Descartes and Medicine

2019 ◽  
pp. 156-177
Author(s):  
Gideon Manning
Keyword(s):  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
The Body ◽  
Body And Soul ◽  
Philosophical Project

This chapter answers three basic questions: why did Descartes come to study medicine; how, as an untrained student of medicine, did he approach the discipline; and, finally, how did he propose to heal the body and soul? Starting in the 1620s, when his interests in optics prompted Descartes to study the anatomy of the eye and brain, through to his correspondence with Elisabeth in the 1640s, when he assumed the role of a corresponding physician against the backdrop of his mature metaphysics and natural philosophy, medicine is shown to be intimately connected to Descartes’s philosophical project as well as his practical aspirations.

scholarly journals Worms, worms, everywhere, and not a one to see: The connotative role of worms in Shakespeare’s canon

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Christine Reid
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
The State ◽  
The Body ◽  
Cultural Constructs ◽  
Body And Soul ◽  
The Individual

The study of animals in Shakespeare’s collected works has expanded over the last 30 years. While a number of different animals have been discussed, the importance of the worm in the larger scope of the canon has largely been ignored. By focusing on the perception and presentation of worms in relation to cultural ideas of death, corruption, and consumption, ideas surrounding the body and soul are brought to the forefront. Worms are integral to our understanding of the Early Modern cultural constructs of the body and soul as the presence of worms reveals the state of the individual or the broader environment. Overall, the depiction of worms in Shakespeare’s works serves as a way to understand the metaphysical processes surrounding death and corruption.

The Fall

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabella Image
Keyword(s):  
Human Person ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Other ◽  
Interesting Discussion ◽  
Body And Soul ◽  
The Will

This chapter presents Hilary’s understanding of the Fall. Hilary uses the ‘historical’ Genesis narrative and apparently rejects Origen’s teaching of the Fall of souls into bodies. His most interesting discussion of the Fall (InMt 10.23–4) sees the scriptural narrative as an allegory for the components of the human person. At the Fall, the human is changed and now comprises body, soul, will, disobedience (infidelitas), and sin; however, Christ’s coming gives the body and soul dominance over the other three elements. This intriguing analogy demonstrates that for Hilary the first sin, disobedience, is also its own punishment (an idea later found in Augustine). The importance of infidelitas in Hilary’s works is demonstrated, as is the role of the will at the Fall.

scholarly journals “Encores me frissonne et tremble le coeur dedans sa capsule”: Rabelais’s Anatomy of Emotion and the Soul

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 33-58
Author(s):  
Emmanuelle Lacore-Martin
Keyword(s):  
Human Body ◽  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
Ancient Philosophy ◽  
The Body ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Animal Spirits ◽  
Philosophie Naturelle ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Shed Light

This article examines the role of anatomical references in the representation of emotion and argues that they constitute textual markers of the Rabelaisian view of the relationship between the body and the soul, and the nature of the soul itself. By analyzing the ancient models of natural philosophy and medicine on which Rabelais draws—Galen, in particular—and by contextualizing Rabelais’s thinking within contemporary debates on the faculties of the soul, the article aims to shed light on his representation of the intersection between material and immaterial processes within the human body. Instead of trying to reconcile potentially contradictory aspects of these ancient models with the Christian faith, Rabelais’s prose is informed by an intuitive understanding of ancient philosophy. His exploitation of the Galenic concept of the animal spirits gives us invaluable insights into the influence of materialist representations of the soul on Rabelais’s thinking. Cet article étudie le rôle des références anatomiques dans la représentation rabelaisienne de l’émotion et propose d’y voir les marqueurs textuels de la façon dont Rabelais conçoit les rapports entre l’âme et le corps, et la nature de l’âme elle-même. En analysant les modèles anciens de la philosophie naturelle et de la médecine — Galien en particulier — dont Rabelais s’inspire et en situant sa pensée dans le contexte des débats contemporains sur les facultés de l’âme, l’article vise à éclairer la façon dont Rabelais représente l’intersection à l’intérieur du corps humain des processus matériels et immatériels. Sans chercher à réconcilier avec la foi chrétienne certains aspects de ces anciens modèles qui peuvent être en contradiction avec elle, la prose rabelaisienne porte la marque d’une compréhension intuitive de la philosophie ancienne. En particulier, l’exploitation de la conception galénique des esprits animaux donne de précieux aperçus concernant l’influence des représentations matérialistes de l’âme sur la pensée de Rabelais.

scholarly journals Soul and body: Transcending the dialectical intellectual legacy of the West with an integral biblical view?

