From Modern Micro-Analysis to Classical Holism in the Debate Between Traditional and Modern Medicine

Amirhassan Mousavi, a researcher in the history of science, examined the historical and philosophical roots of the conflict between modern medicine and traditional medicine at a scientific session of the Institute for the History of Science at the University of Tehran. He analyzed the various dimensions of this dispute and critiqued reductionist formulations.

According to the Iranian Ambassador Arjan's science service (Ambassador Arjan), not long ago, the scientific meeting of the Research Institute of History of Science of Tehran University titled Analysis of the Conflict between Modern Medicine and Traditional Medicine; A historical look at the speech of researcher Amirhassan Mousavi was held in the field of history of science. In this meeting, the roots and challenges and confrontation between modern medicine and traditional medicine in contemporary Iran were discussed.

Whether it is pseudoscience or not is the issue

Amirhassan Mousavi, referring to his doctoral thesis at the beginning of this meeting, said: The central topic of this research is the analysis of the conflict between complementary medicine and conventional medicine from the perspective of the philosophy of science. According to him, without understanding the historical background, one cannot understand the deep layers of this confrontation. It should be noted that this dispute is important for two reasons; First, its rich historical background and secondly, its incorrect formulation in our country.

According to this researcher, unlike the efforts of the involved groups to frame the problem in the simple framework of science and pseudo-science, this framing is not efficient for several reasons; Because the defenders of traditional medicine try to prove that traditional medicine is not pseudoscience and its critics insist that these traditions are all examples of pseudoscience.

Why should we deal with the controversy between traditional and modern medicine?

Mousavi continued about the necessity of entering the philosophy of science in this discussion: an important question that is raised here is why this controversy should be examined in the framework of the literature of the philosophy of science? The reason for this is the wide and sometimes unmeasured use of the conceptual tools of this field in the public space. Words such as traditional medicine paradigm, instrumentalism, or pragmatism are concepts that are directly drawn from the specialized field of philosophy of science to these topics, without the speakers knowing whether these terms are used in their correct place or not.

Referring to the academic poverty in this field, this researcher reminded: that before this research, there was no comprehensive academic study about these commotions and most of the topics were expressed orally. Therefore, the first goal of this research is to achieve a detailed understanding of the problem, including the superstructure analysis, i.e. the apparent claims of people, and the underlying analysis, i.e. the cognitive and philosophical reasons for the disagreements, in order to provide a basis for providing a solution.

Mousavi said about one of the most common misconceptions about traditional medicine in this meeting: One of the general and serious misunderstandings in the society is that they consider the phenomenon of traditional medicine in Iran to be a matter completely connected to the Islamic Republic of Iran and arising from the religious government. Many people think that traditional medicine as a newly emerging trend only started and grew due to the establishment of religious government; While there are structural distinctions between traditional medicine and concepts such as Islamic medicine, these two fields should not be considered the same. In addition, this challenge is not unique to Iranian society at all and has a cross-border nature. In the most advanced western societies and European countries, significant statistics of people's desire for complementary treatments have been recorded; As an example, nearly half of the French population has experience with treatment methods known as halopathy or similar methods of complementary medicine, and in Scandinavian countries, about thirty percent of people use their native and local medicines. Therefore, the absolute linking of this phenomenon to the contemporary political and religious conditions of Iran is a superficial analysis and ignoring the international roots of the issue.

According to him, examining the historical background of the entry of modern science into Iran shows that this dispute has a long history. Mousavi mentions the outstanding research work of Dr. Hormoz Ebrahiminejad in the field of Iranian medical history; A work that has carefully examined the developments of a century, that is, from around 1250 to 1340 solar years. This book clearly shows that the clash between traditional medicine and modern medicine started right from the very first days of the arrival of new western sciences in Iran, especially after the establishment of Dar al-Funun, and traditional doctors and modern graduates were involved in wide-ranging discussions. He reminds that every claim cannot be placed in the realm of traditional medicine without evidence, because this medicine itself has a specific historical framework, treatises and written texts, and every individual theory cannot be presented in the name of this ancient tradition.

