Hippocratic medicine
Classical Greek doctoring
Hippocratic medicine is the ancient Greek approach to healing associated with Hippocrates and his followers, emphasizing natural causes of disease rather than divine punishment.
Its core principles include careful observation of symptoms, the body's innate healing capacity, and the physician's duty to help without harming.
The Hippocratic Oath, still invoked by physicians today, derives from this tradition.
The doctor's bedside manner reflects Hippocratic medicine's emphasis on the whole patient.
- sacred oathSpiritually binding promise
- do no harmAvoid causing injury
- naturalismWorldview excluding the supernatural
- ethicsStudy of right conduct
- clinical observationWatching patients for symptoms
herbal remedies · case studies · bloodletting · prognosis · four humors · rationalism · natural causes · purging · bedside manner · environmental factors · ancient Greece · differential diagnosis · healing arts · classical antiquity · moral duty · healer · phlegm · black bile
- healing practicesacupressure, holistic healing, Ayurveda, self-healing, chiropractic
- Greek scienceAristotle, Archimedes, Euclid, Ptolemy, Galen
- ancient surgeryamputation, trepanation, cauterization, bloodletting, cautery
- wellnesshealthy, wellness, fitness, exercise, nutrition
- historical obstetricsmidwife, midwifery, midwives, childbirth, obstetrics
Hippocratic medicinefaith healing
Treatment through religious practice
divine healing · shamanic healing · exorcism · miraculous cures