The Concept of the "Immortality of the Human Soul" and its Meaning for the Growth of Rational Medicine in Antiquity
Dmitry Balalykin, M. D., Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, Chairman of Medical History, National History and Culturology Department, I. M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University
The concept of the immortality of the human soul in modern culture undoubtedly belongs exclusively to the field of theology. This notwithstanding, this concept also played an especially important role in the history of medicine. The development of rational medicine of antiquity was based on two important methodological principles: first of all, the principle of explaining the causes of the origin, course, and treatment of naturally occurring diseases. Secondly, there was the understanding of the fundamental possibility of obtaining reliable knowledge about the structure and functions of the human body.
One of the central problems in the discussion of fundamental anatomy and physiology in the period of 500 B.C. to 1th century A.D was the question of the location of the center of the intellect, rational activity, and control of voluntary movements of body parts. The first ideas that placed this center of activity in the brain were put forth by Alcmaeon on the basis of empirical testing— namely monitoring the connection of the eye to the brain via the oculomotor nerve. Plato put forth an idea that proposed a threefold human soul and assumed the location of the supreme, reasonable, and immortal part of it to be in the brain. This idea turned out to be extremely productive and enabled Plato to argue in his dialogue “Timaeus” about his idea on the psychosomatic unity of the body, an idea that continues to be fundamentally important for modern science. Subsequently, this idea was picked up and further developed by Galen and became one of the tenets of his system. The principal opponents to Galen were physicians, followers of the philosophical schools of the Stoics and Peripatetics, as the followings of Aristotle put the center of reasonable activity in the heart. As such, they had to prove, also following Aristotle, that all nerves come from the heart. Galen’s main argument came to be an experiment: to prove nerves flow from the brain in the head, and not from the heart, he demanded the widespread use of anatomical autopsies. Physician-philosophers, developing these ideas, unified the fundаmental epistemological establishment— about the possibility of gaining reliable knowledge on the structure and function of the human body. In addition, using the idea of an immortal soul, the definition of death was first proposed as an all important category for clinical medicine. For example, Galen determined it as the separation of the highest immortal part of the soul from corporeal substance.
Thus, in the history of rational medicine in antiquity the idea of an immortal human soul turned out to be exceptionally fruitful, having predetermined the application of a teleological principle into the scientific picture, as well as the idea of the ultimate know ability of the anatomical and physiological structure of the human body.
The concept of the immortality of the human soul in modern culture undoubtedly belongs exclusively to the field of theology. This notwithstanding, this concept also played an especially important role in the history of medicine. The development of rational medicine of antiquity was based on two important methodological principles: first of all, the principle of explaining the causes of the origin, course, and treatment of naturally occurring diseases. Secondly, there was the understanding of the fundamental possibility of obtaining reliable knowledge about the structure and functions of the human body.
One of the central problems in the discussion of fundamental anatomy and physiology in the period of 500 B.C. to 1th century A.D was the question of the location of the center of the intellect, rational activity, and control of voluntary movements of body parts. The first ideas that placed this center of activity in the brain were put forth by Alcmaeon on the basis of empirical testing— namely monitoring the connection of the eye to the brain via the oculomotor nerve. Plato put forth an idea that proposed a threefold human soul and assumed the location of the supreme, reasonable, and immortal part of it to be in the brain. This idea turned out to be extremely productive and enabled Plato to argue in his dialogue “Timaeus” about his idea on the psychosomatic unity of the body, an idea that continues to be fundamentally important for modern science. Subsequently, this idea was picked up and further developed by Galen and became one of the tenets of his system. The principal opponents to Galen were physicians, followers of the philosophical schools of the Stoics and Peripatetics, as the followings of Aristotle put the center of reasonable activity in the heart. As such, they had to prove, also following Aristotle, that all nerves come from the heart. Galen’s main argument came to be an experiment: to prove nerves flow from the brain in the head, and not from the heart, he demanded the widespread use of anatomical autopsies. Physician-philosophers, developing these ideas, unified the fundаmental epistemological establishment— about the possibility of gaining reliable knowledge on the structure and function of the human body. In addition, using the idea of an immortal soul, the definition of death was first proposed as an all important category for clinical medicine. For example, Galen determined it as the separation of the highest immortal part of the soul from corporeal substance.
Thus, in the history of rational medicine in antiquity the idea of an immortal human soul turned out to be exceptionally fruitful, having predetermined the application of a teleological principle into the scientific picture, as well as the idea of the ultimate know ability of the anatomical and physiological structure of the human body.