# Alcmaeon of Croton > “Alcmaeon of Croton was an early Greek medical writer and philosopher-scientist. His exact date, his relationship to other early Greek philosopher-scientists, and whether he was primarily a medical writer/physician or a Presocratic cosmologist, are all matters of controversy. He is likely to have written his book sometime between 500 and 450 BCE.”[^1] --- [[Alcmaeon held that “health consists of a state of balance between certain ‘opposites’, and disease an undue preponderance of one of them.”]][^2] [^1]: ‘Alcmaeon’, *[['Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy', 2020.|Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]*, last modified 18 July 2025, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/alcmaeon/. [^2]: W. H. S. Jones, ‘General Introduction’, in *[[Hippocrates. 'Hippocrates. Volume 1', trans. Jones, 1984.|Hippocrates. Volume 1]]* (London: William Heinemann, 1923; reprinted in 1984), p. xi.