Justin Garson in a chapter of his book “Madness: A Philosophical Exploration” (Oxford University Press, 2022) presents a fascinating reanalysis of the clash between the Hippocratic physicians and the “magicians, purifiers, charlatans and quacks” in Ancient Greece. The conflict is often understood as being about a natural vs supernatural orientation to the treatment of illness (and indeed, that’s something I have mentioned in the past in my history of psychiatry lectures with trainees as well), but Garson points out that this explanation is unsatisfactory because the Hippocratic corpus too makes frequent references to the supernatural. Garson proposes that the relevant contrast is instead between dysteleology and teleology, which becomes an early example for him of madness-as-dysfunction and madness-as-strategy traditions of thinking about psychiatric problems.
Garson on Hippocrates and the Magicians
Garson on Hippocrates and the Magicians
Garson on Hippocrates and the Magicians
Justin Garson in a chapter of his book “Madness: A Philosophical Exploration” (Oxford University Press, 2022) presents a fascinating reanalysis of the clash between the Hippocratic physicians and the “magicians, purifiers, charlatans and quacks” in Ancient Greece. The conflict is often understood as being about a natural vs supernatural orientation to the treatment of illness (and indeed, that’s something I have mentioned in the past in my history of psychiatry lectures with trainees as well), but Garson points out that this explanation is unsatisfactory because the Hippocratic corpus too makes frequent references to the supernatural. Garson proposes that the relevant contrast is instead between dysteleology and teleology, which becomes an early example for him of madness-as-dysfunction and madness-as-strategy traditions of thinking about psychiatric problems.