The Absurdity of an ND Degree - UBCNM 2008:

a little knowledge about the 'categorical science label' placed upon naturopathy by the University of Bridgeport [01 below], the actual content of their ND program [its essential vitalism; 02 below], and what science legitimately says concerning that content [vitalism is in no way within science; modern science in fact rejects vitalism as an explanatory mode; 03 below] reveals quite an absurdity -- to the extent that one is struck by its full-blown nonintelligence [04 below]:

01. the science claims of UBCNM, one example:

(per http://www.bridgeport.edu/ub/nm/Today's_Nat.htm ; archived here {2004}, http://web.archive.org/web/20040405090112/http://www.bridgeport.edu/ub/nm/Today's_Nat.htm ):

"today's naturopathic physician [...is] practicing scientific medicine."

Note: the claim is that the practice of naturopathy is scientific -- naturopathy is what naturopaths do / practice, therein labeled "scientific."

02. the essential vitalism of UBCNM, one example:

(per http://www.bridgeport.edu/ub/nm/Six_Prihtm.htm ; archived here {2004}, http://web.archive.org/web/20040603150636/http://www.bridgeport.edu/ub/nm/Six_Prihtm.htm ):

"[naturopathy's] six guiding principles. Guiding principle # 1 [their PRIMARY principle]: the healing power of nature [aka] viz [sp., vis] medicatrix naturae: the body has the inherent ability to establish, maintain, and restore health. The healing process is ordered and intelligent; nature heals through the response of the life force."

Note: a "life force" is outright vitalism, the core / primary naturopathic principle.

03. what science says about vitalism, one example:

as the Wikipedia.org article "Vitalism" notes (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitalism),

quoting Alan Sokal, PhD:

"nearly all the pseudoscientific systems to be examined in this essay are based philosophically on vitalism [...] mainstream science has rejected vitalism since at least the 1930s, for a plethora of good reasons that have only become stronger with time" (from ISBN 0415305926; 2006).

04. the huge absurdity:

labeling what is not science as science. Something is not the same as something it is vastly different from, and excluded from -- duh. An ND degree is a regionally accredited, States and Federal Government sanctioned subterfuge.