You are on page 1of 624

ARISTOTLE

Contents
1

Aristotle

1.1

Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1.2

Thought . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1.2.1

Logic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1.2.2

Aristotle's epistemology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1.2.3

Geology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1.2.4

Physics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1.2.5

Metaphysics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1.2.6

Biology and medicine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1.2.7

Psychology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

10

1.2.8

Practical philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

12

1.2.9

Views on women . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

13

1.3

Loss and preservation of his works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

13

1.4

Legacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

14

1.4.1

Later Greek philosophers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

14

1.4.2

Inuence on Byzantine scholars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

14

1.4.3

Inuence on Islamic theologians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

15

1.4.4

Inuence on Western Christian theologians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

15

1.4.5

Post-Enlightenment thinkers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

15

1.5

List of works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

15

1.6

Eponym . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

16

1.7

See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

16

1.8

Notes and references . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

16

1.9

Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

19

1.10 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

20

Nicomachus (father of Aristotle)

22

2.1

22

Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Platonic Academy

23

3.1

Site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

23

3.2

Plato's Academy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

24

3.3

Later history of the Academy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

24

ii

CONTENTS
3.3.1

Old Academy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

25

3.3.2

Middle Academy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

25

3.3.3

New Academy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

25

3.4

Destruction of the Academy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

25

3.5

Neoplatonic Academy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

25

3.6

See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

26

3.7

Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

26

3.8

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

27

3.9

External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

27

Prior Analytics

28

4.1

The syllogism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

29

4.1.1

The three gures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

29

4.2

Syllogism in the rst gure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

29

4.3

Syllogism in the second gure

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

30

4.4

Syllogism in the third gure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

30

4.5

Table of syllogisms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

30

4.6

The fourth gure

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

30

4.7

Booles acceptance of Aristotle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

30

4.8

Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

31

4.9

External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

32

Term logic

33

5.1

Aristotle's system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

33

5.2

Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

33

5.3

Term

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

34

5.4

Proposition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

35

5.5

Singular terms

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

35

5.6

Inuence on philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

35

5.7

Decline of term logic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

35

5.8

Revival

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

36

5.9

See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

36

5.10 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

36

5.11 References

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

36

5.12 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

37

Non-Aristotelian logic

38

6.1

History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

38

6.2

Use in science ction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

38

6.3

See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

39

6.4

References

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

39

6.5

External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

40

CONTENTS

iii

41

Organon
7.1

Constitution of the texts

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

41

7.2

Inuence

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

41

7.3

Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

42

7.4

References

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

42

7.5

External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

43

Physics (Aristotle)

44

8.1

Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

44

8.1.1

Book I (; 184a192b) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

45

8.1.2

Book II (; 192b200b) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

45

8.1.3

Book III (; 200b208a) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

46

8.1.4

Book IV (; 208a223b) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

46

8.1.5

Books V and VI (: 224a231a; : 231a241b) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

46

8.1.6

Book VII (; 241a25250b7) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

47

8.1.7

Book VIII (; 250a14267b26) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

47

8.2

English translations of the Physics

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

47

8.3

Classical and medieval commentaries on the Physics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

48

8.4

Modern commentaries and monographs

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

48

Articles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

49

8.4.1

8.5

Bibliography

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

50

8.6

References

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

50

8.7

External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

50

8.7.1

Original text (Greek) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

50

8.7.2

Commentaries and comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

50

8.7.3

Other . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

50

Classical element

51

9.1

Ancient . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

51

9.1.1

Cosmic elements in Babylonia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

51

Greece . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

51

9.2.1

Medieval alchemy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

52

9.3

Egypt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

52

9.4

India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

53

9.4.1

Hinduism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

53

9.4.2

Buddhism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

53

9.4.3

Seven chakras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

53

9.5

Tibet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

54

9.6

China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

54

9.7

Japan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

55

9.8

Western astrology and tarot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

55

9.9

Modern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

55

9.2

iv

CONTENTS
9.10 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

55

9.11 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

56

9.12 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

56

9.13 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

56

10 Potentiality and actuality

57

10.1 Potentiality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

57

10.2 Actuality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

58

10.2.1 Energeia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

58

10.2.2 Entelechy or entelechia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

58

10.3 Motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

58

10.3.1 1. The processinterpretation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

59

10.3.2 2. The productinterpretation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

59

10.3.3 3. The interpretation of Kosman, Coope, Sachs and others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

59

10.4 The importance of actuality in Aristotle's philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

59

10.5 The active intellect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

60

10.6 Post-Aristotelian usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

61

10.6.1 New meanings of energeia or energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

61

10.6.2 Neoplatonism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

61

10.6.3 Essence-energies debate in medieval Christian theology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

61

10.6.4 Inuence on modal logic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

62

10.6.5 Inuence on modern physics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

62

10.6.6 Entelecheia in modern philosophy and biology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

63

10.7 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

63

10.8 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

63

10.9 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

64

11 Four causes

66

11.1 Meaning of cause . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

66

11.2 Material cause . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

66

11.3 Formal cause . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

66

11.4 Ecient cause . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

67

11.5 Final cause . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

67

11.6 The four causes in modern science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

67

11.6.1 Biology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

68

11.6.2 Physics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

68

11.7 The four causes in technology by Heidegger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

68

11.8 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

69

11.9 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

69

11.10References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

70

11.11External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

70

CONTENTS

12 Metaphysics (Aristotle)

71

12.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

71

12.2 Title, date, and the arrangement of the treatises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

71

12.3 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

72

12.3.1 Books IVI: Alpha, little Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Epsilon
12.3.2 Books VII-IX: Zeta, Eta, and Theta

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

72

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

73

12.3.3 Books XXIV: Iota, Kappa, Lambda, Mu, and Nu

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

73

12.4 Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

73

12.5 Translations and inuence

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

74

12.6 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

74

12.7 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

74

12.8 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

74

12.9 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

75

13 Aristotle's theory of universals

76

13.1 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .


14 Aristotelian ethics

76
77

14.1 Three ethical treatises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

77

14.2 Aristotle as a Socratic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

78

14.3 Practical ethics

78

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

14.4 Aristotle's starting point

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

78

14.5 Moral virtue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

79

14.6 Four Cardinal Virtues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

79

14.7 Justice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

80

14.8 The highest good . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

80

14.9 Inuence on later thinkers

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

81

14.10As listed in the Corpus Aristotelicum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

81

14.11References

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

81

14.12Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

82

14.13External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

82

15 Nicomachean Ethics

83

15.1 Title and abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

83

15.2 Synopsis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

84

15.3 Book I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

85

15.3.1 Who should study ethics, and how . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

85

15.3.2 Dening happiness(eudaimonia) and the aim of the Ethics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

85

15.3.3 Questions that might be raised about the denition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

86

15.3.4 From dening happiness to discussion of virtue: introduction to the rest of the Ethics . . . .

87

15.4 Books IIV: Concerning excellence of character or moral virtue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

87

15.4.1 Book II: That virtues of character can be described as means . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

87

vi

CONTENTS
15.4.2 Book III. Chapters 15: Moral virtue as conscious choice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

88

15.4.3 Book III. Chapters 612, First examples of moral virtues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

89

15.4.4 Book IV. The second set of examples of moral virtues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

91

15.4.5 Book V: Justice and Fairness: a moral virtue needing special discussion . . . . . . . . . . .

94

15.5 Book VI: Intellectual virtue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

96

15.6 Book VII. Impediments to virtue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

97

15.6.1 Book VII. Chapters 110: Self mastery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

97

15.6.2 Book VII. Chapters 1114: Pleasure as something to avoid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

98

15.7 Books VIII and IX: Friendship and partnership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

98

15.8 Book X: Pleasure, happiness, and up-bringing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

99

15.8.1 Book X. Chapters 15: The theory of Pleasure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

99

15.8.2 Book X. Chapters 6-8: Happiness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100


15.8.3 Book X. Chapter 9: The need for education, habituation and good laws . . . . . . . . . . . 100
15.9 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
15.10Footnotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
15.11Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
15.11.1 Translations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
15.12External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
16 Eudaimonia

105

16.1 Denition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105


16.2 Main views on eudaimonia and its relation to aret . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
16.2.1 Socrates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
16.2.2 Plato . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
16.2.3 Aristotle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
16.2.4 Epicurus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
16.2.5 The Stoics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
16.3 Eudaimonia and modern moral philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
16.4 Eudaimonia and modern psychology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
16.4.1 Genetics

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

16.5 Etymology and translation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110


16.6 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
16.7 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
16.8 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
16.9 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
17 Politics (Aristotle)

114

17.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114


17.1.1 Book I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
17.1.2 Book II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
17.1.3 Book III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
17.1.4 Book IV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

CONTENTS

vii

17.1.5 Book V . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115


17.1.6 Book VI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
17.1.7 Book VII . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
17.1.8 Book VIII . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
17.2 Classication of constitutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
17.3 Composition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
17.4 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
17.5 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
17.6 Translations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
17.7 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
18 Rhetoric (Aristotle)

118

18.1 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118


18.2 English translation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
18.3 Neo-Aristotelian theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
18.4 Overview of Book I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
18.5 Overview of Book II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
18.6 Overview of Book III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
18.6.1 Chapters 112: Style (lexis) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
18.6.2 Chapters 1319: Taxis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
18.7 Importance of deliberative rhetoric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
18.8 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
18.9 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
18.10Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
18.11External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
19 Poetics (Aristotle)

124

19.1 Form and content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124


19.1.1 Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
19.1.2 Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
19.2 Inuence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
19.3 Core terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
19.4 English translations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
19.5 Cultural references . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
19.6 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
19.7 Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
19.8 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
20 Aristotle's views on women

131

20.1 Dierences between male and female . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131


20.2 Modes of Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
20.2.1 On a Good Wife, from Oikonomikos, c. 330 BCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

viii

CONTENTS
20.2.2 Spartan women . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
20.2.3 Equal weight to female and male happiness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
20.2.4 Children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
20.3 Legacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
20.3.1 Galen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
20.3.2 Church Fathers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
20.3.3 Otto Weininger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
20.4 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

21 Aristotelian physics
21.1 Concepts

134

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

21.1.1 Terrestrial change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134


21.1.2 Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
21.1.3 Four causes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
21.1.4 Biology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
21.1.5 Natural place . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
21.1.6 Natural motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
21.1.7 Unnatural motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
21.1.8 Continuum and vacuum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
21.1.9 Speed, weight and resistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
21.2 Medieval commentary

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

21.3 Life and death of Aristotelian physics

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

21.4 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141


21.5 Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
21.6 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
21.7 References

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

21.8 Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142


21.9 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
22 Aristotelian Society

143

22.1 Publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143


22.2 List of current and past presidents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
22.3 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
22.4 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
22.5 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
23 Aristotelian theology

146

23.1 Metaphysics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146


23.2 Principles of being
23.3 Inuence

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

23.4 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147


23.5 References

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

CONTENTS

ix

24 Corpus Aristotelicum

149

24.1 Overview of the extant works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149


24.2 Bekker numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
24.3 Aristotle's works by Bekker numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
24.4 Aristotelian works lacking Bekker numbers

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

24.4.1 Constitution of the Athenians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150


24.4.2 Fragments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
24.5 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
24.6 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
25 Categories (Aristotle)

152

25.1 The text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152


25.1.1 The antepraedicamenta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
25.1.2 The praedicamenta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
25.1.3 The postpraedicamenta* [7] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
25.2 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
25.3 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
25.4 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
25.5 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
25.5.1 Text and translations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
25.5.2 Commentary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
26 Constitution of the Athenians

155

26.1 Aristotle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155


26.1.1 Synopsis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
26.2 Pseudo-Xenophon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
26.2.1 Dating and authenticity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
26.3 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
26.4 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
27 De Interpretatione
27.1 Contents

157

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

27.2 Square of opposition (logical square) and modal logic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158


27.3 Translations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
27.4 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
27.5 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
27.6 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
28 Economics (Aristotle)

160

28.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160


28.2 Book I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
28.3 Book II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
28.4 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

CONTENTS
28.5 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
28.6 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
28.7 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

29 Eudemian Ethics

162

29.1 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162


29.2 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
30 Generation of Animals

163

30.1 Arabic translation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163


30.2 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
30.3 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
31 History of Animals

164

31.1 Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164


31.2 Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
31.3 Organisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
31.4 Translations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
31.5 Inuence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
31.6 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
31.7 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
32 Magna Moralia

167

32.1 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167


32.2 Editions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
32.3 Commentaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
32.4 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
33 Mechanics (Aristotle)

168

33.1 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168


33.2 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
33.3 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
34 Meteorology (Aristotle)

169

34.1 Physics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169


34.2 Four elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
34.3 Atmosphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
34.3.1 Water vapor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
34.3.2 Weather . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
34.4 Geology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
34.5 Geography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
34.6 Hydrology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
34.7 Spherical Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
34.8 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

CONTENTS

xi

34.9 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170


34.10External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
35 Movement of Animals

172

35.1 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172


36 On Breath

173

36.1 Authorship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173


36.2 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
36.3 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
36.4 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
36.5 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
37 On Colors

174

37.1 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174


38 On Divination in Sleep

175

38.1 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175


39 On Dreams

176

39.1 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176


40 On Generation and Corruption
40.1 Bibliography

177

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

40.2 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177


41 On Indivisible Lines

178

41.1 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178


42 On Length and Shortness of Life

179

42.1 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179


43 On Marvellous Things Heard

180

43.1 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180


43.2 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
43.3 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
43.4 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
44 On Melissus, Xenophanes, and Gorgias

181

44.1 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181


44.2 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
44.3 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
45 On Memory

182

45.1 Editions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182


45.2 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

xii

CONTENTS

46 On Plants

183

46.1 Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183


46.1.1 Part 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
46.1.2 Part 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
46.2 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
46.3 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
47 On Sleep

184

47.1 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184


48 On the Heavens

185

48.1 Historical connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185


48.2 Translations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
48.2.1 English . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
48.2.2 French . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
48.2.3 German . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
48.2.4 Italian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
48.3 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
48.4 References

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

48.5 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187


48.6 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
49 On the Soul

188

49.1 Division of chapters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188


49.1.1 Book I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
49.1.2 Book II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
49.1.3 Book III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
49.1.4 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
49.2 Arabic paraphrase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
49.3 Some manuscripts

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

49.4 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190


49.5 English translations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
49.6 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
49.7 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
50 On Things Heard

192

50.1 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192


50.2 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
51 On Virtues and Vices

193

51.1 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193


51.2 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
51.3 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

CONTENTS

xiii

51.4 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193


52 On Youth, Old Age, Life and Death, and Respiration

194

52.1 Structure and contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194


52.1.1 Place in the Parva Naturalia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
52.1.2 Title and divisions of the treatise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
52.1.3 The heart as the primary organ of soul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
52.1.4 Heart, lungs, and respiration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
52.1.5 The life-cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
52.2 Commentaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
52.3 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
52.4 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
52.5 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
53 Parts of Animals

196

53.1 Arabic translation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196


53.2 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
54 Parva Naturalia

197

54.1 Editions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197


54.2 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
55 Physiognomonics

198

55.1 Ancient physiognomy before the Physiognomonics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198


55.2 The treatise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
55.2.1 Structure and content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
55.2.2 Connections to Aristotle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
55.2.3 Inuence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
55.3 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
55.4 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
55.5 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
55.6 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
56 Posterior Analytics

200

56.1 Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200


56.2 References

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

57 Problems (Aristotle)

202

57.1 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202


57.2 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
57.3 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
58 Progression of Animals

203

58.1 Texts and translations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

xiv

CONTENTS

59 Protrepticus (Aristotle)

204

59.1 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204


59.2 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
60 Rhetoric to Alexander

205

60.1 Authorship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205


60.2 Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
60.3 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
60.4 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
60.5 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
61 Sense and Sensibilia (Aristotle)

206

61.1 Commentaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206


61.2 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
61.3 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
62 The Situations and Names of Winds

207

62.1 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207


62.2 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
62.3 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
63 Sophistical Refutations

208

63.1 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208


63.2 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
64 Topics (Aristotle)

209

64.1 What is a topic"? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209


64.2 How topics relate to Aristotle's theory of the syllogism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
64.3 Division of the text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
64.4 The Topics as related to the treatise on sophistical refutations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
64.5 Footnotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
64.6 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
64.6.1 Critical editions and translations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
64.6.2 Critical studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
64.7 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
65 Aristotelianism

212

65.1 History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213


65.1.1 Ancient Greece . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
65.1.2 Islamic world . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
65.1.3 Europe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
65.1.4 Modern era . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
65.1.5 Contemporary Aristotelianism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
65.2 Criticism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

CONTENTS

xv

65.3 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215


65.4 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
65.5 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
65.6 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
66 Ancient commentators project

218

66.1 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218


66.2 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
67 Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca

219

67.1 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219


68 Commentaries on Aristotle

220

68.1 Greek commentators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220


68.2 Islamic commentators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
68.3 Byzantine commentators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
68.4 Commentators in the Latin West . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
68.5 Lists and indices of commentaries on Aristotle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
68.6 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
68.7 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
68.8 Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
68.9 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
68.10External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
69 Hexis

223

69.1 New Testament . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224


69.2 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
69.3 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
70 Hyle

226

70.1 Substance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226


70.2 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
70.3 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
70.4 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
71 Instantiation principle

227

71.1 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227


72 The Kitsch Movement

228

72.1 The kitsch philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228


72.2 The yin-yang of kitsch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
72.3 Objective questioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
72.4 Kitsch's origins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
72.5 Collaborations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

xvi

CONTENTS
72.6 Philosophical basis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
72.7 Painters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
72.8 Exhibitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
72.9 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
72.10References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
72.11External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230

73 George E. McCarthy

231

73.1 Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231


73.2 Career . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
73.3 Recent publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
73.4 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
74 Michael III of Constantinople

232

74.1 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232


74.2 Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
75 Mimesis

234

75.1 Classical denitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234


75.1.1 Plato . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
75.1.2 Aristotle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
75.1.3 Dionysian imitatio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
75.2 Samuel Taylor Coleridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
75.3 Luce Irigaray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
75.4 Michael Taussig . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
75.5 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
75.6 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
75.7 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
75.8 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
76 Minima naturalia

239

76.1 Aristotle's initial suggestion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239


76.2 Scholastic elaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
76.3 Inuence on corpuscularianism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
76.4 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
76.5 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
77 Peripatetic school

241

77.1 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241


77.2 Doctrines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
77.3 History of the school . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
77.4 Inuence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
77.5 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

CONTENTS

xvii

77.6 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243


77.7 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
78 Substance theory

245

78.1 Ancient Greek philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245


78.2 Early Western philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
78.3 Criticisms of the concept of substance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
78.4 Irreducible concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
78.4.1 Bare particular . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
78.4.2 Inherence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
78.5 Arguments supporting the theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
78.5.1 Argument from grammar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
78.5.2 Argument from conception . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
78.6 Bundle theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
78.6.1 Identity of indiscernibles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
78.7 Stoicism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
78.8 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
78.9 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
78.10External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
79 Substantial form

249

79.1 Articulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249


79.1.1 Platonic forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
79.1.2 Aristotelian forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
79.1.3 Early adoption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
79.2 Criticism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
79.3 Response to criticism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
79.4 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
80 List of writers inuenced by Aristotle

251

80.1 Antiquity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251


80.1.1 Greek commentators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
80.2 Middle Ages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
80.2.1 Greek commentators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
80.2.2 Islamic commentators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
80.2.3 Latin commentators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
80.3 Modern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
80.3.1 Latin commentators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
80.4 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
80.5 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
81 J. L. Ackrill

253

81.1 Early life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

xviii

CONTENTS

81.2 Major writings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253


81.2.1 Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
81.2.2 Translations and commentaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
81.3 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
81.4 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
82 Adrastus of Aphrodisias

254

82.1 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254


82.2 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
83 Ahmad ibn al-Tayyib al-Sarakhsi

255

83.1 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255


84 Alexander of Aegae

256

84.1 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256


84.2 Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
85 Alexander of Aphrodisias

257

85.1 Life and career . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257


85.1.1 Commentaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
85.1.2 Original treatises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
85.2 Inuence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
85.3 Modern editions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
85.4 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
85.5 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
85.6 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
85.7 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
85.7.1 Translations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
85.7.2 Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
85.8 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
86 Andronicus of Rhodes

262

86.1 Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262


86.2 Works of Aristotle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
86.3 Writings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
86.4 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
86.5 Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
86.6 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
87 David the Invincible

264

87.1 Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264


87.2 Film . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
87.3 Legacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
87.4 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264

CONTENTS

xix

87.5 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264


87.6 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
88 Asclepius of Tralles

265

88.1 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265


89 Aspasius
89.1 References
90 Avempace

266
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
267

90.1 Biography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267


90.2 Astronomy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
90.3 Physics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
90.4 Psychology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
90.5 Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
90.6 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
90.7 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
90.8 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
91 Averroes

271

91.1 Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271


91.2 Biography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
91.3 Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
91.4 Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
91.4.1 Medicine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
91.4.2 Physics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
91.4.3 Astronomy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
91.4.4 Psychology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
91.5 Philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
91.5.1 The tradition of Islamic philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
91.5.2 Commentaries on Aristotle and Plato . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
91.5.3 Independent philosophical works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
91.5.4 System of philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
91.6 Signicance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
91.7 Jurisprudence and law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
91.8 Legacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
91.9 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
91.10References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
91.11Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
91.12External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
92 Avicenna

279

92.1 Circumstances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

xx

CONTENTS
92.2 Biography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
92.2.1 Early life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
92.2.2 Adulthood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
92.2.3 Later life and death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
92.3 Avicenna's philosophy

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

92.3.1 Metaphysical doctrine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282


92.3.2 Al-Biruni correspondence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
92.3.3 Theology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
92.3.4 Thought experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
92.4 The Canon of Medicine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
92.4.1 Medicine and pharmacology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
92.4.2 Physical Exercise: the Key to Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
92.4.3 Psychology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
92.4.4 Unani medicine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
92.5 The Book of Healing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
92.5.1 Earth sciences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
92.5.2 Philosophy of science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
92.5.3 Logic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
92.5.4 Physics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
92.5.5 Psychology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
92.6 Other contributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
92.6.1 Astronomy and astrology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
92.6.2 Chemistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
92.6.3 Poetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
92.7 Legacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
92.8 Arabic works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
92.8.1 List of works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
92.9 Persian works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
92.9.1 Danishnama-i 'Alai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
92.9.2 Andar Danesh-e-Rag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
92.9.3 Persian poetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
92.10In popular culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
92.10.1 The Walking Drum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
92.10.2 The Physician . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
92.10.3 Youth of Genius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
92.11See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
92.12References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
92.13Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
92.14Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
92.14.1 Encyclopedic articles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
92.14.2 Primary literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298

CONTENTS

xxi

92.14.3 Secondary literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298


92.14.4 Medicine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
92.14.5 Philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
92.14.6 In Russian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
92.15External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
93 Benedict of Norwich

302

93.1 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302


94 Boethus of Sidon

303

94.1 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303


94.2 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
95 Zarmanochegas
95.1 Pandion Mission

304
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304

95.2 Self-Immolation and Tomb in Athens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304


95.3 Religious aliation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
95.4 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
96 Damascius

307

96.1 Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307


96.2 Writings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
96.3 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
96.4 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
96.5 Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
97 David (commentator)

309

97.1 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309


97.2 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
98 Dexippus (philosopher)

310

98.1 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310


98.2 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
98.3 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
99 Elias (commentator)

311

99.1 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311


99.2 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
100Eudorus of Alexandria

312

100.1Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
101Eustratius of Nicaea

313

101.1Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313

xxii

CONTENTS

102Al-Farabi

314

102.1Biography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
102.1.1 Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
102.1.2 Birthplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
102.1.3 Origin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
102.1.4 Life and education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
102.2Works and contributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
102.2.1 Alchemy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
102.2.2 Logic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
102.2.3 Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
102.2.4 Philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
102.2.5 Physics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
102.2.6 Psychology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
102.3Philosophical thought . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
102.3.1 Inuences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
102.3.2 Al Farabi, Aristotle, Maimonides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
102.4Thought . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
102.4.1 Metaphysics and cosmology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
102.4.2 Epistemology and eschatology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
102.4.3 Psychology, the soul and prophetic knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
102.4.4 Practical philosophy (ethics and politics) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
102.5See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
102.6Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
102.7References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
102.8External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
103Hans-Georg Gadamer

325

103.1Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
103.2Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
103.2.1 Truth and Method
103.2.2 Other works

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327

103.3Prizes and awards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327


103.4Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
103.5See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
103.6Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
103.7References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
103.8External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
104David W. Hamlyn

330

104.1See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330


104.2Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
104.3References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330

CONTENTS

xxiii

105Ammonius Hermiae

331

105.1Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
105.2Writings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
105.3English translations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
105.4Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
105.5References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
105.6External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
106Mulla Muzaar Hussain Kashani

333

106.1Life and works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333


106.2References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
107Al-Kindi

334

107.1Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334
107.2Accomplishments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
107.2.1 Philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
107.2.2 Astronomy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
107.2.3 Optics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
107.2.4 Medicine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
107.2.5 Chemistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
107.2.6 Mathematics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
107.2.7 Cryptography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
107.2.8 Music theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
107.3Philosophical thought . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
107.3.1 Inuences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
107.3.2 Metaphysics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
107.3.3 Epistemology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
107.3.4 The soul and the afterlife . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
107.3.5 The relationship between revelation and philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
107.3.6 Critics and patrons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
107.4References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
107.5References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
107.6External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
108Ignacio Lpez de Ayala

341

108.1References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
109Theodore Metochites

342

109.1Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
109.2Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
109.3See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
109.4References

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343

109.5External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343

xxiv

CONTENTS

110Michael of Ephesus

344

110.1Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
110.2Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
110.2.1 The commentaries: Greek texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
110.2.2 Latin translations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
110.2.3 English translations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
110.3Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
111Nicolaus of Damascus

346

111.1History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346
111.2Life of Augustus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346
111.3Autobiography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346
111.4Compendium on Aristotle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346
111.5On plants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
111.6Other works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
111.7The Embassy of an Indian King to Augustus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
111.8References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
111.9Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
111.10External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
112Olympiodorus the Younger

349

112.1Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
112.2Writings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
112.3Spurious works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
112.4References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
112.5External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
113Lorraine Smith Pangle

351

113.1Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
113.2See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
113.3References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
113.4External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
114John Philoponus

352

114.1Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352
114.2Writings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
114.2.1 Philosophical commentaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
114.2.2 Theological treaties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354
114.3Historiographical contribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354
114.4Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354
114.4.1 Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354
114.4.2 Translations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
114.5See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355

CONTENTS

xxv

114.6References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
114.7Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356
114.8External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356
115Porphyry (philosopher)

357

115.1Biographical information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357


115.2Introduction (Isagoge) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
115.3Philosophy from Oracles (De Philosophia ex Oraculis Haurienda)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358

115.4Against the Christians (Adversus Christianos) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358


115.5Other subjects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
115.6Works by Porphyry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
115.7Translations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
115.8See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360
115.9Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360
115.10References

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361

115.11External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361


116Simplicius of Cilicia

363

116.1Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
116.2Writings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
116.3Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364
116.4References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
116.5English translations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
116.5.1 On Aristotle's Categories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
116.5.2 On Aristotle's On the Heavens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
116.5.3 On Aristotle's Physics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
116.5.4 On Aristotle's On the Soul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
116.5.5 On Epictetus' Handbook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
116.5.6 Other works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
116.6Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
116.7External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
117Sophonias (commentator)

368

117.1Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368
117.2External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368
118Stephen of Alexandria

369

118.1Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
118.2Bibliography

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369

118.3Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370
118.4External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370
119Syrianus

