The Physiology and Therapy of Anger: Galen on Medicine, the Soul, and Nature

Abstract

This chapter discusses a brief rehearsal of Galen's views concerning the relation between 'body', 'soul', and 'nature'; somatic factors conducive to anger; physical consequences of becoming angry; the power and limits of a medical therapy of anger and other emotions. Galen more than once suspended judgment or expressed ambivalence on issues such as the incorporeality of the soul, its substance, its immortality, the number of its parts and the scope of the soul's activities. Fundamental to Galen's view of the body-soul relation are his theories about the four primary qualities, the four humors, the 'temperaments', capacities, bodily instruments, homoeomerous parts, and the anatomical topography of the powers or parts of the soul. Galen further describes anger as perilous to the health of the body inasmuch it is an irritant that dissolves the patient's physical strength and thus leads to illness. Keywords:anger; Galen; medical therapy; physiology; soul

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