Abstract
In Hippocratic treatises we find a concept of self-organizing and self-healing phusis, which anticipates Aristotle’s principle of natural teleology. Since Aristotle interprets most natural processes teleologically, including for example the self-healing injuries, it is surprising that concerning self-healing diseases, contrary to some of the Hippocratic authors (but in accordance with others), Aristotle adopts a rather sceptical attitude and interprets it as something accidental, i.e. non-teleological.
A possible explanation for such an exception from his otherwise strong confidence in the powers of nature may be found, as I suggest, in the benefits of the consequences of such interpretative position for the image of medicine, which serves Aristotle as a paradigmatic art not only in the field of natural science, but also in practical philosophy, and particularly in ethics.