In Metaphysics Z 8 Aristotle offers an infinite regress argument to deny that forms come to be. Briefly put, the argument states that, if we assume that every time an x composed of matter (m1) and form (f1) comes to be, f1 also comes to be, then there would be infinitely many xs coming to be – for f1 would itself be a compound, if it comes to be, and the same reasoning would in turn apply to it. This argument (...) has great significance in the history of philosophy, for some later thinkers take Aristotle to allow or make room for the creation ex nihilo of forms. However, the only direct Greek engagement with this argument in its proper context is provided by Asclepius of Tralles’ commentary on Book Z. A close study of Asclepius’ interpretation shows that he endorsed the argument on the tacit condition that it refers to the forms αὐτὰ καθ’ αὑτά as different from both Platonic Ideas and enmattered forms. At the same time, however, its elaboration includes alongside forms αὐτὰ καθ’ αὑτά also eternal separate forms and generated forms. His reconstruction also displays a sophisticated toning-down of the potential disagreements between Plato and Aristotle on the conception of pre-existing form which is assumed in the argument. Asclepius’ interpretation offers yet further proof of the commentators’ camouflaged and stratified way of tackling philosophical issues of paramount importance. (shrink)

T. A. Cavanaugh's Hippocrates' Oath and Asclepius' Snake: The Birth of the Medical Profession articulates the Oath as establishing the medical profession's unique internal medical ethic - in its most basic and least controvertible form, this ethic mandates that physicians help and not harm the sick. Relying on Greek myth, drama, and medical experience (e.g., homeopathy), the book shows how this medical ethic arose from reflection on the most vexing medical-ethical problem -- injury caused by a physician -- and (...) argues that deliberate iatrogenic harm, especially the harm of a doctor choosing to kill (physician assisted suicide, euthanasia, abortion, and involvement in capital punishment), amounts to an abandonment of medicine as an exclusively therapeutic profession. The book argues that medicine as a profession necessarily involves stating before others what one stands for: the good one seeks and the bad one seeks to avoid on behalf of the sick, and rejects the view that medicine is purely a technique lacking its own unique internal ethic. It concludes noting that medical promising (as found in the White Coat Ceremony through which U. S. medical students matriculate) implicates medical autonomy which in turn merits respect, including honoring professional conscientious objections. (shrink)

This article explores the origins and early development of the cult of Asclepius. Most of the relevant materials are found in classical literature, although archaeology can also help to shine some light on certain areas. Unsurprisingly, the origins of the cult are quite obscure. A number,of places in ancient Greece competed for the honour of being his birthplace, and there is no conclusive reason for deciding in favour of any of them. One thing that is constant in the stories (...) told about him is that Apollo was usually his father. Another constant in the history of the cult is the practice of incubation. It seems likely that the cult brought together and combined elements of several healing cults that were originally quite separate. The cult emerged at the same time that Hippocratic medicine was developing. A new understanding of the nature of the soul, and the relationship between it and the body was also taking root. It is reasonable to believe that these facts are related, although harder to say exactly how. (shrink)

In any list of famous last words, Socrates' are likely to figure near the top. Details of the final moments of celebrities tend anyway to exert a peculiar fascination upon the rest of us: life's very contingency provokes a need to see lives nevertheless as meaningful organic wholes, defined as such precisely by their final closure; so that even the most trivial aspects of their ending can come to seem bearers of profound significance, soliciting moral reflections apparently not less urgent (...) for their being quite unwarranted. From earliest times, this fascination with last moments has come to be concentrated in particular upon last words: situated at that most mysterious of borders, between life and death, they seem to look backwards and forwards at once, judging the speaker's own past life from the vantage-point of a future realm he is about to attain and hinting at the nature of what awaits us all from the perspective of that past life he still – however tenuously – shares with us. A moment earlier, and there is no reason to privilege any one discourse of the speaker's above another; a moment later, and his lips are sealed for ever. Only in that final moment can he seem to pass an unappealable judgement on himself, to combine in a single body two incompatible subjectivities, the one suffering and extremely mortal, the other dispassionate and transcendent. If he is a thinker or a man of action, this is his last chance to summarize a lifetime's meditation or experience in a pithy, memorable aphorism.If he is a celebrated poet, he can be imagined to have composed his own epitaph; if he is a Hellenistic poet, he may even in fact have done so. (shrink)

