HS 413 Foundations of Herbal Medicine - Vitalism
Items held in Dixson Library
615.5/F981
Kaptchuk, Ted. J. "Historical context of the concept of vitalism in complementary and alternative medicine" in Micozzi, Marc S. Fundamentals of complementary and alternative medicine. New York, Churchill Livingstone, 1996. pp. 35-48.
This book is in the Reserve collection and relevant pages can be copied upon request.
615.5/E96
Wood, Clive (1998) "Subtle energy and the vital force in complementary medicine" in Vickers, Andrew (ed) Examining complementary medicine. Stanley Thornes, Cheltenham. pp. 114-123.
Paper journal articles
P505/NAT
Gupta, Sunetra (2000) "A victim of truth: vitalism was an attempt to reconcile rationality with a sense of wonder" Nature Oct. 12 v.407(6805) pp. 677
-The philosophy of vitalism is discussed.
P574.87/C393
Kirschner, Marc at al. (2000) "Molecular vitalism" Cell Jan. 7 v.100(1) pp. 79-88
A few personal favorite examples, starting from macromolecular assembly and increasing in complexity and scale to patterning in vertebrate embryology are discussed to illustrate the nature of biological organization and explore potential underlying chemical principles. As the twentieth century comes to an end, genetics is central in biological thought. It is worthwhile to ask to what extent the postgenomic view of modern biology would convince a nineteenth century vitalist that the nature of life is now known. Further annotating the database of genes may not be the end. The physicochemical nature of living systems may need to be explored. Sequence information is often far removed from mechanisms that promote function of proteins, embryos, and cells. Nineteenth century thinking on life is reviewed. - Abstract.
Individual electronic journal articles
Coulter, I.D. & Willis, E.M. (2004) "The rise and rise of complementary and alternative medicine: a sociological perspective". Medical Journal of Australia June 7 v.180(11) pp. 587-9.
- free online at http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/180_11_070604/cou10061_fm.html
DeGregori, T.R.(2003) "Muck and magic or change and Progress: vitalism versus Hamiltonian matter-of-fact knowledge" Journal of Economic Issues March v.37(1) pp. 17-33.
Greco, Monica (2005) "On the vitality of vitalism" Theory Culture & Society. 22(1) pp. 15-27. (click title to access article)
Gunderson, Martin (2002) "Vitalism revitalized: vulnerable populations, prejudice and physician-assisted death" The Hastings Center Report July-August v.32(4) pp. 14-22.
Kaptchuk, T.J. & Eisenberg, D.M. (1998) The persuasive appeal of alternative medicine. Annals of Internal Medicine Dec. 15 129(12) pp. 1061-5.
- free online at: http://www.annals.org/cgi/content/full/129/12/1061
Try these searches
A search for 'vitalism' in Expanded Academic ASAP provides a number of full text, interesting articles.
Vitalism is a MESH heading that can be searched in PubMed/Medline