Abstract

RATTO, Adrián. Boundaries of Anti-machiavellianism : Medicine and Philosophy in La Mettrie’s Late Writings (1747‒1750). Prax. filos. [online]. 2020, n.50, pp.89-106. ISSN 0120-4688.  https://doi.org/10.25100/pfilosofica.v0i50.8652.

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..

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