D.D. Palmer founded Chiropractic on the viewpoint that physiological life within the human body is guided by principles and laws that sustain well-being. These principles and laws drive that which we call health or wholeness. They are the cause of the effect of that which we can touch, measure and see. 

Philosophy is the study of knowledge, reality and existence. It’s the organization of knowledge, information and wisdom. The word is derived from two Greek roots; philo meaning “love” and sophy meaning “wisdom.”  The love for wisdom is a big study and in order to focus on a given topic matter. Philosophy has been broken into four main branches:

1. Logic: Logic is the process of organizing reason. Reason has two main forms; deductive and inductive. Deductive reasoning starts with a sound principle (premise) that cannot be denied and from there creates rules and principles from that premise. Inductive reasoning does just the opposite, it starts with the small and creates rules and principles and applies it to all similar case scenarios. 
2. Axiology: Axiology is the process of organizing principles within the realm of ethics and aesthetics. Ethics is what is right and wrong and aesthetics is that which we can see, touch and taste. 
3. Epistemology: Epistemology is the organization of the process of learning. It takes into account how to teach a given subject matter and how to best learn the subject matter being taught. 
4. Metaphysics: Metaphysics is the process of organizing the principles of the universe and existence into what’s real and what’s beyond our abilities to see, touch or feel. It’s the exploration of the universe at hand.

These branches of philosophy are different ways to collect, organize and teach information and  knowledge for the search for truth or facts in a given field. Branches of philosophy are valuable within professional industries as they become a resource for the practical application of the theory. 

D.D. Palmer wrote in his 1921 The Chiropractic Adjuster Green Book “The principles which compose the science of chiropractic have existed as long as animals have had backbones.”  This shows us that D.D. Palmer studied the knowledge that was already documented about physiology and organized the information that he was researching in practice and applied it in a systematic approach for the teaching and duplication of a new profession.

In the process of developing the philosophy of Chiropractic, D.D. Palmer’s initial theory of what caused a lack of health and wholeness was inflamed nerves from displaced vertebrae that were stretching or pinching the tissue in the intervertebral forearm canel (IVF). 

This theory was the foundation for teaching students at The Palmer School and Infirmary of Chiropractic. They referred to this school as “Chiropractic’s FountainHead” and it was located in Davenport, Iowa. This school is still in existence and is now referred to as Palmer College of Chiropractic. 

As the ontology of Vertebral Subluxation was being researched at The Chiropractic FountainHead through study and application with patients receiving adjustments; the students were graduating and becoming teachers with a set of concepts in the subject of Chiropractic. One of those students was the son of D.D. Palmer, B.J. Palmer.

B.J. Palmer became the developer of Chiropractic and eventually took over The Chiropractic Fountainhead. He served his father’s mission for the love of wisdom and refined the original Chiropractic Vertebral Subluxation Theory. 

B.J. Palmer spent the remainder of his life leading, writing and teaching Chiropractic in Davenport, IA as the search for more wisdom and clarity within the principles of anatomy, pathology,  physiology as they pertained to the Philosophy, Science and Art of Chiropractic. B.J. Palmer and his father together created a profession like no other.