Referring to his doctoral thesis, this researcher said: One of the most controversial topics is the origin of mixed medicine; That is, the same theory that relies on the balance of four mixtures of blood, phlegm, bile and soda. This question is raised whether mixed medicine is merely the legacy of ancient Greek civilization and the teachings of Hippocrates and Galen, or whether Greek civilization itself borrowed these teachings from Avestan medicine and ancient Iranian culture. He refers to the book "Medicine in Ancient Iran", in which the author has presented documentation and claimed that the roots of this knowledge go back to medical beliefs in ancient Iran. However, Mousavi emphasizes that his treatise does not directly examine the details of this historiography due to its philosophical framework and focuses on the intellectual foundations. As an example of the written conflict in recent years in Iran, he points to the publication of two important works in the past decade; First, the book Science and pseudo-science in medicine written by Kiaresh Aramesh, who uses the tools of the philosophy of science to prove that traditional medicine and homeopathy are in the category of pseudo-science, and against it, the book of Dr. Mehdi Golshani, who argues from another position that this attribution is incorrect and that traditional medicine cannot simply be placed in this category.

According to this researcher, at the global level, both groups for and against cite evidence from Western countries. The changing of many names of traditional medicine to integrated and complementary medicine in the world has resulted from the efforts of the academic sector to create coherence with modern medicine instead of replacing it. In fact, the academic sector of traditional medicine accepted that in order to survive in the academic system of the world, they are not a substitute for modern medicine, but they want to be placed alongside common medicine as complementary medicine; While some extreme currents still insist on the idea of ​​full replacement.

He also pointed to the mapping of this conflict by examining the views of media activists, traditional healers, health policy makers and religious authorities and considered different ranges of medical specialties involved in this story.

At the heart of this controversy is the issue of effectiveness

Mousavi emphasizes about the core of this theoretical dispute that the heart of this dispute lies in the definition of the concept of effectiveness. In fact, the root of the conflict is not over names, but over when a treatment is considered efficient, effective, and of clinical value. Proponents of modern medicine believe that the only authentic criterion for proving effectiveness is evidence-based medicine; That is, the treatment method must be included in the framework of accurate, controlled and blind clinical trials, and statistical analyzes indicate its effectiveness. The academic flow of traditional medicine also accepts the basis of evidence-based medicine, but they believe that many traditional methods and medicines can be accepted in clinical trials and modern medicine has not yet evaluated them due to neglect and lack of resources. However, modern medicine raises the question that even in case of initial success in the statistical test, when a traditional intervention lacks biological plausibility, that is, its cellular and physiological mechanism cannot be explained in basic medical knowledge, why should heavy research funds be spent on it. In the meantime, currents that believe in alternative medicine generally question the necessity of providing statistical data and believe that modern clinical systems are not competent to measure all the wisdom of ancient medicine due to the lack of solid theoretical foundations.

Mousavi went on to criticize false dichotomies in this controversy and said: "The duality of chemical and natural is wrongly proposed by the defenders of tradition, because many chemical medicines also have natural roots and their effective ingredients are used after separating the harmful parts." Also, the Western and Eastern dichotomy is also false, because medical knowledge was formed in the context of interaction between different civilizations.

According to this researcher, in addition to these false dichotomies, there are also valid and ponderable dichotomies in this conflict that should be taken seriously. One of these valid dualities is the distinction between illness and health. It seems that this criticism is appropriate that modern medicine has focused its attention, resources and capital on the treatment of diseases and physiological defects, while the ancient traditions of medicine and traditional medicine of Iran focus on health protection, prevention and regulation of the daily lifestyle of a person.

In the end, Mousavi pointed to the duality of holistic and introspective as another valid duality of this discussion and said: Modern medicine basically has a detailed approach. From the 18th and 19th centuries onwards, the understanding of disease underwent a structural change and diseases became localized; That is, the disease phenomenon was reduced to damage in an organ, tissue, cell or molecule. While before the 18th century, throughout the world and in indigenous medicine, the human body was understood as an integrated system and as an inseparable whole in relation to the surrounding environment. According to this researcher, this difference in the way of looking at man and his body is one of the areas that requires deep philosophical analysis and shows how much the encounter between tradition and modernity in the field of treatment requires fundamental conversations and away from superficial noises.

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