Methodic school

The Methodic school of medicine (Methodics, Methodists, or Methodici, Greek: Μεθοδικοί) was an ancient school of medicine in ancient Greece and Rome. The Methodic school arose in reaction to both the Empiric school and the Dogmatic school (sometimes referred to as the Rationalist school). While the exact origins of the Methodic school are shrouded in some controversy, its doctrines are fairly well documented. Sextus Empiricus points to the school's common ground with Pyrrhonism, in that it “follow[s] the appearances and take[s] from these whatever seems expedient.”

History

There is no clear consensus on who founded the Methodic school and when it was founded. It has been purported that the Methodic school was founded by the students of Asclepiades. In particular, Themison of Laodicea, Asclepiades’ most distinguished student, is often credited with founding the Methodic school in the first century BC. However, some historians claim that the Methodic school was founded by Asclepiades himself in 50 BC. It has also been claimed that the Methodism does not truly arise until the first century AD. In any case, it is widely accepted that Methodism arose as a reaction to the Empiric and Rationalist (or Dogmatic) schools, bearing some similarities to both schools but fundamentally different.