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Antiquity|15
terms,itwasawaytocareforthesickandthedisabled.Themissionof
medicinewastoprognosehealthandlookafterit.
HippocraticinfluenceisreflectedinPlato’s(424/423BC-348/347BC)
dialogue,Timaeus,presentingavisionofthecreationoftheworldandthe
lawsgoverningit.Adetaileddescriptionofthefunctioningofthehuman
organismwasmeanttopresenttheorderinwhichtheworldofideasexpressed
itselfinthematerialworld.Mostdiseasesarosefromanexcessorlackofthe
fourelementsthatmakeuphumanbody.Blood,bile,phlegm,inadequately
suppliedandcirculated,werethesourceofallbodilyinfirmities,whereas
indispositionsofthesoulcontributedtomentalillnesses.Heemphasised,
however,thatiftherightupbringingmethodisused,thenapersonenjoys
goodhealthandavoidsseriousillness12.Anillnesswasaconsequenceof
inappropriatewaysoflife.Heperceivedthehumanbeingasatripartite
entity:corporeal,psychologicalandspiritual.Platoreferredtotheconcept
ofhealthasastateofbalancebetweenthesoulandthebody,andbetween
amanandtheexternalworld,theuniverse13.InhisSymposium,hestated
that,“healthyandsicklybodyaredifferentandunlike”14.
Themodeloffourelementswasextendedandlinkedtothemetaphysical
notionofessencebyAristotle(ca.384-322BC).Thissystemembraced
theworldofnature,themacrocosmandthemicrocosmwherechanges
takingplaceinthelunarworld,inthesky,significantlyinfluencedthe
processestakingplaceonEarth,innature.Aristotlearguedthatheatisthe
foundationoftheorganicworldsanditsfunctioning.Fire,water,airand
earthwerethemainbuildingblocksoforganisms,formedthefourbodily
fluidswiththeirrespectivequalities,andinfluencedsensorycognition
aswellasthesoul.Aristotlesawhealthastheequilibriumanddiseases
asadisruptionoftheproportions,ordyscrasia(badmixture),ofthefour
bodilyfluids.Heregardedhealthasafundamentalgood,acknowledged
theartofmedicineasauniqueactivityandlinkedittothepracticeof
12Platon,Timajos.KritiasalboAtlantyk,translatedbyP.Siwek,Państwowe
WydawnictwoNaukowe,Warszawa1986,44c,86b.
13J.Ziaja,ChorobyiichleczeniewujęciuPlatonanatlepoglądówlekarzyhipokratejskich,
„ArchiwumHistoriiiFilozofiiMedycyny”2002,Vol.65,No.4,pp.443-455.
14Platon,Uczta,translatedbyW.Witwicki,WydawnictwoAntykMarek
Derewiecki,Kęty1999,186b4.
