Moses Maimonides on the Causes of Symptoms

Moses Maimonides on the Causes of Symptoms
Author: J. O. Leibowitz
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 300
Release: 2023-11-10
Genre:
ISBN: 0520312074

The subject of this book is a treatise by Maimonides (1135 - 1204)--Jewish philosopher and at one time physician to the court of Egypt--commonly known as De causis accidentium. The treatise is presented here for the first time in a multilingual critical edition that includes the Hebrew, Arabic and medieval Latin texts as well as commentaries on each of them. The incentive for this publication was the recent discovery of a thirteenth-century Hebrew translation of the treatise, reproduced here in facsimile. Neither the Hebrew nor the Latin texts have previously been published in full. Because the editors have kept in mind the wider issues, this volume is congruent with present-day research on the transmission of ancient knowlege in the Middle Ages. Although his treatise was intended merely to treat specific questions involving a certain patient, Maimonides discusses several medical subjects, such as problems involving the circulatory system, the digestive organs and general dietetics, psychiatry, and specific aspects of physiology. A special feature of the volume is the editors' running commentary, based on the Arabic original as well as on various medieval translations, and designed to clarify some of the obscurities of the text, particularly its medical aspects. The editors suggest that Maimonides may have been familiar with such modern concepts as hemoconcentration and the use of psychotropic drugs. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1974.

The Sage of Seville

The Sage of Seville
Author: Henry A. Azar
Publisher: American Univ in Cairo Press
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2008
Genre: Medicine, Arab
ISBN: 9789774161551

Ibn Zuhr (or Avenzoar) of twelfth-century Seville was the most important physician of Muslim Spain. His family boasted six generations of physicians, and also included midwives, jurists, poets, and viziers. His Kitab al-taysir, a compendium of therapeutics, was translated into Latin and Hebrew; its Latin version, Liber Teisir, served as a companion book to the Colliget, the Latin translation of Kitab al-kulliyat, a largely theoretical book of the philosopher-physician Ibn Rushd (Averroes). The rabbi-physician Maimonides quoted extensively from Ibn Zuhr and considered him "unique in his age and one of the great sages." But Ibn Zuhr was not just a keen observer of patients and a dispenser of remedies: buried within his generally dry narrative are candid recollections and views on a variety of subjects and of his society. And his medical recipes could be compared to current forms of alternative medicine. Together, his holistic approach to medicine and his spontaneous vignettes make him one of the most refreshing physicians of any age. This account of the life and legacy of Ibn Zuhr, the first of its kind, reveals the man and his world, his importance in his own times, and his relevance to our world today. Against a modern culture of often impersonal, bureaucratized, and costly health care, Ibn Zuhr's embodiment of the wisdom of the ages and his role as healer-priest can be an inspiration.

Maimonides, On the Elucidation of Some Symptoms and the Response to Them (Formerly Known as On the Causes of Symptoms)

Maimonides, On the Elucidation of Some Symptoms and the Response to Them (Formerly Known as On the Causes of Symptoms)
Author: Gerrit Bos
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 189
Release: 2019-05-15
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 9004398805

The present consilium, commonly known as De causis accidentium, after the Latin translation by John de Capua, was, like the earlier consilium On the Regimen of Health, composed by Maimonides at the request of al-Malik al-Afḍal Nūr al-Dīn Alī, Saladin’s eldest son. As a result of not adopting the lifestyle and dietary recommendations in On the Regimen of Health, al-Afḍal may have continued to suffer from a number of afflictions, amongst them hemorrhoids, depression, constipation, and, possibly, a heart condition. The consilium was written after 1200, the year in which al-Afḍal was deposed and banished from Egypt permanently, but probably not long before 1204, the year in which Maimonides died.