重審中醫瘟疫理論在當代疫情危機中的認知價值和倫理效應

Revisiting the Cognitive and Ethical Value of Plague Theories in Traditional Chinese Medicine for Contemporary Epidemic Prevention and Risk Control

Abstract

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English.

在對中國古代瘟疫理論和公共衛生的研究中，往往認為傳統中醫學的傳染觀念和瘟疫理論不夠＂科學”和＂精准”，在公共衛生和社會防疫等中觀維度上無法發揮積極作用。但中醫學瘟疫理論，將疫情描述為彌漫性環境風險與人類活動相互作用的動態圖景，不僅具有在特定社會歷史環境和時人認知觀念背景下的時代合理性，相較於現代傳染病學＂傳染鏈”的線性分析模型，對當今疫情也能夠給出一個更具整體性的風險認知模型，具有不可替代的價值。更重要的是，古典瘟疫理論有助於打破傳染鏈交織迭加成群體流行的線性思維所帶來的道德難題，為促成全人類肩並肩面對風險、共同承擔責任與持續性協同抗疫的價值目標，提供一個基於中國文化傳統的論證依據。

In the study of concepts developed in the context of public health management in ancient China, the notion of infectiousness and plague theories in TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) are often perceived to have little significance to epidemic prevention and public health today because they are viewed as “unscientific.” This paper, however, argues that the doctrine of yinqi (the epidemic qi) and the concept of infectiousness in TCM present a dynamic interaction between diffuse environmental risks and human activities in a specific spatio-temporal context. The concept of epidemic qi offers a unique cognitive model with which to approach the epidemic risk in a given socio-historical environment that differs from a linear analysis of the “chain of infection” in modern medicine. The paper concludes that the plague theories reflected in TCM are relevant to the contemporary understanding of risk control during a public health crisis.