Empiricism in Sixteenth-Century Medical Practice

Abstract

Based on an analysis of some 4.000 pages of manuscript notes on ordinary medical practice which the little-known Bohemian physician Georg Handsch (1529–1578?) wrote from the late 1540s, this article traces the central place which empiricist attitudes and approaches held in mid-sixteenth-century learned medical practice. While explicit epistemological statements are rare, the very effort which Handsch put into recording thousands of observations he and other physicians around him had made, and the value they attributed to the experiences of ordinary lay persons and even “empirics” reflects a profound belief in the value of sensory experience and personal observation. The paper traces the uses of empiricist key terms like “experientia,” “historia” and “observatio,” it highlights the epistemic effects of personal observation, from confirming and challenging established notions to the creation of new general knowledge from particulars, and it suggests, in conclusion, that such brief notes on ordinary medical practice played an important role in the history of “facts.”