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Macro&MicroCosmos

Doña Oliva Sabuco Website

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Intrasite #9

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Sabuco's Vision on the Micro& Macro Cosmos (A contribution by Mary Ellen Waithe)

Geocentric Macrocosm

Cosmology in Sabuco's Work

Sabuco adopts macrocosmic and microcosmic metaphysics, and cosmology as part of her holistic theory of medicine. Following the measurements of the Arabic astronomer Al-Fragan, Sabuco reports the distance from the sun for each of the skies. In today's terms we would call them, orbital planes of planets and stars. She includes among these eleven heavens, Aristotle's "Crystalline Sky", the sphere in which raw, disorganized matter exists. Beyond this lies the sphere of the Prime Mover, the efficient cause of all what It encircles.

Sabuco -although most likely familiar with Aquina's work- does not actually identify the Prime Mover with God, as St Thomas does. God, for her, resides rather in the sphere beyond the Prime Mover, i.e.: the Cellestial Court, Heaven. This Cellestial Court, the 11th heaven or sphere, is home to God and his "friends" (presumably angels and saints). It is also the place where souls come from, and virtuous souls return to. The heliocentric system she embraces, is consistent with that hypothesized by Tycho Brahe, the Tychonic, one in which everything but the Earth (and Moon) gyrates around the Sun which in turn circles the Earth. Most astronomers of the time favored the Tychonic system. In 1574, Brahe published a description of what Sabuco -among many others- must have believed to be a comet in the constellation Cassiopeia. Brahe records his first sighting of it on 11 November 1572, while Sabuco reports hers four nights earlier. Modern science has discerned that what they all depicted as a comet was in fact an exploding supernova that came to be named 'Tycho's stella nova'.

Tycho Brahe

Galileo Galilei

Nicolas Copernicus

The Earthly Microcosm

Oliva was either unfamiliar with recent (1543) Copernican theory or unwilling to challenge the geocentric model of the universe. In 1616, during the interval between the publication of the second and third editions of Nueva Filosofía, Galileo Galilei (1564 -1642) was officially warned by the Inquisition -and later reprimanded by Rome- on the subject of the Copernican heliocentrism. Galileo We do not know whether the official Church opposition to non-geocentric models influenced Sabuco's work.

The microcosm in Sabuco's Work

Oliva calls the geocentric universe,the macrocosm, and the earth, its atmosphere, and its life forms,the microcosm.She identifies several layers of earthly atmosphere -proceeding outwards from the surface of the earth- as follows:
the ambient air which can be arid or dense and humid, the rarified air towards which humidity rises like steam from a boilingpot , the more rarified air in which pockets of humidity collect as clouds like droplets collect on the lid of a pot of boiling water; when the clouds become too heavy with water, they rain, sleet, hail or snow; lightning is what we see as the fleeing of the heat from the water in the clouds; it is a source of fire on earth (a description of the stratosphere?), the very rarified air that contains little humidity (ditto ionosphere?), and the very, very rarified air devoid of humidity
On the surface of the Earth there are various bodies of water which remain on the surface because they are less dense than the Earth proper. These waters irrigate the Earth directly by contact with the soil, and indirectly by evaporation of their humidity up through the layers of the atmosphere to form clouds which then return the water to the Earth through rain. The Earth itself is more dense than its oceans, and its surface is covered with soil. Underneath the soil are various forms of rock. Rock is denser than the soil and some rocks are denser than others. At the very center of the Earth lies its most dense core, and this Sabuco calls Hell. She does not mention Purgatory in her system, despite its recent establishment as Church doctrine at the Council of Trent.

The Political/Legal Microcosm

Viewing the political state as a macrocosm of the individual, Sabuco argues that the noble should govern. Her analysis of the moral characteristics of the truly noble, though, provides for a sub tabula argument that the hereditary nobility is not necessary noble. This is a provocative argument, neither for democracy nor against monarchy or feudalism, but an exigency that those who rule should be moral exemplars. That said, she proceeds to propose a massive overhaul of the corrupt legal system, the writing of laws in the vernacular rather than Latin, some farm subsidies, major irrigation and road public works, and other progressive reforms.		Sabuco argues too that the contemporary university edu cation in Spain needs revamping, e.g.: emphasis must be placed on developing the intellectual skills to understand Nature -and thereby advance Science- in the interest of the common people. She says that the system ineffectively burdens undergraduates with detail memori zation of theories at the expense of understanding whether the theories are relevant to contemporary problems. It turns students into amanuensis, rather than thinkers who develop insight and analytical skills. She takes aim at the incompetence of many a university graduate when she states, tong-in-cheek:
...many are no more gifted for letters than oxen to fly! Oliva Sabuco, "New Philosophy", 1587

The Human Microcosm

In Oliva Sabuco's view, human nature is characterized by a spiral of birth, growth, maturation, decline and death. In sharp contrast to her contemporaries, she does not seek a "fountain of youth" nor a way to prevent death.Her philosophy of medicine is grounded in the avoidance of unnecessary disease, the living of a normal, healthy life, and reaching a peaceful, natural death. Her explanation of human anatomical function (especially that of the brain and the digestive system) through health and disease is often remarkably accurate by 21st century medical standards, when one remembers that Sabuco wrote way ahead of the microscope!

Having established the moral and metaphysical foundations for a knowledge of human nature, Sabuco turns her focus squarely to the practice of medicine. Unusual for pre-Cartesian medicine (and pre-Paracelsianist, for that matter), her emphasis is on the prevention of disease and disability. Oliva -on account of the prevalence of disease (namely, plague) and the lack of understanding of the precise mechanism by which it is communicated- recommends a variety of what today would be called holistic treatments. She emphasizes the role of psychology -particularly of depression- contributing to human and animal susceptibility to disease and death. Her proposals for enhanced hygiene are ahead of her time.

Gynocentrism

There are gynocentric aspects to Oliva Sabuco's philosophy of medicine that are remarkable for its time. Unlike other philosophers of medicine, Sabuco discusses sexuality, women's health, reproductive health, epidemiology and psychotherapy. The human, not the male, is the model for the medical norm. She, like Aristotle, equates the sun and heat with the male, and the moon and cold with the female. The role of the moon is essential to all earthly life forms. Although the Sun may provide the matter out of which living things are made, the moon provides the energy through which matter becomes live. It does this through what Sabuco calls its "milk" or chilo.as explained above. Sabuco refers to male and female semen. This chilo manifests itself as moonlight. In plants, it takes the form of sap.

She argues that with respect to plants, some can reproduce using only the female plant. She gives examples of plants which reproduce without pollination. She reminds us that in tubers and bulbs the female gives birth to new bulbs and rhizomes without the need to receive pollen from the male. Unlike Aristotle, Sabuco insists that the female is essential for reproduction (in plants and in animals).
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