Medicine and philosophy - Classical Homeopathy Online

Aristotle on melancholy 157between melancholy and extraordinary achievement (36ff.). 64 The possiblegrounds for this arrangement will be discussed below.The basis for achieving both aims lies in the fact that the author distinguishesbetween disease (nosos, nosēma, arrōsthēma) and natural disposition(phusis); in this respect it is striking that the ‘natural melancholics’ are alsoaffected by ‘melancholic diseases’ and that they apparently are more proneto this than other people (953 a 12–15 and 29–31). 65 In 953 a 20 this phusisis referred to as a ‘bodily mixture’ (krasis tōi sōmati), more closely definedin 954 a 13 as a ‘mixture of hot and cold’. To explain its effects, the authoremploys the analogy between the melancholic nature and wine (thisanalogy returns in statements made by Aristotle). 66 The objective of usingthis analogy is twofold: firstly, it is evidence for the fact that the physicalcondition of people not only influences their state of mind, but it can also64 It seems that scholars have hardly recognised the problem in the last sentence (955 a 36–40; seetranslation below). Müri (1953, 25) only implicitly alludes to it when he states ‘indem die Dispositionda, wo es not tut (z.B. in der Furcht), wärmer ist, und da, wo es not tut, kälter . . . ’. The text says: ’ As the author presents this sentence asa summary of something previously discussed, the question arises what refers to, forin this sentence the eukrasia that underlies the melancholic’s peritton does not seem to be referringto a balance of heat and cold (as in 954 b 1), but to a certain ability to adapt this balance to theconditions required by each individual situation (hopou dei). There is, however, no parallel for such aflexibility in the prior treatise. Significant in this context are the differences between the translationsof Klibansky et al. (1964) (‘since it is possible for this variable mixture to be well tempered and welladjusted in a certain respect – that is to say, to be now in a warmer and then again a colder condition,or vice versa, just as required, owing to its tendency to extremes – therefore ...’)andFlashar (1962)(‘Da es aber auch möglich ist, dass die Ungleichmässigkeit gut gemischt sein und sich in gewisserWeise richtig verhalten kann, und, wo es nötig ist, unser Zustand wärmer und wieder kalt ist oderumgekehrt, weil er [bestimmte Eigenschaften] in Übermass besitzt, deshalb . . . ’). Klibansky et al.interpret the text as an explication (‘that is to say’) whereas Flashar apparently sees this as an analogy(‘unser Zustand’). Another difficulty here is the interpretation of whatwould this ‘surfeit’ precisely be? And what exactly does it explain? – Finally, a difference between theopening question and the final sentence should be noted: at the beginning all perittoi were said to bemelancholics, but at the end the author writes that all melancholics are perittoi. This contradictioncould only be solved by understanding perittos here in the final sentence as a neutral notion andtherefore synonymous with ektopos (‘eccentric’). This is to a certain extent justified by the fact thatno specification as to the precise field is presented in this passage. However, asthe causal subclause refers to a healthy balance (eukraton), perittos must be understood in a positivesense. I do not see a solution to these problems (cf. the explanations by Pigeaud (1988a) 127).65 See Tellenbach (1961) 9; Pigeaud (1988a) 42–3. At first sight it seems that 953 a 29–31 speaks about adifference between ‘disease’ (nosēma) and ‘nature’ (phusis), but in fact it says that many melancholicsactually get melancholy-related diseases, while others are only very prone to getting these disorders.Nevertheless, as the next sentence shows, both groups belong to the ‘natural melancholics’ (phuseimelancholikoi).66 Insomn. 461 a 22; Eth. Nic. 1154 b 10; cf. also the role of drunkenness as an analogy in the treatiseabout lack of self-control (1147 a 13–14; 1147 b 7, 12; 1152 a 15).