Preview

The Healing Power of Nature Hippocrates “the Father of Medicine”

Best Essays
Open Document
Open Document
3731 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Healing Power of Nature Hippocrates “the Father of Medicine”
The Healing Power of Nature

Hippocrates

“The Father of medicine”

PS404 History and Systems of Psychology

Student Name

Abstract
In early Greek medicine, Hippocrates; the most important figure in medicine during this period, adopted a holistic approach to medicine which presented that all disease results from natural causes and must be treated using natural methods. This research report examines the identification of the present application in two separate cultural settings and compares the applications in order to analyze the potential future trends for the theoretical idea.

The Healing Power of Nature

Hippocrates

“The Father of medicine”

Introduction Medicine was second to mathematics during the ancient Greek civilization. Sick people during this time period reported to temples that were specifically dedicated to the “Greek God of Healing” known as Asclepius for their cures. During this time, a man named Hippocrates known to this civilization as the great ancient Greek physician began teaching that every disease had only natural causes. Hippocrates; born on the island of Kos, Greece, travelled widely before settling to practice and teach medicine. Although little was known about his life he most certainly wrote a large selection of the approximately 60 texts that consist of the well known Hippocratic Collection. The Hippocratic collection was composed between c.420 and 350BC which assisted in defining the beginning of Western medical traditions and practices. The Hippocratic works, although written by many hands and included several of theoretical ideas, it dealt with many aspects of health and disease to include diagnosis, surgery, hygiene, and therapeutics. Amongst these treatises were some of his very best to include: The Sacred Disease which dealt with epilepsy and his conclusion that the cause was a blockage in the brain, Airs, Waters and Places which examined the roles of environmental conditions in the cause of disease,



References: A History of Science, Hippocrates and greek medicine, (2006), Williams, retrieved on 09 July 2009, from, http://www.cosmovisions.com/Williams010703.htm American Acupuncture, History of Acupuncture, (2007), Dr. Needles, retrieved 06 July 2009, from, http://www.americanacupuncture.com/history.htm Hippocrates, Encyclopedia Britannica, (2009), retrieved 15 July 2009, from, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/266627/Hippocrates Hippocrates, Greek Medicine, (2009), Crystalinks, retrieved on 09 July 2009, from, http://www.crystalinks.com/hippocrates.html Hippocrates: The "Greek Miracle" in Medicine, Medicina Antiqua, (2009), Ann Ellis Hanson, retrieved on 09 July 2009, from, http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucgajpd/medicina%20antiqua/sa_hippint.html History of Acupuncture in China, (1998), Scott Suvow, retrieved 11 July 2009, from, http://www.acupuncturecare.com/acupunct.htm Natural Healing: Modern Applications Of An Ancient Philosophy, (2003), B 2009, from, http://www.wnho.net/naturalhealing.htm Naturotherapy, Naturally Healthy, (2008), retrieved 11 July 2009, from, http://www.naturopathy.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=94&Itemid=57 http://www.heall.com/body/altmed/future/statistics.html Science in Greece: from the age of Hippocrates to the age of the genome, (2006), The FASEB Journal, retrieved 10 July 2009, from, http://www.fasebj.org/cgi/content/full/20/12/1946 The Oldest Tree in Europe, “let medicine be thy food, and thy food be thy medicine”, (2006), Galaxy Nutrients, retrieved on 13 July 2009, from, http://www.galaxynutrients.com/tree-of-hippocrates-s/2.htm

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    370 BC- Hippocrates was a Greek physician of the Age of Pericles contributed to the field of medicine…

    • 133 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Galen was a Greek physician who revived the wok of Hippocrates and other Greek doctors. Galen died in the Roman era but his work was still read in the medieval times. Regression in medicine was caused by many factors including war and religion which meant that doctors had to use cures and theories that had already been discovered such as Galen’s theory of the 4 humours and opposites. Due to lack of progress in the past 1000 year’s doctors continued to use Galen’s theories.…

    • 557 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Socrates Dbq Analysis

    • 81 Words
    • 1 Page

    In the department of medicine, Hippocrates dramatically changed the games for the development of medicine (Document 8). It is undeniable and perhaps it is safe to say that all western thoughts that applied philosophy can trace its origin back to the Greek thinkers like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle who brought in the Greek rational thinkings. The questions that were once brought in by the great philosophers are still being discussed in multiple courses such as religion and political issues (Document 3,4).…

    • 81 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Some of his other ideas are found in separate writings. In Hippocrates’ “Diseases,” he went further into the ideas of how the body worked, but focused more on the treatments of diseases. He delineated specific treatments for specific diseases throughout the majority of this essay, and went into detail about bleeding people or specific treatments. Treatments were suggested depending on what symptoms or signs the patient was showing. For example, Hippocrates had very deliberate instructions for the sign of a fever. Each treatment was interesting because his instructions were very specific about every step. For example, one of his steps included the instruction to “inject warm wine and oil into through a small tube.” The specificity of his writing indicated that the Greek view on health and maintenance of the body was highly regarded. The level of awareness for differing illness and their treatments showed that it was an important…

