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Full Idea
Galen ran medicine on the principle of the mean; afflictions must be treated by contraries; hot diseases deserve cold medicine and moist illnesses want drying agents. (Paracelsus rebelled, treating through similarity).
Gist of Idea
Galen's medicine followed the mean; each illness was balanced by opposite treatment
Source
report of Galen (On Medical Experience [c.169]) by Ian Hacking - The Emergence of Probability Ch.5
Book Ref
Hacking,Ian: 'The Emergence of Probability' [CUP 1975], p.42
A Reaction
This must be inherited from Aristotle, with the aim of virtue for the body, as Aristotle wanted virtue for the psuché. In some areas Galen is probably right, that natural balance is the aim, as in bodily temperature control.
| 6003 | Galen showed by experiment that the brain controls the body [Galen, by Hankinson] |
| 6030 | Each part of the soul has its virtue - pleasure for appetite, success for competition, and rectitude for reason [Galen] |
| 7453 | Galen's medicine followed the mean; each illness was balanced by opposite treatment [Galen, by Hacking] |
| 21799 | We just use the word 'faculty' when we don't know the psychological cause [Galen] |
| 23248 | Early empiricists said reason was just a useless concept introduced by philosophers [Galen, by Frede,M] |
| 23219 | Stopping the heart doesn't terminate activity; pressing the brain does that [Galen, by Cobb] |
| 23220 | The brain contains memory and reason, and is the source of sensation and decision [Galen] |
| 23268 | We execute irredeemable people, to protect ourselves, as a deterrent, and ending a bad life [Galen] |
| 23269 | Philosophy must start from clearly observed facts [Galen] |
| 23264 | Philosophers think faculties are in substances, and invent a faculty for every activity [Galen] |
| 23265 | The rational part of the soul is the desire for truth, understanding and recollection [Galen] |
| 23266 | The spirit in the soul wants freedom, power and honour [Galen] |