Medicine and Metaphor in Late Antiquity: How some recent shifts are changing the field By Wendy Mayer, FAHA

https://www.academia.edu/37317232/Medicine_and_Metaphor_in_Late_Antiquity_How_some_recent_shifts_are_changing_the_field?rhid=39241176823&swp=rr-rw-wc-7406481&nav_from=bc9c1a8b-3345-4e3c-99df-ee838be036c3 This article seeks to provide a framework for the four articles that follow. While the employment of medical metaphors by the writers of Late Antiquity has long been recognized, for medical historians the domains to which the metaphors are applied have remained largely in the background. Attention has tended to focus on the metaphors themselves and on the degree to which they reflect actual historical medical thought and practice. More recently attention is focusing on the cultural, conceptual, and moral purpose of medical metaphors and how their employment might in itself be therapeutic. In this article three recent shifts in the way the role of medical metaphor is viewed are discussed. This includes attention to its cognitive implications for the hearer. ...