SCIENCE, FOLKLORE AND IDEOLOGY: STUDIES IN THE LIFE SCIENCES IN ANCIENT GREECE

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This text takes a set of central topics from ancient Greek medicine and biology – relating especially to beliefs about animals, women and drugs – and studies first the interaction between scientific theorising and folklore, and second the ideological character of ancient scientific inquiry. Within this framework the author looks at the development of zoological taxonomy, the repercussions of prevailing Greek assumptions concerning the inferiority of the female sex on medical practice, pharmacology and anatomy. Anthropology is used to provide a comparative dimension to the discussion of ancent Greek popular beliefs.Â