Oliva Sabuco

Unknown model of Oliva Sabuco ca 1587
Born	Oliva Sabuco de Nantes Barrera 1562 Alcaraz, Spain
Died	1622 Alcaraz, Spain
Spouse(s)	Don Acacio de Buedo
Scientific career
Fields	Philosophy Psychology

Philosophy

Oliva Sabuco de Nantes Barrera (1562 – ca. 1622) was a Spanish writer in holistic medical philosophy in the late 16th – early 17th century. She was interested in the interaction between the physical and psychological phenomena; therefore she wrote a collection of medical and psychological treatises that target human nature and explain the effects of emotions on the body and soul. She analyzed theoretical claims of ancient philosophers and wrote an early theory of what is now considered applied psychology.

She was born in Alcaraz, Spain in 1562 and was baptized in the Holy Trinity church on December 2 of that same year. Her mother was Francisca de Cozar and her father was Don Miguel Sabuco y Alvarez. By 1580, at the age of 18, she was married to Don Acacio de Buedo. Although not much is known about her formal education it is evident that Oliva Sabuco was taught medicine by her father. She was well acquainted with classical and contemporary philosophy and was knowledgeable about medical theory. By age 25 she already published a novel far ahead of her time.

Sabuco combined ancient Greek and Christian philosophies, along with Aristotelian views in order to explain how the mind and body interact in a holistic manner. She believed human nature to be a single concept, where the rational soul and spiritual soul must co-occur for a human being to exist. A human being would be considered a corpse with no potential for living when it lacked either of the two souls. Sabuco agreed with Atristotle's vision of form and matter in relation to the body: they both believed the interaction between the mind and body was the formal organization of a whole living human being. Her theory differed in the sense that the human being could not exist until the divine soul/mind coexisted with the body/matter.

Her approach to the mind-body interaction mirrored that of Plato’s. The mind was in charge of moral judgments and reasons which caused the body to react in certain ways. Therefore, the body carried out the moral judgments that were processed. Sabuco placed emphasis on self-knowledge and the capacity of the mind to exercise free will. Self-knowledge and ethical decisions allowed hope, health, strength and a natural life span to be placed on the human body while free will directed the passions and emotions.