General interpretations:
- Stuart Close
The Philosophy of Homoeopathy rests upon the following general interpretations of the System of Nature which Science universally recognizes as fundamental.
1. The laws and ways of Nature are uniform and harmonious.
2. Effects follow caused in unbroken succession.
3. To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
4. Action and reaction are ceaseless, equivalent and reciprocal
5. Motion is ceaseless and transformation continuous.
6. Matter is indestructible and infinitely divisible.
7. Force is persistent and indestructible.
8. The quantity of action necessary to effect any change in nature is the least possible.
*The following propositions, slightly modified from the original are drawn from Von Grauvogl's Text Book of Homoeopathy. (Nuremburg, 1865; London, New York, and Chicago, 1870. Trans. by George E. Shipman, M.D.)
The aim of all science is to set up in place of the contingent that which law makes *necessary, and to refer every particular to its universal.
These two predicates connect science with things.
We must hold fast intellectually to the useful things which the past has produced. We must gain *space in *time but *living space. Not by the empiric accumulation of facts *perceived (the facts of perception), but by their well weighed *appreciation, according to the eternal laws of nature, is their existence secured for all time. Facts which this criterion rejects are worthless scientifically.
Hence in homoeopathy we strive not only to separate the contingency from the event, *i.e. to determine the causal succession from what has taken place, but also to become master of that contingency which makes our judgment uncertain. The Contingency of our judgment of the facts, arrived at experimentally by the process of analysis, must be removed synthetically by connecting the laws of nature with the facts, so that we may be able to show their interdependence and act accordingly. In this synthesis, or connecting of our perceptions, conducted simultaneously with experimentation, consists *the Art of observation.
All conceptions of our inner being, as well as external things, are based primarily upon the perceptions of our senses (including consciousness, or the "inner sense") But the formation of our ideas, judgments and conclusions must result from determinate, objective laws, inherent in the things themselves and their constitution, and not from caprice.
Every event in the circle of natural phenomena has a * conditional necessity, since it can only result from its precedents and depends upon them. This conditional necessity results from the primary *unconditional necessity of the fundamental laws of nature and their absolute truth.
Laws of nature are the forms by which the constant course of natural phenomena from given causes and conditions may be expressed.
Laws do not cause the *existence of events or phenomena. By virtue of the laws we may explain to ourselves, intellectually, not the *existence, but the *connection of phenomena, and so come to understand their development and conditions.
We understand phenomena, not by any apparent properties of the phenomena themselves, but by intuitive perception or immediate consciousness of the fundamental laws. Such laws as the law of cause and effect, the equivalence and contrariety of action and reaction, the constancy of matter and force, are intuitively perceived to be the ultimate reason of which we can have any knowledge.
Laws of nature, in general, are deductions of experience and observations with regard to the necessary course of events or phenomena from given elements the ultimate course which lies beyond physical science in the domain of metaphysics.
That which *changes the regular course of states and events, however, results in consequence of causes which may be determined by physical science by considering the fundamental laws of nature.
Every change of state or event has a number of causes, known as primary and secondary causes, or as cause and conditions.
A spark of fire, put into a barrel of powder, is the cause of the explosion that follows. The chemical composition of the constituents of the powder and their mode of combination supply the necessary *conditions for explosion to occur.
Every *change implies or presupposes something *constant, that is something with at least two opposite tendencies. Chemistry,*e.g. rests upon the law of constancy of bodies and forces, the law of chemical affinity and the law of definite proportions or equivalence.
In accordance with the law of constancy of bodies and forces, all bodies remain essentially the same under all circumstances. Chlorine remains chlorine, and hydrogen remains hydrogen always. Only as they are combined according to the laws of chemical affinity, and certain definite proportions do they change *their state and become hydrochloric acid. The *cause of this result lies in the art of the chemist. The *conditions lie in the specific affinity of these bodies for each other and for other bodies. The *effect is to change their two states into one in the form of hydrochloric acid.
The *cause of tuberculosis is the tubercle bacillus.
The necessary *conditions for (secondary causes of) the action of the bacillus are the peculiar bodily constitution, predisposition, susceptibility and environment of the patient. Without these concomitant conditions or causes, no one would ever have tuberculosis.
Thus in order to explain by science or accomplish by art a complex result, many laws must be considered, *but especially the law of reciprocal action.
All changes in nature are the result of the reciprocal action (action and reaction) of bodies and forces. But here an important distinction must be made between *animate and *inanimate bodies and forces; between living organisms and machines.
Reciprocal action is *mediate and *immediate. Within the living organism, bodies and forces act *immediately the one upon the other, by virtue of the living fellowship of all its parts. In a machine they act *mediately.
The motion of all parts of a machine depends, at every moment, upon the force of the external cause alone, the machine remaining constantly passive to the action of the force.
The machine cannot supply itself with oil, repair the losses it suffers from rust, friction, etc. nor reproduce itself in whole or in part. It knows no need and feels no necessity for any of these things.
The living organism, on the contrary, does know and feel its need and seeks to supply it. The living organism also receives external substances and their forces into itself, yet they are not the sole causes of its motions, but only for the nourishment of the constantly active parts.
