Methodic school facts for kids

The Methodic school was a group of doctors and thinkers in ancient Greece and Rome. They had different ideas about medicine compared to other groups at the time, like the Empiric school and the Dogmatic school. We don't know exactly when or how they started, but we know a lot about their ideas. A writer named Sextus Empiricus said they focused on what seemed obvious and practical.

How the Methodic School Started

It's not clear who started the Methodic school or exactly when. Some people think it was founded by students of Asclepiades of Bithynia. His most famous student, Themison of Laodicea, is often given credit for starting it in the 1st century BC.

However, some historians believe Asclepiades himself founded it around 50 BC. Others say the Methodic school didn't truly begin until the 1st century AD. No matter the exact start date, most agree that the Methodic school was a new way of thinking. It was a reaction to the ideas of the Empiric and Dogmatic schools.

What Methodic Doctors Believed

Methodic doctors focused on treating diseases directly. They didn't spend much time on a patient's past health. They believed medicine was about understanding "obvious general things." This meant looking for common features that appeared clearly in illnesses.

They thought that knowing the exact cause of a disease wasn't important for treating it. Instead, they believed it was enough to see the general signs of an illness. According to Methodists, the disease itself would show the way to the cure. For example, if you're hungry, you naturally look for food. If you're thirsty, you look for water. They even used the example of a dog removing a thorn from its paw. The problem itself tells you what to do.

The Body's Pores and Illnesses

A main idea of the Methodic school was about tiny parts called 'atoms' moving through the body's 'pores'. They thought that if this movement was blocked, it caused sickness.

To cure a disease, you just needed to see some general signs. They believed there were three main types of illnesses:

• Bound: When the body's systems were too tight or blocked.
• Loose: When there was too much flow or discharge.
• Mixed: A combination of both.

Sometimes, sick people might have too little or too much of certain body fluids. Or a specific fluid might be missing or in excess. These illnesses could be severe or long-lasting. They could also be getting worse, staying the same, or getting better.

Treating Illnesses

Once a Methodic doctor knew which type of illness it was, they knew what to do:

• If the body was "bound," they needed to open it up.
• If it was "loose," they needed to slow it down.
• If it was "mixed," they would treat the most urgent problem first.

The treatment also depended on how the illness was behaving. One type of treatment was for sudden, sharp illnesses. Another was for long-term illnesses. And different treatments were used when diseases were getting worse, staying the same, or getting better. Observing these things was their "art of medicine," which they called method (Greek: Μέθοδος).

Themison, a key figure, felt that trying to find the exact causes of diseases was too uncertain. So, he wanted to base his system on common patterns and signs seen in many diseases. Themison wrote several books, but sadly, they are now lost.

How Methodic Doctors Were Different

The Methodic school had different ideas from the Empiric and Dogmatic schools.

No Hidden Causes

Methodic doctors believed that once they recognized a disease, the treatment was immediately obvious. It wasn't about guessing or observing for a long time. It was instant knowledge.

Dogmatic doctors, on the other hand, thought that symptoms showed a hidden problem causing the disease. They believed you needed to know this hidden problem to treat the patient. Methodists disagreed. Like Empiricists, they didn't believe in "hidden states." They thought the symptoms themselves clearly showed what needed to be done.

Not Just Experience

Methodists also didn't agree with the Empiric idea that the link between a disease and its treatment was only learned through experience. Methodists felt that you didn't need experience to know that if something was empty, it needed to be filled. Or if something was too tight, it needed to be loosened.

To a Methodist, treatments were clear and made common sense. They didn't need to be proven by experience. They believed there were no other ways to think about the right treatments.

Firm and Certain Knowledge

Because Methodists didn't rely on observation or experience, they believed their knowledge came from reason. In this way, they were a bit like Dogmatists, who also used reason to choose treatments. However, Methodists didn't use reason to find hidden causes of diseases. They thought disease causes shouldn't be strange or unclear forces.

The main difference was that a Methodist doctor's knowledge was "firm and certain." It left no room for mistakes or changes later. Instead of relying on reason and experience, Methodists simply did what was clearly obvious. They believed there was no chance of error.

See also

• Pneumatic school