About philosophy and humoural medicine

The polysemy of (see text), which can mean "humour" as well as "flavour", "taste" (e.g. in Democritus' On Tastes) and "juice", places Hippocratic medicine in the context of epistemology (and cookery). The treatment of humours in Ancient Medicine can help us to understand the second version which Plato gives of Protagorean epistemology (the so-called Apology in Theaetetus). Plato himself in his discussion of health, and even in his explanation of diseases in the Timaeus, often seems reluctant to refer to a medical typology of humours. Aristotle is equally reticent on the subject. Yet the complexity of the Aristotelian stance can shed light on some problems in Aristotle's ethical analysis, in particular the problem of intemperance.