Open complex giant system and Traditional Chinese Medicine

Abstract

Contemporary medicine faces the dilemma of not being able to clearly understand and effectively treat many complex diseases. A major cause is that current medical studies weigh too much on looking into microscopic world and get lost in it. In 1989, Dr. Hsue-Shen Tsien, one of the founders of contemporary System Sciences, first proposed the concept of Open Complex Giant Systems. He also pointed out that humans, in nature, are actually one of the Open Complex Giant Systems. It is time for us to use the methodology of System Sciences which integrates both holism and reductionism to study lives and diseases, especially from the view of Open Complex Giant System. Developed from a holistic view of humans and diseases based on thousands of years of experiences in fighting against human diseases, Traditional Chinese Medicine will undoubtedly provide us many new concepts, ideas, theories, and useful methods in dealing with man and his diseases as an Open Complex Giant System.