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East Asian Medicine
The Editors welcome submissions for possible publication in the Letters section. Authors of letters should:
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•Type with double-spacing
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Letters commenting on an Annals article will be considered if they are received within 6 weeks of the time the article was published. Only some of the letters received can be published. Published letters are edited and may be shortened; tables and figures are included only selectively. Authors will be notified that the letter has been received. If the letter is selected for publication, the author will be notified about 3 weeks before the publication date. Unpublished letters cannot be returned.
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IN RESPONSE:
Dr. Barnes' comment on the need for a sensitive bilingual encounter between distinct medical systems is greatly appreciated. Indeed, knowledge of other medical systems necessarily encourages self-awareness and is an antidote to arrogance. I find myself so much in agreement with Dr. Barnes that I wonder whether her metaphor of language and “translation” may not be radical enough. The difference between traditional East Asian concepts of medicine and biomedicine extends beyond linguistic issues to the philosophical foundations of their epistemology (1). Chinese medicine relies on the veracity of the senses, the person-centered experience either as reported by the patient or perceived by an observant practitioner. Ultimately, biomedicine depends on deliberately controlled experiments and understands that what is to be most accurate must be shielded from the bias of human observation. More than saying something different about the “real,” Chinese medicine and biomedicine engage a reality as distinct and foreign as Ptolemy's cosmos is from Galileo's universe.
Nonetheless, any vibrant medical system needs to do more than sympathetically understand other systems. It may seek to selectively adopt—metabolize, if you will—techniques or strategies independent of theoretical understanding. For example, Chinese medicine incorporated many Greco-Persian herbs during the Tang dynasty (618 to 907 AD) (2), and some practitioners in China are currently in the process of creatively reformulating acupuncture based on modern physiology (3). Indeed, biomedicine has managed to already borrow some of China's traditional medicine without its theoretical underpinning (for example, ephedrine from the Chinese herb Ephedra sinica [4] or artemisinin from the Chinese herb Artemisia apiacea as a new potential drug for malaria [5]). It may be that a genuine and full medical encounter needs to combine respect and self-reflection with opportunities for creative enrichment.
The Editors welcome submissions for possible publication in the Letters section. Authors of letters should:
•Include no more than 300 words of text, three authors, and five references
•Type with double-spacing
•Send three copies of the letter, an authors' form signed by all authors, and a cover letter describing any conflicts of interest related to the contents of the letter.
Letters commenting on an Annals article will be considered if they are received within 6 weeks of the time the article was published. Only some of the letters received can be published. Published letters are edited and may be shortened; tables and figures are included only selectively. Authors will be notified that the letter has been received. If the letter is selected for publication, the author will be notified about 3 weeks before the publication date. Unpublished letters cannot be returned.
Annals welcomes electronically submitted letters.
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