Homeopathy Deserves Its Own Scientific Identity

Abstract

AbstractScientific research, especially the randomised controlled trial, was once expected to provide recognition to homeopathy. However, the opposite happened: despite evidence that is not inferior to conventional evidence, the opposition has never been stronger. The philosopher Kuhn predicted this: scientific authorities cannot accept information that is contrary to their basic beliefs (paradigm) because their authority depends on that very paradigm. On the other hand, many patients discover that the conventional medical paradigm is incomplete and that homeopathy complements it. The problems with the present paradigm are expected to grow, especially with antimicrobial resistance1 with respect to respiratory tract infections. Homeopathy can be of great value in this respect. There is also growing awareness that there is no dichotomy between effective and not-effective medicines. The effect of a medicine is a probability depending or several variables. So far improving the homeopathic method with scientific research has been neglected. The increasing interest of conventional medicine in personalised medicine and prognostic factor research (PFR) is an excellent opportunity to redirect homeopathy research towards PFR.