    • 1530 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    William Harvey

    • 915 Words
    • 4 Pages

    production of all animals, and to point, as it were, with a finger to His existence in His works. There Harvey studied under a student of Versalius, Fabricius, who had written a treatise on the valves in veins but hadn’t the vaguest idea about what they did other than that they might slow blood flow Since antiquity till the 18th century, the adjective “hereditary” was the one employed when a given trait was found to characterize a family or another genealogical group. When one reads the treatises that bear Hippocrates’ name, for many of these treatises are believed to have been written not by him but by his followers (1), one is impressed by the clinical acumen in the face of a nearly complete ignorance of the relation of disease to the structure and function of the human body. What remains of Hippocrates today is his “oath” (1); the physicians’ “Sermon on the Mount,” intended to initiate them into one of man’s noblest professions. Their attempts at providing coherent physical and metaphysical accounts of the…

    • 915 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Flexner Report

    • 476 Words
    • 2 Pages

    This one act changed the course of Medical history. The controversy of this one event in the early 20th Century is paramount to how the alternative field of medicine can still be portrayed in our modern times. Quackery is a term that is often linked to many of the natural modalities and is still often used by many Medical Doctors who are closed minded to anything that is not pharmaceutical based. The amounts of money offered to these allowed Medical schools at the turn of the century in monetary comparison today is unimaginable. How could any of the smaller complimentary schools compete? What a different world it would be today if the same amount of money was offered to research and scientifically dissect ‘folk medicine’. Humanity sadly lost a great opportunity and many people died in the face of modern medical research. A great injustice has befallen all of us due to these historic events and in the last 100 years, we have become a nation sicker than ever before. We must, therefore, give thanks to the minority who continued their research and teachings in the complementary medicine fields for doing so many would have faced extraordinary barriers and judgements. Their dedication to the ‘healing power of nature’ has progressively allowed the patient to have more freedom of choice when choosing their paths to wellness in the 21st…

    • 476 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hippocrates was a physician who founded a clinical approach to medicine. He promoted cleanliness as an aid against disease. Also, he was one of the first physicians to believe that diseases are a result of environmental factors rather than supernatural ones. He had a very strict view of the ethics of medicine. He went so far as to create an oath that to this day physicians at the start of their medical career must take.…

    • 1473 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Profession of Arms

    • 812 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Bibliography: Pbs.org,. 'NOVA | The Hippocratic Oath Today '. Last modified 2014. Accessed September 12, 2014. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/hippocratic-oath-today.html.…

    • 812 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    However, with Hippocrates came the Hippocratic method and the Hippocratic oath, which are both still heavily utilized today. Roy Porter described both of these well as “ humoralism which dominated classical medicine and formed its heritage lay in its comprehensive explanatory scheme, which drew upon bold archetypal contrast” (Porter, 30) and “This humane disposition demonstrated the physician's devotion to his art rather than fame or fortune, and consoled anxious patients.” (Porter, 30). These ideas are prevalent because we still use them today. However, today we focus more on “the appropriate behavior that doctors ought to adopt with their patients” (Bynum, 23). When a physician knows the in and outs of a person’s daily habits and health it…

    • 462 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    During the Golden age of Greece, which was also known as the “Age of Pericles”(480-408 BCE) Athens flourished as a center of not only education but also, art, culture and democracy. Throughout this time of prosperity, success, and profitability, the Athenians set the foundation for most of the ideologies today, such as democracy, Literature, medicine, and mathematics. Hippocrates was an ancient Greek…

    • 841 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hippocratic Oath

    • 689 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Hippocrates was born in 460 BC on the island of Cos, Greece. Hippocrates was the one who cleared up superstitions with disease being caused by supernatural spirits or demons. He conducted experiments to show that disease was a natural occurrence. He wanted people to know why and how the disease was caused and its effects. How the symptoms and reactions were linked to the disease. Hippocrates only examined and observed the body, he did not dissect. After observing the patient he would write notes and signs of the patient's symptoms and compare with other cases.…

    • 689 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Medici Legacy

    • 1756 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Cited: "The History and Philosophy of Science, Technology and Medicine - Museo Galileo." The History and Philosophy of Science, Technology and Medicine - Museo Galileo. Ed. Thomas B. Settle. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 May 2013. <http://www.museogalileo.it/en/getinvolved/research/historyphilosophysciencetechnologymedicine.html>.…

    • 1756 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    1.Ibn Sina “Avicenna” (980-1037) compiled a medical encyclopedia that talked about the contagious nature of disease and how they could be spread by filthy water…

    • 1588 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Medicine Middle Ages

    • 1032 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The development of medicine has had a massive effect of the course of human history. Medical knowledge has lead to great leaps in population and greatly increased quality of life throughout history. Likewise the lack of or lose of medical science has also lead to great suffering and loss of life. Advancement in medical learning have come from all over the world. Knowledge from certain areas has endured and from other is only now beginning to be relearned. Ancient cultural practices, religious influence, and scientific advancements all play a part how medicine evolved in different part of the world. The societies of the medieval world were diverse in numerous ways, in regards to the medical field different cultures had very different approaches…

    • 1032 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The greeks may have laid the basis for a lot of things in the common era, but one thing they did differently was their medicine. They first believed that disease was caused by demons and that Asclepius could cure diseases(quatr). So the doctors thought that they could cure patients through sacrifice and prayer(quatr). They would model the diseased body parts so they could be offered to Asclepius. However, by the 5th century B.C.E. doctors started trying a more material approach, they started using medicine. Greek medicine is based on Medicatrix Naturae which means that mother was a healing goddess and all cures to disease could be found in nature. When the greeks took this material approach, they started with herbs that could cure anything from a knee pain to a fever. Then came Hippocrates, known a the father of medicine, he is called this because of his Hippocratic approach. After his time, Greek medicine wasn’t as pure as it use to be. It started to become toxic and dangerous.…

    • 759 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays