To disprove Galen, Vesalius encouraged what practice?

• A. Animal dissection
• B. Human dissection
• C. Autopsy
• D. Brain dissection

Answer: (B)

The main idea here is that proving ideas about the human body required looking at real human anatomy, not trusting what was said about it from others. Vesalius pushed for direct human dissection to study how the body is actually laid out. He had read Galen’s work, which was largely based on animal dissections, and found many of Galen’s statements didn’t match human anatomy. By opening and examining human cadavers, Vesalius could compare the observed structure with Galen’s descriptions and correct errors, showing that authority without hands-on evidence is unreliable. This empirical approach, famously published in his De humani corporis fabrica, marked a shift toward learning from the human body itself. The other options describe different kinds of dissection or examination, but they don’t capture the crucial step Vesalius took: using human dissection to test and revise anatomical knowledge.