Ancient Chinese Natural Philosophy as Reflected in Etiological Terms in Chinese Medicine

Abstract

Beginning with a semantic investigation of etiological terms, this article examines how the dual relationships between humans and nature and between humans and spirits were encoded in the conceptual system of ancient Chinese medicine. It then considers the multiple factors that shaped ancient Chinese conceptions of disease causation. Etiological terms in Chinese medicine are not merely a collection of technical expressions; they constitute a cognitive system that encodes ancient natural-philosophical ideas. Examining these terms and their underlying philosophical implications helps clarify how ancient medical knowledge was formed. It also invites renewed reflection on the nature of medicine: medicine has never been only a technical body of knowledge about disease, but also a civilization's comprehensive way of understanding the relationships among humanity, nature, and the cosmos.By contrast with both the reductionist tendency of modern biomedicine and the fragmentary explanations of purely supernatural or purely mechanistic etiologies, this integrated vision demonstrates its value by showing how nature, spirits, and the human body were coherently articulated within a single cognitive system—one that anticipates contemporary calls for holistic, multicausal, and humanistic medicine.