Abstract

My dissertation constitutes a philosophical and historical investigation into the origins and development of Greek medical ethics. ;I limit my inquiry in three crucial ways. First, I deal mainly with the Hellenic and Hellenistic periods. Second, I aim at an illustrative, and not an exhaustive study of the moral problems of abortion and euthanasia, along with the related topics of infanticide and suicide. Third, Greek and Roman legal developments are consulted only to the extent that they throw additional light on these principal topics. ;Chapter One is entitled "The Social Context of Greek Medicine." It lays the groundwork for the entire study by exploring the social and scientific setting within which ethical judgments on abortion and euthanasia were made. The major headings are: the status of the physician; theories of health and disease; and attitudes toward death. I argue that physicians and philosophers often competed for the public's ear: both dispensed advice on the important moral question of how citizens ought to live in order to attain well-being. I further show that Democritus, Plato, and Aristotle, among other Greek philosophers, spoke to health issues and patient responsibility. They also advanced ideas of their own on the origins of health and disease which I briefly reconstruct and critically discuss. On the matter of death and dying, I argue that at least four major perspectives on the afterworld are discernible in Greek religious, philosophical, and medical literature. I further explore medical and philosophical perspectives on the moment death is said to occur and attitudes toward the dying process. ;Chapter Two is entitled "The Rise of Greek Medical Ethics." Among my conclusions, I argue that Edelstein is wrong in ascribing the origins of the Hippocratic Oath to exclusively Pythagorean influences. Popular morality, religious cult beliefs, plus legal and prudential considerations also played a part in determining both the form and content of that document. . . . UMI