Inventing Sickness: The Science and Practice of Medicine in Ancient Greece

Catalog description

Exploration of conceptual developments that led to the emergence of medicine in ancient Greece as a science and an art and as a contentious subject of speculative discourse. We will situate these developments firmly within their corresponding cultural, intellectual, and social contexts. Concepts examined include: notions of disease; competing views of human anatomy and physiology; natural versus supernatural causation; the ethics of medical (non-)treatment and research; the rise of the doctor; dietetic, pharmacological, and surgical practices; the doctor-patient relationship.