Descartes on fermentation in digestion: iatromechanism, analogy and teleology.

IF 0.7 1区 哲学 Q2 HISTORY & PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE British Journal for the History of Science Pub Date : 2022-01-11 DOI:10.1017/S0007087421000819
Carmen Schmechel
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Abstract

Fermentation is a cornerstone phenomenon in Cartesian physiology, accounting for processes such as digestion or blood formation. I argue that the previously unrecognized conceptual tension between the terms 'fermentation' and 'concoction' reflects Descartes's efforts towards a novel, more thoroughly mechanistic theory of physiology, set up against both Galenism and chymistry. Similarities with chymistry as regards fermentation turn out either epistemologically superficial, or based on shared earlier sources. Descartes tentatively employs 'fermentation' as a less teleological alternative to 'concoction', later renouncing the explicit use of the term, possibly to avoid chymical overtones. However, his continued use of analogies with fermentative processes in the natural world and in winemaking, coupled with a strong ontological commitment (the stance that the physiological processes are actual fermentations), leads to a reintroduction of natural teleology in his medical system, which I argue may be understood in an Aristotelian sense of 'simple necessity'. The paper reveals a more nuanced account of Cartesian fermentative medicine, delineating some of its tensions with regard to chymistry as they play out in the dynamics of fermentation and concoction, and linking the analogies to fermentation processes to the difficulties in erasing teleology altogether.

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笛卡尔论消化中的发酵:机理、类比和目的论。
发酵是笛卡尔生理学的基石现象,是消化或造血等过程的基础。我认为,"发酵 "和 "调制 "这两个术语在概念上的紧张关系以前从未被认识到,这反映了笛卡尔为建立一种新颖的、更彻底的机械生理学理论所做的努力,这种理论是与盖伦主义和糜烂学相对立的。在发酵方面,笛卡尔与糜烂学的相似之处要么是认识论上的肤浅,要么是基于早期的共同来源。笛卡尔初步使用 "发酵 "作为 "调制 "的一种目的论色彩较淡的替代物,后来放弃明确使用该词,可能是为了避免糜烂学的色彩。然而,他继续使用与自然界和酿酒过程中发酵过程的类比,再加上强烈的本体论承诺(生理过程是实际发酵的立场),导致在他的医学体系中重新引入了自然目的论,我认为这可以从亚里士多德意义上的 "简单必然性 "来理解。本文对笛卡尔的发酵医学进行了更细致的阐述,描述了其在发酵和调制过程中与糜烂学之间的一些紧张关系,并将与发酵过程的类比与彻底消除目的论的困难联系起来。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
0.80
自引率
12.50%
发文量
59
期刊介绍: This leading international journal publishes scholarly papers and review articles on all aspects of the history of science. History of science is interpreted widely to include medicine, technology and social studies of science. BJHS papers make important and lively contributions to scholarship and the journal has been an essential library resource for more than thirty years. It is also used extensively by historians and scholars in related fields. A substantial book review section is a central feature. There are four issues a year, comprising an annual volume of over 600 pages. Published for the British Society for the History of Science
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