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TRADITIONS OF RESEARCH ON THE DEFINITION OF CONTAGIOUS DISEASE

Henriquez Garrido, Ruy J. (2015) TRADITIONS OF RESEARCH ON THE DEFINITION OF CONTAGIOUS DISEASE. In: UNSPECIFIED.

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Abstract

The conception of contagious disease that Girolamo Fracastoro provides in his work De contagione et contagiosis morbis (1546), marks the origin of modern epidemiology and microbiology. This conception puts into play the Galenic and Aristotelian traditions of research, faced with its own conceptual limitations of the growing mechanistic thought of the time. According to Fracastoro, epidemic diseases spread by invisible living germs called seminaria (seedbed), begotten by corrupted humours. Fracastoro resorted to the old notions of "sympathy" and "antipathy" to respond to questions about how seminaria is transmitted from one body to another, and what is the specificity that limits its transmission to certain species and organs. Like Galileo and Descartes, Fracastoro tries to establish a dialogue in the field of medicine between the Aristotelian vitalism and the modern mechanistic perspective. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the ideological, theoretical and conceptual assumptions, both philosophical and scientific, assumed by Fracastoro with regard to the problem of contagion.


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Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item (UNSPECIFIED)
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Henriquez Garrido, Ruy J.ruyhenriquez@filos.ucm.es
Keywords: Fracastoro, contagion, epidemic, seeds, seedbed, microbiology, vitalism, traditions of research, contagious disease, contagium vivum
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Anthropology
Specific Sciences > Psychology > Evolutionary Psychology
Specific Sciences > Biology > Evolutionary Theory
Specific Sciences > Biology > Function/Teleology
General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science
General Issues > History of Science Case Studies
Specific Sciences > Medicine
General Issues > Rhetoric of Science
Depositing User: Dr. Ruy Henriquez
Date Deposited: 04 Jul 2015 13:03
Last Modified: 07 Jul 2015 00:02
Item ID: 11549
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Anthropology
Specific Sciences > Psychology > Evolutionary Psychology
Specific Sciences > Biology > Evolutionary Theory
Specific Sciences > Biology > Function/Teleology
General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science
General Issues > History of Science Case Studies
Specific Sciences > Medicine
General Issues > Rhetoric of Science
Date: 6 July 2015
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/11549

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