Alcmaeon of Croton

Alcmaeon of Croton (/ælkˈmiːɒn/; Greek: Ἀλκμαίων ὁ Κροτωνιάτης, Alkmaiōn, gen.: Ἀλκμαίωνος; fl. 5th century BC) was an early Greek medical writer and philosopher-scientist.^[1] He has been described as one of the most eminent natural philosophers and medical theorists of antiquity and he has also been referred to as "a thinker of considerable originality and one of the greatest philosophers, naturalists, and neuroscientists of all time."^[2] His work in biology has been described as remarkable, and his originality made him likely a pioneer. Because of difficulties dating Alcmaeon's birth, his importance has been neglected.^[3]

Alcmaeon of Croton

Pre-Socratic philosophy

Biography[edit]

Alcmaeon was born in Croton, Magna Graecia, and was the son of Peirithous.^[3] Alcmaeon is said by some to have been a pupil of Pythagoras, and he is believed to have been born c. 510 BC.^[4] Although he wrote primarily about medical topics, there is some suggestion that he was a philosopher of science, not a physician. He also practiced astrology and meteorology. Nothing more is known of the events of his life.^[5]

– influenced by Alcmaeon of Croton

Galen of Pergamon

Hippocrates

(1925). "Pythagoreans: Alcmaeon" . Lives of the Eminent Philosophers. Vol. 2:8. Translated by Hicks, Robert Drew (Two volume ed.). Loeb Classical Library.

Laërtius, Diogenes

Andriopoulos, D.Z. (1990). "Alcmeon's and Hippocrates's Concept of Aetia". In Nicolacopoulos, Pantelis (ed.). Greek Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science. Dordrecht: Kluwer.

Codellas, P.S. (1931–1932). . Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine. 25 (7): 1041–1046. doi:10.1177/003591573202500759. PMC 2183733. PMID 19988748.

"Alcmaeon of Croton: His Life, Work, and Fragments"

Foca, A. (2002). "The Origin of Experimental Medicine in the School of Alcmaeon from Kroton and the Diffusion of His Philosophy within the Mediterranean Area". Skepsis. 13–14: 242–253.

(1962). A History of Greek Philosophy:The Earlier Presocratics and the Pythagoreans. Vol. 1. London: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-29420-7.

Guthrie, W.K.C

Jones, W.H.S. (1979). Philosophy and Medicine in Ancient Greece. New York: Arno Press. 0-405-10606-8.

ISBN

Lloyd, Geoffrey (1975). "Alcmaeon and the Early History of Dissection". Sudhoffs Archiv. 59 (2): 113–147. 138982.

PMID

Longrigg, James (1993). Greek Rational Medicine: Philosophy and Medicine from Alcmaeon to the Alexandrians. London and New York: Routledge. 0-415-02594-X.

ISBN

Mansfeld, Jaap (1975). "Alcmaeon: 'Physikos' or Physician?". In ; Mansfeld, Jaap; de Rijk, Lambertus Marie (eds.). Kephalaion: Studies in Greek Philosophy and its Continuation Offered to Professor C. J. de Vogel. Assen: Van Gorcum.

de Vogel, C.J.

Sigerist, Henry E., ed. (1961). A History of Medicine:Early Greek, Hindu, and Persian Medicine. Vol. 2. New York: Oxford University Press.

Huffman, Carl. . In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

"Alcmaeon"

Kudlien, Fridolf (2008) [1970–80]. . Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Encyclopedia.com.

Alcmaeon of Croton