ABSTRACT
The idea of a preventive approach to problem-solving can be illustrated by reference to preventive health care. Curative medicine attempts to correct imbalances and diseases in the organism through surgery or through drugs. Preventive medicine seeks to prevent illness itself by promoting health in the patient, and increasing his or her natural resistance to disease. But prevention has to act upstream, as it were, in advance of the onset of disease. Once the illness has set in, the organism is already out of balance. Curative medicine can of course still ‘prevent’ a sick patient from dying, and often aids recovery. But it is generally more expensive and often more difficult than ensuring that the patient stays healthy to start with.
