Galen
& Circulation
by Matthew Megill, Dartmouth
College
Galen's philosophical framework
was heavily influenced by science (or, one might argue, vice
versa). As Tieleman has described, he viewed scientific facts
as his test cases for philosophical ideas (3ff). Therefore, Galen
believed, if he could bring scientific facts to bear against
the Stoic view of the monistic heart, he could win his point.
His own words highlight his mindset in proving that the soul
was located in the heart. "Now where will proof of this
be found? Where else but from dissections?" (PHP, 2.3)
Galen tried to make his case
by proving that the whole soul could not possibly be located
in the heart, as the Stoics contended. Instead, he hoped to show
that the three powers (the rational, spirited, and desiderative)
of the Platonic soul were each matched by a corresponding organ
system. For just as every body part, in Galen's mind, had to
have a specific function, every function had to have a corresponding
observed organ. He wanted to observe three organs and parallel
systems running throughout the body, to combat the Stoic theories
which he found so pernicious.
Accordingly, observing three
systems extending throughout the whole body (the venous, arterial,
and nervous), he never seems to have considered the arteries
and veins as an interconnected loop. Instead, he assigned the
brain to be the seat of reason, the liver to be the seat of desires,
and the heart was left to be the seat of emotions. The idea of
the heart's arteries transferring their blood to the liver's
veins would have undermined his attack on the Stoics. By contrast,
the way Galen saw it, these systems provided seemingly clear
evidence that his preconception was correct, and he was satisfied
with relatively few experiments proving that each system distributed
the power he assigned to it.
Incidentally, Galen fails to
mention those who held the brain as the center of emotions and
reason. This is a strange oversight, since Chrysippus mentions
this view, although he does not espouse it (PHP, 117). It is also an unfortunate oversight,
for if he had disassociated the emotions from the heart, he might
have correctly been able to see the true issue. For though Galen
held the more progressive position - proving that reason is properly
placed in the brain, not the heart - his focus on the Stoics
discouraged him from thinking further into the true role of the
heart. Once he had proved one anti-Platonic theory wrong, he
proceeded no further.
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