ABSTRACT
At the workshop, on which this book is based, there was a refreshing absence of accepting Western science as the universal truth. It was clearly placed alongside other knowledges avoiding the tacit hegemony that is found in so many other arenas, including the field of Chinese medicine described below. In this volume, F. David Peat’s chapter refers to the lack of soul in a scientifically conceived world. Below I describe Chinese medicine both with and without a soul. However only in Cajete’s vision of different systems of scientific endeavour existing without privilege (see G. Cajete’s chapter in this volume) could both these practices flourish as valid lineages. This chapter will show that Chinese medicine cannot be defined as a single entity or system of medicine but consists of practices based on differing epistemologies. Of particular interest is how practitioners navigate the complexity of medical information arising from such diversity.
