Homeopathic Philosophy

Classical homeopathy rests on a rich philosophical foundation established by Hahnemann in his Organon of the Healing Art at the turn of the nineteenth century and developed over the past two centuries since. Following is a concise yet detailed discussion of the main distinguishing characteristics of the homeopathic therapeutic method:

A clear understanding of the dynamics of health and disease

Classical homeopathy is rare among systems of medicine in having a clear and thorough view of the dynamics of health and disease. In homeopathy disease is regarded as an affection of the spiritual core of the person, and the treatment of disease is guided by specific laws of healing:

The law of similars calls for the application of remedies made from substances whose disease pattern best matches that of the person — hence the origin of the term homeopathy (from the Greek): homeo- (homoios, similar) + -pathy (pathos, suffering). The disease pattern of remedies is determined through a combination of sources including formal experiment and collected clinical data. Because of this unitary understanding of disease — that regardless of its specific symptomatic appearance, all illness is spiritual in nature — classical homeopathic treatment usually consists of prescribing one remedy at a time even when multiple symptoms are concurrently present, in order to address the spiritual cause of the illness.
Classical homeopaths are very attentive to the phenomenon of suppression, and carefully distinguish between it and true curative action. Suppression is defined as the disappearance of symptoms, whether spontaneously or in response to medical intervention, that is associated with a lack of improvement or a worsening in the overall level of health of the person. Many conventional and alternative therapeutic approaches rely on suppressive treatment; indeed, side effects from medications can be regarded as suppression arising from the incorrect understanding of the dynamics of healing. Suppression is sometimes necessary or even life-saving, but it is counterproductive in most situations. Suppression sometimes resembles cure (after all, most patients are happy to see a bothersome symptom disappear and care little for philosophy!) but may lead to worsening overall health down the road. Those wishing to achieve a deep level of healing are advised to consult with a classical homeopath whenever specific symptoms have improved but overall vitality has not, in order to ascertain whether suppression has taken place and to act accordingly.
Early homeopaths following Hahnemann observed the existence of principles of direction of cure that needed to be respected in order for permanent recovery to take place:

The progress of healing of an ailment will tend to be in reverse order of time to the order its appearance: the body has a memory of its past states, and during treatment old symptoms will frequently reappear (in weaker form and for a shorter period) before finally disappearing.
Disease symptoms will tend to evolve from more superficial to deeper tissues, whereas healing will progress in the reverse order. This hierarchy ranges from the skin (most superficial), through the respiratory and digestive tissues, through vital organs such as that heart and liver, to the brain. It is essential for both the homeopath and the patient to respect this natural hierarchy throughout the progress of treatment.

Hahnemann established the ideal of minimum dose during the early days of his experimentation with homeopathy. Although his impetus was the reduction of side effects from the aggressive medical approaches of the time (which included the frequent use of mercury and bloodletting), through this he was led to the serendipitous discovery that whenever there is a correspondence between remedy and disease state a medicinal effect will persist even when the original substance is diluted so much that it is no longer present in chemical form.

Conventional medicine, in contrast to classical homeopathy, has a scientific guiding principle that calls for the application of the medical sciences, but lacks a medical principle of healing. Because of this, health and disease are viewed through the mechanistic perspective of the sciences, which is often able to explain disease processes but not to heal them.

Emphasis on clinical practice over theory

Classical homeopathy is first and foremost a clinical science concerned with the healing of living beings. As such its foremost concern is the practice of medicine, in contrast with conventional medicine where theoretical considerations (such as how a medication exerts its effect) are primary. What is important for homeopaths is that their observations correspond with the reality of the clinic rather than with the rational-scientific point of view from which we are taught to think about reality. This is because many things about people do not make sense from this rational perspective, which is able to explain only part of human reality. For example, we regularly experience symptoms that cannot be explained physiologically, unusual sensations that we find hard to describe without first apologizing that “they do not make sense,” and strange phenomena we have experienced but likewise find embarrassing to tell others (or at least our doctor).

Conventional medical thinking is based on the view that what cannot be explained cannot be addressed, so it regularly excludes many ‘strange’ symptoms that patients complain about. In contrast, classical homeopathy seeks to include all such phenomena in its investigation of the patient, with the goal of fully perceiving the patient’s own life experience rather than imposing an external interpretation of it. Clearly the first approach has its advantages, and conventional medicine is indispensable under some situations such as emergencies. What homeopathy offers, in contrast, is a system of medicine that respects all of our experiences and successfully integrates them within the homeopathic diagnosis. In this way it is able to deal with medical situations that make no sense to the medical doctor, as well as to cure many conditions which doctors declare as incurable. Finally, at its best homeopathic treatment is able to address lifelong spiritual challenges (e.g. self-defeating behaviours), mental-emotional issues (e.g. persistent thoughts or feelings), and constitutional weaknesses (e.g. allergic tendencies from birth).

Unique diagnostic methodology

Classical homeopathy takes a very specific perspective on a patient’s problem. Its point of view is quite distinct from (yet often complementary to) the perspective of other clinical systems such as conventional pharmacology and surgery, physiotherapy, psychology, and nutrition. What makes the homeopathic perspective especially powerful is that the homeopathic diagnosis leads directly to homeopathic treatment (as described below). This is markedly different from conventional medicine where a clear diagnosis does not necessarily guarantee clear or effective treatment. Examples are the common conditions ‘essential hypertension’ (hypertension of unknown cause so it cannot effectively be treated except through the chronic use of medications), and ‘autoimmune disease’ which refers to the increasingly prevalent tendency for people to develop symptoms due to the body's attacking some of its own tissues (asthma, allergies, arthritis, many skin conditions, and possibly many other conditions fall into this category).

Homeopathic diagnosis relies on sophisticated and thorough clinical methodology. A typical first appointment lasts 1 to 2 hours or more, during which the patient (or family members in the case of small children or the incapacitated) is asked to describe his or her concerns in great detail. With the help of very specific yet open-ended questions the patient is led exactly to describe the symptomatology and own experience of the disease. Following that, areas which the patient has not already touched on are enquired about: major illnesses, traumatic events, childhood history, recurrent dreams, fears, food cravings or aversions, reaction to weather, etc. This allows for information from diverse aspects of the patient’s life to be used in determining the picture (recurrent pattern, morphology) of the disease.

The resultant diagnosis is only mildly dependent on the presenting disease (‘flu’, ‘diabetes’, ‘depression’); rather, it is based much more on many small details about the pathology (When did it begin relative to stressful events in the person’s life? What is the exact sensation? What things make it better or worse?) and about the person in general (stress factors, lifestyle and hobbies, physical constitution). This means that two people with arthritis will most likely receive different homeopathic remedies for their treatment, and conversely that the same homeopathic treatment might be appropriate for multiple diseases. Through this approach which is unique to classical homeopathy (as opposed to other popular forms of homeopathy in which multiple remedies are prescribed concurrently) addresses not only the patient’s chief complaint but also improves secondary pathologies, aches and pains, and will tend to increase energy, improve mood, and enhance overall vitality and joie de vivre.

Read “The Evolution of Homeopathy” for an overview of the historical and philosophical development of classical homeopathy to the present day.