Divided Legacy: Volume I: The Patterns Emerge: Hippocrates to Paracelsus

Divided Legacy (Vols. I-IV) is a history of Western medical philosophy from the time of Hippocrates to the twentieth century, treating it as a unified system of thought rather than a series of fortuitous discoveries. Dr. Coulter interprets the development of medical ideas as the product of a conflict between two opposed systems of thought, Empiricism and Rationalism.This first volume of Divided Legacy is a history of Western medical philosophy from the time of Hippocrates to Paracelsus. The book opens with analysis and explanations of what, exactly, the differences are between Empiricism and Rationalism, and how the schism manifests in the field of medicine.To Coulter, medical history is an account of how these two attitudes have interacted with one another over the centuries, an investigation into how closely each comes to the ideal represented by the scientific method, and an analysis of how economic, social, political, philosophical, and other non-medical factors have influenced the interaction between Empiricist and Rationalist approaches to medicine.After the philosophical introduction, Volume I proceeds to the ancient Greeks, exploring the approaches of Hippocrates, Aristotle, Galen, and others. The book then analyses the impact Paracelsan revolution on medicine in the sixteenth century, during which Paracelsus mounted the first effective challenge to Galenic medicine. Finally, the book concludes with a historical overview of the various ways that Rationalism and Empiricism have influenced medical practitioners and theorists in light of the preceding chapters, highlighting the views of the books' primary characters.Dr. Harris Coulter (1932-2009) was a native of Baltimore, Maryland, and a graduate of Yale University. He received his PhD from Columbia University. He is the author of numerous articles and several books on acupuncture, osteopathy, herbalism, and alternative health care. Read more