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Oliva Sabuco de Nantes Barrera (1562 – ca. 1622) was a Spanish writer in holistic medical philosophy in the late 16th – early 17th century. She was interested in the interaction between the physical and psychological phenomena and wrote a collection of medical and psychological treatises targeting human nature. Her theory of medicine revolved around the effects of emotions on the body and the soul. She analyzed theoretical claims of ancient philosophers and wrote an early theory of what is now considered applied psychology.

Early Life
She was born in Alcaraz, Spain in 1562 and was baptized in the Holy Trinity church on December 2nd of that same year. Her mother was Francisca de Cozar and her father Don Miguel Sabuco y Alvarez. By 1580, at the age of 18, she was married to Don Acacio de Buedo. Although not much is known about her formal education it is know that Oliva Sabuco was taught medicine by her father. She was well acquainted with classical and contemporary philosophy and was knowledgeable about medical theory. By age 25 she already published a novel far ahead of her time.

Mind-Body Coexistence
Sabuco combined ancient Greek and Christian philosophies, along with Aristotelian views in order to explain how the mind and body interact in a holistic manner. She believed human nature to be a single concept, where the rational soul and spiritual soul must coexist for a human being to exist. A human being, lacking any of its essential parts was considered a corpse with no potential for living. Sabuco agreed with Atristotle's vision of form and matter in relation to the body: they both believed the interaction between the mind and body was the formal organization of a whole living human being. Her theory differed from Aristotle’s in the sense that the human being could not exist until the divine soul/mind coexisted with the body/matter.

Her approach to the mind-body interaction mirrored that of Plato’s. The mind was in charge of moral judgments and reasons which were then implemented, causing the body to react. The body, therefore, carried out the moral judgments that were processed. Sabuco placed emphasis on self-knowledge and the capacity of the mind to exercise free will. Self-knowledge and ethical decisions allowed hope, health, strength, and a natural life span to be placed on the human body while free would direct passions and emotions.

Harmony and a Healthy State
According to Sabuco, the soul was divided into three parts: the sensitive, the biological, and the intellectual soul, all which would be in a harmonic balance with one another. The balance between the four humors, hot, cold, wet, and dry must also be in harmony in order for the human organ system to be in a healthy state. Sabuco used a temperature-humidity schema, derived from Hippocrates, to evaluate illnesses and individuals’ state of health. Although her ideas originated from Hippocrates’s four bodily humors, Sabuco denied the importance of his bodily humors and insisted the focus lie on the severity of temperature and humidity. For example, illnesses, disabilities, and premature death were results of disharmony among the three parts of the soul or the temperature-humidity schema. Sabuco also coined the term chilo, which was a white liquid energizing force that traveled through a complex network of anatomical channels from one organ system to another. Chilo maintained the proper temperature and humidity within the body; nonetheless, an imbalance could lead to those negative states of health. The purpose of chilo was to communicate the movement to the bodily organs and orientate them to accomplish the goal meant to be accomplished.

Moral Philosophy
Sabuco’s theory of moral philosophy incorporated traditional views of virtue ethics. Good and evil were intertwined in the world and could banish each other. Her theory stated how something good could be present in evil and something evil could be present in good. There was never such a concept as pure evil or pure good. Within her theory of human nature there were only two evils, avoidable diseases and premature aging. Sabuco promoted moderation and temperance to control emotions and passions; her theory originated from Plato’s concept of sophrosyne, where self-understanding is used to obtain wisdom and virtue. However, Sabuco referenced temperance as the most important virtue that was obtained through self-knowledge. Temperance and wisdom were then labeled as the answers to evil because they sustained human life and provided peace, happiness, and content between emotions and the soul.

