Alternative medicine
Alternative medicine is medicine that stands in different kinds of polarities to conventional medicine. The following table contains aspects because of which medical systems may be called alternative.
| conventional medicine | alternative medicine | respective term | |
|---|---|---|---|
| scientific | not scientific, pseudoscientific | pseudoscientific medicine | |
| Distribution | orthodox, mainstream | practiced by minorities | unorthodox medicine |
| academic (tought on universities) | known by common people or staff without academic education | ||
| Practiced by | doctors | Mostly non doctors: healers, common people, naturopaths | |
| Quality, safety | quackery | ||
| Cultural origin | based on western culture | based on different cultures | traditional medicine |
| Reductionism, materialism | Acceptance of i.e. life forces, spirit or soul |