04462 - History of Science and Technique

Learning outcomes

The history of science is by now a discipline present in almost all Italian universities and part of many degree courses of study, both in the humanities and sciences. The central role this course plays in university education is principally based on two fundamental motivations: 1) the recognition of the history of science as an ideal discipline in order to surpass the problematic fracture between humanist culture and scientific culture 2) the evidence that the development of science and technology is the most decisive and apparent aspect of the contemporary world. The history of science and technique course is therefore firstly characterised by its highly interdisciplinary content and by the possibility to offer outlooks of analysis and study that differ from and are alternative to the traditional approach of fields of knowledge, both in the humanist and scientific worlds.

Course contents

Nature and Art in the Ancient World. Origins and Development of the Medical Art from Antiquity to the early Middle Ages

Is it possible to trace back to the Antiquity some elements of the modern debate on the relationships between science and technology, between scientific research and its practical applications? The same terms of the question recall ancient words, such as scientia and ars in Latin, or technē and logos in ancient Greek. These terms were differently interpreted and explained by ancient philosophers. How did the Ancients conceptualize the relationship between science and technique, between practice, empirical approach and theory, between natural and artificial?

In order to explore these questions, the course will focus on the history of a specific case study, namely medicine. We will examine the origins and development of medicine from classical Antiquity up to the early Middle Ages, by paying particular attention to the relationships between science, philosophy and magic, between medical practice and natural philosophy. Ancient medicine will be contextualized in the wider debate that Ancients promoted on the concepts of technē/ars and 'nature'.

Specific topics covered in the classes will be:

The concept of technē/ars in Antiquity (c. 10 hours)

The origins of Greek medicine (c. 5 hours)

The Hippocratic medicine (c. 10 hours)

Medicine in the Hellenistic Times (c. 10 hours)

Medicine in Rome (c. 5 hours)

Galen of Pergamum (c. 10 hours)

The reception of Greek medicine in Byzantium as well as in the Syriac and Arabic traditions (c. 10 hours)

The classes will start on September, 24 (First term)

Monday 9-11 (aula A, Via Centotrecento),

Tuesday 9-11 (aula A, Via Centotrecento),

Wednesday 9-11 (aula C, Via Centotrecento)

Readings/Bibliography

(A) Mirko D. Grmek (ed.), Western Medical Thought from Antiquity to the Middle Ages (Cambridge, Mass. - London: Harvard University Press, 1998), pp. 1-169 + 273-290

Chapters: Introduction (Mirko D. Grmek); The Birth of Western Medical Art (Jacques Jouanna); Between Knowledge and Practice: Hellenistic Medicine (Mario Vegetti); The Paths of Knowledge: Medicine in the Roman World (Danielle Gourevitch); Reception and Tradition: Medicine in the Byzantine and Arab World (Gotthard Stohmaier) + Therapeutic strategies: Drugs (Alain Touwaide).

(B) A paper to be chosen among (students can contact me to agree on different articles):

(1) Mario Vegetti, "Technai e filosofia nel Peri technes pseudo-ippocratico", Atti dell'Accademia delle Scienze di Torino, vol. 98 (1964), pp. 1-73.

(2) Margherita Isnardi Parente,Techne. Momenti del pensiero greco da Platone a Epicuro (Firenze: La Nuova Italia, 1966), cap. I ('Le idee degli oggetti fabbricati'), pp. 1-97.

(3) Margherita Isnardi Parente,Techne. Momenti del pensiero greco da Platone a Epicuro (Firenze: La Nuova Italia, 1966), cap. II ('Techne e ontologia'), pp. 97-202.

(4) Mario Vegetti, "L'immagine del medico e lo statuto epistemologico della medicina" in Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt II 37.2, pp. 1672-1717.

(C) Students who attended the classes will read (in translation) one treatise of the following list; students who could not attend the classes, will read two treatises (in translation) of the same list:

(1) Hippocrates, On ancient medicine (De prisca medicina). Suggested translation: W.H.S. Jones, Hippocrates (London, Cambridge, Mass.: Loeb, 1948), vol 1, pp. 1-64. 

(2) Hippocrates, The Sacred disease (De morbo sacro). Suggested translation: W.H.S. Jones, Hippocrates (London, Cambridge, Mass.: Loeb, 1952), vol 2, pp. 127-183.

(3) Hippocrates, Nature of Man (De natura hominis) + The Art (De arte). These two writings will count as a single treatise. Suggested translation: W.H.S. Jones, Hippocrates (London, Cambridge, Mass.: Loeb, 1952-53), vol. 2, pp. 185-217 and vol 4, pp. 1-41.

(4) Galen, An Exhortation to Study the Arts (Exhortatio ad medicinam). Suggested translation: P. Singer, Galen, Selected Works (Oxford: Oxford World's Classics), pp. 35-52.

(5) Galen, On the Constitution of the Art of Medicine (De costitutione artis medicae ad Patrophilum). Suggested translation: I. Johnson, Galen. On theConstitution of the Art of medicine, The Art of Medicine, A Method of Medicine to Glaucon (Cambridge, Mass.: Loeb, 2016), pp. 14-133.

Teaching methods

Traditional lectures about the topics of the course;

Relevant passages of both medical and philosophical ancient sources will be read and commented on during the classes.

Students will be encouraged to deliver short presentations on particular topics (either individually or in groups)

Assessment methods

The exam consists in an oral interview during which the methodological and critical skills acquired by the student will be evaluated . The student will be invited to discuss the texts covered during the course and to contextualise them in their historical epoch. The achievement of a systematic knowlege of the issues addressed during the classes and a critical approach to the sources combined with precision of language will be assessed with marks of excellence (28-30). Mechanical and / or mnemonic knowledge of the texts combined with scholastic exposé will be assessed by good marking (23-27); training gaps and superficial contextualization and knoledge of the texts will be assessed with sufficient markings (18-22). Lacks of any of the above requirements will lead to a negative marking.

Teaching tools

Use of ppt slides and multimedia educational tools.

Office hours

See the website of Matteo Martelli