[Strategies of medical self-authorization in early modern medicine: the example of Volcher Coiter (1534-1576)].
Based on the example of Volcher Coiter--a town physician at Nuremberg and one of the leading anatomists in early modern medicine--, this essay points out that the authoritative status of contemporary physicians mainly was predicated on an interplay of self-fashioning and outside perception. It provides ample evidence that Coiter made use of several characteristic rhetorical and discourse-related strategies of self-authorisation such as the participation in social networks, a highly convincing technique of self-fashioning by emphasizing particular erudition, the presentation of academic medicine as a science authorised by god and the concurrent devaluation of non-academic healers. Furthermore, graphic and visual strategies of self-authorisation could be ascertained: Coiter took care for a premium typography of his books. He also used his talent as a graphic artist in his books to visualise his medical concepts. Moreover, the so-called 'Nuremberg Portrait' of Coiter served to illustrate his outstanding authority.
Gross
Dominik
D
Institut für Geschichte, Theorie & Ethik der Medizin, Universitätsklinikum Aachen, Aachen. dgross@ukaachen.de
Steinmetzer
Jan
J
D003406:Credentialing / Q000266:history*; D005858:Germany; D049669:History, 16th Century; D010820:Physicians / Q000266:history*; D017009:Professional Autonomy; D011361:Professional Competence