved!

Before I begin my argument, first of all, we all need to sort out a few concepts, which too many arguers rush to join the fray without getting right!

1, the so-called Western medicine, in fact, the full name should be modern medicine, there is no such thing as the West, modern medicine is used throughout the world, research and development. Even if we like to add the use of regional symbols of the word, should also be "Western modern medicine", to show that it is originated in Europe, modern medicine, and traditional medicine in Europe to distinguish. Please note that although modern medicine basically reigns supreme in developed countries such as Europe and the United States, it does not mean that traditional medicine has completely disappeared, and traditional medicine in Europe is still preserved in many places in the form of folk customs, which we call "alternative therapies". For example, in Germany, the Czech Republic and other areas of Central Europe in the spring and fall cold and flu season like to drink herbal tea, its composition is much more complex than our Banlangen punch! Packaging is also very beautiful, when I traveled to the Czech Republic, was attracted by its compulsion, also bought a lot of back to drink it!

2, the so-called Chinese medicine, in fact, the full name should be called "Han traditional medicine"! Yes, the Japanese in this regard than we are much more rigorous, people called "Han medicine"! Called "Chinese traditional medicine" are wrong, within the scope of China, there are Tibetan traditional medicine, referred to as Tibetan medicine, Miao traditional medicine, referred to as Miao medicine, and so on. To call traditional Chinese medicine Chinese medicine is a form of ethnic discrimination. It should be changed to "Han medicine", and we must not make such a political mistake again. Of course, what are the characteristics of Chinese medicine, Baidu can understand, the core is that a set of combination of yin and yang, five elements, celestial induction of the dirty phase of the theoretical system, which is the core value of Chinese medicine is different from any other traditional medicine.

3, there is no Chinese medicine, Western medicine in this world! Drugs are only categorized as botanicals, minerals, biologicals, and chemicals. Traditional medicine, including Chinese medicine, mainly use plant drugs and mineral drugs, modern medicine mainly use chemical drugs and biological drugs. However, it is not possible to call botanicals and minerals traditional Chinese medicine and chemicals and biologicals western medicine, or to say that those who use herbs are traditional Chinese medicine and those who use chemicals are western medicine! For example, a modern medical doctor in the conditions of the limitations, may also use willow bark soup to reduce fever and pain, the reason why he did so, because he knew that willow bark contains a similar ingredient with aspirin, this ingredient can play a role in reducing fever and pain, at this time, although he is using herbal medicine, but he is in accordance with the understanding of modern medicine and guidance on medicines, so this time of willow bark belongs to the category of drugs of modern medicine. The willow bark belongs to the category of drugs of modern medicine. On the other hand, if a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine uses aspirin tablets to treat a cold, as long as he is based on the theory of Chinese medicine, that the aspirin tablets have the right relationship with the patient's cold, heat, deficiency and solidity, etc., then the aspirin tablets belong to the category of drugs of Chinese medicine! If you can't understand this logical relationship, you'd better not argue about medicine.

4, what is medicine? Putting aside the correct but nonsense definition of "drug is a substance that treats disease", we can note that the essence of the drug is "a substance with strong biological activity". Why? First of all, the drug will be involved in the physiological activities of the organism, will have an effect on the organism, eaten to go through the body, how to come and how to go of the substance, can not be regarded as a drug, for example: water. Although water is essential to all living things, but it is not actually involved in physiological activities, how to come and how to go, so, no matter what you say you drink water to get well, this water, or can not be regarded as medicine. Secondly, the effect of the drug on the organism (biological activity) must also be strong, this feature is to distinguish the drug and food, starch, protein will also participate in physiological reactions, will also have an effect on the organism, but their role is within the normal range, can not be called a strong biological activity, while the drug produces the effect of the nature of the normal range of the normal range of the beyond, we need precisely What we need are these strong effects that are outside the normal range to cure the disease, because the disease itself is outside the normal range. In this sense, drugs are poisons, and to cure a disease is to fight poison with poison. In this sense, there is no such thing as "food therapy", food is not medicine.

After clearing up these concepts, let's talk about why modern medicine is science.

First of all, modern medicine is the study of the law of objective things, that is, to recognize and treat diseases.

Diseases exist objectively, you do not think you are sick, you do not think you are not sick, sick or not sick is not controlled by your subjective will (of course, in this sense, the study of mental illnesses can not be attributed to the strict scope of the science), and the disease can be observed, your symptoms, laboratory data, changes in pulse, etc., can be observed, and even quantified. observed and even quantified.