Cosmology
The second part of her work described astronomical and geological events and how they support the theory of human nature. It was important to learn how the macrocosm functions because humans were a microcosm within the board world. Understanding how the world came to be would teach humans how to live in that world. A person's condition, whether improving or declining was related to cosmology. Such topics included the moon, the magnitude of the Earth and its atmosphere, solar and lunar eclipses, and the magnitude of the cosmos. An individual's life cycle was improving or declining just like a moon's cycle was waxing or waning. Within macrocosm, the moon was defined as the brain of the world which provided moisture and growth to its waters. Microcosm, on the other hand, described the sun as the heart of the world which gave warmth and life to the world. The emphasis was placed on the brain, making it more significant than the heart, as the moon was more vital than the sun.

World Improvements: Judicial, Legislative, and Social Thoughts
Sabuco introduced smaller systems of reformation into her idea of human nature. Sabuco advocated for the creation of legislative, judicial, and social reforms in the welfare rights of the powerless, people such as peasants, workers, and householders. The powerless were the ones whose health was severely impacted the most by the misery and despair of everyday life. Excess and greed should be avoided because they were bad for the social body and individual body.

She argued for a legal reformation of judicial laws, doctrines of appeals, and better protection under the law. She reasoned that the individuals who created the laws would be the only ones who would comprehend them. Therefore, the laws would not be applicable or fair to lower socioeconomic classes who did not partake in the creation of them. Laws must be clear, written in simple language and precise so proper justice could be granted to the poor. Sabuco also argued against juridical doctrines of appeal to authority figures of Roman law. Authoritarian power was passed down through generations and individuals' verdicts had varying interpretations from previous generations of authorities who lacked knowledge about the present case. As a result she believed protection under the law was unequal for most of the public and most did not receive the proper justice.

Legislative reformation should include protection for farmers and peasants because their labor and production was essential in the survival of others within the nation. She was a strong proponent of preventing the authority from confiscating land, livestock, and crops.

Sabuco criticized university policies and the objectives of the education system. She mentioned the lack of proper criteria for an individual regarding admissions and recommended examiners evaluate potential candidates' abilities when granting admission. She also denounced the importance of charging students tuition because students were admitted who could afford tuition but lacked the proper aptitude to succeed.

Physical Medicine and Remedies
Sabuco disagreed with the traditional medical theory and thought its failure to control medicine was due to people's ignorance on the impact of emotions on physical health. Emotions such as anger, sadness, love, excessive joy, hatred, shame and distrust caused imbalances in the bodily humors which squeezed the humor and humidity of the brain where the soul was located. The only true appropriate medicine would comfort the brain and be in accordance between the body and the soul. Words and deeds that generated joy and hope and taking care of the stomach were the three pillars of health that could comfort the brain. If optimism, contented happiness, and abdominal temperature were left unattended they could lead to sorrow, discontent, and melancholy. Another general remedy mentioned was the diversion of humor through bodily openings so it would not reach internal organs.

Treatise
The first treatise within Sabuco’s most famous book, New Philosophy of Human Nature, introduces a discussion between three peasants, whom she identified as shepherds and who critique the views of others. These three shepherds continue as the main characters throughout the remaining six treatises and their discussions cover various topics of human nature. The identity of her characters represents the significance of remaining in close contact with nature and staying isolated from society so societal views will not sully the mind. She purposely included peasants as characters in order to demonstrate how philosophy and medicine are relevant regardless of social class. Sabuco believed her theory should be relevant to simple folks and applicable to their lives. The treatises emphasized the universe by describing the theory on mutual interdependence of the soul, body, and cosmos.

Later life
Credit for her work was sometimes given to her father, Don Miguel Sabuco y Alvarez, because of a powerful letter written by him claiming the work as his own. His letter and a promissory note written by Sabuco's husband and brother were executed a year following the publication of the book. The letter claimed Don Miguel Sabuco as the true author of New Philiosophy of Human Nature and an explanation stating that her name was included in an attempt to honor her but she had no legal interest in the volume nor authority over it. . However, recent scholarship has defended her case, claiming that she was the writer. Because of the nature of her material, she incurred the attention of the inquisitors and had all her books burned. She lived out her days in the convent of Dominican nuns in Alcaraz and took on a monastic habit.There, she eventually died around the year 1622.