{"id":1003,"date":"2018-10-21T20:27:12","date_gmt":"2018-10-21T19:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mayohomeopathy.ie\/?p=1003"},"modified":"2018-10-21T20:27:12","modified_gmt":"2018-10-21T19:27:12","slug":"cartesian-homeopathy-witch-hunt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.mayohomeopathy.ie\/index.php\/cartesian-homeopathy-witch-hunt\/","title":{"rendered":"What Cartesian witch hunters can’t explain"},"content":{"rendered":"
Why Homeopaths Can’t be Burned at the Stake<\/span><\/h5>\n

\"bioplasma<\/p>\n

This is one of\u00a0 a number of learned articles (as well as numerous radio and television interviews, many of which are available in YouTube)\u00a0by priest and physician Jacek Norkowski OP, one of\u00a0which has been summarized and translated here<\/a><\/span>.\u00a0The articles were\u00a0originally published on the website\u00a0of the Polish homeopathy society Homeopatia Polska and are available in Polish at\u00a0https:\/\/homeopatiapolska.com\/dlaczego-nie-nalezy-palic-homeopatow-na-stosie.html<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Something about paradigms and philosophical traditions<\/span><\/h5>\n

In philosophy, there has been a dispute between followers of the Platonic and Aristotelian tradition for centuries. In short, for Plato, man is a soul trapped in the body, and for Aristotle, and then also Saint Thomas – a spiritual and material being in which there is a composition of soul and body as form and matter, where the soul is indeed a superior factor but does not create a full person by itself. The relationship between soul and body is extremely deep and subtle in this second approach. According to Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas the soul revives the body, but only this mutual relationship with the body enables it to perform all its activities either through the senses or the intellect and the will. [1] This cannot be said about the idea of \u200b\u200bPlato’s relationship between soul and body. [2] For the latter, the body is rather an obstacle rather than help for the soul that exists and operates independently of the body, thus not drawing any benefits from it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ren\u00e9 Descartes (in Poland called Descartes) was a philosopher who in the modern era became an extremely influential publisher of Platonic views, on which he based his vision of man. [3] The soul connects it to the body somewhere in the brain, but the soul and the body actually live independently of each other; one – as a pure thought (res cogitans<\/em>), the other – as a geometric extension (res extensa<\/em>). [4] Thus, in order to be able to heal, it is enough to know the functioning of the body, which can be scientifically researched and described, leaving aside the issue of its relationship with the soul. This approach made Descartes the basis for the theory of medicine as a science to which he contributed to his own development. In this way he created a general theory for medicine and sketched its horizons, which in total can be called the creation of its paradigm. [5]<\/span><\/p>\n

Thus, the body is a machine for Descartes, whose chemistry and physics can fully explain the ins and outs of chemistry (perhaps this \u201cchemistry\u201d should be \u201cbiology\u201d? ed.). He brought the phenomenon of conscious life only to chemical phenomena and pure mechanics. Medicine has gone along the tracks delineated by Descartes and we owe so much to its successes, including the development of pharmacology based on the knowledge of chemical changes in the body and the great achievements of surgery.<\/span><\/p>\n

Modern medicine not only has successes but also failures. “Cartesian” medicine, based mainly on these two types of treatment [chemical and surgical] is not always effective. Currently, the renaissance is experiencing herbal medicine; it is used for acupuncture and homeopathy. There is a fashion for holistic medicine that sees disease as a problem for the whole human person. The Cartesian model of medicine, along with his body – the machine, was questioned in this way.<\/span><\/p>\n

How\u00a0does this relate to our question about homeopathy?<\/span><\/h5>\n

In the dispute between Cartesian (Platonic) and Thomistic vision of a man, homeopathy is on the side of the latter. The Thomistic approach to man is holistic, and the Cartesian approach is dualistic. This situation is not altered by the fact that most opponents of homeopathy are unconscious Platonists or Cartesians, while most homeopaths have never studied philosophy. In practice, they use thinking that can be explained based on the philosophy of Aristotle and Saint Thomas, not Plato and Descartes. The aforementioned dispute between these two currents of philosophy, and at the same time the ways of thinking, has been going on for a long time and it can explain much to us about the issue that interests us. For example, the accusation of homeopathy having a connection with magic resembles the accusation of Saint Thomas being a heretic because he accepted the achievements of Aristotle\u2019s philosophy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At present, homeopathy is being fought by conscious and unconscious Platonists and Cartesians for the same reason that the thought of Saint Thomas as based on the philosophy of Aristotle and not Plato. It is in fact a dispute over the vision of man, a dispute between those who do not see any deeper connection and the possibility of mutual interactions between the soul and the body and those who, like Aristotle and Saint Thomas, they see this relationship. Let us add that the Catholic Church spoke in this dispute on the side of Saint Thomas and thus the entire intellectual tradition with which he was associated. According to this tradition, the soul is an intangible factor, thanks to which the whole person, and thus his body, exists. By accepting this assumption one can also accept the fact that body diseases can have a deep relationship with the mental and spirit states. This is understood by homeopaths and not everyone who, like Descartes, understands the body as a machine with a motor driven by chemical changes, the soul is separate and connects it to the body by just a thin thread – it is like a balloon held captive by hand and ready to be removed. This is also what most of us today think, for which science is materialistic, and soul or spirit – closed in the sphere of religion, and the relationship between science and religion, just like between the soul and the body, practically no.<\/span><\/p>\n

