DOI: 10.17720/2409-5834.v3.2.2016.19a

Evgeniya L. Panova

I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, The Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation
Based on an analysis of Russian translations of Hippocratic Corpus texts, several preconditions are identifi ed that enabled the emergence of rational medicine in the classical period of ancient Greek culture. According to the author, the fi rst prerequisite formed under the infl uence of the fi rst Greek natural philosophers’ framework for fi nding natural causes for the behavior of normal and pathological processes in the human body. The second prerequisite was the formation of practical methods of medical diagnosis and treatment and their subsequent use together with theoretical methods. The merging of experimentalpractical and logical-theoretical ways of knowing made it possible to develop a unique approach to medicine, creating the opportunity to mentally “complete” a picture of a disease and to detect the “invisible” – the hidden processes that were taking place in the human body during illnesses, and on this basis, issue the correct diagnosis and apply adequate treatment. A third precondition is defi ned as the refl exively formed distinction of object and subject in medical practice – the patient’s body and the physician as a theorist-researcher and healer-practitioner, which indicates a growing interest in the issue of humanity in the classical period of ancient Greek culture. The ideal of justifi cation and evidence in knowledge as the main activity of the authors of the landmark Hippocrates Corpus text is the fourth prerequisite for the development of rational knowledge about health and disease of the human body in ancient Greek medicine. Arising from this premise, a consistent and logical form of presenting the content of Hippocrates Corpus treatises enabled a productive transfer and effi cient reproduction of the accumulated secular ancient Greek medical theoretical knowledge and practical skills of each successive generations of doctors.

Keywords: rational medicine, Hippocratic Corpus, a human, the nature, organism, health, illness