We’ve explored in previous posts how Greek thinkers shied away from using human dissection: there was an extremely powerful taboo that discouraged even going near a human corpse, but there was no such prohibition about animals. The slaughter of animals for religious purposes meant that the Greeks were used to working with the bodies of animals, and, at some point in the 5th century BC, Greek thinkers began to use this animal dissection as a way of drawing conclusions about human internal anatomy.
Really good piece. The avoidance towards the human body is interesting when compared to how it was also privileged. Aristotle basically takes it as a given that the human is the ideal form of life, that it has unique access to some special features that other animals, plants apparently don't have.
Really good piece. The avoidance towards the human body is interesting when compared to how it was also privileged. Aristotle basically takes it as a given that the human is the ideal form of life, that it has unique access to some special features that other animals, plants apparently don't have.
Great piece! I’d love to read more about how religious dissection worked in this period.