Innate Intelligence
The name these writers give to the organizing intelligence within a living thing.
The Green Books Guide · Explore Concepts
Big ideas. A clear place to begin.
Explore 25 foundational concepts in chiropractic philosophy. Start with a familiar question, understand the idea in everyday language, and see where it appears in the books.
Search a concept or use everyday words, such as “learning,” “body communication,” or “limits.”
Educated Intelligence
The learned, thinking side of life, discussed alongside Innate.
Universal Intelligence
The starting premise that intelligence is present throughout matter.
The Triune of Life
Three connected factors: intelligence, force, and matter.
Intelligence
In this vocabulary, intelligence means organizing direction, rather than IQ.
Force
The connecting factor between intelligence and matter in the triune.
Matter
The physical material through which activity is expressed.
Adaptation
The way a living whole is described as responding to changing demands.
Limitations of Matter
Adaptation has limits because physical material has limits.
Coordination
Different parts working together in their respective roles.
Interference
An interruption of transmission within the authors’ explanatory model.
Subluxation
A specific historical chiropractic definition connecting a vertebra and interference.
Adjustment
In Stephenson’s account, the purpose is to address interference.
Tone
A central word in D.D. Palmer’s explanation of chiropractic.
Mental Impulse
Stephenson’s term for a specific message to a tissue cell.
The Nervous System
The pathway given a central role in Stephenson’s account of transmission.
The Normal Complete Cycle
Stephenson’s outline of an ongoing cycle of function and response.
Dis-ease
A term tied to incoordination in Stephenson’s philosophical account.
Health
Read health through the author’s emphasis on adaptation and coordinated function.
Cause and Effect
The principle that events have causes and actions have consequences.
The Principle of Time
Every process takes time.
Deductive Reasoning
Starting with a general premise and working toward particular conclusions.
Philosophy, Science, and Art
A way to distinguish ideas, study of the body, and practical skill.
The 33 Principles
Stephenson’s numbered framework for following the philosophy.
Organization
Parts with different jobs belonging to a functioning whole.