On philosophy, discourse, and context: complementary medicine practitioner responses to meeting work practices with evidence-based medicine

Abstract

This thesis explores the interface between professional knowledge and evidence-based medicine research for Australian naturopathic and Western herbal medicine practitioners. The focus is the boundary between practice philosophies, concepts of illness causality, reasoning of knowledge and the ways participants negotiate epistemological pluralism in relation to these. The aim is to clarify reasoning underlying action and to understand how this intersects with current concepts of knowing in healthcare.