Iatrophysics and Iatrochemistry: Physics, Chemistry and Models of Living Organization

Abstract

Medical secularization which develops in Europe since XVIth century allows the human body to be considered as an autonomous physical being. Consequently, medicine tries to explain illness and health through the general rules of mechanics and chemistry. The development of medical systems - seen in terms of the two leading theories of iatrochemistry and iatrophysics, was centered around the problem of control in living objects, whose analysis is still useful in the present debate. Past and present are linked by a common effort towards the explanation of life phenomena, health and illness - despite the obvious methodological gaps of the different cultural periods.