Scientific Skepticism
Scientists generally interpret the doctrine of signatures as superstition. The links are not causal and are consequently widely regarded as purely coincidental. There is no evidence that plant signatures helped in the discovery of medical uses of the plants. The signatures are described as post hoc attributions and mnemonics. Their mnemonic status is of value in creating a system for remembering actions attributed to medical herbs.
Read more about this topic: Doctrine Of Signatures
Famous quotes containing the words scientific and/or skepticism:
“We have our little theory on all human and divine things. Poetry, the workings of genius itself, which, in all times, with one or another meaning, has been called Inspiration, and held to be mysterious and inscrutable, is no longer without its scientific exposition. The building of the lofty rhyme is like any other masonry or bricklaying: we have theories of its rise, height, decline and fall—which latter, it would seem, is now near, among all people.”
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881)
“No actual skeptic, so far as I know, has claimed to disbelieve in an objective world. Skepticism is not a denial of belief, but rather a denial of rational grounds for belief.”
—William Pepperell Montague (1842–1910)