title: Hahnemann's legacy in a new light--a systematic approach to the Organon of Medicine.
abstract: The sixth edition of Samuel Hahnemann's Organon of Medicine is an obligatory work of reference for homeopathy. Nevertheless, its philosophy can be questioned with constructivistic and historistic objections. Three levels of content may be distinguished: (1) practical directions and maxims, (2) theoretical explanations and hypotheses, (3) conceptual foundations and premises. Ideally, these levels should be considered, studied, and taught separately and gradually. My new German edition of the Organon, published in 2003, tries to meet these demands. It contains: (A) a complete version of Hahnemann's original text, in the original order of paragraphs, but in modern German with section headings, summary boxes, etc added, (B) another full version of its content, organized in three levels, as indicated above, (C) a glossary of about 400 problematic terms.
authors.affiliation: Department of the History of Medicine, University of Munich, Germany. j.m.schmidt@lrz.uni-muenchen.de
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Schmidt
mesh_terms: D005858:Germany; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006705:Homeopathy / Q000266:history*; D006801:Humans; D008374:Manuscripts, Medical as Topic / Q000266:history; D010603:Pharmacopoeias, Homeopathic as Topic / Q000266:history*