The ancient Greek medical thinkers were profoundly influenced by Ionian natural philosophy. This philosophy caused them to adopt a radically new attitude towards disease and healing. James Longrigg shows how their rational attitudes ultimately resulted in levels of sophistication largely unsurpassed until the Renaissance. He examines the important relationship between philosophy and medicine in ancient Greece and beyond, and reveals its significance for contemporary western practice and theory.

The ancient Greek medical thinkers were profoundly influenced by Ionian natural philosophy. This philosophy caused them to adopt a radically new attitude towards disease and healing. James Longrigg shows how their rational attitudes ultimately resulted in levels of sophistication largely unsurpassed until the Renaissance. He examines the important relationship between philosophy and medicine in ancient Greece and beyond, and reveals its significance for contemporary western practice and theory.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203033442

Greek medicine is an important aspect of Greek culture. The Greeks were the first to put forward rational systems of medicine which resulted in a radically new conception of disease, accounting for causes and symptoms in purely natural terms. Greek rational medicine reached a climax in the third century BC at Alexandria, where medical anatomical researchers attained levels of accuracy and sophistication largely unsurpassed in Western culture until the 16th century. In the past this subject has been difficult to study because of the inaccessibility of source material, which is highly diverse, widely scattered, frequently unedited, and at times fragmentary. The aim of this book is to help to resolve this problem by providing a collection and translation of some of this material and assembling it in an accessible form.