Homeopathy re-revisited: is homeopathy compatible with biomedical observations?
The purpose of this article is to reexamine this belief that homeopathy is conceptually incompatible with Western medical knowledge.
Abstract
In recent years, alternative medicine has been attracting considerable attention, from both consumers and the medical profession, 1,2 The possible efficacy of many types of approaches (eg, medicinal plants, manipulative therapies, acupuncture) may be explained by mechanisms that are compatible with the biomedical model. However, the tenets of homeopathy seem to contradict the knowledge accumulated in the past 2 centuries in the fields of chemistry, biochemistry, and medicine. For this reason, it has been viewed unfavorably by conventional scientists and physicians. The purpose of this article is to reexamine this belief that homeopathy is conceptually incompatible with Western medical knowledge.