| dc.description.abstract | Abstract This thesis will argue that psychological theory was always a central part of Chinese scholarly medicine. Such theories were prominent already in the early literature and continued to be discussed and elaborated in the further development of the medical discourse. Even so, they have not received much academic attention and are therefore often overlooked in the wider discussions of Chinese and East-Asian theories of the mind. This study is the first in-depth analysis of the conceptual model known as the “five spirits” (wushen 五神). It is also the first to explore this topic specifically from the angle of medical discourse. The analysis is based on a 17th century medical commentary that has not yet been translated or thoroughly discussed in any international publication. Theory is an abstract representation that seeks to explain why and how a certain phenomenon occurs. To understand such abstractions, one has to be familiar with the basic concepts, arguments, and practices of that theoretical field. The meaning of a chemical formula, for example, cannot be derived from its symbolic representation alone, but relies on a comprehension of how it relates to actual processes in nature. The goal of this study has been to understand the Chinese medical conceptualization of the mind not just as an abstract theory, but also as a concrete interpretation of mental and physical functions. However, since it was articulated in a language and style of reasoning unfamiliar to modern readers, such concrete implications can be harder to see. The main argument of this thesis is that to understand this model of the mind, we need to analyse its terminology, conceptual structure, and interpretation in the medical discourse. It is further hypothesized that such an understanding can be obtained from an attentive reading of medical commentaries. The main source of this study—the Categories of the Canon (Leijing 類經)—is a late Ming dynasty commentary to the two main texts of the Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon (Huangdi Neijing 黃帝內經). Chinese scholars describe it as one of the most influential works in the medical commentarial tradition. It was chosen because it had been recommended by a renowned Chinese physician as a reference to the five spirits. In itself it is only a small segment of the larger medical discourse. Yet as a commentary, it reaches back to the early formative literature and across the later developments, thereby providing us a glimpse of the extended historical dialogue between medical scholars. Keywords: Chinese medicine, mind, psychology, physiology, body-mind relationship, Neijing, Leijing, commentarial tradition, Zhang Jingyue, Zhang Jiebin. | eng |