Talk:Homeopathy/Archive 16
I protest the fact that this article has not been approved by any homeopath. What is the idea in not allowing an expert in the field approve an article (since that was what Citizendium was created for in the first place)?—Ramanand Jhingade 13:29, 17 December 2010 (UTC)
- It seems to me that some discussion should be provided of reputable views of homeopathy. For example, Dr. Weil who says: "Dr. Weil feels that homeopathy has value, even if it merely evokes a placebo response. If that response does indeed heal then it has great value - in other words, rather than discounting the placebo response, physicians should exploit it as a safe, effective way to treat disease." John R. Brews 15:53, 1 November 2011 (UTC)
- If I had known that Andrew Weil, a classmate of mine at Harvard '63, was going to turn into the semi-charlatan that he is, I would have kicked his ass into the Charles River. It was only recently, by the way, that I learned that it was *he* who ratted on Leary and Albert to the administration -- mainly because they weren't including him in their little LSD parties.... Hayford Peirce 01:38, 20 January 2012 (UTC)
I have to admit I am a little disappointed. I was looking forward to seeing if we could keep things under control while we sought to improve this (and any) article. But, I do agree we probably don't have enough resources if things fall apart. D. Matt Innis 03:25, 20 January 2012 (UTC)
- As I said repeatedly at the EC discussions, I was against removing the moratorium purely for practical reasons rather than philosophical reasons -- we simply don't have enough Editors available to keep this article going if it ran into the same disputes that tied us all in knots for *years* while it was being edited. Hayford Peirce 03:37, 20 January 2012 (UTC)
- Yeah, deep down I know you're right. But I can't help but wonder how it will be any easier when we have more resources/contributers. It's sort of like that SOPA thing... D. Matt Innis 04:27, 20 January 2012 (UTC)
I still like Britannica online's minimalist approach, not their particular wording, and the idea of giving the readers all the links they would need to expand their knowledge:
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homeopathy, also spelled Homoeopathy, a system of therapeutics, notably popular in the 19th century, which was founded on the stated principle that “like cures like,” similia similibus curantur, and which prescribed for patients drugs or other treatments that would produce in healthy persons symptoms of the diseases being treated. This system of therapeutics based upon the “law of similars” was introduced in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. He claimed that a large dose of quinine, which had been widely used for the successful treatment of malaria, produced in him effects similar to the symptoms of malaria patients. He thus concluded that all diseases were best treated by drugs that produced in healthy persons effects similar to the symptoms of those diseases. He also undertook experiments with a variety of drugs in an effort to prove this. Hahnemann believed that large doses of drugs aggravate illness and that the efficacy of medicines thus increases with dilution. Accordingly, most homeopathists believed in the action of minute doses of medicine. To many patients and some physicians, homeopathy was a mild, welcome alternative to bleeding, purging, polypharmacy, and other heavy-handed therapies of the day. In the 20th century, however, homeopathy has been viewed with little favour and has been criticized for focusing on the symptoms rather than on the underlying causes of disease. Homeopathy still has some adherents, and there are a number of national and international societies, including the International Homoeopathic Medical League, headquartered in Bloemendaal, Neth. |
Anthony.Sebastian 23:55, 21 January 2012 (UTC)