ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses how personal freedom, liberty, and autonomy functioned in the life and work of the 16th-century philosopher Oliva Sabuco de Nantes Barerra. It explores how her New Philosophy of Human Nature liberates philosophy of medicine from traditional, but false paradigms by advocating empiricism as the methodology for the development of medical theories. Sabuco develops a philosophy of medicine that is consistent with a larger metaphysical/cosmological theory. It is argued that the work is among the first to reject the male as representing the “normal human,” to consider menstruation, pregnancy, and lactation as normal, and to reject the idea that hysteria is caused by uterine malfunction. It addresses also threats to her ability to publish her book and threats to her personal liberty posed by a dispute with her father that culminated in his challenge to her authorship.
