52 philosophy

• Nº 5 • V. 2 • CULTURA HOMEOPÁTICA

Homeopathy and its paradigms:

G-d is in the particulars We’re tempted to ask: from all these interpreters,
Aby Warburg which are trustworthy and which are merely reediting fa-
vorite authors and ideas? We ask this even while we know
Each physician approaches his/her homeopathic that the answer is actually irrelevant, as all of them have a
practice from definite assumptions and personal expec- right to invoke Hahnemann’s authority. It’s a well known
OUT-DEZ

tations. These may be used to establish a kind of “practi- fact that Hahnemann’s thought changed along time, so that
tioners profiling”. There are those who are satisfied with different phases may be described. We’ll focus on a differ-
42-60 • 2003 •

almost nothing and those who seek utter perfection and ent inquiry: will the above mentioned impasse ever be
still, those who are so much lacking in curiosity that are overcome? It demands multicentric collaboration, as au-
blind to many central issues. Unluckily, medical educa- tophagic censorship and the false polarity between an
tion trains practitioners to focus on the control of ana- excess of tradition and the tentacles of acritical modern-
tomical damage. And we may not forget a group that may ization have prevailed until our own time.
P.

be called “hyperpragmatic”: they are so convinced of a We’re afraid we haven’t yet grown up so much.
priori limitations to Homeopathy, that they claim for We live in a world surrounded by myths, so
themselves the right to establish definite boundaries con- strengthened by oral tradition, that it became almost
cerning what Homeopathy may expect to treat. As a re- impossible to set a common ground for a single Home-
sult, Homeopathy is reduced to a structural positivity so opathy. What we have, in fact, are several different “ho-
schematic that its true role becomes blurred. What all of meopathies”.
them have in common is the “practice of an agnostic What we need to establish is the epistemic foun-
Homeopathy”1. In the face of their skepticism, it becomes dations of our perspective. This is the reason why we
very difficult to find out if Homeopathy might be truly decided to prioritize a definite practical approach: Ho-
held accountable for the results it claims. meopathy as the Medicine of the Subject. We must warn
No matter such considerations, it’s indisputable that this means much more than a mere revival of long
that Homeopathy faces a crisis, although many of its pro- forgotten trends. To most practitioners, medical anthro-
tagonists may not be aware of it. There is a small seed of pology may seem anachronic, especially when con-
consensus, regarding the evident fact that Homeopathy fronted to the amazing development of basic homeo-
is consistently being institutionalized. Indeed, we have pathic research. To address issues such as suffering as
advanced! Yet, we still need to answer the question: existential anxiety, to employ uncommon symptoms as
in what direction? Only then we’ll be able to plan the the basis of semiology, to understand the subject in his/
next steps. her permanent tension between immanence and tran-
The homeopathic movement entered this century scendence. Even worse when we suggest that these are
carrying with it an internal crisis, that demands different precisely the elements that ground any therapeutic pro-
strategies from those employed in previous times. Not cedure. In short, to think of health as a notion in perma-
merely an innovative and creative historiographical nent resignification.
approach, but an actual redefinition of our agenda. This Many believe that Homeopathy should be guided
owes to the fact that this crisis reached existential pro- by simple evidence, i.e. results. This isn’t wrong. What we
portions, as most strangely, Homeopathy remained im- seek belongs to a completely different order of inquiry: to
pervious to the largest part of its contradictions. This make us understand as a different clinical logic.
impasse was expected, it depends on a series of factors It may prove useful to shortly summarize the
that we aren’t able to discuss in this article for the sake of epistemic rings that led Homeopathy to its present situa-
brevity. Yet, one of them is easily perceptible: there’s a large tion. We’ll pick up the threads that were used to knit Ho-
number of different interpreters of Hahnemann’s work. meopathy as a Medicine of the Subject.

