Abstract
As an example of Aristotle's genre of epideictic, or ceremonial rhetoric, the Hippocratic Oath has the capacity to persuade its self-addressing audience to appreciate the value of the medical profession by lending an element of stability to the shifting ethos of health care. However, the values it celebrates do not accurately capture communally shared norms about contemporary medical practice. Its multiple and sometimes conflicting versions, anachronistic references, and injunctions that resist translation into specific conduct diminish its longer-term persuasive force. Only when expunged of these elements and reconstructed using values over which there is widespread agreement can the Oath succeed in moving its audience from core values located in past discussions to principled action in the future.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Alper, P. R. (1996). When it comes to ethics, Hippocrates knew best. Primary Care Weekly, 2, 5.
Aristotle. (1926). Aristotle in 23 volumes (J. H. Freese, Trans.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Anonymous. (1998). The Hippocratic oath. British Medical Journal, 317, 1119–1121.
Beauchamp, T. L., & Childress, J. F. (1994). Principles of biomedical ethics (4th edition). New York: Oxford University Press.
Branch, W. T., Brunton, S. A., Driscoll, C. E., & Levine, D. M. (1994). Primum non nocere: A new look at an old ideal. Patient Care, 28(1), 44–57.
Carey, E. J. (1928). The formal use of the Hippocratic oath for medical students at commencement exercises. Bulletin of the American Medical Colleges, 3, 159–166.
Carrick, P. (1985). Medical ethics in antiquity: Philosophical perspectives on abortion and euthanasia. Dordrecht, Netherlands: D. Reidel.
Condit, C. (1999). Crafting virtue: The rhetorical construction of public morality. In C. Condit, J. L. Lucaities, & S. Caudill (Eds.), Contemporary rhetorical theory: A reader (pp. 306–326). New York: The Guilford Press.
Dickstein, E., Erlen, J., & Erlen, J. (1991). Ethical principles contained in currently professed medical oaths. Academic Medicine, 66(10), 622–624.
Dorman, J. (1995). The Hippocratic oath (Viewpoint). Journal of American College Health, 44, 84–88.
Edelstein, L. (1943). The Hippocratic oath: Text, translation, and interpretation. Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 1(Suppl. 5), 1–64.
Freed, D. A. (1991). A cross-cultural study of the oath of Hippocrates: Living a dedicated life, Has it any meaning? Gundersen Medical Journal, 1, 10–16.
Hurwitz, B., & Richardson, R. (1997). Swearing to care: The resurgence in medical oaths. British Medical Journal, 315(7123), 1671–1674.
Marketos, S. G., Diamandopoulos, A. A., Bartsocas, C. S., Poulokou-Rebelakou, E., & Koutras, D. A. (1996). The Hippocratic oath. The Lancet, 347(8994), 101–102.
Nutton, V. (1995). What's in an oath? Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of London 29(6), 518–524.
Orr, R. D., Pang, N., Pellegrino, E. D., & Siegler, M. (1997). Use of the Hippocratic Oath: A review of twentieth century practice and a content analysis of oaths administered in medical schools in the U.S. and Canada in 1993. The Journal of Clinical Ethics, 8(4), 377–388.
Pellegrino, E. (1996). Ethics. Journal of the American Medical Association, 275(23), 1807–1809.
Perelman, C., & Olbrechts-Tyteca, L. (1969). The new rhetoric: A treatise on argumentation (J. Wilkerson & P. Weaver, Trans.). Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.
Rancich, A. M., P¨yerez, M. L., Gelpi, R. J., & Mainetti, J. A. (1999). Analysis of the ethical principles of beneficence and no harm in medical oaths in relation with the Hippocratic one [On-line]. (An¨yalisis de los principios ¨yeticos de beneficencia y de no-maleficencia en los juramentos m¨yedicos, en relaci¨yon con el hipocr¨yatico.) Gaceta Medica de Mexico, 135(3), 345–351. Abstract from: Comprehensive Medline with Fulltext Item: 99354566.
Robin, E. D., & McCauley, R. F., (1995). Cultural lag and the Hippocratic Oath. The Lancet, 345(8962), 1422–1425.
Rosalki, J. (1993). The Hippocratic contract. Journal of Medical Ethics, 19, 154–156.
Veatch R. M. (1995). Medical codes and oaths. InW. T. Reich (Ed.), Encyclopedia of bioethics, Revised edition. (Vol. 3, pp. 1419–1435). New York: Simon & Schuster Macmillan.
Yakir, A., & Glick, S. M. (1998). Medical students' attitudes to the physician's oath. Medical Education, 32(2), 133–137.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Keränen, L. The Hippocratic Oath as Epideictic Rhetoric: Reanimating Medicine's Past for Its Future. Journal of Medical Humanities 22, 55–68 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026638111488
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026638111488