Rieder Philip, Louis-Courvoisier Micheline
Geneva University.
Bull Hist Med. 2010 Winter;84(4):578-606. doi: 10.1353/bhm.2010.0031.
In the second half of the eighteenth century, medical doctors faced heavy competition. They competed for patients and for institutional positions and sought a variety of means to enhance their reputations. Among rank-and-file physicians, some strove to respond to the high expectations and rational discourse fueled by Enlightenment philosophy. They aimed to build a new medicine on rational and empirical principals. Concentrating on the rich correspondence left by young physicians born in Geneva, this article maps out the social and moral dilemmas encountered by ambitious young physicians in the second half of the eighteenth century, who, like many thousands of others, flocked to Edinburgh, "the first medical school" in Europe. Conscious that they formed but one group among a series of possible practitioners, they pondered over cultural codes, civilities and economic realities as they strove to promote the figure of a knowledgeable, experienced, gentlemanlike physician.
在18世纪下半叶，医生面临着激烈的竞争。他们争夺患者和机构职位，并寻求各种手段来提升自己的声誉。在普通医生中，一些人努力回应启蒙运动哲学所激发的高期望和理性话语。他们旨在基于理性和经验原则构建一种新医学。本文聚焦于日内瓦出生的年轻医生留下的丰富书信，描绘了18世纪下半叶雄心勃勃的年轻医生所面临的社会和道德困境，这些年轻人与成千上万其他人一样，涌向欧洲“第一医学院”爱丁堡。他们意识到自己只是一系列可能的从业者中的一员，在努力塑造一个知识渊博、经验丰富、有绅士风度的医生形象时，他们思考着文化规范、礼仪和经济现实。
