Philosophia - or: Of the inspired healing art

On the topicality of the ancient understanding of the soul for a contemporary medicine Lecture at the congress "Psychotherapy and Medicine with Spirit and Soul", 2009

Abstract

The paper votes for an Integral Art of Healing to be a propriate concept for future medical care. First, by comparing it with the currently dominant, science-orientated medical practice it depicts the key-features of what the authors calls an Art of Healing. These features are essentialy influenced by the anicient greek understanding of human life. Crucial for this understanding is the philosophical interpretation of healing as the most natural process of rebalancing the psycho-somatic harmony of the human organism, driven by it’s internal systemic intelligence the Greeks called psyché (soul). Due to that concept, medical care can be understood as an intervention intending to support the self-healing capacity of psyché. It’s criteria is the inner balance of the patient – taking into account the results of scientific medical research. By this, different medical methods become integrated into an holistic procedure with its center in the dialogue between physician and patient.