[Buddha-l] Re: Medicine, Efficient Cause and Philosophy

[Dan Lusthaus]

Katherine,

Some of the misunderstandings probably come from your original description
of Coulter's claims, which, to be fair, you distance yourself from somewhat.
Whatever anti-efficient causal or anti-medical establishment elements I
wrongly suspected I detected in your posts -- I am glad the air has been
cleared and you disclaim ownership of them. Now, maybe, we can start to
trash modern medicine for its actual sins ;-)

As for which hoops homeopathic medicine would have to jump through in order
to reach mainstream acceptance, subjecting itself to rigorous and repeated
testing and persistence are the keys. The trend these days in contemporary
medicine is to be more open to alternative therapies -- as the acceptance of
chiropractors, acupuncture, etc. in recent decades shows. A major problem it
will face -- which Chinese medicine still faces in terms of being accepted
by Western medicine -- is that while particular treatments might prove
themselves, the overarching theory (which is exactly what makes it
homeopathic) will be harder to "demonstrate" -- and, as often happens when
something subjects itself to rigorous testing, be prepared to accept that
some things *don't* work as promised. In the end, we all benefit from
testing...

Dan