The Cambridge World History of Medical Ethics

Medical ethics in the late medieval and Renaissance periods was influenced by Hippocratic traditions, other ancient, non-Christian sources, Christian ideas of nature, disease, and charity, prudential considerations, practical experience, and calamities such as the plague. This chapter provides an account of medical ethics in Medieval and Renaissance Europe. Particular attention is paid to sources of influence and how they were transmuted in various historical contexts and conditions. These influences included the Hippocratic Oath, Christian moral theology and philosophy, and Arabic and Persian texts that were translated into Latin. Many humanist and physicians conducted research on Hippocrates and the Hippocratic corpus. The influence of Arabic, Persian, and other non-Christian sources and ideas reawakened concerns about medicine's compatibility with Christianity. Scholastic medicine and medical ethics reflect the tensions among Christian, pagan, and Arabic influences, between the duty of caritas and the practical demand of earning a living.