Charcot: Buddhist Leanings?

Abstract

Jean-Martin Charcot, considered the father of modern neurology, had a complex personality featuring well-defined characteristics of introversion, competitiveness, irony, and skepticism. While biographers have described him as Republican, anticlerical, and agnostic, the literature also presents evidence that he came to admire Buddhism toward the end of his life; Charcot's involvement with numerous patients suffering from incurable and insidious neurological diseases may have contributed to this change in attitude.

Keywords: Buddhism; Charcot; History; Neurology; Religion.