Medical anthropology in the late Middle Ages: Body, soul, and the virtues according to Peter of Abano (d. 1316)

This thesis consists of a close reading of the work of the philosopher and physician, Peter of Abano, in order to better understand his conciliation of medicine and philosophy: namely his conception of human capacity and action. The main argument is that Peter articulates a distinctively naturalistic and materialistic anthropology. This argument is based primarily on Peter's major works, his Conciliator and his Expositio Problematum Aristotelis, a commentary on the pseudo-Aristotelian Problems. Peter's understanding of what it means to be a living being involves an integrated picture of all the varied material and formal parts that make up the human organism. Indeed, Peter's commitment to this integration is one of the chief motivations that drive his overall project of conciliation.; The first chapter contextualizes Peter's work within medieval discussions of medical theory, philosophical uses of medicine, and controversies concerning the relation of theological doctrines to medicine.; The following chapters show how Peter's account of physiological concepts basic to medical theory went far beyond what can be justified by purely medical motivations. While modern scholars have argued a widespread renewed medical interest in basic theoretical concepts, such as "virtues," "spirits," and "complexions," in the generation before Peter wrote, Peter's commitments can easily be distinguished from contemporary medical accounts. In the mixture of qualities called "complexion," Peter finds the tool he will call on most frequently to describe integrated physical and spiritual capacities. Because these medical terms were meant to describe the whole gamut of physically sick and healthy states, when he unites these to "spiritual" functions, Peter then can use such medical terms to explain all the change that accounts for the variation in all human operations, from moral depravity to excellence.; Peter's theories about the integration of the body and soul are most intriguing in his Expositio Problematum, the subject of the final two chapters. Here, he brings the theories he developed elsewhere to bear on issues of moral and intellectual capacity. Not only does he transport his concepts from the medical framework of the Conciliator, but he critiques contemporary thematization of the virtues.