Methodic school
Encyclopedia
The Methodic school of medicine
(Methodics, Methodists, or Methodici) was an ancient school of medicine in ancient Greece and Rome
. The Methodic school arose in reaction to both the Empiric school
and the Dogmatic school
(sometimes referred to as the Rationalist school) . While the exact origins of the Methodic school are shrouded in some controversy, its doctrines are fairly well documented. Sextus Empiricus
points to the school's common ground with Pyrrhonism
, in that it “follow[s] the appearances and take[s] from these whatever seems expedient.”
. In particular, Themison of Laodicea
, Asclepiades
’s most distinguished student, is often credited with founding the Methodic school in the first century B.C.. However, some historians claim that the Methodic school was founded by Asclepiades
himself in 50 B.C. . It has also been claimed that the Methodism does not truly arise until the first century A.D. . In any case, it is widely accepted that Methodism arose as a reaction to the Empiric
and Rationalist (or Dogmatic
) schools, bearing some similarities to both schools but fundamentally different.
They asserted that the knowledge of the cause of the disease bears no relation to the method of cure, and that it is sufficient to observe some general symptoms of illness
es. All a doctor really needs to know is the disease itself, and from that knowledge alone will he know the treatment. To claim that knowledge of the disease alone will provide knowledge of the treatment, the Methodists first claim that diseases are indicative of their own treatments. Just as how hunger leads a person naturally to food and how thirst leads a person naturally to water, so too does the disease naturally indicate the cure. As Sextus Empiricus
points out, when a dog is pricked by a thorn, it naturally removes the foreign object ailing its body.
The core theory was disruption of the normal circulation of 'atoms' through the body's 'pores
' caused disease. To cure a disease it is sufficient to observe some general symptoms of illness
es; and that there are three kinds of diseases, one bound, another loose (fluens, a disorder attended with some discharge
), and the third a mixture of these. Sometimes the excretions of sick people are too small or too large, or a particular excretion might be deficient or excessive. These kinds of illnesses are sometimes severe, sometimes chronic, sometimes increasing, sometimes stable, and sometimes abating. As soon as it is known to which of these diseases an illness belongs, if the body is bound, then it must be opened; if it is loose, then it must be restrained; if it is complicated, then the most urgent malady must be fought first. One type of treatment is required in acute, another in inveterate illnesses; another when diseases are increasing, another when stable, and another when decreasing. The observation of these things constitute the art of medicine, called method .
As the seeking after the causes of diseases seemed to Themison to rest on too uncertain a foundation, he thus wished to establish his system upon the analogies and indications common to many diseases , no matter that these analogies were as obscure as the causes of the Dogmatic school. Themison wrote several works which are now lost.
On the other hand, Methodists also reject the Empiricist notion that the connection between a disease and its treatment is a matter of experience. Methodists purport that experience is not necessary to understand that a state of depletion implies a need for replenishment, that a state of restraint must be loosened. To a Methodist, treatments to diseases are immediately obvious; it is a matter of common sense, of reason. There is no need for justification by experience; to Methodists, there are no conceivable alternatives to their innate knowledge of proper treatments.
Because Methodists do not take their knowledge of proper treatment as an issue of observation or experience, they are willing to concede that their knowledge is a matter of reason. On this point, the Methodists bear a similarity to Dogmatists, taking reason as a constructive approach to appropriating the proper treatment for an ailment. However, Methodists do not support the Dogmatic concept of employing reason to find hidden causes that belie the disease manifested. The causes of diseases can not be fantastic or obscure forces that would not occur in ordinary life. The key difference between Methodist doctors and Empiricist or Dogmatic doctors is that a Methodist's knowledge is "firm and certain," and that it leaves no room for future revision. Rather than rely upon reason and experience, the Methodist does what is inherently obvious; there is no room for error.
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
(Methodics, Methodists, or Methodici) was an ancient school of medicine in ancient Greece and Rome
Medicine in ancient Rome
Medicine in ancient Rome combined various techniques using different tools and rituals. Ancient Roman medicine included a number of specializations such as internal medicine, ophthalmology and urology...
