The Ancient World Pt 1 Flashcards
Who is broadly credited for inventing science and scientific curiosity? what?
Greek philosophers, natural historians, physicians
what is science?
An explanation that is more than facts, and not supernatural. Rational.
What are the attributes of the Greek Character that were uncommon among other civilizations? (6)
Humanism: center of interest was people and not devine world
Rationalism: Logic
Curiosity: How world works
Individualism: descent from majority beliefs
Pursuit of excellenece: competition and winning
Love of freedom: For men greek civilization
What assumptions did the Greeks make about the world and its study?
There is hidden order underlying the natural world, and this order is innate, and not imposed from outside nature by gods and this order can be discerned by the human mind
The greeks tried to find natural causes by things of two means
1) active investigation
2) reason and observation
Why did Greeks discard religious and supernatural explanations of the world?
the greek religion had no complete, systematic explination of the world
the greek gods took little interest in the world and its people
the greek gods had human characteristics and faults
priests did not dominate greek civilization
Who were the main philosophers of the Milesian school?
Thales of miletus (main founder) Anaximander, and Anaimenes.
What happened to the writings of Thales, Anaximander, and Anaimenes?
Thales left no writings and perhaps was illiterate. But some of his views, and the views of Anaximander and anaximenes, were put down in the historical record by Aristotle in his book metaphysics
Thales Dates
650-580 BC
Who did later Greek Philosophers regard as the first natural philospher?
Thales
what were Thales teaching? (3)
the earth is a disc surrounded on all sides by water
water is the beginning of all things, the fundamental element out of which all else is made
the forces that cause change in matter are consolidation and expansion
according to Thales what were earthquakes?
the water being disturbed around the earth disc
according to thales teachings why were shells in the soil?
shells in the soil meant that the dirt used to be water
because of what the Milesian can lay a claim to have invented science?
their naturalism and their ideas on the unity of matter
Who was Empedocles? What are his dates?
492-432 BC
Philospher, materialist and had a casual view of nature. Created the 4 element model
Empedocles and Thales shared what common views?
materialist and causal views
What is the four element model?
Fire, air, water, and earth compose everything
These elements combine and dissociate because of two forces: love and hate
What was Empodeocles biology relating to blood and evolution of animals?
- we think primarily with our blood, because the four elements are most evenly mingled in blood
- animals have evolved overtime from bizarre ancestors. Original ancestors came from separate limbs, torsos, and heads that arose from earth and randomly combined
Who did Darwin honour for “foreshadowing natural selection?”
Empodocles
Democritus dates and what did he represent? Why was he important?
460-370 BC
he represented the peak of the first period of Greek philosophy. He was the foremost ancient atomist and a skeptic of religion
Where did Democritus learn his atomism from?
Leucippus
What is Democriitus’s atomism and views of qualities of matter?
- atoms are infinite in number and shape
- qualities of matter derive from the number, size, shape and motion of the atoms of which matter is composed
what were Democritus view of his atomism and biology, in terms of life and soul, respiration, sleep, asphyxia and death, and sensory perception?
- life and the soul are the same thing. The soul consists of fire atoms
- respiration brings in a fresh supply of fire atoms from the air
- Sleep, asphyxia, and death are all due to loss of fire atoms
- Sensory perception is due to the movement of atoms from the perceived object to the perceiver, and they interact with fire atoms
What biological beliefs did Democritus have about the brain, heart and liver?
Brain is organ of thought
Heart is organ of courage
Liver is organ of sensuality
what did democrtus think about religion
there are no divine beings, impersonal necessity and natural law govern the world
Who was the first person to take scientific interest in animal anatomy?
Democritus
what were the limitations of the first period of greek natural philosophy?
not experimental just did observations
chemistry did not develop beyond atomic theory
When was Hippocrates alive?
460-361 BC
what were some aspects of early greek medicine?
focused on religion and magical cures
purely secular healers arose who called themselves asclepiads (Greek god of medicine)
Life of Hippocrates:
Where was he born?
Where did he travel?
What was he famous for?
Born in cos to an Asclepiad father
Traveled in Balkans and Asia Minor
Practiced on Cos and Thessaly
What legends surrounded Hippocrates name?
- honey from a hive on his tomb had healing powers
- cured democritus of insanity
any writing we have of Hippocrates were written by who? What are they called?
Likely written by his followers not him. since the sources of the writings are difficult to determine, they are simply called the “Hippocratic collection or Hippocratic Corpus”
what was hipporatics thoughts on religion? Was he an athiest?
he rejected religion and the supernatural in medicine, but he was not an athiest.
Hippocratics were suspicious of what theory?
broad theory: had one theory, humoral
What high ethical standards did Hippocrates have?
Oath
Aphorism
Sometimes best thing is to do nothing
Importance in welfare of the patient
what was the Hippocratic method?
observe all, using all your senses- sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste
gather observations without prejudice of theory or expectation
study the patient rather than the disease- age diet, sleeping habits, dreams
evaluate honestly; learn the probable outcomes of illnesses and tell the patient
assist nature to heal the patient; the body has the power to heal itself, the physician just needs to assist
How did Emedocles, Hippocrates and Galens (lived many centuries after) physiology of the four elements/humours relate?
Empdeocles - Air, Fire, Earth, Water
Hippocrates - Blood, Yellow bile, black bile, phlegm
Galen - Cheerful, chloric, melancholic, phlagmatic
Hippocrates believed the humours correspond with elements. Galen tried to link humours to psychological
Hippocratics pathology in many cases appealed to what? What were the phases of illness?
an imbalance of humours
1. Degeneration of humours; unbalanced - the whole body is sick
2. Crisis: patient will or will not recover
3. Rebalancing of humours, evacuates the humours such as by vomitting
How do hippocrates views of pathology contrast with Rudolf Virchows (1858)?
Virchow linked diseases to cells not humours, therefore, the whole body is not sick
What was the hippocratic view of inheritance?
tranmission of gemules from all parts of the body to sex organs, later named pangenesis by Darwin
Why was dissection and vivisection (especially of people) not commonly performed during Hippocrates era?
was illegal , hard to find bodies, people were scared of ghosts
what was the concept of Pneuma believed by Hippocrates?
The life enters the lung, is taken to the left side of the heart, and is distributed by the arteries to the body to sustain it
what was early Hippocratics view on the brain?
it was a radiator that cools the blood and seperates water and mucus
was was the later Hippocratics view on the brain, under the influence of Democritus?
believed that the brain is the center of thought and feeling
What was the Hippocratics treatment? Were patients diagnosed? What treatments were performed?
Diagnosis was not emphasized, hippocratics could name few diseases. Believed sickness was just sickness
Therapy
- gentle
- environment and diet was a big factor
- baths, ointments, drugs such as emetics and laxatives
- narcotics such as opium
- surgery
- set fractures
- blood letting
What was/is the Hippocratic Oath?
Contained ethical principles, some thought it was christian (even though christianity was not around yet)
