Michiel Meeusen (RevHum Fellow, Mar ‘24 – Jul ‘24) will give his presentation on:

The Bodily Turn and Stoic Philosophy

on 11 April, 2024 (Thursday) at 16:30 h.

Moderated by Strahil Panayotov.

Abstract: As a branch of ‘technical’ learning, medicine was held in high regard by the educated elite in the High Imperial era (ca. 1^st–2^nd c. CE), a pivotal period in scientific and political history. Confronted with the sheer reality of illness, medical uncertainty, and the prominence of the medical art in the public sphere, numerous eminent members of learned society, including philosophers, sophists, politicians, even emperors, wrote extensively about medicine and health related topics, to the extent that some scholar contemptuously speak of an ‘Age of Hypochondria’. The time is right for a revaluation of this cultural phenomenon based on a more sensitive and contextual reading of the available sources. In this talk we will explore, in some depth, the patient perspective in this era with an emphasis on Stoic approaches to health, illness, and the expectation of death.