Medicine before Science: The Business of Medicine from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment [Paperback]

Roger French (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521007615 | ISBN-13: 978-0521007610 | Publication Date: March 24, 2003 | Edition: 1

This book is an introduction to the history of university-trained physicians from the Middle Ages to the eighteenth-century Enlightenment. While considered elite (in reputation and rewards) and successful, we know little of their clinical effectiveness. To modern eyes their theory and practice often seems bizarre. But historical evidence reveals that they were judged on other criteria, and this book asserts that these physicians helped to construct and meet the expectations of society.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...a useful, important, and welcomed contribution to the bookshelf of every student of premodern science." Bulletin of the History of Medicine

"...written in an engaging style and with a broad historical sweep..." History

"...the book is a lucid and well-organized introduction to the European Latin tradition of medicine, covering a long time-span, synthesising a vast array of material and research into a coherent framework, useful to students and experts in the field alike." Robert Juette, Instituts fur Geschichte der Medizin der Robert Bosch Stiftung

"The book will surely raise the interest of future scholars and serve them well." American Historical Review

Book Description

This book offers an introduction to the history of university-trained physicians from the middle ages to the eighteenth-century Enlightenment. These were the elite, in reputation and rewards, and they were successful. Yet we can form little idea of their clinical effectiveness, and to modern eyes their theory and practice often seems bizarre. But the historical evidence is that they were judged on other criteria, and the argument of this book is that these physicians helped to construct the expectations of society--and met them accordingly.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 296 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press; 1 edition (March 24, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521007615
• ISBN-13: 978-0521007610
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,344,024 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Broad overview of the social basis of medieval medicine, September 16, 2005

By 

Sage Ross "Sage Ross" (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Medicine before Science: The Business of Medicine from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment (Paperback)

This book is a challenging overview of the philosophical and social basis upon which doctors practiced in the middle ages. Oddly enough, it has a different subtitle on the title page from the cover: "The Rational and Learned Doctor from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment." Both subtitles accurately describe the book (although the actual title, Medicine Before Science, is clearly problematic to anyone familar with the history of science; it seems to imply that science began in the Enlightenment, while everything before then was something less). French explains how the professional, learned, university-trained doctors--as opposed to the healers who treated the vast majority of the population--built upon philosophy and accumulated medical wisdom to explain illnesses and prognosticate on their patients, the "Latin tradition". This is also the story of how they built their repuations and convinced their wealthy patrons to trust them (the "Business of Medicine").

The book is challenging, especially for novices in ancient and medieval philosophy, but has rich insights through most of the text. The narrative disintegrates in the last third (as the Latin tradition splinters into many rival systems), but overall it is a worthwhile addition to the bookshelf of any historian of science or medicine.

4.0 out of 5 stars The pre-scientific history of medicine still has a huge effect on medical practice in the Western World, December 7, 2007

By 

Tina M. Gardner "lovebookswaytoomuch" (Honolulu, HI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Medicine before Science: The Business of Medicine from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment (Paperback)

I enjoyed reading this book, because I am curious to understand how much of my practice of medicine is based on science, and how much is tradition. Clearly, experimental science is the most important factor in creating the "miracles of modern medicine," but there are psychological factors in the doctor-patient relationship which cannot be ignored if one desires a clinical cure. And those psychological factors are very much influenced by the way medicine developed as a profession in Europe. This is not an "easy read," but I found it useful, interesting, and satisfying.