Scientific paradigm of modern Chinese medicine: transformation from constitution scholarship to constitution science

Explore the transformation path of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) constitution scholarship to TCM constitution science from the three dimensions of science, health, and civilization. Clarify the elements of the modern scientific paradigm: the ontological foundation, epistemological presuppositions, and methodological norms. By introducing qi ontology, the article establishes the scientific paradigm of modern Chinese medicine, demonstrating its rationality and feasibility. The article systematically elaborates, at the levels of Chinese philosophy, TCM theory, and TCM constitution science, that TCM constitution science, rooted in qi ontology, possesses the duality of "composition-generation" and embodies the holistic worldview of the unity of heaven and mankind. The article further identifies qi as the dynamic cause of constitution formation and evolution and delineates the core research object of TCM constitution science. Then the article clarifies the essential elements and necessary requirements of a scientific hypothesis, and proposes a phenomenological hypothesis of TCM constitutional science. The hypothesis centers on the effect of internal qi, as influenced by TCM therapeutic interventions, on human constitution, establishing a bridge from TCM constitution scholarship to TCM constitution science, representing a Chinese-style originality. After briefly describing conceptual repetition and cumulative evidence, the hypothesis has been preliminarily successfully tested by the cumulative experimental evidence of external qi that modifies in vitro genetic and non-genetic life substances.