Galen's Epistemology - Experience, Reason, and Method in Ancient Medicine

Determining what has gone wrong in a malfunctioning body and proposing an effective treatment requires expertise. Since antiquity, philosophers and doctors have wondered what sort of knowledge this expertise involves, and whether and how it can warrant its conclusions. Few people were as qualified to deal with these questions as Galen of Pergamum (129-ca. 216). A practising doctor with a keen interest in logic and natural science, he devoted much of his enormous literary output to the task of putting medicine on firm methodological grounds. At the same time he reflected on philosophical issues entailed by this project, such as the nature of experience, its relation to reason, the criteria of truth, and the methods of justification. This volume explores Galen's contributions to (mainly scientific) epistemology, as they arise in the specific inquiries and polemics of his works, as well as their legacy in the Islamic world.

Product details

• Authors: R. J. Hankinson, R. J. (University of Texas Hankinson
• Assisted by: R. J. Hankinson (Editor), R. J. (University of Texas Hankinson (Editor), Hankinson R. J. (Editor), Matyá¿ Havrda (Editor), Matyas Havrda (Editor), Matyáš Havrda (Editor)
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 30.04.2022
• EAN: 9781316513484
• ISBN: 978-1-316-51348-4
• No. of pages: 348
• Dimensions: 158 mm x 236 mm x 22 mm
• Series: Print on Demand
• Subjects: Education and learning > Teaching preparation > Vocational needs; Non-fiction book > Philosophy, religion > Philosophy: antiquity to present day; PHILOSOPHY / History & Surveys / Ancient & Classical, Philosophy: epistemology & theory of knowledge, Ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, Western philosophy: Ancient, to c 500, Philosophy: epistemology and theory of knowledge