Book Chapter

“Errori popolari:” How a Medical Notion Became an Aesthetic One

  • Paolo Cherchi

The notion and the linguistic coinage of “errore popolare” is not as old as it is commonly believed, but comes from the history of medicine when in the late 16th Century, the Sorbonne’s professors labelled as “erreur populaire” the paracelsian therapies. The definition became common in Italy and England. Another area where the idea of “errore popolare” was widespread is that of religion, where the notion of “error” borders with that of heresy, superstition and magic. However, the “scientific revolution” did not identify the mistakes with a social class or discipline but in the way knowledge was acquired: only the criteria of proof and evidence dispelled erroneous notions. Thus the “scientific knowledge” discredited the beliefs of the ancients, considered to be their major source, and confined them the sphere of imagination which was to be highly appreciated in the Romantic age. Such a change in perception and evaluation was favored by the new vision of the popular culture, folklore, seen as an autonomous cultural system.

  • Keywords:
  • vulgus,
  • paracelsian medicine,
  • ciarlatani,
  • secrets,
  • popular errors,
+ Show More

Paolo Cherchi

University of Chicago, United States

  1. Aldana, Cosimo. 1578. Discorso contro il volgo in cui con buone ragioni si riprovano molte sue false opinioni. Firenze: Marescotti.
  2. Aldana, Cosimo. 1591. Invectiva contra el vulgo. Madrid: Luis Sanchez.
  3. Aldana, Cosimo. 1886. Invectiva contra el vulgo. In Biblioteca de Autores Españoles, vol. XXXVI, 495-514. Madrid: Ribadeneyra.
  4. Bacon, Francis. 1878. Novum Organum scientiarum, ed. Thomas Fowler. Oxford: Clarendon.
  5. Benigno, Francesco. 2013. “Cultura popolare.” In Parole nel tempo. Il lessico per pensare la storia, 79-114. Rome: Viella.
  6. Bianchi, Massimo Luigi. 1987. Signatura rerum. Segni, magia e conoscenza da Paracelso a Leibniz. Rome: Edizioni dell’Ateneo.
  7. Bianchi, Massimo Luigi. 1995. Introduzione a Paracelso. Bari: Laterza.
  8. Cherchi, Paolo. 2020. Ignoranza ed erudizione. L’Italia dei dogmi di fronte all’Europa scettica e critica (1500-1750). Padua: Libreriauniversitaria.it.
  9. Coste, Joël. 2002. La littérature des “erreurs populaires:” une ethnographie médicale à l’époque modern. Paris: Champion.
  10. Debus, Allen George. 1991. The French Paracelsians, The Chemical Challenge to Medical and Scientific Tradition in Early Modern France. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  11. Du Breil, André. 1580. La police de l’art et science de medicine, contenant la refutation des erreurs, et insignes abuse qui s’y commettent pour le jourdhuy: tres – utile et necessaire a toute personnes, qui ont leur santé et vie en recommendation. Ou son
  12. d’Espagne, Jean. 1649. Les erreurs populaires dans les poincts generaux: qui concernent l’intelligence de la religion; rapportez à leurs causes, & compris en diverses observations. Le Haye: Maistre.
  13. Eamon, William. 1996. Science and the Secrets of Nature: Books of Secrets in Medieval and Early Modern Culture. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
  14. Gadebusch Bondio, Mariacarla. 2003. “Paracelsismus, Astrologie und ärtztliches Ethos in den Streitschriften von Tommaso Bovio (1521-1609).” Medizin Historisches Journal, 38: 215-44.
  15. Galilei, Galileo. 1874. Dialogo dei massimi sistemi. Livorno: Vigo.
  16. Gentilcore, David. 2006. Medical Charlatanism in Early Modern Italy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  17. Grmek, Mirko D. (Ed.). 1997. Histoire de la pensée médicale en Occident (History of Medical Thought in the West), 3 vols., 1995-1999. Vol. 2., De la Renaissance aux Lumières. Paris: Seuil.
  18. Ingegno, Alfonso. 1983. “Il Medico de’ disperati e abbandonati: Tomaso Zefiriele Bovio (1521–1609) tra Paracelso e l’alchimia del Seicento.” In Cultura popolare e cultura dotta nel Seicento, ed. Lucilla Borselli, Giancarlo Carabelli, Chiaretta Poli, Paolo
  19. Joubert, Laurent. 1578. Erreurs populaires au fait de la medicine et regime de santé. Bordeaux: Millanges.
  20. Kahn, Didier. 1998. “La faculté de medicine de Paris en échec face au paracelsisme: enjeux et dénuement reel du procès de Roche Le Bailiff.” In Paracelsus und seine internationale Rezeption in der Frühen Neuzeit,- Beiträge zur Geschichte des Paracelsismus
  21. Leopardi, Giacomo. 1997. Sopra gli errori popolari degli antichi, ed. Giovanni Battista Bronzini. Venosa: Edizioni Osanna.
  22. Lequinio, Joseph-Maria. 1793. Le préjugés détruits, séconde edition. Paris: s.e.
  23. Meier, Pirmin. 2000. Paracelso, medico e profeta. Roma: Salerno.
  24. Mercurii, Scipione. 1645. Degli errori popolari d’Italia. Verona: Rossi.
  25. Miotto, Antonio. 1971. Paracelso, medico e mago. Milano: Ferro.
  26. Nockels Fabbri, Christiane. 2007. “Treating Medieval Plague: The Wonderful Virtues of Theriac.” Early Science and Medicine, 12: 247-83.
  27. Nutton, Vivian. 1997. “The Rise of Medical Humanism: Ferrara, 1464-1555.” Renaissance Studies, 11: 2-19.
  28. Pagel, Walter. 1989. Paracelso. Un’introduzione alla medicina filosofica nell’età del Rinascimento. Milano: Mondadori.
  29. Redi, Francesco. 1810. Esperienze intorno alla generazione degl’insetti. In Opere, vol. III. Milan: Società de’ Classici Italiani.
  30. Riva, Ernesto. 2018. Astrologia e magia nella medicina dei secoli XV e XVI. Rome: Aracne.
  31. Salinas Araya, Augusto. 2016. “Tradición e innovación en la medicina española del renacimiento.” Ars médica. Revista de ciencias médicas, 30: 14-53.
  32. Stahl, Eva. 1995. Paracelso, medico, filosofo, mago. Genova: ecig.
  33. Vannoni, Maria Pia. 2011. “Il ‘medico della spada:’ Tomaso Zefiriele Bovio.” Bruniana & Campanelliana, 17: 81-96.
  34. Vico, Giambattista. 1952. Scienza nuova, ed. Nicola Abbagnano. Turin: U.T.E.T.
  35. Webster, Charles. 1984. Magia e scienza da Paracelso a Newton. Bologna: Il Mulino.
PDF
  • Publication Year: 2023
  • Pages: 41-65
  • Content License: CC BY 4.0
  • © 2023 Author(s)

