Les origines de la médecine dans la Lettre 95 à Lucilius de Sénèque : une construction morale de l’histoire médicale

Abstract

In a long passage from Letter 95 to Lucilius (§ 15-29), Seneca presents a history of medicine in which he establishes a chronological sequence of the appearance of the different parts of medical science: pharmaceutics, surgery, and dietetics. While the chronological sequence of the birth of the sub-divisions of medicine is quite traditional among medical writers themselves, Seneca’s justification for it is not. According to him, the complexification of primitive medicine is not the consequence of the progress of science and nosological observation, but of a complexification of diseases, itself provoked by a sophistication of lifestyles. This theory stems not from historical, but from moral considerations, which are part of the Platonic tradition, in perfect harmony with Roman Stoic thought.

Keywords

• Seneca
• medicine
• philosophy
• ethics
• dietetics
• pharmaceutics