I am an intellectual historian, with a specialisation in the pre-modern history of science, technology, and medicine (Antiquity to the 18th century).
My work examines the epistemology and operationalisation of medical and scientific knowledge from antiquity to the Enlightenment, with particular emphasis on medieval and early modern medicine and natural philosophy. I focus on conceptual history, practices of quantification, anatomical knowledge, and the material and visual cultures of the body, including instruments and dissection. More broadly, I investigate how classical and medieval philosophy informed early modern approaches to logic, matter, classification, and physiology.
I studied at the University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’, where I achieved a BA in Theoretical Philosophy (2005, summa cum laude), an MA in Philosophy of Science (2008, summa cum laude) and a PhD in History of Philosophy and History of Ideas (2012, summa cum laude), with a thesis on the influence of Galen’s medicine and psychology on the late-Renaissance philosophy.
At present, I am a Lecturer at the Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg. I am also an Affiliated Scholar at the University of Cambridge (HPS) and hold an honorary fellowship at the University of Exeter.
In 2018, I founded the 'Centre for the Study of Medicine and the Body in the Renaissance', an institute of advanced research in medical humanities and the history of science. Based at the Domus Comeliana in Pisa, the CSMBR is funded by a private charity, the Institutio Santoriana Fondazione Comel, and co-funded by international partners such as Yale University (USA), the University of Exeter (UK), the Julius-Maximilian University of Würzburg (Germany), the University of Parma (Italy), the University of Lisbon (Portugal), and the Studio Firmano for the History of Medicine and Science (Italy) and the Edward Worth Library (Ireland), operating on a global scale.
I am also co-editor in chief of the series 'Palgrave Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Medicine' (Springer Nature), and co-editor of the Journal 'Sudhoffs Archiv - Journal for the History of Science and Medicine', which is the oldest continuously published journal for the history of science in the world.
As a junior instructor in Rome (2006-2012), I convened modules on ancient, medieval, and modern philosophy and culture, teaching to undergraduates, postgraduates and adult learners alike. Most recently, as an Adjunct Professor (Exeter, Bucharest, Wurzburg: 2018-2020), I have been teaching modules on Early Modern Italian Culture and Society, as well as on Aristotle and the Aristotelian Tradition, on Galen and early modern medicine, and on German Idealism (2019-2020). Currently (2018 to present), I lecture on Historical Foundations of Medical Theory and Practice ("Historisches Grundlagen ärztlichen Denkens und Handelns") at the Institute for the History of Medicine at the University of Würzburg.
Outside of the history and philosophy of science, I pursued a career as a musician and musicologist. I hold a degree in choral direction, and my expertise encompasses areas such as composition, musicology, musical direction and palaeography. In my capacity as a director and musicologist, in 2014 I issued the world prémiere CD on the unpublished manuscripts by Gregorio Allegri (1582-1652) discovered at Palazzo Altemps in Rome: "Gregorio Allegri, Unpublished Works from the 'Collectio Altaemps’ ", Musica Flexanima Ensemble, TACTUS Records Italy (https://www.naxos.com/CatalogueDetail/?id=TC550007)
More info:
Address: Institut für Geschichte der Medizin
Julius-Maximilians Universität Würzburg
Oberer Neubergweg 10A,
97074 Würzburg, Germany
My work examines the epistemology and operationalisation of medical and scientific knowledge from antiquity to the Enlightenment, with particular emphasis on medieval and early modern medicine and natural philosophy. I focus on conceptual history, practices of quantification, anatomical knowledge, and the material and visual cultures of the body, including instruments and dissection. More broadly, I investigate how classical and medieval philosophy informed early modern approaches to logic, matter, classification, and physiology.
I studied at the University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’, where I achieved a BA in Theoretical Philosophy (2005, summa cum laude), an MA in Philosophy of Science (2008, summa cum laude) and a PhD in History of Philosophy and History of Ideas (2012, summa cum laude), with a thesis on the influence of Galen’s medicine and psychology on the late-Renaissance philosophy.
