Paths to Asian Medical Knowledge (Volume 32) (Comparative Studies of Health Systems and Medical Care)

Like its classic predecessor, Asian Medical Systems, Paths to Asian Medical Knowledge significantly expands the study of Asian medicine. These essays ask how patients and practitioners know what they know-what evidence of disease or health they consider convincing and what cultural traditions and symbols guide their thinking. Whether discussing Japanese anatomy texts, Islamic humoralism, Ayurvedic clinical practice, or a variety of other subjects, the authors offer an exciting range of information and suggest new theoretical avenues for medical anthropology. Author Biography: Charles Leslie is Professor of Anthropology and the Humanities at the Center for Science and Culture, University of Delaware. Allan Young is Professor of Anthropology in the Department of Humanities and Social Studies in Medicine, McGill University. "Like its classic predecessor, Asian Medical Systems, Paths to Asian Medical Knowledge is guided by two central ideas: that medical traditions are based on coherent forms of practice and belief about illnesses, and that these systems are embedded in the symbols and world views that characterize the historical differences between civilizations. These new essays by leading scholars from Europe and North America focus on issues in the humoral and bio-medical traditions of several Asian countries. How do patients and practitioners know what they know? What kinds and categories of information constitute evidence about pathological processes? What reasoning do they find persuasive, and under what circumstances? How do they decide that a medical judgment is right or wrong, and what do "right" and "wrong" mean to patients and their families, to village practitioners, or to learned experts?". "From the perspectives of history and cultural anthropology, the authors consider problems of knowledge in Chinese medicine, the Hindu-Buddhist traditions of South Asian medicine, and the Greco-Arabic traditions of Islamic medicine.". "Whether discussing Japanese anatomy texts or popular culture, Chinese case histories or burial practices, Islamic humoralism or clinical reasoning in Ayurveda, the essays in Paths to Asian Medical Knowledge are richly documented, interesting to read, and suggest new theoretical avenues for medical anthropology."--BOOK JACKET. These essays ask how patients and practitioners know what they know - what evidence of disease or health they consider convincing and what cultural traditions and symbols guide their thinking. Whether discussing Japanese anatomy texts, Islamic humoralism, Ayurvedic clinical practice, or a variety of other subjects, the authors offer an exciting range of information and suggest new theoretical avenues for medical anthropology