1. Expression suggested by Prof. Dr. José Ricardo Ayres. Personal communication.

Symptoms in Homeopathy: Indexical

CULTURA HOMEOPÁTICA • V. 2 • Nº 5 •
Italian semiotician Carlo Ginzburg2 explains that
Historians tell that Medicine as a science began both historians and physicians equally depend upon
with Hippocrates. One of the reasons is that he grounded analogy to make inferences, and they usually grasp and
his semiology on observation. It ‘s known that Hippocrates understand reality from indirect – indexical, conjectural
profited from Empedocles’ suggestion to establish con- – data, which become actualized through immediate
trasts between the healthy and the unhealthy, prioritiz- experience and observation.
ing symptoms and signals as indexes that would modu- Ginzburg states that this is the reason why neither
late the first clinical histories. history nor medicine were able to become Galilean sci-
Symptoms let us speak of things we have never seen ences. The experimental method that required the math-
nor heard before. We cherish the learning of the diagnos- ematization of phenomena and their linear reproduc-
tic and prognostic arts, initially as mere “hunters” of mute ibility, couldn’t have its applicability guaranteed in spe-
hints that will allow us to dominate our preys, and lately, cific disciplines, specially those that focus on unities rather

OUT-DEZ
by employing our cognitive, sensitive and intuitive skills than collections.
in order to build a clinical knowledge from spoken hints. Shortly, as the positivity of science invokes gener-
The nature of our conjectural intellect has precisely the alization in order to define universals, medicine hopes –

• 2003 • P. 42-60
same roots. indeed, it’s forced – to accept the challenge of knowing
In the clinical, as well in other kinds of inquiry, the particulars. If the individuum est ineffable, we may very
use of marginal data to interpret the phenomenic network well infer that it’s impossible to say something about the
– that is to say, accessory hints and adventitious symptoms individual. And if the historic event of a human life is in
– doesn’t mean that we may establish a phenomenon fact an unicum, including pathology, its record may only
without having actually experienced it. We may not know become “scientific” through a straining process of abstrac-
beforehand how something will be, if we haven’t seen it tion – notwithstanding the fact that it will still have to
before. Hahnemann was adamant concerning this and deal with the constitutive positivist features of the still
sought to establish a medicine of experimental basis pre- prevalent notion concerning science.
cisely to escape from systematic apriorism, from a medi- On the other hand, Ginzburg tells us that Freud
cine grounded on theories that took the subject out of sight. only tangentially addressed this issue. The father of Psy-
But medicine, precisely, was looking for a knowl- choanalysis was very interested in Giovanni Morelli, an
edge built from accumulated experiences, that is to say, to Italian art critic. The latter – also a physician – devel-
probe reality in order to find in it hints of non directly oped an original and successful method to establish the
experienced phenomena. The celebrated aphorism that authorship of paintings. Ginzburg explains that Morelli
enunciated Morgagni’s goal, “knowing before seeing” had no other tool but his “clinical intuition”: Instead of
couldn’t be more explicit. The nature of Homeopathy paying attention to the overall “style” of the picture, he
doesn’t oppose this search for the causes in order to pre- would pay close attention to details, peripheral elements,
dict their effects. The application of the Law of Similars traces and vestiges that are usually concealed by gener-
depends upon this same causality. Yet, there is a signifi- alizations. This illustrates the semiotic or indexical
cant difference: Hahnemann wanted to actualize his epistemologic model.
empiricism through a daily and individual agenda, where In the case of Morelli, it meant to value details, as
the unexpected was decisive. Each single case may only abstracted from the almost absentminded observation
be known through its unpredictable contents, that are of the untrained eye: the shape of ears, anatomical par-
only revealed here and now. There is certainly a method, ticularities of nails, microscopic reflexes of the light on
but it takes imprecision into account, it’s an inherent part the eyes, the density of hair, facial gestures and shadows.
of it. One more ingredient in the eternal war between Freud made some notes on Morelli, suggesting that
Racionalists and Empiricists. there was offered an element of uncommon importance
While Morgagni was amassing autopsies that and poorly explored as a methodologic tool. Shortly, the
would allow him to propose an universal law – symp- whole could only be apprehended from the fragmentary
toms are the slaves of anatomic injury – Hahnemann web of its parts – we suggest to call this model “fragmen-
was ready to relativize the value of that law: concerning tary paradigm”. In an interpretative method grounded
the subject, nothing may be perfectly predicted, much less on vestiges, we must not look for the most striking charac-
a priori prognosticated. teristics – as they are the most easy to imitate – , but for