371

xxvi

CONTENTS

119.1Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
119.2Writings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
119.3Philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
119.4Editions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372
119.5Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372
119.6Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372
119.7External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372
120Themistius

373

120.1Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
120.2Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374
120.3Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374
120.4References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
120.5Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
120.5.1 Translations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
120.5.2 Secondary literature and selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
121Gaetano da Thiene (philosopher)

376

121.1References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376
122Diego Mateo Zapata

377

122.1Selected works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377


122.2References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
123Albert of Saxony (philosopher)

378

123.1Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378
123.2Philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378
123.3Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379
123.4English translations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380
123.5See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380
123.6References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380
123.7Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380
124Albertus Magnus

381

124.1Biography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
124.2Writings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382
124.3Alchemy

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383

124.4Astrology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
124.5Matter and form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384
124.6Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384
124.7Metaphysics of morals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384
124.8Natural law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384
124.9Friendship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385

CONTENTS

xxvii

124.10Cultural references . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385


124.11Inuence and tribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385
124.12See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386
124.13References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386
124.14Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
124.15Translations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
124.16Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
124.17External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
125Robert Balfour (philosopher)

389

125.1Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389
125.2References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389
126Domingo Bez

390

126.1Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390
126.1.1 Education and teaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390
126.1.2 Controversy over free will . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390
126.2Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391
126.3References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392
126.4External Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392
127Bartholomaeus of Bruges

393

127.1Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393
127.2Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393
127.3Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393
127.4External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393
128Boethius

394

128.1Early life and rise to power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394


128.2Fall and death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394
128.3Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
128.3.1 De consolatione philosophiae . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
128.3.2 De topicis dierentiis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396
128.3.3 De arithmetica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397
128.3.4 De institutione musica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397
128.3.5 Opuscula sacra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398
128.4History of reception . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398
128.5Veneration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398
128.6Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399
128.7References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400
128.7.1 Works available online . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400
128.7.2 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400
128.8Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401

xxviii

CONTENTS

128.9Discography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
128.10External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
128.10.1Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
128.10.2On Boethius' life and works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
128.10.3On Boethius' logic and philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
129Boetius of Dacia

402

129.1Works and translations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402


129.2Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
129.3Footnotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
130Adam de Buckeld

404

130.1Teacher of Aristotle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404


130.2Nature of the soul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404
130.3Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404
130.4External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404
131Jean Buridan

405

131.1Career . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
131.2Impetus theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
131.3Apocryphal stories and anecdotes about personal life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406
131.4Selected works in English translation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406
131.5See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406
131.6Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406
131.7Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406
131.8External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407
132Walter Burley

408

132.1Early life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408


132.2Political career . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408
132.3Ecclesiastical career . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408
132.4Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408
132.5References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
132.6Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
132.7External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410
133Niccol Cabeo

411

133.1Biography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411
133.2See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411
133.3References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411
134John Case (Aristotelian writer)

413

134.1Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
134.2Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413

CONTENTS

xxix

134.3References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
134.4Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
134.5External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
134.6Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
135Conimbricenses

415

135.1See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416


135.2Original Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416
135.3Translations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416
135.4External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416
136Cesare Cremonini (philosopher)

417

136.1Biography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
136.1.1 Metaphysical views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
136.1.2 Cremonini and Galileo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
136.1.3 Death and legacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
136.2Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
136.2.1 Concise bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
136.2.2 Extended bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419
136.3Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420
136.4References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420
136.5External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
137Duns Scotus

422

137.1Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422
137.2Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
137.3Metaphysics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424
137.3.1 Realism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424
137.3.2 Univocity of being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424
137.3.3 Individuation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424
137.3.4 Formal distinction
137.4Theology

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424

137.4.1 Voluntarism

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424

137.4.2 Existence of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424


137.4.3 Illuminationism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
137.4.4 Immaculate Conception
137.5Veneration

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425

137.6Later reputation and inuence

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425

137.6.1 Later medieval period

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425

137.6.2 Sixteenth to nineteenth centuries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425


137.6.3 Twentieth century
137.7Bibliography

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426

xxx

CONTENTS
137.8See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428
137.9Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428
137.10References

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429

137.11External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430


138Philip Faber

431

138.1Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431
138.2Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431
138.3External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431
139Pedro da Fonseca (philosopher)

432

139.1Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432
139.2See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432
139.3External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432
140Sebastin Fox Morcillo

433

140.1References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433
141Gilbert de la Porre

434

141.1Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434
141.2Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434
141.3References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435
141.4External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435
142Giles of Rome

436

142.1Early life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436


142.2Controversy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436
142.3Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437
142.4The Aegidian school . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437
142.5Translations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438
142.6References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438
142.7External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438
143John Hennon

439

143.1Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439
143.2Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439
143.3Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439
144List of medieval Latin commentators on Aristotle

440

144.1See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441


144.2Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441
145John Major (philosopher)

442

145.1Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442

CONTENTS

xxxi

145.1.1 School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442


145.1.2 University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442
145.1.3 Later career . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443
145.1.4 Some publications by John Major . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443
145.2Inuence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444
145.2.1 Historians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444
145.2.2 Calvin and Loyola . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444
145.2.3 Knox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444
145.2.4 Empiricism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444
145.2.5 Human rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445
145.3See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445
145.4Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445
145.5References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445
145.6Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445
145.7External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445
146Lambertus de Monte

447

146.1Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447
146.2References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447
147William of Ockham

448

147.1Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448
147.2Faith and reason . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449
147.3Philosophical thought . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449
147.3.1 Nominalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449
147.3.2 Ecient reasoning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449
147.3.3 Natural philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450
147.3.4 Theory of knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450
147.3.5 Political theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450
147.3.6 Logic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450
147.4Literary Ockhamism/nominalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450
147.5Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450
147.5.1 Philosophical writings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451
147.5.2 Theological writings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451
147.5.3 Political writings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451
147.5.4 Doubtful writings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451
147.5.5 Spurious writings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451
147.6See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451
147.7Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452
147.8References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452
147.9Translations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452
147.10Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453

xxxii

CONTENTS

147.11External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454


148Gerardus Odonis

455

148.1Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455
148.2Black Death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456
148.3Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456
148.4Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456
148.5References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456
149Peter of Auvergne

457

149.1Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457
149.2Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457
149.3References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457
149.4Translations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458
150Pietro Pomponazzi

459

150.1Biography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459
150.2References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459
150.3Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460
150.4External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460
151Francesco Robortello

461

151.1As scholar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461


151.2Main works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461
151.3Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462
151.4References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462
151.5External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462
151.6Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462
152Jakob Schegk

463

152.1Origins and education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463


152.2Academic career . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463
152.3Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463
152.4Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464
152.5References

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464

152.6External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464


153Domingo de Soto

465

153.1Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465
153.2Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465
153.3References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465
154Guido Terrena

467

154.1Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467

CONTENTS

xxxiii

154.2Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467
154.3Burial place . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467
154.4References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467
154.5Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467
154.6External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468
155Thomas Aquinas

469

155.1Biography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469
155.1.1 Early life (12251244) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469
155.1.2 Paris, Cologne, Albert Magnus, and rst Paris regency (12451259) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470
155.1.3 Naples, Orvieto, Rome (12591268) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471
155.1.4 Quarrelsome second Paris regency (12691272) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471
155.1.5 Final days and straw(12721274) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472
155.1.6 Claims of levitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473
155.1.7 Condemnation of 1277 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473
155.1.8 Canonization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473
155.2Philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474
155.2.1 Commentaries on Aristotle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474
155.2.2 Epistemology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474
155.2.3 Ethics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474
155.2.4 Political order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475
155.2.5 Psychology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 476
155.3Theology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 476
155.3.1 Revelation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 476
155.3.2 Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477
155.3.3 Just war . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477
155.3.4 Nature of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478
155.3.5 Nature of the Trinity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479
155.3.6 Prima causa rst cause . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479
155.3.7 Nature of Jesus Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479
155.3.8 Goal of human life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480
155.3.9 Treatment of heretics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480
155.3.10Afterlife and resurrection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481
155.4Modern inuence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481
155.5Criticism of Aquinas as philosopher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482
155.6See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482
155.7Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483
155.8References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486
155.9Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487
155.10External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487
155.10.1Biographies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487
155.10.2On his thought . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487

xxxiv

CONTENTS
155.10.3By Thomas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488

156Francisco de Toledo (Jesuit)

489

156.1Biography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489
156.2Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489
156.3Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489
156.4External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489
157Cuthbert Tunstall

490

157.1Childhood and early career . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490


157.2Bishop of Durham under Henry VIII and Edward VI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490
157.3Bishop of Durham under Mary I and Elizabeth I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491
157.4Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491
157.5Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491
157.6References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491
157.7External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491
158Jacopo Zabarella

492

158.1Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492
158.2Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492
158.3Writings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492
158.4Editions and translations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493
158.5Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493
158.6References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493
158.7External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493
159Archestratus (music theorist)

494

159.1Harmonic theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494


159.2Connections with philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494
159.3Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495
159.4References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495
160Aristo of Ceos

496

160.1Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496
160.2References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496
160.3Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496
161Aristobulus of Paneas

497

161.1References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497
161.2Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497
162Aristoxenus

498

162.1Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498
162.2Overview of his works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498

CONTENTS

xxxv

162.3Elementa harmonica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498


162.4On rhythmics and metrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499
162.5Other works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499
162.6Editions and translations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500
162.7References and sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500
162.8Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500
162.9External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501
163Calliphon

502

163.1Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502
164Chamaeleon (philosopher)

503

164.1Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503
165Clearchus of Soli

504

165.1Writings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504
165.2Travels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504
165.3Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505
166Critolaus

506

166.1Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506
166.2Philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506
166.3Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507
167Demetrius of Phalerum

508

167.1Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508
167.2Works and legacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509
167.2.1 Literary works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509
167.2.2 Education and arts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509
167.3References to Demetrius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509
167.3.1 Diogenes Lartius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509
167.3.2 Hegel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509
167.4References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509
167.5Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510
167.6Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510
167.7External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510
168Dicaearchus

511

168.1Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511
168.2Writings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511
168.3References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 512
168.4Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513
168.5Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513

xxxvi

CONTENTS

169Echecratides

514

169.1References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 514
170Erymneus

515

170.1References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515
171Eudemus of Rhodes

516

171.1Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516
171.2Historian of science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516
171.3Editor of Aristotle's work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517
171.4References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517
171.5External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517
172Hermippus of Smyrna

518

172.1Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518
172.2References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518
173Hieronymus of Rhodes

519

173.1Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519
173.2Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519
173.3Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519
173.4References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519
173.5Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519
174Lyco of Troas

520

174.1Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 520
174.2Writings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 520
174.3Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 520
174.4References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 520
174.5Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521
174.6External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521
175Nicomachus (son of Aristotle)

522

175.1Biographical details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 522


175.2References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 522
176Phaenias of Eresus

523

176.1Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523
176.2Philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523
176.2.1 Logic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523
176.2.2 Natural history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523
176.2.3 History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523
176.2.4 Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523
176.3Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524

CONTENTS

xxxvii

176.4References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524
177Praxiphanes

525

177.1Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525
177.2References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525
178Ptolemy-el-Garib

526

178.1Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 526
178.2References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 526
178.3Further readings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 526
178.4External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 526
179Satyrus the Peripatetic

527

179.1Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527
180Strato of Lampsacus

528

180.1Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528
180.2Philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528
180.3Geology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529
180.4Modern era . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529
180.5Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529
180.6References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530
180.7External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530
181Theophrastus

531

181.1Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531
181.2Writings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532
181.2.1 On Plants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533
181.2.2 Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534
181.2.3 On Sensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534
181.2.4 Physics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534
181.2.5 Metaphysics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534
181.2.6 On Stones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534
181.3Philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535
181.3.1 Logic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535
181.3.2 Physics and metaphysics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536
181.3.3 Ethics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536
181.4The portraitof Theophrastus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537
181.5In popular culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537
181.6Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537
181.7References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539
181.8Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539
181.9External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 540

xxxviii

CONTENTS

182Ammonius of Athens

541

182.1References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541
183Aristo of Alexandria

542

183.1Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 542
183.2References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 542
184Aristocles of Messene

543

184.1Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543
184.2References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543
185Aristotle of Mytilene

544

185.1Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 544
186Athenaeus Mechanicus

545

186.1Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545
186.2On Machines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545
186.2.1 Inuence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545
186.3Editions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545
186.4Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545
187Gnaeus Claudius Severus

546

187.1Marriages and Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 546


187.2Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 546
188Cratippus of Pergamon

548

188.1Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 548
188.2Teachings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 548
188.3References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 548
188.4Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 548
189Diodorus of Tyre

549

189.1Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549
189.2References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549
190Herminus

550

190.1Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550
191Olympiodorus the Elder

551

191.1References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 551
192Gnaeus Claudius Severus Arabianus

552

192.1Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 552
193Sosigenes the Peripatetic

553

193.1Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553

CONTENTS

xxxix

193.2References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553
194Xenarchus of Seleucia

554

194.1Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 554
194.2Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 555
194.2.1 Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 555
194.2.2 Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 576
194.2.3 Content license . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 584

Chapter 1

Aristotle
For other uses, see Aristotle (disambiguation).

Judeo-Islamic philosophical and theological thought during the Middle Ages and continues to inuence Christian
theology, especially the scholastic tradition of the
*
Aristotle (/rsttl/; [1] Greek:

[aristotls], Aristotls; 384322 BCE)* [2] was a Catholic Church. Aristotle was well known among meGreek philosopher and scientist born in the Macedonian dieval Muslim intellectuals and revered as The First
city of Stagira, Chalkidice, on the northern periphery of Teacher(Arabic: ) .
Classical Greece. His father, Nicomachus, died when His ethics, though always inuential, gained renewed inAristotle was a child, whereafter Proxenus of Atarneus terest with the modern advent of virtue ethics. All aspects
became his guardian.* [3] At eighteen, he joined Plato's of Aristotle's philosophy continue to be the object of acAcademy in Athens and remained there until the age of tive academic study today. Though Aristotle wrote many
thirty-seven (c. 347 BCE). His writings cover many sub- elegant treatises and dialogues Cicero described his litjects including physics, biology, zoology, metaphysics, erary style asa river of gold* [7] it is thought that only
logic, ethics, aesthetics, poetry, theater, music, rhetoric, around a third of his original output has survived.* [8]
linguistics, politics and government and constitute
the rst comprehensive system of Western philosophy. The sum of his work's inuence often ranks him among
Shortly after Plato died, Aristotle left Athens and, at the world's top personalities of all time with the greathis teacher Plato, and his pupil
the request of Philip of Macedon, tutored Alexander est inuence, along with
*
*
Alexander
the
Great.
[9]
[10]
the Great starting from 343 BCE.* [4] According to
the Encyclopdia Britannica, Aristotle was the rst
genuine scientist in history ... [and] every scientist is in
his debt.* [5]
1.1 Life
Teaching Alexander the Great gave Aristotle many opportunities and an abundance of supplies. He established
a library in the Lyceum which aided in the production
of many of his hundreds of books. The fact that Aristotle was a pupil of Plato contributed to his former views
of Platonism, but, following Plato's death, Aristotle immersed himself in empirical studies and shifted from Platonism to empiricism.* [6] He believed all peoples' concepts and all of their knowledge was ultimately based on
perception. Aristotle's views on natural sciences represent the groundwork underlying many of his works.

Aristotle, whose name means the best purpose,* [11]


was born in 384 BCE in Stagira, Chalcidice, about 55
km (34 miles) east of modern-day Thessaloniki.* [12] His
father Nicomachus was the personal physician to King
Amyntas of Macedon. Although there is little information on Aristotle's childhood, he probably spent some
time within the Macedonian palace, making his rst connections with the Macedonian monarchy.* [13]
At about the age of eighteen, Aristotle moved to Athens
to continue his education at Plato's Academy. He remained there for nearly twenty years before leaving
Athens in 348/47 BCE. The traditional story about
his departure records that he was disappointed with
the Academy's direction after control passed to Plato's
nephew Speusippus, although it is possible that he feared
anti-Macedonian sentiments and left before Plato had
died.* [14]

Aristotle's views on physical science profoundly shaped


medieval scholarship. Their inuence extended into the
Renaissance and were not replaced systematically until
the Enlightenment and theories such as classical mechanics. Some of Aristotle's zoological observations, such
as on the hectocotyl (reproductive) arm of the octopus,
were not conrmed or refuted until the 19th century. His
works contain the earliest known formal study of logic, Aristotle then accompanied Xenocrates to the court of
which was incorporated in the late 19th century into mod- his friend Hermias of Atarneus in Asia Minor. There,
ern formal logic.
he traveled with Theophrastus to the island of Lesbos,
In metaphysics, Aristotelianism profoundly inuenced where together they researched the botany and zoology
of the island. Aristotle married Pythias, either Hermias's
1

2
adoptive daughter or niece. She bore him a daughter,
whom they also named Pythias. Soon after Hermias'
death, Aristotle was invited by Philip II of Macedon to
become the tutor to his son Alexander in 343 BCE.* [4]

CHAPTER 1. ARISTOTLE
for widespread publication; they are generally thought to
be lecture aids for his students. His most important treatises include Physics, Metaphysics, Nicomachean Ethics,
Politics, De Anima (On the Soul) and Poetics.
Aristotle not only studied almost every subject possible
at the time, but made signicant contributions to most of
them. In physical science, Aristotle studied anatomy, astronomy, embryology, geography, geology, meteorology,
physics and zoology. In philosophy, he wrote on aesthetics, ethics, government, metaphysics, politics, economics,
psychology, rhetoric and theology. He also studied education, foreign customs, literature and poetry. His combined works constitute a virtual encyclopedia of Greek
knowledge.
Near the end of his life, Alexander and Aristotle became
estranged over Alexander's relationship with Persia and
Persians. A widespread tradition in antiquity suspected
Aristotle of playing a role in Alexander's death, but there
is little evidence.* [17]
Following Alexander's death, anti-Macedonian sentiment
in Athens was rekindled. In 322 BCE, Eurymedon the
Hierophant denounced Aristotle for not holding the gods
in honor, prompting him to ee to his mother's family
estate in Chalcis, explaining: I will not allow the Athenians to sin twice against philosophy* [18]* [19] a reference to Athens's prior trial and execution of Socrates.
He died in Euboea of natural causes later that same year,
having named his student Antipater as his chief executor
and leaving a will in which he asked to be buried next to
his wife.* [20]

Charles Walston argues that the tomb of Aristotle is located on the sacred way between Chalcis and Eretria and
to have contained two styluses, a pen, a signet-ring and
Aristotle was appointed as the head of the royal academy some terra-cottas as well as what is supposed to be the
of Macedon. During that time he gave lessons not only earthly remains of Aristotle in the form of some skull
to Alexander, but also to two other future kings: Ptolemy fragments.* [21]
and Cassander.* [15] Aristotle encouraged Alexander to- In general, the details of the life of Aristotle are not wellward eastern conquest and his attitude towards Persia was established. The biographies of Aristotle written in anunabashedly ethnocentric. In one famous example, he cient times are often speculative and historians only agree
counsels Alexander to be a leader to the Greeks and on a few salient points.* [22]
a despot to the barbarians, to look after the former as after friends and relatives, and to deal with the latter as with
beasts or plants.* [15]
An early Islamic portrayal of Aristotle (right) and Alexander the
Great.

By 335 BCE, Artistotle had returned to Athens, establishing his own school there known as the Lyceum.
Aristotle conducted courses at the school for the next
twelve years. While in Athens, his wife Pythias died
and Aristotle became involved with Herpyllis of Stagira,
who bore him a son whom he named after his father,
Nicomachus. According to the Suda, he also had an
eromenos, Palaephatus of Abydus.* [16]
This period in Athens, between 335 and 323 BCE, is
when Aristotle is believed to have composed many of his
works.* [4] He wrote many dialogues of which only fragments have survived. Those works that have survived are
in treatise form and were not, for the most part, intended

1.2 Thought
1.2.1 Logic

Main article: Term logic


For more details on this topic, see Non-Aristotelian logic.
With the Prior Analytics, Aristotle is credited with the
earliest study of formal logic,* [23] and his conception of
it was the dominant form of Western logic until 19th century advances in mathematical logic.* [24] Kant stated in
the Critique of Pure Reason that Aristotle's theory of logic
completely accounted for the core of deductive inference.

1.2. THOUGHT

3
he reserved to mean dialectics. Most of Aristotle's work
is probably not in its original form, because it was most
likely edited by students and later lecturers. The logical
works of Aristotle were compiled into six books in about
the early 1st century CE:
1. Categories
2. On Interpretation
3. Prior Analytics
4. Posterior Analytics
5. Topics
6. On Sophistical Refutations

Aristotle portrayed in the 1493 Nuremberg Chronicle as a


scholar of the 15th century CE.

History
Aristotle says that 'on the subject of reasoning' he 'had
nothing else on an earlier date to speak of'".* [25] However, Plato reports that syntax was devised before him, by
Prodicus of Ceos, who was concerned by the correct use
of words. Logic seems to have emerged from dialectics;
the earlier philosophers made frequent use of concepts
like reductio ad absurdum in their discussions, but never
truly understood the logical implications. Even Plato had
diculties with logic; although he had a reasonable conception of a deductive system, he could never actually
construct one, thus he relied instead on his dialectic.* [26]
Plato believed that deduction would simply follow from
premises, hence he focused on maintaining solid premises
so that the conclusion would logically follow. Consequently, Plato realized that a method for obtaining conclusions would be most benecial. He never succeeded
in devising such a method, but his best attempt was published in his book Sophist, where he introduced his division method.* [27]

The order of the books (or the teachings from which they
are composed) is not certain, but this list was derived
from analysis of Aristotle's writings. It goes from the basics, the analysis of simple terms in the Categories, the
analysis of propositions and their elementary relations in
On Interpretation, to the study of more complex forms,
namely, syllogisms (in the Analytics) and dialectics (in the
Topics and Sophistical Refutations). The rst three treatises form the core of the logical theory stricto sensu: the
grammar of the language of logic and the correct rules of
reasoning. There is one volume of Aristotle's concerning
logic not found in the Organon, namely the fourth book
of Metaphysics.* [26]

1.2.2 Aristotle's epistemology


Like his teacher Plato, Aristotle's philosophy aims at the
universal. Aristotle's ontology, however, nds the universal in particular things, which he calls the essence
of things, while in Plato's ontology, the universal exists
apart from particular things, and is related to them as
their prototype or exemplar. For Aristotle, therefore,
epistemology is based on the study of particular phenomena and rises to the knowledge of essences, while for
Plato epistemology begins with knowledge of universal
Forms (or ideas) and descends to knowledge of particular imitations of these. For Aristotle, formstill refers
to the unconditional basis of phenomena but is instantiatedin a particular substance (see Universals and particulars, below). In a certain sense, Aristotle's method is
both inductive and deductive, while Plato's is essentially
deductive from a priori principles.* [28]

In Aristotle's terminology, natural philosophyis a


branch of philosophy examining the phenomena of the
Analytics and the Organon
natural world, and includes elds that would be regarded
today as physics, biology and other natural sciences. In
Main article: Organon
modern times, the scope of philosophy has become limited to more generic or abstract inquiries, such as ethics
What we today call Aristotelian logic, Aristotle himself and metaphysics, in which logic plays a major role. Towould have labeled analytics. The term logic day's philosophy tends to exclude empirical study of the

CHAPTER 1. ARISTOTLE
trast, Aristotle's philosophical endeavors encompassed
virtually all facets of intellectual inquiry.
In the larger sense of the word, Aristotle makes philosophy coextensive with reasoning, which he also would describe as science. Note, however, that his use of the
term science carries a dierent meaning than that covered by the term scientic method. For Aristotle,
all science (dianoia) is either practical, poetical or theoretical(Metaphysics 1025b25). By practical science, he
means ethics and politics; by poetical science, he means
the study of poetry and the other ne arts; by theoretical
science, he means physics, mathematics and metaphysics.
If logic (or analytics) is regarded as a study preliminary to philosophy, the divisions of Aristotelian philosophy would consist of: (1) Logic; (2) Theoretical Philosophy, including Metaphysics, Physics and Mathematics;
(3) Practical Philosophy and (4) Poetical Philosophy.

In the period between his two stays in Athens, between


his times at the Academy and the Lyceum, Aristotle conducted most of the scientic thinking and research for
which he is renowned today. In fact, most of Aristotle's life was devoted to the study of the objects of natural science. Aristotle's metaphysics contains observaPlato (left) and Aristotle (right), a detail of The School of
tions on the nature of numbers but he made no original
Athens, a fresco by Raphael. Aristotle gestures to the earth, repcontributions to mathematics. He did, however, perform
resenting his belief in knowledge through empirical observation
and experience, while holding a copy of his Nicomachean Ethics original research in the natural sciences, e.g., botany, zoin his hand, whilst Plato gestures to the heavens, representing his ology, physics, astronomy, chemistry, meteorology, and
several other sciences.
belief in The Forms, while holding a copy of Timaeus
Aristotle's writings on science are largely qualitative, as
opposed to quantitative. Beginning in the 16th century,
scientists began applying mathematics to the physical sciences, and Aristotle's work in this area was deemed hopelessly inadequate. His failings were largely due to the absence of concepts like mass, velocity, force and temperature. He had a conception of speed and temperature, but
no quantitative understanding of them, which was partly
due to the absence of basic experimental devices, like
clocks and thermometers.

Aristotleby Francesco Hayez (17911882)

His writings provide an account of many scientic observations, a mixture of precocious accuracy and curious errors. For example, in his History of Animals
he claimed that human males have more teeth than females.* [29] In a similar vein, John Philoponus, and later
Galileo, showed by simple experiments that Aristotle's
theory that a heavier object falls faster than a lighter object is incorrect.* [30] On the other hand, Aristotle refuted Democritus's claim that the Milky Way was made
up ofthose stars which are shaded by the earth from the
sun's rays,pointing out (correctly, even if such reasoning was bound to be dismissed for a long time) that, given
current astronomical demonstrationsthat the size of
the sun is greater than that of the earth and the distance
of the stars from the earth many times greater than that
of the sun, then ... the sun shines on all the stars and the
earth screens none of them.* [31]

natural world by means of the scientic method. In con- In places, Aristotle goes too far in deriving 'laws of

1.2. THOUGHT
the Universe' from simple observation and over-stretched
reason. Today's scientic method assumes that such
thinking without sucient facts is ineective, and that
discerning the validity of one's hypothesis requires far
more rigorous experimentation than that which Aristotle
used to support his laws.

5
where they rise were once dry, and there is a
limit to their operations, but there is none to
time. So also of all other rivers; they spring
up and they perish; and the sea also continually deserts some lands and invades others
The same tracts, therefore, of the earth are
not some always sea, and others always continents, but every thing changes in the course
of time.'* [33]

Aristotle also had some scientic blind spots. He posited


a geocentric cosmology that we may discern in selections
of the Metaphysics, which was widely accepted up until
the 16th century. From the 3rd century to the 16th century, the dominant view held that the Earth was the rota1.2.4
tional center of the universe.
Because he was perhaps the philosopher most respected
by European thinkers during and after the Renaissance,
these thinkers often took Aristotle's erroneous positions
as given, which held back science in this epoch.* [32]
However, Aristotle's scientic shortcomings should not
mislead one into forgetting his great advances in the many
scientic elds. For instance, he founded logic as a formal
science and created foundations to biology that were not
superseded for two millennia. Moreover, he introduced
the fundamental notion that nature is composed of things
that change and that studying such changes can provide
useful knowledge of underlying constants.

