Definitions: Homeopathy; Allopathy

[Drooper]

I realised I had never looked up the dictionary definition of these terms before, so I dusted off my trusty Concise OED and found the following:

Homoeopathy the treatment of disease by minute doses of drugs that in a healthy person would produce symptoms of the disease.

A couple of questions. Does anybody object to this being described as a "treatment of disease". I don't because it doesn't imply anything about efficacy.

What about its description of the use of "minute doses". That I do object to, because homeopathy advocates treatment using an absence or drugs etc.

Next:

Allopathy the treatment of disease by conventional means, i.e. with drugs having opposite effects to the symptoms.

This I find inacurate. Surely, it could be defined as "treatment by conventional means", OR "treatment with drugs having opposite effects to the symptoms", but not both as is the case in the OED.


Should we campaign to have this fixed?

 

[athon]

Sure, we could campaign to put the real definitions in.

Now, let's just agree on the real definitions...

*crickets chirping*

It'll never happen.

Athon

 

[geni]

A couple of questions. Does anybody object to this being described as a "treatment of disease". I don't because it doesn't imply anything about efficacy.

Only from a homeopathic proint of view (Desease isn't a cancept that really makes that much sense within the homeopathic world view).

What about its description of the use of "minute doses". That I do object to, because homeopathy advocates treatment using an absence or drugs etc.

Not always. 10X for example will still contain some of the oringal substance.

This I find inacurate. Surely, it could be defined as "treatment by conventional means", OR "treatment with drugs having opposite effects to the symptoms", but not both as is the case in the OED.

Unfortunetly the way the word is used it can mean either. Strickly it should mean the first defintion but it been adopted by the alt med comunity to mean conventional medcine (and sometimes another part of the alt med comuntiy that they don't like).

Should we campaign to have this fixed?

Depends. What whould need to be done is such a campian?

 

[Drooper]

Sure, we could campaign to put the real definitions in.

Now, let's just agree on the real definitions...

*crickets chirping*

It'll never happen.

Athon

Perhaps. But I am sure they would be interested in amending significant inacuracies.

 

[exarch]

Originally posted by Drooper

Allopathy the treatment of disease by conventional means, i.e. with drugs having opposite effects to the symptoms.

Actually, I object to the first part of the definition, since allopathic is apparently the opposite of homeopathic, which means "like cures like". That means allopathy means "opposite cures opposite", which isn't consistent with conventional medicine. (For an example of treatments that don't conform to treating symptoms with substances that cause the opposite, look at vaccines, insuline, heck, even aspirin doesn't entirely fit that description. In fact, hardly anything does.)

Allopathy is a derogatory term used by homeopaths to deride conventional medicine, and should really be identified as such.

 

[Rolfe]

Re: Re: Definitions: Homeopathy; Allopathy

Allopathy is a derogatory term used by homeopaths to deride conventional medicine, and should really be identified as such.

What he said.

Rolfe.