[ziddoap]

Faith healing has heavy religious tones. Yet not everyone who responds positively to a placebo is religious. So, it feels sort of weird to call the placebo effect some form of faith healing.

[protonfish]

I guess it depends on how you define religion. I think that we can have faith in anything - science, your doctor, etc. that could work in a similar fashion to religious faith.

[burnished]

This is specious. Religion is clearly centered around the spiritual and physical beliefs about the world and the practices of a specific group.

Trusting your doctor is usually more along the lines of an educated guess due to the necessity to act without perfect information.

[vitiral]

That was the point of the question. Wouldn't you say "placebo" has heavy intellectualizing overtones?

[ziddoap]

No, I wouldn't.

[vitiral]

Why not when you feel the opposite about "faith healing"?