2. Personal communication from Prof. Dr. Madel T. Luz. SINAPIH, Rio de Janeiro, 2002.
54 Homeopathy and its paradigms: semiotic, vitalistic and fragmentary
• Nº 5 • V. 2 • CULTURA HOMEOPÁTICA

the most revealing peripheral traits. This is our cue to try what does it matter if during an acute crisis of vertigo, the
to establish a relationship between the indexical para- patient feels cold and compelled to incline to the right
digm and the discovery of the value of a symptom’s de- side? What may be the relevance of his dreams of falling
tails, that is to say, to understand particularities as a ves- from a height? Or “ecstasy during perspiration”, “desire
tigial guide to elucidate an actual totality. for lemons during headache”, “anxiety exactly at 5:00
Such marginal data, according to Ginzburg, are the p.m.”. Subjective sensations merely distract the attention
common ground of Morelli’s, Freud’s and Conan Doyle/ of the clinician.
Sherlock Holmes’ methods. All of them would concentrate Although a few previous physicians had been
on apparently superficial signs, those that the common equally careful while recording their patients’ symptoms,
untrained eye can’t perceive. Most regrettably, Ginzburg none was able to understand how to apply this knowl-
didn’t include Hahnemann in this group. And he should edge in actual practice.
have had, as one of Hahnemann’s main contributions to
OUT-DEZ

medical theory was the idea that a totality must be recon- A further step in medicine of the subject: the
structed from apparently disconnected fragments. vitalist hermeneutical model
When Hahnemann structured his system, he didn’t All attempts to recover the subject pass necessarily
42-60 • 2003 •

restrict his interest to superficially perceptible symptoms, through a discussion of the deeper meanings of the no-
but to all possible manifestations, including the most in- tions of science and technology. Why were we led to the
timate, such as dreams, personal ways of feeling, all kind present excessive technicality in Medicine? We may not
of subjective symptoms which he included besides objec- forget to take into account its impressive social penetra-
P.

tive signs in his materia medica. A new model of clinical tion. Biomedicine itself hopes to include the subject in its
history was thus developed, one that dislodges nosos from field (WHO, 1988).
its center – the core of Western medicine. Vitalism will always remain an object of inquiry
A true revolution had been accomplished, the seed due to its close proximity to the issues highlighted by
of one of his main epistemologic ruptures had been sown. homeopathic epistemology. We will address Vitalism
Hahnemann rejects typologies of every kind and de- from a hermeneutic point of view, i.e. what is the text and
mands to look for unpredictable symptoms. Why? Per- what is the context, what is the core of vitalist proposi-
haps he was aware of the little relevance of symptoms tions? How do these ideas connect with Homeopathy as
when they are merely categorized as manifestations of a Medicine of the Subject?
anatomic and clinical pictures. Alternatively, perhaps he This mode of analysis should always include the
distrusted a therapeutics guided by current semiology. consideration of a totality, that is to say, it must take into
Hahnemann developed a first notion concerning unspe- account a hermeneutic totality constituted by isolated
cific susceptibility, that would only be officially formu- fragments of human suffering. This illustrates the value
lated one century later. That is to say, he discovered the of vitalist hermeneutics in Homeopathy.
semiologic and therapeutic importance of modalized Philosophical hermeneutics is one of the branches
symptoms. He discovered the value of the unexpected, of of knowledge that more consistently systematizes the
the a strange phenomenology of the unpredictable fea- problem of the subject. It address all features of the hu-
tures of natural diseases. No need to stress the innova- man being, besides the problems of subjectivity and
tion this represented. And he made this conception an intersubjectivity – this is clearly enunciated in the foun-
integral part of his method. From these guidelines, it’s dations of its particular language. The more we give to
immediately inferred that prescriptions would never technology the power to correct fragments of dysfunction,
again be grounded on the predictable semiology of each the lesser will be the interpretative dimension of medi-
case. Patognomonic symptoms of disease may not be the cine. That is to say, the more medicine is grounded on
only semiologic guide of therapeutics. They would only evidence, the lesser the involvement of hermeneutics in
have value if they were colored by personal tones, the medical action. On the other hand, there is a boundary to
hues of idiosyncrasy. such auto-limitation of the method8.
Hahnemann listened very carefully, he wrote Gadamer illustrates this idea through the allegory
down uncommon details – peripheral manifestations of Ulysses. In his famous odyssey back home, he would
that were usually neglected by physicians as “too vague shun all external influences and “deviations”. This serves
and subjective”. Indeed, what is the use of individual mo- to show the limit imposed by reason on itself and which
dalities in a medicine ruled by the name of diseases? It erases fundamental human issues. Hermeneutics, in this
needs to put a name to the disease – i.e. labyrinthitis: sense, helps to bring back dignity into knowledge.
 Paulo Rosenbaum 55