Modern man is, therefore, generally an unconscious Platonic and even a Cartesian, whose attitudes he learned at school from his youngest years from similarly unaware Platonists and Cartesians. However, when a disease happens to someone, then he or she rushes to the doctor and wants first of all one thing – to be cured. And finally, looking for help, he sometimes goes to a homeopath who, surprisingly, heals effectively though “he should not”. “It should not” because it does not cure chemically – as with “normal pills” –\u00a0or mechanically, that is, with the help of surgery, massage or physical therapy. Instead of looking for answers on the ground of molecular interactions, by which the action of homeopathic remedies cannot succeed, it is better to realize that the Cartesian paradigm of homeopathy simply does not fit! [6]Rarely, however, the patient deals with these issues when he needs help. Hence the increasing popularity of such types of therapies, which include homeopathy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Homeopathy and contemporary physics<\/span><\/h5>\n

The explanation of the phenomenon of the effectiveness of homeopathy does not have to be “magical”, but to find them, one must overcome the “unconscious Descartes” pushed to our head by modern culture, built on materialistic thinking or, at best, extremely dualistic thinking, where the soul and the body are two separate “things” of a completely different nature. Modern physics already has this problem behind. Apart from the “matter” and “energy” on which Albert Einstein based it (e = mc2), “information” was also noticed, [7] which is an indispensable factor in everything that exists, being somewhat hidden in the structure of everything. The mutual metabolism of energy and information can be described with a mathematical formula, just as Einstein managed to describe with this pattern the mutual transformation of matter and energy. What does homeopathy have to do with it? A lot!<\/span><\/p>\n

An attempt to find a theoretical solution to the problem<\/span><\/h5>\n

The homeopathic doctor needs a lot of time for his patients. In order to choose a drug, he must interview, that is, have a conversation with the patient and learn about him enough to be able to develop the characteristics of the whole person, including the psyche, not just his body. Only on this basis can you choose the right drug that will help the patient. So what heals homeopath? Is it important to provide a drug-chemical substance that heals thanks to its properties working at the level of chemical interactions? Of course not! However, if the homeopathic medicine does not work in this way, how can its action be explained at all? In short, the answer seems to be that homeopath cures by using information! Do not be overly shocked. We live in the era of information and information technology. Imagine, then, that a homeopathic medicine is a floppy disk, on which information is needed for the computer that is our body. Sometimes, as we know, something in our computer will erase and then we need to power the hard drive with some program. It does not matter if the diskette is black, blue or green – the information contained in it is important for us. It is also important if this is the information that the computer lacks. The doctor gives the patient a drug, which in terms of chemicals is often pure milk sugar or a water solution of alcohol and it does not take too long to prove that it is not a treatment based on the chemical action of the drug. The fact, however, that this doctor had to process a huge amount of information regarding both the description of the patient and the drug itself and correlate them with each other, should give food for thought. Really, nothing here is like throwing salt over your left shoulder! It should be added here that the above view on the “computerised” way of homeopathic remedies is shared by many who build the foundations of a new physics that cannot be understood without using the concept of information as a constitutive factor of all things.<\/span><\/p>\n

Something more about homeopathy itself<\/span><\/h5>\n

There are many theories that attempt to explain the way homeopathic medicines work. The creator of homeopathic therapy, Samuel Hahnemann, used an experimental method to develop it. This is an important fact in itself, because in the natural sciences, to which the theoretical part includes medicine, the experiment is undoubtedly the most important method. However, the experiment requires some theoretical assumptions. It was no different in this case. Hahnemann relied on a theory he found (attention!), Not with someone else but at the same Hippocrates, recognized as the father of European medicine. Hippocrates wrote in one place that: \u201cBy similar things a disease is produced and through the application of the like is cured.\u201d [8] These words inspired Hahnemann and prompted him to start research on the effects of various medicinal substances of plant, animal and mineral origin on the ill organism. In 1796 Hahnemann formulated and announced his basic thesis, which reads as follows: “In the most certain, fastest and most effective way, you can treat with medicines that are capable of causing the most similar disease in a healthy organism”. This is where the concise principle of homeopathy originates: “similia similibus curentur” (similar is treated with a similar one) and the very name of this new method of treatment-homeopathy (Greek homoeosis<\/em> – similar and pathos<\/em> – disease).<\/span><\/p>\n

