Obstacles
The Dissection of a Corpse- Outlawed in Hippocrates Time
Hippocrates main obstacles came in the form of ways that he differed with the values of the classical Greek society. When his values were different from that of the general public the mass rule of the polis democracy led to great difficulty in trying to work around the values of the city to support his own. Classical Greece was very unified in its values and that helped both create and discourage new ideas.
Biggest Obstacles
Apollo- Was traditionally thought to bring illness with his silver bow
- People's view of the gods as the bringer of illness.- This caused trouble for Hippocrates because he advocated that it was not the gods that brought illness, but bad habits in eating exercise and cleanliness. As long as the gods were seen as the primary cause of illness people would not see Hippocrates preventative measures as important and would not carry them out. Because of this while people believed in the gods as illness bringers he had more trouble preventing illness.
- The fact that corpse dissections were outlawed.- The Greek culture had always placed a high value on the proper burial and treatment of corpses. This value led them to outlaw the dissection of corpses. Hippocrates probably agreed with this law; however, it made it much harder to find out what was inside the body. He came up with the humors theory and would not have if he had been able to dissect. He must have had trouble dealing with his conflicting values of respect for corpses,but he also want for more medical knowledge.
- The Knidos- They wanted to discredit him because he was a Koan and they did not believe in the same style of medical treatment. They had very different values than himself.