Assistant Professor Morteza Hoseinzadeh, Professor Sahar Kavandi,
Volume 0, Issue 0 (9-2025)
Abstract
Galen is regarded as one of the most enduring and influential figures in the history of medicine. What distinguishes his position is his ability to interweave three fundamental domains—medicine, philosophy, and ethics—into a coherent intellectual system. This article aims to identify and examine the medical–ethical foundations of Galen’s thought, analyzing the impact of philosophical doctrines on the formation of his approach to medicine and ethics. The method of this study is based on a critical reading of Galen’s primary texts alongside secondary historical and philosophical studies and, through a descriptive–analytical approach, seeks to reconstruct systematically his medical and ethical foundations and elucidate the relationship between them. Galen understood health as a multilayered concept that encompasses not only the bodily dimension but also psychological and social aspects. He further held that medicine can attain its true meaning and effectiveness only when integrated with moral virtues; on this basis, he advanced the notion of the “physician–philosopher.” Galen’s theoretical framework-including the doctrine of the four humors, the six non‑natural factors, the principle of cure by contraries, and his emphasis on prevention-constitutes a significant part of his systematic medical thought. In the field of medical ethics, principles that are today reflected in the four contemporary principles of bioethics are repeatedly articulated in his works. Although some of Galen’s doctrines no longer possess scientific validity, revisiting his medical–ethical foundations can provide a conceptual model for rethinking the interrelation of science, ethics, and philosophy in contemporary medicine.
