“A remedy that suits me”: Classification of people and individualization in homeopathic prescribing
Journal Title: Journal of Comparative Research in Anthropology and Sociology - Year 2016, Vol 7, Issue 2
Abstract
In contrast with a conventional medical consultation, a “classical” homeopathic case taking usually ends up with the prescription of a remedy and not with a biomedical diagnostic, reflecting a specific homeopathic conceptualization of the human body, health and disease. This may be seen as one aspect of individualization in homeopathy, the approach through which the patient is not placed into a disease class but in which her/his unique features are taken into account when matching the symptoms with the symptomspicture of a remedy, the “similimum”. In this paper, I examine the double orientation of homeopathic prescribing to individualization and classification. Drawing upon textual analysis of descriptions of remedies, interviews with patients and homeopaths, and observation of consultations and seminars, I show that individualization and classification are counterparts that cannot be meaningfully discussed if considered independently. My approach is based on treatment of the various encounters of patients and homeopaths as rhetorical situations. I argue that during the homeopathic consultation a process of construction and interpellation of the patient happens through various rhetorical moves. By examining them, I show how a sort of literature effect and a specific way of organizing knowledge in homeopathy simultaneously make the general to act on the particular while the particular or a sense of “it is about you” is also accomplished during the homeopathic consultation.
Authors and Affiliations
Alexandra Ciocănel
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP655994
- DOI -
- Views 104
- Downloads 0
Social structure vs. self rehabilitation: IDF widows forming an intimate relationship in the sociopolitical discourse
The public discourse pertaining to IDF (Israel Defense Forces) widows, especially those cohabiting with a partner out of wedlock, is presented by means of a study that analyzes competing representations in the sociopolit...
A four-part model for narrative genres and identities: evidence from Greek data
This article presents a tentative typology of narrative genres based on Greek data and following a discourse analytic perspective. Taking into consideration the contemporary literature on narrative, I maintain that the r...
Cryonics suspension – debating life finitude, extending time capital and cancelling death
The study discusses the anti-death movement inside the life extension paradigm and its social implications in terms of enhanced permeability of life-death boundaries, by reconciling mysticism, theology, technology and sc...
The clones: A new phenomenon in the literary environment. A sociological approach
The article is an introduction to a rather recent phenomenon present in the Romanian literary environment: “the clones”. They are somehow linked to pseudonyms and Pessoa’s heteronyms but at the same time they bring somet...
Words leaking from objects: thinking with absent photographs
The possibilities within notions of the object constitute a special area of interest in my research. As I have come to see it, the object is bounded by – and yet comes to alter- views of representation/re-presentation; i...