CULTURA HOMEOPÁTICA • V. 2 • Nº 5 •
No matter how technological and sophisticated a tivity, as is a vitalist-orientated Homeopathy.
therapeutics, the patients impresses upon his doctor an But, what does “Vitalism” mean?
inexorable image. The physician is the receiver end of The term Vitalism refers to a particular way of
human suffering, a whole range of transferential rela- perceiving the world. It alludes to ethical aspects that have
tionships, he meets the eye of pain, and also of relief. All been always present, and we, as modern interpreters,
these actually have an effect upon the medical art, includ- need to approach from a hermeneutic perspective. To
ing therapeutic actions. Any single medical facility is a grasp Vitalism in the context of its values requires to ana-
witness to this fact: from hospital to private offices, no lyze it in full detail. This is one of the tasks to be performed
matter whether the patients suffers from a neoplasm or a in the future.
psycho-somatic disease. As long as medicine is mediated The hermeneutic approach allows us to see under
by human interaction, the interpreter will always be there. a new light all aspects of Homeopathy: symptoms, their
The more Biomedicine gives its role of decision- analysis, the interpretation of narratives and clinical com-

OUT-DEZ
maker to a priori data dependent upon technology, the plaints, the objectivation of therapeutics in the context of
more it becomes estranged from the individual reality of the doctor-patient relationship. As a result, every case is
the patient and the world of hermeneutics. Thus, the more an unique point of encounter between doctors and pa-

• 2003 • P. 42-60
medicine grounds itself in evidence, the less hermeneutic tients.
it will be. On the other hand, Homeopathy represents the Thus, hermeneutics isn’t merely an auxiliary dis-
opposite situation: the Medicine of the Subject is particu- cipline, which supplies the methodological framework
larized by its interpretation of the vital trajectory of the to other sciences, but it points to the core of philosophy,
subject. Hence the patient-as-totality9 is considered in his/ which isn’t exclusively the study of logical thought, but a
her historical framework, both retrospective and prospec- systematic pursue of the logic of dialogue.
tive. Totality, in this context, means a hermeneutic total- The “fusional” character of two subjectivities has
ity, i.e. a relational totality that finds a practical applica- a deep impact in human relationships and all philoso-
tion and allows us to define a specific area of interest. phies. The tool the actualizes this task is language:
No single fact has meaning by and of itself: “local”
symptoms, fevers, symptoms, syndromes, even a clinical “Language was thematized as a world of
pathology, no matter if acute or chronic, functional or signs whose model was supplied by the
anatomical, all are mere parts of a much more complex scientific success of symbolic languages
context: the particular biography of the sick individual. developed by mathematics.” (Gadamer, 1996)
Thus, we need to address the issue of language and
speech10. As Gadamer wrote (1996): Hermeneutic states that the only valid form of
knowledge is that which is built as natural sciences have
“In our century, the philosophical thought set done. Gadamer affirms that “truth” isn’t necessarily a syn-
new steps when it realized that not only onym of “method”.
reason and thought are at the center of
Philosophy, but language itself.” Beyond future medicine:
the fragmentary model
Words are the tools that enable communication We speak of what we know. Each signal gives us
in areas such as mental health. Words are the elements meaning. We know because we speak.
that awaken us to the importance of qualitative apprais- What Homeopathy actually offers isn’t offered by
als of the patients’ lives. All this is essential if we are to any other known therapeutic system. We offer the patient
reevaluate the meanings of concepts such of care and lis- a very different kind of support. Neither it’s better nor the
tening as the basic tools that promote self-understand- only one concerned with what is truly worthy of being
ing. The recovery of narrative as an access to suffering healed. Its main virtue – and its uniqueness – is rooted
became a vital tool in medicine as a whole. in two assumptions: normalcy may not always imply the
We precisely allude to a reality that may not be mere absence of symptoms and the qualitative-analogic
merely synthesized as the mechanical application of the nature of its procedures. Besides, we all know that each
scientific method of natural sciences to the human object. symptom conceals a deeper meaning (meta-significance).
Concerning human facts, this approach is impossible, and This is translated into practice by the notion that we
what we should seek instead are the paths that may lead shouldn’t seek to merely extinguish symptoms, but to
to the validation of a practice that is grounded on subjec- accurately understand their partnership with the indi-
58 Homeopathy and its paradigms: semiotic, vitalistic and fragmentary
• Nº 5 • V. 2 • CULTURA HOMEOPÁTICA

