Galen and the Arabic Reception of Plato's Timaeus

This first full-length study of the Arabic reception of Plato's Timaeus explores how Galen of Pergamum used the dialogue's cosmological scheme to expand the boundaries of medicine and claim epistemic authority. It also shows how Christian, Muslim, and Jewish thinkers in the Arabic Middle Ages creatively interpreted key doctrines from the Timaeus to reimagine medicine and philosophy and their own intellectual identities.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 257 pages
Publication date: 10 March 2022
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

This first full-length study of the Arabic reception of Plato's Timaeus explores the influential role of Galen of Pergamum (129–c. 216 CE) in shaping medieval perceptions of the text as transgressing disciplinary norms. It argues that Galen strategically employed the intricate cosmological framework of the dialogue, where diverse connections unite the body, soul, and cosmos, to expand the boundaries of medicine in his quest for epistemic authority—the right to define and explain natural reality. Aileen Das contextualizes Galen's work on disciplinary boundaries within the historical context of medicine's ancient rivalry with philosophy, where philosophers were long regarded as superior cosmologists compared to doctors. Through her case studies, Das demonstrates how Galen and four of the most significant Christian, Muslim, and Jewish thinkers in the Arabic Middle Ages creatively interpreted key doctrines from the Timaeus to reimagine medicine and philosophy as well as their own intellectual identities.

This first full-length study of the Arabic reception of Plato's Timaeus explores the influential role of Galen of Pergamum (129–c. 216 CE) in shaping medieval perceptions of the text as transgressing disciplinary norms. It argues that Galen strategically employed the intricate cosmological framework of the dialogue, where diverse connections unite the body, soul, and cosmos, to expand the boundaries of medicine in his quest for epistemic authority—the right to define and explain natural reality. Aileen Das contextualizes Galen's work on disciplinary boundaries within the historical context of medicine's ancient rivalry with philosophy, where philosophers were long regarded as superior cosmologists compared to doctors. Through her case studies, Das demonstrates how Galen and four of the most significant Christian, Muslim, and Jewish thinkers in the Arabic Middle Ages creatively interpreted key doctrines from the Timaeus to reimagine medicine and philosophy as well as their own intellectual identities.

Weight: 446g
Dimension: 151 x 229 x 16 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781108730730
Edition number: New ed