Clinical practice: between Aristotle and Cochrane.

Health and disease consist of amino acids and self image, cell membranes and human ideals, muscles and politics. Only to a limited extent can clinical practice be based on science. It can never be carried on in isolation from political, and cultural forces that influence patients' health behaviour. Evidence-based medicine is essential but not sufficient. A continuous relationship with patients is a conditio sine qua non for general practice. The general practitioner must be a master of pragmatic medicine. Rationality, the dominant modern trend, may be dangerous for patients and doctors: (1) advances in technology can give patients and doctors the illusion of mastering the universe; (2) patients complain of being treated like biomachines, without human touch. Another symptom of modernity is the decline of religion. But patients and doctors are by no means rational beings. God, destiny and hope are replaced by modern medico-scientific megalomania. Modern medicine is also strongly influenced by commercialization and invasion by bureaucrats. Instead of becoming a biomedical robot, the general practitioner must learn to value the Aristotelian concept of phronesis. It means practical wisdom and can only be gained by personal experience; a form of learning by doing. Good clinical practice cannot come from science alone, or from personal experience alone. It is an amalgam of scientia and phronesis.