The TCM vs. Western medicine debate -- a philosophical and political debate?
Recently, Andy Ho, a senior writer with the Straits Times (ST), wrote a series of opinion pieces questioning the validity of alternative medicine as a form of medical treatment. Unsurprisingly, this series of opinion pieces stirred up a debate in the ST Forum pages over the validity of alternative medicine as a form of medical treatment, especially with Ho's most recent piece that labelled acupuncture (and by extension, traditional Chinese medicine in general?) as a "placebo treatment".
While this debate over the validity of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) as a form of medical treatment is interesting in itself, what I find more interesting are the possibly underlying issues, philosophical and political, that are involved in this debate. These are the issues that this post will focus attention on. As such, this post will not be taking a stance as to whether TCM, or alternative medicine in general, is a valid and reliable form of medical treatment.
While this debate over the validity of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) as a form of medical treatment is interesting in itself, what I find more interesting are the possibly underlying issues, philosophical and political, that are involved in this debate. These are the issues that this post will focus attention on. As such, this post will not be taking a stance as to whether TCM, or alternative medicine in general, is a valid and reliable form of medical treatment.
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