1.2.3

Geology

As quoted from Charles Lyell's Principles of Geology:


He [Aristotle] refers to many examples of
changes now constantly going on, and insists
emphatically on the great results which they
must produce in the lapse of ages. He instances
particular cases of lakes that had dried up, and
deserts that had at length become watered by
rivers and fertilized. He points to the growth
of the Nilotic delta since the time of Homer,
to the shallowing of the Palus Maeotis within
sixty years from his own time ... He alludes ...
to the upheaving of one of the Eolian islands,
previous to a volcanic eruption. The changes
of the earth, he says, are so slow in comparison to the duration of our lives, that they are
overlooked; and the migrations of people after
great catastrophes, and their removal to other
regions, cause the event to be forgotten.
He says [12th chapter of his Meteorics] 'the
distribution of land and sea in particular regions does not endure throughout all time, but
it becomes sea in those parts where it was land,
and again it becomes land where it was sea, and
there is reason for thinking that these changes
take place according to a certain system, and
within a certain period.' The concluding observation is as follows: 'As time never fails, and
the universe is eternal, neither the Tanais, nor
the Nile, can have owed for ever. The places

Physics

Main article: Physics (Aristotle)

Five elements
Main article: Classical element
Aristotle proposed a fth element, aether, in addition to
the four proposed earlier by Empedocles.
Earth, which is cold and dry; this corresponds to the
modern idea of a solid.
Water, which is cold and wet; this corresponds to the
modern idea of a liquid.
Air, which is hot and wet; this corresponds to the
modern idea of a gas.
Fire, which is hot and dry; this corresponds to the
modern ideas of plasma and heat.
Aether, which is the divine substance that makes up
the heavenly spheres and heavenly bodies (stars and
planets).
Each of the four earthly elements has its natural place.
All that is earthly tends toward the center of the Universe,
i.e., the center of the Earth. Water tends toward a sphere
surrounding the center. Air tends toward a sphere surrounding the water sphere. Fire tends toward the lunar
sphere (in which the Moon orbits). When elements are
moved out of their natural place, they naturally move back
towards it. This is natural motionmotion requiring
no extrinsic cause. So, for example, in water, earthy bodies sink while air bubbles rise up; in air, rain falls and
ame rises. Outside all the other spheres, the heavenly,
fth element, manifested in the stars and planets, moves
in the perfection of circles.
Motion
Main article: potentiality and actuality

6
Aristotle dened motion as the actuality of a potentiality as such.* [34] Aquinas suggested that the passage be
understood literally; that motion can indeed be understood as the active fulllment of a potential, as a transition toward a potentially possible state. Because actuality
and potentiality are normally opposites in Aristotle, other
commentators either suggest that the wording which has
come down to us is erroneous, or that the addition of the
as suchto the denition is critical to understanding
it.* [35]

CHAPTER 1. ARISTOTLE
nal cause or teleos is the purpose or function that
something is supposed to serve. This covers modern
ideas of motivating causes, such as volition, need,
desire, ethics, or spiritual beliefs.

Additionally, things can be causes of one another, causing each other reciprocally, as hard work causes tness
and vice versa, although not in the same way or function,
the one is as the beginning of change, the other as the
goal. (Thus Aristotle rst suggested a reciprocal or circular causality as a relation of mutual dependence or inuence of cause upon eect). Moreover, Aristotle indicated
Causality, the four causes
that the same thing can be the cause of contrary eects;
its presence and absence may result in dierent outcomes.
Main article: Four causes
Simply it is the goal or purpose that brings about an event.
Our two dominoes require someone or something to inAristotle suggested that the reason for anything coming
tentionally knock over the rst domino, because it cannot
about can be attributed to four dierent types of simulfall of its own accord.
taneously active causal factors:
Aristotle marked two modes of causation: proper (prior)
Material cause describes the material out of which causation and accidental (chance) causation. All causes,
something is composed. Thus the material cause of proper and incidental, can be spoken as potential or as
a table is wood, and the material cause of a car is actual, particular or generic. The same language refers
rubber and steel. It is not about action. It does not to the eects of causes, so that generic eects assigned
to generic causes, particular eects to particular causes,
mean one domino knocks over another domino.
operating causes to actual eects. Essentially, causality
The formal cause is its form, i.e., the arrangement does not suggest a temporal relation between the cause
of that matter. It tells us what a thing is, that any and the eect.
thing is determined by the denition, form, pattern,
essence, whole, synthesis or archetype. It embraces
the account of causes in terms of fundamental prin- Optics
ciples or general laws, as the whole (i.e., macrostructure) is the cause of its parts, a relationship known Aristotle held more accurate theories on some optical
as the whole-part causation. Plainly put, the formal concepts than other philosophers of his day. The second
cause is the idea existing in the rst place as exem- oldest written evidence of a camera obscura (after Mozi
plar in the mind of the sculptor, and in the second c. 400 BC) can be found in Aristotle's documentation of
place as intrinsic, determining cause, embodied in such a device in 350 BC in Problemata. Aristotle's apthe matter. Formal cause could only refer to the es- paratus contained a dark chamber that had a single small
sential quality of causation. A simple example of the hole, or aperture, to allow for sunlight to enter. Aristotle
formal cause is the mental image or idea that allows used the device to make observations of the sun and noted
an artist, architect, or engineer to create his draw- that no matter what shape the hole was, the sun would still
be correctly displayed as a round object. In modern camings.
eras, this is analogous to the diaphragm. Aristotle also
The ecient cause is the primary source, or made the observation that when the distance between the
that from which the change under consideration pro- aperture and the surface with the image increased, the
ceeds. It identies 'what makes of what is made and image was magnied.* [36]
what causes change of what is changed' and so suggests all sorts of agents, nonliving or living, acting as
the sources of change or movement or rest. Repre- Chance and spontaneity
senting the current understanding of causality as the
relation of cause and eect, this covers the modern According to Aristotle, spontaneity and chance are causes
denitions ofcauseas either the agent or agency of some things, distinguishable from other types of
or particular events or states of aairs. So, take the cause. Chance as an incidental cause lies in the realm
two dominoes, this time of equal weighting, the rst of accidental things. It is from what is spontaneous
is knocked over causing the second also to fall over. (but note that what is spontaneous does not come from
chance). For a better understanding of Aristotle's con The nal cause is its purpose, or that for the sake of ception of chanceit might be better to think of cowhich a thing exists or is done, including both pur- incidence": Something takes place by chance if a person
poseful and instrumental actions and activities. The sets out with the intent of having one thing take place,

1.2. THOUGHT

but with the result of another thing (not intended) taking Substance, potentiality and actuality
place.
See also: Potentiality and actuality (Aristotle)
For example: A person seeks donations. That person may
nd another person willing to donate a substantial sum.
However, if the person seeking the donations met the per- Aristotle examines the concepts of substance and essence
son donating, not for the purpose of collecting donations, (ousia) in his Metaphysics (Book VII), and he concludes
but for some other purpose, Aristotle would call the col- that a particular substance is a combination of both matter
lecting of the donation by that particular donator a result and form. In book VIII, he distinguishes the matter of
of chance. It must be unusual that something happens by the substance as the substratum, or the stu of which it
chance. In other words, if something happens all or most is composed. For example, the matter of a house is the
bricks, stones, timbers etc., or whatever constitutes the
of the time, we cannot say that it is by chance.
potential house, while the form of the substance is the
There is also more specic kind of chance, which Aristoactual house, namely 'covering for bodies and chattels'
tle names luck, that can only apply to human beings,
or any other dierentia (see also predicables) that let us
because it is in the sphere of moral actions. According
dene something as a house. The formula that gives the
to Aristotle, luck must involve choice (and thus delibercomponents is the account of the matter, and the formula
ation), and only humans are capable of deliberation and
that gives the dierentia is the account of the form.* [38]
choice. What is not capable of action cannot do anyWith regard to the change (kinesis) and its causes now, as
thing by chance.* [37]
he denes in his Physics and On Generation and Corruption 319b320a, he distinguishes the coming to be from:

1.2.5

Metaphysics

Main article: Metaphysics (Aristotle)


Aristotle denes metaphysics as the knowledge of

1. growth and diminution, which is change in quantity;


2. locomotion, which is change in space; and
3. alteration, which is change in quality.
The coming to be is a change where nothing persists of
which the resultant is a property. In that particular change
he introduces the concept of potentiality (dynamis) and
actuality (entelecheia) in association with the matter and
the form.
Referring to potentiality, this is what a thing is capable
of doing, or being acted upon, if the conditions are right
and it is not prevented by something else. For example,
the seed of a plant in the soil is potentially (dynamei)
plant, and if is not prevented by something, it will become a plant. Potentially beings can either 'act' (poiein)
or 'be acted upon' (paschein), which can be either innate
or learned. For example, the eyes possess the potentiality
of sight (innate being acted upon), while the capability
of playing the ute can be possessed by learning (exercise
acting).
Actuality is the fulllment of the end of the potentiality.
Because the end (telos) is the principle of every change,
and for the sake of the end exists potentiality, therefore
actuality is the end. Referring then to our previous example, we could say that an actuality is when a plant does
one of the activities that plants do.

Statue of Aristotle (1915) by Cipri Adolf Bermann at the


University of Freiburg im Breisgau

immaterial being,or of being in the highest degree


of abstraction.He refers to metaphysics as rst philosophy, as well as the theologic science.

For that for the sake of which a thing is, is


its principle, and the becoming is for the sake
of the end; and the actuality is the end, and it
is for the sake of this that the potentiality is acquired. For animals do not see in order that
they may have sight, but they have sight that
they may see.* [39]

8
In summary, the matter used to make a house has potentiality to be a house and both the activity of building and
the form of the nal house are actualities, which is also a
nal cause or end. Then Aristotle proceeds and concludes
that the actuality is prior to potentiality in formula, in time
and in substantiality.

CHAPTER 1. ARISTOTLE
superstition. He dissected animals but not humans; his
ideas on how the human body works have been almost
entirely superseded.
Empirical research program

With this denition of the particular substance (i.e., matter and form), Aristotle tries to solve the problem of the
unity of the beings, for example,what is it that makes a
man one"? Since, according to Plato there are two Ideas:
animal and biped, how then is man a unity? However, according to Aristotle, the potential being (matter) and the
actual one (form) are one and the same thing.* [40]
Universals and particulars
Main article: Aristotle's theory of universals
Aristotle's predecessor, Plato, argued that all things have
a universal form, which could be either a property, or a
relation to other things. When we look at an apple, for
example, we see an apple, and we can also analyze a form Octopus swimming
of an apple. In this distinction, there is a particular apple
and a universal form of an apple. Moreover, we can place
an apple next to a book, so that we can speak of both the
book and apple as being next to each other.
Plato argued that there are some universal forms that are
not a part of particular things. For example, it is possible
that there is no particular good in existence, butgoodis
still a proper universal form. Bertrand Russell is a 20thcentury philosopher who agreed with Plato on the existence of uninstantiated universals.
Aristotle disagreed with Plato on this point, arguing that
all universals are instantiated. Aristotle argued that there
are no universals that are unattached to existing things.
According to Aristotle, if a universal exists, either as a
particular or a relation, then there must have been, must Torpedo fuscomaculata
be currently, or must be in the future, something on which
the universal can be predicated. Consequently, according
to Aristotle, if it is not the case that some universal can
be predicated to an object that exists at some period of
time, then it does not exist.
In addition, Aristotle disagreed with Plato about the location of universals. As Plato spoke of the world of the
forms, a location where all universal forms subsist, Aristotle maintained that universals exist within each thing on
which each universal is predicated. So, according to Aris- Leopard shark
totle, the form of apple exists within each apple, rather
Aristotle is the earliest natural historian whose work has
than in the world of the forms.
survived in some detail. Aristotle certainly did research
on the natural history of Lesbos, and the surrounding seas
and neighbouring areas. The works that reect this re1.2.6 Biology and medicine
search, such as History of Animals, Generation of AniIn Aristotelian science, especially in biology, things he mals, and Parts of Animals, contain some observations
saw himself have stood the test of time better than his and interpretations, along with sundry myths and misretelling of the reports of others, which contain error and takes. The most striking passages are about the sea-life

1.2. THOUGHT

visible from observation on Lesbos and available from the


catches of shermen. His observations on catsh, electric
sh (Torpedo) and angler-sh are detailed, as is his writing on cephalopods, namely, Octopus, Sepia (cuttlesh)
and the paper nautilus (Argonauta argo). His description
of the hectocotyl arm, used in sexual reproduction, was
widely disbelieved until its rediscovery in the 19th century. He separated the aquatic mammals from sh, and
knew that sharks and rays were part of the group he called
Selach (selachians).* [41]

In a similar fashion, Aristotle believed that creatures were


arranged in a graded scale of perfection rising from plants
on up to man, the scala naturae.* [46] His system had
eleven grades, arranged accordingto the degree to which
they are infected with potentiality, expressed in their
form at birth. The highest animals laid warm and wet
creatures alive, the lowest bore theirs cold, dry, and in
thick eggs.

He gave accurate descriptions of ruminants' fourchambered fore-stomachs, and of the ovoviviparous embryological development of the hound shark Mustelus
mustelus.* [42]

responsible for reproduction and growth, animals a vegetative and a sensitive soul, responsible for mobility and
sensation, and humans a vegetative, a sensitive, and a rational soul, capable of thought and reection.* [47]

Aristotle also held that the level of a creature's perfection


was reected in its form, but not preordained by that form.
Another good example of his methods comes from Ideas like this, and his ideas about souls, are not regarded
the Generation of Animals in which Aristotle describes as science at all in modern times.
breaking open fertilized chicken eggs at intervals to ob- He placed emphasis on the type(s) of soul an organism
serve when visible organs were generated.
possessed, asserting that plants possess a vegetative soul,

Aristotle, in contrast to earlier philosophers, but in accordance with the Egyptians, placed the rational soul in
Classication of living things
the heart, rather than the brain.* [48] Notable is Aristotle's division of sensation and thought, which generally
Aristotle distinguished about 500 species of birds, mamwent against previous philosophers, with the exception of
mals and shes.* [43] His classication of living things
Alcmaeon.* [49]
contains some elements which still existed in the 19th
century. What the modern zoologist would call vertebrates and invertebrates, Aristotle called 'animals with
Successor: Theophrastus
blood' and 'animals without blood' (he did not know that
complex invertebrates do make use of hemoglobin, but of
Main articles: Theophrastus and Historia Plantarum
a dierent kind from vertebrates). Animals with blood
(Theophrastus)
were divided into live-bearing (mammals), and eggbearing (birds and sh). Invertebrates ('animals without
blood') are insects, crustacea (divided into non-shelled Aristotle's successor at the Lyceum, Theophrastus, wrote
cephalopods and shelled) and testacea (molluscs). In a series of books on botany the History of Plants
some respects, this incomplete classication is better than which survived as the most important contribution of anthat of Linnaeus, who crowded the invertebrata together tiquity to botany, even into the Middle Ages. Many of
Theophrastus' names survive into modern times, such as
into two groups, Insecta and Vermes (worms).
carpos for fruit, and pericarpion for seed vessel.
For Charles Singer, Nothing is more remarkable than
[Aristotle's] eorts to [exhibit] the relationships of liv- Rather than focus on formal causes, as Aristotle did,
ing things as a scala naturae"* [41] Aristotle's History of Theophrastus suggested a mechanistic scheme, drawAnimals classied organisms in relation to a hierarchical ing analogies between natural and articial processes,
"Ladder of Life" (scala naturae or Great Chain of Be- and relying on Aristotle's concept of the ecient cause.
ing), placing them according to complexity of structure Theophrastus also recognized the role of sex in the reproand function so that higher organisms showed greater vi- duction of some higher plants, though this last discovery
was lost in later ages.* [50]
tality and ability to move.* [44]
Aristotle believed that intellectual purposes, i.e., nal
causes, guided all natural processes. Such a teleological
view gave Aristotle cause to justify his observed data as
an expression of formal design. Noting that no animal
has, at the same time, both tusks and horns,and a
single-hooved animal with two horns I have never seen,
Aristotle suggested that Nature, giving no animal both
horns and tusks, was staving o vanity, and giving creatures faculties only to such a degree as they are necessary.
Noting that ruminants had multiple stomachs and weak
teeth, he supposed the rst was to compensate for the latter, with Nature trying to preserve a type of balance.* [45]

Inuence on Hellenistic medicine


For more details on this topic, see Medicine in ancient
Greece.
After Theophrastus, the Lyceum failed to produce any
original work. Though interest in Aristotle's ideas survived, they were generally taken unquestioningly.* [51] It
is not until the age of Alexandria under the Ptolemies that
advances in biology can be again found.

10

CHAPTER 1. ARISTOTLE
of the human, rational soul is its ability to receive forms
of other things and compare them.
For Aristotle, the soul (psyche) was a simpler concept
than it is for us today. By soul he simply meant the
form of a living being. Because all beings are composites of form and matter, the form of living beings is that
which endows them with what is specic to living beings,
e.g. the ability to initiate movement (or in the case of
plants, growth and chemical transformations, which Aristotle considers types of movement).* [55]

Memory
According to Aristotle, memory is the ability to hold a
perceived experience in your mind and to have the ability to distinguish between the internalappearanceand
an occurrence in the past.* [56] In other words, a memory is a mental picture (phantasm) in which Aristotle denes in De Anima, as an appearance which is imprinted
on the part of the body that forms a memory. Aristotle
believed an imprintbecomes impressed on a semiuid bodily organ that undergoes several changes in order to make a memory. A memory occurs when a stimuli
is too complex that the nervous system (semi-uid bodily
organ) cannot receive all the impressions at once. These
changes are the same as those involved in the operations
The frontispiece to a 1644 version of the expanded and illustrated of sensation, common sense, and thinking .* [57] The
edition of Historia Plantarum (ca. 1200), which was originally
mental picture imprinted on the bodily organ is the written around 300 BC.
nal product of the entire process of sense perception. It
does not matter if the experience was seen or heard, every
The rst medical teacher at Alexandria, Herophilus of experience ends up as a mental image in memory * [58]
Chalcedon, corrected Aristotle, placing intelligence in Aristotle uses the word memoryfor two basic abilthe brain, and connected the nervous system to mo- ities. First, the actual retaining of the experience in the
tion and sensation. Herophilus also distinguished be- mnemonic imprintthat can develop from sensation.
tween veins and arteries, noting that the latter pulse while Second, the intellectual anxiety that comes with theimthe former do not.* [52] Though a few ancient atomists printdue to being impressed at a particular time and prosuch as Lucretius challenged the teleological viewpoint of cessing specic contents. These abilities can be explained
Aristotelian ideas about life, teleology (and after the rise as memory is neither sensation nor thinking because is
of Christianity, natural theology) would remain central to arises only after a lapse of time. Therefore, memory is
biological thought essentially until the 18th and 19th cen- of the past, * [59] prediction is of the future, and sensaturies. Ernst Mayr claimed that there was nothing of tion is of the present. The retrieval of our imprints
any real consequence in biology after Lucretius and Galen cannot be performed suddenly. A transitional channel is
until the Renaissance.* [53] Aristotle's ideas of natural needed and located in our past experiences, both for our
history and medicine survived, but they were generally previous experience and present experience.
taken unquestioningly.* [54]
Aristotle proposed that slow-witted people have good
memory because the uids in their brain do not wash away
their memory organ used to imprint experiences and so
1.2.7 Psychology
the imprintcan easily continue. However, they canAristotle's psychology, given in his treatise On the Soul not be too slow or the hardened surface of the organ will
(peri psyche, often known by its Latin title De Anima), not receive newimprints. He believed the young and
posits three kinds of soul (psyches): the vegetative the old do not properly develop an imprint. Young
soul, the sensitive soul, and the rational soul. Humans people undergo rapid changes as they develop, while the
have a rational soul. This kind of soul is capable of the elderly's organs are beginning to decay, thus stunting new
same powers as the other kinds: Like the vegetative soul imprints. Likewise, people who are too quick-witted
it can grow and nourish itself; like the sensitive soul it can are similar to the young and the image cannot be xed beexperience sensations and move locally. The unique part cause of the rapid changes of their organ. Because intel-

1.2. THOUGHT

11

lectual functions are not involved in memory, memories clude thinking, sensing, recalling and remembering, do
belong to some animals too, but only those in which have not function as they do during wakefulness.* [66] Since a
perception of time.
person cannot sense during sleep they can also not have a
desire, which is the result of a sensation.* [66] However,
the senses are able to work during sleep,* [66] albeit difRecollection Because Aristotle believes people receive ferently than when a person is awake because during sleep
all kinds of sense perceptions and people perceive them as a person can still have sensory experiences.* [65] Also, all
images orimprints, people are continually weaving to- of the senses are not inactive during sleep, only the ones
gether newimprintsof things they experience. In order that are weary.* [66]
to search for theseimprints, people search the memory itself.* [60] Within the memory, if one experience is
oered instead of a specic memory, that person will reTheory of dreams Dreams do not involve actually
ject this experience until they nd what they are looking
sensing a stimulus because, as discussed, the senses do not
for. Recollection occurs when one experience naturally
work as they normally do during sleep.* [66] In dreams,
follows another. If the chain ofimagesis needed, one
sensation is still involved, but in an altered manner than
memory will stimulate the other. If the chain ofimages
when awake.* [66] Aristotle explains the phenomenon
is not needed, but expected, then it will only stimulate
that occurs when a person stares at a moving stimulus
the other memory in most instances. When people recall
such as the waves in a body of water.* [65] When they look
experiences, they stimulate certain previous experiences
away from that stimulus, the next thing they look at apuntil they have stimulated the one that was needed.* [61]
pears to be moving in a wave like motion. When a person
Recollection is the self-directed activity of retrieving the perceives a stimulus and the stimulus is no longer the foinformation stored in a memory imprintafter some cus of their attention, it leaves an impression.* [65] When
time has passed. Retrieval of stored information is de- the body is awake and the senses are functioning properly,
pendent on the scope of mnemonic capabilities of a being a person constantly encounters new stimuli to sense and
(human or animal) and the abilities the human or animal so the impressions left from previously perceived stimuli
possesses .* [62] Only humans will rememberimprints become irrelevant.* [66] However, during sleep the imof intellectual activity, such as numbers and words. Ani- pressions stimuli made throughout the day become nomals that have perception of time will be able to retrieve ticed because there are not new sensory experiences to
memories of their past observations. Remembering in- distract from these impressions that were made.* [65] So,
volves only perception of the things remembered and of dreams result from these lasting impressions. Since imthe time passed. Recollection of animprintis when the pressions are all that are left and not the exact stimuli,
present experiences a person remembers are similar with dreams will not resemble the actual experience that ocelements corresponding in character and arrangement of curred when awake.* [67]
past sensory experiences. When animprintis recalled,
During sleep, a person is in an altered state of mind.* [65]
it may bring forth a large group of related imprints
Aristotle compares a sleeping person to a person who
.* [63]
is overtaken by strong feelings toward a stimulus.* [65]
Aristotle believed the chain of thought, which ends in rec- For example, a person who has a strong infatuation with
ollection of certainimprints, was connected systemat- someone may begin to think they see that person evically in three sorts of relationships: similarity, contrast, erywhere because they are so overtaken by their feeland contiguity. These three laws make up his Laws of ings.* [65] When a person is asleep, their senses are not
Association. Aristotle believed that past experiences are acting as they do when they are awake and this results in
hidden within our mind. A force operates to awaken the them thinking like a person who is inuenced by strong
hidden material to bring up the actual experience. Ac- feelings.* [65] Since a person sleeping is in this suggestible
cording to Aristotle, association is the power innate in state, they become easily deceived by what appears in
a mental state, which operates upon the unexpressed re- their dreams.* [65]
mains of former experiences, allowing them to rise and
When asleep, a person is unable to make judgments as
be recalled.* [64]
they do when they are awake * [65] Due to the senses not
functioning normally during sleep, they are unable to help
a person judge what is happening in their dream.* [65]
Dreams
This in turn leads the person to believe the dream is
*
Sleep Before understanding Aristotle
s take on dreams, real. [65] Dreams may be absurd in nature but the senses
*
rst his idea of sleep must be examined. Aristotle gives are not able to discern whether they are real or not. [65]
an account of his explanation of sleep in On Sleep and So, the dreamer is left to accept the dream because they
Wakefulness.* [65] Sleep takes place as a result of overuse lack the choice to judge it.
of the senses * [66] or of digestion,* [65] so it is vital to the One component of Aristotles theory of dreams introbody, including the senses, so it can be revitalized.* [66] duces ideas that are contradictory to previously held beWhile a person is asleep, the critical activities, which in- liefs.* [68] He claimed that dreams are not foretelling and

12

CHAPTER 1. ARISTOTLE

that they are not sent by a divine being.* [68] Aristotle


reasoned that instances in which dreams do resemble future events are happenstances not divinations.* [68] These
ideas were contradictory to what had been believed about
dreams, but at the time in which he introduced these ideas
more thinkers were beginning to give naturalistic as opposed to supernatural explanations to phenomena.* [68]

their intellect (nous) can develop with each other towards


the highest possible human virtue, the wisdom of an accomplished theoretical or speculative thinker, or in other
words, a philosopher.* [70]

Aristotle also includes in his theory of dreams what constitutes a dream and what does not. He claimed that a
dream is rst established by the fact that the person is
asleep when they experience it.* [67] If a person had an
image appear for a moment after waking up or if they see
something in the dark it is not considered a dream because they were awake when it occurred.* [67] Secondly,
any sensory experience that actually occurs while a person is asleep and is perceived by the person while asleep
does not qualify as part of a dream.* [67] For example, if,
while a person is sleeping, a door shuts and in their dream
they hear a door is shut, Aristotle argues that this sensory
experience is not part of the dream.* [67] The actual sensory experience is perceived by the senses, the fact that
it occurred while the person was asleep does not make it
part of the dream.* [67] Lastly, the images of dreams must
be a result of lasting impressions of sensory experiences
had when awake.* [67]

Main article: Politics (Aristotle)

1.2.8

Practical philosophy

Ethics
Main article: Aristotelian ethics
Aristotle considered ethics to be a practical rather than
theoretical study, i.e., one aimed at becoming good and
doing good rather than knowing for its own sake. He
wrote several treatises on ethics, including most notably,
the Nicomachean Ethics.
Aristotle taught that virtue has to do with the proper function (ergon) of a thing. An eye is only a good eye in so
much as it can see, because the proper function of an eye
is sight. Aristotle reasoned that humans must have a function specic to humans, and that this function must be an
activity of the psuch (normally translated as soul) in accordance with reason (logos). Aristotle identied such an
optimum activity of the soul as the aim of all human deliberate action, eudaimonia, generally translated ashappinessor sometimeswell being. To have the potential of ever being happy in this way necessarily requires
a good character (thik aret), often translated as moral
(or ethical) virtue (or excellence).* [69]
Aristotle taught that to achieve a virtuous and potentially
happy character requires a rst stage of having the fortune
to be habituated not deliberately, but by teachers, and experience, leading to a later stage in which one consciously
chooses to do the best things. When the best people come
to live life this way their practical wisdom (phronesis) and

Politics

In addition to his works on ethics, which address the individual, Aristotle addressed the city in his work titled
Politics. Aristotle considered the city to be a natural community. Moreover, he considered the city to be prior in
importance to the family which in turn is prior to the individual,for the whole must of necessity be prior to the
part.* [71] He also famously stated thatman is by nature a political animal. Aristotle conceived of politics
as being like an organism rather than like a machine, and
as a collection of parts none of which can exist without
the others. Aristotle's conception of the city is organic,
and he is considered one of the rst to conceive of the city
in this manner.* [72]
The common modern understanding of a political community as a modern state is quite dierent from Aristotle's understanding. Although he was aware of the existence and potential of larger empires, the natural community according to Aristotle was the city (polis) which
functions as a political communityor partnership
(koinnia). The aim of the city is not just to avoid injustice or for economic stability, but rather to allow at least
some citizens the possibility to live a good life, and to perform beautiful acts: The political partnership must be
regarded, therefore, as being for the sake of noble actions,
not for the sake of living together.This is distinguished
from modern approaches, beginning with social contract
theory, according to which individuals leave the state of
nature because offear of violent deathor itsinconveniences.* [73]
Rhetoric and poetics
Main articles: Rhetoric (Aristotle) and Poetics (Aristotle)
Aristotle considered epic poetry, tragedy, comedy,
dithyrambic poetry and music to be imitative, each varying in imitation by medium, object, and manner.* [74]
For example, music imitates with the media of rhythm
and harmony, whereas dance imitates with rhythm alone,
and poetry with language. The forms also dier in their
object of imitation. Comedy, for instance, is a dramatic
imitation of men worse than average; whereas tragedy imitates men slightly better than average. Lastly, the forms
dier in their manner of imitation through narrative
or character, through change or no change, and through
drama or no drama.* [75] Aristotle believed that imitation
is natural to mankind and constitutes one of mankind's

