Medicine and philosophy - Classical Homeopathy Online

Diocles of Carystus on the method of dietetics 91explanation is impossible, and that there are also cases in which it may bepossible, but unnecessary for practical purposes – and one could imaginethat in this respect the author of On Ancient Medicine would not have beentoo happy with Diocles’ criticism of claim three, for On Ancient Medicineis one of the first among the Hippocratic treatises to proclaim the urgencyof stating the cause in dietetics. 39 However, as sections 10–11 of the fragmentshow, Diocles recognises that there are also cases – albeit perhaps aminority – in which a causal explanation increases our understanding ofthe subject and adds to the plausibility of dietetic prescriptions.As for On Regimen, I believe that Fredrich was right in detecting a verystrong, almost indiscriminate application of the search for causes in thechapters on the powers of foodstuffs of this treatise (40–56). The use ofwords indicating causal links such as ‘because’, ‘since’, ‘as a result of’ (,, , ) in these sections is very frequent indeed. But it is especially thenature of these explanations which calls for consideration, for the fact is thatmany of them suffer from defects that might be interpreted as provokingthe kind of criticism Diocles is expressing, such as circularity – no cleardistinction being made between the level of qualities and that of powers –shifting the problem, and tautology – explanandum and explanation beingstated in the same terms. Let us consider some of these explanations:On Regimen 2.40 (p. 162,26 Joly and Byl): [sc. ] (‘it [sc. maza] cools because it is moistened with cold water’); 402.42 (p. 164,22–26 Joly and Byl): ... (‘it passes, becauseit is soon digested . . . it passes because it is mixed with the sweet and laxative partof the wheat’);2.52 (p. 174, 6–8 Joly and Byl): (‘Boiled-down wine warms, moistens, and sends to stool. Itwarms, because it is vinous, moistens because it is nutritious, and sends to stoolbecause it is sweet and moreover boiled-down’);2.54 (p. 174,15 Joly and Byl): (‘Itpromotes stools and urine because of the purgative qualities it possesses’);39 ‘Science must therefore be causal or it is not science’, J. Jouanna (1999, 255) comments on the wellknowncheese example in ch. 20 of On Ancient Medicine. The most prominent instances where theimportance of causal explanation is stated are: 20.3–4 (pp. 146,15–147,10 Jouanna; 1.622 L.); 21.2(p. 148,7–13 Jouanna; 1.624 L.); 23.1 (p. 153,5–6 Jouanna; 1.634 L.); 2.3 (p. 120,7–11 Jouanna; 1.572–4L.); 11.1 (p. 131,11–12 Jouanna; 1.594 L.).40 Translations adopted, with slight adaptations, from W. H. S. Jones in the Loeb Classical Library,Hippocrates, vol. iv.