Pub Date : 2023-12-06DOI: 10.1163/15733823-20230092
Viktoria von Hoffmann
{"title":"Gendered Touch: Women, Men, and Knowledge-Making in Early Modern Europe, edited by Francesca Antonelli, Antonella Romano, and Paolo Savoia","authors":"Viktoria von Hoffmann","doi":"10.1163/15733823-20230092","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15733823-20230092","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":49081,"journal":{"name":"Early Science and Medicine","volume":"29 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-12-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138595461","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-06DOI: 10.1163/15733823-20230088
Fabrizio Bigotti
The article sheds light on the invention of early modern precision instruments and their application in medicine, by analysing a neglected work by one of the Italian pupils of the physician Santorio Santori (1561–1636). This source provides vital information on Santorio’s experimental sample, and on the practical use and dimensions of instruments such as thermometers, hygrometers, pulsimeters and precision scales, showing that they also had a normative purpose: regulating the environmental factors affecting human health. The article first establishes the derivative nature of the source from Santorio’s teachings, and then contextualises the invention of precision instruments with regard to Santorio’s published and unpublished output. In the conclusions, I argue that the new instruments were meant to address the shortcomings of the traditional diagnostic rationale and are best conceptualised as ‘intensity meters’ meant to assess ‘the magnitude’ (magnitudo) of a patient’s illness in degrees.
{"title":"Intensity Meters: New Notes and Discoveries on the Invention of Early Modern Precision Instruments","authors":"Fabrizio Bigotti","doi":"10.1163/15733823-20230088","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15733823-20230088","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The article sheds light on the invention of early modern precision instruments and their application in medicine, by analysing a neglected work by one of the Italian pupils of the physician Santorio Santori (1561–1636). This source provides vital information on Santorio’s experimental sample, and on the practical use and dimensions of instruments such as thermometers, hygrometers, pulsimeters and precision scales, showing that they also had a normative purpose: regulating the environmental factors affecting human health. The article first establishes the derivative nature of the source from Santorio’s teachings, and then contextualises the invention of precision instruments with regard to Santorio’s published and unpublished output. In the conclusions, I argue that the new instruments were meant to address the shortcomings of the traditional diagnostic rationale and are best conceptualised as ‘intensity meters’ meant to assess ‘the magnitude’ (<em>magnitudo</em>) of a patient’s illness in degrees.</p>","PeriodicalId":49081,"journal":{"name":"Early Science and Medicine","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-12-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138544647","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-06DOI: 10.1163/15733823-20230091
Alessandra Foscati
{"title":"The Shape of Sex: Nonbinary Gender from Genesis to the Renaissance, written by Leah DeVun","authors":"Alessandra Foscati","doi":"10.1163/15733823-20230091","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15733823-20230091","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":49081,"journal":{"name":"Early Science and Medicine","volume":"66 13","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-12-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138594874","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-06DOI: 10.1163/15733823-20230089
Álvaro José Campillo Bo
The goal of this paper is to show – by way of a case study – how the contents of Proclus’ Commentary on the First Book of Euclid’s Elements were incorporated into university teaching in the sixteenth century. I analyse the impact of Proclus on the works of the Spanish mathematician and university professor Jerónimo Muñoz (ca. 1520–1591). In order to do so, I examine two manuscripts: Adnotationes in commentaria Procli super Euclidem (MS Vat. Lat. 6996), and Astrologicarum et geographicarum institutionum libri sex (MS Vat. Lat. 6998). I show that the contents of Proclus’ commentary pervade Muñoz’s mathematical writings and influence his mathematical ontology, his classification of mathematical disciplines, and the history and terminology of geometry that he adopts. Moreover, I expound on how Proclus’ text inspired Muñoz to maintain that the fifth postulate was a theorem, leading him to attempt a demonstration of it which pre-dates knowledge in the Latin West of Naṣīr ad-Dīn’s (1201–1274) previous attempt.