1.3. LOSS AND PRESERVATION OF HIS WORKS


advantages over animals.* [76]
While it is believed that Aristotle's Poetics comprised two
books one on comedy and one on tragedy only the portion that focuses on tragedy has survived. Aristotle taught
that tragedy is composed of six elements: plot-structure,
character, style, thought, spectacle, and lyric poetry.* [77]
The characters in a tragedy are merely a means of driving the story; and the plot, not the characters, is the chief
focus of tragedy. Tragedy is the imitation of action arousing pity and fear, and is meant to eect the catharsis of
those same emotions. Aristotle concludes Poetics with a
discussion on which, if either, is superior: epic or tragic
mimesis. He suggests that because tragedy possesses all
the attributes of an epic, possibly possesses additional attributes such as spectacle and music, is more unied, and
achieves the aim of its mimesis in shorter scope, it can be
considered superior to epic.* [78]

13
the Constitution of Athens, are regarded by most scholars
as products of Aristotle's school,perhaps compiled
under his direction or supervision. Others, such as On
Colors, may have been produced by Aristotle's successors at the Lyceum, e.g., Theophrastus and Straton. Still
others acquired Aristotle's name through similarities in
doctrine or content, such as the De Plantis, possibly by
Nicolaus of Damascus. Other works in the corpus include medieval palmistries and astrological and magical
texts whose connections to Aristotle are purely fanciful
and self-promotional.* [84]

According to a distinction that originates with Aristotle


himself, his writings are divisible into two groups: the
"exoteric" and the "esoteric".* [85] Most scholars have
understood this as a distinction between works Aristotle
intended for the public (exoteric), and the more technical
works intended for use within the school (esoteric). ModAristotle was a keen systematic collector of riddles, folk- ern scholars commonly assume these latter to be Arisnotes (or in some cases
lore, and proverbs; he and his school had a special interest totle's own (unpolished) lecture
*
possible
notes
by
his
students).
[86]
However, one classic
in the riddles of the Delphic Oracle and studied the fables
scholar
oers
an
alternative
interpretation.
The 5th cen*
of Aesop. [79]
tury neoplatonist Ammonius Hermiae writes that Aristotle's writing style is deliberately obscurantist so that
good people may for that reason stretch their mind even
1.2.9 Views on women
more, whereas empty minds that are lost through carelessness will be put to ight by the obscurity when they
Main article: Aristotle's views on women
encounter sentences like these.* [87]
Aristotle's analysis of procreation describes an active, ensouling masculine element bringing life to an inert, passive female element. On this ground, feminist metaphysics have accused Aristotle of misogyny* [80] and
sexism.* [81] However, Aristotle gave equal weight to
women's happiness as he did to men's, and commented
in his Rhetoric that the things that lead to happiness need
to be in women as well as men.* [82]

1.3 Loss and preservation of his


works
See also: Corpus Aristotelicum

Another common assumption is that none of the exoteric works is extant that all of Aristotle's extant writings are of the esoteric kind. Current knowledge of what
exactly the exoteric writings were like is scant and dubious, though many of them may have been in dialogue
form. (Fragments of some of Aristotle's dialogues have
survived.) Perhaps it is to these that Cicero refers when
he characterized Aristotle's writing style as a river of
gold";* [88] it is hard for many modern readers to accept
that one could seriously so admire the style of those works
currently available to us.* [86] However, some modern
scholars have warned that we cannot know for certain
that Cicero's praise was reserved specically for the exoteric works; a few modern scholars have actually admired the concise writing style found in Aristotle's extant
works.* [89]

One major question in the history of Aristotle's works,


then, is how were the exoteric writings all lost, and how
did the ones we now possess come to us* [90] The story
of the original manuscripts of the esoteric treatises is
described by Strabo in his Geography and Plutarch in
his Parallel Lives.* [91] The manuscripts were left from
Aristotle to his successor Theophrastus, who in turn
willed them to Neleus of Scepsis. Neleus supposedly
took the writings from Athens to Scepsis, where his heirs
let them languish in a cellar until the 1st century BC,
when Apellicon of Teos discovered and purchased the
manuscripts, bringing them back to Athens. According to the story, Apellicon tried to repair some of the
Some of the individual works within the corpus, including damage that was done during the manuscripts' stay in
Modern scholarship reveals that Aristotle'slostworks
stray considerably in characterization* [83] from the surviving Aristotelian corpus. Whereas the lost works appear to have been originally written with an intent for
subsequent publication, the surviving works do not appear to have been so.* [83] Rather the surviving works
mostly resemble lecture notes unintended for publication.* [83] The authenticity of a portion of the surviving
works as originally Aristotelian is also today held suspect,
with some books duplicating or summarizing each other,
the authorship of one book questioned and another book
considered to be unlikely Aristotle's at all.* [83]

14

CHAPTER 1. ARISTOTLE

the basement, introducing a number of errors into the


text. When Lucius Cornelius Sulla occupied Athens in
86 BC, he carried o the library of Apellicon to Rome,
where they were rst published in 60 BC by the grammarian Tyrannion of Amisus and then by the philosopher
Andronicus of Rhodes.* [92]* [93]
Carnes Lord attributes the popular belief in this story
to the fact that it provides the most plausible explanation for the rapid eclipse of the Peripatetic school after the middle of the third century, and for the absence
of widespread knowledge of the specialized treatises of
Aristotle throughout the Hellenistic period, as well as for
the sudden reappearance of a ourishing Aristotelianism
during the rst century B.C.* [94] Lord voices a number of reservations concerning this story, however. First,
the condition of the texts is far too good for them to have
suered considerable damage followed by Apellicon's inexpert attempt at repair.
Second, there isincontrovertible evidence,Lord says,
that the treatises were in circulation during the time in
which Strabo and Plutarch suggest they were conned
within the cellar in Scepsis. Third, the denitive edition
of Aristotle's texts seems to have been made in Athens
some fty years before Andronicus supposedly compiled
his. And fourth, ancient library catalogues predating Andronicus' intervention list an Aristotelian corpus quite
similar to the one we currently possess. Lord sees a
number of post-Aristotelian interpolations in the Politics,
for example, but is generally condent that the work has
come down to us relatively intact.

Aristotle with a bust of Homer, by Rembrandt.

Despite these achievements, the inuence of Aristotle's


errors is considered by some to have held back science
considerably. Bertrand Russell notes that almost every
serious intellectual advance has had to begin with an attack on some Aristotelian doctrine. Russell also refers
to Aristotle's ethics asrepulsive, and calls his logicas
denitely antiquated as Ptolemaic astronomy. Russell
notes that these errors make it dicult to do historical
justice to Aristotle, until one remembers how large of an
*
On the one hand, the surviving texts of Aristotle do not advance he made upon all of his predecessors. [4]
derive from nished literary texts, but rather from working drafts used within Aristotle's school, as opposed, on
1.4.1 Later Greek philosophers
the other hand, to the dialogues and otherexoterictexts
which Aristotle published more widely during his lifeThe immediate inuence of Aristotle's work was felt as
time. The consensus is that Andronicus of Rhodes colthe Lyceum grew into the Peripatetic school. Aristolected the esoteric works of Aristotle's school which extle's notable students included Aristoxenus, Dicaearchus,
isted in the form of smaller, separate works, distinguished
Demetrius of Phalerum, Eudemos of Rhodes, Harpalus,
them from those of Theophrastus and other Peripatetics,
Hephaestion, Meno, Mnason of Phocis, Nicomachus, and
edited them, and nally compiled them into the more coTheophrastus. Aristotle's inuence over Alexander the
*
hesive, larger works as they are known today. [95]
Great is seen in the latter's bringing with him on his expedition a host of zoologists, botanists, and researchers. He
had also learned a great deal about Persian customs and
traditions from his teacher. Although his respect for Aris1.4 Legacy
totle was diminished as his travels made it clear that much
of Aristotle's geography was clearly wrong, when the old
More than 2300 years after his death, Aristotle remains philosopher released his works to the public, Alexander
one of the most inuential people who ever lived. He con- complained Thou hast not done well to publish thy
tributed to almost every eld of human knowledge then acroamatic doctrines; for in what shall I surpass other
in existence, and he was the founder of many new elds. men if those doctrines wherein I have been trained are
According to the philosopher Bryan Magee,it is doubt- to be all men's common property?"* [100]
ful whether any human being has ever known as much
as he did.* [96] Among countless other achievements,
Aristotle was the founder of formal logic,* [97] pioneered 1.4.2 Inuence on Byzantine scholars
the study of zoology, and left every future scientist and
philosopher in his debt through his contributions to the Greek Christian scribes played a crucial role in the preserscientic method.* [98]* [99]
vation of Aristotle by copying all the extant Greek lan-

1.5. LIST OF WORKS


guage manuscripts of the corpus. The rst Greek Christians to comment extensively on Aristotle were John
Philoponus, Elias, and David in the sixth century, and
Stephen of Alexandria in the early seventh century.* [101]
John Philoponus stands out for having attempted a fundamental critique of Aristotle's views on the eternity of
the world, movement, and other elements of Aristotelian
thought.* [102] After a hiatus of several centuries, formal commentary by Eustratius and Michael of Ephesus
reappears in the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries,
apparently sponsored by Anna Comnena.* [103]

15
such as Thomas Aquinas. See Summa Theologica, Part
I, Question 3, etc. These thinkers blended Aristotelian
philosophy with Christianity, bringing the thought of Ancient Greece into the Middle Ages. It required a repudiation of some Aristotelian principles for the sciences and
the arts to free themselves for the discovery of modern
scientic laws and empirical methods. The medieval English poet Chaucer describes his student as being happy
by having
at his beddes heed
Twenty bookes, clad in blak or reed,

1.4.3

Inuence on Islamic theologians

Aristotle was one of the most revered Western thinkers


in early Islamic theology. Most of the still extant works
of Aristotle,* [104] as well as a number of the original
Greek commentaries, were translated into Arabic and
studied by Muslim philosophers, scientists and scholars. Averroes, Avicenna and Alpharabius, who wrote
on Aristotle in great depth, also inuenced Thomas
Aquinas and other Western Christian scholastic philosophers. Alkindus considered Aristotle as the outstanding
and unique representative of philosophy* [105] and Averroes spoke of Aristotle as the exemplarfor all future
philosophers.* [106] Medieval Muslim scholars regularly
described Aristotle as the First Teacher.* [107] The
title teacherwas rst given to Aristotle by Muslim
scholars, and was later used by Western philosophers (as
in the famous poem of Dante) who were inuenced by
the tradition of Islamic philosophy.* [108]
In accordance with the Greek theorists, the Muslims considered Aristotle to be a dogmatic philosopher, the author
of a closed system, and believed that Aristotle shared with
Plato essential tenets of thought. Some went so far as to
credit Aristotle himself with neo-Platonic metaphysical
ideas.* [104]

1.4.4

Inuence on Western Christian theologians

Of aristotle and his philosophie,* [111]


The Italian poet Dante says of Aristotle in the rst circles
of hell,
I saw the Master there of those who know,
Amid the philosophic family,
By all admired, and by all reverenced;
There Plato too I saw, and Socrates,
Who stood beside him closer than the
rest.* [112]

1.4.5 Post-Enlightenment thinkers


The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche has been
said to have taken nearly all of his political philosophy
from Aristotle.* [113] However implausible this is, it is
certainly the case that Aristotle's rigid separation of action from production, and his justication of the subservience of slaves and others to the virtue or arete
of a few justied the ideal of aristocracy. It is Martin
Heidegger, not Nietzsche, who elaborated a new interpretation of Aristotle, intended to warrant his deconstruction of scholastic and philosophical tradition. Ayn Rand
accredited Aristotle as the greatest philosopher in historyand cited him as a major inuence on her thinking.
More recently, Alasdair MacIntyre has attempted to reform what he calls the Aristotelian tradition in a way that
is anti-elitist and capable of disputing the claims of both
liberals and Nietzscheans.* [114]

With the loss of the study of ancient Greek in the early


medieval Latin West, Aristotle was practically unknown
there from c. CE 600 to c. 1100 except through the
Latin translation of the Organon made by Boethius. In
the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, interest in Aristotle
revived and Latin Christians had translations made, both 1.5 List of works
from Arabic translations, such as those by Gerard of Cremona,* [109] and from the original Greek, such as those Main article: Corpus Aristotelicum
by James of Venice and William of Moerbeke.
After Thomas Aquinas wrote his theology, working from
Moerbeke's translations, the demand for Aristotle's writings grew and the Greek manuscripts returned to the
West, stimulating a revival of Aristotelianism in Europe
that continued into the Renaissance.* [110] Aristotle is referred to as The Philosopherby Scholastic thinkers

The works of Aristotle that have survived from antiquity through medieval manuscript transmission are collected in the Corpus Aristotelicum. 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

16
Bekker's Royal Prussian Academy edition (Aristotelis
Opera edidit Academia Regia Borussica, Berlin, 1831
1870), which in turn is based on ancient classications
of these works.

1.6 Eponym

CHAPTER 1. ARISTOTLE

see Felix Jacoby on FGrHist 244 F 38. Ingemar Dring,


Aristotle in the Ancient Biographical Tradition, Gteborg,
1957, p. 253.
[3] Biography of Aristotle. Biography.com. Retrieved 12
March 2014.
[4] Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy, Simon
& Schuster, 1972.
[5] Encyclopdia Britannica (2008). The Britannica Guide to
the 100 Most Inuential Scientists. Running Press. p. 12.
ISBN 9780762434213.
[6] Barnes 2007, p. 6.
[7] Cicero, Marcus Tullius (10643 BC). Academica Priora. Book II, chapter XXXVIII, 119. Retrieved 25 January 2007. veniet umen orationis aureum fundens Aristoteles Check date values in: |date= (help)
[8] Jonathan Barnes, Life and Workin The Cambridge
Companion to Aristotle (1995), p. 9.
[9] Guardian on Time Magazine's 100 personalities of all
time.

ARISTOTLEnear the ceiling of the Great Hall in the Library


of Congress.

[10] Ranker.com - The most inuential people of all time.


[11] Campbell, Michael. Behind the Name: Meaning, Origin and History of the Name Aristotle"". Behind the
Name: The Etymology and History of First Names. www.
behindthename.com. Retrieved 6 April 2012.

The Aristotle Mountains along the Oscar II Coast of


Graham Land, Antarctica, are named after Aristotle. He
was the rst person known to conjecture the existence of
a landmass in the southern high-latitude region and call it [12] McLeisch, Kenneth Cole (1999). Aristotle: The Great
Antarctica.* [115]
Philosophers. Routledge. p. 5. ISBN 0-415-92392-1.

1.7 See also


Aristotelian physics
Aristotelian society
Aristotelian theology
Conimbricenses
List of writers inuenced by Aristotle
Otium
Philia
Pseudo-Aristotle

1.8 Notes and references

[13] Anagnostopoulos, G.,Aristotle's Lifein A Companion


to Aristotle (Blackwell Publishing, 2009), p. 4.
[14] Carnes Lord, introduction to The Politics by Aristotle
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984).
[15] Peter Green, Alexander of Macedon, University of California Press Ltd. (Oxford, England) 1991, pp. 5859
[16] William George Smith,Dictionary of Greek and Roman
Biography and Mythology, vol. 3, p. 88
[17] Peter Green, Alexander of Macedon, University of California Press Ltd. (Oxford, England), 1991, p. 379 and
459.
[18] Jones, W. T. (1980). The Classical Mind: A History of
Western Philosophy. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. p. 216.
ISBN 0155383124.
[19] Vita Marciana 41, cf. Aelian Varia historica 3.36, Ingemar Dring, Aristotle in the Ancient Biographical Tradition, Gteborg, 1957, T44a-e.

[1] Aristotle entry in Collins English Dictionary, HarperCollins Publishers, 1998.

[20] Aristotle's Will, Aufstieg und Niedergang der rmischen


Welt by Hildegard Temporini, Wolfgang Haase.

[2] That these undisputed dates (the rst half of the Olympiad
year 384/383 BCE, and in 322 shortly before the death of
Demosthenes) are correct was shown already by August
Boeckh (Kleine Schriften VI 195); for further discussion,

[21] See The Politics of Aristotle translated by Ernest Barker,


Oxford: Clarendom Press, 1946, p. xxiii, note 2, who
refers to Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum, vol. xii, fasc.
ix, s.v. Eretria.

1.8. NOTES AND REFERENCES

17

[22] See Shields, C.,Aristotle's Philosophical Life and Writingsin The Oxford Handbook of Aristotle (Oxford University Press, 2012), pp. 316. Dring, I., Aristotle in the
Ancient Biographical Tradition (Gteborg, 1957) is a collection of [an overview of?] ancient biographies of Aristotle.

[48] Mason, A History of the Sciences pp 45

[23] MICHAEL DEGNAN, 1994. Recent Work in Aristotle's


Logic. Philosophical Books 35.2 (April 1994): 8189.

[51] Annas, Classical Greek Philosophy pp 252

[24] Corcoran, John (2009). Aristotle's Demonstrative


Logic. History and Philosophy of Logic, 30: 120.

[49] Guthrie, A History of Greek Philosophy Vol. 1 pp. 348


[50] Mayr, The Growth of Biological Thought, pp 9091; Mason, A History of the Sciences, p 46

[52] Mason, A History of the Sciences pp 56


[53] Mayr, The Growth of Biological Thought, pp 9094; quotation from p 91

[25] Bocheski, I. M. (1951). Ancient Formal Logic. Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Company.

[54] Annas, Classical Greek Philosophy, p 252

[26] Bocheski, 1951.

[55] Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, article Psychology.

[27] Rose, Lynn E. (1968). Aristotle's Syllogistic. Springeld:


Charles C Thomas Publisher.
[28] Jori, Alberto (2003). Aristotele. Milano: Bruno Mondadori Editore.
[29] Aristotle, History of Animals, 2.3.
[30] Stanford
Encyclopedia
of
Philosophy.
Plato.stanford.edu. Retrieved 26 April 2009.
[31] Aristotle, Meteorology 1.8, trans. E.W. Webster, rev. J.
Barnes.
[32] Burent, John. 1928. Platonism, Berkeley: University of
California Press, pp. 61, 103104.
[33] Charles Lyell, Principles of Geology, 1832, p.17

[56] Bloch, David (2007). Aristotle on Memory and Recollection. p. 12. ISBN 9004160469.
[57] Bloch 2007, p. 61.
[58] Carruthers, Mary (2007). The Book of Memory: A
Study of Memory in Medieval Culture. p. 16. ISBN
9780521429733.
[59] Bloch 2007, p. 25.
[60] Warren, Howard (1921). A History of the Association Psychology. p. 30.
[61] Warren 1921, p. 25.
[62] Carruthers 2007, p. 19.

[34] Physics 201a1011, 201a2729, 201b45


[63] Warren 1921, p. 296.
[35] Sachs, Joe (2005), Aristotle: Motion and its Place in
Nature, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
[36] Michael Lahanas. Optics and ancient Greeks. Mlahanas.de. Archived from the original on 11 April 2009.
Retrieved 26 April 2009.
[37] Aristotle, Physics 2.6
[38] Aristotle, Metaphysics VIII 1043a 1030
[39] Aristotle, Metaphysics IX 1050a 510
[40] Aristotle, Metaphysics VIII 1045ab
[41] Singer, Charles. A short history of biology. Oxford 1931.
[42] Emily Kearns, Animals, knowledge about,in Oxford
Classical Dictionary, 3rd ed., 1996, p. 92.
[43] Carl T. Bergstrom; Lee Alan Dugatkin (2012). Evolution.
Norton. p. 35. ISBN 978-0-393-92592-0.

[64] Warren 1921, p. 259.


[65] Holowchak, Mark (1996).Aristotle on Dreaming: What
Goes on in Sleep when the 'Big Fire' goes out. Ancient Philosophy 16 (2): 405423. Retrieved 7 November
2014.
[66] Shute, Clarence (1941). The Psychology of Aristotle: An
Analysis of the Living Being. Morningsdie Heights: New
York: Columbia University Press. pp. 115118.
[67] Modrak, Deborah (2009).Dreams and Method in Aristotle. Skepsis: A Journal for Philosophy and Interdisciplinary Research 20: 169181.
[68] Webb, Wilse (1990). Dreamtime and dreamwork: Decoding the language of the night. New consciousness reader series. Los Angeles, CA, England: Jeremy P. Tarcher, Inc.
pp. 174184. ISBN 0-87477-594-9.

[44] Aristotle, of course, is not responsible for the later use


made of this idea by clerics.

[69] Nicomachean Ethics Book I. See for example chapter 7


1098a.

[45] Mason, A History of the Sciences pp 4344

[70] Nicomachean Ethics Book VI.

[46] Mayr, The Growth of Biological Thought, pp 201202; see


also: Lovejoy, The Great Chain of Being

[71] Politics 1253a1924

[47] Aristotle, De Anima II 3

[72] Ebenstein, Alan; William Ebenstein (2002). Introduction


to Political Thinkers. Wadsworth Group. p. 59.

18

CHAPTER 1. ARISTOTLE

[73] For a dierent reading of social and economic processes


in the Nicomachean Ethics and Politics see Polanyi, K.
(1957) Aristotle Discovers the Economyin Primitive,
Archaic and Modern Economies: Essays of Karl Polanyi
ed. G. Dalton, Boston 1971, 78115
[74] Aristotle, Poetics I 1447a
[75] Aristotle, Poetics III
[76] Aristotle, Poetics IV
[77] Aristotle, Poetics VI
[78] Aristotle, Poetics XXVI
[79] Temple, Olivia, and Temple, Robert (translators), The
Complete Fables By Aesop Penguin Classics, 1998. ISBN
0-14-044649-4 Cf. Introduction, pp. xixii.
[80] Freeland, Cynthia A. (1998). Feminist Interpretations of
Aristotle. Penn State University Press. ISBN 0-27101730-9.
[81] Morsink, Johannes (Spring 1979). Was Aristotle's Biology Sexist?". Journal of the History of Biology 12 (1):
83112. doi:10.1007/bf00128136.
[82] Aristotle; Roberts, W. Rhys (translator). Honeycutt, Lee,
ed. Rhetoric. pp. Book I, Chapter 5. Where, as among
the Lacedaemonians, the state of women is bad, almost
half of human life is spoilt.
[83] Terence Irwin and Gail Fine, Cornell University, Aristotle: Introductory Readings. Indianapolis, Indiana: Hackett
Publishing Company, Inc. (1996), Introduction, pp. xi
xii.

[90] .The denitive, English study of these questions is Barnes,


Roman Aristotle.
[91]Sulla.
[92] Ancient Rome: from the early Republic to the assassination of Julius Caesar Page 513, Matthew Dillon, Lynda
Garland
[93] The Encyclopedia Americana, Volume 22 Page 131,
Grolier Incorporated Juvenile Nonction
[94] Lord, Carnes (1984). Introduction to the Politics, by Aristotle. Chicago: Chicago University Press. p. 11.
[95] Anagnostopoulos, G., Aristotle's Works and Thoughts
, A Companion to Aristotle (Blackwell Publishing, 2009),
p. 16. See also, Barnes, J., Life and Work, The
Cambridge Companion to Aristotle (Cambridge University
Press, 1995), pp. 1015.
[96] Magee, Bryan (2010). The Story of Philosophy. Dorling
Kindersley. p. 34.
[97] W. K. C. Guthrie (1990). "A history of Greek philosophy:
Aristotle : an encounter". Cambridge University Press.
p.156. ISBN 0-521-38760-4
[98] Aristotle (Greek philosopher) Britannica Online Encyclopedia. Britannica.com. Archived from the original
on 22 April 2009. Retrieved 26 April 2009.
[99] Durant, Will (2006) [1926]. The Story of Philosophy.
United States: Simon & Schuster, Inc. p. 92. ISBN 9780-671-73916-4.

[100] Plutarch, Life of Alexander


[84] Lynn Thorndike, Chiromancy in Medieval Latin
Manuscripts,Speculum 40 (1965), pp. 674706; Roger [101] Richard Sorabji, ed. Aristotle Transformed London, 1990,
A. Pack, Pseudo-Arisoteles: Chiromantia,Archives
20, 28, 3536.
d'histoire doctrinale et littraire du Moyen ge 39 (1972),
pp. 289320; Pack, A Pseudo-Aristotelian Chi- [102] Richard Sorabji, ed. Aristotle Transformed (London,
romancy,Archives d'histoire doctrinale et littraire du
1990) 233274.
Moyen ge 36 (1969), pp. 189241.
[103] Richard Sorabji, ed. Aristotle Transformed (London,
[85] Jonathan Barnes, Life and Workin The Cambridge
1990) 2021; 2829, 393406; 407408.
Companion to Aristotle (1995), p. 12; Aristotle himself:
Nicomachean Ethics 1102a2627. Aristotle himself never [104] Encyclopedia of Islam, Aristutalis
uses the term esotericor acroamatic. For other
passages where Aristotle speaks of exterikoi logoi, see W. [105] Rasa'il I, 103, 17, Abu Rida
D. Ross, Aristotle's Metaphysics (1953), vol. 2, pp. 408
410. Ross defends an interpretation according to which [106] Comm. Magnum in Aristotle, De Anima, III, 2, 43 Crawford
the phrase, at least in Aristotle's own works, usually refers
generally to discussions not peculiar to the Peripatetic
[107] al-mua'llim al-thani, Aristutalis
school", rather than to specic works of Aristotle's own.
[108] Nasr, Seyyed Hossein (1996). The Islamic Intellectual
Tradition in Persia. Curzon Press. pp. 5960. ISBN 07007-0314-4.
[87] Ammonius (1991). On Aristotle's Categories. Ithaca, NY:
Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-8014-2688-X. p. 15
[109] Inuence of Arabic and Islamic Philosophy on the Latin
[88] Cicero, Marcus Tullius (106 BC 43 BC). "umen oratioWest entry in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
nis aureum fundens Aristoteles". Academica Priora. Retrieved 25 January 2007. Check date values in: |date= [110] Aristotelianism in the Renaissance entry in the Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(help)
[86] Barnes, Life and Work, p. 12.

[89] Barnes, Roman Aristotle, in Gregory Nagy, Greek [111] Georey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, Prologue, lines
Literature, Routledge 2001, vol. 8, p. 174 n. 240.
295295

1.9. FURTHER READING

19

[112] vidi 'l maestro di color che sanno seder tra losoca
famiglia.
Tutti lo miran, tutti onor li fanno:
quivi vid'o Socrate e Platone
che 'nnanzi a li altri pi presso li stanno;
Dante, L'Inferno (Hell), Canto IV. Lines 131135
[113] Durant, p. 86
[114] Kelvin Knight, Aristotelian Philosophy, Polity Press, 2007,
passim.
[115] Aristotle Mountains.
Gazetteer.

SCAR Composite Antarctic

Cantor, Norman F.; Klein, Peter L., eds. (1969).


