The ortus of the contemporary medica! theory. General pathology in german romanticism

Abstract

The Enlightenment, particularly in Germany —mainly through the influence of the critical philosophy— required from a Medicine that boasted of its scientifical stance, the elaboration of a general theory on the phenomenon of disease. That theory, that should fall within the realm of what would end up being named «General Pathology» was originally concocted by physicians possessing a considerable philosophical background, specially by those directly linked to Schelling's Naturphilosophie; such was the case of the authors studied in this work: Johan Christian Reil (1759-1813), Andreas Röschlaub (1768-1835) and Dietrich Georg Kieser (1779-1862). The subjects that were submitted to analysis were the concept, objective and methods of a General Pathology, its field of activities and its construction as a branch of Physiology, ultimately leading to the concepts of health and disease, essential to that discipline. Mention was likewise made of the speculative stance commonly attributed to this type of Medicine and of how, in the case of these authors, this was due, partially at least, to the technical limitations they had to put up with when unfolding and developing their theories into actual praxis.