Galen on the Atomists by Serangeli, Ambra;

Rövid leírás:

This volume provides the first comprehensive analysis of his fierce critique of atomism, which is the most emblematic and disputed example of his polemical accounts, and demonstrates his reliability.

Hosszú leírás:

Personal physician of the emperors Marcus Aurelius, Commodus and Septimius Severus, Galen was a multi-faceted intellectual and his extensive writings, constitute, by far, the largest surviving corpus of any ancient author. This immense corpus is still not fully explored and continues to surprise scholars and to offer the possibility of new discoveries.

This volume provides the first comprehensive analysis of his fierce critique of atomism, which is the most emblematic and disputed example of his polemical accounts, and demonstrates his reliability. It offers a close analysis of Galen?s account on atomism, contributing to the current debate on his role as a source on previous and contemporary philosophical and scientific thought, shedding new light on the still little-known relationship between Epicureanism and medicine. It additionally offers a new perspective on the debated question of the philosophical background of Asclepiades? medical corpuscularism.

Galen on the Atomists will appeal to students and scholars alike in Ancient Philosophy, Classics and History of Ideas, as well as those studying history of science and medicine.

Tartalomjegyzék:

Part One: Galen?s Design Argument vs. Epicurean Evolution in De usu partium

Chapter 1

Genesis, Date and Aftermath of Galen?s De usu partium

Chapter 2

Galen and anatomy as evidence for Nature-demiurge?s provident design

Chapter 3

The Epicurean theory of adaptation and the case of hand tendons in Galen?s De usu partium

Chapter 4

Two Notions of Suitability: Lucretius on suitable and monstrous bodies, and their adaptation by extinction

Part Two: Galen on Particles in De elementis secundum Hippocratem

Chapter 5

De elementis, date and contents

Chapter 6

Indivisibility and Immutability of the Atoms in De elementis

6.1 Galen?s Use of ?? and his Description of the Democritean Atom as an Eleatic One

6.2 The Properties of the Atoms and the Overlap between Ancient Atomism and Epicureanism in Galen?s De elementis

Chapter 7

The Reception of Atomism in the Late Authors. The Case of Galen?s De elementis

Chapter 8

Galen against atomic impassibility. The ?needle argument? and its backgro

8.1 Cicero?s Account

8.2 Plutarch?s Testimony in Adversus Colotem

Part Three: Atoms or Molecules? The Nature of Asclepiades? ????? and the Background of his Flux Theory

Chapter 9

Nature and meaning of Asclepiades? ?????

Chapter 10

The ancient testimonies on the nature of Asclepiades? ?????

10.1 Galen?s account

10.2 Sextus? account

10.3 Caelius Aurelianus? account

10.4 Calcidius? account

Chapter 11

Asclepiades? flux theory and the Epicurean doctrine of emanations

Chapter 12

Asclepiades and Lucretius on Pathology

Conclusions

Bibliography