Corpus Aristotelicum

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Corpus Aristotelicum
Logic (Organon)

Categories
On Interpretation

Prior Analytics
Posterior Analytics

Topics
Sophistical Refutations

Natural philosophy (physics)

Physics
On the Heavens
On Generation and Corruption
Meteorology
On the Soul
History of Animals

Metaphysics

Metaphysics

Ethics
Politics

Nicomachean Ethics
Eudemian Ethics
Magna Moralia
On Virtues and Vices
Politics
Economics
Constitution of the Athenians

Rhetoric
Poetics

Rhetoric
Poetics

Spurious works

On the Universe
Mechanics

Aristotle
Aristotelianism

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Aristotelianism

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Corpus Aristotelicum[hide]

Physics
Organon
Nicomachean Ethics
Politics
Metaphysics
On the Soul
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Influences
Followers
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Philosophy portal

The end of Sophistical Refutations and beginning of Physics on page 184 ofBekker's 1831 edition.

The Corpus Aristotelicum is the collection of Aristotle's works that have survived from
antiquity through Medieval manuscript transmission. These texts, as opposed to Aristotle's
lost works, are technical philosophical treatises from within Aristotle's school. Reference to
them is made according to the organization of Immanuel Bekker's nineteenth-century
edition, which in turn is based on ancient classifications of these works.
Contents
[hide]

1 Overview of the extant works

2 Bekker numbers
3 Aristotle's works by Bekker numbers
4 Aristotelian works lacking Bekker numbers
o 4.1 Constitution of the Athenians
o 4.2 Fragments
5 Notes
6 External links

Overview of the extant works[edit]

The extant works of Aristotle are broken down according to the five categories in the
Corpus Aristotelicum. Not all of these works are considered genuine, but differ with respect
to their connection to Aristotle, his associates and his views. Some are regarded by most
scholars as products of Aristotle's "school" and compiled under his direction or supervision.
(The Constitution of Athens, the only major modern addition to the Corpus Aristotelicum,
has also been so regarded.) Other works, such as On Colors may have been products of
Aristotle's successors at the Lyceum, e.g., Theophrastus and Strato of Lampsacus. Still
others acquired Aristotle's name through similarities in doctrine or content, such as the De

Plantis, possibly by Nicolaus of Damascus. A final category, omitted here, includes

medieval palmistries, astrological and magical texts whose connection to Aristotle is purely
fanciful and self-promotional.
In several of the treatises, there are references to other works in the corpus. Based on such
references, some scholars have suggested a possible chronological order for a number of
Aristotle's writings. W.D. Ross, for instance, suggested the following broad chronology
(which of course leaves out much): Categories, Topics, Sophistici
Elenchi, Analytics, Metaphysics , the physical works, the Ethics, and the rest of
the Metaphysics.[1] Many modern scholars, however, based simply on lack of evidence, are
skeptical of such attempts to determine the chronological order of Aristotle's writings.[2]

Bekker numbers[edit]
Bekker numbers, the standard form of reference to works in the Corpus Aristotelicum, are
based on the page numbers used in the Prussian Academy of Sciences edition of the
complete works of Aristotle (Aristotelis Opera edidit Academia Regia Borussica, Berlin,
18311870). They take their name from the editor of that edition, the
classical philologist August Immanuel Bekker (17851871).
Bekker numbers take the format of up to four digits, a letter for column 'a' or 'b', then the
line number. For example, the beginning of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics is 1094a1,
which corresponds to page 1094 of Bekker's edition of the Greek text of Aristotle's works,
first column, line 1.
All modern editions or translations of Aristotle intended for scholarly readers use Bekker
numbers, in addition to or instead of page numbers. Contemporary scholars writing on
Aristotle use the Bekker number so that the author's citations can be checked by readers
without having to use the same edition or translation that the author used.
While Bekker numbers are the dominant method used to refer to the works of
Aristotle, Catholic or Thomist scholars often use the medieval method of reference by book,
chapter, and sentence, albeit generally in addition to Bekker numbers.
Stephanus pagination is the comparable system for referring to the works of Plato.

Aristotle's works by Bekker numbers[edit]

The following list is complete. The titles are given in accordance with the standard set by
the Revised Oxford Translation.[3] Latin titles, still often used by scholars, are also given.

Key

[?]
Strikethrough

Bekker
number

Work

Logic
Organon

Authenticity disputed.
Generally agreed to be spurious.

Latin name

1a

Categories

Categoriae

16a

On Interpretation

De Interpretatione

24a

Prior Analytics

Analytica Priora

71a

Posterior Analytics

Analytica Posteriora

100a

Topics

Topica

164a

Sophistical Refutations

De Sophisticis Elenchis

Physics (natural philosophy)

184a

Physics

Physica

268a

On the Heavens

De Caelo

314a

On Generation and Corruption

De Generatione et Corruptione

338a

Meteorology

Meteorologica

391a

On the Universe

De Mundo

402a

On the Soul

De Anima

Parva Naturalia ("Little Physical Treatises")

436a

Sense and Sensibilia

De Sensu et Sensibilibus

449b

On Memory

De Memoria et Reminiscentia

453b

On Sleep

De Somno et Vigilia

458a

On Dreams

De Insomniis

462b

On Divination in Sleep

De Divinatione per Somnum

464b

On Length and Shortness

of Life

De Longitudine et Brevitate Vitae

467b

On Youth, Old Age, Life

and Death, and Respiration

De Juventute et Senectute, De
Vita et Morte, De Respiratione

481a

On Breath

De Spiritu

486a

History of Animals

Historia Animalium

639a

Parts of Animals

De Partibus Animalium

698a

Movement of Animals

De Motu Animalium

704a

Progression of Animals

De Incessu Animalium

715a

Generation of Animals

De Generatione Animalium

791a

On Colors

De Coloribus

800a

On Things Heard

De audibilibus

805a

Physiognomonics

Physiognomonica

815a

On Plants

De Plantis

830a

On Marvellous Things Heard

De mirabilibus auscultationibus

847a

Mechanics

Mechanica

859a

[?] Problems

[?] Problemata

968a

On Indivisible Lines

De Lineis Insecabilibus

973a

The Situations and Names

of Winds

Ventorum Situs

974a

On Melissus, Xenophanes,
and Gorgias

Metaphysics
980a

Metaphysics

Metaphysica

Ethics and politics

1094a

Nicomachean Ethics

Ethica Nicomachea

1181a

[?] Great Ethics

[?] Magna Moralia

1214a

Eudemian Ethics

Ethica Eudemia

1249a

On Virtues and Vices

De Virtutibus et Vitiis Libellus

1252a

Politics

Politica

1343a

[?] Economics

[?] Oeconomica

Rhetoric and poetics

1354a

Rhetoric

Ars Rhetorica

1420a

Rhetoric to Alexander

Rhetorica ad Alexandrum

1447a

Poetics

Ars Poetica

Aristotelian works lacking Bekker numbers[edit]

Constitution of the Athenians[edit]
The Constitution of the Athenians (or Athenain Politeia) was not included in Bekker's
edition, because it was first edited in 1891 from papyrus rolls acquired in 1890 by
the British Museum. The standard reference to it is by section (and subsection) numbers.

Fragments[edit]
Surviving fragments of the many lost works of Aristotle were included in the fifth volume of
Bekker's edition, edited by Valentin Rose. These are not cited by Bekker numbers,
however, but according to fragment numbers. Rose's first edition of the fragments
of Aristotle was Aristoteles Pseudepigraphus (1863). As the title suggests, Rose
considered these all to be spurious. The numeration of the fragments in a revised edition by
Rose, published in the Teubner series, Aristotelis qui ferebantur librorum fragmenta,
Leipzig, 1886, is still commonly used (indicated by R3), although there is a more current
edition with a different numeration by Olof Gigon (published in 1987 as a new vol. 3
in Walter de Gruyter's reprint of the Bekker edition), and a new de Gruyter edition by Eckart
Schtrumpf is in preparation.[4]
For a selection of the fragments in English translation, see W.D. Ross, Select
Fragments (Oxford 1952), and Jonathan Barnes (ed.), The Complete Works of Aristotle:
The Revised Oxford Translation, vol. 2, Princeton 1984, pp. 23842465.
The works surviving only in fragments include the dialogues On Philosophy (or On the
Good), Eudemus (or On the Soul), Protrepticus, On Justice, and On Good Birth. The
possibly spurious work, On Ideas survives in quotations by Alexander of Aphrodisias in his
commentary on Aristotle's Metaphysics. For the dialogues, see also the editions ofRichard
Rudolf Walzer, Aristotelis Dialogorum fragmenta, in usum scholarum (Florence 1934), and
Renato Laurenti, Aristotele: I frammenti dei dialoghi (2 vols.), Naples: Luigi Loffredo, 1987.