Galen: Psychological Writings

New English translations, with accessible commentary, of psychological and ethical writings by Galen, the foremost philosopher-doctor of the ancient world.

This book provides new English translations, with commentary, of psychological writings by Galen, the foremost philosopher-doctor of the ancient world. One previously lost work, Avoiding Distress, is translated here for the first time. This title is part of a new series providing a major new resource for the study of classical medicine.All Galen's surviving shorter works on psychology and ethics - including the recently discovered Avoiding Distress, and the neglected Character Traits, extant only in Arabic - are here presented in one volume in a new English translation, with substantial introductions and notes and extensive glossaries. Original and penetrating analyses are provided of the psychological and philosophical thought, both of the above and of two absolutely central works of Galenic philosophy, Affections and Errors and The Capacities of the Soul, by some of the foremost experts in the field. Each treatise has also been subjected to fresh textual study, taking account of the latest scholarly developments, and is presented with accompanying textual discussions, adding greatly to the value and accuracy of the work without detracting from its accessibility to a wider readership. The volume thus makes a major contribution to the understanding of the ancient world's most prominent doctor-philosopher in his intellectual context.