Abstract
What impact, if any, did Hippocrates and the Hippocratic tradition have on the development of medical knowledge and practice? For some, Hippocrates is the “Father of (Western or Modern) Medicine,” and the Hippocratic tradition provides a framework for the development of contemporary medicine – especially a rational, scientific medicine. Hippocrates and the Hippocratic tradition are not only important in terms of the development of medical knowledge but also its practice, as exemplified by the Hippocratic oath. For others, modern medicine represents a rejection not so much of Hippocrates but only of the Hippocratic tradition, especially its vitalism and humoral theory of health and disease. In this chapter, the impact of Hippocrates and the Hippocratic tradition on the development of medical knowledge is explored first, followed by an examination of how they, especially the oath, shaped medical practice. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the lessons this exploration into Hippocrates and the Hippocratic tradition teach about the future of medical knowledge and practice.
References
Antoniou SA, Antoniou GA, Granderath FA, Mavroforou A, Giannoukas AD, Antoniou AI (2010) Reflections of the Hippocratic oath in modern medicine. World J Surg 34:3075–3079
Astyrakaki E, Papaioannou A, Askitopoulou H (2010) References to anesthesia, pain, and analgesia in the Hippocratic Collection. Anesth Analg 110:188–194
Balzer W, Eleftheriadis A (1991) A reconstruction of the Hippocratic humoral theory of health. J Gen Phil Sci 22:207–227
Berry RM (1997) The genetic revolution and the physician’s duty of confidentiality: the role of the old Hippocratic virtues in the regulation of the new genetic intimacy. J Leg Med 18:401–441
Boylan M (2005) Hippocrates (c. 450-c. 380 B.C.E.). In: Internet encyclopedia of philosophy. Available via DIALOG. http://www.iep.utm.edu/hippocra/. Accessed 05 July 2015
Bujalkova M, Straka S, Jureckova A (2001) Hippocrates’ humoral pathology in nowaday’s reflections. Bratisl Lek Listy 102:489–492
Cantor D (ed) (2002) Reinventing Hippocrates. Ashgate, Burlington
Cassell EJ (2004) The nature of suffering and the goals of medicine, 2nd edn. Oxford University Press, New York
Chang A, Lad EM, Lad SP (2007) Hippocrates’ influence on the origins of neurosurgery. Neurosurg Focus 23:E9
Cheng TO (2000) Hippocrates and cardiology. Am Heart J 141:173–183
Cheng TO (2001) The true father of circulation: Harvey or Hippocrates? Ann Thorac Surg 71:1399–1404
Corpus Medicorum Graecorum (2015) Available via DIALOG. http://cmg.bbaw.de/. Accessed 07 July 2015
Coulehan J (2006) You say self-interest, I say altruism. In: Wear D, Aultman JM (eds) Professionalism in medicine. Springer, New York, pp 103–127
Cumston CG (1904) The phenomenism of Hippocrates. Med Lib Hist J 2:307–317
Daikos GK (2003) The Hippocratic spirit. Hormones (Athens) 2:186–188
Davey LM (2001) The oath of Hippocrates: an historical review. Neurosurgery 49:554–566
Duffin J (2005) Lovers and livers: disease concepts in history. University of Toronto Press, Toronto
Edelstein L (1967) Ancient medicine. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore
Eknoyan G (1988) Origins of nephrology: Hippocrates, the father of clinical nephrology. Am J Nephrol 8:498–507
Fabre JW (1997) The Hippocratic doctor: ancient lessons for the modern world. Royal Society of Medicine Press, London
Fabre J (1998) Modern medicine and the Hippocratic doctors of ancient Greece. J R Soc Med 91:161–163
Frixione E (2012) Pneuma – fire interactions in Hippocratic physiology. J Hist Med Allied Sci 68:505–528
Gillett G (2004) Clinical medicine and the quest for certainty. Soc Sci Med 58:727–738
Gordon JS (1982) Holistic medicine: advances and shortcomings. West J Med 136:546–551
Hankinson RJ (1998) Magic, religion and science: divine and human in the Hippocratic corpus. Apeiron 31:1–34
