ken: [OED] The form is properly causative to causeto know, to make known, and was restricted to this use in Goth.and OE. At an early period, however, in all the Teutonic tongues,the verb also acquired the sense to know.

trans.To make known, declare, confess, acknowledge. Obs.

wit:Simplesenses.

1. trans. To have cognizance or knowledge of; to be awareof; to know (as a fact or an existing thing)
 
 

knowledge:Hahnemannuses various terms to refer to different modes of knowledge. Tobe aware: wissen [to wit]. To have intellectual awareness, discursivecognition, such as that knowledge gained from books, lecturesor scientific study. Wissen has both a cognitive and a perceptivecomponent; it involves the senses and the brain (as spectatorsrather than as participators). Specifically, wissen refers tocognition based upon perception. The German word for science isWissenschaft. (§3, §4, §99) To know: kennen[to ken].To have deep unific knowledge, such as that based on living experiencethat cannot be conveyed to another person through teaching ordemonstration. For example, the difference between wissen andkennen is the difference between knowing about water from readingabout it and studying it scientifically versus knowledge fromhaving dived into lakes, waded in streams and walked in the rain.Kennen has an aesthetic component which is absent in wissen.Throughdirect experience, one receives an impression about somethingand has a response to it. The differentiation between these twobasic kinds of knowing (wissen and kennen) is found in the Latinlanguages as well; for example, in the words savoir and connaitrein French; saber and conocer in Spanish ? the former referringto knowledge of facts and acquaintance with ideas; the latterreferring to experiential or participative knowledge of a person,thing or situation. (§3, §4, §52) To discern: erkennen.The terms kennen and erkennen both refer to personal knowledgegained from participative experience, wherein the Living Poweritself is engaged. Erkennen is the higher of the two, referringto a level of knowledge that is raised out of the feeling, aestheticrealm into that of noetic pure thought. It is the purest, highest,most comprehensive form of knowledge. This is the font, for example,of artistic knowledge. Hahnemann uses erkennen to describe theknowledge gained by doing provings of medicines on oneself. (§3,§6, §11) See also participation. [SRD]

experience: Erfahrung,Erlebniss. Participation in events or activities that resultsin the acquisition of knowledge. Hahnemann refers to pure experience[reine Erfahrung] as the sole and infallible oracle of the medicalart (§25). Pure experience is participative experience withcomplete freedom from bias and prejudice; it involves the highestlevel of functioning of the Geist and the Gemüt (i.e., therational-intellectual and the aesthetic faculties). Pure experienceis the basis of kennen and erkennen (knowledge and discernment)and it is a fundamental requirement of the homeopathic remedialart, coming into play both in the investigation of medicines (provings)and in the investigation of diseases (case-taking). Hahnemanndescribes the medical art as both the most noble and the mostdifficult of the arts partly because it has to do with attainingand maintaining that purity of experience which is required inself-provings and in the participative relationship between thephysician and the patient. This requires a high degree of healthon the part of the Heilkünstler. (Hahnemann almost alwaysuses the term Erfahrung; he uses Erlebnis only once, in fn §33.)See also art, participation. [SRD]

observe:beobachten.1. To take notice ofsomething or someone, both scientifically and aesthetically (§83).2. To act in conformity with, as observing a code of conduct (§228).Observation involves both perception and participation, both seeingand beholding. For example, a case-taker uses the senses to observea patient ? looking, listening, smelling, etc. and also receivesan impression of the patient and has a response to that impression.The case-takerís impression and responsion are a part ofthe observation of the patient. [SRD]

participation:Theilnahme[partaking]. The partaking of the substance, quality or natureof someone or something. One of the fullest forms of participation(also referred to as participation mystique) involves imaginativeidentification with people and things outside oneself, a mergingof oneís consciousness with that of another person, witha group or with the external world. This type of participationis characterized by the primary involvement of the Living Power.Hahnemannís references to ëpure experienceí(§23, §25) and to ëthe living holistic participationof the Living Principleí (§189) involve a level ofparticipation akin to that of participation mystique.

