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Ancient medicine early pioneers
Influence of ancient societies on modern medicines
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The theory of animal spirits came from Alexandrian physicians in 3rd century BCE and prevailed for over a thousand years before the discovery of electrochemistry disproved this belief. The animal spirit theory was the idea that the liver produced “natural spirits” that flowed through the heart, arteries, and brain until they met oxygen and became animal spirits. These spirits were thought to flow through nerves in order to force movement or carry sensory impressions. Important and well known scientists all over the world promoted this theory and added on their own advancements in the discovery. Galen popularized the four humours: blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. Descartes used this theory to develop his idea of dualism. Both of these
Fuller writes in “The Great Radical Dualism” that “Every relation, every gradation of nature, is incalculably precious, but only to the soul which is poised upon itself, and to whom no loss, no change, can bring dull discord, for it is in harmony with the central soul” (Norton 758). Here Fuller clearly draws inspiration from Emerson’s transcendentalism by acknowledging the ‘central soul’ that is analogous to Emerson’s idea of the Over-Soul (Hurst 4). However, Fuller’s goes beyond Emerson incorporating ‘every relation’ as being not only valuable, but as linked to the soul that facilitates its connection to the impersonal divine. Yet, in Emerson’s philosophy the individual ultimately identifies with the “universal substance of the divine” so
Furthermore, the basic knowledge all these doctors knew were: There are only four elements in the world,each element represented a humour, and all four humours are balanced in the human body. Humours are “natural bodily fluids. They correspond to the elements and have various qualities: cold, dry, hot, and moist.” (Ross) The four elements are: earth, air, water, and fire. The Humour for earth was black bile meaning melancholic or sad - black bile really is the foam off the top of blood. Air’s humour is blood meaning sanguine or lusty. Water’s humour may gross people out… it’s phlegm meaning phlegmatic or sluggish. Lastly fire’s humour is yellow bile meaning temperamental or angry - yellow bile is also choler (Ross). All four humours are supposed to be balance the cause of diseases were if one was out of balance (Alchin).
The Four Humours was one of the biggest Scientific belief in the Elizabethan era. Many didn’t know what to say about it. The theory of the humours is based on four elemental body fluids. The amounts of blood, yellow bile, phlegm, and black bile determined a person’s physical or mental health. The
Early humans related pain to evil, magic, and demons. Relief of pain was the responsibility of sorcerers, shamans, priests, and priestesses, who used herbs, rites, and ceremonies as their treatments. The Greeks and Romans were the first to advance a theory of sensation, the idea that the brain and nervous system have a role in producing the perception of pain. But it was not until the middle ages and well into the Renaissance-the 1400s and 1500s-that evidence began to accumulate in support of these theories. Leonardo da Vinci and his contemporaries came to believe that the brain was the central organ responsible for sensation. Da Vinci also developed the idea that the spinal cord transmits sensations to the brain. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the study of the body and the senses continued to be a source of wonder for the world's philosophers. In 1664, the French philosopher René Descartes described what to this day is still called a "pain pathway" (5).
The text "Dueling Dualism" by Anne Fausto-Sterling claim is that sex and gender are constructed. Scientist construct gender and sex through their research and studies and this creates the way society views sex and gender. Sterling writes, "... human sexuality created by scholars in general and by biologists, in particular, are one component of political, social, and moral struggles about our cultures... At the same time... incorporated into our very physiological being... Biologists...in turn refashion our cultural environment"(Sterling,5). Sterling, sure enough, realizes how sexuality is viewed by biologist but also how it can change the perspectives of sexuality in a society. Biologist have "refashion our cultural environment" and are reshaping
Medieval doctors believed that illness was provoked when the Four Humors were unbalanced. Greek physician, Hippocrates elaborated the Four Humors into a medical theory. He believed that certain personalities, moods, and illnesses arose from an excess or a deficient amount of bodily fluids: sanguine
The four temperaments is a psychological theory that suggests that there are four fundamental personality types. The Greek physician Hippocrates (466-370 BC) combined the four temperaments into his theory as part of the ancient medical concept of humorism that four bodily fluids affect human personality traits and behaviors. He believed that certain human moods, emotions and behaviors were caused by an excess or lack of fluids-humors: blood, yellow bile, black bile and phlegm. The word “temperament” comes from the Latin word “temperare”, -to mix. It was Claudius Galen, a Greek physician (AD 131-200) who categorized the temperaments into the Sanguine, Choleric, Melancholic, and Phlegmatic, after the bodily humors named above respectively. Each was a product of an excess of one of the humors tha...
