BEYOND THE ORTHODOX - HERESY IN MEDICINE AND THE SOCIAL-SCIENCES FROMA CROSS-CULTURAL-PERSPECTIVE

An analysis of the concepts of orthodoxy and heresy with due considera tion to the social context (historical, religious, cross-cultural dime nsions), within which the terms are discussed, leads us to look histor ically at its European significance embodied in the witch-craze of the 15th-17th centuries. One way to conceptualize heresy is to analyze it in the context of the relationship of the scientists and scientific t heories vis-a-vis societal establishment (ie. power bases such as gove rnments, finance bases, public consensus). Today, unorthodoxy lies in attempts to accomplish interdisciplinary work, or in proposing alterna tive explanatory strategies (as in alternative medicine). A shift in s cientific paradigms seems to characterize the revolutionary changes of our era. The foremost challenge in the construction of new paradigms seems to be the ability to effectively integrate the components of emo tion or feelings taking into account both those of the researcher as w ell as those who are being investigated. This will involve a new conce ptualization of objectivity. In an era which is distinguished by globa lization, such a task necessitates a new level of understanding that i ntegrates gender related analysis as well as the implications of the r ecognition of cross-cultural interaction and cultural diversity. Copyr ight (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.