Philosophy and Medicine in the Formative Period of Islam
- Author(s)
- Edited by Peter Adamson and Peter Pormann
- Series
- Warburg Institute Colloquia
Description
Many of the leading philosophers in the Islamic world were doctors, yielding extensive links between philosophy and medicine. The twelve papers in this volume explore these links, focusing on the classical or formative period (up to the eleventh century AD). One central theme is the Arabic reception of Greek figures who worked on medicine or medical topics, including Hippocrates, Aristotle and Galen. Several of the luminaries of philosophy in the early Islamic world are also studied, including Abū Bakr al-Rāzī, al-Fārābī, and Avicenna. Conversely, the volume also includes research on the use of philosophical ideas in medical authors, including ʿAlī ibn Riḍwān. Attention is also given to the connections between medicine and Islamic theology (kalām). As a whole, the book provides both a survey of the kinds of work being done in this relatively unexplored area, and a springboard for further research.
Table of contents
Introduction - PETER ADAMSON AND PETER E. PORMANN
Philosophical Topics in Medieval Arabic Medical Discourse: Problems and Prospects - PETER E. PORMANN
Hippocrates of Cos in Arabic Gnomologia - OLIVER OVERWIEN
Length and Shortness of Life Between Philosophy and Medicine: The Arabic Aristotle and his Medical Readers - ROTRAUD HANSBERGER
Al-Ǧāḥiẓ, Falsafa and the Arabic Hippocrates - JAMES MONTGOMERY
Early Kalām and the Medical Tradition - GREGOR SCHWARB
Abū Bakr al-Rāzī on Vision - PAULINE KOETSCHET
The Consolations of Philosophy: Abū Zayd al-Balḫī and Abū Bakr al-Rāzī on Sorrow and Anger - PETER ADAMSON AND HANS HINRICH BIESTERFELDT
Beyond the Disciplines of Medicine and Philosophy: Greek and Arabic Thinkers on the Nature of Plant Life - AILEEN DAS
Al-Ṭabarī and al-Ṭabarī: Compendia between Medicine and Philosophy - ELVIRA WAKELNIG
Cosmic, Corporeal and Civil Regencies: al-Fārābī’s anti-Galenic Defence of Hierarchical Cardiocentrism - BADR EL-FEKKAK
The Small Canon of Medicine (al-Qānūn al-ṣaġīr fī l-ṭibb) Ascribed to Avicenna - RAPHAELA VEIT
ʿAlī ibn Riḍwān on the Philosophical Distinction of Medicine - HANS HINRICH BIESTERFELDT
Index
Philosophical Topics in Medieval Arabic Medical Discourse: Problems and Prospects - PETER E. PORMANN
Hippocrates of Cos in Arabic Gnomologia - OLIVER OVERWIEN
Length and Shortness of Life Between Philosophy and Medicine: The Arabic Aristotle and his Medical Readers - ROTRAUD HANSBERGER
Al-Ǧāḥiẓ, Falsafa and the Arabic Hippocrates - JAMES MONTGOMERY
Early Kalām and the Medical Tradition - GREGOR SCHWARB
Abū Bakr al-Rāzī on Vision - PAULINE KOETSCHET
The Consolations of Philosophy: Abū Zayd al-Balḫī and Abū Bakr al-Rāzī on Sorrow and Anger - PETER ADAMSON AND HANS HINRICH BIESTERFELDT
Beyond the Disciplines of Medicine and Philosophy: Greek and Arabic Thinkers on the Nature of Plant Life - AILEEN DAS
Al-Ṭabarī and al-Ṭabarī: Compendia between Medicine and Philosophy - ELVIRA WAKELNIG
Cosmic, Corporeal and Civil Regencies: al-Fārābī’s anti-Galenic Defence of Hierarchical Cardiocentrism - BADR EL-FEKKAK
The Small Canon of Medicine (al-Qānūn al-ṣaġīr fī l-ṭibb) Ascribed to Avicenna - RAPHAELA VEIT
ʿAlī ibn Riḍwān on the Philosophical Distinction of Medicine - HANS HINRICH BIESTERFELDT
Index
Reviews
Philosophy and Medicine in the Formative Period of Islam exhibits careful textual and historical scholarship at its best and successfully shows that the reception of Galen in early Islamic intellectual history was more complicated than we sometimes suppose.