For example, it is throughparticipating observation that the Heilkünstler takes thecomplete case, including not only the perceptible signs of diseasebut also the imperceptible (but discernible) state of the patientwhich is to some degree, but not entirely, exhibited in behavior.The Therapeutic Artist takes the case using both the sentientfaculty (which includes the brain and the senses) and the aestheticfaculty (the Gemüt). In participating through oneísown Living Power, one receives an impression and has a responsion(i.e., a dynamic, aesthetic response to an impression). It isthe Living Power organized in the Gemüt that takes this impressionfrom an external Potence and then has a responsion. When a genuineTherapeutician, who is free of bias, is taking a case, his impressionsand responsions are pure. They are in the realm of objective,not subjective, emotion.

Hahnemann gives two examplesof such objective emotion. In §253 he states, "Whenthere is an ever-so-slight beginning of aggravation, the patientwill demonstrate the opposite of this, exhibiting a more self-conscious,more helpless state of emotional mind, of the spirit, of the wholebehavior and of all attitudes, positions and actions ? a statewhich draws more pity to itself." In §210, Hahnemannstates, "One often encounters patients with the painful,protracted diseases who have a mild, gentle emotional mind suchthat the Heilkünstler feels impelled to bestow attentionand sympathy upon them." In the first case, pity is the objectiveemotion, the responsion that the Therapeutician will have. Inthe second case, he feels objective sympathy. Pure experience,involving participation while being free of bias, is the basisof kennen and erkennen (unific knowledge and discernment). Itis a key requirement in the practice of the Therapeutician whichmakes the difference between the mere science of medicine (basedon Wissen, intellectual awareness) and the remedial art. [SRD]
 
 

impression:Eindruck. An effectproduced by an external force or influence upon the mind; a dynamicaction or effect produced by an external Potence upon the LivingPower. In §64, Hahnemann states that in a proving. "duringthe initial action of artificial disease Potences (medicines)upon our healthy body, our Living Power appears to comport itselfonly conceptively (receptively, passively as it were) and appearsas if it were forced to allow the impressions of the artificialPotence impinging from without to occur in itself, thereby modifyingits condition." In §275, he refers to the impressionthat too-strong doses of homeopathic medicine make upon the LivingPower.

Eindruck has an aestheticconnotation which is conveyed in the expressions 'first impression'and 'artistic impression.' Specifically, impressions are madeupon the Living Power organized in the emotional mind (Gemüt), which is the aesthetic faculty.

In discussing the earliestindications of a patient's amelioration or aggravation, Hahnemanngives examples of mental and emotional alterations which are easilyseen if one observes with exact attentiveness, but which cannotbe easily described in words. In §253, he states, "Whenthere is an ever-so-slight beginning of improvement, the patientwill demonstrate a greater degree of comfort, increasing composure,freedom of spirit, increased courage -- a kind of returning naturalness.When there is an ever-so-slight beginning of aggravation, thepatient will demonstrate the opposite of this, exhibiting a moreself-conscious, more helpless state of emotional mind, of thespirit, of the whole behavior and of all attitudes, positionsand performances -- a state which draws more pity to itself."These are all descriptions of changes in a patient's state whichmake an aesthetic impression upon the observer.

The observer's Living Powerresponds to impressions with responsions (i.e., dynamic, aestheticresponses involving the Gemüt). In the above example of aggravation,the observer's responsion is pity. Impressions and responsionsare two aspects of participative experience which is the basisof all living knowledge (kennen and erkennen). [SRD]

responsion: A dynamic,conscious and aesthetic response to an impression, which involvesthe Gemüt(i.e., the emotionalmind) as contrasted with other kinds of reactions, such as anautomatic reaction or a purely sensorial, autonomic reflex. Theterm 'responsion' is used in the Glossary to define terms; itis not used in the text of the Organon. [SRD]