Hippocrates. “Air, Water, Places.” And “Epidemics I.”

Hudson, Robert P. 1993. “Concepts of Disease in the West.” In The Cambridge World History of Human Diseases, edited by K. F. Kiple, 43-52. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Kuriyama, Shigehisa. 1993. “Concepts of Disease in East Asia.” In The Cambridge World History of Human Diseases, edited by K. F. Kiple, 52-59. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

1. The main thesis in Hippocrates’ “Air, Water, Places” is that “all diseases have a natural origin.” What examples did the author provide to support his thesis? (Including counter examples) Give three examples.
2. In “Epidemics I,” according to the author, what are the elements that are needed to take into consideration in order to decide the nature of a disease? Use of the 14 cases in the article to point out these elements.
3. In Kuriyama’s article, what were the concepts of diseases in East Asia? How did they change over time? What facilitated the changes?
4. In Hudson’s article, what were the concepts of diseases in the West? How did they change over time? What facilitated the changes?
5. Do you see the similarities and differences between the concepts of disease in East Asia and in the West? What are they? What were the contextual conditions relating to the differences?

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