ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the interconnected problems by surveying the existing literature and takes into account the fragmentary evidence concerning Alcmaeon's doctrines, his alleged connection with the Pythagoreans, and the opening sections of contemporary philosophical and medical treatises. It suggests that Alcmaeon's reference to three addressees may well be polemical, as was common in the archaic era, and that his incipit can be seen as providing evidence for the clash between empiricism and inspiration in early Greek thought. Different suggestions have been proposed concerning the punctuation and interpretation of the fragment, as well as the relationship between Alcmaeon and the figures referred to in the incipit. Traces of the contest between Alcmaeon and three Pythagoreans are preserved in the incipit, which commences with Alcmaeon's response to them and is followed by an exposition of his system.
