4 ms·
Well, yes and no. People have known that the sky is blue for as long as we've had a word for the concept "blue". It's only more recently that we've discovered
by LargeWu 6y ago
Well, yes and no.
People have known that the sky is blue for as long as we've had a word for the concept "blue".
It's only more recently that we've discovered the sky is blue because of how different wavelengths of light interact with the atmosphere. It's not that we rediscovered that the sky is blue, it's that we have a more precise understanding of the underlying physics.
Medicine isn't that much different. Most eastern medicine is based on cumulative observations made over centuries. If it's effective at treating disease it's the result of understanding the relationships between symptoms, food, and other inputs, even if the underlying pathways are unknown. Western medicine operates at a much lower level of abstraction, which necessarily means more discoveries that clarify the mechanisms of eastern or folk medicine.
- haltingproblem 6y agoCan you name one mechanism of eastern medicine clarified by "Western" medicine? I am looking for clarification beyond a statistical effect (e.g. a clinical trial) which illustrates the underlying biological effect: in-vivo ideally but will take in-vitro or even in-silico.
- LargeWu 6y agoI think inflammation is something we understand at a much deeper level due to western medicine. Chinese medicine has a number of herbs that are thought to reduce inflammation, without necessarily having an understanding of what is happening at a cellular or chemical level understood by western medicine. Western medicine would describe inflammation in terms of immune or hormonal response, down to a cellular, or even sub-cellular level.
- kingnothing 6y agoSaid more simply, Western medicine is founded on scientific proof while Eastern medicine is founded on folklore and word of mouth. This isn't to say that Eastern medicine is bad or doesn't work, it simply doesn't have scientific proof behind it (yet).
- spaetzleesser 6y agoI think that’s too simplistic. Eastern medicine is based a lot on observation. Their explanation may be questionable but the observations are often very useful.