{"id":77,"date":"2020-09-02T02:42:11","date_gmt":"2020-09-02T02:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kheper.net\/?page_id=77"},"modified":"2020-09-18T06:38:54","modified_gmt":"2020-09-18T06:38:54","slug":"four-humours","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.kheper.net\/topics\/typology\/four-humours\/","title":{"rendered":"The Four Humours"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t

Four Humours<\/h1>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n

In Greek, Medieval, and Renaissance thought, the traditional four elements form the basis for a theory of medicine and later psychological typology known as the four humours. They constituted the western equivalent of the Chinese\u00a0five states of change. Each of the humours were associated with various\u00a0correspondences\u00a0and particular physical and mental characteristics, and could, moreover, be combined for more complex personality types: (e.g. choleric-sanguine, etc). The result is a system that provides a quite elaborate classification of types of personality.<\/p>\n\n

The Four Humours and Classical Thought<\/h3>\n\n
\n

“[In classic times] medicine was equated with philosophy and three Greek philosophers \u00a0Hippocrates\u00a0(c.460 \u2013 370 b.c.e.), Plato (427-348 b.c.e.) and Aristotle (384-322 b.c.e.) contributed to the vision of health, disease and the functions of the body. Although they had differences in general they saw health as an equilibrium of the body as determined by the four humors.<\/p>\n

Sap in plants and the blood in animals is the fount of life. Other body fluids- phlegm, bile, faeces, became visible in illness when the balance is disturbed. For instance, epilepsy, the sacred disease was due to phlegm blocking the airways that caused the body to struggle and convulse to free itself. Mania was due to bile boiling in the brain. Black bile was a late addition to disease theory and was associated with melancholy.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

[ref The Roots of Scientific Medicine\u00a0by Dr. P. Warren, –\u00a0The Humoral Theory of Diseases.]<\/p>\n\n

The Four Humours and\u00a0Unani<\/em>\u00a0(Greek-derived Islamic Medicine)<\/h3>\n\n

\"TheThe four humours.from An overview of the Unani System of Medicine and\u00a0Hikmat (Unani Medicine)<\/p>\n\n

\n

Unani<\/em>\u00a0is Arabic for \u201cIonian,\u201d which means \u201cGreek.\u201d It is a formal medicine that has been practiced for 6,000 years. Also known as \u201chikmat,\u201d Unani Tibb Medicine was developed by the Greek physician Hippocrates from the medicine and traditions of the ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. When the Mongols invaded Persia and Central Asia many scholars and physicians of Unani fled to India. Proponents of Tibb el Unani included ibn Sina (Avicenna) who wrote of Tibb el Unani in his medical classic \u2018al-Qanun\u2019 and Ishaq ibn \u2018Ali al-Ruhawi (1200AD) who wrote \u2018Adab el-Tibb\u2019, Medical Ethics. Hikmat is still practiced today among Muslims of Xinjiang, China as a part of Uighur medicine in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Unlike modern Western medicine, \u201chikmat\u201d does not hold to mind-body dualism but is rooted in the understanding that spiritual peace is essential for good health. Unani medicine considers many factors in maintaining health and divides the body in a number of ways to define this wisdom.<\/p>\n

The first way that Hikmat defines the body is to describe it in terms of the four humors or\u00a0akhlaat<\/em>: air, earth, fire and water emanate from the liver forming a subtle network around the body. In healing, foods and herbs are also classified according to the four humors. The four humors correspond to four bodily fluids: blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow bile. A typical diagnosis of a patient would take the balance of these humors into consideration. For instance, over-stimulation of wet-hot elements effects nervous biochemical interactions within the body with glandular ramifications within the blood. A wet-cold over-stimulation also effects nervous biochemical interactions but with ramifications for the relationship between the muscular biochemical exchanges and the bloodstream such as diarrhea and diabetes. Excess black bile in the blood leads to heart palpitations and constipation whilst excess yellow bile leads to general weakness (mypakfree, p.2).<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Islam Online –\u00a0Hikmat (Unani Medicine)<\/p>\n\n