In any list of famous last words, Socrates' are likely to figure near the top. Details of the final moments of celebrities tend anyway to exert a peculiar fascination upon the rest of us: life's very contingency provokes a need to see lives nevertheless as meaningful organic wholes, defined as such precisely by their final closure; so that even the most trivial aspects of their ending can come to seem bearers of profound significance, soliciting moral reflections apparently not less urgent (...) for their being quite unwarranted. From earliest times, this fascination with last moments has come to be concentrated in particular upon last words: situated at that most mysterious of borders, between life and death, they seem to look backwards and forwards at once, judging the speaker's own past life from the vantage-point of a future realm he is about to attain and hinting at the nature of what awaits us all from the perspective of that past life he still – however tenuously – shares with us. A moment earlier, and there is no reason to privilege any one discourse of the speaker's above another; a moment later, and his lips are sealed for ever. Only in that final moment can he seem to pass an unappealable judgement on himself, to combine in a single body two incompatible subjectivities, the one suffering and extremely mortal, the other dispassionate and transcendent. If he is a thinker or a man of action, this is his last chance to summarize a lifetime's meditation or experience in a pithy, memorable aphorism.If he is a celebrated poet, he can be imagined to have composed his own epitaph; if he is a Hellenistic poet, he may even in fact have done so. (shrink)

Asclépius est un commentateur aristotélicien du VI e siècle après J.-C., qui – élève d’Ammonius – étudie à l’école néoplatonicienne d’Alexandrie en Égypte. Il réalise l’exégèse de divers passages de la Métaphysique dans lesquels Aristote attribue à Platon la doctrine de l’existence de substances mathématiques séparées (avec une position intermédiaire entre les substances intelligibles et les sensibles) et, en même temps, la critique fortement. Asclépius a une attitude de conciliation entre les perspectives platonicienne et aristotélicienne. D’une part, il défend la (...) doctrine de l’existence de substances mathématiques séparées du monde sensible et supérieures à lui, et ce faisant il s’aligne sur la défense de la doctrine platonicienne déjà opérée par les néoplatoniciens Syrianus et Proclus. Cependant, d’autre part, il adopte aussi la position aristotélicienne et celle d’Alexandre d’Aphrodise, si bien qu’il existe aussi des entités mathématiques qui ne sont pas des substances, mais des caractéristiques mathématiques formelles immanentes au sensible. Enfin, les entités mathématiques sont aussi de simples concepts mentaux obtenus par abstraction du sensible. En parlant d’entités mathématiques non substantielles, Asclépius s’aligne sur Aristote et son commentateur peripatéticien Alexandre. Asclépius, grâce à une vision hiérarchisée de la réalité, peut admettre trois types d’entités mathématiques, de sorte que chaque type inférieur est une copie atténuée de celui qui lui est supérieur. (shrink)

Modern Myths and Medical Consumerism is concerned with the loss of a sense of limit in technological medicine today, and the way in which the denial of death leads to an uncontrollable, consumeristic multiplication of needs. Taking its starting point from C. G. Jung¿s analytical psychology, the book gives a symbolic interpretation based on archetypal, philosophical and socio-psychoanalytic ideas developed through the author¿s personal experience, moving from the medical to the psychoanalytical paradigm. Lanfranchi depicts ideal sources of medicine, based on (...) archetypal material drawn from Greek myth, and discusses the progressive steps of the doctor¿s consciousness¿ evolution up to contemporary times. Critiquing current medicine and its ¿modern myths¿, the book suggests the prevailing model of economic development is unsustainable, and provides prospects of a more contained ecological medicine and an ethical approach that will allow readers to reflect and move towards a more qualified attitude to mortality. The book meets the need to transform medicine into a critical domain of human experience, capable of providing essential services consistent with the naturalness of death and environmental sustainability. As such, it will be vital reading to academics in the fields of psychotherapy, analytical psychology, psychiatry and medicine, and those with a philosophical or sociological background. (shrink)