vidual and his/her personal representations. This con- tors ignore. This only increases our responsibility, as we
stitutes a specificity of our daily practice: to carefully ap- are in a blurred area of medical science that forces us to
praise symptoms and their particular meaning to each probe deeper in the essential features of human health.
individual. Medicine has been developing an ever-growing
What distinguishes us may well reside in the cre- trend in epidemiological studies that focus on the equa-
ativeness deployed by patients to find personal answers tion protection versus risk. A second and more recent
with the help of the prescribed remedy. Empirical evidence approach, posits quality as the basic tool of analysis.
is furnished by the infinite number of patients complain- Nonetheless, a significant part of the homeopathic com-
ing from unexplainable medical syndromes that homeo- munity insists upon the mistaken notion that Homeopa-
paths worldwide successfully treat every day, no matter thy will only be legitimated when it meets the quantita-
the lack of a definite clinical diagnosis. This is nothing but tive and measurable criteria of Positivist science. It may
a faithful picture of the clinical practice, and it would be only be rated as a naive conception of progress, but it is
OUT-DEZ

very interesting to accurately quantify it. On the other dangerous, as it caters to skepticism.
hand, against superficial comparison to psychoanalysis, At the same time, as a kind of unexpected para-
Homeopathy doesn’t deal with the subconscious through dox, many conventional doctors and a significant part of
42-60 • 2003 •

words, notwithstanding the fact that transference is an the scientific community as a whole seem fascinated by
integral part of any therapeutic setting. Our medium is the operative methodology of qualitities implemented
different: we apply drugs upon a vitality that has been by homeopaths in their clinical practice.
contaminated by obsessing metaphors3. Free of them, it In a recent meeting with Jacques Benveniste, we
P.

may devote itself to the foremost attribute of health, personally witnessed the extension of the skepticism of
epimeleia. That is to say, the homeopathic remedy en- basic researchers concerning the issues discussed in this
ables the subject to take care true care of him/herself4. article. This made us aware that it’s urgent to find a way to
A second extreme position is that which holds that better express our doubts and needs to them. For instance,
homeopathic remedies act through a modulation of the we may show them that Unicist homeopathy produces the
immunologic system. This position is seriously flawed as, kind of results that it effects, not by grounding itself on primi-
besides the fact that it lacks sufficient empirical support, we tive forms of organicism nor by assuming a specific signal
suspect that remedies act upon the individual as a whole transmitted by each remedy to the individual, but because
and not merely upon any particular biological system. If it believes that a well-defined medicinal signal awakens in
this wasn’t the case, how may we explain those personal the vitality its ability to reinvent itself.
adjectives that precisely define a characteristic symptom – Hence, the inexorable dilemma: should we put
the leading factor in the choice of the remedy? Full cures philosophy at the head of the homeopathic movement?
aren’t always possible, nonetheless, the homeopathic rem- Choices are very few. Perhaps the time has come to
edy may always elicit all-inclusive adaptations, a sort of appeal to a kind of pragmatism to defend applied phi-
creative homeostases that each particular individual actu- losophy. Medicine needs to rethink itself, and Homeopa-
alizes according to his/her peculiarities. If Biomedicine isn’t thy has the right to make its voice heard in this dialogue.
happy with this, it couldn’t matter less. We can’t ignore the problems created by a technological
The main problem in our time is not to fight for reason indiscriminately applied to health sciences. If we
Biomedicine’s approval, but to evade the danger of dog- are to seek for more enlightened interlocutors, we need to
matism. We must make our practice become a continual give Homeopathy the epistemological status it deserves.
task of self-criticism. Concerning our students, we owe On the other hand, a rigid and tyrannical homeo-
them a commitment to always strive to afford Homeopa- pathic doctrine is untenable: it doesn’t know how to react
thy more consistency; regarding our patients, our fore- to self-contradiction and it desperately clings to repeti-
most duty is to offer support, solidarity and health. tion as the only available strategy. This when doctrine
Besides this, we still need to become aware that should limit itself to the elucidation of the constitutive
we know many essential things that conventional doc- referents of a method.

