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Humanities and Scientific English - mod. HISTORY OF MEDICINE
STEFANIA FORTUNA

Seat Medicina e Chirurgia
A.A. 2013-2014
Credits 3
Hours 30
Period 1^ semestre
Language ENG
U-gov code MU01-09-11 LS015D

Development of the course

History of medicine from the ancient world to the twenty century: physicians, theories, therapies, hospitals, universities, bioethics.

Learning outcomes

To know the past in order to understand the present.

Program

Ancient medicine: Homer’s myths, Asclepius’ cult, the medical literature from Hippocrates to Galen, philosophers’ contribution to anthropology, biology, anatomy, and epistemology. Decline and revival of medicine in the Middle Ages: the foundation of universities and hospitals in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The medical humanists and their new translations of Galen from Greek, which are important for the medicinal renewal in the sixteenth century: Andreas Vesalius and his human anatomy in contrast to the animal anatomy of Galen. The first biological revolution in the seventeenth century: William Harvey and the discovery of blood circulation. The evolution of medicine and the achievements of the second biological revolution in the nineteenth century: from microscopic anatomy to Claude Bernard’s physiology and Rudolf Virchow’s cellular pathology; from miasmic theory to Louis Pasteur’s germs and Robert Koch’s postulates; the history of hospitals and mental asylums. Two lectures are dedicated to “evolution and human races”: Charles Darwin e Cesare Lombroso.

Development of the examination

Written test

Recommended reading

One of the following textbooks:

R. Porter, Breve ma veridica storia della medicina occidentale. Roma, Carocci, 2011.

G. Cosmacini, L’arte lunga. Storia della medicina dall’antichità a oggi, Roma, Bari, Laterza, 2011.

L.R. Angeletti e V. Gazzaniga, Storia, filosofia ed etica generale della medicina, Milano, Parigi, Barcellona, Masson, 2004.

The following chapters:

M. Gibson, Nati per il crimine. Cesare Lombroso e le origini della criminologia biologica. Milano, Mondadori, 2004, cap. 3 (Razza e criminalità)

E. Mayr, L’unicità della biologia. Sull’autonomia di una disciplina scientifica. Milano, Cortina, 2005, capp. 5-6 (L’influenza di Darwin sul pensiero odierno, Le cinque teorie darwiniane dell’evoluzione)

R.M. Nesse e G.C. Williams, Perché ci ammaliamo. Torino, Einaudi, 1999, capp. 1, 7, 9 (Il mistero della malattia, Geni e malattie, L’eredità della storia evolutiva).

Reference book:

Storia del pensiero medico occidentale, a cura di M. Grmek, voll. 3, Laterza, Roma, Bari, 1993-1998.

Courses

• Medicina e Chirurgia