The Beginning of the Body as an Object of Science
Carol Collier wrote the book Recovering the Body: A Philosophical Story. Chapter IV is titled “From Astrology to the Cult of Dissection: The Renaissance.” During her undergraduate career, Carol Collier became interested in the philosophical question of mind-body dualism. After twenty years or so of public service, Collier returned to full-time philosophy in the 1990s and wrote her doctoral thesis on the philosophical approach to the human body and the modern Western conception of Descartes’ body-machine.
The chapter begins by describing different historical connections between the human body and the cosmos: Plato’s dualistic vision, the Stoic monistic vision, and the dualism of Christianity. The chapter then goes on to introduce the Renaissance and the idea that it was a turning point from the ideas of connection between man and the cosmos. The Renaissance transformed the belief of the macrocosm-microcosm and the scientific revolution began. Collier describes this as “the evolution of perceptions of the human body through this dramatic philosophical shift from naturalism to mechanism” (pp. 106). Naturalism here refers to the philosophies of the Renaissance, which relied on explanations of the cosmos.
Collier claims that the anatomical work of Andreas Vesalius allowed for dissection to be used as an acceptable scientific study of the human body. Before Vesalius, Galen guided medical study and practice but only investigated the anatomy of animals through dissection. In the 16th century it was common for a lesser-ranking surgeon or barber to perform the dissection, but Vesalius was one of first doctors who would take part in dissections as the surgeon himself. Collier denies that Vesalius created the practice of human dissection, but rather was partially responsible for the beginning of dissection as a normal scientific procedure. Throughout the Middle Ages, the Church would seldom perform dissections. When dissections did occur, they were typically only executed criminals and the procedure was highly controlled by religious authorities.
During the Renaissance, dissection was viewed as both fascinating and revolting, because the body was assumed to contain the secrets of the self. However, dissections continued as people began to gain scientific knowledge of the body. Collier believes there was a huge shift in human thought with regard to our bodies. “The body moved from being the incarnation of the cosmos to being an object of science, devoid of mind, soul and self” (pp. 119).
This past week we were discussing the relationship between religion and dissections and the process of dissections in the Church. I was interested in reading about the shift away from religion and towards the scientific curiosity of the human body, mostly because I wasn’t sure when that shift occurred. This article is just another discussion point on how dissections and anatomy have been viewed in the past and how they have changed up until today. I think it would be interesting to learn more about the physical procedures for the dissections during the Renaissance, but Colliers argument of a transition from the mind connected to the cosmos to the body as an object of science is extremely thought provoking. I wonder if any people were outraged about the dissections of this time period and how whether or not they acted on that outrage.
