ANTHROPOSOPHIC MEDICINE

Ethics and self-conception

The focus is on the patient and his or her individual treatment. The constitution, age, biographical situation, mental and spiritual state and social environment of the patient are included in diagnosis and treatment.








In research, valid individual case documentation procedures Kiene: Cognition-based
Medicine (in German) as well as outcome studies EvaMed Projekt are preferred. Randomised double blind studies are only used to a limited extent for ethical and methodological reasons.

In addition to the general ethics of the profession, anthroposophic medical ethics are based on Rudolf Steiner’s principal philosophical work: The Philosophy of Freedom. The Basis for a Modern World Conception. It develops the concept of ethical individualism as well as an image of the human being which recognises the eternal in the human individual – including in an ill or disabled physical body. It adds to the materialistic world conception inherent in natural science based medicine an understanding of the spiritual foundation of the world. This embracing ethical concept also includes the thought of reincarnation and confidence in the unlimited capacity of each human being to develop. As a result of such an evolutionary approach, prevention through meditative training, self-education and self-development plays a central role. In order to promote the idea of prevention, patient associations have formed in many countries which support the spread of health-promoting measures on a spiritual, mental and physical level.