Leonid Zhmud The Origin of the History of Science in Classical Antiquity

schauungen im Lichte seiner Schriften, Helsinki 1954, 21f., 31f., 65f.). For Iso-
crates’ views on dóxa, see Eucken, C. Isokrates, Berlin 1983, 32f., 36f.
131
Antid. 271, transl. by G. Norlin; cf. 184.
132
On the antithesis ‘knowledge (truth) – opinion’ in the Presocratics, see Parmenides
(B 1.29–30, 8.51), Empedocles (B 3.13 and 132).
133
See e.g. Sprute, J.
Der Begriff der DOXA in der platonischen Philosophie, Göttingen
1962.
134
On the role of kairó~ in medicine, see above, 69 n.102–103, in Isocrates: Wilms, op.
cit., 288f.
135
See below, 127.

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5. From ‘progress’ to ‘perfection’
77
5. From ‘progress’ to ‘perfection’
The example of the notion !~ ëpì tò polú shows again how much Aris-
totle’s theory of science owes to the ‘technical’ literature of the turn of the fifth
century. As often happens to be the case, Aristotle applies to ëpist2mh the no-
tion used earlier to characterize the cognitive possibilities of técnh,
136
giving to
this notion a more definite terminological meaning. Very similar is the history
of the word ëpídosi~, which in the literature of the fourth century usually des-
ignates ‘progress’; the progress of técnai became topical much earlier than the
progress of mathematics. The first use of ëpídosi~ is found in the Hippocratic
corpus, where it means (with reference to things and processes) either ‘in-
crease, growth’, or ‘development, aggravation, progress of a disease’.
137
In the
meaning of physical growth, increase, and development, ëpídosi~ continues to
be used later, e.g. in the natural-scientific treatises of Aristotle and Theophras-
tus.
138
Yet already in Isocrates’ early speeches, ëpídosi~ and ëpididónai ac-
quire the character of notions that denote
qualitative development and advance-
ment to a better state.
139
In a similar meaning (that of increase, advance, devel-
opment), he uses the other verbs from the same semantic group, such as aÿxá-
nein, proagage$n, and proércesqai.
140
We are going to meet these words
later, when discussing the idea of scientific progress.
141
Very often, the passages in which Isocrates refers to the idea of progress are
related to the invention and development of técnai. Though this subject is
among Isocrates’ favorites,
142
his attitude toward first discoverers was ambiva-
lent. On the one hand, he extols Busiris (35) and, still more, Athens (
Paneg.
136
See in particular Isoc.
Panath. 30 (!~ ëpì tò polú stocázesqai toñ sumfé-
ronto~), Paneg. 154, Ad Nic. 34, Areop. 5, 165, Antid. 184, 271 (cited above), De
pac. 35.
137
Acut. 4, 18: ëpídosi~ ë~ pl4qo~ (growth); Epid. II, 1, 6 (bis), VI, 8, 14: ëpídosi~
(aggravation, ‘development’ of a disease;
Artic. 30, 25: ëpídosin Écein (to grow;
cf. 72, 16: ëpídosin ëpididónai, to extend, to yield); Septim. 9, 49: ëpídosin Écein
(to develop). The verb ëpididónai, from which ëpídosi~ is derived, is found with
the same meaning (to grow, to increase, to strengthen, to develop) in Herodotus (II,
13) and Thucydides (VI,60.2; VII,8.1; VIII,24.4. 83.2); see Edelstein,
op. cit., 92
n. 79.
138
Arist.
GA 744b 36, GC 320b 31, HA 560a 20; Theophr. HP II,6.3, CP V,6.2.
139
Paneg. 10, 103, 189. Sometimes ëpídosi~ in Isocrates can mean ‘development for
the worse’ as well (
Hel. 8, Areop. 18, De pace 127), but in most cases it has a mani-
festly positive connotation.
140
aÿxánein is often used along with ëpididónai as its synonym (Ad Dem. 12, Nic. 32,