Medicine at the Crossroads of Knowledges: Physis, Nomos, Techne, and Tyche

This paper examines the characteristics of medicine through the conceptual pairs of physis and nomos, and techne and tyche, which originate in ancient Greek philosophy. Medicine is a synthesis of knowledge and practice that encompasses physis and nomos, as well as techne and tyche. Physis and nomos correspond to the substantive aspects of medical knowledge, while techne and tyche correspond to its methodological aspects. The human body is composed of the same elements that constitute nature, and because human beings are subject to the same laws that govern nature, they can be understood as physis-based beings. At the same time, however, humans are also nomos-based beings who create value systems and institutions that are not found in the natural world. Nomos is not absolutely separate from nature but interacts with it. If physis and nomos are concepts that describe the content of medical knowledge, then techne is the concept that describes medicine's methodological characteristics. Plato and Aristotle classified knowledge and regarded medicine as an exemplary model of techne. Techne is not merely the activity of applying theoretical knowledge to practice; rather, it constitutes pra