학술

분류

논문

학술지 구분

SSCI 

논문명

Ontology and Acupuncture: East Asian Analogism and an  Emerging Acupuncture Method in South Korea

저자

김태우 Taewoo Kim

참여구분

단독

저자수

1

학술지명

East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal

발행처

Routledge Taylor & Francis Group 

게재일

2025-04-01

초록

If the body is not seen as a combination of cells, DNA, and proteins in East Asian medicine, the logic of treatment will differ from that of biomedicine. Descola’s monumental work on plural ontologies and their connectedness of social practices advocates ethnographic investigations of how the plurality of body-ontologies are overlapped with medical practices of various medical traditions. Drawing on anthropological fieldwork on Korean medicine in South Korea, this study examines the ontological ground of acupuncture practice. It provides a case of an emerging new acupuncture method, Mind Acupuncture, in Korean medicine as an example of ontological anthropology of medicine. This study shows that a new acupuncture practice emerges not by discovering a new entity of the universal biomedical body, but by expanding and materializing the ontological network of East Asian medicine. This study foregrounds the significance of ontology, the undeniable premise of medical practice that is socially and historically situated.

Keywords Acupuncture ▪ East Asian analogism ▪ Korean medicine ▪ Mind Acupuncture ▪ Ontological anthropology