. The Methodic school arose in reaction to both the Empiric school
Empiric school
The Empiric school of medicine was an ancient school of medicine in ancient Greece and Rome. They were so called from the word empeiria because they professed to derive their knowledge from experiences only, and in doing so set themselves in opposition to the Dogmatic school...
and the Dogmatic school
Dogmatic school
The Dogmatic school of medicine was an ancient school of medicine in ancient Greece and Rome. They were the oldest of the medical sects of antiquity. They derived their name from dogma, a philosophical tenet or opinion, because they professed to follow the opinions of Hippocrates, hence they were...
(sometimes referred to as the Rationalist school) . While the exact origins of the Methodic school are shrouded in some controversy, its doctrines are fairly well documented. Sextus Empiricus
Sextus Empiricus
Sextus Empiricus , was a physician and philosopher, and has been variously reported to have lived in Alexandria, Rome, or Athens. His philosophical work is the most complete surviving account of ancient Greek and Roman skepticism....
points to the school's common ground with Pyrrhonism
Pyrrhonism
Pyrrhonism, or Pyrrhonian skepticism, was a school of skepticism founded by Aenesidemus in the 1st century BCE and recorded by Sextus Empiricus in the late 2nd century or early 3rd century CE. It was named after Pyrrho, a philosopher who lived from c. 360 to c. 270 BCE, although the relationship...
, in that it “follow[s] the appearances and take[s] from these whatever seems expedient.”
History
There is no clear consensus on who founded the Methodist school and when it was founded. It has been purported that the Methodist school was founded by the students of AsclepiadesAsclepiades of Bithynia
Asclepiades was a Greek physician born at Prusa in Bithynia in Asia Minor and flourished at Rome, where he established Greek medicine near the end of the 2nd century BCE. He attempted to build a new theory of disease, based on the flow of atoms through pores in the body...
. In particular, Themison of Laodicea
Themison of Laodicea
Themison of Laodicea, , 1st century BC, was the founder of the Methodic school of medicine, and one of the most eminent physicians of his time....
, Asclepiades
Asclepiades of Bithynia
Asclepiades was a Greek physician born at Prusa in Bithynia in Asia Minor and flourished at Rome, where he established Greek medicine near the end of the 2nd century BCE. He attempted to build a new theory of disease, based on the flow of atoms through pores in the body...
’s most distinguished student, is often credited with founding the Methodic school in the first century B.C.. However, some historians claim that the Methodic school was founded by Asclepiades
Asclepiades of Bithynia
Asclepiades was a Greek physician born at Prusa in Bithynia in Asia Minor and flourished at Rome, where he established Greek medicine near the end of the 2nd century BCE. He attempted to build a new theory of disease, based on the flow of atoms through pores in the body...
himself in 50 B.C. . It has also been claimed that the Methodism does not truly arise until the first century A.D. . In any case, it is widely accepted that Methodism arose as a reaction to the Empiric
Empiric school
The Empiric school of medicine was an ancient school of medicine in ancient Greece and Rome. They were so called from the word empeiria because they professed to derive their knowledge from experiences only, and in doing so set themselves in opposition to the Dogmatic school...
and Rationalist (or Dogmatic
Dogmatic school
The Dogmatic school of medicine was an ancient school of medicine in ancient Greece and Rome. They were the oldest of the medical sects of antiquity. They derived their name from dogma, a philosophical tenet or opinion, because they professed to follow the opinions of Hippocrates, hence they were...
) schools, bearing some similarities to both schools but fundamentally different.
Doctrines
The Methodic school emphasized the treatment of diseases rather than the history of the individual patient. According to the Methodists, medicine is no more than a “knowledge of manifest generalities” (gnōsis phainomenōn koinotēnōn). In other words, medicine was no more than the awareness of general, recurring features that manifest in a tangible way . While Methodist views on medicine are slightly more complex than this, the above generalization was meant to apply to not only medicine, but to any art. Methodists conceive of medicine as a true art, in contrast to Empiricists or Dogmatists.They asserted that the knowledge of the cause of the disease bears no relation to the method of cure, and that it is sufficient to observe some general symptoms of illness
Illness
Illness is a state of poor health. Illness is sometimes considered another word for disease. Others maintain that fine distinctions exist...
