HYBRID EVENT: You can participate in person at Rome, Italy or Virtually from your home or work.

8th Edition of International Conference on

Traditional Medicine, Ethnomedicine and Natural Therapies

June 05-07, 2025 | Rome, Italy

Traditional Medicine 2023

What is science?

Speaker at Traditional Medicine, Ethnomedicine and Natural Therapies 2023 - Hal M Switkay
Goldey-Beacom College, United States
Title : What is science?

Abstract:

The areas of holistic treatment, alternative medicine, and natural therapies are sometimes described as “fringe science” or pseudoscience. Their practitioners and supporters may even be described as “anti-science”. Nothing could be further from the truth. We explore the concept of science from a historical and philosophical perspective, comparing establishment medicine to alternative medicine. We find that alternative medicine has held its own, but that establishment medicine may be guilty of the type of superstitious behavior of which it accuses alternative medicine. Alternative medicine is not only consistent with natural philosophy and a truly scientific worldview; it is often far more humane, less materialistic, less alienating, and more respectful of individual and cultural autonomy.

Biography:

Dr. Hal M. Switkay earned his B.A. and M.A. in mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania, including a minor in philosophy. He earned a Ph.D. in mathematics at Lehigh University, and later a M.S. in applied statistics at West Chester University. He is a certified facilitator of Tai Chi Easy™, and certified in Thai massage and reiki. He considers himself a syncretic panendeist.

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