Propaedeutics or propedeutics (from Ancient Greek προπαίδευσις, propaídeusis 'preparatory education') is a historical term for an introductory course into an art or science. The etymology of propedeutics comprises the Latin prefix pro, meaning earlier, rudimentary, or in front of, and the Greek paideutikós, which means "pertaining to teaching". As implied by the etymology, propaedeutics may be defined more particularly as the knowledge necessary before, or for the learning of, a discipline, but not which is sufficient for proficiency.[1]
In medicine, the terms "propedeutics"/"propedeutic" specifically refers to the preliminary collection of data about a patient by observation, palpation, temperature measurement, etc., without specialized diagnostic procedures.
The 1851 Encyclopaedia Americana writes that it is:[2]
...a term used by the Germans to indicate the knowledge which is necessary or useful for understanding or practising an art or science, or which unfolds its nature and extent, and the method of learning it. It is applied, therefore, not only to special introductions to particular branches of study, but also to auxiliary sciences, logic, philology, etc., and the encyclopaedic views of particular branches of science which facilitate an insight into the relations of the parts. Such a survey can be presented only by one who has studied a science in all its ramifications. The term propaedeutics is often, of course, merely relative : thus philology belongs to the propaedeutics of history, while it is itself the main study of a certain class of scholars. The term, however, in its common use, is generally restricted to the body of knowledge, and of rules necessary for the study of some particular science — rules which originate in the application of the general laws of science or art to a particular department.
Thus we find in the catalogues of lectures to be delivered in German universities medical propaedeutics, &c., enumerated.