Medicine

Posted on 16 January 2011

Early Greek medicine up until Hippocrates, and its relation to Pre-Socratic philosophers like Empedocles.

Posted on 25 March 2012

Sextus Empiricus, the last great ancient skeptic, expounds a radical branch of the tradition called Pyrrhonism. Peter raises some doubts about how to interpret him.

Posted on 8 April 2012

The ancient relationship between medicine and philosophy culminates in Galen, who passes judgment on the three main “sects”: rationalism, empiricism and methodism.

Posted on 15 April 2012

Jim Hankinson, a leading expert on philosophical themes in Galen, joins Peter to discuss this greatest doctor of the ancient world.

Posted on 5 May 2013

A double dose of Peters, as Pormann joins Adamson to discuss medicine and philosophy in the Islamic world.

Posted on 23 June 2013

Drawing on Galen and Aristotle, philosophers from al-Kindi to Miskawayh compose ethical works designed us to achieve health in soul, as well as body.

Posted on 30 October 2016

Philosophical aspects of Ayurveda, focusing on the oldest surviving medical treatise, the Caraka-Saṃhitā.

Posted on 2 July 2017

An interview with Monica Green reveals parallels between medicine and philosophy in the middle ages.

Posted on 13 May 2018

Ancient Egyptian figures and writings including the Pyramid Texts, Imhotep, and the "first monotheist" Akhenaten reflect on the nature of things and questions of morality.

Posted on 3 February 2019

Special forms of knowledge and the explanation of misfortunes in African tradition.

Posted on 21 June 2020

Africanus Horton looks toward a future of self-government for West Africa beyond slavery and colonialism.

Posted on 8 November 2020

Jacopo Zabarella outlines the correct method for pursuing, and then presenting, scientific discoveries.

Posted on 20 December 2020

Connections between philosophy and advances in medicine, including the anatomy of Vesalius.

Posted on 3 January 2021

The polymath Girolamo Cardano explores medicine, mathematics, philosophy of mind, and the interpretation of dreams.

Posted on 17 January 2021

An interview with Guido Giglioni, who speaks to us about the sources and philosophical implications of medical works of the Renaissance.

Posted on 28 February 2021

Brian Copenhaver joins us to explain how Ficino and other Renaissance philosophers thought about magic.

Posted on 8 May 2022

Comets! Magnets! Armadillos! In this wide-ranging interview Lorraine Daston tells us how Renaissance and early modern scientists dealt with the extraordinary events they called "wonders".

Posted on 31 July 2022

Challenges to Galenic medical orthodoxy from natural philosophy: Jean Fernel with his idea of the human’s “total substance,” and the Paracelsans.