Cullen, a cautionary tale

Medical History
Sean Dyde

Abstract

Some ideas return after the briefest of exiles: reductionism is back in vogue. Existential questions - about who we are, about our origins and future, about what is valuable - no longer require difficult soul searching, especially when straightforward answers are expected from the neurosciences. History is being rewritten with the brain as its centrepiece; the search for great men and big ideas of the past begins again. William Cullen (1710-90), whose work on neurosis was once part of the history of psychoanalysis, is now well placed to become part of such a neuro-history. This article attempts to subvert this process, by rebuilding the original meaning of neurosis through Cullen's physiological and medical works, in comparison with his predecessor, Robert Whytt (1714-66), and illustrating this meaning using one particular neurosis: hypochondriasis. The result is a more complicated version of neurosis which, importantly, carries significant insights into the nature and practice of medicine. Moreover, this article examines how Cullen's standing fell in the 1820s as British physicians and surgeons turned to an idea which promised to reform medicine: pathological anatomy. When these hopes faded, Cullen became a figure obsessed wit...Continue Reading

References

May 21, 1999·Science·E G Jones, L M Mendell
Jan 5, 2002·Clio Medica : Acta Academiae Internationalis Historiae Medicinae·R Porter
Mar 11, 2009·Air Medical Journal·Ed MacDonald
Oct 29, 2009·History of the Human Sciences·Fernando Vidal
May 27, 2014·Isis; an International Review Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences·Roger Cooter

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Citations

Jul 2, 2019·History of Psychiatry·Sharlene D Walbaum
Nov 21, 2020·Psychological Medicine·Kenneth S Kendler

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