Date of Award

2016

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Natural Sciences

First Advisor

Gilchrist, Sandra

Area of Concentration

Biology with Philosophy

Abstract

This thesis is divided into two parts with the former emphasizing philosophical concepts and the latter focusing on biological theory. The first half describes normative and naturalistic account of both health and disease. Naturalists generally consider diseases to be deviations from naturally evolved biological function, which also cause harm. Normativism recognizes diseases as physical states which are judged to be harmful, which are then tied to a biological process. Normativism emphasizes the idea that a physical state is diseased because it causes an undesirable state, while naturalists stress the importance of biological dysfunction. Potential applications of naturalist and normativist thinking to traditional medicine, chiropractic and general scientific research in regards to healthcare will also be discussed. The second half of the thesis highlights the general history of the chiropractic profession in addition to closely examining studies regarding Fibromyalgia, essential tremor, and HIV as backing for both the legitimacy of chiropractic (and other CAM) and the necessity of additional research on the applications of such practices.

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