Reinventing Hippocrates

David Cantor editor

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd

Published:15th Nov '16

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

This paperback is available in another edition too:

Reinventing Hippocrates cover

The name of Hippocrates has been invoked as an inspiration of medicine since antiquity, and medical practitioners have turned to Hippocrates for ethical and social standards. While most modern commentators accept that medicine has sometimes fallen short of Hippocratic ideals, these ideals are usually portrayed as having a timeless appeal, departure from which is viewed as an aberration that only a return to Hippocratic values will correct. Recent historical work has begun to question such an image of Hippocrates and his medicine. Instead of examining Hippocratic ideals and values as an unchanging legacy passed to us from antiquity, historians have increasingly come to explore the many different ways in which Hippocrates and his medicine have been constructed and reconstructed over time. Thus scholars have tended to abandon attempts to extract a real Hippocrates from the mass of conflicting opinions about him. Rather, they tend to ask why he was portrayed in particular ways, by particular groups, at particular times. This volume explores the multiple uses, constructions, and meanings of Hippocrates and Hippocratic medicine since the Renaissance, and elucidates the cultural and social circumstances that shaped their development. Recent research has suggested that whilst the process of constructing and reconstructing Hippocrates began during antiquity, it was during the sixteenth century that the modern picture emerged. Many scholastic endeavours today, it is claimed, are attempts to answer Hippocratic questions first posed in the sixteenth century. This book provides an opportunity to begin to evaluate such claims, and to explore their relevance in areas beyond those of classical scholarship.

’...stimulating and accessible...superb collection of essays by international scholars, under the judicious editorship of David Cantor.’ The Lancet '... What a good idea this was for a book... not only a good idea in theory but also a well-executed one in practice... An introduction and thirteen essays of a uniformly high standard address the theme without straying... a most rewarding read about a man who was all things to all doctors.' Medical History '... these fine articles illuminate a legacy that has previously been subjected to limited analytic reflection, and they will provide a provocative point of reference for medical historians of many different periods.' British Journal for the History of Science

ISBN: 9781138263550

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 453g

352 pages