3. Expression established by Charles Mauron to refer to persistent subconscious contents, more often not attributable to actual
biographical events. They may be revealed through the analysis of preferred words in the individual’s speech as they appear
during interviews, writings, letters, drawings, etc.
4. Masi Elizalde had the same idea in mind when he stated that besides the objectivation of metaphors, a useful hint to verify if the
patient is improving is to check if he/she made time to study him/herself. Personal communication, 2001.
 Paulo Rosenbaum 59

CULTURA HOMEOPÁTICA • V. 2 • Nº 5 •
A psychoanalysis of the homeopathic movement But mathematization is impossible in medicine,
would immediately reveal that if a fraction of science still owing to the simple fact that it always deals with a par-
reject us, it’s not only because we still don’t know how to ticular individual, which by definition is unique. The in-
solve our statistical irregularities, but especially because dividual can’t be studied as a collection. If it weren’t for
we never knew how to communicate our epistemologi- such “small” detail, Homeopathy would have plenty
cal foundations with the required level of precision. We epistemological ammunition to make itself heard and
didn’t know how to build proper alliances. We have never understood. It may very well announce: “We cure such
presented the guidelines of our episteme as clear and and such diseases” – the requirement of any Evidence
distinct ideas. We still need to elaborate more consistently Based Medicine. Yet, when we establish certain basic as-
the following question: or we seek coherence by redirect- sumptions as the hardcore of the homeopathic program
ing our energy to the analysis of our unfitness as produc- of scientific research , we are forced to admit that Home-
tive interlocutors, or we yield to the force of the abstrac- opathy is an imprecise science. But this doesn’t involve a

OUT-DEZ
tions that Biomedicine claimed as their methodological lack of seriousness.
exclusivity – now renamed as “Evidence Based Medicine” A diversity in methods and a plurality of voices is
– and we renounce to all higher expectations and admit essential to the formulation of a consistent homeopathic

