The Neijing Methodology And Its Underlying Philosophy Of Research

In the first part of this thesis the author attempts to examine the object matter in the methodology employed by the Canon of Internal Medicine and the epistemological features, as well as the historical background that had fostered such features, of this classic documentation. The author believes that the ethos since the Qin and Han Dynasties, especially the prevailing the theories in the Book of Changes and those of the Yin Yang and the Five Elements, had been the theoretical origin of the methodologies in the Canon of Internal Medicine, which was also immensely influenced by the development of the patriarchal social structure and progress in the sciences of astronomy, metallurgy, chemistry, etc. The method of dissection, the way of observing in darkness, the way of knowing interior syndromes through exterior syndrome ,the way of distinguish syndromes through analysing and comparing their differences, and the way of studing everything through its images are the major component of the rich methodological bases of the Canon. The second part of this thesis is devoted to the analysis of the various philosophies that are the indispensable ingredients of the methodology in the Canon, including the perception of time, entity of the relations between Yin and Yang, cause-and-effect theory and holographic logic. The author proposes that Yin and Yang theory by itself contains the perception of time, which is the main thrust manifested throughout the methodology of the Canon. Yin and Yang belongs to the scope of relations rather than actual entities, and the Canon has recognized some of the myriad aspects of cause and effect, with its unique employment of the holographic logic. Though limited by his own academic perceptions in carrying out further intensive studies, the author urges viewing the Canon from the perspective of contemporary philosophies on the basis of dialectical materilism, to reestablish the Canon as the origin of innovations in the fundamental theories of traditional Chinese medicine, for the benefit of exchanging ideas between western and tradition Chinese medicine.