Galen on the Brain: Anatomical Knowledge and Physiological Speculation in the Second Century Ad (Studies in Ancient Medicine) (Multilingual Edition)

this Book Is A Study Of The Ways In Which Galen Sought To Establish The Brain As The Regent Part (hegemonikon) Of The Body, Utilising A Rigorous Anatomical Epistemology And An Often Sophisticated (but Perforce Limited) Set Of Physiological Arguments Part One Surveys The Medical And Philosophical Past In Which The Study Of The Brain Occured, And Looks At The Materials And Methods Which Galen Employs To Legitimate His Hegemonic Argumentation. Part Two Examines Galen's Anatomical Understanding Of The Brain, Especially The Ventricles. Part Three Offers A Critical Evaluation Of Galen's Physiolgy Of The Brain. This Is The First Monograph To Offer A Detailed Account Of This Subject, Setting It Within The Cultural And Intellectual Contexts Of Its Era, And Will Be Of Interest To Those In Classics, Medical History, History Andphilosophy Of Science And The History Of Ideas. "This book is a study of the ways in which Galen sought to establish the brain as the regent part (hegemonikon) of the body, utilising a rigorous anatomical epistemology and an often sophisticated (but perforce limited) set of physiological arguments." "Part One surveys the medical and philosophical past in which the study of the brain occured, and looks at the materials and methods which Galen employs to legitimate his hegemonic argumentation. Part Two examines Galen's anatomical understanding of the brain, especially the ventricles. Part Three offers a critical evaluation of Galen's physiology of the brain. This is the first monograph to offer a detailed account of this subject, setting it within the cultural and intellectual contexts of its era, and will be of interest to those in classics, medical history, history and philosophy of science and the history of ideas."--BOOK JACKET. Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved Annotation Rocca (history of medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm) offers a comprehensive study of how Galen sought to establish the brain as the regent part, or , of the body, using a rigorous anatomical epistemology and a set of physiological arguments that were sophisticated but necessarily limited by the knowledge of his time. He includes a general introduction for non-specialists summarizing the circumstances that led to Galen's establishment in Rome, and explaining how Galen produced and disseminated his anatomical and physiological writings while some medical sects were denying the importance of anatomical science. Annotation (c)2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)