es. All a doctor really needs to know is the disease itself, and from that knowledge alone will he know the treatment. To claim that knowledge of the disease alone will provide knowledge of the treatment, the Methodists first claim that diseases are indicative of their own treatments. Just as how hunger leads a person naturally to food and how thirst leads a person naturally to water, so too does the disease naturally indicate the cure. As Sextus Empiricus
Sextus Empiricus
Sextus Empiricus , was a physician and philosopher, and has been variously reported to have lived in Alexandria, Rome, or Athens. His philosophical work is the most complete surviving account of ancient Greek and Roman skepticism....
points out, when a dog is pricked by a thorn, it naturally removes the foreign object ailing its body.
The core theory was disruption of the normal circulation of 'atoms' through the body's 'pores
Porosity
Porosity or void fraction is a measure of the void spaces in a material, and is a fraction of the volume of voids over the total volume, between 0–1, or as a percentage between 0–100%...
' caused disease. To cure a disease it is sufficient to observe some general symptoms of illness
Illness
Illness is a state of poor health. Illness is sometimes considered another word for disease. Others maintain that fine distinctions exist...
es; and that there are three kinds of diseases, one bound, another loose (fluens, a disorder attended with some discharge
Mucopurulent discharge
Mucopurulent discharge is the emission or secretion of fluid containing mucus and pus from the eye, nose, cervix, vagina or other part of the body due to infection and inflammation....
), and the third a mixture of these. Sometimes the excretions of sick people are too small or too large, or a particular excretion might be deficient or excessive. These kinds of illnesses are sometimes severe, sometimes chronic, sometimes increasing, sometimes stable, and sometimes abating. As soon as it is known to which of these diseases an illness belongs, if the body is bound, then it must be opened; if it is loose, then it must be restrained; if it is complicated, then the most urgent malady must be fought first. One type of treatment is required in acute, another in inveterate illnesses; another when diseases are increasing, another when stable, and another when decreasing. The observation of these things constitute the art of medicine, called method .
As the seeking after the causes of diseases seemed to Themison to rest on too uncertain a foundation, he thus wished to establish his system upon the analogies and indications common to many diseases , no matter that these analogies were as obscure as the causes of the Dogmatic school. Themison wrote several works which are now lost.
Differences from the Empiric and Dogmatic Schools
The Methodic school takes it to be that once a doctor has recognized the disease a patient has for what it is, the treatment that should follow is inherently obvious. It is not a matter of inference or observation, but of an immediate knowledge. To a Dogmatist, the symptoms a disease manifest is indicative of a hidden state that causes the disease. Only by knowing the hidden state can a doctor understand how to treat a patient. The symptoms manifested by a patient are indicative of the underlying state causing the disease, and the hidden state is indicative of the treatment that follows. Like the Empiricists, the Methodists refuse the notion of hidden states, claiming that there is no need to take a detour into inferences of hidden states. The symptoms manifested make it immediately obvious what needs to be done.On the other hand, Methodists also reject the Empiricist notion that the connection between a disease and its treatment is a matter of experience. Methodists purport that experience is not necessary to understand that a state of depletion implies a need for replenishment, that a state of restraint must be loosened. To a Methodist, treatments to diseases are immediately obvious; it is a matter of common sense, of reason. There is no need for justification by experience; to Methodists, there are no conceivable alternatives to their innate knowledge of proper treatments.
Because Methodists do not take their knowledge of proper treatment as an issue of observation or experience, they are willing to concede that their knowledge is a matter of reason. On this point, the Methodists bear a similarity to Dogmatists, taking reason as a constructive approach to appropriating the proper treatment for an ailment. However, Methodists do not support the Dogmatic concept of employing reason to find hidden causes that belie the disease manifested. The causes of diseases can not be fantastic or obscure forces that would not occur in ordinary life. The key difference between Methodist doctors and Empiricist or Dogmatic doctors is that a Methodist's knowledge is "firm and certain," and that it leaves no room for future revision. Rather than rely upon reason and experience, the Methodist does what is inherently obvious; there is no room for error.
External links
- Aulus Cornelius Celsus, On Medicine, Prooemium