Rollins College Rollins Scholarship Online Master of Liberal Studies Theses Spring 2020 Ancient Wisdom and Future Medicine: A Defense of the Science of Ayurveda Michael Eatmon [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.rollins.edu/mls Part of the Alternative and Complementary Medicine Commons, Philosophy of Science Commons, and the South and Southeast Asian Languages and Societies Commons Recommended Citation Eatmon, Michael, "Ancient Wisdom and Future Medicine: A Defense of the Science of Ayurveda" (2020). Master of Liberal Studies Theses. 91. https://scholarship.rollins.edu/mls/91 This Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by Rollins Scholarship Online. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master of Liberal Studies Theses by an authorized administrator of Rollins Scholarship Online. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Ancient Wisdom and Future Medicine: A Defense of the Science of Ayurveda A Project Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Liberal Studies by Michael Eatmon April 2020 Mentor: Dr. Thomas Moore Reader: Dr. Jayashree Shivamoggi Rollins College Hamilton Holt School Master of Liberal Studies Program Winter Park, Florida 2 Heart disease, stroke, obesity, and diabetes are chasing modern humans to the grave. A month rarely passes without alarming news of the population’s declining health. Ancient hunter–gatherers suffered from lifestyle diseases, too, but rarely. This started to change when our ancestors left plains and forests for farms and cities. Rates of these and other so-called diseases of civilization began to rise.1 Many modern people, especially those in the West, have come to see these diseases as part of life. Too many see these conditions as normal. They do not recognize the connection between lifestyle choices and poor health. They eat a lot of salty, sugary, highly processed foods. They get no regular exercise, and they do little to relieve stress. They smoke or drink more than they should. Sooner than their socio-economic status predicts, they succumb to a lifestyle disease.2 When they do, most in the West turn to modern medicine for solutions. The decline in their health took years, but they hope to find a quick fix, even if not an inexpensive or painless one. Their conventional family physician prescribes pills and procedures to ease their symptoms. The physician often fails to investigate their condition’s potential causes, though. Physicians often fail to explore what roles diet, 1. S. Boyd Eaton, Melvin Konner, and Marjorie Shostak, “Stone Agers in the Fast Lane: Chronic Degenerative Diseases in Evolutionary Perspective,” The American Journal of Medicine 84, no. 4 (1988): 739–49, doi.org/10.1016/0002-9343(88)90113-1. 2. Andrea S. Wiley and John S. Allen, Medical Anthropology: A Biocultural Approach (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2017), 120. 3 exercise, and state of mind play in illness.3 This treat-the-symptoms approach is common in the West. It also tends to minimize or ignore underlying causes of disease. Some Westerners have concluded that modern medicine offers only band-aids, not cures. What is more, some wonder whether healthcare professionals have incentives not to heal. They wonder whether physicians knowingly prescribe ineffective or unnecessary pharmaceuticals or surgeries.4 The treatment of acute illnesses and long-term diseases generates staggering revenues. In 2018, Americans spent about $3.65 trillion on healthcare, the most spent in the developed world.5 Big pharma, medical supply companies, insurance companies, hospitals, and physicians benefitted. Patients, however, did not benefit so much from the boon. In the same year, the US ranked twenty-seventh in the world for overall health.6 3. Jennifer Sinclair, Beverley Lawson, and Fred Burge, “Which Patients Receive Advice on Diet and Exercise? Do Certain Characteristics Affect Whether They Receive Such Advice?” Canadian Family Physician • Le Médecin de Famille Canadien 54 (2008): 406. 4. David Epstein and ProPublica, “An Epidemic of Unnecessary Treatment,” The Atlantic, March 20, 2017, https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/02/when- evidence-says-no-but-doctors-say-yes/517368/. 5. Erik Sherman, “U.S. Health Care Costs Skyrocketed to $3.65 Trillion in 2018,” Fortune, February 21, 2019, https://fortune.com/2019/02/21/us-health-care-costs-2/. 6. Aria Bendix, “The US Was Once a Leader for Healthcare and Education - Now It Ranks 27th in the World,” Business Insider, September 27, 2018, https://www.businessinsider.com/us-ranks-27th-for-healthcare-and-education-2018-9. 