Toward a reconstruction of the philosophy of chiropractic

The development of a philosophy of chiropractic is reviewed with reference to the reductionist trend in chiropractic epistemology. The debate within chiropractic between the positivistic materialist position and the anachronistic traditionalist position is examined in terms of the emerging needs of the profession to develop a critical approach to the experimental nature of the patient/practitioner relationship. The potential for phenomenology, hermeneutics and science to illuminate the epistemology debate is discussed with reference to the emancipatory role of critical theory. The paper concludes with a discussion of how external power relations have affected the development of chiropractic epistemology and the emancipatory potential of the postulates of the founder of chiropractic, Daniel David Palmer.