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Synopsis The aim of this dissertation is to consider the complexity of homoeopathy and to see how the individual exerts judgement to arrive at the best decision for the treatment of the patient. Since Behavioural Decision Research suggests to us that when people are faced with complex decisions they tend to operate not with straightforward logic, but by applying heuristics or rules of thumb, we shall divide the dissertation into three parts in order to consider how this has a bearing on the practice of homoeopathy.
 
Part One will consider the Homoeopathic background, looking at how it was first authoritatively enunciated by Dr Samuel Hahnemann, and how the Materia Medica became so large and complex that practitioners had to devise methods or tools to find their way around it. In doing so many different approaches or models have arisen, all of which serve to increase the complexity of the discipline.
 
Part Two will look at Judgement, drawing on work in Behavioural Decision Research which has opened up a field of interesting ideas about heuristics, or rules of thumb, and bias. The very complexity of homoeopathy and the difficulty of decision making with regard to methodology, remedy selection and potency would seem to make this a worthwhile field of study.
 
Part Three will look at Heuristics and Bias in Homoeopathy in an attempt to show how heuristics are involved and how an awareness of how we use them can minimise the biases that we introduce in our practice.
 
Finally, we shall look at a few cases in order to see how the heuristic approach is brought into action in practice.