McKnight at the Globe and Mail 2016: 'Naturopathy Magic Isn't Medicine'

here, criticism of naturopathy woo [republished after lightly editing its 2016 version]:

001. Peter McKnight writes, at theglobeandmail.com, in "Message to Naturopaths: Magic Isn’t Medicine" (2016-05-09) [2021 archived]:

"why investigate just one naturopath?  Why not all of them?  Or better yet, why not investigate naturopathy itself? Indeed [...]";

indeed indeed.  The thing itself.

"according to the website of the Canadian Association of Naturopathic Doctors, 'the naturopathic philosophy is to stimulate the healing power of the body,' an idea typically traced to the Hippocratic doctrine, rendered in Latin, of vis medicatrix naturae, 'the healing power of nature' [...] Hippocrates [...] inspired vitalism, the discredited, pseudo-religious idea that living matter differs from non-living matter in that it possesses – or more accurately, is possessed by – a mysterious, metaphysical, non-mechanistic life force.  This phenomenon has gone by many names in the West – the vital force, vital energy, elan vital – and is given expression in the chi and prana of Eastern philosophy. And since in past centuries, illness was seen as the product of an imbalance of vital forces, it was the job of healers to balance things out, which is why Western medicine once relied on bleeding people to re-establish harmony and balance [...] naturopaths use homeopathy and traditional Chinese medicine in the service of regulating the vital force and thereby restoring balance [...] the association informs us that homeopathy is a 'powerful system of medicine [that] is more than 200 years old,' and that when homeopathic remedies are 'carefully matched to the patient, they are able to affect the body’s ‘vital force’ and to stimulate the body’s innate healing forces' [...] the association’s discussion of traditional Chinese medicine tells us: 'the key principle that defines and connects all of Chinese medicine is that of chi, or vital energy. The chi of all organs must be in balance, neither too active nor too dormant, for a person to be healthy … A naturopathic doctor will use Eastern herbs and acupuncture to assist the body in regulating the chi and achieving balance' [...]";

an historical view is always helpful, and current beliefs and practices.

"naturopathy doesn’t merely endorse the Hippocratic tradition, it embraces a pseudo-scientific, pseudo-religious philosophy dependent on a mysterious, metaphysical force [...] imagine visiting your doctor for help with some ailment, only to be told 'may the Force be with you' [...]  there are 'doctors' who believe in the force [...] they’re called naturopaths, naturopathic 'physicians' [...] a close look at naturopathy reveals a metaphysical, even magical belief system, although it is often expressed in the language of modern science [...]"; 

ah, the opaque veneer for marketing purposes.  As I've said: metaphysicians, not physicians.  I was taught in naturopathy school that that force is "the god power within you [...] life force."

"modern biology abandoned vitalism nearly a century ago, partly because it’s unnecessary – it is possible, for example, to synthesize an organic (living) compound from inorganic components without adding a magical dose of vital energy – and partly because scientific method rejects any appeal to non-material forces. Such forces, be they called elan vital, chi, karma or even god for that matter, are the province of metaphysics and religion, which means any appeal to them cannot, by definition, be scientific [...] this, in fact, is the reason for its appeal: in a mechanistic and depersonalized world, many people prefer a little spirituality with their science, a good dose of magic with their medicine.  But magic isn’t medicine. And neither is naturopathy";

hear, hear.  Now, it is rather interesting that there's an awful "Integrative Medicine" ND co-authored article from 2019 -- Coulter, I., Snider, P., & Neil, A. (2019). Vitalism - A Worldview Revisited: A Critique Of Vitalism And Its Implications For Integrative Medicine. Integrative medicine (Encinitas, Calif.), 18(3), 60–73 --

 

which basically attempts, mainly through 'what about -ism', to nullify the differences between mainstream, preponderant, scientific, empirical, parsimonious rigors and sectarian, peculiar, metaphysical, conflating, woo-full muddleheadedness.