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Darrera modificació: 2013-06-23
Bases de dades: Sciència.cat
Demaitre, Luke E., "The art and science of prognostication in early university medicine", Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 77 (2003), 765-788.
- Resum
- Prognosis occupied a more prominent place in the medieval curriculum than it does at the modern university. Scholastic discussions were rooted in the Hippocratic Aphorisms and shaped by Galen's treatises On Crisis and On Critical Days. Medical prediction, as an art dependent on personal skills such as memory and conjecture, was taught with the aid of the liberal arts of rhetoric and logic. Scientific predictability was sought in branches of mathematics, moving from periodicity and numerology to astronomy. The search for certitude contributed to the cultivation of astrology; even at its peak, however, astrological medicine did not dominate the teaching on prognostication. The ultimate concern, which awaits further discussion, was not even with forecasting as such, but with the physician and, indeed, the patient. Keywords: prognosis, university curriculum, Middle Ages, medical textbooks, Hippocratic legacy, medicine as art and science, course of a disease In his recent book, Death Foretold: Prophecy and Prognosis in Medical Care, Nicholas Christakis pleads with fellow physicians for "a renewed effort to understand and improve the art and science of prognostication." His sociological study is passionate, and it shows far more interest in the future than in the past. In spite of these characteristics--or perhaps because of them--the book may serve as a rearview mirror for a historical exploration. Thus, when the sociologist deplores "the ellipsis of prognosis from contemporary medical thought and practice," he helps us realize.
- Matèries
- Història de la medicina
Universitats i ensenyament
Astronomia i astrologia
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