Religious paradigms of medieval medicine

Abstract

It is shown that in the Middle Ages the sanitary and epidemiological state was characterized by the absence of a sewerage and water supply system; complete unsanitary conditions, both in the city as a whole and in individual houses; lack of elementary rules of personal hygiene; a high percentage of infant mortality and almost unceasing epidemics. It is shown that medicine in the Middle Ages was based on the principles of scholasticism, which rejected in principle any scientific discoveries and opposed faith and science, which made its development impossible in principle. The methods of treatment used by medieval medicine were based on gross superstitions, which boiled down to belief in the healing power of amulets and talismans; attributing the influence on human health to the location of the stars; the role of conspiracies and the healing power of crushed stones and minerals. It has been established that the basis of medieval medicine was primarily the teachings and ideas of the medieval church about the immortality of the soul, saints, illness, education, in which rude pagan beliefs and philosophy prevailed, making not only impossible the development of medicine as such, but also leading to mass epidemics, unsanitary conditions, the growth of neuropsychiatric diseases, and decrease of the duration and quality of life of the population.