2014 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Danie Strauss
Keyword(s):  
Modern Philosophy ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
The Body ◽  
Greek Philosophy ◽  
The West ◽  
Material Body ◽  
Substantial Form ◽  
Body And Soul ◽  
The Relationship

Greek philosophy informed the Medieval dualistic understanding of ‘body’ and ‘soul’, which continued to influence modern Humanism and Christian views during and after the Middle Ages. These fluctuating conceptions express the directing role of dialectical basic motives. It was mainly the Greek motive of matter and form which directed the thought of Plato and Aristotle, resulting in a dualistic view of the relationship between a so-called material body and rational soul. At the Council of Vienne (1312), the Aristotelian-Thomistic doctrine of the soul as the substantial form of the body was adopted. Within Protestant circles, the‘two-substances’ view caused a distinction between a (temporal) material body and an (eternal) rational soul (see article 7 of the Swiss Confessio Helvetica Posterior and the Westminster Confession Chapter 4, paragraph 2). Dooyeweerd shows how modern philosophy has received its deepest motivation from the dialectical motive of nature and freedom, which informed the development from Descartes up to Gould and Jaspers. Finally, in the last sections, the main contours of a biblically informed view are articulated with reference to the centrality of the human I-ness, to the theory of enkaptic interlacements and to the problem of supra-temporality.Siel en liggaam: Is dit moontlik om die dialektiese intellektuele erfenis van die Westevanuit ‘n integrale bybelse siening te bowe te kom? Die Griekse filosofie vorm die agtergrond van die Middeleeuse dualistiese verstaan van ‘liggaam’ en ‘siel’ wat op sy beurt die moderne Humanisme en latere Christelike opvattinge beïnvloed het – almal in die greep van dialektiese grondmotiewe. Dit was hoofsaaklik die Griekse basiese vorm-materie-motief wat die dualistiese siening van ’n materie-liggaam en ’n redelike siel tot gevolg gehad het, soos dit in die denke van Plato en Aristoteles beslag gekry het. By die Konsilie van Wenen (1312) is die Aristotelies-Thomistiese leerstuk van die siel as substansiële vorm van die liggaam aanvaar. In Protestantse kringe het die ‘twee substansies’-siening tot die onderskeiding tussen ’n (tydelike) materie-liggaam en ’n (ewige) redelike siel (vgl. artikel 7 van die Switserse Confessio Helvetica Posterior en die Westminster Confession Hoofstuk 4, paragraaf 2) aanleiding gegee. Dooyeweerd toon aan hoedanig die moderne filosofie sy diepste motivering vanuit die dialektiese grondmotief van natuur en vryheid ontvang, wat rigting sou gee aan diedialektiese ontwikkeling vanaf Descartes tot en met Gould en Jaspers. Aan die einde word die hoof-kontoere van ’n bybels-geïnspireerde siening geartikuleer, met verwysing na die sentrale posisie van die menslike selfheid, na die teorie van enkaptiese struktuurvervlegting en na die probleem van bo-tydelikheid.

Being Alive in Descartes' Physiology: Animals and Plants, the Immutatio and the Impetus

2021 ◽  
pp. 76-94
Author(s):  
Fabrizio Baldassarri
Keyword(s):  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
Rene Descartes ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Third ◽  
Organic Systems ◽  
Mechanical Explanation ◽  
René Descartes ◽  
Medical Note

In René Descartes' works there are four major references to living bodies as objects of his natural philosophy. The first is contained in the Fifth part of the Discours de la Méthode, published in June 1637, where Descartes provides a mechanical explanation of the heartbeat and other living functions of the body. The second is in a bio-medical note collected in the Excerpta anatomica dated November 1637, where he discusses nutrition and growth. The third is the famous claim on the absence of a section on living bodies in the Principia philosophiae, published in 1644. The fourth is in La Description du corps humain, Descartes' late physiology likely dated 1647-1648. In this article, by exploring these passages and contextualizing his physiological observations of animals and plants, I reassemble Descartes' science of life: his dismissal of soul, his mechanical framework, his interpretation of bodily self-maintenance and growth, his understanding of living bodies as integrated and organic systems, and the role of a power such as the immutatio and forces such as the impetus.

scholarly journals About the psychotraumatic form of dysmenorrhea (dysmenorrhea puscho-traumatiсa)

1925 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-168
Author(s):  
G. Edelberg
Keyword(s):  
Dominant Role ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Other ◽  
Spiritual Life ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Body And Soul ◽  
The One ◽  
Female Genital

