Microcosm and macrocosm: the dual direction of analogy in Hippocratic thought and the meteorological tradition

Blay, Frédéric Le

doi:10.1163/9789004377271_015

Cited by 30 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…Acceptant ces principes, le médecin grec Hippocrate (460-377 av. J.-C.), dans le traité De hebdomadibus, utilise le corps humain comme modèle pour interpréter la Terre, donnant naissance à la représentation makranthropique du monde [9]. Ainsi, l'intérieur rocheux de la Terre correspond aux os, les parties plus fragiles qui l'entourent à la chair, les rivières aux veines, les sources chaudes à la moelle épinière, les étangs et les marais aux intestins, les mers aux fluides viscéraux, l'air au souffle dans le corps.…”

Section: La Métaphore De La Terre Humaineunclassified

“…L'océan et le cycle hydrologique ont notamment été interprétés par les penseurs grecs et latins de l'Antiquité en utilisant le corps humain comme modèle. Dans le traité Meteorologica, Aristote évoque ainsi l'origine de la salinité des océans : « La mer est une sorte de sueur, exsudée par la Terre lorsque le soleil la chauffe, ce qui explique sa salinité, toute sueur étant salée [9][…] la mer salée en tant qu'incarnation finale du flux fluvial rappelle opportunément la salinité de l'urine. » Le philosophe stoïcien latin Sénèque, dans son traité Naturales Quaestiones, se tourne vers le sang comme modèle pour l'eau de la Terre : « L'idée me plaît que la Terre soit gouvernée par la nature et ressemble beaucoup au système de notre propre corps dans lequel il y a à la fois des veines, réceptacles du sang, et des artères, réceptacles de l'air.…”

Section: La Métaphore De La Terre Humaineunclassified

“…Dans la Terre aussi, il y a des voies où l'eau coule, d'autres où l'air passe. Et la nature a façonné ces voies si semblables au corps humain que nos ancêtres les ont même appelées "veines d'eau" [9]. » Le renouveau de la pensée de l'Antiquité grecque et latine à la Renaissance ravive l'idée ancienne du microcosme et du macrocosme comme outil pour conceptualiser la Terre.…”

Section: La Métaphore De La Terre Humaineunclassified

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Les océans au bord de la crise d'asthme

Aloisi

2024

Météorologie

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L'acidification et la désoxygénation des océans sont des conséquences des émissions anthropiques de CO2 qui restent largement méconnues du grand public. Cela s'explique par la complexité des processus physiques et chimiques mis en jeu. Communiquer sur ces enjeux nécessite d'utiliser un langage simple et psychologiquement efficace. Ici, je propose de revisiter la tradition philosophique ancienne qui conceptualise la Terre (macrocosme) comme étant une copie à grande échelle du corps humain (microcosme). Un système unique d'équations mathématiques existe permettant de calculer à la fois la composition chimique du corps humain et de l'océan, fournissant des bases solides à cette analogie. L'acidification et la désoxygénation des océans peuvent ainsi être expliquées comme étant le résultat d'une attaque d'asthme à l'échelle planétaire, fournissant aux communicateurs un outil qui introduit des processus océaniques complexes utilisant un vocabulaire accessible au grand public. Ocean acidification and deoxygenation are consequences of anthropogenic CO2 emissions that remain largely unknown to the general public. This is due to the complexity of the physical and chemical processes involved. Communicating these issues requires simple, psychologically effective language. I revisited the ancient philosophical tradition that conceptualizes the Earth (macrocosm) as a large-scale copy of the human body (microcosm). A unique system of mathematical equations exists that calculates the chemical composition of both the human body and the ocean, providing a solid foundation for this analogy. Ocean acidification and deoxygenation can thus be explained as the result of a planetary-scale asthma attack, providing communicators with a tool that introduces these complex oceanic processes using a vocabulary accessible to the general public.

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Section: La Métaphore De La Terre Humaineunclassified

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Les océans au bord de la crise d'asthme

Aloisi

2024

Météorologie

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“…The Hippocratic work Airs Waters Places (5 th BC) is one of the earliest manuscripts we have that attests to these ideas. It detailed the types of diseases associated with specific landscapes and explained why people from the same areas had similar physiques and mental temperaments, as the writer said, it was a general rule that people were affected by the nature of the land in which they inhabited (Airs Waters Places 24; see also Hulskamp 2012;Le Blay 2005;Lo Presti 2012). The ideas expressed in this work were prominent in a variety of Roman texts, as indicated above.…”

Section: How Was Pure Air Defined and Identified?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying the connection between Roman conceptions of ‘Pure Air’ and physical and mental health in Pompeian gardens (c.150 BC–AD 79): a multi-sensory approach to ancient medicine

Baker¹

2022

The Archaeology of Medicine and Healthcare

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Different genres of Roman literature commented on the relationship between the condition of the environment and physical and mental health. They often refer to clear, pure, or good air as a beneficial aspect of the environment. Yet, unlike fetid air, they provide few descriptions of what constituted healthy air quality. Moreover, aside from pointing out the association between the environment and bodily condition, the writers also did not explain precisely how the link between the two was made. This paper utilizes a comparative study of ancient literature and the archaeological remains of Roman gardens in Pompeii: archaeobotanical samples, fresco paintings, location, and surviving features. Three questions are addressed in this study: First, how did the Romans identify and define pure? Second, how did air connect to the body?Third, what were the qualities of pure air and how did they benefit the body? Not only was inhalation a means of linking air to the body, but the two were also related through sensory perception. I argue that sight, sound, and olfaction were used to identify the qualities of pure air. Through the sensory process of identification, the beneficial properties of pure air were, in accordance with ancient perceptions of sensory function, taken into the body and affected health. Thus, sensory perception acted as the bridge between the environment and health.

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“…Mansfeld (1980) 347: 'It is somewhat paradoxical that a consistently cosmological brand of medicine is to be found only in marginal treatises of the Corpus such as Regimen -and of course also outside the Corpus, as in the system of Philistion of Locri, whom Plato to an extent followed in the medical section of his own cosmological treatise, Timaeus.' See also Le Blay (2005) 252-53, who ascribes the same approach to the author of Fleshes, which begins its account with a brief description of the creation of the cosmos before turning to the formation of man from the very same elements and by means of similar formations. Nevertheless, it should be noted that unlike in On Regimen and On Sevens, there is nothing explicit about the micro-macrocosmic relations in Fleshes.…”

Section: Cosmic Holismmentioning

confidence: 99%