Table of Contents

ABSTRACT

Ancient medical systems can offer insights into the psychosomatic union of human nature and provide answers to some of the fundamental problems in medicine. This study aims at identifying some common ground and a unifying transcultural perspective. Six principles could be identified: 1) cosmology of the dual forces of consciousness and matter, 2) anthropology as the individual manifestation of talent and temperament, 3) inner alchemy and self-cultivation for health as developmental growth, 4) description of the subtle anatomy of the body’s energy centres, 5) emphasis on dietetics for longevity and functional health and 6) political significance of medical understanding, as the microcosm translates to the macrocosm. All three ancient medical systems studied concern themselves with an explanation of the world and the phenomenon of life as an interplay between dualistic forces, a philosophy of human nature as the synthesis of different elements or tempers known as humoralism, an understanding of health, way of life and healing as an essential harmony between the human being and the surrounding environment and practical and accessible clinical strategies that make use of the human faculties and the resources of nature in a sustainable way. Humoralistic principles as a common streak of medical traditions have been observed before, but have mainly focused on the variations in local colour, culture and climate. This study aims at showing the process of healing and the inner workings of medicine according to tradition. As such, it provides a working definition of the world, the human being and healing as, how the human being relates to the world, as well as of medicine as, how to facilitate this relationship within the scope of human ability.

Keywords: Anthropology, cosmology, Greek-Hippocratic medicine, Traditional Chinese medicine, Indian Ayurveda, transcultural medical studies, humoralism, ecology of healing