EN
The aim of the article is the presentation of the philosophical approach towards the human body against a background of broader culture and social context. In ancient Greece, the corporeal nature of man was a category strongly linked with a precisely understood form physical culture, including both philosophy and medicine and what we would call today ‘physiotherapy’. In antiquity, rank and a person's social status was assessed not only by the quantity of material goods owned, but also by the superiority of one's body and their fitness level; the physical form. Those who were disabled were disposed of or outcast. The human body was treated as a kind of identification card, which contributed to the development of numerous social divisions. This paradigm was supported both in practice and theory by such outstanding thinkers as: Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, Hippocrates, Pythagoras and Diogenes of Sinope.