ABSTRACT
Towards the end of the fifth century BC Greek medicine had undergone a not insignificant development. Next to mathematics it was the only specialized science, and it had been developed with relative independence of philosophy. Towards the end of the century the great master of medicine, Hippocrates (born c.460), lived on the Isle of Cos near the coast of Asia Minor, where he apparently directed a ‘school’ or guild of physicians. We know little about his personal contribution, but thanks to the authority he enjoyed in his own time and later, a considerable number of writings were attributed to him. The ‘Hippocratic writings’ that have been preserved are far more numerous than the preserved Presocratic fragments-several of them must have been written in the fifth and fourth century (most likely none before 440 BC), but some are of a much later date; it is possible that some of the oldest were written by Hippocrates himself. There are considerable differences between the individual treatises both in points of view and method-there are also different medical ‘schools’—and it is a likely hypothesis that the ‘Hipppocratic writings’ actually were a medical library. But in spite of differences it is possible to focus on some common features that cause these writings to be of interest also in the history of philosophy.
