La théorie des humeurs chez Sénèque : un exemple d’éclectisme médical ?

Abstract

Seneca takes up the Hippocratic theory of dyscrasia to explain several physiological and pathological conditions, among which are pain and insensitivity (epist. 78, 8). The extensive use of this theory, coming from the reading of Hippocratic Corpus and Celsus’ De medicina, by a Stoic philosopher is quite surprising. Indeed, we should rather expect a pneumatist etiology, because both the Pneumatist and the Stoic schools explain the world by the pneuma’s action. Actually, in Seneca’s thought, the humoral and the pneumatist etiology do not contradict each other, they both coexist: the one shows a real respect for Hippocrates and is an argument from authority, the other attests a more philosophical adherence and is linked to the historical context.

Keywords

• Seneca
• theory of humors
• bile
• blood
• Hippocratic Corpus
• Celsus