What is homeopathy? Does it work? If not, why do so many people
think it does? And why do they often care so passionately that it
should? These are some of the questions examined in my book
Homeopathy in Perspective. This is a critical evaluation of
homeopathy: how it began, how it developed, where it is today. No prior
knowledge of homeopathy is assumed, but the book is not meant just for
beginners. Even if you have read a good deal about homeopathy previously
you will, I believe, find that you view it in a different light after
you have finished. Homeopathy in Perspective is intended for
skeptics as well as the convinced, and especially for those who still
haven't made up their minds.
The book is available from Lulu, Barnes & Noble, or Amazon. Please see
my publications list for details.
Homeopathy in perspective
CONTENTS
Summary
An outline of the subject.
Chapter 1: Introduction
Why I wrote this book in the way I did.
Chapter 2: Samuel Hahnemann
Hahnemann was the founder of homeopathy and it is impossible to
understand the subject without knowing something about him and his
time. Here I look at his life and how he came to invent homeopathy.
Chapter 3: Later Developments in
Hahnemann's Thought
As Hahnemann aged he began to take homeopathy in new directions, with
the formulation of a theory of chronic disease and increasing emphasis
on the use of extreme dilutions.
Chapter 4: The Years of Hope
Hahnemann's successors carried out experiments on themselves, testing
medicines in ways that were sometimes quite hair-raising.
Chapter 5: In Search of New Directions
Later homeopaths took the "potency idea" much further than Hahnemann
himself had done. They also tried to reconcile homeopathy with new
discoveries in medicine, such as the germ theory of disease.
Chapter 6: English Homeopathy in the Nineteenth
Century
English homeopaths in the nineteenth century were more pragmatic and
less extreme than many others and tried to make sense of homeopathy in
the context of the orthodox medicine of the day.
Chapter 7: Homeopathy in America
Homeopathy in America became very successful in the second half of the
nineteenth century and indeed came close to being the dominant form of
medicine there. However, it was weakened by internal dissent and
eventually almost disappeared.
Chapter 8: Kentian Homeopathy
The American homeopath JT Kent became influential in American
homeopathy at the end of the nineteenth century and his ideas were
adopted by numerous disciples outside America; they are still
predominant in many places today.
Chapter 9: British Homeopathy in the
Twentieth Century
In the early years of the twentieth century advocates of Kent's ideas
took over homeopathy in Britain almost completely, and as a result the
notion of homeopathy that most people have today is based on Kentian
homeopathy, which is an extreme and "fundamentalist" version.
Chapter 10: Homeopathy and the Occult
There are curious links between homeopathy and the occult, which are
generally played down by would-be scientific homeopaths today.
Chapter 11: Can We Prove Homeopathy?
Critics often say that there is no research evidence to support
homeopathy, which is untrue, while defenders of homeopathy are equally
voceiferous in claiming that homeopathy has been "proved" by research.
The truth, as usual, lies somewhere in the middle.
Chapter 12: Where Does Homeopathy Stand Today?
Here I offer my own assessment of the position of homeopathy today and
where it is likely to go in the future. Homeopathy has many features in
common with certain types of psychotherapy and it may be that this is
where its future lies.