Tradition as the genealogy of truth Hippocrates and Boerhaave between assimilation, variation and deviation
Lo Presti, R.; Boerhaave, H.
Studies in Ancient Medicine 35: 475-522
2010
ISSN/ISBN: 0925-1421 PMID: 21560590 Document Number: 640181
It is a matter of fact that rarely in the history of modern medicine has a physician gained such immediate and universal fame, and rarely has his contribution to medical knowledge and teaching been so promptly and almost unanimously recognized as a fundamental and, so to speak, a foundational one, as in the case of Boerhaave. In fact, the contribution he gave to provide medicine with a 'scientific' framework, and medical teaching with solid methodological bases, proved decisive. Otherwise, his appraisal of the Ancients (and especially of Hippocrates) and his will to refer to Hippocrates as a model for medical teaching were proverbial. Taking the corpus of his orations as a point of reference, I will thus try to elucidate 1) Boerhaave's main focus and theoretical goals; 2) the argumentative and methodological strategies he adopted in order to achieve them; 3) the position that the key-concept of 'tradition', the figure of Hippocrates, and the notion of 'Hippocratism' hold within these strategies.