The Academic Ethos of Phi Beta Kappa, & the Absurdity of UB Naturopathy - 2009:

here, I compare two aspects of my personal history: my Phi Beta Kappa 'ethical obligation', so to speak [see 001., below]; and what I know about the University of Bridgeport College of Naturopathic Medicine's 'academic absurdity' [see 002., below]; and finally a warning [see 003., below]:

001. the Phi Beta Kappa Society states in "About PBK":

"Phi Beta Kappa celebrates and advocates excellence in the liberal arts and sciences. Its campus chapters invite for induction the most outstanding arts and sciences students at America’s leading colleges and universities. The Society sponsors activities to advance these studies — the humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences — in higher education and in society at large [...it is] the nation's oldest and most widely known academic honor society [...PBK's motto is] 'love of learning is the guide of life' [...it was] founded December 5, 1776 [...and] for over two and a quarter centuries, the Society has embraced the principles of freedom of inquiry and liberty of thought and expression [...and] personal freedom, scientific inquiry, liberty of conscience and creative endeavor."

Note: I was inducted 1994-05-04 at the City University of New York's Lehman College.

002. meanwhile, academic naturopathy -- pathologically, deceptively: in a most unexcellent, antiscientific and absurd manner -- at the University of Bridgeport:

claims that the profoundly nonscientific vitalistic sectarian

[e.g., 2006-2008 catalog, p.291: "students will gain an important perspective of the vital force and its role in the healing process"]

survives scientific scrutiny [they categorize such as nonsectarian "science"]!

Perhaps UB's motto should be: 'deception is the guide of naturopathy', because such sectarian vitalism has been profoundly science-ejected minimally for several decades.

I attended UB's ND program 1998-2002, and complaints are on file with the relevant overseers.

003. warning:

003.a. if you are a free-thinker:

"freethinkers strive to build their beliefs on the basis of facts, scientific inquiry, and logical principles, independent of any factual/logical fallacies or intellectually-limiting effects of authority, cognitive bias, conventional wisdom, popular culture, prejudice, sectarianism [!!!], tradition, urban legend, and all other dogmatic or otherwise fallacious principles. As such, when applied to religion, the philosophy of freethought holds that, given presently-known facts, established theories, and logical principles, there is insufficient evidence to support the existence of supernatural phenomena";

003.b. and believe in "liberty of thought":

"freedom of thought (also called freedom of conscience and freedom of ideas) is the freedom of an individual to hold or consider a fact, viewpoint, or thought, independent of others' viewpoints. It is closely related to, yet distinct from, the concept of freedom of expression";

003.c. and are inquiring per "freedom of inquiry",

003.d. and you are attempting to fulfill that PBK ethos of 'scientific and philosophical excellence':

beware of the absurdity known as naturopathy, an 'unethical sectarian pseudoscience.'