Abstract :
In this essay, I have attempted to give a brief account of some of the advances made in modern scientific medicine since the 17th century C.E. and to compare these advances with the beliefs and practices of Traditional Medicine from Hippocrates (2,400 years ago), through Galen (1,800 years ago) and Razi and Abu Ali Sina (1000 years ago). I have tried to demonstrate how irrational and retrogressive it must be to maintain and practice the medical teachings of physicians of so long ago despite the demonstrable advantages of progressive science and technology in the intervening centuries. The practitioners of Traditional Medicine are only too happy to take advantage of the cornucopia that has been the result of these modern technological advances in so many fields, yet doggedly adhere to irrational beliefs and practices of physicians of several millennia ago. The motivation for the maintenance of such an ideology seems to me beyond reason. The two main pillars of Traditional Iranian Medicine rest on the teachings of Zakariya Razi and Abu Ali Sina. Earlier in this essay, I promised to return to the teachings of Razi, whom I consider as one of the most open-minded physicians and philosophers, not only of his time, but for many generations that followed, until the extinction of rationalism and science in the Islamic world. To mention his seminal achievements in chemistry or philosophy is not relevant to this essay, but his thoughts in the practice of medicine are definitely appropriate. The theme of Razi s teachings that I wish to emphasize is his questioning of the writings of his eminent predecessors and thus, I wish to quote two further passages from the introduction of his book, Doubts about Galen (Kitab Al- Shukuk Ala Jalinus): Everyone is aware of the authority and the status of Galen in medical matters and thus some less gifted individuals have been outraged by my criticism of him, but the wise and the sage shall not think less of me for they know that in science and philosophy, imitation is not wisdom but that reason and logic must guide one s thoughts and if Galen were alive today, he would praise me for this writing. And later in the same introduction he writes, ... In medicine and philosophy, blind obedience and surrender to authority is unacceptable and Galen himself had chastised those who attempted to impose their opinions on their students without reason or logic. And finally, there is the caveat that unless we become initiators of knowledge, rather than imitators of Western knowledge, then we are doomed to a third rate status in the advancing world of science. The rhetoric of scientific advancement in present day Iran, whether in medicine, genetic engineering or nuclear physics, will remain just that - only rhetoric. It is time to wake up from the slumber of self-delusion, TIM notwithstanding. Alas, the road to science and scientific medicine is an arduous one and cannot be travelled overnight, nor established through edicts issued by authorities on high.
