Organon allopathy & palliation - was Aphorism 1

[pb000014]

We need to be clear about the terms allopathy & palliation. Often the idea of treating symptoms by suppressing is called allopathy. Actually it is palliation, contraria contraris, treatment by opposites. Allopathy was a modality used to "mimic" the vital force. When patients were suffering, the allopath would use palliation to bring some relief, until hopefully the patient recovered. The draw back of allopathy is it is not curative, and weakens the vital force.
This differentiation and explanation was the basis of the preface and introduction to the Organon. Which is why I suggested we should start with that first. It can be discussed as a whole, and there are no aphorisms.
Regards,
Paul
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[Irene de Villiers]

It was not a new idea.
Hippocrates (400BC or so) said there were two ways to treat the sick, either with opposities - or - with similars.
....Irene
--
Irene de Villiers, B.Sc AASCA MCSSA D.I.Hom/D.Vet.Hom.
P.O. Box 4703 Spokane WA 99220.
www.Furryboots.info
(Info on Feline health, genetics, nutrition & homeopathy)
"Man who say it cannot be done should not interrupt one doing it."

[pb000014]

Hi Irene,
"It was not a new idea.
Hippocrates (400BC or so) said there were two ways to treat the sick, either with opposities - or - with similars."

Yes, it is old knowledge but my point is this. Using opposites is palliation. Mimicking the vital force, using emetics, purgative, blood letting, etc. is allopathic. A lot of natural therapists use these techniques to "cleanse" the system. Think of some detox diets. They are using allopathy. It drains the vital force. To give relief while these patients suffer the allopaths would then resort to palliation. Even herbs can do this.
Hahnemann had issue with allopathy in that it was based on the idea that something internal, a toxin or cause, needed to be driven out or expelled. That's why he cautioned against looking for some cause which needed to be expelled. For him the cause was an inner disease state, something dynamic and not material, which deranged the vital force. Being dynamic it could not be seen. You can't expel this inner derangement, but by using a principal of similimum, you could disengage the vital force from the inner disease state control, placing it temporarily under medicinal disease control, then as the medicinal effect wears off the vital force can fall under the control of the indwelling spirit (aph 9) or any remnant of inner disease process remaining. The process (dosing) may be judiciously repeated until health is restored. All is explained, step by step in the Organon.
You understand what he is saying when you understand the concepts of allopathy and palliation.
So to better grasp the Organon, start with preface and intro. Then go to aphorism 1. And keep going.
Regards,
Paul

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[Irene de Villiers]

Is it?
Allo- by definition is
"allo-
indicating difference, variation, or opposition: eg allopathy"

Homeo-pathy involves similars
Allo-pathy involves opposition

For example, if the skin is wet, dry it (per allopathy) and if the skin is dry, wet it (per allopathy)
...allopathic approaches and it is false that they palliate.

It is not valid to extend the use of the word beyond its definition involving opposition, in my book.
There's nothing cleansing about abuse of the system. Our bodies are designed to use nutritents well and appropriately. including to allow detoxification by first opening the draining organs and then escorting the toxins out.
What some "natural therapists" do instead is extremely unnatural and nasty. It's not palliation in my book either.

I agree Hahnemann cautioned against looking for a cause to be expelled by the methods of the time.

You said: "You understand what he is saying when you understand the concepts of allopathy and palliation."

No that just confuses the issue.
It is important to understand what he believes yes - but doing so by arguing semantics of words like palliation and allopathy and making assumptios about who sees what meanings in those words, and who interprets them how, is a poor method IMO, open to different false interpretations.
Better to study the PRINCIPLES of the Organon as in that way, true understandong develops and the principles lead to ways of using what he documented, in an effective way which playing with words does not achieve.

Namaste,
Irene
--
Irene de Villiers, B.Sc AASCA MCSSA D.I.Hom/D.Vet.Hom.
P.O. Box 4703 Spokane WA 99220.
www.Furryboots.info
(Info on Feline health, genetics, nutrition & homeopathy)
"Man who say it cannot be done should not interrupt one doing it."

[John Harvey]

That just may be the clearest explanation I've ever seen of the way in which the initial medicinal disease state returns again to the natural disease state. Thank you, Paul.

Irene, the "idea" of similars was, until Hahnemann's famous experiment, no more than empty surmise. Its value lay only in its resulting in experiment, and until Hahnemann experimented, that idea was worthless.

Having experimented and learnt that the bark that had such power to remove malarial symptoms (even incompletely and temporarily) caused malarial symptoms, the idea that sprang from that observation -- that in a substance's ability to cause a certain totality of derangement lies its ability to cure that totality -- was more than an idea; it was an inductive conclusion borne out by further experiment.

The two "ideas" of similarity, Hippocrates' and Hahnemann's, are therefore very unalike.

Cheers --

John

[John Harvey]

You do split hairs over nothing at all, Irene, and often less than usefully, as you have here.

Of course using moisture to oppose pathological dryness or dryness to oppose pathological moisture is palliative in the sense in which Hahnemann used it: cloaking. If this much isn't evident, your understanding of palliative must be very different from Hahnemann's. The applied moisture or dryness cloaks the underlying condition; that is palliation.

As well, if you had been less driven to make everything relevant to you, you might have realised that Paul's use of quotation marks around "cleanse" was an indication of something that you then proceeded to repeat in a lecture.

The compulsion to find fault and disagree over what you actually agree with doesn't advance the conversation; it just causes you to lose the small worthwhile thread you might have followed. If you could focus on the meaning of what is said here instead of merely on its implications for your image, you might overcome some of the distraction that leads you to such irrational interpretations as you've just demonstrated.

John

[pb000014]

Hi Irene,

Read the Organon, preface and intro. It's not semantics. Hahnemann saw fit to devote many pages to this. In repeated editions. He clearly wanted us to understand the concepts. The vitalists of the day didn't get it and turned on him. He put it in the beginning to prepare us for the study of Organon. Exactly because persons such as yourself don't get the difference, he saw the importance of it.
There are numerous 'homeopaths' who use natural products, but in an allopathic way, and sometimes a palliative way.
Your statement that allopathy is opposites shows me you need to study this again. But you are not alone. I know a homeopath who proudly claimed he contributed to Yasgur's. They got it wrong as well.

Regards,
Paul
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[pb000014]

Hi Irene,
Allopathy.
Doctors would observe that in a particular disease there might be a loss of blood, eg a nosebleed. They thought this was the bodies way of trying to get rid of some inner humor. So they would mimic the vital force, at a different area, by bloodletting for example, thinking this would naturally get rid of the disease. That is allopathy.
Patient doesn't get better so they use something to oppose the discomfort. That's palliation.
Regards,
Paul
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[Dr. Joe Rozencwajg, NMD]

If I can interfere here.....using opposites is called "antipathy" as opposed to "Homeopathy" (same).

If I remember well, H created the term "allopathy" as a derision for the practice of what we would call "a mishmash of anything and everything without any common sense".

What needs to be eliminated, for example using a detox, is the product of the disease(s) that now creates a positive pathological feedback loop, an obstacle to cure.

Every tool is useful is you use it properly.....

Joe.

Dr. J. Rozencwajg, NMD.

"The greatest enemy of any science is a closed mind"

www.naturamedica.co.nz

[pb000014]

Hi Joe,
"If I remember well, H created the term "allopathy" as a derision for the practice of what we would call "a mishmash of anything and everything without any common sense".
No. I can't say I recall him saying this. He was quite clear about allopathic reasoning and what the treatments involved. Read the preface etc.
Regards,
Paul
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