Week 3/5

What are the three parts of Plato’s Tripartite Theory of the Soul?

Logos (reason), Thymos (spirit), and Epithymia (appetite)

How did Hippocrates influence Plato’s ideas about health?

Plato linked a healthy mind to a balanced body, echoing Hippocrates’ view of equilibrium among humours.

According to Plato, how is philosophical life related to health?

One must maintain bodily balance to engage in philosophy, which is the highest human activity.

What does Aristotle’s term Teleology mean?

Everything in nature has an end or purpose (telos)—e.g., an acorn’s goal is to become an oak tree.

What is Empiricism in Aristotle’s philosophy?

Knowledge gained through observation and experience, forming theories from collected evidence.

What was significant about Alexandria in the study of medicine?

It became a Greek science hub, home to a research museum and early anatomy studies.

Who were Herophilus and Erasistratus?

Herophilus studied anatomy; Erasistratus studied physiology, both pioneering human/animal dissection traditions.

What did the Pneumatists add to Hippocratic theory?

A fifth element—pneuma (vital spirit)—believed to animate life.

How did Romans initially view Greek medicine?

They were suspicious, seeing it as foreign and a sign of weakness, preferring exercise, moderation, and good living.

Who was Celsus, and what was De Medicina?

A wealthy Roman writer who composed De Medicina, a Latin encyclopedia of medical procedures and symptoms.

What were Galen’s key roles and beliefs?

Physician-philosopher; follower of Hippocrates; stressed prognosis over diagnosis; viewed medicine as a rational science.

Where did Galen think blood was made?

In the liver, from digested food mixed with natural spirit (pneuma physicon).

What were Galen’s three types of pneuma (spirits)?

Natural – from liver, gives nourishment; Vital – from heart, gives life force; Animal – from brain, controls motion and sensation.

Why is Galen’s model described as non-circulating?

He thought blood flowed outward and dissipated, not in a closed circuit.

What is teleological anatomy according to Galen?

Each body part has a specific purposeful function—nothing in the body exists by accident.

What does 'Ayurveda' mean?

The knowledge (veda) needed for long life (ayus).

What are the three Ayurvedic doshas?

Vatha (wind), Pitha (bile), Kapha (phlegm).

What are the dhatus?

Seven bodily tissues: lymph, blood, flesh, fat, bone, marrow, semen.

Which two key Ayurvedic texts shaped Indian medicine?

The Caraka Samhita (diagnosis, causes) and Susruta Samhita (surgery).

What are Ayurveda’s four pillars of healing?

Physician, attendant, medicine, and patient.

What is Qi?

The vital energy connecting all life and nature; imbalance causes illness.

What does Yin and Yang represent?

The dual forces of the universe—Yin (dark, female, earth) and Yang (light, male, heaven).

What are the five Chinese elements?

Wood, fire, metal, water, and earth.

Name the five methods of treatment in Chinese medicine.

Spiritual balance, diet, acupuncture, drugs, bowel regulation.

What was the Salerno School known for?

A monastery-based school that became the first European medical university, translating Greek → Arabic → Latin texts.

Why was the Church wary of medicine?

• focus on body would undermine the focus on the soul

• Medical to them was charity not a paid position

• Had to approve doctors not to taint their reputation

What were healing shrines and patron saints?

Religious sites linked to specific ailments (importance of folklore and local traditions) —e.g., St. Apollonia (toothache), St. Roch (plague).

How did universities shape medieval medicine?

medical education grows Modeled on Salerno; used Articella (with Hippocrates & Galen) as the main textbook.

What was the Arte dei Medici e Speziali?

A Florentine medical guild (1197) that regulated doctors and pharmacists, often excluding women.

How was leprosy viewed in medieval Europe?

As a sinful, contagious condition; sufferers were segregated in lazarettos.

What was the Bubonic Plague (Black Death)?

Worst epidemic in history, kills 30-60% of pop in Eurasia, people would blame outsiders in each region

What were medieval explanations for the plague?

Divine punishment, planetary alignments, or bad air (miasma).

How did Europe respond to the plague?

Religious penance, persecution of minorities, and quarantine laws.

What was the plague’s long-term effect on society?

Collapse of feudalism; labor shortage gave peasants bargaining power; culture became obsessed with death.