The Four Humours in Reniassance and Elizabethan time<\/h3>\n\n

By this time the humours had become standardised as follows<\/p>\n\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Humour<\/em><\/td>\nBody substance<\/em><\/td>\nproduced by<\/em><\/td>\nElement<\/em><\/td>\nQualities<\/em><\/td>\nComplexion and Body type<\/em><\/td>\nPersonality<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sanguine<\/td>\nblood<\/td>\nliver<\/td>\nair<\/td>\nhot and moist<\/td>\nred-cheeked, corpulent<\/td>\namorous, happy, generous, optimistic, irresponsible<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Choleric<\/td>\nyellow bile<\/td>\nspleen<\/td>\nfire<\/td>\nhot and dry<\/td>\nred-haired, thin<\/td>\nviolent, vengeful, short-tempered, ambitious<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Phlegmatic<\/td>\nphlegm<\/td>\nlungs<\/td>\nwater<\/td>\ncold and moist<\/td>\ncorpulent<\/td>\nSluggish, pallid, cowardly<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Melancholic<\/td>\nblack bile<\/td>\ngall bladder<\/td>\nearth<\/td>\ncold and dry<\/td>\nsallow, thin<\/td>\nIntrospective, sentimental, gluttonous<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/figure>\n\n

Note:<\/em> “lazy” is sometimes attributed to Phlegmatics [ref\u00a0The Four Humours] and sometimes to Melancholics [ref\u00a0The Four Humors]<\/p>\n\n

\n

“[It was though that each of] The “humours” gave off vapors which ascended to the brain; an individual’s personal characteristics (physical, mental, moral) were explained by his or her “temperament,” or the state of that person’s “humours.” The perfect temperament resulted when no one of these humours dominated. By 1600 it was common to use “humour” as a means of classifying characters; knowledge of the humours is not only important to understanding later medieval work, but essential to interpreting Elizabethan drama”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Michael Hanly Medieval Themes and Topics<\/p>\n\n

The Four Humours in the modern world<\/h3>\n\n

Rudolf Steiner, who derived a lot of his ideas from Graeco-Medieval thought, not unsurprisingly incorporated the humours into his overall synthesis, here is his lecture on the\u00a0four temperaments. These are associated with dominance of one or the other of the\u00a0four levels of self. Choleric with the ego (which Steiner associates with “warmth”, hence “fire”), the Sanguine with the astral body, the Phlegmatic with the etheric body, and the Melancholic with the physical body. The sequence is from most subtle (fire, traditionally “spirit”) to most dense (earth, hence physical) elements<\/p>\n\n

Steiner’s thinking, being occult-theosophical based, has had little impact outside the specialised world of\u00a0Anthroposophy. Of much greater influence however was the personality classification of\u00a0Hans Eysenck (1916 – 1997). Eysenck took the two gradations of extrovert-introvert and stable-unstable, to come up with four quadrants which could be associated with the classic four temperaments. Each quadrant is also are further divided by keywords, creating a 360\u00b0 gradation as follows original url<\/p>\n\n

Another 20th century equivalent (although with only three temperaments) are Sheldon’s\u00a0Somatotypes. Additional recent temperament theories are\u00a0reviewed by Richard Dagan
\"bar\"<\/p>\n\n

\n\n\n\n
\u00a0<\/td>\nLinks<\/td>\n\u00a0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/figure>\n\n

\u00a0The Four Humors<\/strong>\u00a0– good intro<\/p>\n\n

\u00a0Hikmat (Unani Medicine)<\/strong>\u00a0from\u00a0Islam Online<\/p>\n\n

\u00a0The Four Humours\u00a0from\u00a0Shakespeare’s Life and Times<\/p>\n\n

\u00a0The Four Humors<\/strong>\u00a0– description and illustration of each<\/p>\n\n

\u00a0Medieval Themes and Topics<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

\u00a0The Four Cardinal Humors\u00a0by Sheridan Hill. Includes extracts from Burton’s\u00a0Anatomy of Melancholy\u00a0(1621) and Rudolf Steiner on the\u00a0four temperaments.<\/p>\n\n

\u00a0Temperament … A brief survey<\/strong>\u00a0by Richard Dagan – includes some modern psychological theories and applications<\/p>\n\n

\u00a0Hans Eysenck (and other temperament theorists)<\/strong>\u00a0– overview by Dr. C. George Boeree<\/p>\n\n

\u00a0The four humors and elements Aristotle and the Anishaabe Medicine Wheel, Canada<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

