Introduction: Medicine, Life, and Transformations of Matter.
Ambix
; : 233-242, 2024 Sep 12.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-39263879
ABSTRACT
This Ambix special issue explores premodern alchemical ideas and practices in their entanglements with medicine. It employs diverse methods, from traditional close reading to the new distant-reading framework of computational humanities, to investigate alchemical thought over a timespan of several centuries. In medieval times, everyday practices could offer heuristic models of material transformation - such as the fermentation of bread as a model for metallic transmutation (Schmechel). Paracelsus relied on "fire" to link his natural philosophy with his medical alchemy; new computational methods show how his ideas evolved over time (Hedesan). Early modern medical pluralism favoured the thriving of chemical medicine in Italy; diplomatic efforts introduced chemical remedies into acknowledged pharmacopoeias (Clericuzio). An English physician offers William Cavendish both practical distillation recipes and the hope of learning more about the principles of chemistry (Begley). In eighteenth-century France, Diderot draws on chemical ideas to blur the conceptual boundary between living and non-living matter (Wolfe). The papers largely adhere to integrated history and philosophy of science (iHPS) and to a pragmatist "operational ideal of knowledge" (Chang). They showcase the interdisciplinarity of premodern scientific thought and examine how medicine and alchemy, but also theory and (everyday) practice informed each other fruitfully across the ages.
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Ambix
Año:
2024
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Alemania
Pais de publicación:
Reino Unido