Jaegwon Kim argues that the “pairing problem” is a serious issue for substance dualism. He thinks that dualism is unintelligible and aims to show that the “pairing problem” explicates this. The conclusion that Kim is presenting is that the mind as an immaterial substance cannot causally interact with physical objects and furthermore, not with anything at all; this renders minds futile thus leaving us the conclusion that substance dualism is also useless. I will be explicating what casual relations are, and the pairing problem to clarify that the pairing problem does render dualism unintelligible. I will further contemplate a possible objection to this position and a possible reply. In conclusion, I agree with Kim’s approach, the pairing problem succeeds in making dualism unintelligible by showing that minds have no way of interacting with physical objects due to the fact that they cannot be rightly paired by cause and effect.
The Ancient Greeks began to believe that illnesses had a natural cause – in about 400 BCE, a doctor named Hippocrates suggested that theories on supernatural causes were wrong, he came up with the idea of the Four Humours, saying that humans became ill when these humours became unbalanced. The Four Humours consisted of black bile, yellow bile, blood and phlegm. He believed that an imbalance in the humours should be corrected – for example, if he thought that a patient had too much blood, he would carry out a blood-letting to balance out the humours.
In the Indian, Chinese and Arabic cultures they believed in the “elixir of life” and the alchemy taking place in these regions were focused on the body and the combination of what the body needs and what the body releases were of great importance. The Arabic culture is said to be responsible to spreading these ideas to 14th century Europe.
Early biological theorists, such as Franz Gall proposed a theory known as phrenology. Developed during the 18th century, phrenology is the study of the shape and size of the cranium as a supposed indication to criminality (Schmalleger, 2014). Gall centered his theory on the basis that the brain is the organ of the mind, personality traits are located in specific parts of the brain, and the shape of the skull is indicative of personality. Based on his theory, prominent character traits could be determined by measuring the area of the skull that overlies the corresponding area of the brain (What is Phreneology, n.d.). His theory became widely accepted by many other theorists in his field and replaced the prior notion that personality traits
In Elizabethan times, the four liquids of the body determined a person’s character. Melancholic personalities are governed by black bile. Melancholic people are usually introverted and cautious, and get caught up in tragedy in the world. Phlegmatic people are represented with phlegm. A person with a phlegmatic personality is typically relaxed, but their relaxation can transpose into laziness. Choleric personalities are identified with yellow bile. Choleric persons are ambitious and possess leader-like qualities. Sanguine personalities can be defined as having blood as the dominant humor. These people are spontaneous and charismatic. A simple change in the time of day, or season, plays a part in a person’s temperament.
Although at first glance, Rene Descartes’ theory of innate ideas may not seem to have a significant place in the world of psychology, it has served and still does as a variable to consider when studying the origin of knowledge and instinctual behaviors. The theory suggests that ideas are formed from some sort of innate knowledge that is pre-written into an individual’s DNA. Many scientists may not consider it to be a helpful variable in their research because it tends to rule out room for active experimentation and leads to unanswered questions. However, even though Descartes’ theory is nothing more than a theory, it has been unable to completely prove false or null and will continue to be considered in the world of philosophy and psychology alike.
Duality is a concept displayed throughout many great works of literature, including The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. Google defines duality as “an instance of opposition or contrast between two concepts or two aspects of something.” The concept of duality is an integral part of the human experience and was likely discussed long before the first written works. Many foundational pieces of literature, including the Holy Bible, discuss duality in depth. In addition, it has been seen in plays, poetry, and even some historical literary works. Examples of this might include Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, or the Bible written by the many people who had been inspired or led by God. One could say that all great literary works contain duality in some sense.
As previously mentioned, Hippocrates II (460 – 370 B.C.) was known as the father of medicine and although human dissection was forbidden because of religious beliefs, he dissected animals and studied the anatomy of bones. Hippocrates had some accuracy in osteology; however, he was not as accurate in his theories regarding the arteries, which he thought were filled with air because they appear empty in dead animals. In addition, he established the Doctrine of Humors which stated that the body is composed of four major fluids. Future researchers would follow the Doctrine of Humors until it was later proved false.