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SH06
THE RISKS OF CHANGE – LESSONS FROM TUDOR ENGLAND
Author(s) -
Hollands M. J.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
anz journal of surgery
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.426
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1445-2197
pISSN - 1445-1433
DOI - 10.1111/j.1445-2197.2009.04931_6.x
Subject(s) - causation , the renaissance , medicine , the arts , personality psychology , period (music) , environmental ethics , epistemology , classics , psychoanalysis , law , aesthetics , history , philosophy , psychology , art history , political science , personality
The Renaissance is characterised as a period where the arts and literature flourished and where scientific thought was re‐discovered. At this time the understanding of disease was based on the Greco‐Roman humoral theory of causation. Medical education was strictly controlled by the Church and deviations from its doctrines were potentially heretical. Anatomical knowledge was based on Galenic descriptions frequently substantiated by animal dissections. Anatomy was descriptive rather than functional. Vesalius and his successors sought to change this approach yet were condemned as heretics. Proposed changes in scientific approach were superimposed on a background of the Reformation and absolute rulers questioning the role of the Church in their fiefdoms. Incorporation of change into the community was dependant upon acceptance of change by these individuals often at significant risk to those proposing change. This paper attempts to explore the transition from Galenic to Vesalian anatomy in Tudor England, the personalities involved, and perhaps reasons for their individual approaches, a process which eventually took over 150 years.