No branch of medicine (not counting, of course, psychiatry) deals with psychology as much as modern gynecology. On the one hand, such gynecologists as Lahm note, and in my opinion rightly so, the dominant role of the ovaries even in the spiritual life of women: in their opinion there is no other way of psychic and physical influences on the female sexual sphere than through the ovaries, and conversely, influences coming from the sexual sphere and acting on the body and soul of women come again only through this way. On the other hand, there are gynecologists who completely ignore the role of the ovaries and believe that only the "soul" produces all kinds of changes in the female genital sphere. It is necessary, say the representatives of this view, to study only the "soul" of a woman, and then a number of incomprehensible phenomena in the field of gynecology will immediately become clear to us.

scholarly journals Chile (Capsicum spp.) as Food-Medicine Continuum in Multiethnic Mexico

Foods ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 2502
Author(s):  
Araceli Aguilar-Meléndez ◽  
Marco Antonio Vásquez-Dávila ◽  
Gladys Isabel Manzanero-Medina ◽  
Esther Katz
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
The Other ◽  
Center Of Origin ◽  
Cultural Contexts ◽  
Native Communities ◽  
The Past ◽  
Capsicum Spp ◽  
Body And Soul ◽  
Different Cultures

Mexico is the center of origin and diversification of domesticated chile (Capsicum annuum L.). Chile is conceived and employed as both food and medicine in Mexico. In this context, the objective of this paper is to describe and analyze the cultural role of chile as food and as medicine for the body and soul in different cultures of Mexico. To write it, we relied on our own fieldwork and literature review. Our findings include a) the first matrix of uses of chile across 67 indigenous and Afrodescendants cultures within Mexican territory and b) the proposal of a new model of diversified uses of chile. Traditional knowledge, uses and management of chile as food and medicine form a continuum (i.e., are not separated into distinct categories). The intermingled uses of Capsicum are diversified, deeply rooted and far-reaching into the past. Most of the knowledge, uses and practices are shared throughout Mexico. On the other hand, there is knowledge and practices that only occur in local or regional cultural contexts. In order to fulfill food, medicinal or spiritual functions, native communities use wild/cultivated chile.

The Role of Polyphenols in the Modulation of Plasma Non-Enzymatic Antioxidant Capacity (NEAC)

2012 ◽  
Vol 82 (3) ◽  
pp. 228-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mauro Serafini ◽  
Giuseppa Morabito
Keyword(s):  
Antioxidant Capacity ◽  
Dietary Intervention ◽  
Ex Vivo ◽  
The Body ◽  
Dietary Polyphenols ◽  
Enzymatic Antioxidant ◽  
Endogenous Antioxidant

Dietary polyphenols have been shown to scavenge free radicals, modulating cellular redox transcription factors in different in vitro and ex vivo models. Dietary intervention studies have shown that consumption of plant foods modulates plasma Non-Enzymatic Antioxidant Capacity (NEAC), a biomarker of the endogenous antioxidant network, in human subjects. However, the identification of the molecules responsible for this effect are yet to be obtained and evidences of an antioxidant in vivo action of polyphenols are conflicting. There is a clear discrepancy between polyphenols (PP) concentration in body fluids and the extent of increase of plasma NEAC. The low degree of absorption and the extensive metabolism of PP within the body have raised questions about their contribution to the endogenous antioxidant network. This work will discuss the role of polyphenols from galenic preparation, food extracts, and selected dietary sources as modulators of plasma NEAC in humans.

The Role of Computer Modeling in Electrocardiography

1990 ◽  
Vol 29 (04) ◽  
pp. 282-288 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. van Oosterom
Keyword(s):  
Electrical Activity ◽  
Computer Modeling ◽  
Body Surface ◽  
Electrical Current ◽  
The Body ◽  
Volume Conductor ◽  
Current Generator ◽  
Cardiac Electrical Activity ◽  
Source Models

AbstractThis paper introduces some levels at which the computer has been incorporated in the research into the basis of electrocardiography. The emphasis lies on the modeling of the heart as an electrical current generator and of the properties of the body as a volume conductor, both playing a major role in the shaping of the electrocardiographic waveforms recorded at the body surface. It is claimed that the Forward-Problem of electrocardiography is no longer a problem. Several source models of cardiac electrical activity are considered, one of which can be directly interpreted in terms of the underlying electrophysiology (the depolarization sequence of the ventricles). The importance of using tailored rather than textbook geometry in inverse procedures is stressed.

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