PLURALISM IN THE AYURVEDIC SYSTEM OF MEDICINE*

This paper, tries to establish the pluralism within one particular system of medicine, namely the Ayurvedic system. Herein we find not only a multitude of approaches to medical treatment – originating from it's subtle nosological categories. Rather more, the same subtleness in nosology works effectively into the sector of preservation of health and prevention of diseases. The author would like to call that a kind of vertical pluralism, comprising at least three main spheres: treatment – nosology or diagnosis – and prevention. Beyond that an din comparison with other “alternative” systems of the standard horizontal medical pluralism, one could analyse to which extent individual systems are covering the above mentioned vertical range.