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Darrera modificació: 2019-01-30
Bases de dades: Sciència.cat
Kouloumentas, Stavros, "Heraclitus and the medical theorists on the circle", Dialogues d'histoire ancienne, 44/2 [=Clisthene Workshop, I: Philosophy outside the walls] (2018), 43-63.
- Resum
- The coincidence of opposites in a circle is a topic that attracted the interest of several thinkers who were active between the fifth and the third century BC. A key text is a Heraclitean fragment, transmitted by Porphyry, which refers to the coincidence of beginning and end in a circle's circumference. After analysing the context in which the fragment is embedded, three interpretations are examined: the circle represents the regularity of the large-scale processes; the circle offers a geometrical example of the unity or coincidence of opposites; and the circle alludes to the unity of the microcosmic processes pertaining to the soul. I then turn to medical theorists who deal with the coincidence of beginning and end in circles and circuits: (a) the author of On Regimen, who tries to show the interconnection between macrocosm, microcosm, and crafts; (b) the authors of Places in Man and On the Nature of Bones, who stress the organic unity of bodily parts; and (c) Alcmaeon, who describes the death of humans as a failure to complete a circuit. An examination of the fragment in connection with the medical literature displays the diversity of ancient tradition, as well as the novelty of Heraclitus' thought.
- Matèries
- Aritmètica i geometria
Filosofia - Filosofia natural
Medicina
- URL
- https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo ...
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