Medicine and philosophy in classical antiquity: doctors and philosophers on nature, soul, health and disease

420 Pages·2005·1.53 MB·English

by  Philip J. van der Eijk

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MEDICINE AND PHILOSOPHY
IN CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY
Thisworkmakesavailableforthefirsttimeinonededicatedvolume
PhilipvanderEijk’sselectedpapersonthecloseconnectionsthatex-
istedbetweenmedicineandphilosophythroughoutantiquity.Medical
authorssuchastheHippocraticwriters,Diocles,Galen,Soranusand
CaeliusAurelianuselaboratedonphilosophicalmethodssuchascausal
explanation,definitionanddivision,applyingconceptssuchastheno-
tionofnaturetotheirunderstandingofthehumanbody.Similarly,
philosopherssuchasPlatoandAristotlewerehighlyvaluedfortheir
contributionstomedicine.Thisinteractionwasparticularlystriking
inthestudyofthehumansoulinrelationtothebody,asillustratedby
approachestotopicssuchasintellect,sleepanddreams,anddietand
drugs.Withadetailedintroductionsurveyingthesubjectasawhole
andanewchapteronAristotle’streatmentofsleepanddreams,this
wide-rangingcollectionisessentialreadingforstudentsandscholars
ofancientphilosophyandscience.
philip j. van der eijk is Professor of Greek at the Uni-
versity of Newcastle upon Tyne. He has published widely on an-
cient philosophy, medicine and science, comparative literature and
patristics.HeistheauthorofAristoteles.Deinsomniis.Dedivinatione
persomnum(Berlin:AkademieVerlag,1994)andofDioclesofCarystus.
A Collection of the Fragments with Translation and Commentary
(2vols.,Leiden:Brill,2000–1).Hehaseditedandco-authoredAncient
Histories of Medicine. Essays in Medical Doxography and Historiogra-
phyinClassicalAntiquity(Leiden:Brill,1999)andco-editedAncient
MedicineinitsSocio-CulturalContext(2vols.,AmsterdamandAtlanta:
Rodopi,1995).

MEDICINE AND PHILOSOPHY
IN CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY
Doctors and Philosophers on Nature, Soul,
Health and Disease
PHILIP J. VAN DER EIJK
ProfessorofGreekattheUniversityofNewcastleuponTyne
  
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Contents
Acknowledgements pageix
Noteontranslations xiii
Noteonabbreviations xiv
Introduction 1
i hippocratic corpus and diocles
of carystus
1 The‘theology’oftheHippocratictreatiseOntheSacred
Disease 45
2 DioclesandtheHippocraticwritingsonthemethodof
dieteticsandthelimitsofcausalexplanation 74
3 Tohelp,ortodonoharm.Principlesandpracticesof
therapeuticsintheHippocraticCorpusandinthework
ofDioclesofCarystus 101
4 Theheart,thebrain,thebloodandthepneuma:Hippocrates,
DioclesandAristotleonthelocationofcognitiveprocesses 119
ii aristotle and his school
5 Aristotleonmelancholy 139
6 TheoreticalandempiricalelementsinAristotle’streatmentof
sleep,dreamsanddivinationinsleep 169
7 The matter of mind: Aristotle on the biology of ‘psychic’
processesandthebodilyaspectsofthinking 206
vii
viii Contents
8 DivinemovementandhumannatureinEudemianEthics8.2 238
9 OnSterility(‘Hist.an.10’),amedicalworkbyAristotle? 259
iii late antiquity
10 Galen’suseoftheconceptof‘qualifiedexperience’inhis
dieteticandpharmacologicalworks 279
11 TheMethodismofCaeliusAurelianus:someepistemological
issues 299
Bibliography 328
Indexofpassagescited 379
Generalindex 396