Federspil G, Sicolo N
Cattedra di Medicina Interna, University of Padua, Italy.
Am J Nephrol. 1994;14(4-6):337-43. doi: 10.1159/000168745.
The vitalistic doctrine of Aristotle and Galen, in which the soul is an indissoluble part of the body, was undisputed throughout most of the Middle Ages. The first radical change came with Telesio, who developed philosophic naturalism in which the soul has a reality of its own, though it is connected to the body. The definitive change came with Descartes, who believed that all biologic phenomena can be explained by the laws of mechanics, and only man is distinguished by the possession of a soul. For the next 300 years, this mechanistic view would be challenged by a new vitalism, in which the 'vital force' has an existence in its own right.
亚里士多德和盖伦的活力论认为灵魂是身体不可分割的一部分，在中世纪的大部分时间里这一观点都未受到质疑。首次重大变革来自特勒肖，他发展了哲学自然主义，认为灵魂虽与身体相连，但有其自身的实在性。决定性的变革来自笛卡尔，他认为所有生物现象都可用力学定律来解释，只有人类因拥有灵魂而与众不同。在接下来的300年里，这种机械论观点受到了一种新活力论的挑战，新活力论认为“生命力”有其自身的存在。