Secondly, modern medicine has to explore the causes and mechanisms of diseases, science is essentially a pursuit of "why" learning, "take this medicine, you can cure this disease", this is an empirical summary, but definitely not a scientific conclusion. Scientific conclusions must answer the question "why can you cure this disease by taking this medicine" in order to talk about science. The pathology and pharmacology of modern medicine is the study of this why.

The most important thing is that the ideas and theories (we call them propositions) put forward by modern medicine are in line with an important feature of scientific propositions, that is, they are falsifiable! In other words, it has the potential to be wrong!

Here, at the same time, I begin to analyze why TCM (Chinese medicine) is not science. It is because the first two points are actually met by Chinese medicine! Chinese medicine and all the world's medicine (except jumping god), are the study of disease as an objective thing, but also to explore the "why take this medicine can cure this disease" this problem, otherwise we Chinese medicine to develop that set of theories why? The difference is that it answers this why differently from modern medicine.

For example, for the pathology of colds, modern medicine proposes that "colds are respiratory infections caused by cold viruses, and have nothing to do with cold, cold and other factors".

This proposition is observable: the virus, exposure to cold, exposure to wind, and cold symptoms are all observable by direct or indirect means. At the same time, the proposition is falsifiable: if you can get someone to produce symptoms of cold illness without being exposed to a cold virus and at the same time being exposed to a cold, or if someone is exposed to a cold virus but without being exposed to a cold and doesn't produce symptoms of cold illness, then the proposition is falsified! In fact, the proposition itself was built up in the process of falsifying the proposition that "colds are caused by colds and chills", and it did withstand the attack and was not falsified!

Traditionally, we've thought that colds are caused by cold, and even if a cold virus is the culprit, cold seems to be a necessary condition for colds. But scientists have long noted two facts: First, Antarctic researchers never get colds. Secondly, the Eskimos living in the Arctic Circle never caught a cold during the coldest winter months, but began to suffer from colds when the spring warmed up and the first trading ships arrived. So, in the late 1940s, British scientists recruited a group of healthy volunteers and conducted a seemingly wacky experiment: some soaked in hot water for 10 minutes and then just blew through the air for 30 minutes, some wore soggy socks all day long, and so on. In short, how easy it is to catch a cold. The second group avoids these bad habits, but every day they put drops of cold patient's nasal secretion extract into their noses (that's snot!!!) , and the third group both blows cold air and eats snot!

The final experimental data showed that no one in the first group suffered from a cold, while the second and third groups suffered from colds at about the same rate! This confirms the scientific proposition that "colds are respiratory infections caused by cold viruses, and have nothing to do with cold or flu". Meanwhile, this scientific proposition is waiting to be disproved, which of course it hasn't been so far.

On the other hand, if the Chinese medicine gives a proposition about colds: "Colds are caused by wind and cold", this proposition is a scientific proposition, which is falsifiable, and has been falsified through the above experiments. However, at this time, the Han doctors do not recognize this proposition is wrong, but said "our medical theory of wind-cold does not mean blowing wind and cold, but other blah blah blah, in short, although you can not observe, but it is there, and it is the invasion of cold", well, from this point onwards, it is with the scientific parted ways with science.

What is unobservable is also not testable, and there is no such thing as confirmation or falsification. Think about it, aren't many of the concepts of Chinese medicine characterized by this? The concepts of the five viscera and six bowels, the concepts of gold, wood, water, fire and earth, the concepts of meridians and channels, are all like this, and Han medicine insists that they exist, but are not the entities to which we refer.

This kind of learning that is not observable and verifiable, what do we call it? Metaphysics. The theory of metaphysics is always correct because it is not falsifiable at all!

"I am the LORD's spokesman in the world, and the LORD appears before me alone, and speaks to me alone; you do not see him or hear him. If you listen to me, you listen to the LORD."

What proof do you have that this is wrong? This is the kind of metaphysical proposition that if you believe it, it's always true, and if you don't believe it, well, it's not wrong! Because it has no possibility of being wrong!

A scientific proposition, on the other hand, whether you believe it or not, if it is correct, then it works! Let's say, believe it or not, drain 3 liters of your blood and you will die, stab you in the heart and you will surely die!

Therein lies the key difference between modern medicine and Chinese medicine: science or no science.

Some people will say, "Is what is scientific necessarily correct? Is what is unscientific necessarily incorrect?"

Yes, as the characterization of science says, science is not always correct, or rather, science is the constant finding out of errors, so it can never really be correct, only metaphysics is always correct.

But that's the rigor of the scientists saying that for us ordinary people, science is right! Why? Because the vast majority of scientific knowledge, theories, and propositions that we have access to have survived countless attacks of falsification and are still standing, and they are correct within the duration of your and my life and within the scope of our eyes!