Wellbeing

Klaus Bergdolt is Professor of History and Ethics of Medicine at the University of Cologne.

"A fascinating and nearly exhaustive overview of the traditional concepts of hygiene and dietetics from ancient times through to the nineteenth century." Social History of Medicine "The thematic and chronological scope of Wellbeing is ambitious; yet it is surprisingly readable, a testament to both its author and translator. The arrangement of chapters, clear index and thoughtful introduction draw in the reader and the comprehensive referencing provides a wealth of additional material without interrupting the flow of the text."History"In this scholarly, authoritative, and well-referenced monograph, Bergdolt presents the chronological development of many aspects related to well-being, including diet, cleanliness, exercise/sport, spirituality, and psychology, as well as healing (by useful and dubious means) ... Highly recommended for lower-level undergraduates and above and general readers."Choice"Klaus Bergoldt's masterly contribution to the bibliography of health has been a long time coming, but is no less welcome for that ... Bergdolt has achieved a heroic internal synthesis of the health genre."Medical History"This book is ... absolutely central to what traditionally constituted the mainstream of medicine, and Bergdolt handles his subject matter with clarity, skill and erudition."Roy Porter

• Introduction 1Prologue: The Ancient Advanced Civilizations – Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia 71 Greece 14The ideal of health in ancient Greece 14The Presocratics 19The Hippocratic corpus 24Diocles of Carystus, a fourth-century health pedagogue 30‘Knidic’ dietetics 33Health in Plato and Aristotle 37Dietetics in Alexandria 44Cures and miracles, Aesculapius and Hygieia 46Public health care and sport 53Early Stoics and Cynics 562 Rome 62People and literati: dietetics in ancient Rome 62New doctors, new theories 73Sport and baths 77The sacred tales of Publius Aelius Aristides 79The Roman Stoics: Plutarch, Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus 82Galen 873 Jewish and Early Christian Traditions 94Jewish doctrines of health 94Christus medicus 98Early Christian doctrines of health 1034 Medieval Traditions in the East and West 109Jealing and health in early monasticism 109The first German pharmacopoeia 113Dietetics in Islam 116Medieval doctrines of health in the West 124Asceticism and mysticism – feasts and beauty care 131Western and Eastern clerical scholars: Maimonides, Petrus, Hispanus, Roger Bacon 137Hildegard of Bingen 146Saints and miracle workers 149The power of the stars 1545 Doctrines of Health in the Renaissance 158Petrarch’s conception of health 158Alberti and other intellectuals around 1500 161House books and manuals – health and literature 168Further humanists – Platina, More, Luther 173Philosophy of health and prophylaxis in Venice – Mercuriale, Rangone, Cornaro 179Gabriele Zerbi and the Gerontocomia 185Paracelsus’ teachings on health 187Herbal books 191Dietetics in daily life 1946 Dietetics in the Seventeenth Century 199Cartesianism and conservative tendencies 199Van Helmont, Sylvius and other ‘iatrochemists’ 208Doctrines of health in England – the dietetics of the state 210Health through planning – the utopias 216The dietetics of the Enlightenment – philosophers, pedagogues, charlatans 2207 Doctrines of Health in the Eighteenth Century 226Medical theories of health 226The French Enlightenment and Rousseau 233Tissot, Triller, Mai: health education at grassroots 239Public health care 2478 Around 1800 251The notion of ‘Lebenskraft’ (vital force) – Hufeland and Kant 251The recurrent topic of a dietetic regime for intellectuals 255Alternative paths to health 258Goethe 263Romantic medicine – Schelling, Carus, Novalis 2669 The Nineteenth Century 274Trends in the nineteenth century 274Rudolf Virchow and the dietetics of reason 276Nietzsche, Schopenhauer and the philosophical critique of positivism 280The revolution in nutrition and alternative paths to health 283Afterword 287Notes 289References 327Index 348