本文的目的是通过一个案例研究的方式来展示普罗克劳斯对欧几里得的第一本书的评注的内容是如何被纳入16世纪的大学教学的。我分析普罗克劳斯对西班牙数学家和大学教授Jerónimo Muñoz(约1520-1591年)著作的影响。为了做到这一点，我检查了两个手稿:注释在评论proprocli超级欧几里得(MS Vat)。《占星与机构地理》(Astrologicarum et geographicarum institutionum libri sex, MS Vat)。Lat。6998)。我表明普罗克劳斯的评论内容渗透到Muñoz的数学著作中，并影响了他的数学本体论、数学学科的分类以及他所采用的几何历史和术语。此外，我还阐述了普罗克劳斯的文本如何启发Muñoz坚持认为第五公设是一个定理，并引导他尝试证明它，这比Naṣīr ad- d đ n(1201-1274)之前在拉丁西方的知识更早。
{"title":"Jerónimo Muñoz’s Reception of Proclus’ In Euclidem: Philosophy of Mathematics and an Attempt to Prove the Parallel Postulate","authors":"Álvaro José Campillo Bo","doi":"10.1163/15733823-20230089","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15733823-20230089","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The goal of this paper is to show – by way of a case study – how the contents of Proclus’ <em>Commentary on the First Book of Euclid’s Elements</em> were incorporated into university teaching in the sixteenth century. I analyse the impact of Proclus on the works of the Spanish mathematician and university professor Jerónimo Muñoz (ca. 1520–1591). In order to do so, I examine two manuscripts: <em>Adnotationes in commentaria Procli super Euclidem</em> (<span style=\"font-variant: small-caps;\">MS</span> Vat. Lat. 6996), and <em>Astrologicarum et geographicarum institutionum libri sex</em> (<span style=\"font-variant: small-caps;\">MS</span> Vat. Lat. 6998). I show that the contents of Proclus’ commentary pervade Muñoz’s mathematical writings and influence his mathematical ontology, his classification of mathematical disciplines, and the history and terminology of geometry that he adopts. Moreover, I expound on how Proclus’ text inspired Muñoz to maintain that the fifth postulate was a theorem, leading him to attempt a demonstration of it which pre-dates knowledge in the Latin West of Naṣīr ad-Dīn’s (1201–1274) previous attempt.</p>","PeriodicalId":49081,"journal":{"name":"Early Science and Medicine","volume":"92 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-12-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138544650","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-24DOI: 10.1163/15733823-20230082
Véronique Decaix
This article focuses on the use of the theory of complexions made by medieval commentators to explain the pathologies or dysfunctions of memory as outlined by Aristotle in his treatise on Memory and Reminiscence. More particularly, it focuses on the Aristotelian issues of the young and the old, the slow- and quick-witted, condensed in the Latin commentaries into an aporia that we will call the “aporia of the opposites” and into the aporia of the melancholics, questioning the influence that complexions can exert on memory. We examine three contrasting solutions, as given by Albert the Great (1200–1280), Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), and Radulphus Brito (d. 1320/21), to shed light on their use and interpretation of theories of complexion within their accounts on memory. The main question that arises in the midst of these interpretations is about which complexion is the most appropriate to memory.
{"title":"Is Memory a Matter of Complexion? On Memory Disorders in the Latin Commentaries on De memoria (1250–1300)","authors":"Véronique Decaix","doi":"10.1163/15733823-20230082","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15733823-20230082","url":null,"abstract":"This article focuses on the use of the theory of complexions made by medieval commentators to explain the pathologies or dysfunctions of memory as outlined by Aristotle in his treatise on <jats:italic>Memory and Reminiscence</jats:italic>. More particularly, it focuses on the Aristotelian issues of the young and the old, the slow- and quick-witted, condensed in the Latin commentaries into an aporia that we will call the “aporia of the opposites” and into the aporia of the melancholics, questioning the influence that complexions can exert on memory. We examine three contrasting solutions, as given by Albert the Great (1200–1280), Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), and Radulphus Brito (d. 1320/21), to shed light on their use and interpretation of theories of complexion within their accounts on memory. The main question that arises in the midst of these interpretations is about which complexion is the most appropriate to memory.","PeriodicalId":49081,"journal":{"name":"Early Science and Medicine","volume":"49 12","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-11-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138438787","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-24DOI: 10.1163/15733823-20230079
Joël Chandelier
According to the medical theory of the Middle Ages, every individual had a general complexion for its whole body, but at the same time each organ had a specific complexion, determined by its anatomy, its function, and, of course, the individual. The problem of the relationship between those two types of complexion was, therefore, crucial for the medical practitioner: could a shift in the complexion of the body have an effect on a single organ? Could a change in the complexion of one member alter the general functioning of the body? And what were the interactions between the separate complexions of the various organs? All these questions, which had only briefly been tackled by Galen in his Tegni, began to be systematically addressed by physicians at the end of the thirteenth century. Some thinkers started to write specific treatises on the subject, often called De resistentiis, dealing with the “resistance” (or “counter-operations”) of particular complexions between them. The present paper deals with the origins of this debate, highlighting the role of Gentile da Foligno (d. 1348), and shows how the discussion evolved in the following century. Thus, the aim is to present an overlooked medical debate on complexion while proposing a reflection on the way in which scientific problems can come into being and how they can evolve.
{"title":"Complexion of the Members, Complexion of the Body, in Late-Medieval Scholastic Medicine","authors":"Joël Chandelier","doi":"10.1163/15733823-20230079","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15733823-20230079","url":null,"abstract":"According to the medical theory of the Middle Ages, every individual had a general complexion for its whole body, but at the same time each organ had a specific complexion, determined by its anatomy, its function, and, of course, the individual. The problem of the relationship between those two types of complexion was, therefore, crucial for the medical practitioner: could a shift in the complexion of the body have an effect on a single organ? Could a change in the complexion of one member alter the general functioning of the body? And what were the interactions between the separate complexions of the various organs? All these questions, which had only briefly been tackled by Galen in his <jats:italic>Tegni</jats:italic>, began to be systematically addressed by physicians at the end of the thirteenth century. Some thinkers started to write specific treatises on the subject, often called <jats:italic>De resistentiis</jats:italic>, dealing with the “resistance” (or “counter-operations”) of particular complexions between them. The present paper deals with the origins of this debate, highlighting the role of Gentile da Foligno (d. 1348), and shows how the discussion evolved in the following century. Thus, the aim is to present an overlooked medical debate on complexion while proposing a reflection on the way in which scientific problems can come into being and how they can evolve.","PeriodicalId":49081,"journal":{"name":"Early Science and Medicine","volume":"49 11","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-11-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138438788","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-24DOI: 10.1163/15733823-20230077
Aurélien Robert
Antonio da Parma (d. 1327) was a philosopher and physician, active in Bologna in the early fourteenth century, and associated with so-called “Bolognese Averroism.” His philosophical works are increasingly better documented. While his medical works are much less studied, his commentary – written between 1310 and 1323 – on the first book of Avicenna’s Canon, had a considerable influence on later commentators. This paper presents his analysis of the notion of ‘complexion’, a notion central to his anthropology for the philosophical issues it seeks to address: the possibility, for example, of defining the specific nature of the human body – as compared with other natural species – or of conceiving a scientific and universal discourse when confronted with the extreme variability of individual bodily complexion, which is at the heart of medical practice. Taking from Galen and Avicenna their ‘relativistic’ analysis of the well-balanced complexion, Antonio uses the idea of a latitude of individual complexion within the limits set by the natural species, to thereby make this picture of the human body coherent with the principles of Aristotelian natural philosophy. In so doing, he addresses the relationship between matter and form in a human body, the individuation of human bodies, or the principle of identity of a singular body. The paper concludes with a transcription of the relevant passages from Antonio’s commentary on Avicenna’s Canon.
