| Popis: |
This chapter provides the first detailed analysis of Santorio’s theory of matter by looking at its sources, context, development and applications in medical diagnosis, natural philosophy and technology. In the first part, I discuss some problems posed by Santorio’s texts and style of writing, the intellectual background of the theory of matter Santorio proposed and some chronology for its development. In the second, I deal specifically with the architecture of the theory, gathering evidence and instances of it across Santorio’s published and unpublished output. Finally, in the third part, I analyse the various applications the theory was susceptible of, both in medicine and in natural philosophy, and show how Santorio’s programme of quantification was the outcome of a long-running endeavour that eventually culminated in a new vision of medicine and its possibilities. |
