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Sydenham's "theologia Rationalis" And Ethics; An Aspect Of The Aristotelian Tradition
N. Koutouvidis*, Spyros G.Marketos**
* M.D., Psychiatrist, International Hippocratic Foundation of Kos (IHFK),** Emeritus Professor of the History of Medicine, International Hippocratic Foundation of Kos (IHFK), Athens, Greece
Over a hundred years ago Sydenham's unpublished manuscript entitled "Theologia Rationalis" was acknowledged to be one of the most important milestones for a better understanding of his clinical theory and practice. Nevertheless little or no interest has been shown in it until today. This paper is, to our knowledge, a first attempt at a thorough analysis of this text, aiming to point out the main guidelines along which Sydenham's moral thinking developed. We suggest that, apart from his puritan and utilitarian upbringing, Sydenham was also influenced by Aristotelian Ethics and by Hippocrates. Hence, he formed a kind of medicomoral intellectual system, in which both utilitarian and deontological (in modern terminology) principles coexist. Furthermore, Sydenham's moral speculation poses problems, ideas and questions that can prove useful even to modern biomedical ethics.Keywords: Biyomedikal Etik, Sydenham,
Aristo EtiğiT Klin J Med Ethics 2001, 9:82-86
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