Chapter 11 The Body Politic
Aëtius on Alcmaeon on Isonomia and Monarchia
In: Studies in Early Greek Philosophy
Author:
Jaap Mansfeld
Jaap Mansfeld
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Abstract
The occurrence of political terms in the context of a medical doctrine, attributed in a sentence of Aëtius to Alcmaeon of Croton, is an instance of the broader application of political terms. The use of these metaphors has generally been explained as the result of direct influence upon Alcmaeon’s thought of the terminology connected with the democratic reforms of Cleisthenes at Athens and/or his reception of the notion of cosmic equilibrium often attributed to Anaximander. I argue that it is a reflection of the famous discussion regarding the best political constitution in the historian Herodotus.