Psyche and Soma: Physicians and Metaphysicians on the Mind-Body Problem from Antiquity to Enlightenment

Psyche and Soma is a multi-disciplinary exploration of the history of understanding of the human mind or soul and its relationship to the body, through the course of more than two thousand years. Thirteen specially commissioned chapters, each written by a recognized expert in the field, explore in chronological sequence the views of influential writers on such questions as the soul's immortality, the control it exerts over the body, how mental disturbances can arise out of bodily imbalances, and the roles of the priest and the physician in promoting spiritual welfare. The main figures whose views are treated include the doctors Hippocrates, Galen, H. Boerhaave, and Wm. Cullen, theologians such as the Apostle Paul, Augustine, and Thomas Aquinas, and philosophers from Plato and Aristotle to Descartes and Leibniz. Psyche and Soma will be a key point of reference and a rich source of illumination in this central area of human inquiry.