Hahnemann examined many medications on himself, he noted meticulously the symptoms caused by their actions and advised others in the words: “Of all the pure experiences of simple medicines, the most reliable are those free of superstition that the physician will carry on himself, wisely and carefully.” [9] Hahnemann also discovered an amazing thing: a faster and more lasting therapeutic effect caused the drug in a higher dilution than in the lower one (homeopathic medicine is made from raw materials such as plants, various tissues and animal secretions and minerals, first producing the so-called pranayevka (mother tincture?) and then making its subsequent dilutions tenfold).<\/span><\/p>\n

At this point, I have to go back to the beginning of my argument. These subsequent dilutions mean that the substance from which the homeopathic medicine has been made can practically no longer exist. So what is a homeopathic medicine? Maybe it’s just a placebo? This question can sleep with the eyes of those who do not acknowledge that it is possible to cure not only by means of “chemistry” or “mechanics” but also by the more subtle (information transferred electromagnetically?) interactions on the level of the soul – the psyche – the body. However, to accept the second version, one must give up the idea of \u200b\u200bman as a machine fuelled by chemical processes and recognize that the phenomenon of life has not been fully described in the Cartesian paradigm, which brings man to such a mechanism.<\/span><\/p>\n

It can be said that Descartes ignored this phenomenon of life rather than described it, believing that the processes occurring in the living organism are the same as processes occurring, for example, in the fermentation of wine. Well, no! Life is not only chemical transformation, it is primarily the processing of information (information is in this concept a broader concept than this word means in everyday language and means not only message but also, and above all, “the ability to organise or maintain a system in an organized state ” [10]). Descartes might have missed it, but it does not justify us. The development of computer science, such as the covering and use of bioprocessors, makes this fact cannot be overlooked anymore. It seems that one should look for an answer to the question of what homeopathy is. This is where the level of the homeopathic remedy is probably located. It seems that the homeopathic medicine is a carrier of information, which along with it is introduced into the patient’s body, for which it is a kind of missing “program” that allows the body to release the suppressed ability to self-regulate and return to internal harmony, that is to the state of health.<\/span><\/p>\n

Return to Aristotle and Hippocrates?<\/span><\/h5>\n

Going deeper and deeper into the phenomenon of life, we can see that everything is a bit “dematerializing”. It is not only matter or even energy that is the basis for all phenomena that we can observe but also information! The organism can be understood as a bioprocessor in which the invisible – information is more important than what is visible – the macroscopic structure itself. [11].It also seems that it is rather information that organizes this macroscopic structure, not the other way around. [12] Molski, developing the idea of \u200b\u200bSedlak on the subject of bioplasma, [13] introduces the concept of biofacility, understood as “long-distance, long-range coordination of various biological functions and integration of the microbiological level, represented by one cell, with the macrobiological level – represented by the cell system (tissue, organ, body as a whole). A similar cooperation takes place between the organism and the environment (the ecosystem) in which the organism exists. (…) The rapid transmission of information in living organisms proves that coordination at various levels of biological complexity requires minimal inertia carriers. (…) [Therefore] the most effective form of information transfer is field-electric, magnetic, and electromagnetic signalling, because the field carrier is endowed with zero rest mass, and therefore has zero inertia.” [14]<\/span><\/p>\n

In the case of man, this can be translated into the Aristotelian and Thomistic concept of the soul being a form of the body. As is known, according to this theory, form is something that gives a given thing (e.g. a human body) its entire structure, itself being immaterial. Modern science seems to confirm this, if only the word “form” is interpreted informally and as a field factor in the above-described sense and, of course, without making a mistake here for any reduction of man to a machine, even if this machine was a computer. It seems, therefore, that the philosophy of Aristotle, consciously rejected by Descartes, obtains an extremely interesting confirmation through the development of modern science!<\/span><\/p>\n

