New publication: Why a good doctor should also be a philosopher

Galen was the most important physician of the Roman Empire; his works have had a decisive influence on medicine right up to modern times. But how did Galen see himself? Five of his writings allow us to understand this: "On his own books" and "On the sequence of his own books" introduce us to Galen's works, "Protreptikos" and "Über die Unverdrossenheit" reveal his philosophical position. Finally, in the treatise "That the best doctor is also a philosopher", Galen demands that the true doctor should also be philosophically educated and pleads for a combination of medicine and philosophy.

Professor Dr. Kai Brodersen has made the works accessible in a new bilingual edition, with annotations and an appendix that has been expanded by new discoveries. A guest contribution by Florian Steger (Professor of History, Theory and Ethics of Medicine at the University of Ulm) introduces Galen's works and explains their continuing importance.