The concept of health - in the history of medicine and in the writings of Hahnemann

The number of notions of health is not infinite. In the history of
medicine we can only find a number of different conceptions or
paradigmatic ideas of health, in a variety of references and
combinations. Health was seen as: 1. harmonious balance between
principles or entities, 2. result of a struggle against opposing
forces, 3. continuous dialectical process, 4. hierarchy of
components or functions, 5. potential to perform and to develop, 6.
transcendence towards higher levels of being, 7. result of
conscious autonomous action, 8. optimal causal functioning, or 9.
public task and responsibility. Hahnemann’s view of health, as
reflected in his writings, utilized virtually all of these
elements. They reappear for instance as: 1. harmonious tuning of
the life force, 2. defeat of pathogenetic influences, 3. admittance
of aggravations, 4. autocracy of the spirit-like life principle, 5.
reference to a higher goal of human existence, 6. perfecting
character of medical service, 7. concern about dietetics and life
style, 8. utilization of causality and natural science, and 9.
appealing to governmental provisions and medical police. These
paradigms have been repeatedly recombined and applied. The theory
of medicine is the attempt to analyze, adjust, and develop concepts
that meet the demand of contemporary medical practice. Medical
theory lies between the fields of observable facts and metaphysical
convictions. Distinguishing the levels of practice, theory, and
metaphysics could allow the open discussion of theoretical issues,
such as the concept of health or disease, without raising purely
theoretical objections to well-established practice.Un