A bioethical re-thinking of medicine
A bioethical re-thinking of medicine

Summary/Abstract: Galen (129-200 AD) was one of the most prominent ancient physicians as well as a philosopher He was also a well-read scholar who combined extensive erudition with ‘cutting edge’ observational practice to completely change the understanding and teaching of medicine. He frequently integrated his observational practice with the natural philosophy of Plato and Aristotle.1 His position as the leading authority in medical theory extended for at least fourteen hundred years. Galen correctly saw that there is a methodological difference between taking account of the patient in front of you in all of the patient’s particularity and, instead, understanding the patient in front of you as representing an instance of a general rule of biomedical science. The way that Galen sought to insert himself into this debate makes his conclusions relevant to medicine today.

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