Identification of Concepts Related to Xiang Thinking in Traditional Chinese Medicine
By analysing the images,imageries,principles,manifestations and their thinking methods related to xiang thinking,it is pointed out that both xiang thinking and image thinking are thinking activities and methods using objects and imagery as thinking tools,and the two are often used indiscriminately,differing only in terms of the purpose and results of thinking.From the point of view of the tools of xiang thinking,it can be divided into two catego-ries,namely,objects and imagery thinking,just like the natural and artificial models in scientific methodology.As the tools of imagery thinking are divided into conceptual imagery and symbolic imagery,so imagery thinking can be further divided into conceptual imagery thinking and symbolic imagery thinking."Principles"is only a description of the relationship between yin and yang and the images of nature and the human body,and principles thinking can only be regarded as a part of the process of xiang thinking.Manifestations thinking in the general sense is equivalent to image thinking,and the manifestations thinking in Qigong research of Chinese medicine can also be regarded as a type of xiang thinking.
traditional Chinese medicine thinkingxiang conceptsimagesimageriesprinciplesmanifestations