Ancient Thought: Plato and Aristotle. Monuments
of Western Thought 1. Waltham, Mass: Blaisdell
Publishing Co.
Chappell, V. (1973). Aristotle's Conception of Matter, Journal of Philosophy 70: 679696.
Code, Alan. (1995). Potentiality in Aristotle's Science and Metaphysics, Pacic Philosophical Quarterly 76.
Ferguson, John (1972).
Twayne Publishers.

Aristotle.

New York:

1.9 Further reading

De Groot, Jean (2014). Aristotle's Empiricism: Experience and Mechanics in the 4th Century BC, Parmenides Publishing, ISBN 978-1-930972-83-4

The secondary literature on Aristotle is vast. The following references are only a small selection.

Frede, Michael. (1987). Essays in Ancient Philosophy. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Ackrill J. L. (1997). Essays on Plato and Aristotle,


Oxford University Press, USA.

Fuller, B.A.G. (1923). Aristotle. History of Greek


Philosophy 3. London: Cape.

Ackrill, J. L. (1981). Aristotle the Philosopher. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.

Gendlin, Eugene T. (2012). Line by Line Commentary on Aristotle's De Anima, Volume 1: Books I &
II; Volume 2: Book III. Spring Valley, New York:
The Focusing Institute. Available online in PDF.

Adler, Mortimer J. (1978). Aristotle for Everybody.


New York: Macmillan. A popular exposition for the
general reader.
Ammonius (1991). Cohen, S. Marc; Matthews,
Gareth B, eds. On Aristotle's Categories. Ithaca, NY:
Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-8014-2688-X.
Aristotle (19081952). The Works of Aristotle
Translated into English Under the Editorship of W.
D. Ross, 12 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press. These
translations are available in several places online; see
External links.
Bakalis Nikolaos. (2005). Handbook of Greek
Philosophy: From Thales to the Stoics Analysis
and Fragments, Traord Publishing ISBN 1-41204843-5
Barnes J. (1995). The Cambridge Companion to
Aristotle, Cambridge University Press.
Bocheski, I. M. (1951). Ancient Formal Logic.
Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Company.
Bolotin, David (1998). An Approach to Aristotle's
Physics: With Particular Attention to the Role of His
Manner of Writing. Albany: SUNY Press. A contribution to our understanding of how to read Aristotle's scientic works.
Burnyeat, M. F. et al. (1979). Notes on Book Zeta
of Aristotle's Metaphysics. Oxford: Sub-faculty of
Philosophy.

Gill, Mary Louise. (1989). Aristotle on Substance:


The Paradox of Unity. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Guthrie, W. K. C. (1981). A History of Greek Philosophy, Vol. 6. Cambridge University Press.
Halper, Edward C. (2009). One and Many in Aristotle's Metaphysics, Volume 1: Books Alpha Delta,
Parmenides Publishing, ISBN 978-1-930972-21-6.
Halper, Edward C. (2005). One and Many in Aristotle's Metaphysics, Volume 2: The Central Books, Parmenides Publishing, ISBN 978-1-930972-05-6.
Irwin, T. H. (1988). Aristotle's First Principles. Oxford: Clarendon Press, ISBN 0-19-824290-5.
Jaeger, Werner (1948). Robinson, Richard, ed.
Aristotle: Fundamentals of the History of His Development (2nd ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Jori, Alberto. (2003). Aristotele, Milano: Bruno
Mondadori Editore (Prize 2003 of the "International
Academy of the History of Science") ISBN 88-4249737-1.
Kiernan, Thomas P., ed. (1962). Aristotle Dictionary. New York: Philosophical Library.
Knight, Kelvin. (2007). Aristotelian Philosophy:
Ethics and Politics from Aristotle to MacIntyre, Polity
Press.

20

CHAPTER 1. ARISTOTLE

Lewis, Frank A. (1991). Substance and Predication in Aristotle. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.

Taylor, Henry Osborn (1922). Chapter 3: Aristotle's Biology. Greek Biology and Medicine.
Archived from the original on 11 February 2006.

Lloyd, G. E. R. (1968). Aristotle: The Growth and


Structure of his Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge
Univ. Pr., ISBN 0-521-09456-9.

Veatch, Henry B. (1974). Aristotle: A Contemporary


Appreciation. Bloomington: Indiana U. Press. For
the general reader.

Lord, Carnes. (1984). Introduction to The Politics,


by Aristotle. Chicago: Chicago University Press.

Woods, M. J. (1991b). Universals and Particular


Forms in Aristotle's Metaphysics. Aristotle and the
Later Tradition. Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy. Suppl. pp. 4156.

Loux, Michael J. (1991). Primary Ousia: An Essay on Aristotle's Metaphysics and . Ithaca, NY:
Cornell University Press.
Maso, Stefano (Ed.), Natali, Carlo (Ed.), Seel, Gerhard (Ed.). (2012) Reading Aristotle: Physics VII.3:
What is Alteration? Proceedings of the International
ESAP-HYELE Conference, Parmenides Publishing.
ISBN 978-1-930972-73-5
McKeon, Richard (1973). Introduction to Aristotle
(2d ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Owen, G. E. L. (1965c).The Platonism of Aristotle. Proceedings of the British Academy 50: 125
150. [Reprinted in J. Barnes, M. Schoeld, and R.
R. K. Sorabji, eds.(1975). Articles on Aristotle Vol
1. Science. London: Duckworth 1434.]
Pangle, Lorraine Smith (2003). Aristotle and the
Philosophy of Friendship. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press. Aristotle's conception of the deepest human relationship viewed in the light of the history of philosophic thought on friendship.
Plato (1979). Allen, Harold Joseph; Wilbur, James
B, eds. The Worlds of Plato and Aristotle. Bualo:
Prometheus Books.
Reeve, C. D. C. (2000). Substantial Knowledge:
Aristotle's Metaphysics. Indianapolis: Hackett.
Rose, Lynn E. (1968). Aristotle's Syllogistic. Springeld: Charles C Thomas Publisher.
Ross, Sir David (1995). Aristotle (6th ed.). London: Routledge. A classic overview by one of Aristotle's most prominent English translators, in print
since 1923.
Scaltsas, T. (1994). Substances and Universals in
Aristotle's Metaphysics. Ithaca: Cornell University
Press.
Strauss, Leo (1964). On Aristotle's Politics", in
The City and Man, Chicago; Rand McNally.
Swanson, Judith (1992). The Public and the Private
in Aristotle's Political Philosophy. Ithaca: Cornell
University Press.

1.10 External links


Aristotle at PhilPapers.
Aristotle at the Indiana Philosophy Ontology
Project.
At the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy:

Aristotle (general article)


Biology
Ethics
Logic
Metaphysics
Motion and its Place in Nature
Poetics
Politics

From the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:

Aristotle (general article)


Aristotle in the Renaissance
Biology
Causality
Commentators on Aristotle
Ethics
Logic
Mathematics
Metaphysics
Natural philosophy
Non-contradiction
Political theory
Psychology
Rhetoric

General article at The Catholic Encyclopedia


Diogenes Lartius, Life of Aristotle, translated by
Robert Drew Hicks (1925).
Works by Aristotle at Open Library.
Timeline of Aristotle's life

1.10. EXTERNAL LINKS


Aristotle at PlanetMath.org..
Collections of works
At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (primarily in English).
Works by Aristotle at Project Gutenberg
Works by or about Aristotle at Internet Archive
(search optimized for the non-Beta site)

Works by Aristotle at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)


(English) (Greek) Perseus Project at Tufts University.
At the University of Adelaide (primarily in English).
(Greek) (French) P. Remacle
The 11-volume 1837 Bekker edition of Aristotle's
Works in Greek (PDF DJVU)
Bekker's Prussian Academy of Sciences edition of
the complete works of Aristotle at Archive.org:
vol. 1
vol. 2
vol. 3
vol. 4
vol. 5
(English) Aristotle Collection (translation).

21

Chapter 2

Nicomachus (father of Aristotle)


Nicomachus (Greek: ; . c. 375 BC), was
the father of Aristotle.
The Suda states that he was a doctor descended from
Nicomachus, son of Machaon the son of Asclepius.* [1]
Greenhill notes he had another son named Arimnestus,
and a daughter named Arimneste, by his wife Phaestis,
or Phaestias, who was also descended from Aesculapius.
He was a native of Stageira, and the friend and physician
of Amyntas III, king of Macedonia, 393-369 BC.* [2]
Aristotle's son was also called Nicomachus.

2.1 Notes
[1] Suda, nu,399
[2] William Alexander Greenhill, MD.Nicomachus.Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.
William Smith, editor. p 1194. 1867.

22

Chapter 3

Platonic Academy
This article is about the academy founded by Plato.
For the 15th century school in Florence, see Platonic
Academy (Florence). For the Raphael painting, see The
School of Athens.
Coordinates: 375933N 234229E / 37.99250N
23.70806E
The Academy (Ancient Greek: ) was founded
by Plato (428/427 BC 348/347 BC) in ca. 387 BC in
Athens. Aristotle (384 BC 322 BC) studied there for
twenty years (367 BC 347 BC) before founding his own
school, the Lyceum. The Academy persisted throughout
the Hellenistic period as a skeptical school, until coming
to an end after the death of Philo of Larissa in 83 BC.
Although philosophers continued to teach Plato's philosMap of Ancient Athens. The Academy is north of Athens.
ophy in Athens during the Roman era, it was not until
AD 410 that a revived Academy was re-established as a
center for Neoplatonism, persisting until 529 AD when it Athens.* [2] The archaic name for the site was Hekademia
was nally closed down by Justinian I.
(), which by classical times evolved into
Akademia and was explained, at least as early as the beginning of the 6th century BC, by linking it to an Athenian
hero, a legendary "Akademos".
3.1 Site
The site of the Academy was sacred to Athena and other
immortals; it had sheltered her religious cult since the
Bronze Age, a cult that was perhaps also associated with
the hero-gods the Dioscuri (Castor and Polydeuces), for
the hero Akademos associated with the site was credited
with revealing to the Divine Twins where Theseus had
hidden Helen. Out of respect for its long tradition and
the association with the Dioscuri, the Spartans would not
ravage these originalgroves of Academewhen they invaded Attica,* [3] a piety not shared by the Roman Sulla,
who axed the sacred olive trees of Athena in 86 BC to
build siege engines.
Among the religious observances that took place at the
Akademeia was a torchlit night race from altars within
the city to Prometheus' altar in the Akademeia. Funeral
games also took place in the area as well as a Dionysiac
Ancient road to the Academy.
procession from Athens to the Hekademeia and then back
*
Before the Akademia was a school, and even before to the polis. [4] The road to Akademeia was lined with
Cimon enclosed its precincts with a wall,* [1] it contained the gravestones of Athenians.
a sacred grove of olive trees dedicated to Athena, the The site of the Academy* [5] is located near Colonus, apgoddess of wisdom, outside the city walls of ancient proximately, 1.5 km north of Athens' Dipylon gates.* [6]
23

24

CHAPTER 3. PLATONIC ACADEMY

The site was rediscovered in the 20th century, in modern Akadimia Platonos neighbourhood; considerable excavation has been accomplished and visiting the site is
free.* [7]

Many have imagined that the Academic curriculum


would have closely resembled the one canvassed in Plato's
Republic.* [19] Others, however, have argued that such a
picture ignores the obvious peculiar arrangements of the
ideal society envisioned in that dialogue.* [20] The subjects of study almost certainly included mathematics as
Visit to the archaeological site of the Academy in Athens
well as the philosophical topics with which the Platonic
dialogues deal, but there is little reliable evidence.* [21]
There is some evidence for what today would be considVisitors today can visit the archaeological site of the ered strictly scientic research: Simplicius reports that
Academy located on either side of the Cratylus street in Plato had instructed the other members to discover the
the area of Colonos and Plato's Academy (Post Code GR simplest explanation of the observable, irregular motion
10442). Either side of the Cratylus street are impor- of heavenly bodies:by hypothesizing what uniform and
tant monuments, like the Sacred House Geometric Era, ordered motions is it possible to save the appearances rethe Gymnasium (1st BC 1st century AD), the Proto- lating to planetary motions.* [22] (According to SimHelladic Vaulted House and the Peristyle Building (4th plicius, Plato's colleague Eudoxus was the rst to have
century BC), which is perhaps the only major building worked on this problem.)
that belonged to the actual Academy of Plato.
Plato's Academy is often said to have been a school for
would-be politicians in the ancient world, and to have had
many illustrious alumni.* [23] In a recent survey of the
3.2 Plato's Academy
evidence, Malcolm Schoeld, however, has argued that
it is dicult to know to what extent the Academy was
What was later to be known as Plato's school probably interested in practical (i.e., non-theoretical) politics since
reects ancient polemic for or
originated around the time Plato acquired inherited prop- much of our evidence
*
against
Plato.
[24]
erty at the age of thirty, with informal gatherings which
included Theaetetus of Sunium, Archytas of Tarentum,
Leodamas of Thasos, and Neoclides.* [8] According to
Debra Nails, Speusippus joined the group in about
390.She claims, It is not until Eudoxus of Cnidos
arrives in the mid-380s that Eudemus recognizes a formal Academy.There is no historical record of the exact
time the school was ocially founded, but modern scholars generally agree that the time was the mid-380s, probably sometime after 387, when Plato is thought to have
returned from his rst visit to Italy and Sicily.* [9] Originally, the location of the meetings was Plato's property
as often as it was the nearby Academy gymnasium; this
remained so throughout the fourth century.* [10]

3.3 Later history of the Academy

Though the Academic club was exclusive, not open to the


public,* [11] it did not, during at least Plato's time, charge
fees for membership.* [12] Therefore, there was probably
not at that time aschoolin the sense of a clear distinction between teachers and students, or even a formal curriculum.* [13] There was, however, a distinction between
senior and junior members.* [14] Two women are known
The School of Athens by Raphael (15091510), fresco at the
to have studied with Plato at the Academy, Axiothea of Apostolic Palace, Vatican City.
Phlius and Lasthenia of Mantinea.* [15]
In at least Plato's time, the school did not have any particular doctrine to teach; rather, Plato (and probably other
associates of his) posed problems to be studied and solved
by the others.* [16] There is evidence of lectures given,
most notably Plato's lecture On the Good"; but probably the use of dialectic was more common.* [17] According to an unveriable story, dated of some 700 years after the founding of the school, above the entrance to the
Academy was inscribed the phrase Let None But Geometers Enter Here.* [18]

Diogenes Lartius divided the history of the Academy


into three: the Old, the Middle, and the New. At the
head of the Old he put Plato, at the head of the Middle
Academy, Arcesilaus, and of the New, Lacydes. Sextus
Empiricus enumerated ve divisions of the followers of
Plato. He made Plato founder of the rst Academy; Arcesilaus of the second; Carneades of the third; Philo and
Charmadas of the fourth; Antiochus of the fth. Cicero
recognised only two Academies, the Old and New, and
made the latter commence with Arcesilaus.* [25]

3.5. NEOPLATONIC ACADEMY

3.3.1

25

Old Academy

Old Academyredirects here. For the building in


Munich, see Old Academy (Munich).
Plato's immediate successors as "scholarch" of the
Academy were Speusippus (347339 BC), Xenocrates
(339314 BC), Polemo (314269 BC), and Crates (c.
269266 BC). Other notable members of the Academy
include Aristotle, Heraclides, Eudoxus, Philip of Opus,
and Crantor.

3.3.2

Middle Academy

The archaeological site of Plato's academy.

Around 266 BC Arcesilaus became scholarch. Under


Arcesilaus (c. 266241 BC), the Academy strongly
gymnasium called Ptolemy. Cicero describes a visit to the
emphasized Academic skepticism. Arcesilaus was folsite of the Academy one afternoon, which wasquiet and
lowed by Lacydes of Cyrene (241215 BC), Evander and
deserted at that hour of the day* [32]
Telecles (jointly) (205 c. 165 BC), and Hegesinus (c.
160 BC).

3.5 Neoplatonic Academy


3.3.3

New Academy

The New or Third Academy begins with Carneades, in


155 BC, the fourth scholarch in succession from Arcesilaus. It was still largely skeptical, denying the possibility
of knowing an absolute truth. Carneades was followed
by Clitomachus (129 c. 110 BC) and Philo of Larissa
(the last undisputed head of the Academy,c. 11084
BC).* [26]* [27] According to Jonathan Barnes,It seems
likely that Philo was the last Platonist geographically connected to the Academy.* [28]
Around 90 BC, Philo's student Antiochus of Ascalon began teaching his own rival version of Platonism rejecting
Skepticism and advocating Stoicism, which began a new
phase known as Middle Platonism.

3.4 Destruction of the Academy


When the First Mithridatic War began in 88 BC, Philo
of Larissa left Athens, and took refuge in Rome, where
he seems to have remained until his death.* [29] In 86
BC, Lucius Cornelius Sulla laid siege to Athens, and conquered the city, causing much destruction. It was during
the siege that he laid waste to the Academy, for he laid
hands upon the sacred groves, and ravaged the Academy,
which was the most wooded of the city's suburbs, as well
as the Lyceum.* [30]

Further information: Decline of Greco-Roman polytheism


Philosophers continued to teach Platonism in Athens during the Roman era, but it was not until the early 5th
century (c. 410) that a revived Academy was established by some leading Neoplatonists.* [33] The origins of
Neoplatonist teaching in Athens are uncertain, but when
Proclus arrived in Athens in the early 430s, he found
Plutarch of Athens and his colleague Syrianus teaching in an Academy there. The Neoplatonists in Athens
called themselvessuccessors(diadochoi, but of Plato)
and presented themselves as an uninterrupted tradition
reaching back to Plato, but there cannot have actually
been any geographical, institutional, economic or personal continuity with the original Academy.* [34] The
school seems to have been a private foundation, conducted in a large house which Proclus eventually inherited from Plutarch and Syrianus.* [35] The heads of the
Neoplatonic Academy were Plutarch of Athens, Syrianus, Proclus, Marinus, Isidore, and nally Damascius.
The Neoplatonic Academy reached its apex under Proclus (died 485).
The last Greekphilosophers of the revived Academy
in the 6th century were drawn from various parts of
the Hellenistic cultural world and suggest the broad
syncretism of the common culture (see koine): Five of
the seven Academy philosophers mentioned by Agathias
were Syriac in their cultural origin: Hermias and Diogenes (both from Phoenicia), Isidorus of Gaza, Damascius of Syria, Iamblichus of Coele-Syria and perhaps even
Simplicius of Cilicia.* [34]

The destruction of the Academy seems to have been so


severe as to make the reconstruction and re-opening of
the Academy impossible.* [31] When Antiochus returned
to Athens from Alexandria, c. 84 BC, he resumed his
teaching but not in the Academy. Cicero, who studied
under him in 79/8 BC, refers to Antiochus teaching in a At a date often cited as the end of Antiquity, the emperor

26

CHAPTER 3. PLATONIC ACADEMY


Peripatetic school
Stoicism
Epicureanism
Neoplatonism

3.7 Notes
[1] Plutarch Life of Cimon xiii:7
[2] Thucydides ii:34
[3] Plutarch, Life of Theseus xxxii
[4] Paus. i 29.2, 30.2; Plut. Vit. Sol. i 7
[5] A Beginner's History of Philosophy, Volume 1. By Herbert Ernest Cushma. Pg 219
[6] Mazarakis Ainian, A. - Alexandridou A,. The Sacred
House of the Academy Revisited.
[7] greeceathensaegeaninfo.com
Emperor Justinian I.

[8] pp. 56, D. Nails, The Life of Plato of Athens, in H.


Benson (ed.), A Companion to Plato, Blackwell Publishing
2006.

Justinian closed the school in 529. The last Scholarch


of the Academy was Damascius (d. 540). According to
Agathias, its remaining members looked for protection
under the rule of Sassanid king Khosrau I in his capital
at Ctesiphon, carrying with them precious scrolls of literature and philosophy, and to a lesser degree of science.
After a peace treaty between the Persian and the Byzantine empire in 532, their personal security (an early document in the history of freedom of religion) was guaranteed.

[9] pp. 1920, W. K. C. Guthrie, A History of Greek Philosophy, vol. 4, Cambridge University Press 1975; p. 1, R.
Dancy, Academy, in D. Zeyl (ed.), Encyclopedia of
Classical Philosophy, Greenwood Press 1997. I. Mueller
gives a much broader time frame "...some time between
the early 380s and the middle 360s... perhaps reecting our real lack of evidence about the specic date (p.
170,Mathematical Method & Philosophical Truth, in
R. Kraut (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Plato, Cambridge University Press 1992).

It has been speculated that the Academy did not alto- [10] D. Sedley, Academy, in the Oxford Classical Dictionary, 3rd ed.; p. 4, J. Barnes, Life and Work, in
gether disappear.* [34]* [36] After his exile, Simplicius
The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle, Cambridge Uni(and perhaps some others), may have travelled to Harran,
versity Press 1995; J. Barnes,Academy, E. Craig (Ed.),
near Edessa. From there, the students of an AcademyRoutledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Routledge 1998,
in-exile could have survived into the 9th century, long
accessed 13 Sept 2008, from http://www.rep.routledge.
enough to facilitate an Arabic revival of the Neoplatonist
com/article/A001.
commentary tradition in Baghdad,* [36] beginning with
the foundation of the House of Wisdom in 832; one of [11] p. 31, J. Barnes, Aristotle: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press 2000.
the major centers of learning in the intervening period
(6th to 8th centuries) was the Academy of Gundishapur [12] p. 170, Mueller,Mathematical Method & Philosophical
in Sassanid Persia.
Truth"; p. 249, D. Nails, The People of Plato, Hackett
2002.

3.6 See also


Academy of Athens (modern)

[13] pp. 170171, Mueller, Mathematical Method & Philosophical Truth"; p. 248, Nails, The People of Plato.
[14] Barnes, Academy.

Hellenistic philosophy

[15] http://www.hackettpublishing.com/philosophy/
women-in-the-academy

Platonism

[16] p. 2, Dancy, Academy.

3.8. REFERENCES

[17] p. 2, Dancy, Academy"; p. 21, Guthrie, A History of


Greek Philosophy, vol. 4; p. 3436, Barnes, Aristotle: A
Very Short Introduction.
[18] p. 67, V. Katz, History of Mathematics
[19] p. 22, Guthrie, A History of Greek Philosophy, vol. 4.
[20] pp. 17071, Mueller, Mathematical Method & Philosophical Truth.
[21] M. Schoeld, Plato, in E. Craig (Ed.), Routledge
Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Routledge 1998/2002, retrieved 13 Sept 2008, from http://www.rep.routledge.
com/article/A088 ; p. 32, Barnes, Aristotle: A Very Short
Introduction.
[22] Simplicius, Commentary on Aristotle's On the Heavens
488.724, quoted on p. 174, Mueller, Mathematical
Method & Philosophical Truth.
[23] p. 23, Guthrie, A History of Greek Philosophy, vol. 4; G.
Field, Academy, in the Oxford Classical Dictionary,
2nd ed.
[24] p. 293, Plato & Practical Politics, in Schoeld &
C. Rowe (eds.), Greek & Roman Political Thought, Cambridge University Press 2000.
[25] Charles Anthon, (1855), A Classical Dictionary, page 6
[26] Oxford Classical Dictionary, 3rd ed. (1996), s.v. Philon
of Larissa.
[27] See the table in The Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy (Cambridge University Press, 1999), pp. 5354.
[28]Academy, E. Craig (Ed.), Routledge Encyclopedia of
Philosophy, Routledge 1998, accessed 14 Sept 2008, from
http://www.rep.routledge.com/article/A001.
[29] Giovanni Reale, John R. Catan, 1990, A History of Ancient Philosophy: The schools of the Imperial Age, page
207. SUNY Press
[30] Plutarch, Sulla 12; cf. Appian, Roman History xii, 5.30
[31] Giovanni Reale, John R. Catan, 1990, A History of Ancient Philosophy: The schools of the Imperial Age, page
208. SUNY Press
[32] Cicero, De Finibus, book 5
[33] Alan Cameron,The last days of the Academy at Athens,
in Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society vol
195 (n.s. 15), 1969, pp 729.
[34] Gerald Bechtle, Bryn Mawr Classical Review of Rainer
Thiel, Simplikios und das Ende der neuplatonischen Schule
in Athen. Stuttgart, 1999 (in English).
[35] The Cambridge Ancient History, (1970), Volume XIV,
page 837. Cambridge University Press.
[36] Richard Sorabji, (2005), The Philosophy of the Commentators, 200600 AD: Psychology (with Ethics and Religion), page 11. Cornell University Press

27

3.8 References
H. Cherniss, The Riddle of the Early Academy, CUP
(1945).
R. E. Wycherley, Peripatos: The Athenian Philosophical Scene. Greece & Rome, parts I (1961) and
II (1962).
J. Glucker, Antiochus and the Late Academy Gttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht (1978).
R. M. Dancy Two Studies in the Early Academy
SUNY (1991).
J. Dillon, The Heirs of Plato. A Study of the Old
Academy (347274 BC) OUP (2003).

3.9 External links


"Academy". Collier's New Encyclopedia. 1921.
The Academy, entry in the Internet Encyclopedia of
Philosophy

Chapter 4

Prior Analytics
(analutos solvable) and (analuo
to solve, literally to loose). However, in Aristotle's corpus, there are distinguishable dierences in the
meaning of and its cognates. There is also the
possibility that Aristotle may have borrowed his use of
the word analysisfrom his teacher Plato. On the
other hand, the meaning that best ts the Analytics is one
derived from the study of Geometry and this meaning
is very close to what Aristotle calls episteme,
knowing the reasoned facts. Therefore, Analysis is the
process of nding the reasoned facts.* [2]
Aristotle's Prior Analytics represents the rst time in history when Logic is scientically investigated. On those
grounds alone, Aristotle could be considered the Father
of Logic for as he himself says in Sophistical Refutations,
"... When it comes to this subject, it is not the case that
part had been worked out before in advance and part had
not; instead, nothing existed at all.* [3]

Page from a 13th/14th-century Latin transcript of Aristotle's


Opera Logica.