• 2003 • P. 42-60
that Homeopathy is nothing but a neo-pharmacology. epistemology. It must leave room for critical debate, cre-
Indeed, their is a huge gap between the expecta- ative dialogue and intelligent polarities between different
tion of a medicine that wants to make itself understood ways of thinking and practicing Homeopathy. But whom-
as it actually is, and the hope of Biomedicine that Home- ever may insist upon the need of mathematization and
opathy may come to correct some mistaken views and statistical evidence, must bring consistent and
formulate a more acceptable epistemology. For instance, intersubjectively validated proof. This hasn’t yet happened.
it may give up individualization as its central tenet. We Homeopathy as the Medicine of the Subject is the
find this frightful. What will become of a Homeopathy so product of the continual work of generation after gen-
restricted? Precisely what part of homeopathic positive- eration of commentators of Hahnemann’s work. A work
ness would be so validated? that proved to be arduous, meticulous, where nothing is
We need to learn how to serenely accept the inher- automatically peremptory, nothing is definitive. Homeo-
ent imprecision of a model centered on the individual. Each paths need to understand diversity instead of fighting it.
homeopath has to define his/her position. Brazilian soci- All homeopathic schools are relevant, no matter if they
ologist Madel Luz most pertinently reminds us that science attain or not the efficacy they promise; they are all the
is a form of discourse. More specifically, a patchwork of product of different interpretations of the method and
discourses. And the discourse that has historically backed none of them must necessarily be better than the others.
us states that Homeopathy, par excellence, is a form of The history of Homeopathy is rich in discoveries that
medicine that doesn’t limit itself to take the individual into “overcame” all previous assumptions. Moreover, its ad-
account, but that posits the subject as the only reason be- vancement may be described as discontinuous, full of ups
hind its search for clinical approaches that privilege qual- and downs. What truly matters, is to keep open the doors
ity and the singularities of each patient. Against all exclu- to dialogue.
sively quantitative epistemes Homeopathy seeks to estab- For instance, the explanation of the action of in-
lish peculiar approaches to health and disease. The sub- finitesimal doses has never been so close to fulfillment as
ject, in his/her multiplicity of shapes, constitutions, tempera- in our days. It’s a most expected moment: Homeopathy
ments, inclinations, sensations, dispositions and sensibili- will finally see its biological possibility finally elucidated.
ties is the matter of its own agenda. The heterodox, un- Yet, the gap that separates Homeopathy from its status as
stable, ungraspable, unpredictable subject. a Medicine of the Subject will remain. After all, it’s ad-
After all: what are idiosyncrasies? Unpredictable duced, all different homeopathies reach similar results.
reactions. Without idiosyncrasy, there would be no sus- We can’t help wonder: same results concerning what?
ceptibility, as Kent taught, and there would be no Home- Different homeopathies can’t produce similar results
opathy, as Hahnemann imagined it. because they focus on different features of human life.
All this aims at a specific purpose: to admit an Homeopathy, as the Medicine of the Subject, in no medi-
actual degree of contradiction between the hope for pre- cal specialization. It mirrors its original identity, the
dictability and the actuality of Homeopathy as the Medi- search for the original text that we call “a subject” in dif-
cine of the Subject. Hahnemann himself hoped for a kind ferent contexts and its therapeutic applicability through
of mathematical Homeopathy. the use of the verbal processes emanated from provings.
60 Homeopathy and its paradigms: semiotic, vitalistic and fragmentary
• Nº 5 • V. 2 • CULTURA HOMEOPÁTICA

It recovers the central role of care and wholesomeness in with semiologic fragments – obtained from both provers and
the treatment of patients, it leads us to the path of a Nar- patients, yet when we seek to understand the trajectory of the
rative Based Medicine. vital attitude of any particular patient, we need to address an
unified totality. That is to say, from mere indexes we shift to
“Inasmuch as homeopathic physicians deal the interpretation of meanings. Do we know how to do it?
with fragments (the provings), which don’t The answer is: through language.
make sense as totalities – as provings are Hence, we ought to think in the terms of a complex
nothing but compilations from different epistemology, where the fragmentary paradigm serves as
individuals – but must be included in a totality the instrumental reason that allows us to make operative
– the patient, and the fact that most of these the meanings of each individual’s personal micro-environ-
fragments are mere links in the chain of a lost ment. Micro-environment: a space where meanings are
unity – or at least, unarticulated – nothing grasped; built by “symbolic animals” according to Ernst
OUT-DEZ

remains but to elaborate qualitative syntheses. Cassirer’s expression, from the interaction between body,
These consist in deliberate reductions that mind and environment. Fragment of different individual
allow us to make technique operative. The idiosyncrasies – compiled from the provings and applied
42-60 • 2003 •

record of the verbal processes compiled from into therapeutics – will enable us to act upon the so-called
the provers, offers us all the needed parts to substantial composite, helping it to resignify its being-in-
compare with the expressions of patients.” the-world. In order to accomplish such goal, the subject
must be the master of him/herself, must be concerned with
P.

We still don’t know how to make this model – that him/herself: epimeleia (Foucault, ). This will be the next
may be called fragmentary paradigm – operative.We work question we will discuss.