I. The criticism of magic an the inquiry concerning nature
The pluralism of Greek religious beliefs
The persistence of traditional beliefs: Herodotus
The philosophical background
Healing and healers in the classical period
The notions of "nature" and "cause"
II. Dialectic and demonstration
Some comparative considerations
Aristotle's analysis of modes of reasoning
Early philosophical argumentation
The development of rhetoric
Rhetoric and the development of natural science
The criticism of rhetoric
The development of demonstration
Interactions of dialectic and demonstration
III. The development of empirical research
The epistemological debate
Presocratic natural philosophy
Hippocratic medicine and the development of dissection
IV. Greek science and Greek society
The Greeks and the Near East
Some explanatory hypotheses
The relevance of politics to science
