Hippocrates’s and Galen’s ideas

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The theories of Hippocrates and Galen are of vital importance to the development of medicine, as they shaped medicine for many centuries to come. Hippocrates was the first to dismiss the notion that magic, spirits, or the Gods could cause or cure disease, reforming the course medicine took. Galen followed in the footsteps of Hippocrates, working relentlessly on human anatomy, endeavoring to fathom how the body functions and what happens when something goes wrong. Without Hippocrates’ belief in diseases being a product of nature revolutionizing medicine, and Galen’s extensive work on the anatomy of the human body, medicine may not have progressed to what it is today.

Hippocrates of Cos was an Ancient Greek physician who is thought to be one of the most revolutionary figures in the history of medicine. He is referred to as the “father of modern medicine” in recognition of his lasting donations to medicine as the founder of the Hippocratic school of medicine. This school of medicine modernized medicine in Ancient Greece, ascertaining it as a discipline distinctive from others, notably theurgy (the practice of rituals, sometimes seen as magical in nature, to evoke the presence of one or more Gods). Hippocrates is recognized as the first person to consider that ailments were triggered by natural causes, and not owing to superstition and Gods. He separated the theory of medicine from religion, believing that disease was a product of environmental factors, diet, and living habits. Hippocrates was interested in rational medicine.

Hippocrates pioneered scientific approaches to medicine and the practice of clinical observation. His medical practices were based on observation and on the study of the human body: a method developed f...

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...n turn helped with the development of more accurate theories on the causes of illness and more effective remedies. Most importantly, the Four Humours theory also revolutionized medicine, permitting people to move away from supernatural beliefs and allowing medicine to progress to what it is today. Galen’s remarkable, mostly accurate, theories on the anatomy of the body proved to be an effective base for later doctors. Galen further advanced Hippocrates’s theories providing a based for modern psychiatrists by relating each of the four humours to a human temperament. Hippocrates planted the seeds responsible for the advancements in medicine today, while Galen harvested the seeds, providing a more advanced base for modern medicine. Without these two exceptional figures in the history of medicine, we would not have been able to progress as far as we have today.

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