Abstract

The author argues that an analysis ofthe texts ofthe Collection of Hippocrates leads to the conclusion that long before the methodological genius of Aristotle there existed a highly analytical culture among medical professionals. The differences in understanding of the value and objectives of a valid inference in Hippocrates and Aristotle are explained in terms of the characteristics of the discourse that each of them used. Aristotle is argued to have been using a social-dialectical discourse, whereas, in medical practice, a combination of skills and reasoning had the highest value because what was expected from a doctor was the right diagnosis and the right treatment. The author argues that rational medical tradition of antiquity did not reach the logical reflection. According to her, the doctrine of the necessary connection between the logical attribute and the object of inferences had been developed in the Buddhist logic, which, as the author argues, can be considered a rational component of education in Tibetan medicine.