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Galenism and Matter Theories in Renaissance Physiology

par Moreau, Elisabeth
Référence Galen and the Early Moderns (25-26 October 2018: Ca’ Foscari University of Venice)
Publication Non publié, 2018-10-25

Communication à un colloque

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Résumé :

In his treatise On the Elements According to Hippocrates, Galen synthesized the Hippocratic doctrine of humors and the Aristotelian theory of elements and mixture to define the notion of temperament. Accordingly, the body’s state of health stems from the mixture of the four elements resulting in a balanced constitution. Though Galen joined Aristotle in the dismissal of the atomistic philosophy of Democritus, he suggested an ambiguous terminology of elements as “minimal particles.” In the long medical Renaissance, his account stimulated a corpuscular redefinition of the element in an eclectic range of intellectual currents such as Platonism, Paracelsianism and even atomism. This paper explores the early modern reception of the Galenic theory of temperament in a particular branch of theoretical medicine: physiology. It starts with the Physiologia (1567) of the French physician Jean Fernel (1497-1558), proposing a synthesis of Avicenna’s views on complexion and the specific form in a Platonic framework. Then, it looks at the atomistic theory of mixture and temperament in the case of the De chymicorum cum Aristotelicis et Galenicis consensu ac dissensu (1629) of the German physician Daniel Sennert (1572-1637), as a conciliator of Aristotelian natural philosophy, Galenic medicine and Paracelsian alchemy. Finally, it examines the mechanistic account of temperament in the diary of Dutch physician Isaac Beeckman (1588-1637), combining Lucretian atomism with Galenic physiology.