The Enigma of Health: The Art of Healing in a Scientific Age by Gadamer Hans-Georg

Author:Gadamer, Hans-Georg
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2015-10-09T00:00:00+00:00

7

Philosophy and Practical Medicine

I come here as a lay person into a group with which I have long felt myself to be connected. My friendship with Viktor von Weizsäcker goes back to the 1930s and since then I have kept a close relationship with many of his colleagues and students in Heidelberg. But, sadly, one does not always gain as much as one might wish from such close proximity. Perhaps I may be allowed to recall the words of Socrates, who was invited to a celebration in honour of one of the great tragedians, Agathon.1 Finding himself seated between Agathon and the famous comic dramatist Aristophanes, Socrates remarked: ‘It would be a fine thing if wisdom were like water which can flow from one vessel into another along a piece of worsted. Then I would be able to learn a great deal from those sitting next to me’ (Symposium, 175d). However, as Socrates confirms, this is unfortunately not the case, and I still remain unclear about many things despite my longstanding connection with this group. I even find the title which has been announced somewhat troubling. What is the specifically ‘philosophical’ dimension which is at stake here? This is something I have thought about again and again in the hope of discovering a plausible answer. How should I begin to understand what has been asked of me here? Clearly it belongs to the essence of philosophy in contrast to the other sciences that it raises questions which we cannot eliminate even if we do not know how to answer them. In this sense the question concerning the nature of philosophy is itself a philosophical question to which we have no answer. Whatever philosophy is, it must be seen as a natural propensity within us all rather than as some sort of professional skill or ability. I ask of you, then, that my contribution today be understood not as that of a specialist who has answers to all the questions, but rather as that of one who is simply putting forward his own reflections alongside everyone else’s.

Even in the age of science there still exists one indisputable domain which remains common to us all. I refer to language, to that ongoing dialogue we all sustain with one another. In language, experience and knowledge become sedimented and speak directly to us through the words themselves. I would like to make my contribution to the theme which stands before us for discussion today by starting out from some reflections about specific words.

The second half of our title, ‘practical medicine’, has also given me food for thought. It is often remarked how important the theme of ‘general medicine’ has become for us. In this the age of specialization it has acquired a special meaning. Without doubt clinical medicine – on which the greater part of modern medical research is built – is only one small area in comparison to the human task which falls to the healing arts as a whole. In this sense our title reveals a double aspect.

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