At present, I am a Lecturer at the Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg. I am also an Affiliated Scholar at the University of Cambridge (HPS) and hold an honorary fellowship at the University of Exeter.
In 2018, I founded the 'Centre for the Study of Medicine and the Body in the Renaissance', an institute of advanced research in medical humanities and the history of science. Based at the Domus Comeliana in Pisa, the CSMBR is funded by a private charity, the Institutio Santoriana Fondazione Comel, and co-funded by international partners such as Yale University (USA), the University of Exeter (UK), the Julius-Maximilian University of Würzburg (Germany), the University of Parma (Italy), the University of Lisbon (Portugal), and the Studio Firmano for the History of Medicine and Science (Italy) and the Edward Worth Library (Ireland), operating on a global scale.
I am also co-editor in chief of the series 'Palgrave Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Medicine' (Springer Nature), and co-editor of the Journal 'Sudhoffs Archiv - Journal for the History of Science and Medicine', which is the oldest continuously published journal for the history of science in the world.
As a junior instructor in Rome (2006-2012), I convened modules on ancient, medieval, and modern philosophy and culture, teaching to undergraduates, postgraduates and adult learners alike. Most recently, as an Adjunct Professor (Exeter, Bucharest, Wurzburg: 2018-2020), I have been teaching modules on Early Modern Italian Culture and Society, as well as on Aristotle and the Aristotelian Tradition, on Galen and early modern medicine, and on German Idealism (2019-2020). Currently (2018 to present), I lecture on Historical Foundations of Medical Theory and Practice ("Historisches Grundlagen ärztlichen Denkens und Handelns") at the Institute for the History of Medicine at the University of Würzburg.
Outside of the history and philosophy of science, I pursued a career as a musician and musicologist. I hold a degree in choral direction, and my expertise encompasses areas such as composition, musicology, musical direction and palaeography. In my capacity as a director and musicologist, in 2014 I issued the world prémiere CD on the unpublished manuscripts by Gregorio Allegri (1582-1652) discovered at Palazzo Altemps in Rome: "Gregorio Allegri, Unpublished Works from the 'Collectio Altaemps’ ", Musica Flexanima Ensemble, TACTUS Records Italy (https://www.naxos.com/CatalogueDetail/?id=TC550007)
More info:
Address: Institut für Geschichte der Medizin
Julius-Maximilians Universität Würzburg
Oberer Neubergweg 10A,
97074 Würzburg, Germany
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Books by Fabrizio Bigotti
Addressing this gap, the contributions in this volume bring together world-leading scholars who illuminate how this medical tradition unfolded in the early modern period and its underlying dynamics, often drawing on new or overlooked archival material. Challenging the prevailing narrative of decline, they examine how pharmacological knowledge was transmitted across languages and medical traditions.
Each contribution highlights an aspect of the various conceptual adaptations this process entailed, including textual transmission, debates over the structure of matter, occult qualities, dosage quantification, apothecary regulations, patient treatment, and the integration of galenicals into household medicine. Special attention is also given to the commodification of materia medica in Atlantic trade, while a comprehensive introduction contextualises the main themes of Galen’s post-Renaissance legacy and explores the reasons for its enduring vitality.
By challenging a traditional historiographical account that described Renaissance Galenism in terms of decline and fall, this study argues for a new assessment of Galen's legacy, also read through the lens of those who opposed or reacted critically to it and thus contributed to the shaping of important aspects of the early modern debate on anthropology, ethics, psychology and even quantified experimentation. Among these many innovations and transformations, the notion of 'ingenuity' (ingenium) deserves particular attention. Hidden within this corporeal, inherent and heritable inclination, two major themes that side disquietingly with the development of modern subjectivity can be identified: the 'corporeality of the body', and the common destiny of humans and animals.
More generally, this study offers a contribution to the ongoing debate on the role and value of medical history, arguing in favour of the concept of 'historical translatability' in balancing the "longue durée" of traditions with the chaotic interactions of individual thinkers.
Papers by Fabrizio Bigotti