This is a condensed description of the contents and overarching argument found in Hippocrates’ Oath and Asclepius’ Snake: The Birth of the Medical Profession. In that work, I maintain that the basic medical ethical problem concerns iatrogenic harm. I focus particularly on what I refer to as ‘role-conflation’. This most egregious form of iatrogenic harm occurs when a physician deliberately adopts the role of wounder. A contemporary practice such as physician-assisted suicide exemplifies a doctor’s deliberate wounding. I argue that (...) the author of the Hippocratic Oath – aware of the chronic risk of role-conflation – responds to this threat by having the oath-taker specifically forswear signal acts that wound the sick, such as giving a deadly drug even if asked, giving an abortifacient, sexual predation, and gossiping. I argue that by means of the Oath, Hippocrates founds medicine as a profession, a practice intimately involving promising. (shrink)

In what follows, I reply to critical appraisals of my book entitled Hippocrates’ Oath and Asclepius’ Snake: The Birth of the Medical Profession. Professors Tollefsen, McPherson, and Potts separately offer these thoughtful critiques. Professor Tollefsen approaches the work from the standpoint of the physician-patient relationship. Professors McPherson and Potts both address it in terms of virtues. Potts treats the theme of virtue generally while McPherson focuses on the virtue of piety. Since virtues attend relationships, in what follows, I discuss, (...) first, the physician-patient relationship ; second, virtue generally ; and third, and finally, the virtue of piety specifically. (shrink)

The Hermetica are a body of mystical texts written in late antiquity, but believed during the Renaissance (when they became well known) to be much older. Their supposed author, a mythical figure named Hermes Trismegistus, was thought to be a contemporary of Moses. The Hermetic philosophy was regarded as an ancient theology, parallel to the revealed wisdom of the Bible, supporting Biblical revelation and culminating in the Platonic philosophical tradition. This new translation is the only English version based on reliable (...) texts, and Professor Copenhaver's introduction and notes make this accessible and up-to-date edition an indispensable resource to scholars. (shrink)

R. Loredana Cardullo, Il libro Alpha della Metafisica di Aristotele tra storiografia e teoria, Catania 2009, pp. 294. R. Loredana Cardullo, A sclepio di Tralle. Commentario al libro Alpha Meizon della Metafisica di Aristotele. Intoduzione, testo greco, traduzione e note di commento, Acireale-Roma 2012, pp. 512. Paris 2012, pp. 164.

The study proposes a link between Mark’s healing stories in chapter 1 and praise songs and/or poems performed at Apollo’s temple and other possible shrines of Asclepius in Southern Antioch. Mark chapter 1 begins with Jesus healing the demoniac (Mk 1:21–28), healing of Simon’s mother in law (Mk 1:29–31) and healing of various peoples who gathered at Simon’s mother-in-law’s house (Mk 1:32–34) and people from the region and afar (Mk 13:39). The chapter finishes with the controversial healing of the (...) leper (1:40–45). Assuming that Mark is located in Southern Antioch, with analogies from Zulu praise poems, this study reread Mark’s healing stories alongside Greek aretalogies with a view to reveal the function and mood around which the stories were told and/or performed. As hypothesis, Mark’s healing stories exudes similar characteristics as Greek aretalogies, praising the benefactor (Jesus) vis-à-vis known healers such as Apollo and Asclepius. (shrink)

In Hippocrates’ Oath and Asclepius’ Snake: The Birth of the Medical Profession, Thomas Cavanaugh focuses on performative aspects of the taking of the oath which bear upon the formation of that community we identify as the medical profession. In this paper, I suggest that we can go further than Cavanaugh does in identifying what the Hippocratic oath makes possible. Given its particular content and what it communicates, the oath makes possible, to a degree few other oaths could, and in (...) a way which might be significantly impaired by the absence of an oath, the form of community we have come to call the physician-patient relationship. In Section I, I will discuss Cavanaugh’s treatment of the oath’s relationship to the community of medical professionals. In Section II, I discuss at a relatively abstract level the relationship between communication and community. In Section III I show how the oath can additionally constitute the primordial moment in the existence of the physician-patient relationship. (shrink)

The trial of Socrates -- Socrates in court -- How the system worked -- The charge of impiety -- The war years -- Alcibiades, Socrates, and the aristocratic milieu -- Pestilence and war -- The rise and fall of Alcibiades -- The end of the war -- Critias and Civil War --- Crisis and conflict -- Symptoms of change -- Reactions to intellectuals -- The condemnation of Socrates -- Socratic politics -- A cock for Asclepius.

