Mystery in Western Medicine (Avebury Series in Philosophy)

Medicine in the late-20th century faces a perplexing paradox. On the one hand the system of medicine that has been developed over the past two or 300 years has reached a stage of unprecedented technological success, but on the other hand, the health care policies of those developed countries from which it has been derived are faltering and under such severe strain as to be facing serious challenges almost everywhere. This study develops a critique of western medicine aimed at addressing this issue, based on the proposition that any system of medicine must necessarily embody a mysterious quality, involving an all-encompassing element of indeterminancy and so of uncertainty. The role of mystery must be wholeheartedly acknowledged if the current mistakes and problems of western medicine are to be resolved and understood, so that more plausible moral and scientific foundations can be established.