title: A new approach to Chinese traditional medicine.
abstract: Traditional medicine in China has as yet been unsatisfactorily analyzed from the point of view of the history of ideas. It has come to be viewed as a monolithic system of therapy, and overlooked has been the fact that as time passed various originally different traditions and concepts were made to fit into all-embracing systems, intimately connected with a general way of thought. Theoretical superstructure in medicine has to be delineated from simple empirical observations. Only the latter can be a meaningful object for medical interest today--the theories are better studied within other disciplines.
mesh_terms: D015670:Acupuncture Therapy; D002681:China; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D008513:Medicine in Literature; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional; D008518:Medicine, East Asian Traditional; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities; D012931:Social Environment