Abstract

BOHORQUEZ-CARVAJAL, Julián D.. About the ill city. Plato and Hippocrates. discus.filos [online]. 2020, vol.21, n.37, pp.93-113.  Epub June 16, 2021. ISSN 0124-6127.  https://doi.org/10.17151/difil.2020.21.37.6.

In this paper I explore the influence of the Hippocratic Treaties on Plato’s Republic, emphasizing on the role of notions from the so-called Humoral theory of the disease. First, I analyze the importance of the concepts of ‘swollen city’, and ‘sedition’ (stasis) in the work of the Athenian philosopher, and its relations with the medical science of his time. Second, I point out the role of the Hippocratic dietetic in some arguments stated in the Republic, to subsequently address its philosophical reading of the medical principle known as “healing by means of the similar”. Finally, I inquire about various significant analogies between the theses of the school of Hippocrates, in relation to the treatment of diseases, and the Platonic proposal of a “cure for the city”.

Keywords : Plato; Hippocrates; Hippocratic Treaties; Plato’s Republic; Humoral theory.

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