Galen on Ethics and Human Nature

Erscheinungsjahr 2025
ISBN: 978-90-04-72780-9
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 174, 278 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm

Reihe: Philosophia Antiqua

This monograph presents a full picture of Galen’s ethics. It expounds his view on human character and morality as based on his account of human nature (including his reception of Plato and Aristotle). This book reveals Galen’s substantial contribution to the philosophical debate on the parts and powers of our soul and their connection with the body. Thereby, it also delves into the lively academic debate on the best handling of emotions like anger or distress including their medical implications. Paying attention also to the religious side of Galen’s moral thought, the monograph contributes to a complete recollection of Galen—not only as the doctor but also as the ethical philosopher he was.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Trompeter, Julia

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Ethik, Moralphilosophie
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Alte Geschichte & Archäologie Geschichte der klassischen Antike
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Geschichte der Westlichen Philosophie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgements VII

Introduction 0.1 Galen’s Approach to Ethics 0.2 Galen’s Ethical Work and Secondary Literature 0.3 The Structure of the Book 0.4 A Biographical Note

Part 1: The Natural Foundation of Ethics: Galen’s Moral Psychology

1 Galen’s Psychological Model

2 Voluntary Motion in Galen 2.1 What Is Voluntary Motion? 2.2 The Function of the Nerves in Voluntary Motion 2.3 How the Heart Affects the Brain 2.4 How the Liver Affects the Brain 2.5 The Agency of Spirit and Appetite 2.6 Concluding Remarks

3 The Physical Causes of Affections: the Substance of Anger

4 Heating and Cooling the Brain — Emotions and Mental Diseases in Concert 4.1 Ethical and Medical Affections 4.2 Disease, Pathos and Symptom 4.3 An Illness Called Rage 4.4 Unlike Siblings: Distress, Depression and Melancholy 4.5 Concluding Remarks

Part 2: Galen’s Ethical Approach

5 The Rationality of Non-rational Beings: Plants, Animals, Little Children and the Lower Parts of the Soul 5.1 Love, Hate and Desire: The Activation of the Appetitive Part of the Soul 5.2 Anger and Revenge: the Activation of the Spirited Part of the Soul 5.3 Shame: the Activation of the Rational Part of the Soul

6 Moral Character and Its Therapeutical Consequences 6.1 Natural Character Traits and the Determination of Character 6.2 The Education of the Soul 6.3 The Justice of the Soul: Moral Virtue in Galen’s Psychology

7 Affections and Errors in Galen’s Moral Psychology 7.1 A Note on the History of the Affections 7.2 Galen on Metriopatheia and Apatheia 7.3 Galen’s Concept of the Great-Souled Man

8 Psychology and Theology in Galen’s Ethics 8.1 Why Theology? 8.2 The Best Doctor Is Also a Diviner 8.3 Creation from Within: Divine Causation and the Creation of the Irrational Soul 8.4 The Special Status of the Rational Soul 8.5 The Rational Soul and Its Deputies 8.6 Galen’s Epistemological Caution 8.7 Concluding Remarks

Conclusion

Bibliography

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Julia Trompeter (1980) is an independent scholar and novellist. She has published articles on Galen' s moral psychology and co-translated Byzantine philosophy. Most recently, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship in 'The Galen Project' at Utrecht University.