Science, Experimentation, and Clinical Practice in Āyurveda
Science, Experimentation, and Clinical Practice in Āyurveda
Ayurveda possesses a highly abstract metatheoretical framework for explaining diseases, similar in form to theories in the social sciences and psychoanalysis. The highly abstract metatheoretical framework, unlike philosophical and religious speculations, does not exist without empirical verification, but is grounded in well-recognized procedures of validation and experimentation. Although Ayurveda is a science in its sense of the term, there are no professional scientists of Ayurveda, that is, those whose main role is the generation of scientific knowledge through research. Ayurveda practitioners are physicians and their science emerges out of their medical practice. But it is also obvious that some are more interested than others in the practice of science in the course of their practice of medicine. This chapter presents interviews of such out-of-the-ordinary individuals. It selects a small number of physicians from a variety of backgrounds, including Dr. W. A. Fernando.
Keywords: Ayurveda, W. A. Fernando, professional scientist, clinical practice, physician
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