Rubik B
Center for Frontier Sciences, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pa., USA.
Altern Ther Health Med. 1995 Sep;1(4):41-7.
Acupuncture and other complementary medical modalities that involve holistic principles challenge the dominant biomedical paradigm of mechanical reductionism and therefore are considered unconventional or alternative. This keynote presentation will review three different hypotheses of acupuncture, two of which lie within the dominant scientific paradigm, and a third that is built upon frontier ideas at the edge of the new science of bioelectromagnetics. The Zhang-Popp hypothesis, based on endogenous electromagnetic fields of the body, is capable of accommodating many puzzling features of acupuncture. In order to embody the latter, it appears that a new paradigm for the life sciences is needed to address the wholeness and integrity of the organism. Nonetheless, I believe that there are serious limitations in attempting to embrace the indigenous knowledge system of the East, one of the oldest systems of empirical knowledge, by a 300-year-old science of the West, because of their vast differences in biophilosophies and cultural orientations. All knowledge systems, East or West, are context-dependent; none can represent true objectivity. Despite this pluralistic view, working toward a unity of Eastern and Western thought may lead to a more universal understanding of acupuncture in the future.
针灸以及其他涉及整体原则的补充医学模式挑战了占主导地位的机械还原论生物医学范式，因此被视为非传统或替代医学。本次主题演讲将回顾三种不同的针灸假说，其中两种处于占主导地位的科学范式之内，第三种则建立在生物电磁学这一新兴科学边缘的前沿思想之上。基于人体内源电磁场的张 - 波普假说能够解释针灸的许多令人困惑的特征。为了体现后者，似乎需要一种新的生命科学范式来解决生物体的整体性和完整性问题。尽管如此，我认为试图用一门有三百年历史的西方科学来接纳东方最古老的经验知识体系之一的本土知识系统存在严重局限性，因为它们在生物哲学和文化取向方面存在巨大差异。所有知识体系，无论东方还是西方，都依赖于特定背景；没有一种能代表真正的客观性。尽管持有这种多元观点，但朝着东西方思想的统一努力可能会在未来对针灸产生更普遍的理解。
