Feng shui and the scientific testing of chi claims  

作　　者：Michael R Matthews 

机构地区：[1]University of New South Wales,Sydney,New South Wales 2052,Australia

出　　处：《Cultures of Science》2023年第3期278-291,共14页科学文化(英文)

摘　　要：This paper documents the long history of feng shui belief and practice in Chinese culture, and its spread worldwide in the past half century. It shows that commitment to the peculiar qi or chi entity is central to feng shui and more generally to traditional Chinese writings on medicine, astrology, philosophy, politics,literature, natural philosophy and science. Despite their centrality and omnipresence, chi claims have rarely been scientifically appraised. This is, in part, because they are stated so vaguely and mysteriously that no definite test is possible. This paper examines, and refutes, the claims of one rare but well-credentialled,multi-university-based research programme affirming the reality of chi. The paper shows that the cost of seriously endorsing a chi-based explanation of any putative effect is a rejection of the entire ontological,epistemological and methodological edifice of modern science. Chi explanations are incompatible with both a methodological and an ontological naturalist understanding of science.

关 键 词：Feng shui CHI QI energy HOLISM NATURALISM QIGONG Yan Xin 

分 类 号：B992.4[哲学宗教—宗教学]