A problem in meaning arises in the study of Prior Analytics for the wordsyllogismas used by Aristotle in general
does not carry the same narrow connotation as it does at
present; Aristotle denes this term in a way that would
apply to a wide range of valid arguments. Some scholars
prefer to use the worddeductioninstead as the meaning
given by Aristotle to the Greek word sullogismos. At present,syllogismis used exclusively as the
method used to reach a conclusion which is really the narrow sense in which it is used in the Prior Analytics dealing
as it does with a much narrower class of arguments closely
resembling thesyllogismsof traditional logic texts: two
premises followed by a conclusion each of which is a categorial sentence containing all together three terms, two
extremes which appear in the conclusion and one middle
term which appears in both premises but not in the conclusion. In the Analytics then, Prior Analytics is the rst
theoretical part dealing with the science of deduction and
the Posterior Analytics is the second demonstratively practical part. Prior Analytics gives an account of deductions
in general narrowed down to three basic syllogisms while
Posterior Analytics deals with demonstration.* [4]

The Prior Analytics (Greek: ;


Latin: Analytica Priora) is Aristotle's work on deductive
reasoning, which is known as his syllogistic. Being one
of the six extant Aristotelian writings on logic and scientic method, it is part of what later Peripatetics called
the Organon. Modern work on Aristotle's logic builds
on the tradition started in 1951 with the establishment
by Jan Lukasiewicz of a revolutionary paradigm. The
Jan Lukasiewicz approach was reinvigorated in the early
1970s in a series of papers by John Corcoran and Timothy
Smileywhich inform modern translations of Prior An- In the Prior Analytics, Aristotle denes syllogism as "...
alytics by Robin Smith in 1989 and Gisela Striker in A deduction in a discourse in which, certain things being
2009.* [1]
supposed, something dierent from the things supposed
The term analyticscomes from the Greek words results of necessity because these things are so.In mod28

4.2. SYLLOGISM IN THE FIRST FIGURE

29

ern times, this denition has led to a debate as to how the


O - A does not belong to some B
word syllogismshould be interpreted. Scholars Jan
Lukasiewicz, Jzef Maria Bocheski and Gnther Patzig
A method of symbolization that originated and was used
have sided with the Protasis-Apodosis dichotomy while
in the Middle Ages greatly simplies the study of the Prior
John Corcoran prefers to consider a syllogism as simply
Analytics. Following this tradition then, let:
a deduction.* [5]
a = belongs to every
In the third century AD, Alexander of Aphrodisias's commentary on the Prior Analytics is the oldest extant and one e = belongs to no
of the best of the ancient tradition and is available in the i = belongs to some
English language.* [6]
o = does not belong to some
In the sixth century, Boethius composed the rst known
Latin translation of the Prior Analytics. No Westerner be- Categorical sentences may then be abbreviated as follows:
tween Boethius and Bernard of Utrecht is known to have AaB = A belongs to every B (Every B is A)
read the Prior Analytics.* [7] The so-called Anonymus AuAeB = A belongs to no B (No B is A)
relianensis III from the second half of the twelfth century
is the rst extant Latin commentary, or rather fragment AiB = A belongs to some B (Some B is A)
of a commentary.* [8]
AoB = A does not belong to some B (Some B is not A)

4.1 The syllogism


The Prior Analytics represents the rst formal study of
logic, where logic is understood as the study of arguments. An argument is a series of true or false statements
which lead to a true or false conclusion.* [9] In the Prior
Analytics, Aristotle identies valid and invalid forms of
arguments called syllogisms. A syllogism is an argument that consists of at least three sentences: at least two
premises and a conclusion. Although Aristotles does not
call themcategorical sentences,tradition does; he deals
with them briey in the Analytics and more extensively in
On Interpretation.* [10] Each proposition (statement that
is a thought of the kind expressible by a declarative sentence)* [11] of a syllogism is a categorical sentence which
has a subject and a predicate connected by a verb. The
usual way of connecting the subject and predicate of a
categorical sentence as Aristotle does in On Interpretation
is by using a linking verb e.g. P is S. However, in the Prior
Analytics Aristotle rejects the usual form in favor of three
of his inventions: 1) P belongs to S, 2) P is predicated of
S and 3) P is said of S. Aristotle does not explain why he
introduces these innovative expressions but scholars conjecture that the reason may have been that it facilitates
the use of letters instead of terms avoiding the ambiguity
that results in Greek when letters are used with the linking
verb.* [12] In his formulation of syllogistic propositions,
instead of the copula
( All/some... are/are not...), Aristotle uses the expression, "... belongs to/does not belong
to all/some...or "... is said/is not said of all/some...
*
[13] There are four dierent types of categorical sentences: universal armative (A), particular armative
(I), universal negative (E) and particular negative (O).

From the viewpoint of modern logic, only a few types of


sentences can be represented in this way.* [14]

4.1.1 The three gures


Depending on the position of the middle term, Aristotle
divides the syllogism into three kinds: Syllogism in the
rst, second and third gure.* [15] If the Middle Term is
subject of one premise and predicate of the other, the
premises are in the First Figure. If the Middle Term
is predicate of both premises, the premises are in the
Second Figure. If the Middle Term is subject of both
premises, the premises are in the Third Figure.* [16]
Symbolically, the Three Figures may be represented as
follows:
*

[17]

4.2 Syllogism in the rst gure


In the Prior Analytics translated by A. J. Jenkins as it appears in volume 8 of the Great Books of the Western
World, Aristotle says of the First Figure: "... If A is predicated of all B, and B of all C, A must be predicated of
all C.* [18] In the Prior Analytics translated by Robin
Smith, Aristotle says of the rst gure: "... For if A is
predicated of every B and B of every C, it is necessary
for A to be predicated of every C.* [19]
Taking a = is predicated of all = is predicated of every, and using the symbolical method used in the Middle
Ages, then the rst gure is simplied to:
If AaB

A - A belongs to every B

and BaC

E - A belongs to no B

then AaC.

I - A belongs to some B

Or what amounts to the same thing:

30
AaB, BaC; therefore AaC* [20]

CHAPTER 4. PRIOR ANALYTICS

4.4 Syllogism in the third gure

When the four syllogistic propositions, a, e, i, o are placed


in the rst gure, Aristotle comes up with the following Aristotle says in the Prior Analytics, "... If one term belongs to all and another to none of the same thing, or if
valid forms of deduction for the rst gure:
they both belong to all or none of it, I call such gure the
AaB, BaC; therefore, AaC
third.Referring to universal terms, "... then when both
AeB, BaC; therefore, AeC
P and R belongs to every S, it results of necessity that P
will belong to some R.* [25]
AaB, BiC; therefore, AiC
AeB, BiC; therefore, AoC

Simplifying:

In the Middle Ages, for mnemonic reasons they were If PaS


called respectively Barbara, Celarent, Darii and RaS
and Ferio.* [21]
then PiR.
The dierence between the rst gure and the other two
When the four syllogistic propositions, a, e, i, o are placed
gures is that the syllogism of the rst gure is complete
in the third gure, Aristotle develops six more valid forms
while that of the second and fourth is not. [?? and the
of deduction:
third?? something wrong here.] This is important in
Aristotle's theory of the syllogism for the rst gure is PaS, RaS; therefore PiR
axiomatic while the second and third require proof. The PeS, RaS; therefore PoR
proof of the second and third gure always leads back to
PiS, RaS; therefore PiR
the rst gure.* [22]
PaS, RiS; therefore PiR
PoS, RaS; therefore PoR

4.3 Syllogism in the second gure

PeS, RiS; therefore PoR

In the Middle Ages, for mnemonic reasons, these six


This is what Robin Smith says in English that Aristotle forms were called respectively: Darapti,Felapton
said in Ancient Greek: "... If M belongs to every N but ,*Disamis, Datisi, Bocardoand Ferison
to no X, then neither will N belong to any X. For if M . [26]
belongs to no X, neither does X belong to any M; but M
belonged to every N; therefore, X will belong to no N (for
the rst gure has again come about).* [23]
4.5 Table of syllogisms
The above statement can be simplied by using the symbolical method used in the Middle Ages:

[27]

If MaN
but MeX
then NeX.

4.6 The fourth gure

In Aristotelian syllogistic (Prior Analytics, Bk I Caps 47), syllogisms are divided into three gures according to
then XeM
the position of the middle term in the two premises. The
but MaN
fourth gure, in which the middle term is the predicate in
the major premise and the subject in the minor, was added
therefore XeN.
by Aristotle's pupil Theophrastus and does not occur in
When the four syllogistic propositions, a, e, i, o are placed Aristotle's work, although there is evidence that Aristotle
in the second gure, Aristotle comes up with the follow- knew of fourth-gure syllogisms.* [28]
ing valid forms of deduction for the second gure:
For if MeX

MaN, MeX; therefore NeX


MeN, MaX; therefore NeX
MeN, MiX; therefore NoX

4.7 Booles acceptance of Aristotle

George Boole's unwavering acceptance of Aristotles


logic is emphasized by the historian of logic John CorcoIn the Middle Ages, for mnemonic resons they were ran in an accessible introduction to Laws of Thought * [29]
called respectivelyCamestres,Cesare,Festino Corcoran also wrote a point-by-point comparison of Prior
and Baroco.* [24]
Analytics and Laws of Thought.* [30] According to CorMaN, MoX; therefore NoX

4.8. NOTES
coran, Boole fully accepted and endorsed Aristotles
logic. Booles goals were to go under, over, and beyondAristotles logic by 1) providing it with mathematical foundations involving equations, 2) extending the
class of problems it could treatfrom assessing validity
to solving equations--, and 3) expanding the range of applications it could handlee.g. from propositions having
only two terms to those having arbitrarily many.

31

[6] Striker, Gisela (2009). Aristotle: Prior Analytics, Book 1.


Oxford University Press. p. xx. ISBN 978-0-19-9250417.
[7] R. B. C. Huygens (1997). Looking for Manuscripts...
and Then?". Essays in Medieval Studies: Proceedings of
the Illinois Medieval Association 4. Illinois Medieval Association.
[8] Ebbesen, Sten (2008). Greek-Latin philosophical interaction. Ashgate Publishing Ltd. pp. 171173. ISBN 9780-7546-5837-5. Authoritative texts beget commentaries.
Boethus of Sidon (late rst century BC?) may have been
one of the rst to write one on Prior Analytics.

More specically, Boole agreed with what Aristotle said;


Boolesdisagreements, if they might be called that,
concern what Aristotle did not say. First, in the realm of
foundations, Boole reduced the four propositional forms
of Aristotle's logic to formulas in the form of equations
-by itself a revolutionary idea. Second, in the realm of [9]
logics problems, Booles addition of equation solving
to logic-another revolutionary idea-involved Booles
doctrine that Aristotles rules of inference (theperfect
[10]
syllogisms) must be supplemented by rules for equation solving. Third, in the realm of applications, Boole [11]
s system could handle multi-term propositions and arguments whereas Aristotle could handle only two-termed
subject-predicate propositions and arguments. For exam- [12]
ple, Aristotles system could not deduceNo quadrangle
that is a square is a rectangle that is a rhombusfromNo
square that is a quadrangle is a rhombus that is a rectan- [13]
gleor fromNo rhombus that is a rectangle is a square
that is a quadrangle.

Nolt, John; Rohatyn, Dennis (1988). Logic: Schaum's outline of theory and problems. McGraw Hill. p. 1. ISBN
0-07-053628-7.
Robin Smith. Aristotle: Prior Analytics. p. XVII.
John Nolt/Dennis Rohatyn. Logic: Schaum's Outline of
Theory and Problems. pp. 274275.
Anagnostopoulos, Georgios (2009). A Companion to
Aristotle. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 33. ISBN 978-1-40512223-8.
Patzig, Gnther (1969). Aristotle's theory of the syllogism.
Springer. p. 49. ISBN 978-90-277-0030-8.

[14] The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle. pp. 3435.

4.8 Notes
[1]

Review of Aristotle, Prior Analytics: Book I,


Gisela Striker (translation and commentary), Oxford UP, 2009, 268pp., $39.95 (pbk), ISBN 9780-19-925041-7.in the Notre Dame Philosophical
Reviews, 2010.02.02.

[2] Patrick Hugh Byrne (1997). Analysis and Science in Aristotle. SUNY Press. p. 3. ISBN 0-7914-3321-8. ... while
decompose- the most prevalent connotation of analyzein the modern period is among Aristotle's meanings, it is neither the sole meaning nor the principal meaning nor the meaning which best characterizes the work,
Analytics.
[3] Jonathan Barnes, ed. (1995). The Cambridge Companion
to Aristotle. Cambridge University Press. p. 27. ISBN 0521-42294-9. History's rst logic has also been the most
inuential...
[4] Smith, Robin (1989). Aristotle: Prior Analytics. Hackett
Publishing Co. pp. XIIIXVI. ISBN 0-87220-064-7. ...
This leads him to what I would regard as the most original
and brilliant insight in the entire work.

[15] The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle. p. 35. At the


foundation of Aristotle's syllogistic is a theory of a specic
class of arguments: arguments having as premises exactly
two categorical sentences with one term in common.
[16] Robin Smith. Aristotle: Prior Analytics. p. XVIII.
[17] Henrik Legerlund. Modal Syllogistics in the Middle Ages.
p. 4.
[18] Great Books of the Western World 8. p. 40.
[19] Robin Smith. Aristotle: Prior Analytics. p. 4.
[20] The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle. p. 41.
[21] The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle. p. 41.
[22] Henrik Legerlund. Modal Syllogistics in the Middle Ages.
p. 6.
[23] Robin Smith. Aristotle: Prior Analytics. p. 7.
[24] The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle. p. 41.
[25] Robin Smith. Aristotle: Prior Analytics. p. 9.
[26] The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle. p. 41.
[27] The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle. p. 41.

[5] Lagerlund, Henrik (2000). Modal Syllogistics in the Middle Ages. BRILL. pp. 34. ISBN 978-90-04-11626-9.
In the Prior Analytics Aristotle presents the rst logical
system, i.e., the theory of the syllogisms.

[28] Russell, Bertrand; Blackwell, Kenneth (1983). Cambridge


essays, 1888-99. Routledge. p. 411. ISBN 978-0-04920067-8.

32

CHAPTER 4. PRIOR ANALYTICS

[29] George Boole. 1854/2003. The Laws of Thought, facsimile of 1854 edition, with an introduction by J. Corcoran.
Bualo: Prometheus Books (2003). Reviewed by James
van Evra in Philosophy in Review.24 (2004) 167169.
[30] JOHN CORCORAN, Aristotle's Prior Analytics and
Boole's Laws of Thought, History and Philosophy of
Logic, vol. 24 (2003), pp. 261288.

4.9 External links


The text of the Prior Analytics is available from the
MIT classics archive.
Prior Analytics, trans. by A. J. Jenkinson

Prior Analytics at LibriVox (Octavius Freire


Owen translator)

Aristotle: Logic entry by Louis Groarke in the


Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Aristotle's Logic entry by Robin Smith in the
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Aristotle's Prior Analytics: the Theory of Categorical Syllogism an annotated bibliography on Aristotle's syllogistic

Chapter 5

Term logic
In philosophy, term logic, also known as traditional
The syllogism is an inference in which one
proposition (theconclusion) follows of necessity
logic or Aristotelian logic, is a loose name for the way of
doing logic that began with Aristotle and that was domifrom two others (the premises).
nant until the advent of modern predicate logic in the late
nineteenth century. This entry is an introduction to the A proposition may be universal or particular, and it may
term logic needed to understand philosophy texts written be armative or negative. Traditionally, the four kinds
before predicate logic came to be seen as the only formal of propositions are:
logic of interest. Readers lacking a grasp of the basic
terminology and ideas of term logic can have diculty
A-type: Universal and armative (Evunderstanding such texts, because their authors typically
ery philosopher is mortal)
assumed an acquaintance with term logic.
I-type: Particular and armative Some
(
philosopher is mortal)

5.1 Aristotle's system

E-type: Universal and negative (Every


philosopher is immortal)

Aristotle's logical work is collected in the six texts that are


collectively known as the Organon. Two of these texts
in particular, namely the Prior Analytics and De Interpretatione, contain the heart of Aristotle's treatment of
judgements and formal inference, and it is principally
this part of Aristotle's works that is about term logic.
Modern work on Aristotle's logic builds on the tradition
started in 1951 with the establishment by Jan Lukasiewicz
of a revolutionary paradigm.* [1] The Jan Lukasiewicz
approach was reinvigorated in the early 1970s by John
Corcoran and Timothy Smiley which informs modern
translations of Prior Analytics by Robin Smith in 1989
and Gisela Striker in 2009.* [2]

O-type: Particular and negative (Some


philosopher is immortal)
This was called the fourfold scheme of propositions (see
types of syllogism for an explanation of the letters A, I,
E, and O in the traditional square). Aristotle's original
square of opposition, however, does not lack existential
import:
A-type: Universal and armative (Every philosopher is mortal)
I-type: Particular and armative Some
(
philosopher is mortal)
E-type: Universal and negative (No
philosopher is mortal)

5.2 Basics

O-type: Particular and negative (Not


The fundamental assumption behind the theory is that
every philosopher is mortal)
propositions are composed of two terms hence the name
two-term theoryor term logic and that the reasoning process is in turn built from propositions:
In the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy article,The
Traditional Square of Opposition, Terence Parsons ex The term is a part of speech representing some- plains:
thing, but which is not true or false in its own right,
such as manor mortal.
One central concern of the Aristotelian tra The proposition consists of two terms, in which one
dition in logic is the theory of the categorical
term (thepredicate) isarmedordenied
syllogism. This is the theory of two-premised
of the other (the subject), and which is capable
arguments in which the premises and concluof truth or falsity.
sion share three terms among them, with each
33

34

CHAPTER 5. TERM LOGIC


proposition containing two of them. It is distinctive of this enterprise that everybody agrees
on which syllogisms are valid. The theory of
the syllogism partly constrains the interpretation of the forms. For example, it determines
that the A form has existential import, at least
if the I form does. For one of the valid patterns
(Darapti) is:
Every C is B
Every C is A
So, some A is B
This is invalid if the A form lacks existential
import, and valid if it has existential import. It
is held to be valid, and so we know how the A
form is to be interpreted. One then naturally
asks about the O form; what do the syllogisms
tell us about it? The answer is that they tell us
nothing. This is because Aristotle did not discuss weakened forms of syllogisms, in which
one concludes a particular proposition when
one could already conclude the corresponding
universal. For example, he does not mention
the form:
No C is B
Every A is C
So, some A is not B
If people had thoughtfully taken sides for or
against the validity of this form, that would
clearly be relevant to the understanding of the
O form. But the weakened forms were typically ignored...
One other piece of subject-matter bears on
the interpretation of the O form. People were
interested in Aristotle's discussion ofinnite
negation, which is the use of negation to form
a term from a term instead of a proposition
from a proposition. In modern English we use
nonfor this; we makenon-horse,which is
true of exactly those things that are not horses.
In medieval Latin nonand notare the
same word, and so the distinction required special discussion. It became common to use innite negation, and logicians pondered its logic.
Some writers in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries adopted a principle called conversion
by contraposition.It states that
'Every S is P ' is equivalent to 'Every nonP is non-S '
'Some S is not P ' is equivalent to 'Some
non-P is not non-S '
Unfortunately, this principle (which is not endorsed by Aristotle) conicts with the idea that
there may be empty or universal terms. For
in the universal case it leads directly from the
truth:

Every man is a being


to the falsehood:
Every non-being is a non-man
(which is false because the universal armative has existential import, and there are no
non-beings). And in the particular case it leads
from the truth (remember that the O form has
no existential import):
A chimera is not a man
to the falsehood:
A non-man is not a non-chimera
These are [Jean] Buridan's examples, used in
the fourteenth century to show the invalidity
of contraposition. Unfortunately, by Buridan's
time the principle of contraposition had been
advocated by a number of authors. The doctrine is already present in several twelfth century tracts, and it is endorsed in the thirteenth
century by Peter of Spain, whose work was republished for centuries, by William Sherwood,
and by Roger Bacon. By the fourteenth century, problems associated with contraposition
seem to be well-known, and authors generally cite the principle and note that it is not
valid, but that it becomes valid with an additional assumption of existence of things falling
under the subject term. For example, Paul
of Venice in his eclectic and widely published
Logica Parva from the end of the fourteenth
century gives the traditional square with simple
conversion but rejects conversion by contraposition, essentially for Buridan's reason.* [3]
Terence Parsons, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

5.3 Term
A term (Greek horos) is the basic component of the
proposition. The original meaning of the horos (and also
of the Latin terminus) isextremeorboundary. The
two terms lie on the outside of the proposition, joined by
the act of armation or denial. For early modern logicians like Arnauld (whose Port-Royal Logic was the bestknown text of his day), it is a psychological entity like
an ideaor "concept". Mill considers it a word. To
assertall Greeks are menis not to say that the concept
of Greeks is the concept of men, or that word Greeks
is the word men. A proposition cannot be built from
real things or ideas, but it is not just meaningless words
either.

5.6. INFLUENCE ON PHILOSOPHY

35

5.4 Proposition

The subject of one premise, must be the predicate of


the other, and so it is necessary to eliminate from the
In term logic, a propositionis simply a form of lan- logic any terms which cannot function both as subject and
guage: a particular kind of sentence, in which the subject predicate, namely singular terms.
and predicate are combined, so as to assert something However, in a popular 17th century version of the syllotrue or false. It is not a thought, or an abstract entity. The gistic, Port-Royal Logic, singular terms were treated as
word propositio is from the Latin, meaning the rst universals:* [5]
premise of a syllogism. Aristotle uses the word premise
(protasis) as a sentence arming or denying one thing of
All men are mortals
another (Posterior Analytics 1. 1 24a 16), so a premise is
All Socrates are men
also a form of words. However, as in modern philosophical logic, it means that which is asserted by the sentence.
All Socrates are mortals
Writers before Frege and Russell, such as Bradley, sometimes spoke of thejudgmentas something distinct from
This is clearly awkward, a weakness exploited by Frege
a sentence, but this is not quite the same. As a further
in his devastating attack on the system (from which, ulticonfusion the word sentencederives from the Latin,
mately, it never recovered, see concept and object).
meaning an opinion or judgment, and so is equivalent to
The famous syllogism Socrates is a man ..., is freproposition.
quently quoted as though from Aristotle,* [6] but fact, it
The logical quality of a proposition is whether it is aris nowhere in the Organon. It is rst mentioned by Sextus
mative (the predicate is armed of the subject) or negEmpiricus in his Hyp. Pyrrh. ii. 164.
ative (the predicate is denied of the subject). Thus every
philosopher is mortal is armative, since the mortality of
philosophers is armed universally, whereas no philosopher is mortal is negative by denying such mortality in 5.6 Inuence on philosophy
particular.
The quantity of a proposition is whether it is universal 5.7 Decline of term logic
(the predicate is armed or denied of all subjects or of
the whole) or particular (the predicate is armed or
denied of some subject or apartthereof). In case where Term logic began to decline in Europe during the
existential import is assumed, quantication implies the Renaissance, when logicians like Rodolphus Agricola
Phrisius (14441485) and Ramus (1515-1572) began
existence of at least one subject, unless disclaimed.
to promote place logics. The logical tradition called
Port-Royal Logic, or sometimes traditional logic,
saw propositions as combinations of ideas rather than of
5.5 Singular terms
terms, but otherwise followed many of the conventions of
term logic. It remained inuential, especially in England,
For Aristotle, the distinction between singular and uni- until the 19th century. Leibniz created a distinctive logiversal is a fundamental metaphysical one, and not merely cal calculus, but nearly all of his work on logic remained
grammatical. A singular term for Aristotle is primary unpublished and unremarked until Louis Couturat went
substance, which can only be predicated of itself: (this) through the Leibniz Nachlass around 1900, publishing his
Calliasor (this) Socratesare not predicable of any pioneering studies in logic.
other thing, thus one does not say every Socrates one says
19th-century attempts to algebraize logic, such as the
every human (De Int. 7; Meta. 9, 1018a4). It may feawork of Boole (18151864) and Venn (18341923), typture as a grammatical predicate, as in the sentence the
ically yielded systems highly inuenced by the term-logic
person coming this way is Callias. But it is still a logical
tradition. The rst predicate logic was that of Frege's
subject.
landmark Begrisschrift (1879), little read before 1950,
He contrasts universal(katholou, whole) sec- in part because of its eccentric notation. Modern predondary substance, genera, with primary substance, par- icate logic as we know it began in the 1880s with the
ticular specimens. The formal nature of universals, in so writings of Charles Sanders Peirce, who inuenced Peano
far as they can be generalized always, or for the most (18581932) and even more, Ernst Schrder (1841
part, are the subject matter of both scientic study and 1902). It reached fruition in the hands of Bertrand Rusformal logic.* [4]
sell and A. N. Whitehead, whose Principia Mathematica
The essential feature of the syllogistic is that, of the four (191013) made use of a variant of Peano's predicate
logic.
terms in the two premises, one must occur twice. Thus
All Greeks are men
All men are mortal.

Term logic also survived to some extent in traditional


Roman Catholic education, especially in seminaries.
Medieval Catholic theology, especially the writings of

36

CHAPTER 5. TERM LOGIC

Thomas Aquinas, had a powerfully Aristotelean cast, and


thus term logic became a part of Catholic theological reasoning. For example, Joyce's Principles of Logic (1908;
3rd edition 1949), written for use in Catholic seminaries,
made no mention of Frege or of Bertrand Russell.* [7]

[4] They are mentioned briey in the De Interpretatione. Afterwards, in the chapters of the Prior Analytics where Aristotle methodically sets out his theory of the syllogism, they
are entirely ignored.

5.8 Revival

[6] For example: Kapp, Greek Foundations of Traditional


Logic, New York 1942, p. 17, Copleston A History of
Philosophy Vol. I., p. 277, Russell, A History of Western
Philosophy London 1946 p. 218.

Some philosophers have complained that predicate logic:


Is unnatural in a sense, in that its syntax does not
follow the syntax of the sentences that gure in our
everyday reasoning. It is, as Quine acknowledged,
Procrustean,employing an articial language of
function and argument, quantier, and bound variable.

[5] Arnauld, Antoine and Nicole, Pierre; (1662) La logique,


ou l'art de penser. Part 2, chapter 3

[7] Copleston's A History of Philosophy

5.11 References
Bocheski, I. M., 1951. Ancient Formal Logic.
North-Holland.

Suers from theoretical problems, probably the


most serious being empty names and identity statements.

Louis Couturat, 1961 (1901). La Logique de Leibniz. Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlagsbuchhandlung.

Even academic philosophers entirely in the mainstream,


such as Gareth Evans, have written as follows:

Gareth Evans, 1977, Pronouns, Quantiers and


Relative Clauses,Canadian Journal of Philosophy.

I come to semantic investigations with a


preference for homophonic theories; theories
which try to take serious account of the syntactic and semantic devices which actually exist
in the language ...I would prefer [such] a theory ... over a theory which is only able to deal
with [sentences of the form all A's are B's"]
by discoveringhidden logical constants ...
The objection would not be that such [Fregean]
truth conditions are not correct, but that, in a
sense which we would all dearly love to have
more exactly explained, the syntactic shape of
the sentence is treated as so much misleading
surface structure(Evans 1977)

Peter Geach, 1976. Reason and Argument. University of California Press.


Hammond and Scullard, 1992. The Oxford Classical
Dictionary. Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19869117-3.
Joyce, George Hayward, 1949 (1908). Principles of
Logic, 3rd ed. Longmans. A manual written for use
in Catholic seminaries. Authoritative on traditional
logic, with many references to medieval and ancient
sources. Contains no hint of modern formal logic.
The author lived 1864-1943.
Jan ukasiewicz, 1951. Aristotle's Syllogistic, from
the Standpoint of Modern Formal Logic. Oxford
Univ. Press.

5.9 See also

John Stuart Mill, 1904. A System of Logic, 8th ed.


London.

5.10 Notes

Parry and Hacker, 1991. Aristotelian Logic. State


University of New York Press.

[1] Degnan, M. 1994. Recent Work in Aristotle's Logic.


Philosophical Books 35.2 (April, 1994): 81-89.
[2]

Review of Aristotle, Prior Analytics: Book I,


Gisela Striker (translation and commentary), Oxford UP, 2009, 268pp., $39.95 (pbk), ISBN 9780-19-925041-7.in the Notre Dame Philosophical
Reviews, 2010.02.02.

[3] Parsons, Terence (2012). The Traditional Square of


Opposition. In Edward N. Zalta. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2012 ed.). 3-4.

Arthur Prior
1962: Formal Logic, 2nd ed. Oxford
Univ. Press. While primarily devoted to
modern formal logic, contains much on
term and medieval logic.
1976: The Doctrine of Propositions and
Terms. Peter Geach and A. J. P. Kenny,
eds. London: Duckworth.
Willard Quine, 1986. Philosophy of Logic 2nd ed.
Harvard Univ. Press.

