Die Homöopathie im Lichte ihrer antiken sozioökonomischen und geistesgeschichtlichen Wurzeln

Schmidt, Josef M. (2023): Die Homöopathie im Lichte ihrer antiken sozioökonomischen und geistesgeschichtlichen Wurzeln. In: Medizin, Gesellschaft und Geschichte (MedGG), Bd. 41: S. 65-90

Abstract

Homeopathy in the Light of its Ancient Socio-Economic and Intellectual Roots

In this contribution the attempt is made to cast new light on homeopathy, its history and epistemological status. For this, its historiography is extended by including the knowledge and methods of other disciplines, in particular classical philology, philosophy, sociology and economic history. The question newly posed here – What powerful traditions of thought was Hahnemann (still) able to draw on when he founded homeopathy as a rational art of healing? – can be answered paradigmatically: Firstly, the Western history of thought is rooted in what is here called ‘lógos thinking’, which can be traced back to the first minting of coins in the ancient Greek poleis in the 6th century BC. Secondly, the Greeks had tried very early on to conceptualize what is here called ‘hómoion thinking’, which derives from a primordial attraction of similars, as an (additional) principle in the philosophy of nature. And thirdly, what is here called ‘iásthai thinking’ also has roots going back to ancient Greece. The idea that ‘who/what causes wounds can also heal’ goes back as far as the myths surrounding the Trojan War. All three traditions of thought can be pursued throughout the history of medicine and there is evidence of their more or less prominent appearance in the individual eras. Since all three are constitutive of homeopathy, it is existential for homeopathy that they are always successfully balanced. Given their otherwise corroding effects, the balanced integration of all three ways of thinking seems to also be a highly topical and urgent socio-political task.

• Dokumententyp: Zeitschriftenartikel
• Fakultät: Medizin > Institut für Ethik, Geschichte und Theorie der Medizin
• Themengebiete: 600 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften > 610 Medizin und Gesundheit
• ISSN: 0939-351X
• Sprache: Deutsch