Heidel AW (1941) Hippocratic medicine. Its spirit and method. Columbia University Press, New York
Helidonis ES, Prokopakis EP (2001) The contribution of Hippocratic oath in third millennium medical practice. Am J Otolaryngol 22:303–305
Heubel F (2015) The “soul of professionalism” in the Hippocratic oath and today. Med Health Care Philos 18:185–194
Hurwitz B, Richardson R (1997) Swearing to care: the resurgence in medical oaths. BMJ 315:1671–1674
Jecker NS (1991) Knowing when to stop: the limits of medicine. Hastings Cent Rep 21:5–8
Joly R (1983) Hippocrates and the school of Cos. In: Ruse M (ed) Nature animated. Springer, New York, pp 29–47
Jotterand F (2005) The Hippocratic oath and contemporary medicine: dialectic between past ideals and present reality? J Med Phil 30:107–128
Jouanna J (1999) Hippocrates (trans: DeBevoise MB). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore
Jouanna J (2012) Greek medicine from Hippocrates to Galen (trans: Allies N). Brill, Leiden
Keränen L (2001) The Hippocratic oath as epideictic rhetoric: reanimating medicine’s past for its future. J Med Hum 22:55–68
King H (2001) Greek and Roman medicine. Bristol Classical Press, London
Koenig H, King D, Carson VB (eds) (2012) Handbook of religion and health, 2nd edn. Oxford University Press, New York
Kontopoulou TD, Marketos SG (2002) Homeostasis: the ancient Greek origin of a modern scientific principle. Hormones 1:124–125
Kravitz R (1984) Why the Hippocratic oath is worth preserving. Pharos Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Med Soc 47:37–39
Langholf V (1990) Medical theories in Hippocrates. De Gruyter, Berlin
Lasagna L (1964) Would Hippocrates rewrite his oath? N Y Times Mag 11:40–43
Levine EB (1971) Hippocrates. Twayne, New York
Lloyd GER (1975) The Hippocratic question. Classical Quart (ns) 25:171–192
Lloyd G (2007) Pneuma between body and soul. J Roy Soc Anthro Inst (ns) 13:S135–S146
Longrigg J (1993) Greek rational medicine: philosophy and medicine from Alcmaeon to the Alexandrians. Routledge, New York
Longrigg J (1998) Greek medicine from the hero to the Hellenistic age: a source book. Routledge, New York
Lonie IM (1981) The Hippocratic treatises “On generation”, “On the nature of the child”, “Diseases IV”: a commentary. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin
Mansfeld J (1983) The historical Hippocrates and the origins of scientific medicine. In: Ruse M (ed) Nature animated. Springer, New York, pp 49–76
Markel H (2014) The Hippocratic oath as an example of professional conduct. In: De Angelis CD (ed) Patient care and professionalism. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 19–30
Marketos S (1993) Medicine is an aspect of civilization: lessons from the Hippocratic medicine. Microsurgery 14:4–5
Marketos SG, Skiadas P (1999a) Hippocrates: the father of spine surgery. Spine 24:1381–1387
Marketos SG, Skiadas P (1999b) The modern Hippocratic tradition: some messages for contemporary medicine. Spine 24:1159–1163
Marketos SG, Diamandopoulos AA, Bartsocas CS, Poulakou-Rebelakou E, Koutras DA (1996) The Hippocratic oath. Lancet 347:101–102
Martin DB (2004) Inventing superstition: from the Hippocratic to the Christians. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA
Meffert JJ (2009) “I swear!” Physician oaths and their current relevance. Clin Dermatol 27:411–415
Miles SH (2004) The Hippocratic oath and the ethics of medicine. Oxford University Press, New York
Michell CB (2010) The Christian Hippocratic tradition in medicine. Ethics Med 26:69–70
Morgenstern J (2008) The medical oath: honorable tradition or ancient ritual? UWOMJ 78:P27–P29
Myers CS (1900) IV. – vitalism: a brief historical and critical review (I.). Mind 9:218–233
Normandin S, Wolfe CT (eds) (2013) Vitalism and the scientific image in post-enlightenment life science, 1800–2010. Springer, New York
Nutton V (1993) Humoralism. In: Bynum W, Porter R (eds) Companion encyclopedia of the history of medicine. Routledge, London, pp 281–291
