Sunday, February 27, 2011

Philosophy and Medicine

This was in our renal physiology course pack. MSU (Dr. Stephenson)incorporates the liberal arts into medicine almost as much as we did at Hillsdale...

"It was the view of [Claude Bernard] that we achieve a free and independent life, mentally and physically, because of the constancy of the composition of our blood. Recognizing that we have the kind of blood we have because we have the kind of kidneys that we have, we must acknowledge that our kidneys constitute the major foundation of our physiological freedom. Superficially, it might be said that the function of the kidneys is to make urine, but in a more considered view one can say that the kidneys make the stuff of philosophy itself."
-Homer Smith, "Father of Renal Physiology"

Image courtesy of the National Library of Medicine

He's in the middle, tell me he doesn't look like a nice guy. Ok, enough procrastination. If only I could implant his renal knowledge into my head for the exam tomorrow morning. But, since I can't, I better go study...

No comments:

Post a Comment