Galen on the Anatomy of Memory

Abstract

Memory is a well-researched topic in classical philosophy and literature, but it has often not been addressed in Greco-Roman medical texts. In this text, I aim to survey some aspects of the concept of memory in Galen’s oeuvre (129 - c.216). Albeit Galen did not write any text devoted to the topic of memory, we do find in his oeuvre quite a few considerations about the role of memory in the ‘economy’ of human life. As a doctor with genuine interests in philosophy, Galen’s observations on memory are at the crossroad of philosophical and clinical ideas about remembering and forgetting. Therefore, I will look at Galen’s conception of memory in its ordinary and pathological aspects, e.g., its role in learning, epistemology, and memory disorders. This research emerges as a central aspect of Galen’s thought that the psycho-physiological condition of the organism impacts memory’s performance.