Rationalis’07: Why, How, and What for?

Abstract

The main features of the scientific method are discussed, and its usefulness in the case of Medicine is suggested. Pseudoscience is defined, and examples of its great diffusion in different national scenarios are described: this alarming situation is one of the main motivations of Rationalis'07. The goals of the event are stated, emphasizing the fact that it does not constitute a crusade against natural and traditional medicine, but a call of alarm about those practices that, selling themselves as scientific, partially or totally violate the scientific method –or, more generally, the rational thinking.