Musing on Episode 015’s WNMF Findings and Naturopathy’s Essential Medieval Aspects

here, some AI-LLM treatment of the findings that I shared in the Naturocrit Podcast through the lens of knowledge as it as been classified for a millennium:

001. for reference, these are Episode 015 links to the WNMF findings material as Naturocrit blog posts:

Audio;

Script [broken into 3 parts]: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3;

002. a task via Perplexity:

002.a. this task was specified to the findings:

“On a spectrum of 0 through 10, with 10 being most and 0 being least, itemize, rank, and quantify the contents of the attached pdf that are similar to the medical ideas of the Middle Ages that have been discarded.”

I was revisiting the label placed upon naturopathy years ago of "failed medieval paradigm", and I thought I'd flesh that out a bit from a preponderant point of view.

002.b. the detailed report:

“Several themes in the attached PDF show strong similarity to discarded medical ideas from the Middle Ages, particularly regarding vitalism, humoral theory, and the healing power of nature. Below is an itemized, ranked, and quantified spectrum (0–10, 10 being most similar) of these contents, highlighting their correspondence with medieval medical concepts.

Highest Similarity (Scores 8–10)

Concept/Theme	Score	Description
Vitalism/"Life Force"	10	Frames health as governed by an unseen "vital force" or "life force", directly paralleling pre-scientific, spiritual explanations of illness and healing prominent in medieval medicine. Explicitly termed a central tenet in naturopathic philosophy and compared by the PDF to terms such as chi, prana, spirit, and soul, and placed outside measurable scientific concepts
Healing Power of Nature (Vis Medicatrix Naturae)	10	Rooted in the idea that nature or the body has an intrinsic, ordered ability to heal itself, termed "ordered intelligence" or "extension of creator consciousness," essentially mirroring the vitalistic, teleological thinking that modern science has abandoned
Humoral Theory ("Four Bodily Humors")	9	Described as "a central theory by naturopathic practitioners." Attributed to early philosophers, it details the four humors, their organs, elements, and diseases, explicitly paralleling Hippocratic-Galenic models abandoned post-cellular theory but maintained here as explanatory for health and disease in naturopathic settings

High Similarity (Scores 6–7)

Concept/Theme	Score	Description
Emunctory Theory	7	Focus on stimulating the body's elimination pathways (excretion/sweating/etc.) to restore "vital force," reminiscent of medieval and pre-modern theories of disease as an imbalance of bodily substances or insufficient "cleansing".
Holistic/Spiritual Language	7	Frequent framing of health in spiritual or cosmic terms ("spirit," "cosmic consciousness," "personal essence"), echoing medieval blends of medicine and metaphysics.

Moderate Similarity (Scores 4–5)

Concept/Theme	Score	Description
Doctrine of Signatures	5	Not explicitly referenced but implied in historical descriptions of "guiding principles" derived from early modern/medieval thinking on analogical herbal medicine.
Non-Evidence-Based Individualization	4	The individual tailoring of treatments rooted primarily in philosophical tradition rather than consistently in robust empirical evidence, reflecting pre-modern individualized regimens.

Low Similarity (Scores 0–3)

Concept/Theme	Score	Description
Miasma, Astrological Medicine, Alchemy, Supernatural Causation	0–2	No substantive appearance in core themes or clinical practices in the PDF. Direct references are absent, though the underlying spiritual worldview remains present in other themes.

Ranked Itemization Summary

• Vitalism/life force: 10/10 — Ubiquitous, foundational, directly inherited from medieval and pre-modern models.
• Healing power of nature: 10/10 — Explicitly positioned as an ancient, supra-empirical tenet.
• Humoral theory: 9/10 — Embraced as a core living theory, not as a case study in obsolete history.
• Emunctory/cleansing theory: 7/10 — Emphasizes bodily purging, a hallmark of pre-germ theory medicine.
• Holistic/spiritual language: 7/10 — Strongly echoes medieval synthesis of body, mind, and spiritual cosmos.
• Doctrine of signatures (implied): 5/10 — Indirectly present through reverence for historical herbal analogies.
• Non-evidence-based "individualization": 4/10 — Claims patient-centric care through pre-scientific frameworks.
• Other medieval concepts: ≤2/10 — Largely absent as explicit doctrines.

Key Observations

• Vitalism and healing power of nature are modern forms of concepts squarely rejected by contemporary biomedical science because they lack empirical support or mechanistic basis.
• The PDF gives humoral theory actual explanatory power, going beyond mere historical interest, distinguishing it from its complete dismissal in scientific medicine.
• Emunctory and ‘cleansing’ theories rest on discredited physiological models pre-dating germ theory and cellular pathology.

All rankings and statements are directly supported by the PDF’s explicit and repeated language on these topics.”

002.c. a follow-up question and its answer:

002.c1. the question:

“Are there any contradictory knowledge positions within the attached document?”

002.c2. the answer:

“Yes, the attached document contains contradictory knowledge positions, especially concerning its simultaneous embrace of traditional medieval medical philosophies and modern scientific claims.

Blending Science and Tradition

• The material asserts that naturopathy “draws on both traditional knowledge and modern scientific research,” presenting the profession as a “blend” of these two approaches.
• It claims practices are “evidence-based,” “knowledge-based,” and “science-based,” with research infrastructure and clinical trial evidence supposedly supporting effectiveness.
• At the same time, it maintains that core naturopathic “philosophies, principles, and theories”—specifically vitalism, the healing power of nature, humoral theory, and vital force—are enduring, global, and foundational, even though these concepts lack any scientific basis and have been explicitly rejected by medical science since the scientific revolution.

Core Contradiction

• The document claims alignment with rigorous standards of scientific evidence while openly upholding philosophical frameworks (vitalism, humoral theory, vis medicatrix naturae) that are incompatible with or directly refuted by scientific evidence.
• It suggests that ideas “originat[ing] in historic medical books dating to the 1500s... dominant prior to the 17th century” are not only preserved but are core to the present-day practice and curriculum of naturopathy, while simultaneously claiming a basis in “modern research” and “biomedical science”.

Inconsistency Examples

• Philosophical statements such as “vitalism is a central tenet in the philosophy of naturopathic medicine... the intelligence that animates each and every person and it refers to forces beyond the physical self that govern life, health and healing” are reported alongside claims that “modern vitalism is considered part of systems theory and biomedical science,” despite an absence of recognition for such forces in contemporary science.
• The document both claims that “naturopathic practice is knowledge-based and evidence-informed” and that “the naturopathic principles were derived from historic medical books dating back to the 1500s,” without reconciling that these knowledge systems use incompatible standards of proof and explanation.

Summary Table

Traditional Claim	Science Claim	Contradiction
Vitalism, humoral theory, vis medicatrix naturae are valid explanatory frameworks	Naturopathy is evidence-based and science-based	Core traditional notions are regarded as “scientific” despite being non-empirical
Medieval principles define curricula	Use of clinical trials, peer review, HTA, systematic reviews	Positions pre-scientific doctrines as equally valid to outcomes-driven clinical science

These positions exist side-by-side in the same material, without direct reconciliation, resulting in clear epistemological contradiction.”