Science, Folklore, and Ideology : Studies in the Life Sciences in Ancient Greece

Lloyd examines a set of topics central to ancient Greek medicine and biology, in particular theories of beliefs about animals, women, and the efficacy of drugs. He is concerned throughout with the interaction between scientific theory on the one hand and popular or folkloric belief on the other, as well as with the ideological character of ancient scientific inquiry and its limitations. Lloyd discusses the development of zoological taxonomy, the impact that Greek assumptions about the inferiority of the female sex had on medical practice, and the relationship between high and low science in pharmacology and anatomy. Anthropology provides a comparative dimension raising broader issues under debate in the philosophy and sociology of science.