The ancient discipline of medicine was home to reflections about subjects extending far beyond the confines of medicine as we understand it today, sometimes explicitly and sometimes by implication. There is, for instance, much philosophy, often of a very high order, in the medical writings that have come down to us. The object the presentation will be to explore how ancient physicians and medical schools tackled one issue with a philosophical dimension, namely the nature of the knowledge of which participants in a practice must be the masters if it is to qualify as a genuine art or techne.