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Greek medicine essay
Hippocrates important in medicine
Greek medicine essay
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Greek medicine essay
Hippocrates important in medicine
Greek medicine essay
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
A major contribution of the Golden Age of Greece is the physician Hippocrates disagreed with the belief supernatural spirits were the sole cause of human disease. He shared with Pythagoras that the brain was the center of intelligence and mental disorders were specifically the malfunctioning of the brain. Another contribution to the Golden Ages is that Hippocrates development of psychiatric labels of a pattern of deviant behavior, which the labels included melancholia, mania, and epilepsy. The theory that disease is of the natural and not of the supernatural. The change in belief origin of the disease.
“Doctors are men who prescribe medicines of which they know little, to cure diseases of which they know less, in human beings of whom they know nothing.” - Voltaire When you ask a doctor what they do for a living, a common answer given is “I practice medicine.” Take careful note of the word practice. Doctors are never 100% sure what they are doing is the right answer, so they call it practice. How does a doctor practice without putting lives in danger?
They invented gunpowder, an air conditioner, and porcelain. A lot of the medical techniques that they used led to the medical techniques that humans use today. A lot of the medicine that they used is still used in
Hippocrates is very significant to the history of medicine because he changed medicine, influenced physicians for centuries, and developed a system useful for curing illness. His works and ideas changed medicine from relying on religion and home remedies to reasoning and observation. He is known as the father of medicine and is recognized today as an important figure in medicine. Hippocrates changed the way people thought and used medicine. Rather than using religion to explain why someone was sick or why epidemics occurred he used rational explanations.
As the era of the Egyptians came to an end, the Greek civilization rose around 700 BC. The Greeks were known for their great philosophy and Greek doctors while practicing medicine used this same type of rational thinking. In one of the earliest medical schools the doctors began observing patients. Alcmaeon, a medical theorist and philosopher, was one of the first people to consider the internal causes of ailments. He also proposed the idea that illness could be caused by diet, lifestyle, or the environment.
When people got sick they needed medicine, physicians, and health care. In the late 1500 there was not a great deal medican, there was mostly just spiritual analysis. One of the key figures of the medical world was Andreas Vesalius who became Professor of surgery and anatomy at the University of Padua, when he was only twenty three. In most detail Vesalius showed that
Medicine in ancient Greece was viewed as more spiritual than physical. The initial approach to treating illness was driven by superstitious beliefs regarding the Greek gods. Sickness was acknowledged by the people as a divine infliction, that was only cured by receiving the gift of healing through the gods. This elementary view of the origin of disease restricted the usage of any medicine. An ill person would seek a cure by praying or offering a sacrifice to appease the gods for a quick recovery.
During the discussion regarding physical training for the guardians, the question of how to deal with sick people is raised. Adopting the position of Asclepius, Socrates concludes, “But as for the ones whose bodies are naturally unhealthy or whose souls are incurably evil, won’t they let the former die of their own accord and put the latter to death?” (86) Overall, Socrates advocates death for both groups mainly because they will not be able to contribute to the city. For the fatally ill, they will be so focused on treating themselves, they will not be able to work, and per Socrates, not be able to truly live either. On the other hand, Socrates believes that the “incurably evil”, or psychopaths, should be purged from the city as means of keeping
That is why they are not skillful enough to perform duties properly. In that way, he supports his idea providing the mastery of a doctor as an example (Plato 23). Hence, he says that the medic in the true sense of this word will not treat his patient in a wrong way. By this, he means that
Many of these Pre-Socratic thinkers shared mostly the same thoughts and were students of Socrates. According to the book World Societies “These Greek thinkers, based in Ionia, are called the pre-Socratics because their rational efforts preceded those of Socrates”. This gives a better understanding of what these people were and their beliefs. The four substances Fire, air, earth, and water these were the things Democritus and Hippocrates believed in. Democritus believed that this universe was made up of invisible, indestructible particles.
My father taught me that medicine that cares, cures, helps, and heals is of greater import than medicine that simply makes a diagnosis and prescribes a medication. I hope that one day, I will become a provider of the type of medicine that treats not only the body, but also the mind and
It seems imperative to bring medicine back to its original laudable state, and aside from striving to cleanse it from the dregs left by the barbarians, to purify it of the most serious errors; not according to the rules of the ancients, but solely according to those which we have found proven by the nature of things through practice and experience….It is not title and eloquence, nor the knowledge of languages nor the reading of many books that are the requirements of a physician. 21 & 22 His reference in the quotation above to languages is interesting. Paracelsus knew many languages, but wrote in the German and not in Latin as was the custom, possibly to show that he was breaking away from the old texts.
Back in the early 5th/4th c. BCE the Ancient Greeks were not blessed with the technology and information we have today. They are the reason we have so much of what we have because they can be looked at the original foundation that we evolved to the technology we have now. Looking back they were in charge of their own destiny by having to figure everything out by themselves and one the most difficult areas to have a strong hold on was the way diseases work as well as medicine. Some Greeks believed that the gods gave the powers of healing while others believed it was in nature. For example, some Greeks believed that climate and the weather had an effect on the human body.
HIPPOCRATES During the time period of the classical antiquities, around 500 BC to 476 AD, various ancient Greek civilizations had a variety of supernatural beliefs that governed the world around them. The ancient Greeks had various Gods for many of life’s factors such as Deity, the Goddess of love, beauty and desire, Chronos, the God of time and also Asclepius and his daughters Hygieia and Panacea, who were known to be the Gods of medicine and healing. During this time period the Greeks believed that diseases and misfortune were punishment for misbehaviour, sins or even for not keeping with the standard tradition and beliefs, whereas a bountiful season of crop was seen as a gift from the gods as they were pleased. Hippocrates, through his own
Since as long as human life has been recorded, humans have been creating and inventing countless things to suit each need. Whether that be how we shelter ourselves, to how we hunt, or now in day, how we can provide a cure to live a little longer. Or as some people call it- medicine.