Medicine and the Lyceum

Although Aristotle reveals a far higher degree of empirical observation than does Plato, he is fundamentally in agreement with him that the first principles of medicine should be drawn from philosophy. Like Plato, he adopts the four element theory, but prefers a system correlating 'elements' with binary combinations of opposites. It is argued that his biological and medical interests have influenced this general theory. It is also suggested that Diocles influenced considerably the development of anatomy and physiology within the Lyceum. Because of doctrinal affinities between Praxagoras and Diocles it has been maintained that the Lyceum exercised a dominant influence upon the subsequent history of Greek medicine; but caution must be enjoined.