5 weeks - August 3, 10, 17, 24, September 7; 5-7pm US Pacific Daylight time (UTC-7)
- click here for time & date of session 1 in your time zone -
Samuel Hahnemann labored to introduce a philosophy & practice of medicine based on clear verifiable principles, to replace the existing medical dogmatism of Hippocrates & Galen, and in contrast to the developing iatromechanical dogma set in play by Descartes, the early rationalist physicians & Herman Boerhaave, the most influential medical educator of Hahnemann’s day, and arguably the author of contemporary conventional iatromechanical medicine.
Despite Hahnemann’s emphasis on developing a practice of medicine based on clear, verifiable principles, essentially an early emphasis on evidence-based medicine, our historical and contemporary teachings are rife with unverified myth, unsubstantiated legend, and unsupportable dogma which often distort contemporary understanding and practice.
While I’d prefer to focus my teaching on How to Do It, it is both entertaining and instructive for us to examine how Not to do it, to look at distortions in practice that are based on unsupportable myth, legend and dogma. We’ll investigate the sources of these in our historical tradition, and the forces that keep them alive in current teaching & practice.
topics will include discussion of:
Does “allopathic” - the term Hahnemann used to describe the “old school” medicine of his day - describe contemporary conventional medicine?
The elevation & interpretation of historical authors (including Hahnemann) to sources of Dogmatic teaching; and the nature of the respect we might most appropriately offer Hahnemann & our historical authors
Legends, questionable stories, & distortions in the homeopathic literature
aggravations - their nature, frequency, necessity, & desirability in practice
“antidoting” in general - intentional & accidental - & the nature of Hahnemann’s concerns with coffee & with mint
the stability & susceptibility to degradation of remedies; storage & exposure
“cloning” of remedies
“paper remedies”
uniformity of medication of remedy pellets
suppression & amelioration
commonly quoted “dos & don’ts”
the incorporation and confusion of Swedenborgian Theological Philosophy into “homeopathic” philosophy & practice
the significance of Mind, and the introduction of Cartesian Mind/body dichotomy, in our hierarchy of symptoms
the utility of signatures, classification schemes of remedies (periodic table, family relationships &c.) & “source information” for determining the medicinal properties of substances
“chemical constituency” as a way of determining the medicinal properties of substances
the utility of “animal,” “plant” and “mineral” “themes” in practice
compatibility of homeopathy with other systems of healing
I’ll bring cases, material media study, and examination of our classical literature into each session, to ground each topic in practical application to daily practice.
Presented as a 5-week online course
with live Online Sessions Wednesday evenings, August 3, 10, 17, 24, September 7; 5-7pm US Pacific Daylight time (UTC-7)
All sessions will be recorded & posted as streaming video with downloadable handout for participant review and self-paced participation for 6 months from registration.
Live discussion will be supplemented by asynchronous (on your own schedule) discussion in a Course Discussion Forum.
Documentation will be provided on completion for 10 hours of homeopathic continuing education.
- Teacher: Will Taylor