2023 Volume 21 Issue 1 Pages 43-51
Medical education in Japan has improved systematically and efficiently and now provides training on basic clinical procedures and techniques along with classroom lectures. While, the liberal arts education period has decreased from two years to one year. The hilosophy of medicine, which was established by philosopher Hisayuki Omodaka, aims to reflect on medicine and clarify the overall picture and essence of medicine to enhance its practice. In this article, medicine is defined as one of the applied and practical sciences that aims to cure the sick, prevent disease, and promote health. It is supported by three subjects: sciences, philosophy of human beings, and medical ethics and policy. V.E. Frankl understood humans as existential beings searching for meaning in life, rather than reducing them to mere biological substances. Frankl also provided the concept of “dimensional anthropology”, which regards humans as constituting unity in spite of multiplicity. In Japan, based on Frankl's existential analysis, K. Nagata, Y. Ikemi et al. clarified the concept of “Comprehensive Medicine”, which is premised on providing comprehensive healthcare, by emphasizing individual meaning in life. The practice of comprehensive medicine requires an essential and philosophical understanding of human beings, which demonstrates the importance of a philosophical attitude among medical professionals even in clinical settings. Therefore, a “philosophy of medicine,” which reflects on medicine and imbues medical students with the passion and courage to provide comprehensive and better medicine, is indispensable to modern medical education as it encourages medical practitioners to consider human beings from a biopsychosocial-existential perspective.
