Aphorism 44:
The Impossibility of Conflict: Understanding Aphorism 44
In Aphorism 44, Samuel Hahnemann contrasts the behavior of similar diseases with that of the dissimilar diseases discussed in the preceding sections (§§ 36–42). He establishes that when two similar maladies meet in the same organism, they cannot engage in the same types of dynamic conflict seen between dissimilar ones.
What Similar Diseases Cannot Do
According to Organon of Medicine, two diseases that are similar to each other are incapable of following the three laws of dissimilarity:
- They cannot repel one another: Unlike the law of repulsion for dissimilar diseases (§ 36), a stronger similar disease will not be kept away by an older one.
- They cannot suspend one another: Unlike the law of suspension (§ 38), a newer similar disease does not merely hold the old one in abeyance only for it to return once the new disease has run its course.
- They cannot coexist or complicate: Unlike the law of complication (§ 40), two similar diseases cannot occupy different parts of the organism or join together to form a “double complex disease.”
The Path to Annihilation
Hahnemann argues that because similar diseases cannot repel, suspend, or coexist with one another, their interaction must result in a “totally different” outcome. Since they affect the same parts and systems of the organism through their similarity of manifestations, the meeting of two such forces leads directly to the removal and cure of the weaker affection by the stronger one.
Conclusion: The Basis of Therapeutic Action
Aphorism 44 serves as the logical exclusion of all other possibilities, proving that similarity is the only relationship between two diseases—or between a disease and a medicine—that results in a true cure. This principle provides the necessary foundation for the detailed explanation of the annihilation of disease provided in Aphorism 45.
