0
Your cart

Your cart is empty

Books > Humanities > Philosophy > Western philosophy

Buy Now

Health - A History (Hardcover) Loot Price: R3,393
Discovery Miles 33 930
Health - A History (Hardcover): Peter Adamson

Health - A History (Hardcover)

Peter Adamson

Series: Oxford Philosophical Concepts

 (sign in to rate)
Loot Price R3,393 Discovery Miles 33 930 | Repayment Terms: R318 pm x 12*

Bookmark and Share

Expected to ship within 12 - 17 working days

Donate to Against Period Poverty

From antiquity to the early modern period, many philosophers also studied anatomy and medicine, or were medical doctors themselves - yet the history of philosophy and of medicine are pursued as separate disciplines. This book departs from that practice, gathering contributions by both historians of philosophy and of medicine to trace the concept of health from ancient Greece and China, through the Islamic world and to modern thinkers such as Descartes and Freud. Through this interdisciplinary approach, Health demonstrates the synchronicity and overlapping histories of these two disciplines. From antiquity to the Renaissance, contributors explore the Chinese idea of qi or circulating "vital breath," ideas about medical methodology in antiquity and the middle ages, and the rise and long-lasting influence of Galenic medicine, with its insistence that health consists in a balance of four humors and the proper use of six "non-naturals" including diet, exercise, and sex. In the early modern period, mechanistic theories of the body made it more difficult to explain what health is and why it is more valuable than other physical states. However, philosophers and doctors maintained an interest in the interaction between the good condition of the mind and that of the body, with Descartes and his followers exploring in depth the idea of "medicine for the mind" despite their notorious mind-body dualism. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, scientific improvements in public health emerged along with new ideas about the psychology of health, notably with the concept of "sensibility" and Freud's psychoanalytic theory. The volume concludes with a critical survey of recent philosophical attempts to define health, showing that both "descriptive," or naturalistic, and "normativist" approaches have fallen prey to objections and counterexamples. As a whole, Health: A History shows that notions of both physical and mental health have long been integral to philosophy and a powerful link between philosophy and the sciences.

General

Imprint: Oxford UniversityPress
Country of origin: United States
Series: Oxford Philosophical Concepts
Release date: May 2019
Editors: Peter Adamson (Professor of Late Ancient and Arabic Philosophy)
Dimensions: 213 x 145 x 25mm (L x W x T)
Format: Hardcover - Cloth over boards
Pages: 392
ISBN-13: 978-0-19-991642-9
Categories: Books > Humanities > Philosophy > Western philosophy > General
Books > Humanities > Philosophy > Non-Western philosophy > Islamic & Arabic philosophy
Books > Humanities > Philosophy > Non-Western philosophy > Oriental & Indian philosophy
Books > Philosophy > Non-Western philosophy > Islamic & Arabic philosophy
Books > Philosophy > Non-Western philosophy > Oriental & Indian philosophy
Books > Philosophy > Western philosophy > General
LSN: 0-19-991642-X
Barcode: 9780199916429

Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate? Let us know about it.

Does this product have an incorrect or missing image? Send us a new image.

Is this product missing categories? Add more categories.

Review This Product

No reviews yet - be the first to create one!

Partners