TAN Yifei,ZHANG Qicheng.Preliminary Study on the Characteristics of Xiang (象) Thinking and Its Influence on Traditional Chinese Medicine Terminology[J].Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine,2025,66(12):1197-1201.
TAN Yifei,ZHANG Qicheng.Preliminary Study on the Characteristics of Xiang (象) Thinking and Its Influence on Traditional Chinese Medicine Terminology[J].Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine,2025,66(12):1197-1201.DOI: 10.13288/j.11-2166/r.2025.12.001.
Preliminary Study on the Characteristics of Xiang (象) Thinking and Its Influence on Traditional Chinese Medicine Terminology
By reviewing the main perspectives in current scholarship on the characteristics of
xiang
(象) thinking, comparing their similarities
and differences, this paper summarizes the features of
xiang
thinking as holism, functionality, and variability. Taking these three characteristics as the core and contrasting with conceptual thinking, it argues that under the influence of
xiang
thinking, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) terminology shows three distinctive traits. Firstly, the unity of body and function, and the non-duality of
dao
(道) and its manifestations; Secondly, functionalization in referential use; Thirdly, a constructive, processual nature with inherent variability in reference. Based on this, this paper analyzes some contemporary misinterpretations of TCM terminology that detach from the subjectivity of
xiang
thinking, such as the conceptual thinking-influenced division and opposition of material
qi
and functional
qi
, and the reification of the functional
zang
-
fu
concepts. It is further proposed that, in the context of the linguistic turn in western philosophical studies emphasizing the subject's role in language construction, TCM terminology rooted in the
xiang
thinking realm of subject-object unity should uphold a culturally subjective stance and construct a knowledge system consistent with its own characteristics.
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Related Author
LIU Liwei
WANG Yongyan
FAN Yipin
HUANG Yuxuan
LIU Ying
YANG Hongjun
Related Institution
School of Basic Medical Sciences,Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine
Institute of Basic Research in clinical Medicine,China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences