中医外感性疾病的“邪气”究竟是什么?

What is the accurate meaning of“xieqi”in traditional Chinese medicine?

最近有学者提出《黄帝内经》外感性疾病中的“邪气”本质上就是古人对各种病原微生物的统称,笔者认为这一说法值得商榷。“气”作为中华传统文化和中医学的基石性概念,源于物质但超越物质,是一个同时包含功能的综合性、抽象性概念。外感性疾病的“邪气”属于人体的“不和之气”,不仅包含西医学意义上的物质性病因,该物质性病因可能是也可能不是病原微生物,同时也包含了它们的致病特点及相应的人体病理变化和发展趋势,和“气”一样也是一个综合性、抽象性概念。将中医学的“邪气”等同于病原微生物,是将“邪气”的概念简单化、纯物质化和西医化,不符合中医学的思维模式和病因概念原意。

Recently,it is proposed that the essence of“xieqi”in Huangdi Neijing is the ancients’general designation of pathogenic microorganisms in exogenous diseases.We think that this proposal is debatable.In Chinese traditional culture and traditional Chinese medicine(TCM),the concept of“qi”originated from substances but evolved into a comprehensive concept containing the meaning of functions more than only substances.As the disharmony of“qi”,“xieqi”refers to not only certain substances related to exogenous diseases,which may or may not be pathogenic microorganisms,but also their pathogenic characteristics,human pathological changes and the development trend of diseases,and is also a comprehensive concept.The proposal mentioned above simplified the multiple meanings of“xieqi”in TCM as pure pathogenic substances as in western medicine,and is inconsistent with the thinking mode of TCM and its original meanings.