tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433842.post115925399259428997..comments2024-03-07T12:57:35.296-05:00Comments on Varieties of Unreligious Experience: Anglo-Saxon medicineConrad H. Rothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916542057749474124noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433842.post-1159321891479604522006-09-26T21:51:00.000-04:002006-09-26T21:51:00.000-04:00Yes... completely burned out.Yes... completely burned out.Conrad H. Rothhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01916542057749474124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433842.post-1159321245342758242006-09-26T21:40:00.000-04:002006-09-26T21:40:00.000-04:00Surely you must be board by now.Surely you must be board by now.Andrew W.https://www.blogger.com/profile/00071098030747838202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433842.post-1159319724777904542006-09-26T21:15:00.000-04:002006-09-26T21:15:00.000-04:00That's alright, I think I've got a handle on it.That's alright, I think I've got a handle on it.Conrad H. Rothhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01916542057749474124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433842.post-1159316575229153042006-09-26T20:22:00.000-04:002006-09-26T20:22:00.000-04:00Conrad, I never meant to press you into this kind ...Conrad, I never meant to press you into this kind of discussion.Andrew W.https://www.blogger.com/profile/00071098030747838202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433842.post-1159313414303765522006-09-26T19:30:00.000-04:002006-09-26T19:30:00.000-04:00Dear Lady Pretzel: we look forward to reading abou...Dear Lady Pretzel: we look forward to reading about Sahagun and Ruiz de Alarcon at <EM>Cake and Empire</EM>. Do enlighten us!Conrad H. Rothhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01916542057749474124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433842.post-1159312458557362082006-09-26T19:14:00.000-04:002006-09-26T19:14:00.000-04:00Oh. Well, we all need to let off steam at one time...Oh. Well, we all need to let off steam at one time or another.Conrad H. Rothhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01916542057749474124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433842.post-1159309552153789102006-09-26T18:25:00.000-04:002006-09-26T18:25:00.000-04:00I'm afraid I've got a bad case of the mediocre pun...I'm afraid I've got a bad case of the mediocre puns - <I>iron</I>y-creasing.Andrew W.https://www.blogger.com/profile/00071098030747838202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433842.post-1159308496124006472006-09-26T18:08:00.000-04:002006-09-26T18:08:00.000-04:00> Conrad, my pomo quip was firmly on the side of i...> Conrad, my pomo quip was firmly on the side of irony - my apologies for creasing your fine post.<BR/><BR/>'Creasing'? No, I don't mind, I was just afraid I hadn't expressed the situation clearly enough.Conrad H. Rothhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01916542057749474124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433842.post-1159300970171525852006-09-26T16:02:00.000-04:002006-09-26T16:02:00.000-04:00Conrad, my pomo quip was firmly on the side of iro...Conrad, my pomo quip was firmly on the side of irony - my apologies for creasing your fine post.<BR/><BR/>"...he meant that science (epilepsy) is not categorically different from religion (demonic possession)--I groaned inwardly."<BR/><BR/>I would have too - this confusion about what is and isn't "real" is the source of far too much confusion. <BR/><BR/>Trying to figure out how demonic possession was treated medically back in the day, and how the diagnosis affected how treatment, is fascinating stuff, but saying they're the same thing is incoherent.<BR/><BR/>And please do post on Machaut. I keep meaning to explain the title, but I'd be glad if you beat me to it!Andrew W.https://www.blogger.com/profile/00071098030747838202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433842.post-1159298170735336092006-09-26T15:16:00.000-04:002006-09-26T15:16:00.000-04:00Cool research though. It certainly makes me think...Cool research though. It certainly makes me think it would be fun to do something similar with the folk remedies described in Sahagun's Florentine Codex. Actually at least one of them, bitumen or tar for skin ailments is used today (it's a common ingredient in dandruff shampoos and psoriasis treatments). I bet Hernando Ruiz de Alarcon's Treatise on the Heathen Superstitions: That Today Live Among the Indians Native to This New Spain, 1629 has some things worth checking out in that regard too. Hmm...or worth BLOGGING about.Pretzel Benderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07499362737998089533noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433842.post-1159295287781491972006-09-26T14:28:00.000-04:002006-09-26T14:28:00.000-04:00Simon: it doesn't surprise me! If God is inviolabl...Simon: it doesn't surprise me! If God is inviolable then his text is inviolable--it makes sense.<BR/><BR/>ALT: thanks for your kind words. I feel compelled to point out that I meant '1993' (a typo now corrected), and that in his defence, Cameron is not a pomo charlatan--he did do serious scholarly research--and it took a laboratory analysis to prove him wrong. The article is interesting because I don't think I've seen lab analysis in a humanities journal before.<BR/><BR/>Also, Jenner's class was a history of science class, so the discussion, I think, was suitable; I just found his position a mite ridiculous. Cultural relativism in ethics is one thing--but in matters of science it's just pointless. One of my classmates, agreeing with Jenner, opined 'Science is the new religion', by which he meant that science (epilepsy) is not categorically different from religion (demonic possession)--I groaned inwardly.<BR/><BR/>Ionism in the English departments? Yes, I suppose you're right.<BR/><BR/>Lastly, I hope you don't take me as expert in mediaeval medicine! I appreciate the sentiment, however, and glad this is more familiar territory--perhaps I'll try to cook up something on Machaut for you sometime...Conrad H. Rothhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01916542057749474124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433842.post-1159281875939578942006-09-26T10:44:00.000-04:002006-09-26T10:44:00.000-04:00Fascinating how these pomo revisionists were out t...Fascinating how these pomo revisionists were out there shilling their snake oil back in 1903! Amazing!<BR/><BR/>Conrad, I can see a way in which that kind of seminar question could be fruitful, but as your Popper reference points out, it's much better suited to a philosophy of science/history of medical concepts than a humanities seminar.<BR/><BR/>And is this what everyone find so annoying about English departments these days? That they feel they're experts in whatever field they happen upon? "Discourse is what we're about, so everything's fair game!"<BR/><BR/>(Present company excluded of course - you do appear an expert in whatever field comes up. What I would do to have my son educated like you!)<BR/><BR/>Am I wrong to be reminded of Ion here? Conrad, thanks for straying into more familiar territory!Andrew W.https://www.blogger.com/profile/00071098030747838202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433842.post-1159255590923445052006-09-26T03:26:00.000-04:002006-09-26T03:26:00.000-04:00You might be interested to know that a very simila...You might be interested to know that a very similar type of apologetic also exists amongst many ultra-Orthodox Jews who insist that the words of the Talmud are eternally viable. If the Talmud suggests a particular remedy then that remedy (despite having been concocted no later than the 8th century!) must be effective today. This would also go for the medical writings of Maimonides, himself an important physician of the Middle Ages.<BR/><BR/>Furthermore, in the cases where these "cures" would prove ineffectual (or harmful!), I have even seen some go to the desperate attempt of postulating that human physiology was actually <I>different</I> several generations ago. Hmm. Whatever makes 'em happy, I say.SFHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09549983078343070107noreply@blogger.com