Alcméon of Crotona

Biography

Alcméon, wire of Pirithos, were born has Crotona (Grande Greece). He seems to have been pythagorician, but Diogène Laërce makes of it only one listener of Pythagore. It would be the first to have written a work on the Nature.

Doctrines

Alcméon could be at the origin of the ten principles pythagoricians, classified in parallel series (according to Aristote, Metaphysics , has, V, 986 has 22):

limited and unlimited
odd and even
one and multiple
right and left
male and female
in rest and
right and curve
light and darkness
good and bad
square and oblong

We have some testimonys on the design of the heart of Alcméon: it is, according to him, immortal, from its resemblance to the divine beings. This resemblance consists of what the heart never ceases being driven (Aristote, Of the heart , I, II, 405, has 29): by nature, it is driven itself of a movement eternal (Aétius, Opinions , IV, II, 2).

Medicine

It is the first disciple of Pythagore of which we have some fragments. Its work is primarily of a medical nature: it would be the first to have practiced the Dissection (it would have discovered the existence of the Eustachian tubes and the optical nerves), and it would have thus extended anatomical knowledge , in particular with regard to the bodies of the direction.

According to Théophraste, it rejected the thesis which explains the feeling by the similar one. It would be also the first to be determined what differentiates the animals and the Homme S: according to him, indeed, the “man is the only one to have the conscience, whereas the others have feelings without being the aware. ” ( Of the direction , 25 - 26) Théophraste also brings back to us what Alcméon thought of each direction:

the Hearing: for Alcméon, the vacuum contained in the ears reflects the sounds by vibration.
the Sense of smell: by the nose, the breath arrives to the brain.
the Taste
the Vision: it occurs through the water which is in the eyes.
the To touch: according to Théophraste, Alcméon does not say anything of this direction.

All the feelings are transmitted to the Cerveau, transmissions which can be faded by the movements of the subject of the Perception. It thus allots to the brain the role of common direction and seat of the Pensée.

There remain to us also some indications on the designs of Alcméon with regard to the reproduction and the Embryologie. He thought that the Embryon is born at the same time from the male seed and the female seed. The Sexe of the child is then determined by the most abundant seed. The head is formed the first in the belly of the mother and the embryo is nourished by all its body, like a sponge.

It described the Sommeil like a backward flow of the Sang in the arteries, the alarm clock corresponding to blood flow, and the Mort like a final backward flow of blood. (Aétius, Opinions , V, XXIII, I)

He thought that the Santé is a balance ( isonomy ) of the powers (wet, dry, cold and hot, etc), and that the prevalence of the one of them causes the Maladie. But it distinguished several causes from the disease, according to the agent, the material causes and the places (Aétius, Opinions , V, XXX, I). According to the agent, it is when there is, for example, an excess of heat or cold; according to the material causes, it is, for example, when food misses; finally, according to the places, it is when the disease affects either blood, or marrow, or the brain.

Astronomy

Alcméon also seems to have studied the eclipse S of the the Moon and the movements of the stars.

Works

On nature
Antitheses

Sources

According to Diogène Laërce, Aristote would have written a Against the doctrines of Alcméon .

Aétius, Opinions
Chalcidius, In Timeum
Clement of Alexandria, Stromates
, VIII, 83
, Problems
Théophraste, Of the directions

Quotations (fragments)

B 1
“As well in the field of invisible as in that of the things mortals, the gods hold immediate knowledge. But us, from our human condition, we are reduced to the conjectures. ” (Quoted by Diogène Laërce, Lives , VIII, 83)

B 1a
“What distinguishes the man from the other animals, it is that it is the only one to have the conscience, whereas the others have feelings without being the aware. ” (Quoted by Théophraste, Of the direction , 25)

B 2
“With the result that the men die it is that it is not possible for them to join the beginning and the end. ” (Quoted by the Pseudoone, Problems , XVIII, III, 916 has 33)

B 3
“Cest the subtlety and coldness of their seed which explains the sterility of the mules, and an insufficient opening of the matrix of the mules. ” (Quoted by Aétius, Opinions , V, xiv, I)

B 5
“One keeps oneself of an enemy more easily than of a friend. ” (Quoted by Clement of Alexandria, Stromates , VI, 16)

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