Galen on Apodictics

by Dmitry A. Balalykin

Overview

This book is dedicated to one of the topical issues of the history and philosophy of medicine—the analysis of the research method of Galen of Pergamon, an outstanding physician of Antiquity (2nd century AD). Galen's works, on the one hand, were the outcome of the Hippocratic tradition and its development in medicine for more than 500 years and, on the other hand, have determined the further development of medical theory and practice up to the Scientific Revolution in the 17th–19th centuries.

Dmitry A. Balalykin argues that Galen used the apodictic method in the analysis of the phenomena of medical theory and practice. The application of the concept of “apodictics” in relation to the events in the history of medicine is still debatable, although there is no doubt about the use of this term towards, for example, the history of mathematics. The author analyzes a significant amount of sources, researching the development of the apodictic method in medicine before Galen and pointing to those key innovations that were applied by him. The synthesis of the philosophical theory of clinical practice in the works of the great physician of Antiquity is the prime focus of this book. It is intended for scholars who deal with various issues of the history and philosophy of the natural sciences, primarily medicine, and also a wide readership interested in the history of Antiquity and the history of science.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783838214061
Publisher:	ibidem Press
Publication date:	10/20/2020
Series:	Studies in Medical Philosophy
Pages:	340
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x (d)

About the Author

Dmitry A. Balalykin is a Russian historian of medicine, deputy Chairman of the Russian Society of Medical Historians, Editor-in-Chief of History of medicine. The Russian journal (SCOPUS-indexed), Doctor of Medical Sciences (RF, 2003), Doctor of Historical Sciences (RF, 2007), PhD in Philosophy (EU, 2019). Dmitry A. Balalykin and his team have translated into Russian and published 22 treatises of Galen. Balalykin is the author of more than 200 scientific publications on topical issues of the history of philosophy and the history of medicine.

Table of Contents

Foreword 7

Introduction 13

Chapter 1 Philosophical basis of Galen's medical doctrines

1.1 Galen's perspective on the Hippocratic tradition 31

1.2 The significance of the doctrines of Plato and Aristotle in shaping Galen's views 42

1.3 The doctrine of Homoiomereia as the foundation of Galen's views on the microstructure of tissue 68

Chapter 2 Understanding Galen's clinical experience and apodeixis

2.1 The semiotics of diseases. Theory of pathogenesis as a reflection of the principle of causality 85

2.2 A comprehensive understanding of philosophical theory and medical practice 117

2.3 The unity of mind and body in Galen's medicine and philisophy 136

Chapter 3 Anatomical dissections as evidence in a philosophical polemic

3.1 Galen's method of investigation 169

3.2 The Empiricist school as the opponent of the Hippocratic tradition 185

3.3 The structure of proof in Galen 200

3.4 Galen's understanding of the natural functions of the body as a realisation of the ideological principle 217

3.5 Galen's clinical practice and physiological experiments 237

Conclusion 249

Bibliography 259