Disorders of the Soul: Emotions and Clinical Conditions in Galen

Résumé En

This paper explores Galen’s view on the relationship between emotions (such as fear, anger, or sadness) and clinical conditions (such as phrenitis, mania, or melancholy) and its significance in the ancient medical-philosophical discourse. It points out that for Galen, emotions and mental disorders do not belong to the same category of phenomena but imply two distinct understandings of the phrase “psychic affections”. The paper first stresses that the association of passion with madness and disease, taken from the philosophical tradition, functions as an analogy. It then proceeds to explain the emphasis placed on the brain in Galen’s psychopathology; the case of melancholia is discussed to show that emotions do play a significant role in brain disorders, but as causes and symptoms. The overall aim of this paper is to challenge the idea of a tension between a Platonic tripartite concept of the soul and a brain-centered treatment of mental disorders in Galen. It does, however, highlight some difficulties, and indicates how ambiguous formulations and the use of traditional, albeit inaccurate, distinctions may have obscured his view, further muddying the issue for subsequent generations.