Boundaries of Anti-machiavellianism: Medicine and Philosophy in La Mettrie’s Late Writings (1747‒1750)

https://doi.org/10.25100/pfilosofica.v0i50.8652

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Published: Jan 15, 2020
Issue: No. 50 (2020): Núm. 50 (2020): Praxis Filosófica No. 50
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Authors

  Adrián Ratto Universidad de Buenos Aires. National Council of Scientific and Technical Research, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Abstract

In L’ouvrage de Pénélope, ou Machiavel en médecine (1748‒1750), La Mettrie criticizes the  Machiavellian qualities of the doctors of his time and expounds on the attributes of the ideal doctor, a figure which, in his latest work, becomes confused with that of the materialistic philosopher. This article intends to show that the connection between both figures is not as simple as it may at first appear. This, at the same time, accentuates the limits of anti‒Machiavellianism in good doctors. In a more general sense, the work sheds some light on the controversies and contentions which arose in the fields of medicine and life sciences during the siècle des Lumières.

Keywords
  • Enlightenment
  • Philosophy
  • Medicine
  • Machiavellianism
  • Materialism
Author Biography

Adrián Ratto, Universidad de Buenos Aires. National Council of Scientific and Technical Research, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Doctor of Philosophy from the Universidad of Buenos Aires. He currently works as a researcher at the National Council of Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET) and as head of practical work at the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters of the Universidad de Buenos Aires. His specific area of work is the French philosophy of the 18th century. Among his latest publications are: Ratto, A. (2019). Diderot y La Mettrie, lectores de Séneca. Diánoia. Revista de Filosofía, 64(82), 115–130; Ratto, A. (2018). El lugar del filósofo en la ciudad. La figura de Sócrates en los escritos de Diderot. Contrastes. Revista Internaconal de Filosofía, 23(2), 25‒40 and Ratto, A. (2016). La polémica entre Voltaire y La Beaumelle: a propósito del Supplément au Siècle de Louis XIV. Ingenium. Revista Electrónica de Pensamiento Moderno y Metodología en Historia de las Ideas, (10), 129‒141.

How to Cite
Ratto, A. (2020). Boundaries of Anti-machiavellianism: Medicine and Philosophy in La Mettrie’s Late Writings (1747‒1750). Praxis Filosófica, (50), 89–106. https://doi.org/10.25100/pfilosofica.v0i50.8652
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Received 2019-11-08
Accepted 2019-11-08
Published 2020-01-15

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