Abstract

Contemporary developments in western health-care , though moving towards holism, lack an integrative conceptual foundation. This work offers a conceptual foundation for an interpretation of human-being that is holistic and is compatible with western medical concepts. I offer a philosophical speculation portraying the holism of processes of health, illness, and healing. This speculation begins with an interpretation of human-being as a psycho-physical process of assimilation; in the personal locus of this process the mind-matter dichotomy dissolves. ;There are four sections in this work: The statement of the philosophical speculation; this is the "Theory of Analogous Functioning" . This theory is set in a framework of analysis of systems of medicine as interpretations of the structural-functional nature of human-being. This analysis results in: systems of medicine appearing as "meaning systems", that is, "lenses" through which physicians view patients; and, clarification of the "comprehensive organic rationale" underlying holistic systems . This analysis reveals the conceptual "form" common to these interpretations of the holistic nature of human-being. That is, a "generic form" of holism is revealed. Discussion of the relation of four fields of thought to the holistic interpretation of human-being presented in T.A.F., in four appendices: ;Appendix A. Process philosophy. A.N. Whitehead and Hans Jonas. Discussion of the concepts "prehension" and "transcendence". ;Appendix B. Hermeneutics. Discussions of contemporary works supportive of process theories: R.C. Neville's theory of "value" in Nature; Richard Rorty, issues of western concepts of knowledge ; and Mark Johnson's non-objectivist theory of meaning. ;Appendix C. Medical anthropology. A discussion of the relation of belief to healing. ;Appendix D. Systems of medicine. Five systems are discussed as "meaning systems": Allopathy, Acupuncture, Ayurveda, Homeopathy, and Tibetan Medicine. A discussion of cancer from the process perspective of T.A.F. This perspective suggests some cancers may be the consequence of disrupted processes of personal psycho-physical assimilation. ;In summary, T.A.F. defines human-being as a locus of psycho-physical assimilation, and is the basis for a holistic system of diagnosis and therapy compatible with western medical perspectives. This theory rests upon a conceptual foundation identical in form to the conceptual foundations of traditional Chinese and Indian systems of health-care. Thus, T.A.F. rests upon philosophical resolution of the mind-matter dichotomy, and offers a method of analysis from which a system of holistic diagnosis and therapy can be developed