The course given by Michel Foucault from February to March 1984, under the title 'The Courage of Truth', was his last at the Collège de France. His death shortly after, on June 25th, tempts us to detect a philosophical testament in these lectures, especially in view of the prominence they give to the theme of death, notably through a reinterpretation of Socrates' last words--'Crito, we owe a cock to Asclepius'--which, with Georges Dumézil, Foucault understands as the expression of a (...) profound gratitude towards philosophy for its cure of the only serious illness: that of false opinions and prejudices. These lectures continue and radicalize the analyses of those of the previous year. Foucault's 1983 lectures investigated the function of 'truth telling' in politics in order to establish courage and conviction as ethical conditions for democracy irreducible to the formal rules of consensus. With the Cynics, this manifestation of the truth no longer appears simply as a risky speaking out, but in the very substance of existence. In fact, Foucault offers an incisive study of ancient Cynicism as practical philsophy, athleticism of the truth, public provocation, and ascetic sovereignty. The scandal of the true life is constructed in oppositon to Platonism and its world of transcendent intelligible forms"--Publisher's description, p. [2] of dust jacket. (shrink)

Filosofia e Educação como “Modo de vida”: o cuidado de si, do outro e o agradecimento a Asclépio Resumo: Este artigo é parte dos resultados de pesquisas empreendidas no Grupo de Pesquisa GPEFE - Grupo de Pesquisa Estudos Foucaultianos e Educação da Universidade São Francisco. As análises partem de referenciais teóricos filosóficos da Antiguidade grega, em especial Platão e avança por entre os contemporâneos como Nietzsche, Foucault, dentre outros, com intuito de perscrutar o enigmático pedido de Sócrates a Críton, quando (...) Sócrates pediu que sacrificasse um galo a Asclépio. O que Sócrates queria dizer com este “enigma”? “– Devemos um galo a Asclépio”. Então perguntamos: Sócrates foi curado? Curado de que doença? Doenças? Qual ou quais livros de Platão poderiam esclarecer o enigma? Quem era o deus Asclépio? Em que momento Asclépio se tornou importante para os helenos? Qual a simbólica do galo para os atenienses? Existe algum legado através desse enigma que possa nos ajudar de alguma forma a nos educar e educarmos? Tais leituras podem ser importantes para a esfera da Educação? Palavras-chave: Filosofia e Educação, Parrhesía, Epimeléia heautou. Philosophy and Education as “Way of life”: care for the self, care for the others and gratitude to Asclepius: This article is part of the results of a research undertaken in the Research Group GPEFE - Grupo de Pesquisa Estudos Foucaultianos e Educação at the University São Francisco. The analyzes depart from philosophical theoretical references from the Greek Antiquity, especially Plato, and advance with contemporary authors such as Nietzsche, Foucault, among others, in order to examine Socrates' cryptic request to Crito, when Socrates asked that he sacrificed a cock to Asclepius. What did Socrates mean by this “enigma”? “-We owe a cock to Asclepius”. So we ask: was Socrates healed? Healed of what disease? Diseases? Which book or books of Plato could enlighten the riddle? Who was the god Asclepius? When did Asclepius become important to the Hellenes? What is the symbol of the cock for the Athenians? Is there a legacy through this puzzle that can somehow help us to educate and educate ourselves? Can such readings be important to the sphere of Education? Keywords: Philosophy and education, Parrhesía, Epimeléia heautou. Filosofía y Educación como “Modo de vida”: cuidarse a sí mismo, al otro y agradecer a Asclepio Resumen: Este artículo es parte de los resultados de investigaciones realizadas en el Grupo de Investigación GPEFE - Grupo de Pesquisa Estudos Foucaultianos e Educação de la Universidad São Francisco. Los análisis parten de referenciales teóricos filosóficos de la Antigüedad Griega, en particular Platón, y avanzan entre los contemporáneos como Nietzsche, Foucault, entre otros, con el fin de escrutar el enigmático pedido de Sócrates a Críton, cuando Sócrates le rogó que sacrificara un gallo a Asclepio. ¿Qué Sócrates quería decir con este “enigma”? “-Debemos un gallo a Asclepio”. Entonces nos preguntamos: ¿Sócrates fue sanado? ¿Curado de qué enfermedad? ¿Enfermedades? ¿Cuál o cuáles libros de Platón podría aclarar el enigma? ¿Quién era el dios Asclepio? ¿En qué momento Asclepio se hizo importante para los helenos? ¿Cuál es la simbología del gallo para los atenienses? ¿Hay algún legado a través de ese enigma que pueda ayudarnos de algún modo a educarnos y a educar? ¿Tales lecturas pueden ser importantes para la esfera de la Educación? Palabras clave: Filosofía y educación, Parrhesía, Epimeléia heautou. Data de registro: 25/10/2019 Data de aceite: 27/05/2020. (shrink)

