| ObjectiveOn the basis of knowledge archeology, the thesis investigates what the concept of liver cold and liver heat represented during different eras and the reasons behind its evolution, organizes said history, and attempts to construct an academic-ideological history of it.MethodologyThe thesis applies the knowledge archeology discourse construction analysis to medical literature from different historical eras that touched on the formation, narration, concept and thematic categorization of "liver", "cold" and "heat" respectively, to investigate the evolutionary history of the Chinese Medicine concept of liver cold and heat.1.Investigates the formation of the concept of "liver", i.e. sets the boundary of what "liver" represents;2.Investigates the formation of the concepts of "cold" and "heat", i.e. sets the boundary for the usage of the "cold" and "heat".3.Investigates the description of the concept of liver cold and heat; i.e. explains the form which the concept presented itself in and how it was related to the prevailing diagnostic and treatment framework of the era.4.Investigates the thematic categorization of liver cold and heat syndrome, i.e. explains when the concept was applied and when it was dispelled.Conclusion1.The Chinese Medicine concept of "liver" is a constantly changing one.Through combing the medical literature from the Qin-Han Dynasty through the Song-Jin-Yuan era, the concept exhibited as a significant, constantly changing process, which can be divided into three phases. Firstly, during the Qin Dynasty, the concept of "liver" comprised of rudimentary anatomical knowledge and the traditional Shu shu theory- connected to the "environmental elements", and being a metaphor for a storage vessel, which communication with the air of four seasons. Secondly, during the Sui-Tang Dynasty, the concept of "liver" came under influence as medicinal treatment developed. It retained its connections to the "environmental elements", contained the soul and was associated with emotions. The liver was associated with the eye in orifice; tonifying and clearing of liver in "Qian Jin Fang" pertains only to treatment of ocular diseases in Chapter Three but not to liver deficiency or excess in Chapter Two. Liver disease was based on meridians, with medicinal treatment as the objective. Thirdly, during the Song-Jin-Yuan Era, there was the formation of a symptom-pathomechanism-treatment-formula model that was relatively more complete and different from the syndrome-formula model of the Han-Tang dynasty. The driving force in the human body originates from the ministerial fire-liver contained said ministerial fire and governs smooth flow of qi. The concept of zang-fu-visceral qi was born; liver qi deficiency had to be tonified while liver qi excess had to be cleared. Liver and the other four zang-viscera were used to explain pathomechanism and to guide medicinal usage-with the liver being a wind-wood zang-visera, it was associated with pathomechanisms of wind and fire. Henceforth, the "liver" and the other four zang-viscera comprised their respective elements of "exterior", "interior", "qi", "blood", "yin" and "yang".2. The Chinese Medicine concept of "cold" and "heat" is a constantly changing one.During the Qin-Han dynasty, "cold" and "hot" referred to pathogen or symptoms, with the symptoms usually referred to chills and fever. During the Jin-Sui Era zang-fu-viscera were catgeorised as "cold deficiency" and "heat excess", with "excess" meaning "heat" while "deficiency" meaning "cold"; and "deficiency" and "excess" representing the pulse, while "cold" and "heat" representing the symptoms. During the Song-Jin-Yuan Era, "cold" and "hot" represented pathomechanism, and began to be replaced by the descriptors of "deficiency" and "excess". Association of "deficiency" with "excess", and "cold" with "heat" broke the limitation of the Sui-Tang Era recognition of only "cold deficiency" and "heat excess", forming the concepts of "cold deficiency", "heat excess", "heat deficiency" and "cold excess", which itself is not equivalent to the modern understanding of "cold deficient syndrome", "heat excess syndrome", "heat deficient syndrome" and "cold excess syndrome". Henceforth, with the proposal and establishment of the "Eight Principle Syndrome Differentiation", "cold" and "hot" came to encompass the different combinations of "cold and hot", "deficiency and excess" and "exterior and interior" in the syndrome differentiation of all diseases.3.The concept of liver cold and heat syndrome has underwent the phases of formation, evolution and dispelling.Firstly, concept of liver cold and heat syndrome formed during the Qin-Han dynasty. With "Emperor’s Canon of Internal Medicine" and "Treatise on Cold Pathogenic and Miscellaneous Diseases" as representatives. People understood that under normal conditions, the visceral organs had to be connected to and influenced by "environmental conditions"; while under abnormal conditions, affected by the external pathogens and cause disease. "Liver heat syndrome" meant a sensation of heat on superficial palpation of the liver area; "liver cold ", "liver heat", "liver wind’ were the direct results from external cold, heat and wind pathogen. Secondly, the concept of liver cold and heat evolved during the Sui-Tang Dynasty. It was based on "Mai Jing" and "Xin Diao Sun Zhen Ren Qian Jin Fang". "Qian Jin Fang" in particular, categorized liver disease as deficiency syndrome, excess syndrome, cold syndrome and heat syndrome for the first time-"liver cold deficiency" and "liver heat excess" referred to the combination of pulse and symptoms (liver meridian and emotional symptoms"; "deficiency" meant "cold" and "excess" meant "heat"; the twin concepts of "cold deficiency" and "heat excess" serving as the medium for yang qi was being established; further compared the contents of both "Qian Jin Fang" that touched on the topic of the liver.Thirdly, further evolution and dispelling occurred during the Song-Jin-Yuan era. That was a time of watershed in medical development, also a time when the concept of liver cold and heat syndrome was dispelled. Liver was an internal visceral organ, no longer influenced by external pathogens, liver disease was mainly influenced by ministerial fire, liver was a wind-wood organ, and its narrative emphasized on wind and fire, with scant mention of cold and heat concepts.Significance1.Explained that the conceptual developments of "liver","cold" and "heat " was a process that was constantly changing and inclusive of new knowledge, instead of one that is linear and continuous.2.Explained that following the conceptual formation, evolution and dispelling of the concept of liver cold and heat, people’s understanding of’liver" and the focus and direction of its research is gradually shifting.3.Through the sorting of the conceptual development of liver cold and heat, showed that theoretical development in Chinese Medicine is a constantly changing, synergistic, and adaptive process. The thesis is of huge significance not only to the research of liver visceral picture theory, but to the research of academic development of other concepts or theoretical frameworks in Chinese Medicine as well.4.The successful application of knowledge archaeology in the thesis research process demonstrates its feasibility as a method for research of the history of academic thought in Chinese Medicine.5.The thesis used history analysis to resolve many theoretical disputes, such as the interrelation between the concepts of "liver", "cold" and "heat"; interrelation between the concepts of "cold and heat" and "deficient and excess"; the interrelation between concepts of "cold and heat" in the context of "Treatise on Cold pathogenic", "Eight-Principle Syndrome Differentiation" and two "Qian Jin Fang". This demonstrates that besides experimental evidence, history analysis can also be a method to resolve Chinese Medicine theoretical disputes.
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