Medicine and Philosophy: The Longue durée of the Humoral Theory
10-11 May 2019
Babeṣ-Bolyai University Cluj
Organisation: Evelina Miteva (Cluj) and Martin Lenz (Groningen)
Why do we think, feel or interact the way we do? Historians of philosophy often study such questions in relation to metaphysical, physical or psychological theories. Accordingly, human behaviour is taken to have been conceptualised mainly in reference to talk about essential or general physical and psychological dispositions. However, in recent years this picture has undergone crucial changes: lurking in the background of explanatory models are medical assumptions whose exposition often sheds new light on ancient, medieval and modern debates.To what extent, for example, are theories of imagination driven by medical considerations? Did Albert the Great’s account of melancholy shape the Renaissance debates of creative genius? Should Hume’s account of scepticism be understood in the light of humoral theory? The scholastic controversies inter medicos et philosophos should not just be seen as a debate between two separate camps, but rather as a point of mutual influence. It is precisely the interaction between the two disciplines that we wish to shed light on. Focusing on humoral theory in philosophical explanations, this workshop aims at stimulating exchange between historians of philosophy and experts in natural philosophy whose work often speaks more to one another than meets the eye.
Please send an abstract to Martin Lenz (m.lenz@rug.nl) by December 15, 2018. The abstract must be no longer than 300 words, prepared for blind reviewing and sent as a .docx file (please do not use pdf format). The subject of the mail should be “MediPhil”. The author’s name and contact information (name, affiliation, email and professional status – graduate student, postdoc, lecturer etc.) should also be specified in your message.
There are no registration fees. Attendance is free but limited. For speakers, the organisers will try to cover the costs of accommodation and meals. No financial help, however, can be provided for travel expenses.