Galen on the Atomists

Personal physician of the emperors Marcus Aurelius, Commodus, and Septimius Severus, Galen was a multi-faceted intellectual and his extensive writings constitute, by far, the largest surviving corpus of any ancient author. This immense corpus is still not fully explored and continues to surprise scholars and to offer the possibility of new discoveries. This volume provides the first comprehensive analysis of his fierce critique of atomism, which is the most emblematic and disputed example of his polemical accounts, and demonstrates his reliability. It offers a close analysis of Galen's account on atomism, contributing to the current debate on his role as a source on previous and contemporary philosophical and scientific thought, shedding new light on the still little-known relationship between Epicureanism and medicine. It additionally offers a new perspective on the debated question of the philosophical background of Asclepiades' medical corpuscularism. Galen on the Atomists will appeal to students and scholars alike in ancient philosophy, classics, and history of ideas, as well as those studying history of science and medicine.

Ambra Serangeli is a researcher in classics at Tor Vergata University of Rome, Italy, where she teaches history of ancient scientific thought. In 2020 she obtained her PhD in philosophy at the University of Oslo and is currently responsible for two research projects in the field of ancient medicine: The Human Body and the Environment: Ancient Medicine and Complex Adaptive Systems and Spaces and Places of Medicine in Imperial Rome (Next Generation EU-PNRR-Young Researchers funded project).

Part One: Galen's Design Argument vs. Epicurean Evolution in De usu partium Chapter 1 Genesis, Date and Aftermath of Galen's De usu partium Chapter 2 Galen and anatomy as evidence for Nature-demiurge's provident design Chapter 3 The Epicurean theory of adaptation and the case of hand tendons in Galen's De usu partium Chapter 4 Two Notions of Suitability: Lucretius on suitable and monstrous bodies, and their adaptation by extinction Part Two: Galen on Particles in De elementis secundum Hippocratem Chapter 5 De elementis, date and contents Chapter 6 Indivisibility and Immutability of the Atoms in De elementis 6.1 Galen's Use of -- and his Description of the Democritean Atom as an Eleatic One 6.2 The Properties of the Atoms and the Overlap between Ancient Atomism and Epicureanism in Galen's De elementis Chapter 7 The Reception of Atomism in the Late Authors. The Case of Galen's De elementis Chapter 8 Galen against atomic impassibility. The 'needle argument' and its backgro 8.1 Cicero's Account 8.2 Plutarch's Testimony in Adversus Colotem Part Three: Atoms or Molecules? The Nature of Asclepiades' ----- and the Background of his Flux Theory Chapter 9 Nature and meaning of Asclepiades' ----- Chapter 10 The ancient testimonies on the nature of Asclepiades' ----- 10.1 Galen's account 10.2 Sextus' account 10.3 Caelius Aurelianus' account 10.4 Calcidius' account Chapter 11 Asclepiades' flux theory and the Epicurean doctrine of emanations Chapter 12 Asclepiades and Lucretius on Pathology Conclusions Bibliography