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Sabuco's theory of human nature is a scientific, comprehensive and secular argument on the relations between mind and body. She draws selectively on the Platonic conceptions of the tripartite soul, on the Aristotelian doctrine of the mean in Ethics, and on Pliny's natural philosophy, illustrating similarities and differences among humans, animals and plants. Her philosophy of Medicine is grounded in Psychology, Metaphysics, Virtue Ethics, and plain common sense that agrees mostly with Church doctrine. Yet, there are subtle incongruities in the text, e.g., God is brought forth as Creator and Provider throughout the seven treatises but there are no references to the Scriptures, the figure of Jesus, the Purgatory, and the Church itself and its catechism. Communication with God, and the promise of Heaven -as rewards- are indeed, conspicuous, but her theory is also tied to Cosmology and its effect on humans. All together, a holistic view of nature prevails. Nueva Filosofía postulates an anatomy of the human body analogous to a "tree of roots" or |
"upside-down tree" where the brain, located in the head, has a commanding role over the body. The brain, responsible for the "vegetation" of trunk and branches (body and limbs), controls the flow of chilo throughout the body. The chilo is the "succo nervoso", the nervous sap, consisting namely in a "vitality-milk" that in all living beings (human, animal, and vegetable) takes a variety of forms: white blood-cells, lymph, spinal-fluid, brain-sap, digestive juice, semen, etc. The human rational soul acts through the brain, affecting its function, and in turn influencing the anatomical processes. Thus, psychological conditions (enthusiasm, interest, etc.) and moral virtues (love, hope, etc.) can positively affect physical health, and contribute to human growth and development. Conversely, negative psychological conditions (depression, sadness, etc.), and moral vices (hate, greed, etc.) affect negatively, and inflict ill in the form of disease, physical disorder, and -eventually- "violent" death. |
Although psychological and moral conditions play a distinct role in Sabuco's philosophy of Medicine, she insists that all biological life forms follow a natural cycle of birth, growth & development, maturation, decline and death. Her goal is neither a "fountain of youth" nor a life preserved beyond the natural span of the species but one of helping humans to avoid what she calls "violent, sudden death" -i.e., premature- caused by health disorders. |