Structuralistic Analysis for Establishment of Concept and Variables of Shanghan Diseases

Abstract

In order to grasp the clear concepts and variables to treat Shanghan diseases which has complex meaning by each medical literature, several concepts and analytic method of structuralism from early to late stage encompassing Saussure and Derrida were used. Main concepts are langue and parole, signifiant and signifie, syntagme and paradigme, denotation and connotation, synchronie and diachronie, identity of structure and differance etc. and methods are substituting these concepts to historical Shanghan theories from Zhongjing to Ming-Qing dynasty and comparisons of synchronie about their era. Essential qualities of Shanghan diseases are pathologic phenomena under the order of unification of nature and man formed through concrescence between individual human body and geo-climatico-socio-cultural environmental conditions, neither injuries by cold pathogen nor five types of exopathogenic febrile diseases. The former environmental elements can be inferred from general traits of desires and public pathological aspects of social members, and the latter personal factors from corresponding features to those pathogenic variables. In addition, the concepts of Shanghan disease are added successively up to now via Jin-Yuan’s four great masters and Wenbing masters, and thus the new concepts of denotation became another connotation obtaining new signifiant. In this way, for the treatment of Shanghan diseases, new theories should be made for ranging prescription over the wenbing field; reflecting not only climatical variables but also each patient’s physio-pathological features and sociocultural variables. Thereby an appropriate and reasonable therapeutical systems can be designed and can guide research direction hereafter.