Galen’s works present one of the most prominent contributions to the development of modern medicine. Following the path outlined by Plato and Aristotle, Galen significantly influenced the direction of medical science development. Even though Galen supported an ultimately false humoral theory about the four senses of humor in the human body, his emphasis on the importance of philosophy in medicine served as the basis for ethics and morality in medicine. Furthermore, Galen used the Hippocratic approach in his practice, where he utilized data from anatomy and physiology to explain and perfect the theoretical basis. Combining the philosophical aspects with data from experiments allowed Gallen to develop a broader approach to medicine and treatment processes. In my clinical practice, applying the experiential philosophical approach can provide a significant basis for the wide comprehensive development of professional skills, such as analytical and logical thinking, ethics, and morals.
The concept of certainty is closely related to knowledge and implies the condition when a person has no desire or reason to express doubt. According to Zanetti (2021), the concept of absolute certainty is flawed or removed from reality as its requirements are closer to philosophical concepts rather than factual knowledge. Furthermore, considering the nature of the medical discipline, knowledge at the level of absolute certainty with no involvement of doubt applied in the decision-making process can result in a wide variety of mistakes. Therefore, while applying absolute certainty in clinical practice can potentially have negative results, there are ways to improve the knowledge basis to the point of certainty by gaining more experience and knowledge. However, in interactions with patients, certainty can have positive effects as it increases the patients’ trust in professionals and eliminates the component of uncertainty, which can cause negative motions, such as stress or anxiety.
Reference
Zanetti, L. (2021). The quest for certainty. Kriterion – Journal of Philosophy, 35(1), 71-95.