51³ÉÈËÁÔÆæ

Course Description

Summary

How did pre-modern culture understand the human body? How did it work? Where did it fit in the Great Chain of Being, and what differentiated men from women? Medicine has always been a hybrid of thinking, seeing, knowing, and doing. But what defined medicine in the past? Was it a science, an art, or a random assortment of practices? Between the age of Hippocrates and the age of Enlightenment, medicine very slowly detached itself from philosophy to become empirical and experimental. Using documents, art, and images, we follow patients and practitioners from Hippocrates to Harvey. As we trace the history of healing, we chart changing perceptions of the body in early modern culture.