Explanation on emsenn.net

How TCM Classifies Herbs

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Western pharmacology classifies drugs by their biochemical mechanism: NSAIDs inhibit cyclooxygenase, beta-blockers antagonize beta-adrenergic receptors, SSRIs inhibit serotonin reuptake. The classification tells you what the drug does at the molecular level.

Traditional Chinese Medicine classifies herbs by their functional effect on the body: their thermal nature, their taste, and which organ systems they target. The classification tells you what the herb does at the level of the whole patient — whether it warms or cools, whether it tonifies or drains, where in the body it acts.

What is the principle of dialectics?

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

What is the principle of dialectics?

The principle of dialectics is that forms of thought, social order, and reality develop through internal contradiction, and that this development is determinate rather than random. In dialectical reasoning, contradiction is not only an error to be removed. It is also information about a form’s limits and about how that form changes.

Put simply: a dialectical analysis asks how something’s own structure produces tensions it cannot finally contain, and how those tensions force transition into a new structure.