Homeopathy and the Action of Meaning - A Theoretical Approach

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is a theoretical one. It does not enter the debate of evidencebased medicine (EBM) about the validity of meta-analyses including pooled data from placebo-controlled clinical trials of homeopathy and the result of epidemiological clinical studies about the success of homoeopathic treatments. The paper tries to answer the question why extremely high diluted substances may be able to result in a medical reaction of a patient even if no single molecule of the used substance may be present in the medicament. This paper describes the Model of Pragmatic Information (MPI) and the Generalized Quantum Theory (GQT) and how they can be applied as a model to describe properties of homoeopathic treatment. From the point of view of the MPI and GQT, homoeopathic treatment and medicaments are "Pseudo-Machines" (PM). The Model of PM (MPM) includes sociological, psychological, physical, and causal- as well as non-causal (entanglement) processes which are relevant for the (homoeopathic) treatment. This means that the properties of PM can clearly be distinguished from placebos. In terms of MPM placebos can be considered as a specific form of PM. On the other hand, MPM is able to explain the limitation of double-blind placebo-controlled studies in medicine, Complementary Medicine (CM), and elsewhere. Finally, the paper describes an experimental method (Correlation Matrix Method, CMM) how the operation of PM can be tested empirically. Furthermore, this method allows distinguishing causal- and non-causal processes in medical treatments in general and is not limited to homoeopathy but could serve as a new approach in EBM. Keywords: Evidence based medicine (EBM), Complementary Medicine (CM), Homeopathy, Model of Pragmatic Information (MPI), Generalized Quantum Theory (GQT), Macroscopic Entanglement (ME), NT-axiom, Pseudo-Signals, Pseudo-Machines (PM), Correlation Matrix Method (CMM), Complementarity, Entanglement, Self-organization, Organizational Closure (OC)