Nutton V (2013) Ancient medicine, 2nd edn. Routledge, New York
Ogunbanjo GA, van Bogaert KD (2009) The Hippocratic oath: revisited. SA Fam Pract 51:30–31
Orr RD, Pang N, Pellegrino ED, Siegler M (1997) Use of the Hippocratic oath: a review of twentieth century practice and a content analysis of oaths administered in medical schools in the US and Canada in 1993. J Clin Ethics 8:377–388
Pellegrino ED (1995) Toward a virtue-based normative ethics for the health professions. Kennedy Inst Ethics J 5:253–277
Pellegrino ED (2000) Toward an expanded medical ethics: the Hippocratic ethic revisited. In: Veatch RM (ed) Cross cultural perspectives in medical ethics, 2nd edn. Jones and Bartlett, Boston, pp 41–53
Pinault JR (1992) Hippocratic lives and legends. Brill, Leiden
Pitman V (2006) The nature of the whole: Holism in ancient Greek and Indian medicine. Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi
Prioreschi P (1995) The Hippocratic oath: a code for physicians, not a Pythagorean manifesto. Med Hypoth 44:447–462
Robin ED, McCauley RF (1995) Cultural lag and the Hippocratic oath. Lancet 345:1422–1424
Rosalki J (1993) The Hippocratic contract. J Med Ethics 19:154–156
Scarborough J (1997) Hippocrates of Cos. Anc Greek Authors 176:199–219
Scarborough J (2002) Hippocrates and the Hippocratic ideal in modern medicine: a review essay. Int J Class Tradit 9:287–297
Schiefsky MJ (2005) Hippocrates on ancient medicine. Brill, Leiden
Smith WD (1979) The Hippocratic tradition. Cornell University Press, Ithaca
Smith WD (ed) (1990) Hippocrates pseudepigraphic writings. Brill, Leiden
Smuts JC (1926) Holism and evolution. Little and Ives, New York
Solmsen F (1950) Tissues and the soul: philosophical contributions to physiology. Philos Rev 59:435–468
Sullivan R (1996) Thales to Galen: a brief journey through rational medical philosophy in ancient Greece. Part I: pre-Hippocratic medicine. Proc R Coll Physicians Edinb 26:135–142
Sulmasy DP (1999) What is an oath and why should a physician swear one? Theor Med Bioeth 20:329–346
Sykiotis GP, Kalliolias GD, Papavassiliou AG (2006) Hippocrates and genomic medicine. Arch Med Res 37:181–183
Temkin O (1991) Hippocrates in a world of pagans and Christians. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore
Temkin O (2002) “On second thought” and other essays in the history of medicine and science. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore
Tullis R (2004) Hippocratic oaths. Medicine and its discontents. Atlantic Books, London
Veatch RM (1984) The Hippocratic ethic is dead. New Physician 48:41–42, 48
Wagley PF (1987) The Hippocratic oath. Hum Med 3:110–114
Wheeler LR (1939) Vitalism: its history and validity. Witherby, London
Yapijakis C (2009) Hippocrates of Kos, the father of clinical medicine, and Asclepiades of Bithynia, the father of molecular medicine. In Vivo 23:507–514
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this entry
Cite this entry
Marcum, J.A. (2015). Hippocrates and the Hippocratic Tradition: Impact on Development of Medical Knowledge and Practice?. In: Schramme, T., Edwards, S. (eds) Handbook of the Philosophy of Medicine. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8706-2_82-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8706-2_82-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Online ISBN: 978-94-017-8706-2
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Religion and PhilosophyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Humanities
Publish with us
Chapter history
-
Latest
The Hippocratic Tradition and the Development of Medical Knowledge and Practice- Published:
- 11 January 2024
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8706-2_82-2
-
Original
Hippocrates and the Hippocratic Tradition: Impact on Development of Medical Knowledge and Practice?- Published:
- 07 September 2015
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8706-2_82-1