For a long time, TCM scholars have regarded the holistic view as one of the characteristics and advantages of TCM. But as characteristics and advantages, they are all produced in comparison. Compared with western medicine, the characteristics and advantages of traditional Chinese medicine are different from person to person. This can really be called a feature and advantage. Is that really the case? This paper expounds the overall presentation of traditional Chinese medicine in the sixth edition of the textbook "Fundamentals", makes a simple comparison between the theories of Chinese and Western medicine, and may have some new understanding of this issue. 1 The concept of wholeness is not unique to TCM. 1. 1 First of all, from the medical connotation of TCM wholeness: "TCM believes that the human body is an organic whole, and the structure of the human body is interrelated and inseparable; Various functions of the human body coordinate and serve each other. When you are sick, all parts of your body also affect each other. At the same time, Chinese medicine believes that the interaction between man and the environment is an inseparable whole. " Western medicine actually has the same idea. In the introduction of Physiology, a western medicine, it is pointed out: "The task of human physiology is to study the normal activity process of organs and cells that constitute various systems of human body, especially the internal mechanism of functional expression of various organs and cells, as well as the interrelationship and interaction among different cells, organs and systems, so that people can know how the functional activities of various parts of human body as a whole coordinate and restrict each other and maintain the normal life activity process in a complex and changeable environment." "Physiological research is carried out at three levels: cell, organ, system and wholeness." 1.2 On the wholeness of human body, TCM textbooks discuss physiology, pathology, diagnosis, treatment and health preservation. But if compared with western medicine, we will find that in these aspects, western medicine has the same overall reality. 1.3 As far as the close relationship between man and environment is concerned, the textbook discusses the influence of time, region and social conditions on man. Western medicine, on the other hand, forms relevant contents through large-scale epidemiological investigation. Such as endemic diseases, occupational diseases, high-risk groups of coronary heart disease and so on. It is different from traditional Chinese medicine in specific content, but it is exactly the same in guiding ideology. If there is any difference, it is that western medicine pays attention to the results from the statistical analysis of the actual situation, while Chinese medicine pays more attention to finding the basis from ancient classics. Perhaps we can end this simple comparison with a passage like this: "It is generally believed in the field of Chinese medicine that Chinese medicine has a holistic and systematic way of thinking, which is superior to the analytical method of western medicine characterized by reductionism. This static understanding ignores the two major changes that have taken place and are taking place in western medicine methods, that is, scientific reductionism characterized by rational understanding has replaced the original simple and intuitive methods and scientific constructivism characterized by dialectical understanding is overcoming the mechanical materialism defects of reductionism. " The holistic view of TCM is not unique. 2. 1 Methodologically speaking, the holistic view of TCM is not a systematic (holistic) thought in the modern sense. A prominent feature of modern system thought is to emphasize the nonlinear (non-additive) relationship between the sum of the whole and the parts. That is to say, it is often said that the whole can be greater than, equal to or less than the sum of parts, and there are attribute differences between parts in the whole and individual parts. This idea is a revision of mechanical reductionism and an important principle for analyzing complex research objects. Traditional Chinese medicine as a whole does not have the connotation of these two aspects. 2. 1. 1 There is an additive relationship between the whole and the part of TCM. For example, the function of heart plus qi is the function of heart qi, and the symptom of heart disease plus qi deficiency is the symptom of heart qi deficiency, and so is the treatment. It should be pointed out that this refers to the theoretical understanding of traditional Chinese medicine. For example, the actual pharmacological action of Angelica sinensis combined with Astragalus membranaceus is definitely not equal to the simple addition of the pharmacological actions of the two drugs, but only the simple addition of the theoretical understanding of traditional Chinese medicine: one is beneficial to qi and one is nourishing blood, and the combination is beneficial to qi and nourishing blood. 2. 1.2 local attribute problem. Due to the lack of understanding of the part in TCM, the essence of the part comes from the whole, so in the understanding under the guidance of the holistic view of TCM, the part does not have its own independent attributes. For example, although the ear is an auditory organ, it actually "listens" to the kidney or kidney system. 2.2 Philosophical attributes of holistic view of TCM. Traditional Chinese medicine as a whole has no advantage because it is mainly the product of philosophical speculation, not the product of scientific knowledge. Although it contains many truths, it still cannot change the true nature of its natural philosophy. This can be understood from the following aspects. 2.2. 