The Fight for Health: Tradition, Competition, Subdivision and Philosophy in Galen's Hygienic Writings

Abstract

The paper examines the conception of health of the Graeco-Roman medical and philosophical author Galen. On the basis of a range of texts, especially Matters of Health (De sanitate tuenda) and Thrasybulus, the most significant and influential characteristics of this conception are considered: the twofold definition of health in terms of balance (summetria) of elements and of organic function; the notion of a latitude (platos) within health; the extent to which health is conceived as a specialist expertise, and against this the possible role of the patient in understanding his/her own health. Galen's health writings are also considered in their social-historical context (to what extent his theory of health is only applicable to a narrow elite; what is the nature of his polemic against other, rival health practitioners; the original oral-debate nature of the texts and the implied relationship of expert to audience) and in relation to their intellectual predecessors – Hippocrates, Plato, Aristotle and a range of other, e.g. Hellenistic, medical writers. Particular significance is found in Galen's adoption of philosophical (especially Platonic and Aristotelian models) in his self-presentation.

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