Introduction

The conceptual history of the body’s normal and pathological constitution has returned to several constant themes over the centuries. What is the body composed of? How can a body’s “health” be defined? What causes illness and bodily deterioration? What is the ontological status of “illness” and which epistemological tools are needed to define it? What is the relationship between the disruption of the body and the malfunctioning of the soul or the mind? The aim of this collective volume is to consider some relevant theories on the body as formulated at the intersection of the history of philosophy and the history of medicine from antiquity to the nineteenth century. We have selected a series of relevant authors and theoretical moments in the history of philosophy and science to illuminate and bring to life this centuries-long dialogue