Methodological challenges to human medical study

Abstract

With the transformation of modern medicinal pattern, medical studies are confronted with methodological challenges. By analyzing two methodologies existing in the study of physical matter system and information system, the article points out that traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), especially the treatment based on syndrome differentiation, embodies information conception of methodological positions, while western medicine represents matter conception of methodological positions. It proposes a new way of thinking about combination of TCM and western medicine by combinating two kinds of methodological methods.

Keywords

medical paradigm / traditional Chinese medicine / western medicine / scientific view / scientific methodology

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Compliance with ethics guidelines

Yixin Zhong, Baoyan Liu, Hua Qu, and Qi Xie declare that they have no conflict of interest. This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg