In search of black bile

1996 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 79-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian E Leonard

Historically Western medicine has been divided into two main schools that were based on the ancient Greek tradition. These are the Hygeian school, based on the views of Hippocrates (born 460 BC), and the Asclepian school which is named after the Greek god of medicine but probably based on the physician Asclepius who was said to have performed miracles!In brief, the Hygeian school of medicine views health as a natural state of the body. The body is believed to be endowed with inherent healing powers which, if one lives in harmony with these powers, maintains health and helps to restore it should it become impaired. Disease is seen as a manifestation of a weakness of the inherent healing powers of the body and the function of the physician is to help the patients to live within the natural law (vis medicatrix naturae) and to remove impediments to those mechanisms that maintain and restore health.The second school that has profoundly influenced the development of modern medicine is the Asclepian school which arose in about 1200 BC around the teaching of Asclepius. This school focuses on diseases, their causes and cures. Each disease is considered to be the effect of, or response to, a specific cause that primarily affects a specific organ system. For every disease it is postulated that there is a specific drug or procedure which can alleviate the symptoms or cure the disease. Thus, the successful physician is the one who can make the correct diagnosis and prescribe the correct therapy.

2010 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 379-391
Author(s):  
Petra Jonvallen

This article examines how sex differentiation is invoked from body fat with a focus on how various monitoring devices participate in the construction of bodies. By using the concept of ‘local biologies’, denoting the linkage of the body to place with its local physical and social conditions, it argues against the ‘one-size-fits-all’ paradigm of modern medicine and critiques the mechanistic search for regularity in medical research. By looking at medical literature on obesity and how contemporary obesity researchers and clinicians link body fat to sex, local biologies of bodies in a Swedish obesity clinic are contrasted to the universal biologies represented in medical research. The article also provides empirical examples of how fat has the potential to undermine traditional sex and gender binaries.


2000 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tony Burns

AbstractWhat is the young Marx's attitude towards questions of psychology? More precisely, what is his attitude towards the human mind and its relationship to the body? To deal adequately with this issue requires a consideration of the relationship between Marx and Feuerbach. It also requires some discussion of the thought of Aristotle. For the views of Feuerbach and the young Marx are (in some respects) not at all original. Rather, they represent a continuation of a long tradition which derives ultimately from ancient Greek philosophy, and especially from the philosophy of Aristotle. As is well known, Aristotle's thought with respect to questions of psychology are mostly presented, by way of a critique of the doctrines of the other philosophers of his day, in his De Anima. W.H. Walsh has made the perceptive observation that Aristotle's views might be seen as an attempt to develop a third approach which avoids the pitfalls usually associated with the idealism of Plato, on the one hand, and the materialism of Democritus on the other. It might be argued that there is an analogy between the situation in which Aristotle found himself in relation to the idealists and materialists of his own day and that which confronted Marx in the very early 1840s. For, like Aristotle, Marx also might be seen as attempting to develop such a third approach. The difference is simply that, in the case of Marx, the idealism in question is that of Hegel rather than that of Plato, and the materialism is the ‘mechanical materialism’ of the eighteenth century rather than that of Democritus. This obvious parallel might well explain why Marx took such a great interest in Aristotle's De Anima both during and shortly after doing the preparatory work for his doctoral dissertation – the subject matter of which, of course, is precisely the materialist philosophy of the ancient Greek atomists Democritus and Epicurus.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 43-49
Author(s):  
Izutkin Dmitri A. ◽  

Some ethical aspects of the usage of the biomedical technologies in the frame of human bodiness and the relationship of the physician and the sick from the point of human dignity are set forth in the article. Growing tendency of rationalization of medicine and broadening limits of its influence on healthy and diseased organism are highlighted. In particular, it is associated with the introduction in medical practice of different elements of the artificial intellect in the diagnostics and treatment of different diseases, which have found its legislative order in the Edict of the President of the Russian Federation. It challenges the necessity of consideration of this problem in the format of ethics and law with the accent on the dignity of the human as an individual and unique personality. Contradictive character of the usage of different biomedical technologies from the point of science, on the one hand, and human existence – on the other are marked. These positions are regarded in the aspects of the human bodiness and relationships of the physician and the sick. The problem of “vulnerability” of the human body is shown on the example of increase of different biomedical investigations, like experimental medicine and its “commodification”. In this respect, judgement about ontological role of the body in life space and human experience is exposed. In the analysis of the relationships of the physician and the sick through the “prism” of the biomedical technologies special attention is being paid to the change of the subject-object roles in this communicative sphere. As a sequence, technical model is starting dominating in modern medicine. All tye abovementioned ideas reflect transformation of historically assembled traditions of medical and ethical character and strengthening of the ideas of transhumanism when the sick individual loses its uniqueness and is being investigated in the virtual space.


2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 1285-1303
Author(s):  
Dragutin Avramović ◽  
Ilija Jovanov

The art of beautiful speech has its origins in the ancient Greek tradition. In sophistic discussions of justice and truth, eloquence played a notable role. Plato did not deny the importance of the art of persuasion, but he pointed out the difference between the knowledge provided by philosophy and the belief that is a consequence of persuasion. Therefore, the authors try to shed light on whether rhetoric is a morally neutral skill with a great ability to relativize. In this sense, Kelsen's critique of the natural law concepts of justice and truth are considered. Due to the impossibility of their absolute determination, Kelsen emphasized the fateful significance of theological teachings and rhetoric that convinced people of the existence of the one and only value system that is the basis of all norms. Thus, it turned out that rhetoric was extremely important for natural law, but its significance is even greater today. The changes brought by the modern age, among which a special place is occupied by endangering the privacy of citizens due to the collecting personal data and strengthening the culture of surveillance, especially emphasize the need to use the finest tuned rhetorical elements. Convincing the existence of absolute norms turned into convincing the need for perpetual surveillance of citizens in order to ensure their survival. Therefore, the authors conclude that rhetoric is a morally neutral skill with great potential for everyday (mis)use and that in the current circumstances it has an advantage over philosophical considerations about absolute values. At the same time, the authors point out that such an abuse of the art of persuasion will lead to the other extremity from which people will seek a way out by returning to philosophy.


Author(s):  
Виктория Константиновна Пичугина ◽  
Андрей Юрьевич Можайский

Сочинение Публия Папиния Стация «Фиваида» представляет собой самое обширное дошедшее до нас изложение войны, развязанной сыновьями фиванского царя Эдипа – Этеоклом и Полиником. Братоубийственная война у Стация является преступлением, о котором он хочет поведать читателю, утвердив себя в роли морализирующего поэта, который является настолько же римским, насколько и греческим. В случае с детьми Эдипа война является божественным наставлением-наказанием, которое не могут или не хотят предотвратить смертные. Этеокл и Полиник в изображении Стация – это злые по природе юноши, ненависть которых друг к другу и жажда власти являются врожденными. Осуществив пересечение жанров, Стаций создал новую версию мифологических событий, к которой обращались как древнегреческие, так и древнеримские драматурги. В его версии Этеокл и Полиник не являются последним поколением, к которому перешло проклятие, передающееся по мужской линии между потомками фиванского царя Лая и неизбежно затрагивающее линию женскую. Словно давая Этеоклу и Полинику шанс стать лучше, Стаций постоянно отсрочивает начало войны, что позволяет Полинику обзавестись ребенком, которому уготовано стать четвертым поколением «нечестивого рода». О судьбе этого ребенка Стаций не сообщает, давая читателю право самому решить, станет ли он очередным педагогическим фиаско или обернется педагогической победой над проклятьем дома Лая. В статье также была проанализирована терминология Стация и Гигина относительно погребения Полиника – одной из ключевых точек сюжета. Для обозначения погребального костра Гигин использует слово pyra, которое заимствовано из греческого языка (πυρά). Стаций предпочитает использовать латинский аналог (bustum) для определения погребального костра Этеокла, куда Антигона с Аргией водружают тело Полиника. Сцена погребения Полиника Антигоной и Аргией, описанная Стацием и Гигином, имеет свое визуальное воспроизведение на мраморном саркофаге конца II в. н. э. (Villa Doria Pamphilj). Подтверждением тому, что версия погребения Полиника Антигоной и Аргией не придумана в римское время, а является древнегреческой традицией, которая уходит корнями в архаический период, являются данные материальной культуры. Например, саркофаг из Коринфа, датируемый серединой II в. н. э., имеющий в своем художественном выражении классическое греческое влияние, а также этрусская амфора ок. 550 г. до н. э. (Basel: Inv. Züst 209), где изображен поединок Полиника с Тидеем, за которым наблюдают Аргия и ее сестра Деипила. The Thebaid by Publius Papinius Statius is the most extensive surviving account of the war started by the sons of the Theban king Oedipus—Eteocles and Polynices. This fratricidal war is a crime that Statius wants to tell the reader about, having established himself in the role of a moralizing poet who is equally Roman and Greek. In the case of Oedipus’ children, the war is a divine instruction-punishment that mortals cannot or do not want to prevent. Eteocles and Polynices, as described by Statius, are young men evil by nature, experiencing the innate hatred of each other and lust for power. Having mixed the genres, Statius created a new version of the mythological events, which both ancient Greek and ancient Roman playwrights turned to. In his version, Eteocles and Polynices are not the last generation to whom the curse passed. Though the curse descended on the male line among the descendants of the Theban king Laius, it inevitably affected the female line as well. As if giving Eteocles and Polynices a chance to become better, Statius keeps delaying the beginning of the war, which allows Polynices to have a baby who is destined to become the fourth generation of the “wicked family”. Statius does not report on the fate of this child, giving readers the right to decide for themselves whether he will become the next pedagogical fiasco or turn into a pedagogical victory over the curse of the House of Laius. The article also analyzes the terminology used by Statius and Hyginus regarding the burial of Polynices—one of the key points of the plot. To refer to the funeral pyre, Hyginus uses the word ‘pyra’ borrowed from Greek (πυρά). Statius chooses to use the Latin word ‘bustum’ to refer to the funeral pyre of Eteocles, where Antigone and Argia place the body of Polynices. The scene of Antigone and Argia burying Polynices, described by Statius and Hyginus, is reproduced on a marble sarcophagus dating back to late II AD (Villa Doria Pamphilj). The fact that the version of Antigone and Argia buried Polynices was not invented in the Roman times but is rooted in an ancient Greek tradition going back to the archaic period is confirmed by the artifacts from material culture: for example, a sarcophagus from Corinth dating from the middle of the second century AD, which demonstrates a classical Greek influence, and an Etruscan amphora dating from approx. 550 BC (Basel: Inv. Züst 209), which depicts a combat between Polynices and Tydeus that Argia and her sister Deipyle watched.


Author(s):  
Rafael Nájera

There was no systematic treatment of philosophical issues related to embodiment in the medieval period in the Latin West. But a number of theological and philosophical problems related to the nature of the knowledge of embodied and disembodied human souls and angels forced philosophies such as Scholasticism and thinkers such as Ockham, Suárez, and above all Thomas Aquinas to engage with what it was for a being to have or to assume a body. The one thing that characterized embodied entities when it came to cognition was their having to get that knowledge by themselves through or in conjunction with the corporeal senses. There was no denying that embodiment was the natural state of human beings, and therefore that this was as good as it could get in God’s creation. Still the body was seen as a sort of encumbrance to arriving at a purer kind of intellectual activity.


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 364-381
Author(s):  
Margot Gayle Backus ◽  
Spurgeon Thompson

As virtually all Europe's major socialist parties re-aligned with their own national governments with the outbreak of World War I, Irish socialist and trade unionist James Connolly found himself internationally isolated by his vociferous opposition to the war. Within Ireland, however, Connolly's energetic and relentless calls to interrupt the imperial transportation and communications networks on which the ‘carnival of murder’ in Europe relied had the converse effect, drawing him into alignment with certain strains of Irish nationalism. Connolly and other socialist republican stalwarts like Helena Molony and Michael Mallin made common cause with advanced Irish nationalism, the one other constituency unamenable to fighting for England under any circumstances. This centripetal gathering together of two minority constituencies – both intrinsically opposed, if not to the war itself, certainly to Irish Party leader John Redmond's offering up of the Irish Volunteers as British cannon fodder – accounts for the “remarkably diverse” social and ideological character of the small executive body responsible for the planning of the Easter Rising: the Irish Republican Brotherhood's military council. In effect, the ideological composition of the body that planned the Easter Rising was shaped by the war's systematic diversion of all individuals and ideologies that could be co-opted by British imperialism through any possible argument or material inducement. Although the majority of those who participated in the Rising did not share Connolly's anti-war, pro-socialist agenda, the Easter 1916 Uprising can nonetheless be understood as, among other things, a near letter-perfect instantiation of Connolly's most steadfast principle: that it was the responsibility of every European socialist to throw onto the gears of the imperialist war machine every wrench on which they could lay their hands.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 28-33
Author(s):  
Mao Nguyen Van ◽  
Thao Le Thi Thu

Background: In practice it was difficult or impossible to have a correct diagnosis for the lymphoid proliferation lesions based on only H.E standard histopathology. In addition to histopathology, the application of immunohistochemistry was indispensable for the definitive diagnosis of the malignant or benign tumours and the origin of the tumour cells as well. Objectives: 1. To describe the gross and microscopic features of the suspected lesions of lymphoma; 2. To asses the expression of some immunologic markers for the diagnosis and classification of the suspected lesions of lymphoma. Materials and Method: Cross-sectional research on 81 patients diagnosed by histopathology as lymphomas or suspected lesions of lymphoma, following with immunohistopathology staining of 6 main markers including LCA, CD3, CD20, Bcl2, CD30 and AE1/3. Results: The most site was lymph node 58.1% which appeared at cervical region 72.3%, then the stomach 14.9% and small intestine 12.4%. The other sites in the body were met with lower frequency. Histopathologically, the most type of the lesions was atypical hyperplasia of the lymphoid tissue suspecting the lymphomas 49.4%, lymphomas 34.5%, the other diagnoses were lower including inflammation, poor differentiation carcinoam not excluding the lymphomas, lymphomas differentiating with poor differentiation carcinomas. Immunohistochemistry showed that, LCA, CD3, CD20, Bcl2, CD30 and AE1/3 were all positive depending on such type of tumours. The real lymphomas were 48/81 cases (59.3%), benign ones 35.8% and poor differentiated carcinomas 4.9%. Conclusion: Immunohistochemistry with 6 markers could help to diagnose correctly as benign or malignant lesions, classify and determine the origin of the tumour cells as lymphocytes or epithelial cells diagnosed by histopathology as lymphomas or suspected lesions of lymphomas. Key words: histopathology, immunohistochemistry, lymphomas, poor differentiated carcinomas, hyperplasia, atypicality


Author(s):  
Sandip R. Baheti ◽  
Deepa Sharma ◽  
Saroj Devi ◽  
Amit Rai

Difficulty in breathing or shortness of breath may be simply termed as Shwasa (Asthma), As per Ayurveda, Shwasa is mainly caused by the Vata and Kapha Doshas. Shwasa is broadly classified into five types in Maha Shwasa (Dyspnoea major), Urdhawa Shwasa (Expiratory Dyspnoea), Chinna Shwasa (Chyne-stroke respiration), Kshudra Shwasa (Dyspnoea minor), Tamaka Shwasa (Bronchial Asthma). In modern science Tamaka Shwasa can be correlated with Asthma, Asthma which is a chronic inflammatory disease of airway. In modern medicine there is no cure for Asthma, symptoms can typically be improved. In Ayurveda, Asthma can be effectively and safely manage the condition without inducing any drug dependency where Pachakarma procedures and use of internal medication detoxifies the body, provides nutrition and increases the elasticity of lung tissue it also develops natural immunity of the body thus decreasing episodic recurrence of the disease.


Author(s):  
Lisa Sousa

The Woman Who Turned Into a Jaguar examines gender relations in indigenous societies of central Mexico and Oaxaca from the 1520s to the 1750s, focusing mainly on the Nahua, Ñudzahui (Mixtec), Bènizàa (Zapotec), and Ayuk (Mixe) people. This study draws on an unusually rich and diverse corpus of original sources, including Ñudzahui- (Mixtec-), Tíchazàa- (Zapotec-), and mainly Nahuatl-language and Spanish civil and criminal records, published texts, and pictorial manuscripts. The sources come from more than 100 indigenous communities of highland Mexico. The book considers women’s lives in the broadest context possible by addressing a number of interrelated topics, including: the construction of gender; concepts of the body; women’s labor; marriage rituals and marital relations; sexual attitudes; family structure; the relationship between household and community; and women’s participation in riots and other acts of civil disobedience. The study highlights subtle transformations and overwhelming continuities in indigenous social attitudes and relationships. The book argues that profound changes following the Spanish conquest, such as catastrophic depopulation, economic pressures, and the imposition of Christian marriage, slowly eroded indigenous women’s status. Nevertheless, gender relations remained inherently complementary. The study shows how native women and men under colonial rule, on the one hand, pragmatically accepted, adopted, and adapted certain Spanish institutions, concepts, and practices, and, on the other, forcefully rejected other aspects of colonial impositions. Women asserted their influence and, in doing so, they managed to retain an important position within their households and communities across the first two centuries of colonial rule.


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