5.12. EXTERNAL LINKS


Rose, Lynn E., 1968. Aristotle's Syllogistic. Springeld: Clarence C. Thomas.
Sommers, Fred
1970: The Calculus of Terms,Mind
79: 1-39. Reprinted in Englebretsen, G.,
ed., 1987. The new syllogistic New York:
Peter Lang. ISBN 0-8204-0448-9
1982: The logic of natural language.
Oxford University Press.
1990: "Predication in the Logic of
Terms," Notre Dame Journal of Formal
Logic 31: 106-26.
and Englebretsen, George, 2000: An invitation to formal reasoning. The logic of
terms. Aldershot UK: Ashgate. ISBN 07546-1366-6.
Szabolcsi Lorne, 2008. Numerical Term Logic.
Lewiston: Edwin Mellen Press.

5.12 External links


Term logic at PhilPapers
Aristotle's Logic entry by Robin Smith in the
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Term logic entry in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Aristotle's term logic onlineThis online program
provides a platform for experimentation and research on Aristotelian logic.
Annotated bibliographies:
Fred Sommers.
George Englebretsen.
PlanetMath: Aristotelian Logic.
Interactive Syllogistic Machine for Term Logic A
web based syllogistic machine for exploring fallacies, gures, terms, and modes of syllogisms.

37

Chapter 6

Non-Aristotelian logic
The term non-Aristotelian logic, sometimes shortened De Interpretatione, Chapter 9. He wrote here that when it
to null-A, means any non-classical system of logic which comes to statements about the future,it is not necessary
rejects one of Aristotle's premises (see term logic).
that of every armation and opposite negation one should
be true and the other false.(Revised Oxford translation)
Lot Zadeh developed a system of "fuzzy logic" using
a range of truth values from 0 to 1, but distinguished it
sharply from probability theory.

6.1 History
Nicolai A. Vasiliev since 1910 and Jan ukasiewicz called
their own work non-Aristotelian logic. Alfred Korzybski carried the term into his system of General Semantics
in 1933 (citing ukasiewicz), and science ction writer
A. E. van Vogt later helped popularize it. Korzybski focused on the use of three or more truth values in the
new systems of logic, although he connected this to his
own rejection of Aristotle's principle of identity. Following ukasiewicz's early work, Korzybski and later proponents of General Semantics associate these truth values with probabilities and the use of scientic induction.
ukasiewicz later seemed more cautious about this connection.

Robert Anton Wilson in The New Inquisition developed a


non-Aristotelian system of classication in which propositions can be assigned one of 7 values: true, false, indeterminate, meaningless, self-referential, game rule, or
strange loop. Wilson did not devise a formal system for
manipulating propositions once classied, but suggested
that we can clarify our thinking by not restricting ourselves to simplistic true/false binaries.

Nicolai A. Vasiliev in 1910 rejected the law of contradiction as well as law of the excluded middle and proposed a
logic he called imaginary which is tolerant to contradiction.

Van Vogt generally shortened non-Aristotelian logic to


null-A in his description of logic systems incorporating three or more values, to represent relatively 'subjective' conclusions from inductive logic, rather than relying strictly on the binary, deductive reasoning. The nullA concept as depicted by van Vogt is complementary to
Aristotle's system of two-valued, true/false logic, i.e.,A
is either B, or it is not B.

Alternative terms for these logics in common academic


usage include deviant logic and multi-valued logic (see
Haack, 'Philosophy of Logic', 1980). Not all nonclassical logics fall into this class, e.g. Modal logic is
a non-classical logic which, however, has only two truth
While ukasiewicz seems to have spent more time on values.
three-valued logic than any other system, he said that one
could keep increasing the number of truth values indenitely. Thus, he wrote: if 0 is interpreted as falsehood,
1 as truth, and other numbers in the interval 0-1 as the 6.2 Use in science ction
degrees of probability corresponding to various possibilities, a many-valued logic is obtained which is expansion The concept of non-Aristotelian logic was used by A.
of three-valued logic and diers from the latter in cer- E. van Vogt as the central theme in his The World of
tain details.* [1] Richard Threlkeld Cox later showed in Null-A novels, based on his interest in general semantics.
Cox's theorem that any extension of Aristotelian logic to The stories were tinged by van Vogt's reaction to real-life
incorporate truth values between 0 and 1, in order to be
news reports of police state conditions in the totalitarian
consistent, must be equivalent to Bayesian probability.
regimes after World War II.

Hans Reichenbach described a system of logic that he explicitly linked with probability theory. He called his probability logic a generalization of two-valued logic. Reichenbach also suggested applying a three-valued logic to
quantum mechanics. His probability logic does not re- Van Vogt highlights the aspect of general semantics in
ceive much attention from modern logicians.
his science ction (SF) stories, that portrays the general
Aristotle allowed for the possibility of all these logics in semantics as a speech evaluation tool. It occurs where
38

6.3. SEE ALSO


heroic characters use general semantics to struggle against
the rousing orations used as an incremental tactic by the
minions of authoritarian entities. Alfred Korzybski's development and description the general semantics was not
as a 'logic', but as a non-Aristotelian system of evaluation.
Van Vogt depicted the general semantics as a method of
evaluation used to analyze the reasoning of others. Protagonists in van Vogt's science ction novels typically
use a dream-like, null-A reasoning to outwit villains who
rely upon decision-tree, or algorithmic, reasoning, akin to
Aristotelian logic.
Van Vogt was not the only Golden Age writer of SF inuenced by Alfred Korzybski.
The tangled relation of general semantics to
science ction began within seven years of
the publication of Science and Sanity.* [2] John
W. Campbell, Jr., the inuential editor of
Astounding Science Fiction magazine, who regarded general semantics as a prototype 'futurescience,' encouraged several of his most
popular writers to familiarize themselves with
the general semantics literature. Campbell
hoped they would incorporate some general semantics methodology into their stories. Several
writers did so * [3]
A major writer of the Golden Age Robert Heinlein explicitly incorporated general semantics formulations and
themes. He stated in 1941, regarding Korzybski,
You may not like him personally, but he's at
least as great a man as Einstein - at least because his eld is broader. The same kind
of work that Einstein did, the same kind of
work, using the same methods; but in a much
broader eld, much more close to human relationships.* [4]* [5]
An example of such incorporation by Heinlein is given by
Alexei and Cory Panshin from the rst few paragraphs of
Heinleins short novelIf This Goes On(1940).* [6]
The Panshins also illustrate how another major writer of
the Golden Age Isaac Asimov was inuenced by general
semantics choosing as an example the Foundation story
The Big and the Little, stating:
One of the particular strengths of this story
was that it presented in dramatic form, a full
year before the publication of van Vogts The
World of Null-A, some of the key ideas associated with Alfred Korzybski.* [7]
Roger Luckhurst in his volume Science Fiction* [8] in the
Cultural History of Literature'* [9] series shows that general semantics continued to exert inuence on SF beyond
the Golden Age, stating that Frank Herbert's:

39
Dune* [10] also evidences the continuing inuence on American SF of Alfred Korzybski
s
engineering of subjectivity. Herbert, who was
ghostwriting a newspaper column on the general semantics whilst completing Dune, details
the Bene Gesseritmental training method
which includes hyper-acute sensitivity, powers
of projecting mental will onto others, and even
eugenic control of reproduction ideas not far
away from the claims of L Ron Hubbards
Dianetics. This places Dune, in direct lineal
descent from Campbellian SF.

6.3 See also


Intuitionistic logic
Fuzzy logic
General Semantics
Meta-systems
Multi-valued logic
Paraconsistent logic
Quantum logic
Is logic empirical?
Theory of mind
Some developers of non-Aristotelian logics
Giordano Bruno
Asger Jorn
Nicolai A. Vasiliev
Jan ukasiewicz
Stphane Lupasco

6.4 References
[1] J. ukasiewicz, Interpretacja liczbowa teorii zda" (A
numerical interpretation of the theory of propositions),
Ruch Filozoczny 7 (1922/23), pp. 92-93; Eng. tr. in
J. ukasiewicz, Selected Works, North-Holland, Amsterdam 1970, pp. 129-130 (tr. by O. Wojtasiewicz).
[2] Korzybski, Alfred: Science and Sanity An Introduction
to Non-Aristotelian Systems and general semantics, Institute of General Semantics 5th edition, 1995
[3] Klein, JeremyGS/SFETC.: A Review of General Semantics, Fall, 2002 Retrieved on 20100817
[4] The Institute of General SemanticsRetrieved on 2010
0817

40

[5] Stockdale Steve: Heinlein and Ellis: converging competencies, ETC.: A Review of General Semantics, Oct,
2007 Retrieved on 20100817.
[6] Alexei and Cory Panshin: The World Beyond the Hill
, page 605. ElectricStory.com, Inc, 1989 ISBN 978-160450-443-9
[7] Alexei and Cory Panshin: The World Beyond the Hill
, Page 1024 ElectricStory.com, Inc, 1989.
[8] Roger Luckhurst: Science Fiction, Page 161, Polity
Press, 2005. ISBN 978-0-7456-2892-9
[9] http://www.polity.co.uk/literature/#culture
[10] Herbert, Frank: DuneChilton Books, 1965. ISBN
978-0-450-01184-9

6.5 External links


Lukasiewicz on the Principle of Contradiction from
the Journal of Philosophical Research, on the logician and his relation to Aristotle
Reichenbach's Probability Logic and the LvovWarsaw School on attempts to merge logic with
probability (also mentions ukasiewicz)

CHAPTER 6. NON-ARISTOTELIAN LOGIC

Chapter 7

Organon
This article is about Aristotle's works on logic. For other
uses, see Organon (disambiguation). For a discussion of
Aristotelian logic as a system, see term logic.

knowledge.
The Topics (Latin: Topica) treats issues in constructing valid arguments, and inference that is probable,
rather than certain. It is in this treatise that Aristotle mentions the Predicables, later discussed by
Porphyry and the scholastic logicians.

The Organon (Greek: , meaninginstrument,


tool, organ) is the standard collection of Aristotle's six
works on logic. The name Organon was given by Aristotle's followers, the Peripatetics. They are as follows:

The Sophistical Refutations (Latin: De Sophisticis


Elenchis) gives a treatment of logical fallacies, and
provides a key link to Aristotle's work on rhetoric.

7.1 Constitution of the texts


The order of the works is not chronological (which is
now hard to determine) but was deliberately chosen by
Theophrastus to constitute a well-structured system. Indeed, parts of them seem to be a scheme of a lecture
on logic. The arrangement of the works was made by
Andronicus of Rhodes around 40 BC.* [1]

7.2 Inuence

The Organon was used in the school founded by Aristotle


at the Lyceum, and some parts of the works seem to be
a scheme of a lecture on logic. So much so that after
Aristotle's death, his publishers (Andronicus of Rhodes
Aristotle's Metaphysics has some points of overlap with in 50 BC, for example) collected these works.
the works making up the Organon but is not tradition- Following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in
ally considered part of it; additionally there are works on the fth century, much of Aristotle's work was lost in the
logic attributed, with varying degrees of plausibility, to Latin West. The Categories and On Interpretation are the
Aristotle that were not known to the Peripatetics.
only signicant logical works that were available in the
early Middle Ages. These had been translated into Latin
The Categories (Latin: Categoriae) introduces Aris- by Boethius. The other logical works were not available
totle's 10-fold classication of that which exists: in Western Christendom until translated to Latin in the
substance, quantity, quality, relation, place, time, 12th century. However, the original Greek texts had been
preserved in the Greek-speaking lands of the Eastern Rosituation, condition, action, and passion.
man Empire (aka Byzantium). In the mid-twelfth cen On Interpretation (Latin:De Interpretatione, Greek tury, James of Venice translated into Latin the Posterior
Perihermenias) introduces Aristotle's conception of Analytics from Greek manuscripts found in Constantinoproposition and judgment, and the various relations ple.
between armative, negative, universal, and particular propositions. Aristotle discusses the square of The books of Aristotle were available in the early Arab
opposition or square of Apuleius in Chapter 7 and Empire, and after 750 AD Muslims had most of them, inits appendix Chapter 8. Chapter 9 deals with the cluding the Organon, translated into Arabic, sometimes
via earlier Syriac translations. They were studied by
problem of future contingents.
Islamic and Jewish scholars, including Rabbi Moses Mai The Prior Analytics (Latin: Analytica Priora) intro- monides (11351204) and the Muslim Judge Ibn Rushd,
duces his syllogistic method (see term logic), ar- known in the West as Averroes (11261198); both were
gues for its correctness, and discusses inductive in- originally from Cordoba, Spain, although the former left
ference.
Iberia and by 1168 lived in Egypt.
The Posterior Analytics (Latin: Analytica Posteriora) All the major scholastic philosophers wrote commendeals with demonstration, denition, and scientic taries on the Organon. Aquinas, Ockham and Scotus
41

42

CHAPTER 7. ORGANON

wrote commentaries on On Interpretation. Ockham and


Scotus wrote commentaries on the Categories and Sophistical Refutations. Grosseteste wrote an inuential commentary on the Posterior Analytics.

Monteil,Jean-Franois Isidor Pollak et les deux traductions arabes direntes du De interpretatione d


Aristote, Revue dtudes Anciennes 107: 29-46
(2005).

In the Enlightenment there was a revival of interest in


logic as the basis of rational enquiry, and a number of
texts, most successfully the Port-Royal Logic, polished
Aristotelian term logic for pedagogy. During this period,
while the logic certainly was based on that of Aristotle,
Aristotle's writings themselves were less often the basis
of study. There was a tendency in this period to regard
the logical systems of the day to be complete, which in
turn no doubt stied innovation in this area. However
Francis Bacon published his Novum Organum
( The New
Organon") as a scathing attack in 1620.* [2] Immanuel
Kant thought that there was nothing else to invent after the work of Aristotle, and a famous logic historian
called Karl von Prantl claimed that any logician who said
anything new about logic was confused, stupid or perverse.These examples illustrate the force of inuence
which Aristotle's works on logic had. Indeed, he had already become known by the Scholastics (medieval Christian scholars) as The Philosopher, due to the inuence he had upon medieval theology and philosophy. His
inuence continued into the Early Modern period and
Organon was the basis of school philosophy even in the
beginning of 18th century.* [3] Since the logical innovations of the 19th century, particularly the formulation of
modern predicate logic, Aristotelian logic has fallen out
of favor among many analytic philosophers.

Monteil,Jean-Franois Une exception allemande: la


traduction du De Interpretatione par le Professeur
Gohlke: la note 10 sur les indtermines dAristote,
Revues de tudes Anciennes 103: 409-427 (2001).

7.3 Notes
[1] Hammond, p. 64, Andronicus Rhodus
[2] The Teaching Company Birth of the Modern Mind
[3] Rutherford, Donald (2006). The Cambridge Companion
to Early Modern Philosophy. Cambridge University Press.
p. 170. ISBN 9780521822428.

7.4 References
Edghill, E. M. (translator) (2007), Categories, The
University of Adelaide: eBooks @ Adelaide.

C.W.A. Whitaker, Aristotle's De interpretatione.


Contradiction and Dialectic, Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1996.
Mure, G. R. G. (translator) (2007), Posterior Analytics, The University of Adelaide: eBooks @ Adelaide.
Pickard-Cambridge, W. A. (translator) (2007),
Topics, The University of Adelaide: eBooks @ Adelaide.
Pickard-Cambridge, W. A. (translator) (2007), On
Sophistical Refutations, The University of Adelaide:
eBooks @ Adelaide.
Bocheski, I. M., 1951. Ancient Formal Logic. Amsterdam: North-Holland.
Couturat, Louis, 1961. La Logique de Leibniz.
Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlagsbuchhandlung.
Hammond and Scullard, 1992. The Oxford Classical
Dictionary. Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19869117-3.
Jan ukasiewicz, 1951. Aristotle's Syllogistic, from
the Standpoint of Modern Formal Logic. Oxford:
Clarendon Press.
Parry and Hacker, 1991. Aristotelian Logic. Albany:
State University of New York Press.
Parsons, Terence, 1999. 'Traditional Square of Opposition'. Article at the Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy.
Rose, Lynn E., 1968. Aristotle's Syllogistic. Springeld, Ill.: Clarence C. Thomas.

Edghill, E. M. (translator) (2007), On Interpretation,


The University of Adelaide: eBooks @ Adelaide.

Smith, Robin, 2004. 'Aristotle's Logic'. Article at


the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Jenkinson, A. J. (translator) (2007), Prior Analytics,


The University of Adelaide: eBooks @ Adelaide.

Turner, W., 1903. 'History of Philosophy'. Ginn


and Co, Boston. All references in this article are to
Chapter nine on 'Aristotle'.

Monteil,Jean-Franois La transmission dAristote


par les Arabes la chrtient occidentale: une trouvaille relative au De Interpretatione, Revista Espaola de Filosoa Medieval 11: 181-195

Veatch, Henry B., 1969. Two Logics: The Conict between Classical and Neo-Analytic Philosophy.
Evanston: Northwestern Univ. Press.

7.5. EXTERNAL LINKS

7.5 External links


Aristotle article at the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
PlanetMath entry for Aristotelian Logic.
Aristotle's Logic entry by Robin Smith in the
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Aristotle Organon And Other Works e-book at
archive.org.
Interactive Syllogistic Machine for Aristotle's Logic,
a web-based syllogistic machine for exploring fallacies, gures, terms, and modes of syllogisms.

43

Chapter 8

Physics (Aristotle)
This article is about the book. For a comparison with
modern mathematical physics, see Aristotelian physics.
The Physics (Greek: Phusike akroa-

modern physical sciences belong to modernity,


rather above all it is dierent by virtue of the
fact that Aristotle's physicsis philosophy,
whereas modern physics is a positive science
that presupposes a philosophy.... This book determines the warp and woof of the whole of
Western thinking, even at that place where it, as
modern thinking, appears to think at odds with
ancient thinking. But opposition is invariably
comprised of a decisive, and often even perilous, dependence. Without Aristotle's Physics
there would have been no Galileo.* [2]
Bertrand Russell, however, says of Physics and On the
Heavens that they were:
...extremely inuential, and dominated science until the time of Galileo ... The historian
of philosophy, accordingly, must study them,
in spite of the fact that hardly a sentence in either can be accepted in the light of modern science.* [3]

It is a collection of treatises or lessons that deal with the


most general (philosophical) principles of natural or moving things, both living and non-living, rather than physical theories (in the modern sense) or investigations of
the particular contents of the universe. The chief purpose of the work is to discover the principles and causes
of (and not merely to describe) change, or movement, or
First page of Immanuel Bekker's 1837 Oxford edition of Aristo- motion ( kinesis), especially that of natural wholes
(mostly living things, but also inanimate wholes like the
tle's Physics.
cosmos). In the conventional Andronicean ordering of
sis; Latin: Physica, or Physicae Auscultationes, meaning Aristotle's works, it stands at the head of, as well as being
lectures on nature) of Aristotle is one of the founda- foundational to, the long series of physical, cosmologitional books of Western science and philosophy.* [1] As cal and biological treatises, whose ancient Greek title,
, means the [writings] on natureor "natural
Martin Heidegger once wrote;
philosophy".
The Physics is a lecture in which he seeks
to determine beings that arise on their own,
, with regard to their being. Aristotelian physicsis dierent from what we
mean today by this word, not only to the extent that it belongs to antiquity whereas the

8.1 Books
The Physics is composed of eight books, which are further divided into chapters. In this article, books are ref44

8.1. BOOKS

45

erenced with Roman numerals, chapters with Arabic numerals. Additionally, the Bekker numbers give the page
and line numbers used in the Prussian Academy of Sciences edition of Aristotle's works.

whatever remains in the change of substance from grass


to horse. Matter in this understanding does not exist independently (i.e. as a substance), but exists interdependently (i.e. as aprinciple) with form and only insofar
as it underlies change.* [7] Matter and form are analogical
terms. It is helpful to conceive of the relationship of mat8.1.1 Book I (; 184a192b)
ter and form as very similar to that between parts and
whole. Parts existing separately do not remain parts, but
Book I discusses the scientist's approach to nature and become new wholes.
the world of changing things and the doctrines of the
presocratic natural philosophers, Parmenides in particular. Topics include: remarks on method, a discussion 8.1.2 Book II (; 192b200b)
of how some ancestors viewed nature, and the basic elements of change. Change elements include: a lack (pri- Book II introduces the term nature(physis) as a
vation), which is overcome by its opposite (form), with source or cause of being moved and of being at rest in that
both of them belonging to a subject (or substrate: mat- to which it belongs primarily(1.192b21). Thus, those
ter in substantial change; substance in accidental change) entities are natural which are capable of starting to move,
which persists through the change. The 1966 monograph e.g. growing, acquiring qualities, displacing themselves,
by Connell is a particularly good expansion and defense and nally being born and dying. Aristotle contrasts natural things with the articial: articial things can move
of the contents of this book.
also, but they move according to what they are made of,
Aristotle's approach to the world as summarized in chapnot according to what they are. For example, if a wooden
ter 1 is to start with the most general (and therefore sure)
bed were buried and somehow sprouted as a tree, it would
albeit vague aspects of the sensible world before proceedbe according to what it is made of, not what it is. Arising to specics. This approach contrasts sharply with that
totle contrasts two senses of nature: nature as matter and
of modern science, which starts with particulars before
nature as form or denition.
advancing to generalities.
By nature, Aristotle means the natures of particular
Chapter 2 begins his consideration of the rst principles
things and would perhaps be better translateda nature.
of motion by initiating a review of the opinions of preIn Book II, however, his appeal tonatureas a source of
vious thinkers. Chapters 3 and 4 are among the most
activities is more typically to the genera of natural kinds
dicult in all of Aristotle's works and involve subtle
(the secondary substance). But, contra Plato, Aristorefutations of the thought of Parmenides, Melissus and
tle attempts to resolve a philosophical quandary that was
Anaxagoras.* [4]
well-understood in the fourth century.* [8] The Eudoxian
In chapter 5, he continues his review of his predecessors, planetary model suced for the wandering stars, but no
particularly how many rst principles of motion there are. deduction of terrestrial substance would be forthcoming
Chapter 6 narrows down the number of principles to two based solely on the mechanical principles of necessity,
or three (two poles or ends of motion, and a something (ascribed by Aristotle to material causation in chapter 9).
that moves between them). He presents his own account In the Enlightenment, centuries before modern science
of the subject in chapter 7, where he rst introduces the made good on atomist intuitions, a nominal allegiance to
word matter (Greek: hyle literally timber* [5]) to mechanistic materialism gained popularity despite hardesignate the substratum of change. He denes matter boring Newton's action at distance, and comprising the
in book I's concluding chapter, 9: For my denition native habitat of teleological arguments: Machines or arof matter is just thisthe primary substratum of each tifacts composed of parts lacking any intrinsic relationthing, from which it comes to be without qualication, ship to each other with their order imposed from withand which persists in the result.
out.* [9] Thus, the source of an apparent thing's activities
Aristotle's concept of matter is rather dierent from what is not the whole itself, but its parts. While Aristotle aswe moderns might expect from the use of the word in serts that the matter (and parts) are a necessary cause of
modern mathematical science. Descartes axiomatically things the material cause he says that nature is priredened the concept of matter in the Enlightenment to marily the essence or formal cause (1.193b6), that is, the
exclude any characteristics that would make it unsuitable information, the whole species itself.
for abstract, mathematical (geometrical) treatment: what
has extension.* [6] Matter in Aristotle's thought is, however, dened in terms of sensible reality (operationally,
as it were) as that which underlies substantial change; for
example, a horse eats grass: the horse changes the grass
into itself; the grass as such does not persist in the horse,
but some aspect of it its matter does. The matter is
not specically described (e.g. as atoms), but consists of

The necessary in nature, then, is plainly


what we call by the name of matter, and the
changes in it. Both causes must be stated by
the physicist, but especially the end; for that
is the cause of the matter, not vice versa; and
the end is 'that for the sake of which', and the
beginning starts from the denition or essence

46

CHAPTER 8. PHYSICS (ARISTOTLE)


* [10]
Aristotle , Physics II 9

In chapter 3, Aristotle presents his theory of the four


causes (material, ecient, formal, and nal* [11]). Material cause explains what something is made of (for example, the wood of a house), formal cause explains the form
which a thing follows to become that thing (the plans of
an architect to build a house), ecient cause is the actual
source of the change (the physical building of the house),
and nal cause is the intended purpose of the change (the
nal product of the house and its purpose as a shelter and
home).* [12]

able. Aristotle writes,it is not what has nothing outside


it that is innite, but what always has something outside
it(6.206b33-207a1-2).

8.1.4 Book IV (; 208a223b)

Book IV discusses the preconditions of motion: place


(topos, chapters 1-5), void (kenon, chapters 6-9), and time
(kronos, chapters 10-14). The book starts by distinguishing the various ways a thing can be inanother. He
likens place to an immobile container or vessel: the
innermost motionless boundary of what containsis the
primary place of a body (4.212a20). Unlike space, which
is a volume co-existent with a body, place is a boundary
Of particular importance is the nal cause or purpose
or surface.
(telos). It is a common mistake to conceive of the four
causes as additive or alternative forces pushing or pulling; He teaches that, contrary to the Atomists and others, a
in reality, all four are needed to explain (7.198a22-25). void is not only unnecessary, but leads to contradictions,
What we typically mean by cause in the modern scien- e.g., making locomotion impossible.
tic idiom is only a narrow part of what Aristotle means Time is a constant attribute of movements and, Aristoby ecient cause.* [13]
tle thinks, does not exist on its own but is relative to the
He contrasts purpose with the way in which nature motions of things. Time is dened as the number of
does not work, chance (or luck), discussed in chapters 4, movement in respect of before and after", so it cannot
5, and 6. (Chance working in the actions of humans is exist without succession; but he also seems to say that
tuche and in unreasoning agents automaton.) Something to exist time requires the presence of a soul capable of
happens by chance when all the lines of causality converge numberingthe movement.
without that convergence being purposefully chosen, and
produce a result similar to the teleologically caused one.
In chapters 7 through 9, Aristotle returns to the discussion of nature. With the enrichment of the preceding four
chapters, he concludes that nature acts for an end, and
he discusses the way that necessity is present in natural
things. For Aristotle, the motion of natural things is determined from within them, while in the modern empirical sciences, motion is determined from without (more
properly speaking: there is nothing to have an inside).

8.1.5 Books V and VI (: 224a231a; :


231a241b)

Books V and VI deal with how motion occurs. Book V


classies four species of movement, depending on where
the opposites are located. Movement categories include
quantity (e.g. a change in dimensions, from great to
small), quality (as for colors: from pale to dark), place
(local movements generally go from up downwards and
vice versa), or, more controversially, substance. In fact,
substances do not have opposites, so it is inappropriate
8.1.3 Book III (; 200b208a)
to say that something properly becomes, from not-man,
In order to understandnatureas dened in the previous man: generation and corruption are not kinesis in the full
book, one must understand the terms of the denition. sense.
To understand motion, book III begins with the denition Book VI discusses how a changing thing can reach the opof change based on Aristotle's notions of potentiality and posite state, if it has to pass through innite intermediate
actuality.* [14] Change, he says, is the actualization of a stages. It investigates by rational and logical arguments
thing's ability insofar as it is able.* [15]
the notions of continuity and division, establishing that
The rest of the book (chapters 4-8) discusses the innite
(apeiron, the unlimited). He distinguishes between the
innite by addition and the innite by division, and between the actually innite and potentially innite. He argues against the actually innite in any form, including
innite bodies, substances, and voids. Aristotle here says
the only type of innity that exists is the potentially innite. Aristotle characterizes this as that which serves as
the matter for the completion of a magnitude and is potentially (but not actually) the completed whole(207a2223). The innite, lacking any form, is thereby unknow-

changeand, consequently, time and placeare not divisible into indivisible parts; they are not mathematically
discrete but continuous, that is, innitely divisible (in
other words, that you cannot build up a continuum out of
discrete or indivisible points or moments). Among other
things, this implies that there can be no denite (indivisible) moment when a motion begins. This discussion, together with that of speed and the dierent behavior of the
four dierent species of motion, eventually helps Aristotle answer the famous paradoxes of Zeno, which purport
to show the absurdity of motion's existence.

