Medical and Philosophical Perspectives on Illness and Disease in the Middle Ages

During the Middle Ages, physicians, philosophers, and theologians developed a complex and rich discourse on the concept of sickness. Illness (infirmitas) was perceived as the natural state of existential imperfection for homo viator, fallen due to sin and impaired in his bodily integrity. Leprosy, s...

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Language:English
Published: E-theca OnLineOpenAccess Edizioni 2025
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Online Access:https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/153359.2
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description During the Middle Ages, physicians, philosophers, and theologians developed a complex and rich discourse on the concept of sickness. Illness (infirmitas) was perceived as the natural state of existential imperfection for homo viator, fallen due to sin and impaired in his bodily integrity. Leprosy, smallpox, plague and the other collective diseases that constantly plagued medieval societies prompted reflections on etiology and modes of transmission of epidemics. Building on Galenic teachings, medieval medicine – both Arabic and Latin – delved into the study of fevers. Key concepts in medical pathology, such as the humors, humidum radicale, and spiritus, were assimilated and reinterpreted within philosophical and theological frameworks. The ten contribution collected in this volume explore this rich array of concepts and themes by closely examining the theories and works of prominent and lesser-known figures in medicine, theology, and philosophy active across Latin Christendom, the Islamic context, and the Jewish world: from Augustine to ʿAlī ibn al-ʿAbbas al-Maǧūsī, from Avicenna to Constantine the African, from Maimonides to Albert the Great, from Arnau de Vilanova to Gentile da Foligno, from Henry of Herford to Michele Savonarola.
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spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-153359.22025-05-13T23:14:26Z Medical and Philosophical Perspectives on Illness and Disease in the Middle Ages Palazzo, Alessandro Bonini, Francesca Disease Plague Leprosy History of medicine Medieval philosophy thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History During the Middle Ages, physicians, philosophers, and theologians developed a complex and rich discourse on the concept of sickness. Illness (infirmitas) was perceived as the natural state of existential imperfection for homo viator, fallen due to sin and impaired in his bodily integrity. Leprosy, smallpox, plague and the other collective diseases that constantly plagued medieval societies prompted reflections on etiology and modes of transmission of epidemics. Building on Galenic teachings, medieval medicine – both Arabic and Latin – delved into the study of fevers. Key concepts in medical pathology, such as the humors, humidum radicale, and spiritus, were assimilated and reinterpreted within philosophical and theological frameworks. The ten contribution collected in this volume explore this rich array of concepts and themes by closely examining the theories and works of prominent and lesser-known figures in medicine, theology, and philosophy active across Latin Christendom, the Islamic context, and the Jewish world: from Augustine to ʿAlī ibn al-ʿAbbas al-Maǧūsī, from Avicenna to Constantine the African, from Maimonides to Albert the Great, from Arnau de Vilanova to Gentile da Foligno, from Henry of Herford to Michele Savonarola. Published 2025-05-13T06:35:11Z 2025-02-28T13:54:46Z 2025-05-13T06:35:11Z 2024 book 9788875903183 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/153359.2 eng Quaderni di Noctua image/jpeg application/octet-stream Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://dx.doi.org/10.14640/QuadernidiNoctua7 https://dx.doi.org/10.14640/QuadernidiNoctua7 E-theca OnLineOpenAccess Edizioni E-theca OnLineOpenAccess Edizioni, Università degli Studi di Torino 10.14640/QuadernidiNoctua7 10.14640/QuadernidiNoctua7 9c743178-7a11-43f5-9c4d-07b93e99f80f 485b06c5-fdad-4d92-b29b-0a955745ba55 6e6d5b14-d9ad-4777-bdee-c8b40502ff0c df6b86f4-3fc6-4c02-adfd-8dba9cf7ab7f 869f2cb4-3439-4763-a4fc-fb28806147b2 14a4f715-4c27-42ca-b2e8-01b7b426e491 72e5da36-43c7-41e8-bf38-f7afc58eddeb 9b37ef08-e4e9-44aa-8acb-67cf26ae8543 ecdd7de4-7d86-4b7c-b5d5-472b277b3259 90845b18-b16f-4f86-b19e-11cabd51c735 71ddabe2-4be9-40dd-b04e-1bafc4314b69 84478b59-a785-4cf7-9a9e-cd475562f4f8 b8da923f-4dcb-4af7-bc68-e4414f75f4b3 9788875903183 E-theca OnLineOpenAccess Edizioni, Università degli Studi di Torino 7 Florence, Parma, Turin open access
spellingShingle Disease
Plague
Leprosy
History of medicine
Medieval philosophy
thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy
thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History
Medical and Philosophical Perspectives on Illness and Disease in the Middle Ages
title Medical and Philosophical Perspectives on Illness and Disease in the Middle Ages
title_full Medical and Philosophical Perspectives on Illness and Disease in the Middle Ages
title_fullStr Medical and Philosophical Perspectives on Illness and Disease in the Middle Ages
title_full_unstemmed Medical and Philosophical Perspectives on Illness and Disease in the Middle Ages
title_short Medical and Philosophical Perspectives on Illness and Disease in the Middle Ages
title_sort medical and philosophical perspectives on illness and disease in the middle ages
topic Disease
Plague
Leprosy
History of medicine
Medieval philosophy
thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy
thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History
topic_facet Disease
Plague
Leprosy
History of medicine
Medieval philosophy
thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy
thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History
url https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/153359.2