The course of history of medicine will consider some significant turning points of the past of medicine to understand the present, explaining the process of transmission of mainly Western medical knowledge. Emphasis will be placed on the evolution of the concept of disease by analyzing in detail some basic conceptual articulations that are found at the origins of contemporary biomedicine. These conceptual coordinates are proposed to provide students with the ability to perceive medicine and health, in all its ramifications, as a "process" historically changeable, to make them critically aware of the special dimension of knowledge and medical practice in the history and in the contemporary age. In the course it will be given prominence in an ongoing confrontation with prejudices, uncritical and automatic intellectual fideistic beliefs that characterize the common perception of contemporary medicine, not so infrequently even among medical doctors.
Course Prerequisites
High school historical and scientific notions.
Teaching Methods
Lessons. Practical aspects: suggestions for the visit to the Historical Museum of the University of Pavia.
Assessment Methods
Eligibility following attendance of 75% of lessons
Texts
Lecture notes Prof. Paolo Mazzarello at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/377978398_Prof_Mazzarello_Hist_of_Medicine_Harvey_course
Contents
What is medicine? An introduction. Methodologial aspects. Chinese medicine. Greek medicine: Hippocrates and Galen. Roman medicine. Medieval medicine. Renaissance: Vesalius, Leonardo Da Vinci. The discovery of blood circulation: William Harvey. the birth of microscopy. The evolution of the concept of pathology. The microbiological theory of infectious diseases. Vaccination. Antisepsis. The discovery of antibiotics. Recent developments.