1 model theory. The expression form of TCM theory has the characteristics of model, which often appears very neat. When it comes to the composition of the five zang-organs system, each system must have a dirty, a fu-organ, a complete body and an expert. The relationship between the five elements of the five zang-organs system is very mechanical. After research, Chen believes that this expression "conforms to people's memory psychology, … so in people's impression, the theory of traditional Chinese medicine is highly relevant." In other words, to some extent, the whole of TCM is not the connotation of the theory, but the subjective feeling given by the expression of the theory. On the other hand, the interrelation of objective things is rich and colorful, and the reason why it is expressed so uniformly in TCM theory is largely the result of logical deduction according to philosophical theory. Such a statement must be a subjective choice of objective facts, so it can't be a true overall representation of things themselves. Compared with western medicine, we can also see that the formation of the whole phenomenon of Chinese and western medicine is very different. The holistic view of TCM is from philosophy to medicine, and more from logical deduction in language; The holistic view of western medicine is from medicine to philosophy, relying on the analysis and synthesis of facts. Traditional Chinese medicine has a strong philosophical significance, but its scientific significance is weak; The philosophical significance of western medicine is light and scientific. 2.2.2 Authenticity of medical contents. Although the holistic view of TCM has its rationality, its rationality and profundity are not equal to the authenticity and advancement of knowledge as a specific subject, because it is more of a philosophical understanding. A lot of knowledge related to holism in TCM is correct, but some are far-fetched, imaginary and even idealistic. This is also the characteristic of natural philosophy. Engels has an incisive exposition on this: "Natural philosophy can only be described in this way: replace the unknown realistic connection with the connection between concept and imagination, supplement the missing facts with imagination, and fill the blank of reality with pure imagination. In doing so, it put forward some genius ideas, predicted some later discoveries, but also expressed very absurd opinions, which was impossible at that time. " 2.3 the overall adjustment problem. Medical theory ultimately depends on treatment to achieve its goal. In fact, the overall advantage we are talking about mainly refers to the integrity of Chinese medicine in treatment, which is the so-called overall adjustment function. It emphasizes that the therapeutic effect of traditional Chinese medicine is not aimed at a specific pathogenic factor (such as bacteria) or pathological link, but through the influence on the whole body, so sometimes the curative effect is better than that of western medicine, and the side effects are small. However, there are several points to be noted here: (1) With or without the guidance of holistic view, the functions of TCM are generally realized mainly through the influence on the whole body, which is an inherent feature of TCM itself. (2) The non-targeted effect of traditional Chinese medicine does not mean that it has more advantages than the targeted effect of western medicine. Many times, we actually need more targeted effects. (3) The side effects of traditional Chinese medicine are indeed smaller than those of western medicine, but the side effects of western medicine are clear and ultimately controllable, while the side effects of traditional Chinese medicine are unclear and difficult to control. (4) Western medicine has obvious advantages over traditional Chinese medicine in the range of diseases that can be accurately treated by western medicine; Traditional Chinese medicine may have an advantage over western medicine in the range of diseases where western medicine cannot have a definite curative effect. This can't be decided with or without overall guidance. It is difficult to develop into modern holistic thinking. Many scholars have put forward how to develop the traditional holistic thinking of TCM into advanced modern holistic (systematic) thinking. This is very difficult. (1) Philosophically speaking, modern holism (system) thought is the result of the spiral development of ancient holism, with tangible similarities but qualitative differences; (2) Practically, the modern holistic (systematic) thought is based on strict mathematical methods, while the concepts of TCM are mostly vague, abstract and speculative, which makes the mathematization process of TCM difficult; (3) The theory of TCM lacks a grasp of specific details. The theory of traditional Chinese medicine under its holistic view is actually a one-way understanding from the whole to the part, which is very different from the dialectical understanding of the whole and the part shown by the modern holistic view. (4) Chinese medicine tries to change its fuzziness, abstraction and speculation through the development of holistic view, but it must be clear and concrete before it can develop into a modern holistic view. This is a more difficult knot. It can be said that compared with western medicine, the holistic view of traditional Chinese medicine has a long way to go to have modern significance. What this paper tries to explain is that having a holistic view does not necessarily mean it is a feature, let alone an advantage. The holistic view of TCM is an important tool for TCM thinking, which enables TCM to analyze when it is unable to understand the details inside the body. Although this analysis contains a lot of subjective speculation, it is still a great progress compared with the trial-and-error method without any reason, and it does provide useful enlightenment for the discovery of many new phenomena and the accumulation of many experiences. But compared with western medicine, it is not unique and has no special advantages. If the author's conclusion is correct, it is necessary to rethink those arguments that take the holistic view as the premise of the development characteristics and advantages of Chinese medicine: what are the characteristics and advantages of Chinese medicine? Or: What is "special" and "excellent" about the holistic view of TCM compared with modern western medicine? Thinking and answering these questions is of positive significance for correctly positioning and evaluating the characteristics and advantages of traditional Chinese medicine and endowing it with new connotations.