Chinese Image In The Philosophy Of Science Perspective

Traditional Chinese Medicine, is one of the major symbols of Chinese culture. However, since the New Culture Movement, Chinese culture is strongly criticized and Traditional Chinese Medicine is confronted with retention or abolition. Thus, its dominant position in Chinese medicine is doubted as it is judged from the criteria of scientism. The discussion on the retention or abolition of Chinese Medicine is a reflection of the exploration about what is real science. The definition of science changes in different periods of history and the demarcation of science developed through four stages since the birth of the standard philosophy of science: the absolute criteria of logicism, the relative creteria of historism, the clear-up of science demarcation and its reconstruction on multi-criteria. In different stages, Chinese Medicine takes different images.When science, as criteria for different knowledge, is in crisis, scientific statements and science's rationality become doubtful. And coming with that is the crisis of practice. So philosophers begin to reflect on science, which ushers in the practice-turn of scientific philosophy. Both sociological research of scientific knowledge and the practice-philosophy of science reshape the image of science to distinguish it from the one in the perspective of traditional scientific philosophy. And following that, Chinese Medicine begins to take an image of local practical knowledge.The traditional philosophy of science can not deal with and resolve the contradictions and problems posed by the cultural factors in science. The incommensurability of culture is a disproof of the rationality to take science as the criteria of knowledge and yet a poof of the partial rationality of the local knowledge. Chinese Medicine, as one part of Chinese culture, is a summary of Chinese long-term practice. The dispute over the retention or abolition of traditional Chinese Medicine, in the context of globalization, is just a reflection of the cultural clash between different civilizations. Science should be value-loaded, combining rational spirit and humanity. However, with the prevalence of scientism, the humanity in science is lost. The cultural turn of the philosophy of science, is intended to re-construct the identity of science and humanity.