§ 17: The Whole Disease – Part 1

Summary

Have all the treasures in the Organon been revealed so far? Everything seems clear when speaking of a totality – really? To analyse the three German words that have been translated into totality can open a new view on Samuel Hahnemann's original intention. May I invite you to a journey, where a thorough examination of text and words leads to some surprising insights? And possibly, a better understanding of some principles in the Organon can help to build a bridge between homeopaths from various approaches, and thus be a chance for further developments. Aude sapere – dare to be wise! Part 2 of this article will be published in a subsequent issue of Links.

Key words

Organon - Translations - Former meaning of words - Whole disease - Inner core of disease - Symptom totality - Main issues - Blockage - Cure - Developments - Unity

References

• 1 Hahnemann S. Organon der Heilkunst – Textkritische Ausgabe der 6. Auflage (Josef M. Schmidt). Stuttgart; Haug 2002
• 2 Hahnemann S. Organon of Medicine – translated by W. Boericke. Reprint. New Delhi; B. Jain 1992
• 3 Hahnemann S. Organon of Medicine. 5th & 6th edition combined. Translated by R. E. Dudgeon and W. Boericke. Reprint. New Delhi; B. Jain 2007
• 4 Hahnemann S. Organon of Medicine. Translated by A. Naudé, P. Pendleton, J. Künzli. Blaine, WA; Cooper Publishing 1982
• 5 Hahnemann S. Organon of the Medical Art. Edited by Wenda Brewster O'Reilly. Redmond, WA; Birdcage Books 1996
• 6 Grimm J, Grimm W. Deutsches Wörterbuch. Leipzig; S. Hirzel 1854–1960 http://germazope.uni-trier.de/Projects/WBB/woerterbuecher/woerterbuecher/dwb/wbgui Quellenverzeichnis 1971
• 7 Goethe-Wörterbuch. Hg. von der Berlin-Brandenburgischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Stuttgart; Verlag Kohlhammer 1978 http://germazope.uni-trier.de/Projects/WBB/woerterbuecher/woerterbuecher/dwb/wbgui
• 8 Wahrig-Burfeind R. Wahrig-Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache. München; dtv 2007
• 9 Gebhardt K H. Buchbesprechung (Köster W: die Logik der Ganzheit).  AHZ. 2008;  253 34-35

1 Grimm-Woerterbuch, first published by Brothers Grimm in 1854: German words are explained in their development from the 8th to the 19th century. Goethe-Woerterbuch: words used by Goethe are explained, by giving examples from his writings. As Goethe was a contemporary of Hahnemann, and also a son of the Age of Enlightenment, it is a valuable addition to the Grimm-Woerterbuch. At present it is only available up to the letter I.

2 Wesen: a Wesen is something alive; the translations are being, creature, sometimes entity. The Wesen of somebody or something describes how the person or thing in essence is, therefore the translations are essence, core, nature, character, disposition.

Appendix

Das Total der Krankheit: Das Total is mentioned 4 times in the Organon: Dudgeon and Boericke translated it in § 17 first into “the whole of the disease”, then into “the totality of the disease”, again in § 58; in footnote 117 to § 203 it is translated into “whole disease”. About synonymous is Gesammtkrankheit and gesammte Krankheit, which they translated into whole, general or entire disease, see §§ 193, 197, 200, 201, 217.

Gesammtheit: This word is used 16 times in the Organon. With one exception (§ 241: “all the cases” of an epidemic), Hahnemann either refers to the Gesammtheit of symptoms of a disease, of a natural disease, of a case of disease, of a state of disease, of the image (or picture) of a disease, of an epidemic disease, of a malady; see aphorisms 7 (twice), 18, 24, 25, 27, 70 (twice), 102, 103, 104, 105, 147, 192, 258; § 192: Dudgeon translated “to the totality” instead of “to this” (dieser = this).

Inbegriff: this word is used 23 times in the Organon (see §§ 8, 15, 16, 17 (twice), 18, 22 (twice), footnote 79 to § 81, 100, 101, 102, 103, 135, 152, 153, 169, 181, 196, 210, 217, 241, 274). Dudgeon and Boericke translated it into totality (13 ×), the whole, collection, (adjective–collective), sum, array. Hahnemann refers in these aphorisms to the Inbegriff of symptoms of a disease, of diseases (§ 274), of the natural disease, of a case of disease, a malady, miasmatic chronic diseases, epidemic diseases; § 135: of a medicine.

(Current translations are epitome, quintessence, embodiment, personification, paragon.)