{"title":"The Concept of Complexion in Antonio da Parma’s Medical Anthropology","authors":"Aurélien Robert","doi":"10.1163/15733823-20230077","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15733823-20230077","url":null,"abstract":"Antonio da Parma (d. 1327) was a philosopher and physician, active in Bologna in the early fourteenth century, and associated with so-called “Bolognese Averroism.” His philosophical works are increasingly better documented. While his medical works are much less studied, his commentary – written between 1310 and 1323 – on the first book of Avicenna’s <jats:italic>Canon</jats:italic>, had a considerable influence on later commentators. This paper presents his analysis of the notion of ‘complexion’, a notion central to his anthropology for the philosophical issues it seeks to address: the possibility, for example, of defining the specific nature of the human body – as compared with other natural species – or of conceiving a scientific and universal discourse when confronted with the extreme variability of individual bodily complexion, which is at the heart of medical practice. Taking from Galen and Avicenna their ‘relativistic’ analysis of the well-balanced complexion, Antonio uses the idea of a latitude of individual complexion within the limits set by the natural species, to thereby make this picture of the human body coherent with the principles of Aristotelian natural philosophy. In so doing, he addresses the relationship between matter and form in a human body, the individuation of human bodies, or the principle of identity of a singular body. The paper concludes with a transcription of the relevant passages from Antonio’s commentary on Avicenna’s <jats:italic>Canon</jats:italic>.","PeriodicalId":49081,"journal":{"name":"Early Science and Medicine","volume":"53 23","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-11-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138438802","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-24DOI: 10.1163/15733823-20230080
Tommaso Alpina
According to Avicenna, the perfect (or complete) disposition (istiʿdād kāmil/tāmm) turns prime matter, which is potentially receptive to every form (or power, or quality), into complected matter, which is endowed with uniform quality. The latter, i.e., complexion (mizāǧ) or complexional form (ṣūra mizāǧiyya), is suitable to receive some particular form (or power, or quality) and not another. The question arises as to how matter acquires its specific complexion. Is it the result of celestial influence, or does it emerge from chemical, elemental interactions within matter? This paper tries to answer this question with textual evidence from Avicenna’s natural philosophy and metaphysics. Together with soul/form, complected matter represents the other constituent of organic, living substances. The paper then attempts to determine which science is proper to its investigation. I argue that the investigation of organic matter, that is, the specific complexion characterizing the animal body (or its parts), pertains to zoology. Zoology is crucial to grounding medical practice, which operates on those specific complexions to preserve or restore health.
{"title":"Between Matter and Form: Complexion (mizāǧ) as a Keystone of Avicenna’s Scientific Project","authors":"Tommaso Alpina","doi":"10.1163/15733823-20230080","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15733823-20230080","url":null,"abstract":"According to Avicenna, the perfect (or complete) disposition (<jats:italic>istiʿdād kāmil</jats:italic>/<jats:italic>tāmm</jats:italic>) turns prime matter, which is potentially receptive to every form (or power, or quality), into complected matter, which is endowed with uniform quality. The latter, i.e., complexion (<jats:italic>mizāǧ</jats:italic>) or complexional form (<jats:italic>ṣūra mizāǧiyya</jats:italic>), is suitable to receive some particular form (or power, or quality) and not another. The question arises as to how matter acquires its specific complexion. Is it the result of celestial influence, or does it emerge from chemical, elemental interactions within matter? This paper tries to answer this question with textual evidence from Avicenna’s natural philosophy and metaphysics. Together with soul/form, complected matter represents the other constituent of organic, living substances. The paper then attempts to determine which science is proper to its investigation. I argue that the investigation of organic matter, that is, the specific complexion characterizing the animal body (or its parts), pertains to zoology. Zoology is crucial to grounding medical practice, which operates on those specific complexions to preserve or restore health.","PeriodicalId":49081,"journal":{"name":"Early Science and Medicine","volume":"53 19","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-11-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138438806","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-24DOI: 10.1163/15733823-20230076
Giouli Korobili
A number of ancient philosophers showed a keen interest in understanding whether moral development and the acquisition of virtue is in any way affected by the material constitution of human bodies. Moral education and socialisation were conceived of as having a significant impact on the resulting behaviours, while individual natures, thanks to their special physiological characteristics, were frequently seen as constantly interacting with acquired traits, eventually determining individual characters. This paper focuses on two key concepts of this wider subject, krasis (blending) and enkrateia (continence), and attempts to trace their philosophical interrelations throughout Greek and Roman Antiquity, especially from the fifth century BCE to the first century CE. An important result of this analysis reveals that during this period, enkrateia is described – often explicitly – as a manifestation of krasis, signifying as it does a well-balanced blending of certain ‘ingredients’.
