Aristotle and the Hippocratic De victu on innate heat and the kindled soul

Abstract

Aristotle s concept of innate heat has remarkable but rarely discussed parallels in the extant texts of his medical predecessors and contemporaries. Focusing on the Hippocratic treatises, and on the De victu in particular, I suggest that reading Aristotle in the context of this evidence may shed new light on a number of passages in which Aristotle introduces his own ideas against the background of an already existing tradition.

Keywords

• Aristotle
• De victu
• Regimen
• Innate heat
• Soul
• Hippocratic