[Scientific theoretical founding of medicine as a natural science by Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894)]. / Die wissenschaftstheoretische Begründung der Medizin als Naturwissenschaft bei Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894).

In this study an attempt will be made to discuss the epistemological problems in the theory and practice of modern technical medicine in the writings of Hermann von Helmholz. An inquiry into the relationship between von Helmholtz' thinking and the critical philosophy of Immanuel Kant is followed by the characteristics of von Helmholtz' philosophy of science which he himself called "empirical theory". The question of medicine as a science finally leads to the main problem of medical epistemology, viz., the relationship between theoretical knowledge and practice in medicine. In this context the anthropological dimension is brought into consideration.

[Human abnormalities--their importance in the world view during antiquity and the early Middle Ages]. / Die Missgestalt des Menschen--ihre Deutung im Weltbild von Antike und Frühmittelalter.

In consideration of the experience that also in our present day society the development of a handicapped baby is understood by some as the visible result of a morally guilty behaviour of the parents, the present study raises the question, whether the identification of physical appearance and moral attitude has been in a certain historical epoch the preferred approach in science for understanding the origin of human malformations. After the treatment of the teratological theories in greek medicine and aristotelian natural philosophy the question of the origin of human malformation is examined in Pliny's "Historia naturalis" and Augustine's "De civitate dei". A comparison between the theories presented shows that the moral interpretation of human malformation is an inevitable consequence of the augustinian theological thinking.