The Apparent Understanding of Traditional and Alternative Medicines byModern Scientific Medical Culture

Abstract

Traditional knowledge is more and more an established resource for modern medical science. Yet often its relevance is considered as long as biochemical terms are clear, whereas the interest leading to investigations to disclose those terms is delayed or hampered by the lack of understanding of the bigger, older philosophical corpus of knowledge and culture that has produced a given specific treatment or formulations. These notes suggest how and why this might happen and why a wider understanding at philosophical level might boost scientific progress resulting from the encounter between modern Science and Traditional and Alternative Medicines.