\u00a0The Role of Plants in Health and\/or Healing<\/strong>\u00a0– includes herbs classified according to the four elements and humours<\/p>\n\n

advertisement<\/p>\n\n

\n\n\n\n
Sacred Geometry Jewelry
by the artist David Weitztman<\/strong>
Sacred geometry is a term which describes the geometrical laws which create everything in existence. This term has been used by mathematicians, geometricians, spiritual seekers, anthropologists, and archaeologists to encompass the religious, philosophical, and spiritual beliefs that have sprung up around geometry in all the major cultures during the course of human history.\u00a0 When you connect spirit and geometry you get sacred geometry!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Four Humours In Greek, Medieval, and Renaissance thought, the traditional four elements form the basis for a theory of medicine and later psychological typology known as the four humours. They constituted the western equivalent of the Chinese\u00a0five states of change. Each of the humours were associated with various\u00a0correspondences\u00a0and particular physical and mental characteristics, and could,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":74,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"elementor_header_footer","meta":{"footnotes":""},"yoast_head":"\nThe Four Humours - Kheper<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kheper.net\/topics\/typology\/four-humours\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Four Humours - Kheper\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Four Humours In Greek, Medieval, and Renaissance thought, the traditional four elements form the basis for a theory of medicine and later psychological typology known as the four humours. They constituted the western equivalent of the Chinese\u00a0five states of change. Each of the humours were associated with various\u00a0correspondences\u00a0and particular physical and mental characteristics, and could,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kheper.net\/topics\/typology\/four-humours\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Kheper\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-09-18T06:38:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20140811005654im_\/http:\/\/www.kheper.net\/topics\/typology\/humors.gif\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kheper.net\/topics\/typology\/four-humours\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kheper.net\/topics\/typology\/four-humours\/\",\"name\":\"The Four Humours - Kheper\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kheper.net\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kheper.net\/topics\/typology\/four-humours\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kheper.net\/topics\/typology\/four-humours\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20140811005654im_\/http:\/\/www.kheper.net\/topics\/typology\/humors.gif\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-09-02T02:42:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-09-18T06:38:54+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kheper.net\/topics\/typology\/four-humours\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.kheper.net\/topics\/typology\/four-humours\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kheper.net\/topics\/typology\/four-humours\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20140811005654im_\/http:\/\/www.kheper.net\/topics\/typology\/humors.gif\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20140811005654im_\/http:\/\/www.kheper.net\/topics\/typology\/humors.gif\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kheper.net\/topics\/typology\/four-humours\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.kheper.net\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Topics\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.kheper.net\/topics\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Typology\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.kheper.net\/topics\/typology\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"The Four Humours\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kheper.net\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kheper.net\/\",\"name\":\"Kheper\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.kheper.net\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Four Humours - Kheper","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.kheper.net\/topics\/typology\/four-humours\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Four Humours - Kheper","og_description":"Four Humours In Greek, Medieval, and Renaissance thought, the traditional four elements form the basis for a theory of medicine and later psychological typology known as the four humours. They constituted the western equivalent of the Chinese\u00a0five states of change. Each of the humours were associated with various\u00a0correspondences\u00a0and particular physical and mental characteristics, and could,","og_url":"https:\/\/www.kheper.net\/topics\/typology\/four-humours\/","og_site_name":"Kheper","article_modified_time":"2020-09-18T06:38:54+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20140811005654im_\/http:\/\/www.kheper.net\/topics\/typology\/humors.gif"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.kheper.net\/topics\/typology\/four-humours\/","url":"https:\/\/www.kheper.net\/topics\/typology\/four-humours\/","name":"The Four Humours - Kheper","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kheper.net\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kheper.net\/topics\/typology\/four-humours\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kheper.net\/topics\/typology\/four-humours\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20140811005654im_\/http:\/\/www.kheper.net\/topics\/typology\/humors.gif","datePublished":"2020-09-02T02:42:11+00:00","dateModified":"2020-09-18T06:38:54+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kheper.net\/topics\/typology\/four-humours\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.kheper.net\/topics\/typology\/four-humours\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.kheper.net\/topics\/typology\/four-humours\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20140811005654im_\/http:\/\/www.kheper.net\/topics\/typology\/humors.gif","contentUrl":"http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20140811005654im_\/http:\/\/www.kheper.net\/topics\/typology\/humors.gif"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.kheper.net\/topics\/typology\/four-humours\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.kheper.net\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Topics","item":"https:\/\/www.kheper.net\/topics\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Typology","item":"https:\/\/www.kheper.net\/topics\/typology\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"The Four Humours"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.kheper.net\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.kheper.net\/","name":"Kheper","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.kheper.net\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kheper.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/77"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kheper.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kheper.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kheper.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kheper.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kheper.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/77\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kheper.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/74"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kheper.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}