"Know Thyself": The Soul of Anatomical Dissection
Kimbell Kornu, M.D., Instructor, St. Louis University
Michel Foucault once said: “Knowledge is not made for understanding; it is made for cutting.” In this paper, I will argue the converse: cutting is made for knowledge. I call this “anatomical rationality” by which knowledge is gained through the process of “cutting up,” either logically or physically. I will then argue that a change occurs in how the soul relates to this anatomical rationality, opening the way for the modern epistemology of knowledge as representation. I will trace this progression from antiquity to the early modern period in three movements.
First, for Galen, “know thyself” is an injunction from the Delphic oracle to tame irrational affections, to attain wisdom, and to be a complete physician. Galen notes that anatomical knowledge, obtained through dissection, is fundamental not only for medicine, but also for natural philosophers to understand the principles that inform man and nature. However, this anatomical knowledge for the physician is always in service of the practice of medicine, which requires that the soul be properly formed and shaped by virtue in a communal context. In this way, Galenic anatomical rationality seeks practical knowledge.
Second, Avicenna, the prince of physicians, synthesized Galen and Aristotle in his medical encyclopedia, The Canon of Medicine. However, this work does not advance anatomical knowledge since he did not engage in human dissection. I will argue that Avicenna employs a metaphorical “anatomical rationality” to metaphysics by transforming it into an analytic, non-dialectical science through a logical dissection of the anatomy of being. Both in his proto-Cartesian “Flying Man” argument for substance dualism and in his logical argument for the necessary existence of God, he demonstrates that the soul can attain self-awareness and knowledge of God through scientific methodology alone. For Avicenna, “know thyself” is knowledge of one’s own essence as soul that ultimately has no need for the body. Avicennian anatomical rationality, then, seeks theoretical knowledge.
Lastly, I will argue that the Renaissance scholars, such as Andreas Vesalius and Philip Melanchthon, apply the “know thyself” injunction to the practice of human dissection as the “soul” of anatomical rationality. According to this new paradigm, by cutting open the human body, one can know the secrets of the body, and thereby know oneself as the pinnacle of creation. Anatomical dissection transforms knowledge of the self into a spatialized knowledge that can literally be mapped out, as in medical illustrations. Consequently, spatialized anatomical knowledge inaugurates self-knowledge as representation that opens the way for the modern subjective turn.
Michel Foucault once said: “Knowledge is not made for understanding; it is made for cutting.” In this paper, I will argue the converse: cutting is made for knowledge. I call this “anatomical rationality” by which knowledge is gained through the process of “cutting up,” either logically or physically. I will then argue that a change occurs in how the soul relates to this anatomical rationality, opening the way for the modern epistemology of knowledge as representation. I will trace this progression from antiquity to the early modern period in three movements.
First, for Galen, “know thyself” is an injunction from the Delphic oracle to tame irrational affections, to attain wisdom, and to be a complete physician. Galen notes that anatomical knowledge, obtained through dissection, is fundamental not only for medicine, but also for natural philosophers to understand the principles that inform man and nature. However, this anatomical knowledge for the physician is always in service of the practice of medicine, which requires that the soul be properly formed and shaped by virtue in a communal context. In this way, Galenic anatomical rationality seeks practical knowledge.
Second, Avicenna, the prince of physicians, synthesized Galen and Aristotle in his medical encyclopedia, The Canon of Medicine. However, this work does not advance anatomical knowledge since he did not engage in human dissection. I will argue that Avicenna employs a metaphorical “anatomical rationality” to metaphysics by transforming it into an analytic, non-dialectical science through a logical dissection of the anatomy of being. Both in his proto-Cartesian “Flying Man” argument for substance dualism and in his logical argument for the necessary existence of God, he demonstrates that the soul can attain self-awareness and knowledge of God through scientific methodology alone. For Avicenna, “know thyself” is knowledge of one’s own essence as soul that ultimately has no need for the body. Avicennian anatomical rationality, then, seeks theoretical knowledge.
Lastly, I will argue that the Renaissance scholars, such as Andreas Vesalius and Philip Melanchthon, apply the “know thyself” injunction to the practice of human dissection as the “soul” of anatomical rationality. According to this new paradigm, by cutting open the human body, one can know the secrets of the body, and thereby know oneself as the pinnacle of creation. Anatomical dissection transforms knowledge of the self into a spatialized knowledge that can literally be mapped out, as in medical illustrations. Consequently, spatialized anatomical knowledge inaugurates self-knowledge as representation that opens the way for the modern subjective turn.