CCM vs. TCM |
| Attributes: | CCM | TCM |
|---|---|---|
| Underlying philosophy | Naturalism, Daoism | Scientific materialism, Confucianism |
| Cosmology | Interplay between heaven/earth, male/female | Earth/humans separate from heaven, each other |
| Form of logic | Inductive synthesis (ideal for complex systems), fuzzy logic, pattern detection | Analytic reductionism (ideal for simple systems), precise logic, rigid flow charts |
| Preferred form of description | Direct perception, analogy, metaphor | Objectively measured parameters |
| Sources of authority, truth | Tradition, experience, intuition, conscience | Established by appointed authorities; progress via controlled experimentation |
| Scope of inquiry | Broad, interdisciplinary studies; open-ended inquiry; self-realization via meditation, art and music, dreams, visions | Narrowly specialized profession; limitations defined by exams, licensing, regulations and standardized ethics |
| Professional ideal | Philosopher/shaman/sage | Technician/expert |
|
Specifically relevant to healthcare: | ||
| Dominant view of the human body | Functional systems, interactive fields of influence | Collections of organs, tissues, cells, and chemicals |
| Definition of health | Harmony in refining body essences and cultivating vital forces; subjective feeling of well-being | Absence of pathology as verified by instrumentation and lab tests |
| Form of diagnosis | Individualized; by symptom-pattern analysis (bian-zheng) |
Standardized; by disease name, pathology (bian-bing) |