This dissertation examines the critical issues associated with inquiry and research in the field of Traditional Chinese Acupuncture (TCA), one of the treatment modalities of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). TCM can be understood to constitute a distinct health care paradigm in the Kuhnian sense of having its own ontology, fundamental tenets, assumptions and practices. As TCA is practised within the framework of the TCM paradigm with its associated concepts of the person, health, illness and disease, it is argued that appropriate modes of inquiry and
research methods for TCA can only be determined if one has a comprehensive understanding of the nature, philosophy, theory and practice of TCM and TCA.