XML
  • Publication Year: 2023
  • Content License: CC BY 4.0
  • © 2023 Author(s)

Chapter Information

Chapter Title

“Errori popolari:” How a Medical Notion Became an Aesthetic One

Authors

Paolo Cherchi

Language

Italian

DOI

10.36253/979-12-215-0266-4.05

Peer Reviewed

Publication Year

2023

Copyright Information

© 2023 Author(s)

Content License

CC BY 4.0

Metadata License

CC0 1.0

Bibliographic Information

Book Title

Errors, False Opinions and Defective Knowledge in Early Modern Europe

Authors

Marco Faini, Marco Sgarbi

Peer Reviewed

Number of Pages

145

Publication Year

2023

Copyright Information

© 2023 Author(s)

Content License

CC BY 4.0

Metadata License

CC0 1.0

Publisher Name

Firenze University Press

DOI

10.36253/979-12-215-0266-4

ISBN Print

979-12-215-0265-7

eISBN (pdf)

979-12-215-0266-4

eISBN (epub)

979-12-215-0267-1

Series Title

Knowledge and its Histories

130

Fulltext
downloads

133

Views

Export Citation

1,347

Open Access Books

in the Catalogue

2,262

Book Chapters

3,790,127

Fulltext
downloads

4,421

Authors

from 923 Research Institutions

of 65 Nations

65

scientific boards

from 348 Research Institutions

of 43 Nations

1,248

Referees

from 381 Research Institutions

of 38 Nations