GEOANATOMY · Geoanatomy. The Body as a Model in Greco-Roman Conceptions of the Earth and the Environment
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2020-11-01 → 2023-03-03
- EU contribution
- €187,572
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Geoanatomy. The Body as a Model in Greco-Roman Conceptions of the Earth and the Environment
A large number of ancient Greek and Roman thinkers pursue a peculiar course of reasoning, what I call the ‘medical argument’, in order to explain the structure and functioning of the surrounding world, weather and astronomical phenomena: specifically they use analogies with the (human/animal/plant) body to explain natural phenomena, such as wind, clouds, earthquakes, comets and hydrological activity. This Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship has allowed a young researcher of proven ability to investigate this idea further in an internationally renowned institution (Utrecht University) under the mentorship of an expert on Classical studies (Professor Dr. Teun Tieleman). New findings have been made, and new avenues of research have been opened in our understanding of how natural philosophers such as Aristotle, Lucretius and Seneca conceived of ‘lofty things’, environmental surroundings and geological phenomena and how they attempted to explain their causes. To elucidate the purpose of employing the medical argument, the following immediate objectives were initially set: (1) to re-examine the relationship between ancient biomedicine and natural philosophy, two disciplines which are traditionally thought to have had clearly demarcated boundaries; (2) to clearly identify the ‘fruit’ of this cross-boundary scientific collaborative amalgam; (3) to advance awareness in both the academic world and the wider public of issues concerning proto-ecology and care for the environment by disseminating a new perspective of interpreting medical explanations embedded in ancient meteorological accounts.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
One of the most ancient, still puzzling, philosophical questions concerns how one should explain the structure of the surrounding world while being herself part of it. Believing that all bodies are part of the cosmos in the sense that they are governed by the same causal principles, ancient scientists communicated their observations by using analogy. Evidence of the various forms of communicative analogical scientific exposition is traditionally taken to reveal that medicine and natural science, though sharing a common interest in accounting for natural phenomena, manifest a keen eagerness to delimit their boundaries. There is, however, a largely underexplored type of analogical reasoning in which these disciplines are seen to create a trans-boundary scientific mixture, enabling us to speak of cross-disciplinary influence and assimilation. This project aims to determine the impact of ancient Greek and Roman medicine on the causal explanations of meteorological and geological phenomena offered by Aristotle (4th c. BCE), Lucretius (1st c. BCE) and Seneca (1st c. CE) by investigating the course of reasoning within which such explanations are embedded, what I call ‘the medical argument’. An analysis of this single, unified cross-disciplinary argumentative system will ultimately lead to a redefinition of our present historical knowledge about the beginnings of modern environmental conscience and consciousness. As its strategic intent, GEOANATOMY encompasses the following set of specific goals: (a) To reassess the relationship between ancient biomedicine and natural philosophy, two disciplines which are traditionally thought to have had clearly demarcated boundaries; (b) To bring to light for the first time and clearly identify the ‘fruit’ of this cross-boundary scientific collaborative amalgam; and (c) To advance awareness in both the academic world and the wider public of issues concerning proto-ecology and care for the environment.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- UNIVERSITEIT UTRECHT · UtrechtCoordinatorNetherlands
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union