Abstract

This article endeavours to provide the context to a digression in Lacan’s Seminar viii concerning the Pythagoreans, within the Vorlage of the history of ancient medicine. This shows the philosophical and historical richness that lies behind the Lacanian corpus, while illustrating the manifold pitfalls that await the uncritical reader who may take Lacan’s text merely at face value. First, the author suggests that Lacan’s investigation into the meaning of ἔρως and desire in Plato’s Symposium, cannot be separated from Platonism as it has come down to us, in the Western tradition, from Plotinus and Augustine. Second, through a careful reading of the Greek sources, the author sets forth the scholarly arguments concerning the topics which form the core of the passage of Lacan under review. Namely, (i) the hagiographical nature of Iamblichus’ De Vita Pythagorae and the VP of Porphyry upon which it was based, the teaching of the later Pythagoreans (notably Alcmaeon of Croton and Philolaus) and the references to the Pythagoreans found in Aristotle; (ii) the erroneous, nineteenth century, distinction between a Hippocratic or Coan and Cnidian school of medicine; and (iii) John Anderson indirect influence on Betrand Russell’s Wisdom of the West, especially in the light of Russell’s mistaken view that the religious and mathematical aspects of Pythagoras’ thought are a unity.