Chapter 6. Trajectories and challenges of translating traditional Chinese medicine
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Gábor Zemplén
Abstract
The paper focuses on technoscientific translation of Chinese materia medica and acupuncture therapy, and the discursive strategies of inclusion and exclusion that charactise the related boundary-work. Examples from books by Joseph Needham, Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst show that the prior attitude towards the medical mertis of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) informs decisions on ranking different types of evidence, and even where evidence is shared, they can be framed differently (emphasis framing) to support endorsement or rejection of TCM. The trajectories of some translated herbal remedies (artemisinin, changsan, mahuang) of TCM show that the uptake in institutionalized biomedicine could benefit from the medical knowledge of TCM, and that not enough trust in TCM can be epistemically detrimental or ethically objectionable. Revisiting a landmark publication linking fMRI and acupuncture-research and the ensuing retraction suggests that some of the characteristic strategies employed in boundary work around TCM can hinder the scientific understanding of TCM. The cases studied give credence to the position that TCM by now is both inside and outside science as fruitful research can provide partial maps of TCM without full translation, and that demarcating TCM by framing it as fringe science is not a reasonable option.
Abstract
The paper focuses on technoscientific translation of Chinese materia medica and acupuncture therapy, and the discursive strategies of inclusion and exclusion that charactise the related boundary-work. Examples from books by Joseph Needham, Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst show that the prior attitude towards the medical mertis of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) informs decisions on ranking different types of evidence, and even where evidence is shared, they can be framed differently (emphasis framing) to support endorsement or rejection of TCM. The trajectories of some translated herbal remedies (artemisinin, changsan, mahuang) of TCM show that the uptake in institutionalized biomedicine could benefit from the medical knowledge of TCM, and that not enough trust in TCM can be epistemically detrimental or ethically objectionable. Revisiting a landmark publication linking fMRI and acupuncture-research and the ensuing retraction suggests that some of the characteristic strategies employed in boundary work around TCM can hinder the scientific understanding of TCM. The cases studied give credence to the position that TCM by now is both inside and outside science as fruitful research can provide partial maps of TCM without full translation, and that demarcating TCM by framing it as fringe science is not a reasonable option.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Foreword xi
- Introduction 1
-
Section 1. Philosophies and controversies
- Chapter 1. Leibniz beyond Leibniz 7
- Chapter 2. Locke’s and Leibniz’s virtual debate over Of our knowledge of the existence of God 29
- Chapter 3. Locke and Leibniz on matter and solidity 49
- Chapter 4. How should we think about a trans-cultural hermeneutics? 69
- Chapter 5. Virtues and vices and parts and wholes 85
- Chapter 6. Trajectories and challenges of translating traditional Chinese medicine 105
-
Section 2. Dialogue and controversies
- Chapter 7. Dialogue in philosophical practices 127
- Chapter 8. The absence of God 145
- Chapter 9. Listening to the other 161
- Chapter 10. Controversies on hypercomplexity and on education in the hypertechnological era 179
- Chapter 11. The beleaguered filibuster of the US Senate 201
- Chapter 12. The ruins of the political 217
- Chapter 13. Coordination games and disagreement 241
- Chapter 14. How to solve controversies in scenarios of legal pluralism 261
- Chapter 15. The “water memory affair” 279
- About the contributors 297
- Subject index 303
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Foreword xi
- Introduction 1
-
Section 1. Philosophies and controversies
- Chapter 1. Leibniz beyond Leibniz 7
- Chapter 2. Locke’s and Leibniz’s virtual debate over Of our knowledge of the existence of God 29
- Chapter 3. Locke and Leibniz on matter and solidity 49
- Chapter 4. How should we think about a trans-cultural hermeneutics? 69
- Chapter 5. Virtues and vices and parts and wholes 85
- Chapter 6. Trajectories and challenges of translating traditional Chinese medicine 105
-
Section 2. Dialogue and controversies
- Chapter 7. Dialogue in philosophical practices 127
- Chapter 8. The absence of God 145
- Chapter 9. Listening to the other 161
- Chapter 10. Controversies on hypercomplexity and on education in the hypertechnological era 179
- Chapter 11. The beleaguered filibuster of the US Senate 201
- Chapter 12. The ruins of the political 217
- Chapter 13. Coordination games and disagreement 241
- Chapter 14. How to solve controversies in scenarios of legal pluralism 261
- Chapter 15. The “water memory affair” 279
- About the contributors 297
- Subject index 303