{"title":"Eukrasia and Enkrateia: Greco-Roman Theories of Blending and the Struggle for Virtue","authors":"Giouli Korobili","doi":"10.1163/15733823-20230076","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15733823-20230076","url":null,"abstract":"A number of ancient philosophers showed a keen interest in understanding whether moral development and the acquisition of virtue is in any way affected by the material constitution of human bodies. Moral education and socialisation were conceived of as having a significant impact on the resulting behaviours, while individual natures, thanks to their special physiological characteristics, were frequently seen as constantly interacting with acquired traits, eventually determining individual characters. This paper focuses on two key concepts of this wider subject, <jats:italic>krasis</jats:italic> (blending) and <jats:italic>enkrateia</jats:italic> (continence), and attempts to trace their philosophical interrelations throughout Greek and Roman Antiquity, especially from the fifth century <jats:sc>BCE</jats:sc> to the first century <jats:sc>CE</jats:sc>. An important result of this analysis reveals that during this period, <jats:italic>enkrateia</jats:italic> is described – often explicitly – as a manifestation of <jats:italic>krasis</jats:italic>, signifying as it does a well-balanced blending of certain ‘ingredients’.","PeriodicalId":49081,"journal":{"name":"Early Science and Medicine","volume":"49 13","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-11-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138438786","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-24DOI: 10.1163/15733823-20230087
Christoph Sander
In medieval natural philosophy and medicine, magnetic attraction was the most commonly invoked example for the effects of so-called ‘occult qualities’ or ‘occult powers.’ According to this conception – which dates back to Galen, Alexander of Aphrodisias, and Avicenna – magnetism was caused by an insensible quality and not, therefore, by one of the four primary qualities (hot, cold, wet, dry). Already disputed in medieval times, however, was whether the magnet’s ‘temperament’, ‘mixture’ or ‘complexion’ might not account for the attraction of iron. In the early modern period, trained physicians above all increasingly refuted ‘occult qualities’ in magnetism, while at the same time retaining a Galenic framework. They argued instead for more elaborate theories invoking the magnet’s and iron’s ‘complexion’ or their single primary qualities, such as ‘humidity’ or ‘heat.’ Medical concepts were often combined with meteorological ideas for causal theories of natural phenomena like magnetism. By telling this unheard story of ‘complexion’ in theories of magnetism, we show not only how medical theories were transferred from medicine into other fields of research, but also that an established narrative in modern historiography is highly questionable: contrary to what was assumed by the contemporary critics (e.g., Descartes) and many modern historians, several Galenic physicians did not subscribe to a theory of occult qualities (in the case of magnetism) in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
{"title":"Tempering Occult Qualities: Magnetism and Complexio in Early Modern Medical Thought","authors":"Christoph Sander","doi":"10.1163/15733823-20230087","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15733823-20230087","url":null,"abstract":"In medieval natural philosophy and medicine, magnetic attraction was the most commonly invoked example for the effects of so-called ‘occult qualities’ or ‘occult powers.’ According to this conception – which dates back to Galen, Alexander of Aphrodisias, and Avicenna – magnetism was caused by an insensible quality and not, therefore, by one of the four primary qualities (hot, cold, wet, dry). Already disputed in medieval times, however, was whether the magnet’s ‘temperament’, ‘mixture’ or ‘complexion’ might not account for the attraction of iron. In the early modern period, trained physicians above all increasingly refuted ‘occult qualities’ in magnetism, while at the same time retaining a Galenic framework. They argued instead for more elaborate theories invoking the magnet’s and iron’s ‘complexion’ or their single primary qualities, such as ‘humidity’ or ‘heat.’ Medical concepts were often combined with meteorological ideas for causal theories of natural phenomena like magnetism. By telling this unheard story of ‘complexion’ in theories of magnetism, we show not only how medical theories were transferred from medicine into other fields of research, but also that an established narrative in modern historiography is highly questionable: contrary to what was assumed by the contemporary critics (e.g., Descartes) and many modern historians, several Galenic physicians did not subscribe to a theory of occult qualities (in the case of magnetism) in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.","PeriodicalId":49081,"journal":{"name":"Early Science and Medicine","volume":"53 25","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-11-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138438800","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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