The above considerations are one of the possible explanatory theories for homeopathy. Homeopathy itself has developed and continues to develop through empirical, tedious gathering of experimental knowledge, similarly, as with other branches of medicine. In the context of what has been said above, various objections to homeopathy as a healing method can be rejected. Really, there are no rational arguments to consider this method as charlatanism or even magic. The good results of the treatment achieved by this method, first of all, contradict this. It also contradicts the development of science, which explains the whole world and all phenomena that occur in it not so much in a mechanistic way as in the IT world, at this level, looking for answers to its basic questions. For medicine itself, homeopathy is a challenge, which may facilitate her escape from the cramped and insufficient Cartesian paradigm. Is it really not\u00a0an option to return medicine to its origins, to her father, Hippocrates, the creator of the theory of treatment from which homeopathy is derived?<\/span><\/p>\n

Summary<\/span><\/h5>\n

It seems that in the discussion on homeopathy there is no reference to basic issues. It was tacitly assumed that this form of medicine [allopathy] which was based on the Cartesian model of science described above, is the only form. Meanwhile, it is only one of the currents of medical art that was created much earlier. The very life in which we observe the rich understanding of so-called alternative medicine (homeopathy, acupuncture, herbal medicine) confirms this thesis.<\/span><\/p>\n

Arguments against homeopathy arise mainly from attempts to explain it in the Cartesian paradigm, in which these explanations cannot be found. For example, they do not have the ability to explain homeopathy as a kind of placebo effect if animals can be treated with this method (unaware of anything) with an equally good effect as on humans.<\/span><\/p>\n

Concerns about the supposed magical effects of homeopathy show naivety. For those who are afraid that evil forces penetrate homeopathic medicines during their production because they use the method of shaking, I propose abandoning cars and trains, because shocks cannot be avoided there. It is worth recalling here that we only deal with magic where there is a conscious appeal to Satan in order to obtain his presumed, never real, help. Therefore, the intention of the acting person is decisive. Assigning such intentions to the homeopathic medicine companies and the doctors themselves is something grotesque.<\/span><\/p>\n

The problem is even deeper. In some cases, the homeopathy method is the only method by which a patient can be cured. Preventing this treatment is tantamount to condemning the patient to ill-health and sometimes the loss life. When discussing homeopathy, this is worth remembering.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bibliography<\/span><\/h5>\n

Ashley BM, OP, Theologies of the Body: Humanist and Christian. (Braintree, Massachusetts: The Pope John XXIII Medical-Moral Research and Education Center, 1985), pp. 20-210.<\/span><\/p>\n

IG Barbour, see: Ian.G.Barbour, Myths, Models, and Paradigms, Harper and Row Publishers 1976, Polish translation, Myths, models, paradigms, Krakow, Znak Social Society, Znak, pp.120-155.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bell JSOn the problem of the hidden variability in quantum theory, Revs. Mod. Phys. 38 (1966), and Speakable and unspeakable in quantum mechanics, Cambridge 1987<\/span><\/p>\n

BOHM D. The Paradox of Einstein, Rosen and Podolsky, Quantum theory and measurements, ed. JAWheeler, WH Zurek, Princeton 1983<\/span><\/p>\n

Descartes, R. Medytacje o priew filozofii, Warszawa, Pa\u0144stwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1958, vol. I, pp. 30-118, vol. II 81-181.<\/span><\/p>\n

Einstein A., .Podolsky B, .Rosen N, Can quantum-mechanical description of physical reality be considered complete ?, Physical Review 47 (1935), pp. 777-780<\/span><\/p>\n

Josephson B., Pallikari-Viras F, Biological utilization of quntum nonlocality, “Foundations of Physics” 21 (1991), pp.197-207<\/span><\/p>\n

JULSGAARD \u200b\u200bB. KOZHEKIN, A., POLZIK, ES, Experimental long-lived entanglement of two macroscopic objects, “Nature” 413 (2001), pp. 400-403, Cytat Molskieg, p. 202,<\/span><\/p>\n

Heinsenberg W. Physics and philosophy, New York, 1958.<\/span><\/p>\n

Molski M, Niepokalnosc i Biokoherencja, Roczniki Filozoficzne KUL, volume LIII, issue1,2005. pp. 197-221<\/span><\/p>\n

Schrodinger E, Discussion of probability relations between separated systems, “Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosopical Society”, 31, (1935), p. 555, Molskiego quoted, p. 201,<\/span><\/p>\n

Sedlak W., Progress of Physics of Life, (Warsaw: PAX Publishing Institute, 1984), pp. 5-92, 118-195.<\/span><\/p>\n

Saint Thomas Aquinas ,. Summa Theologiae, Ia, Q.75, art. 5, Q. 76 art. 1.<\/span><\/p>\n

