Elements of Descartes ' Medical Scientia : Books, Medical Schools, and Collaboration

In this chapter, I explore the sources and collaborators that assisted Descartes to shape his knowledge of medicine, a branch of his tree of philosophy. I highlight three aspects: (1.) a direct collaboration with Dutch scholars such as Plemp, Vorstius, and Regius, who helped Descartes acquire anatomical skills, or develop anatomical observations; (2.) the contacts with scholars and physicians working in Leiden; and (3.) the references to, and possible uses of, medical books. What permeates all these three areas is the underlying presence of the Medical School of Padua, where the large majority of these scholars had their training, and the connection he had with the Medical Faculty of Leiden. In sum, Descartes’ medical knowledge emerged from a combination of personal reflections, anatomical observations, collaborations, and the contacts with institutions that grounded medicine as a modern scientia.