Chapter 8 Plato’s Charmides on Philosophy as Holistic Medical Practice
In: Holism in Ancient Medicine and Its ReceptionSearch for other papers by Giouli Korobili in
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Abstract
In a well-known passage from the Charmides (155a8–58e5), Socrates is seen to extend the holistic principle that underlies good Greek medical practice in order to cover an as yet neglected factor, the soul. Specifically, he assumes the role of representing Zalmoxian medical art, and challenges the holistic conception on which contemporary doctors base their practice, mainly the idea that the well-being of a bodily part depends on the simultaneous treatment of both that part and the whole (the body as a whole). In introducing the factor ‘soul’, Socrates appears to promote a novel holistic concept of human nature and to modify the idea described above as follows: the well-being of a body depends on the simultaneous treatment of both that part (the body) and the whole (the soul). Yet this modified version has spawned much controversy: how are we to understand the body as a part of the soul? In this paper, we offer a fresh interpretation of the passage, holding that the soul is both part and whole, depending on the viewing angle. That is to say, the soul, when viewed in relation to man altogether, namely the soul-body compound, appears as one part of the whole but still the ruling element which, under normal circumstances, presides over the good of the whole. When viewed, however, under conditions where the harmonious coexistence between soul and body has been disturbed, making it illegitimate to speak of a harmonious whole, the soul takes on the role of the whole in order to restore the disassembled whole to its previous state of equilibrium.