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Atheist Therapy: Radical Embodiment in Early Modern Medical Materialism.

Materialism as a doctrine is, of course, a part of the history of philosophy, even if it was often a polemical construct, and it took until the 18th century for philosophers to be willing to call themselves materialists. Difficulties also have been pointed out in terms of "continuity," i.e., does wh...

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Published in:Diametros: An Online Journal of Philosophy Vol. 22; no. 83; pp. 75 - 91
Main Author: Wolfe, Charles T.
Format: Article
Published: Diametros: An Online Journal of Philosophy Mar2025
Subjects:
History of medicine
Eighteenth century
Materialism
Naturalism
Philosophers
Soul
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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      dt: Mar2025
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      pub: Diametros: An Online Journal of Philosophy
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        10.33392/diam.1881
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        atl: Atheist Therapy: Radical Embodiment in Early Modern Medical Materialism.
      aug:
        au: Wolfe, Charles T.
        affil: Département de Philosophie & ERRAPHIS, Université de Toulouse Jean-Jaurès 5 Allée A. Machado 31058 Toulouse Cedex 9 France
      su:
        History of medicine
        Eighteenth century
        Materialism
        Naturalism
        Philosophers
        Soul
      sug:
        subj:
          History of medicine
          Eighteenth century
          Materialism
          Naturalism
          Philosophers
          Soul
      keyword:
        Iatromechanism
        medical materialism
        reductionism
        soul (immortality of)
      ab: Materialism as a doctrine is, of course, a part of the history of philosophy, even if it was often a polemical construct, and it took until the 18th century for philosophers to be willing to call themselves materialists. Difficulties also have been pointed out in terms of "continuity," i.e., does what Democritus, Lucretius, Hobbes and Diderot have to say about matter, the body and the soul all belong in one discursive and conceptual frame? Interestingly, materialism is also a classic figure in the history of medicine, often intersecting with philosophical considerations. Notably, the question of body-soul relations. This is apparent in Galen's treatise on body and soul and then much more massively in the early modern period (with reference to Galen, but also Lucretius, and Aristotelian naturalism). In the following essay I reflect on the exact nature of early modern medical materialism, its philosophical status and contribution.
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    language: English
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      custom: Copyright of Diametros: An Online Journal of Philosophy is the property of Diametros: An Online Journal of Philosophy and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.
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