Philosophy
Homeopathy is a vitalist philosophy that interprets diseases and sickness as caused by disturbances in an immaterial vital force or life force. Disturbances are believed to manifest themselves first in mental symptoms, and eventually progress to physical disease if untreated. Homeopathy rejects germ theory, viewing the presence of pathogens as a symptom, rather than cause, of disease.
Homeopathy maintains that the vital force has the ability to react and adapt to internal and external causes, which homeopaths refer to as the "law of susceptibility" (as with the "law of similars" this is a term of art and not a natural law, and it lacks significant scientific acceptance).
The law of susceptibility implies that a negative state of mind can attract hypothetical disease entities called "miasms" to invade the body and produce symptoms of diseases. However, Hahnemann rejected the notion of a disease as a separate thing or invading entity, and insisted it was always part of the "living whole". Hahnemann proposed homeopathy in reaction to the state of traditional Western medicine at that time, which often was brutal and more harmful than helpful. Hahnemann coined the expression "allopathic medicine", which was used to pejoratively refer to traditional Western medicine.
Read more about this topic: Homeopathic Remedies
Famous quotes containing the word philosophy:
“We are tainted by modern philosophy which has taught us that all is good, whereas evil has polluted everything and in a very real sense all is evil, since nothing is in its proper place.”
—Joseph De Maistre (1753–1821)
“Why does philosophy use concepts and why does faith use symbols if both try to express the same ultimate? The answer, of course, is that the relation to the ultimate is not the same in each case. The philosophical relation is in principle a detached description of the basic structure in which the ultimate manifests itself. The relation of faith is in principle an involved expression of concern about the meaning of the ultimate for the faithful.”
—Paul Tillich (1886–1965)
“You may decry some of these scruples and protest that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in my philosophy. I am concerned, rather, that there should not be more things dreamt of in my philosophy than there are in heaven or earth.”
—Nelson Goodman (b. 1906)