Selbsterklärende Wissenschaft – Metareflexion als Mittel zur Konstruktion medizinischer Autorität bei Galen

This article investigates how and to what extent authors of ancient scientific literature explicitly clarify the rationale behind their chosen form of exposition by providing a ‘second-degree’ explanation, i. e. an interruptive, meta-level commentary on the text itself. The treatise De sanitate tuenda by Galen of Pergamum (129-ca. 216 AD), which features numerous examples of this type of self-commentary, is taken as a representative case. It is shown that meta-explanations function as a strategic method of authorial self-representation and the construction of authority, as well as providing valuable insights into the ‘poetics’ of ancient scientific writings.