The Philosophy of Homoeopathy rests upon the following general interpretations of the System of Nature which Science universally recognizes as fundamental.
1. The laws and ways of Nature are uniform and harmonious.
2. Effects follow caused in unbroken succession.
3. To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
4. Action and reaction are ceaseless, equivalent and reciprocal
5. Motion is ceaseless and transformation continuous.
6. Matter is indestructible and infinitely divisible.
7. Force is persistent and indestructible.
8. The quantity of action necessary to effect any change in nature is the least possible.
*The following propositions, slightly modified from the original are drawn from Von Grauvogl's Text Book of Homoeopathy. (Nuremburg, 1865; London, New York, and Chicago, 1870. Trans. by George E. Shipman, M.D.)
The aim of all science is to set up in place of the contingent that which law makes *necessary, and to refer every particular to its universal.
These two predicates connect science with things.
We must hold fast intellectually to the useful things which the past has produced. We must gain *space in *time but *living space. Not by the empiric accumulation of facts *perceived (the facts of perception), but by their well weighed *appreciation, according to the eternal laws of nature, is their existence secured for all time. Facts which this criterion rejects are worthless scientifically.
Hence in homoeopathy we strive not only to separate the contingency from the event, *i.e. to determine the causal succession from what has taken place, but also to become master of that contingency which makes our judgment uncertain. The Contingency of our judgment of the facts, arrived at experimentally by the process of analysis, must be removed synthetically by connecting the laws of nature with the facts, so that we may be able to show their interdependence and act accordingly. In this synthesis, or connecting of our perceptions, conducted simultaneously with experimentation, consists *the Art of observation.
All conceptions of our inner being, as well as external things, are based primarily upon the perceptions of our senses (including consciousness, or the "inner sense") But the formation of our ideas, judgments and conclusions must result from determinate, objective laws, inherent in the things themselves and their constitution, and not from caprice.
Every event in the circle of natural phenomena has a * conditional necessity, since it can only result from its precedents and depends upon them. This conditional necessity results from the primary *unconditional necessity of the fundamental laws of nature and their absolute truth.
Laws of nature are the forms by which the constant course of natural phenomena from given causes and conditions may be expressed.
Laws do not cause the *existence of events or phenomena. By virtue of the laws we may explain to ourselves, intellectually, not the *existence, but the *connection of phenomena, and so come to understand their development and conditions.
We understand phenomena, not by any apparent properties of the phenomena themselves, but by intuitive perception or immediate consciousness of the fundamental laws. Such laws as the law of cause and effect, the equivalence and contrariety of action and reaction, the constancy of matter and force, are intuitively perceived to be the ultimate reason of which we can have any knowledge.
Laws of nature, in general, are deductions of experience and observations with regard to the necessary course of events or phenomena from given elements the ultimate course which lies beyond physical science in the domain of metaphysics.
That which *changes the regular course of states and events, however, results in consequence of causes which may be determined by physical science by considering the fundamental laws of nature.
Every change of state or event has a number of causes, known as primary and secondary causes, or as cause and conditions.
A spark of fire, put into a barrel of powder, is the cause of the explosion that follows. The chemical composition of the constituents of the powder and their mode of combination supply the necessary *conditions for explosion to occur.
Every *change implies or presupposes something *constant, that is something with at least two opposite tendencies. Chemistry,*e.g. rests upon the law of constancy of bodies and forces, the law of chemical affinity and the law of definite proportions or equivalence.
In accordance with the law of constancy of bodies and forces, all bodies remain essentially the same under all circumstances. Chlorine remains chlorine, and hydrogen remains hydrogen always. Only as they are combined according to the laws of chemical affinity, and certain definite proportions do they change *their state and become hydrochloric acid. The *cause of this result lies in the art of the chemist. The *conditions lie in the specific affinity of these bodies for each other and for other bodies. The *effect is to change their two states into one in the form of hydrochloric acid.
The *cause of tuberculosis is the tubercle bacillus.
The necessary *conditions for (secondary causes of) the action of the bacillus are the peculiar bodily constitution, predisposition, susceptibility and environment of the patient. Without these concomitant conditions or causes, no one would ever have tuberculosis.
Thus in order to explain by science or accomplish by art a complex result, many laws must be considered, *but especially the law of reciprocal action.
All changes in nature are the result of the reciprocal action (action and reaction) of bodies and forces. But here an important distinction must be made between *animate and *inanimate bodies and forces; between living organisms and machines.
Reciprocal action is *mediate and *immediate. Within the living organism, bodies and forces act *immediately the one upon the other, by virtue of the living fellowship of all its parts. In a machine they act *mediately.
The motion of all parts of a machine depends, at every moment, upon the force of the external cause alone, the machine remaining constantly passive to the action of the force.
The machine cannot supply itself with oil, repair the losses it suffers from rust, friction, etc. nor reproduce itself in whole or in part. It knows no need and feels no necessity for any of these things.
The living organism, on the contrary, does know and feel its need and seeks to supply it. The living organism also receives external substances and their forces into itself, yet they are not the sole causes of its motions, but only for the nourishment of the constantly active parts.
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