Dans son Histoire de la divination dans l’Antiquité, Auguste Bouché-Leclercq intègre une présentation de l’incubation à l’étude de la « divination par les songes », cette dernière constituant le premier chapitre de la partie consacrée à la « divination intuitive » . Il y revient notamment, plus longuement, dans le chapitre consacré aux « oracles d’Asklépios ». La relecture de ces pages conduit à une mise à l’épreuve de la classification « divination inductive » / » divination inspirée » dans (...) laquelle l’incubation a trouvé, non sans difficulté, sa place en même temps qu’elle permet, en tenant compte du contexte dans lequel l’ouvrage a été écrit, de souligner la rupture qu’A. Bouché-Leclercq était en train d’opérer dans la conception que l’on pouvait avoir à la fin du XIXe siècle de la relation des Anciens avec le divin.In his History of divination in Antiquity, Auguste Bouché-Leclercq includes a presentation of the practice of incubation in the study of “divination through dreams”, which constitutes the first chapter of the section on “intuitive divination”. He notably returns to the subject, at greater length, in the chapter on the “Oracles of Asclepius”. Rereading these pages leads to a questioning of the classification “inductive divination” / “inspired divination” in which, with some difficulty, incubation has found its place. At the same time, by taking into account the context in which the book was written, it makes it possible to emphasize the break that Bouché-Leclercq was making from the conception of the relationship of the Ancients with the divine, which prevailed at the end of the nineteenth century. (shrink)

BackgroundThe Asclepion of Epidaurus is one of the first healing environments in the world. Descendants of Asclepius, specifically medical students, have been singularly deprived of any information concerning this legacy. This article illuminates the role of Asclepion of Epidaurus and examines the view of medical students upon the subject and the possible benefits of this knowledge in their medical education.MethodsThe participants were 105 senior-year students from the Athens Medical School, who attended a multi-media assisted lecture related to the structure (...) and the role of the Asclepion of Epidaurus. Afterwards, they answered anonymously a questionnaire of 12 pairs of opposite adjectives in order to describe their view regarding the meaning of Asclepion. The method used in the evaluation of their answers was that of semantic differential.ResultsThe attitude of the students towards the meaning of Asclepion was positive, showing interest and excitement about a powerful, though unfamiliar piece of knowledge.ConclusionToday’s novice doctors have welcomed the concept of Asclepion as essential knowledge for the service they will be called to fulfill. The potential benefits of the Asclepian ideals in medical education and ethos are thoroughly discussed. (shrink)

This paper discusses the metaphysical status of artefacts and their forms in the ancient commentators on Aristotle’s Metaphysics. Specifically, it examines the Peripatetic tradition and Alexander of Aphrodisias to then turn to the commentaries of the late Neoplatonist Asclepius of Tralles, and the Byzantine commentator Michael of Ephesus. It argues that Alexander is the pioneer of the interpretation of artefactual forms as qualities and artefacts as accidental beings. The fortune of this solution goes through Asclepius and Michael to (...) influence Thomas Aquinas. (shrink)

The battlefield and wartime conditions often challenge physicians as to their understanding and commitment to the ethics of medicine. In Homer's Iliad we read of the first physicians on the battlefield before the walls of Troy, the sons of Asclepius, Machaon, and Podalirius. In his 16th century autobiography, Ambroise Paré recounts the first case of battlefield euthanasia of the wounded and of posttraumatic stress disorder and was renowned for his skill and humanity in the care of his soldiers. Dominique (...) Larrey established the principles of triage of the wounded during the Napoleonic wars. It is out of warfare that the Geneva Convention and the Red Cross emerged. But what does history tell us about the ethical dilemmas of the military physician? Should prisoners receive care equal to that given to one's own troops? Can torture be used to extract information that may save lives? Is it ethical to enslave captured soldiers? Is the doctrine of the double effect valid as originally applied to war? Should a physician's ethics require him or her to speak out against perceived violations? This paper explores these issues from a historical perspective and I seek the voices of soldiers in the field wherever possible. (shrink)