Szyma\u0144ski, A Homeopathy, home (Warsaw: Wydawniastwo APS, 1991), p.5.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tatarkiewicz W., Historia filozofii, vol. I, (Warsaw, Pa\u0144stwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1981), pp. 89-92.<\/span><\/p>\n

Grandson M, The essence of life processes in the light of the concept of electromagnetic nature of life .: Bioelectromagnetic model of enzymatic catalysis against the problems of biosystem-genesis. (Lublin: Editorial Staff of the Catholic University of Lublin, 1996), p.33.<\/span><\/p>\n

Notes<\/h5>\n

[1] Summa Theologiae, Ia, Q.75, art. 5, Q. 76 art. 1.<\/span><\/p>\n

[2] W.Tatarkiewicz, Historia filozofii, vol. I, (Warsaw, Pa\u0144stwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1981), pp. 89-92.<\/span><\/p>\n

[3] R. Descartes, Meditations on the First Philosophy, Warsaw, Pa\u0144stwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1958, vol. I, pp. 30-118, vol. II 81-181.<\/span><\/p>\n

[4] Interesting remarks on this topic were made by Fr Benedict Ashley, see Benedict M. Ashley, OP, Theologies of the Body: Humanist and Christian. (Braintree, Massachusetts: The Pope John XXIII Medical-Moral Research and Education Center, 1985), pp. 20-210.<\/span><\/p>\n

[5] W.Tatarkiewicz, Historia filozofii, vol. 2, pp. 45-56.<\/span><\/p>\n

[6] The problem of paradigms in science is a separate and interesting problem. Interesting considerations on this subject were included in his work by IG Barbour, see: Ian.G.Barbour, Myths, Models, and Paradigms, Harper and Row Publishers 1976, Polish translation, Myths, models, parad<\/span><\/p>\n

[7] See Marcin Molski, Nielokalnosc i Biokoherencja, Roczniki Filozoficzne KUL, volume LIII, issue1,2005. pp. 197-221<\/span><\/p>\n

See also:<\/span>
\nEinstein, B.Podolsky, N.Rosen, Can quantum-mechanical description of physical reality be considered complete ?, Physical Review 47 (1935), pp. 777-780, quoted by Molski, p. 199,<\/span><\/p>\n

D. BOHM, The Paradox of Einstein, Rosen and Podolsky, Quantum theory and measurements, edited by JAWheeler, WHZurek, Princeton 1983, quote by Molski p. 199,<\/span><\/p>\n

BE Schrodinger, Discussion of probability relations between separated systems, “Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosopical Society”, 31, (1935), p. 555, Molskiego quoted, p. 201,<\/span><\/p>\n

B. JULSGAARD, A. KOZHEKIN, ES POLZIK, Experimental long-lived entanglement of two macroscopic objects, “Nature” 413 (2001), pp. 400-403, Cytat Molskieg, p. 202,<\/span><\/p>\n

JSBell, On the problem of the hidden variability in quatum theory, Revs. Mod. Phys. 38 (1966), and Speakable and unspeakable in quantum mechanics, Cambridge 1987, Molskiego quoted, p. 202.<\/span><\/p>\n

W. Heisenberg, Physics and philosophy, New York, 1958.<\/span><\/p>\n

[8] Andrzej Szyma\u0144ski, Homeopathy at home, (Warsaw: Wydawniastwo APS, 1991), p.5.<\/span><\/p>\n

[9] Ibid., P.6.<\/span><\/p>\n

[10] Marian Wnuk, The essence of life processes in the light of the concept of electromagnetic nature of life .: Bioelectromagnetic model of enzymatic catalysis towards the problems of biosystem-genesis. (Lublin: Editorial Staff of the Catholic University of Lublin, 1996), p.33.<\/span><\/p>\n

[11] The biochemistry theory can also explain much here, see M.Molski, Nielokalos\u0107 and biokoherncja, p. 208-220,<\/span><\/p>\n

[12]\u00a0\u00a0 Ibid., P. 208, Molskiego’s quotation from B. Josephson, F.Pallikari-Viras, Biological utilization of quntum nonlocality, “Foundations of Physics” 21 (1991), pp.197-207<\/span><\/p>\n

[13] W. Sedlak, Progress of Physics of Life, (Warsaw: PAX Publishing Institute, 1984), pp. 5-92, 118-195.<\/span><\/p>\n

[14] Molski, Nielokalno\u015b\u0107 i biokoherencja, pp. 208-209.<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: Dla Polski, https:\/\/www.dlapolski.pl\/o-paradzie-rownosci-upadku-wartosci-chrzescijanskich-kk-i-handlu-organami<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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