4 Some Westerners decide to look elsewhere for solutions to their chronic health problems. They turn to complementary or alternative approaches to conventional Western medicine.7 Some people abandon conventional medicine altogether. They turn to alternatives, instead, such as chiropractic, homeopathy, and energy healing. Others who are dissatisfied with their conventional healthcare aim only to supplement it. They may give the latest trend in diet, exercise, or supplements a go. They may consult an herbalist and schedule regular sessions with a massage therapist. They remain under the care of a conventional physician, as well. Some Westerners seeking unconventional solutions to chronic healthcare problems look to the East. Many of them explore traditional systems of medicine originating in China or India. A growing number look to Ayurveda as a complement, or even an alternative, to Western medicine.8 Ayurveda is one of India’s traditional systems of medicine.9 Its history stretches back millennia, into the mists of Vedic antiquity. 7. “Complementary, Alternative, or Integrative Health: What’s in a Name?” National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, April 2, 2019, https://nccih.nih.gov/health/integrative-health. 8. V. Sajeev Kumar, “Europe Fast Embracing Ayurveda alongside Modern Medicine,” The Hindu BusinessLine, January 12, 2018, https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/variety/europe-fast-embracing-ayurveda- alongside-modern-medicine/article9481575.ece. 9. Ayurveda is not India’s only traditional system of medicine (TSM). Unani and Siddha are, too, though neither plays so prominent a role. Further information is available at the website for India’s Ministry of AYUSH: http://ayush.gov.in. AYUSH stands for Ayurveda, Yoga (and Naturopathy), Unani, Siddha, and Homoeopathy. 5 Though ancient, many view it as viable modern medicine. Generations of Indians have depended on its practitioners for advice, diagnosis, and treatment. Millions turn to Ayurveda, but what are they turning to? Are they relying on a bona fide medical science or on a patent medical pseudoscience? The answer to that question must take four key prior questions into consideration. One, what criteria distinguish a genuine science from a pseudoscience? Two, how compatible with genuine science are Ayurveda’s history and philosophy? Three, how compatible with genuine science are Ayurveda’s methods, results, and research? Four, do significant, even determinative, differences exist among ancient, traditional, and modern “Ayurvedas”? Once these questions are answered, Ayurveda’s scientific status will become clearer. “Clearer” does not mean settled. The East and West have different understandings of important terms in the discussion. Indian approaches to metaphysics, epistemology, and methods differ from those in the West. A brief paper cannot work through all such differences. Still, answers to these three key questions will caution the critic. Answers will show that Ayurveda’s modern expression ought not to be dismissed. It is neither outdated nor irrational. Evidence will support the claim that Ayurveda is maturing in, and because of, the modern age. The modern expression of Ayurveda is a genuine science with a promising future. Ancient and traditional approaches to Ayurveda may not be defensible as modern sciences. This thesis of this paper, though, assumes Ayurveda’s modern expression. Thus, the Ayurveda being defended is one that values modern, Western 6 education. It values modern Western medicine, even while pointing out some of its shortcomings. This paper does not defend every Ayurvedic folk healer throughout the world. THE PROBLEM OF DEFINING SCIENCE10 The claim that Ayurveda is a genuine science may stand or fall on the definition of science.11 People use the term regularly enough. Defining it should be straightforward. In the early 1960s, many Americans thought the same thing about the term obscenity. In 1964, the Supreme Court handed down its ruling in the Jacobellis v. Ohio case. The case involved the questionable obscenity of Louis Malle’s film The Lovers. In question was whether the film constituted hard-core pornography. The Court found that it did not meet the criteria. Justice Potter Stewart was among the decision’s majority opinion. He was reluctant to define hard-core pornography. Still, he denied that Malle’s work crossed the 10. Massimo Pigliucci and Maarten Boudry, ed., Philosophy of Pseudoscience: Reconsidering the Demarcation Problem (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2013). This section is especially indebted to Pigliucci, Mahner, and Hansson for many general insights into the demarcation problem. Helpful, too, is Sven Ove Hansson, “Science and Pseudo-Science,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, April 11, 2017, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pseudo-science/. 11. This paper italicizes terms when discussing their definition or etymology.