There is a reliance on machines and technology to assure exact measurements, accurate analysis and consistent repeatability. Diagnostic testing, technology and machine measurements are often trusted over and above fallible human judgments. The intellect is honored above other ways of knowing because truth is seen as fixed and replicable. Analytical, linear thinking is relied upon in order to reach the one exact cause of a problem and by eliminating that cause the problem, disease, illness can be eliminated. Disease and illness are viewed as something that is either broken and in need of being fixed, or as an invasion by some dangerous outside agent, such as bacterial or germs, which need to be eliminated.
Health is seen as the absence of disease.
In order to eliminate these dangerous elements, or fix the broken part, cures that employ the strongest, most active element, and are the most aggressive, are used in an effort to bring about the eradication of the disease as quickly as possible. Because these practices must be stronger and more aggressive than the disease they are removing, they tend to carry negative side effects which may be dangerous. The use of such cures, of course, requires a highly trained expert to administer the prescribed program. It is a struggle for survival and the effort to win the battle in the fight over the disease. The practices and techniques of Western medicine are totally congruent with this paradigm.