8.2. ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS OF THE PHYSICS

8.1.6

Book VII (; 241a25250b7)

Book VII briey deals with the relationship of the moved


to his mover, which Aristotle describes in substantial divergence with Plato's theory of the soul as capable of setting itself in motion (Laws book X, Phaedrus, Phaedo).
Everything which moves is moved by another. He then
tries to correlate the species of motion and their speeds,
with the local change (locomotion, phor) as the most
fundamental to which the others can be reduced.
Book VII.1-3 also exist in an alternative version, not included in the Bekker edition.

8.1.7

Book VIII (; 250a14267b26)

Book VIII (which occupies almost a fourth of the entire


Physics, and probably constituted originally an independent course of lessons) discusses two main topics, though
with a wide deployment of arguments: the time limits
of the universe, and the existence of a Prime Mover
eternal, indivisible, without parts and without magnitude.
Isn't the universe eternal, has it had a beginning, will it
ever end? Aristotle's response, as a Greek, could hardly
be armative, never having been told of a creatio ex nihilo (for the rst appearance of this concept in philosophy, see St. Augustine); but he also has philosophical reasons for denying that motion didn't exist all along, on the
grounds of the theory presented in the earlier books of the
Physics. Eternity of motion is also conrmed by the existence of a substance which is dierent from all the others
in lacking matter; being pure form, it is also in an eternal actuality, not being imperfect in any respect; hence
needing not to move. This is demonstrated by describing
the celestial bodies thus: the rst things to be moved must
undergo an innite, single and continuous movement, that
is, circular. This is not caused by any contact but (integrating the view contained in the Metaphysics, bk. XII)
by love and aspiration.

8.2 English translations of the


Physics
In reverse chronological order:
Glen Coughlin, Physics, or, Natural Hearing (South
Bend: St. Augustines Press, 2005).
Robin Watereld, Physics, ed. David Bostock (Oxford University Press, 1999).
Joe Sachs, Aristotle's Physics: A Guided Study (New
Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1995).
Daniel W. Graham, Physics: Book VIII (Oxford University Press, 1999).

47
William Charlton, Physics: Books I and II (Oxford
University Press, 1984).
Edward Hussey, Physics: Books III and IV (Oxford
University Press, 1983).
Richard Hope, Aristotle's Physics : with an Analytical Index of Technical Terms (Lincoln: University
of Nebraska Press, 1961).
Charles Glenn Wallis, Lectures on the Science of
Natures, Books I-IV (Annapolis: The St. John's
Bookstore, 1940). OCLC 37790727 (Also includes
On Coming-To-Be and Ceasing-To-Be I.4-5; On The
Generation Of Animals I.22).
Hippocrates G. Apostle, Physics (Oxford, 1936)
(Grinnell, Iowa: The Peripatetic Press, 1980).
W.D. Ross, Aristotle's Physics. A Revised Text with
Introd. and Commentary by W.D. Ross (New York:
Clarendon Press, 1936). [not so much a translation,
but revision of the Greek text, with English paraphrase]
Philip Wheelwright, Natural Science [includes
Physics I-II, III.1, VIII]" in Aristotle: Containing Selections from Seven of the Most Important Books of
Aristotle ... Natural science, the Metaphysics, Zoology, Psychology, The Nicomachean Ethics, On
Statecraft, and The Art of Poetry. (New York:
Odyssey Press, 1935). OCLC 3363066
R.P. Hardie and R.K. Gaye, Physica in The Works of
Aristotle v. 2, W.D. Ross, ed. (Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1930).
Archive.org, scanned, so it includes the translators' emphases and divisions within chapters
(missing in the editions below).
Wikisource, formatted into books andparts
.
online at Adelaide (divided into books).
MIT Classics Archive (divided into books;
book IV is incomplete).
online at BU (one le).
at Ancient Greek Online Library (divided into
pages).
in PDF
P.H. Wicksteed and F.M. Cornford, The Physics (2
vols., 1929) (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard
University Press Loeb Classical Library,1980).
Thomas Taylor, The Physics or Physical Auscultation
of Aristotle: with Copious Notes in Which Is Given the
Substance of the Invaluable Commentaries of Simplicius (1806) (republished by Prometheus Trust,
2000) ISBN 1-898910-18-9.

48

CHAPTER 8. PHYSICS (ARISTOTLE)


Hathi Trust Digital Library, scanned.
Internet Archive, public-domain Librivox audio book.

Soto, Domingo de, Super octo libros physicorum


Aristotelis quaestiones (Salamanca, 1555).
Themistius, On the Physics (London: Bristol Classical Press, 2012).

8.3 Classical and medieval com8.4 Modern commentaries


mentaries on the Physics
monographs
Aquinas, Thomas, Commentary on Aristotles
Physics, trans. Richard J. Blackwell, Richard J.
Spath, and W. Edmund Thirlkel (Notre Dame, Indiana: Dumb Ox Books, 1999).

Averroes, AverroesQuestions in Physics, trans. Helen Tunik Goldstein. (Boston : Kluwer Academic
Publishers, 1991).
Buridan, Jean, Subtilissimae Quaestiones super octo
Physicorum libros Aristotelis (Paris, 1509).
Coimbra Commentators, In octo libros physicorum
Aristotelis (Coimbra, 1592).
Jandun, Jean, Quaestiones super 8 [i.e. octo] libros Physicorum Aristotelis (Venedig, 1551/Frankfurt: Minerva, 1969). OCLC 488626102.
Mair, John, Commentary on Aristotle's Physical and
Ethical Writings, (Paris, 1526).
Ockham, William, Exposition of Aristotle's Physics
in William of Ockham: Philosophical Writings, trans.
Philotheus Boehner (Indianapolis, Indiana: Hackett,
1990).
Ockham, William, Ockham on Aristotle's Physics: A
Translation of Ockham's Brevis Summa Libri Physicorum (St. Bonaventure N.Y: The Franciscan Institute, 1989).

and

Bolotin, David, An approach to Aristotle's physics:


with particular attention to the role of his manner of
writing (SUNY Press, 1997). ISBN 0-7914-3552-0,
ISBN 978-0-7914-3552-6
Bostock, David, Space, Time, Matter, and Form: Essays on Aristotle's Physics (Oxford University Press,
2006).
Connell, Richard J., Matter and Becoming (Chicago:
The Priory Press, 1966).
Connell, Richard J., Nature's Causes (New York: P.
Lang, 1995).
Coope, Ursula, Time for Aristotle: Physics IV.1014
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2005).
Gerson, Lloyd P., ed., Aristotle: Critical Assessments, vol. 2: Physics, Cosmology and Biology (New
York: Routledge, 1999). Collects these papers:
Bas C. van Fraassen, A Re-examination of
Aristotle's Philosophy of Science,Dialogue
19 (1980), 20-45.
Alan Code, The Persistence of Aristotelian
Matter,Philosophical Studies 29 (1976), 35767.
Aryeh Kosman,Aristotle's Denition of Motion,Phronesis 14 (1969), 40-62.

Oresme, Nicole, Oresme's Commentary on Aristotle's


Physics. Edition of the Quaestiones on Book 3 and 4
of Aristotle's Physics and of the Quaestiones 6 - 9
on book 5. Edited by Stefan Kirschner. (Stuttgart:
Steiner, 1997).

Daniel W. Graham,Aristotle's Denition of


Motion,Ancient Philosophy 8 (1988), 20915.

Philoponus, John, On Aristotles Physics, trans.


(various) (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, Ancient
Commentators on Aristotle series, 19932006).

Michael Bradie and Fred D. Miller, Jr.,Teleology and Natural Necessity in Aristotle,
History of Philosophy Quarterly 1, 2 (1984),
133-46.

Ramus, Petrus (Pierre de la Rame), Scholarum


physicarum libro octo... (Frankfurt: A Wecheli,
1683).
Simplicius, On Aristotles Physics, trans. (various)
(Ithaca: Cornell University Press, Ancient Commentators on Aristotle series, 19932006).
Romanus, Aegidius (Giles of Rome), In Octo Libros
Physicorum Aristoteles (Venedig, 1502; Frankfurt:
Minerva GMBH, 1968).

Sheldon M. Cohen, Aristotle on Elemental


Motion,Phronesis 39 (1994), 150-9.

Susan Sauve Meyer, Aristotle, Teleology,


and Reduction,The Philosophical Review
101, 4 (1992), 791-825.
James G. Lennox, Aristotle on Chance,
Archiv fur Geschichte der Philosophie 66
(1984), 52-60.
Mary Louise Gill, Aristotle's Theory of
Causal Action in Physics III 3,Phronesis 25
(1980), 129-47.

8.4. MODERN COMMENTARIES AND MONOGRAPHS

49

David Bostock, Aristotle's Account of


Time,Phronesis 25 (1980), 148-69.

Maritain, Jacques, Science and Wisdom, trans.


Bernard Wall (New York: Charles Scribners Sons,
1954).

David Bostock, Aristotle on the Transmutation of the Elements in De Generatione et Corruptione 1.14,Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 13 (1995), 217-29.
Cynthia A. Freeland, Scientic Explanation
and Empirical Data in Aristotle's Meteorology,Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 8
(1990), 67-102.
Mohan Matthen and R.J. Hankinson,Aristotle's Universe: Its Form and Matter,Synthese
96 (1993), 417-35.
David Charles, Aristotle on Substance,
Essence and Biological Kinds,Proceedings of
the Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy 7 (1991), 227-61.

Morison, Benjamin, On Location: Aristotle's Concept of Place (Oxford University Press, 2002).
Reizler, Kurt, Physics and Reality (New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1940).
Roark, Tony, Aristotle on Time: A Study of the
Physics (Cambridge University Press, 2013).
Sachs, Joe, Motion and its Place in Nature,Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2006. (accessed
18 October 2008).
Solmsen, Friedrich, Aristotle's System of the Physical
World: A Comparison with His Predecessors (Ithaca,
NY: Cornell University Press, 1960).

Herbert Granger, Aristotle on Genus and


Dierentia,Journal of the History of Philosophy 22 (1984), 1-23.

Smith, Vincent Edward, The General Science of Nature (Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Company,
1958).

Mohan Matthen,The Four Causes in Aristotle's Embryology,Apeiron 22 (1989), 159-79.

Smith, Vincent Edward, Philosophical Physics (New


York: Harper & Brothers, 1950).

Alan Code, Soul as Ecient Cause in Aristotle's Embryology,Philosophical Topics 15,


2 (1987), 51-59.
David J. Depew, Human and Other Political Animals in Aristotle's History of Animals,
Phronesis 40 (1995), 156-81.

Wardy, Robert, The Chain of Change: A study of


Aristotle's Physics VII, (Cambridge University Press,
1990).
White, Michael J., The Continuous and the Discrete:
Ancient Physical Theories from a Contemporary Perspective (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992).

Daryl McGowan Tress, The Metaphysical


Science of Aristotle's Generation of Animals
and its Feminist Critics,Review of Meta- 8.4.1 Articles
physics 46 (1992), 307-41.
Brague, Rmi, Aristotle's Denition of Motion
Rosamond Kent Sprague, Plants as Arisand Its Ontological Implications,Graduate Faculty
totelian Substances,Illinois Classical Studies
Philosophy Journal 13:2 (1990), 1-22.
56 (1991), 221-9.
Judson, Lindsay, ed., Aristotles Physics: a collection of essays (New York: Oxford University Press,
1991).
Kouremenos, Theokritos, The proportions in Aristotle's Phys.7.5 (Franz Steiner Verlag, 2002). ISBN
3-515-08178-X

Machamer, Peter K., Aristotle on Natural Place


and Motion,Isis 69:3 (Sept. 1978), 377387.
Schindler, David L., "The Problem of Mechanism,
Beyond Mechanism: The Universe in Recent Physics
and Catholic Thought, ed. David L. Schindler (University Press of America, 1986).

Lang, Helen S., Aristotles Physics and its Medieval


Varieties (Albany: State University of New York,
1992).

Solmsen, Friedrich,Aristotle's Word for Matter.


In Didascali: Studies in Honor of Anselm M. Albareda, Prefect of the Vatican Library. Edited by
Sesto Prete. New York 1961, pp. 393408.

Lang, Helen S., The Order of Nature in Aristotle's


Physics: Place and the Elements (Cambridge University Press, 1998).

Solmsen, Friedrich,Misplaced Passages at the End


of Aristotle's Physics.American Journal of Philology 82 (1961) 270-282.

MacMullin, Ernan, The Concept of Matter in Greek


and Medieval Philosophy (Notre Dame, IN: Univ. of
Notre Dame Press, 1965).

Solmsen, Friedrich, Aristotle and Prime Matter:


A Reply to H. R. King.Journal of the History of
Ideas 19 (1958) 243-252.

50

8.5 Bibliography

CHAPTER 8. PHYSICS (ARISTOTLE)

8.7 External links

Die Aristotelische Physik, W. Wieland, 1962, 2nd revised edition 1970.

8.6 References
[1] "Aristotle's Physics is the hidden, and therefore never adequately studied, foundational book of Western philosophy." (Emphasis in original; Martin Heidegger, On the
Essence and Concept of in Aristotle's Physics , 1;"
in Pathmarks, ed. William McNeill [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998], 183230; 185.)
[2] Martin Heidegger, The Principle of Reason, trans. Reginald Lilly, (Indiana University Press, 1991), 6263.
[3] Russell, Bertrand (1946). The History of Western Philosophy. George Allen & Unwin. p. 226.
[4] Joe Sachs, Aristotle's Physics: A Guided Study (New
Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1995), p. 47.
[5] H.G. Liddell, R. Scott, J.M. Whiton (1891). A lexicon abridged from Liddell & Scott's Greek-English lexicon.
Harper and Brothers. p. 725.
[6] See Ren Descartes, Principles of Philosophy I (1644),
The Principles of Human Knowledge, 53 and cf. 8,
54, 63. Cf also E.A. Burtt, Metaphysical Foundations of
Modern Science (Garden City, NY: Doubleday and Company, 1954), pp. 117118 and 238-239.
[7] See David L. Schindler, "The Problem of Mechanism"
in Beyond Mechanism: The Universe in Recent Physics
and Catholic Thought, ed. David L. Schindler (University
Press of America, 1986).
[8] Hankinson, R. J. (1997). Cause and Explanation in Ancient Greek Thought. Oxford University Press. p. 125.
ISBN 978-0-19-924656-4.
[9] David L. Schindler, "The Problem of Mechanism,Beyond Mechanism: The Universe in Recent Physics and
Catholic Thought, ed. David L. Schindler (University
Press of America, 1986).

8.7.1 Original text (Greek)


The Bekker edition of Physics (Greek, scanned
pages).
Source: Vol. 2 of 11-volume 1837 Bekker edition of Aristotle's Works
Rutgers, DJVU.
Institute for the Study of Nature, PDF.
Archive.org, various formats.
HTML Greek, in parallel with English translation:
Fr. Kenny's collection
HTML Greek, in parallel with French translation: P.
Remacle's collection
HTML, English translation by R. P. Hardie and R. K.
Gaye, MIT

8.7.2 Commentaries and comments


Aquinas's Commentary
Michael Rowan-Robinson argues that Aristotle was
the rst real physicist in the West. (In Physics, Aristotle treats the pre-Socratics as the rst physicists in
the original sense of the word, Requires login)
A 'Bigger' Physics lecture at MIT on how Aristotle's
natural philosophy complements modern science and
the need for a general science of nature

8.7.3 Other

[10] Aristotle. trans. by R. P. Hardie and R. K. Gaye, ed.


Physics. The Internet Classics Archive. II 9.

Aristotle: Motion and its Place in Nature entry in the


Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

[11] For an especially clear discussion, see chapter 6 of Mortimer Adler, Aristotle for Everybody: Dicult Thought
Made Easy (1978).

Philosophical Powers (humor)

[12] Aristotle. Physics. Retrieved 5 February 2013.


[13] See, for example, Michael J. Dodds, Science, Causality
And Divine Action: Classical Principles For Contemporary Challenges,CTNS Bulletin 21.1 (Winter 2001), sect.
2-3.
[14] See Sachs 2006 for a good discussion of the etymologies
of the words Aristotle uses, as well as the distinction between the words usually translated into English as actualityand activity.
[15] Brague 1990 is an excellent discussion of this extremely
dense denition.

Chapter 9

Classical element
4 Elementsredirects here. For the album by Chronic cepts once thought to be analogous, such as the Chinese
Future, see 4 Elements (album).
Wu Xing, are now understood more guratively.
Many philosophies and worldviews have a set of clas-

9.1 Ancient
In classical thought, the four elements earth, water, air,
and re frequently occur; sometimes including a fth element or quintessence (after quintmeaning fth)
called aether in ancient Greece and akasha in India. The
concept of the ve elements formed a basis of analysis in
both Hinduism and Buddhism. In Hinduism, particularly
in an esoteric context, the four states-of-matter describe
matter, and a fth element describes that which was beyond the material world. Similar lists existed in ancient
China and Japan. In Buddhism the four great elements,
to which two others are sometimes added, are not viewed
as substances, but as categories of sensory experience.

9.1.1 Cosmic elements in Babylonia


In Babylonian mythology, the cosmogony called Enma
Eli, a text written between the 18th and 16th centuries
BC, involves ve gods that we might see as personied
cosmic elements: sea, earth, sky, wind. In other Babylonian texts these phenomena are considered independent
of their association with deities,* [3] though they are not
treated as the component elements of the universe, as
later in Empedocles.
Segment of the macrocosm showing the elemental spheres of terra
(earth), aqua (water), aer (air), and ignis (re), Robert Fludd,
1617

sical elements believed to reect the simplest essential parts and principles of which anything can consist
or upon which the constitution and fundamental powers of everything are based. Most frequently, classical
elements refer to ancient concepts which some science
writers compare to the modern states of matter, relating
earth to the solid state, water to liquid, air to gaseous and
re to plasma.* [1]* [2] Historians trace the evolution of
modern theory pertaining to the chemical elements, as
well as chemical compounds and mixtures of chemical
substances to medieval, and Greek models. Many con-

9.2 Greece
The ancient Greek belief in ve basic elements, these being earth ( ge), water ( hudor), air ( aer),
re ( pur) and aether ( aither), dates from preSocratic times and persisted throughout the Middle Ages
and into the Renaissance, deeply inuencing European
thought and culture. These ve elements are sometimes
associated with the ve platonic solids.
Sicilian philosopher Empedocles (ca. 450 BC) proved (at
least to his satisfaction) that air was a separate substance
by observing that a bucket inverted in water did not be-

51

52

CHAPTER 9. CLASSICAL ELEMENT

come lled with water, a pocket of air remaining trapped


inside.* [4] Prior to Empodocles, Greek philosophers had
debated which substance was the primordial element
from which everything else was made; Heraclitus championed re, Thales supported water, and Anaximenes
plumped for air.* [5] Anaximander argued that the primordial substance was not any of the known substances,
but could be transformed into them, and they into each
other.* [6] Empedocles was the rst to propose four elements, re, earth, air, and water.* [7] He called them the
four roots(, rhizmata).
Plato seems to have been the rst to use the term element (, stoicheion)" in reference to air, re,
earth, and water.* [8] The ancient Greek word for element, stoicheion (from stoicheo, to line up) meant
smallest division (of a sun-dial), a syllable, as the composing unit of an alphabet it could denote a letter and the
smallest unit from which a word is formed.
Seventeenth century alchemical emblem showing the four Classi-

In his On Generation and Corruption, Aristotle related cal elements in the corners of the image, alongside the tria prima
each of the four elements to two of the four sensible qual- on the central triangle
ities:
tradition.* [11] His system consisted of the four Aristotelian elements of air, earth, re, and water in addition to two philosophical elements: sulphur, character Air is primarily cold and secondarily wet.
izing the principle of combustibility, the stone which
burns";
and mercury, characterizing the principle of
Water is primarily wet and secondarily cold.
metallic properties. They were seen by early alchemists
Earth is primarily dry and secondarily hot.
as idealized expressions of irreducibile components of
the universe* [12] and are of larger consideration within
One classic diagram (above) has one square inscribed in philosophical alchemy.
the other, with the corners of one being the classical ele- The three metallic principlessulphur to ammability or
ments, and the corners of the other being the properties. combustion, mercury to volatility and stability, and salt
The opposite corner is the opposite of these properties, to soliditybecame the tria prima of the Swiss alchemist
hot coldand dry wet.
Paracelsus. He reasoned that Aristotles four element
Aristotle added a fth element, aether, as the theory appeared in bodies as three principles. Paracelsus
quintessence, reasoning that whereas re, earth, air, saw these principles as fundamental and justied them
and water were earthly and corruptible, since no changes by recourse to the description of how wood burns in re.
had been perceived in the heavenly regions, the stars Mercury included the cohesive principle, so that when it
cannot be made out of any of the four elements but left in smoke the wood fell apart. Smoke described the
must be made of a dierent, unchangeable, heavenly volatility (the mercurial principle), the heat-giving ames
described ammability (sulphur), and the remnant ash
substance.* [9]
described solidity (salt).* [13]
Fire is primarily hot and secondarily dry.

The Neoplatonic philosopher, Proclus, rejected Aristotle's theory relating the elements to the sensible qualities
9.3 Egypt
hot, cold, wet, and dry. He maintained that each of the
elements has three properties. Fire is sharp, subtle, and
mobile while its opposite, earth, is blunt, dense, and im- A Greek text called the Kore Kosmou (Virgin of the
mobile; they are joined by the intermediate elements, air World) ascribed to Hermes Trismegistus (the name
given by the Greeks to the Egyptian god Thoth), names
and water, in the following fashion:* [10]
the four elements re, water, air, and earth. As described
in this book:

9.2.1

Medieval alchemy

The elemental system used in Medieval alchemy was


developed primarily by the Persian alchemist Jbir ibn
Hayyn and rooted in the classical elements of Greek

And Isis answer made: Of living things, my


son, some are made friends with re, and some
with water, some with air, and some with earth,
and some with two or three of these, and some

9.4. INDIA
with all. And, on the contrary, again some are
made enemies of re, and some of water, some
of earth, and some of air, and some of two of
them, and some of three, and some of all. For
instance, son, the locust and all ies ee re;
the eagle and the hawk and all high-ying birds
ee water; sh, air and earth; the snake avoids
the open air. Whereas snakes and all creeping
things love earth; all swimming things love water; winged things, air, of which they are the
citizens; while those that y still higher love
the re and have the habitat near it. Not that
some of the animals as well do not love re; for
instance salamanders, for they even have their
homes in it. It is because one or another of
the elements doth form their bodies' outer envelope. Each soul, accordingly, while it is in its
body is weighted and constricted by these four.

53
In the Pali literature, the mahabhuta (great elements)
or catudhatu (four elements) are earth, water, re and
air. In early Buddhism, the four elements are a basis for
understanding suering and for liberating oneself from
suering. The earliest Buddhist texts explain that the
four primary material elements are the sensory qualities
solidity, uidity, temperature, and mobility; their characterization as earth, water, re, and air, respectively, is
declared an abstraction instead of concentrating on the
fact of material existence, one observes how a physical
thing is sensed, felt, perceived.* [19]

The Buddha's teaching regarding the four elements is to


be understood as the base of all observation of real sensations rather than as a philosophy. The four properties
are cohesion (water), solidity or inertia (earth), expansion or vibration (air) and heat or energy content (re).
He promulgated a categorization of mind and matter as
composed of eight types of "kalapas" of which the four
elements are primary and a secondary group of four are
According to Galen, these elements were used by color, smell, taste, and nutriment which are derivative
Hippocrates in describing the human body with an as- from the four primaries.
sociation with the four humours: yellow bile (re), black
Thanissaro Bhikkhu (1997) renders an extract of
bile (earth), blood (air), and phlegm (water).
Shakyamuni Buddha's from Pali into English thus:

9.4 India
9.4.1

Hinduism

Main articles: Mahbhta and Gua


The system of ve elements are found in Vedas, especially Ayurveda, the pancha mahabhuta, or ve great
elements, of Hinduism are bhmi (earth), ap or jala
(water), tejas or agni (re), marut or pavan (air or wind),
vyom; or shunya or akash (aether or void).* [14] They
further suggest that all of creation, including the human
body, is made up of these ve essential elements and
that upon death, the human body dissolves into these ve
elements of nature, thereby balancing the cycle of nature.* [15]
The ve elements are associated with the ve senses, and
act as the gross medium for the experience of sensations.
The basest element, earth, created using all the other elements, can be perceived by all ve senses (i) hearing,
(ii) touch, (iii) sight, (iv) taste, and (v) smell. The next
higher element, water, has no odor but can be heard, felt,
seen and tasted. Next comes re, which can be heard, felt
and seen. Air can be heard and felt. Akasha(aether)
is the medium of sound but is inaccessible to all other
senses.* [16]* [17]* [18]

Just as a skilled butcher or his apprentice,


having killed a cow, would sit at a crossroads
cutting it up into pieces, the monk contemplates this very body however it stands, however it is disposed in terms of properties: 'In
this body there is the earth property, the liquid
property, the re property, & the wind property.'* [20]
Tibetan Buddhist medical literature speaks of the Panch
Mahbhta (ve elements).* [21]

9.4.3 Seven chakras


In the philosophy of the seven chakras there are correspondences to the ve elements as shared by both Hinduism and Buddhism as well as two other elements:* [22]
Sahasrara
(Crown):
Time/Space/Balance/Gravity/Cosmic/Universal/AllElemental
Ajna
(Third
Eye):
Nether/Darkness/Shadow/Death/Poison/Black
Magic
Vishuddhi
(Throat):
Aether/Light/Life/Lightning/Electricity/Energy/Magnetism
Anahata (Heart): Air/Wind/Magic/Sound/Music

9.4.2

Buddhism

Main article: Mahbhta

Manipura (Navel): Fire/Heat/Flame


Svadhisthana
(Sacral):
ter/Ice/Snow/Steam/Fog/Mist

Wa-

54

CHAPTER 9. CLASSICAL ELEMENT

Muladhara
Earth/Rock/Nature/Soil/Metal/Wood

(Root):

9.5 Tibet
In Bn or ancient Tibetan philosophy, the ve elemental
processes of earth, water, re, air and space are the essential materials of all existent phenomena or aggregates.
The elemental processes form the basis of the calendar,
astrology, medicine, psychology and are the foundation of the spiritual traditions of shamanism, tantra and
Dzogchen.
Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche states that
physical properties are assigned to the elements: earth is solidity; water is cohesion; re
is temperature; air is motion; and space is the
spatial dimension that accommodates the other
four active elements. In addition, the elements
are correlated to dierent emotions, temperaments, directions, colors, tastes, body types,
illnesses, thinking styles, and character. From
the ve elements arise the ve senses and the
ve elds of sensory experience; the ve negative emotions and the ve wisdoms; and the
ve extensions of the body. They are the ve
primary pranas or vital energies. They are the
constituents of every physical, sensual, mental,
and spiritual phenomenon.* [23]

In the above block quote the trikaya is encoded


as: dharmakaya god"; sambhogakaya templeand
nirmanakaya house.

9.6 China
Main article: Wu Xing
The Chinese had a somewhat dierent series of elements, namely Fire, Earth, Metal (literally gold), Water
and Wood, which were understood as dierent types of
energy in a state of constant interaction and ux with one
another, rather than the Western notion of dierent kinds
of material.
Although it is usually translated as element, the Chinese word xing literally means something likechanging
states of being,permutationsormetamorphoses of
being.* [25] In fact Sinologists cannot agree on any single translation. The Chinese elements were seen as ever
changing and moving one translation of wu xing is simply the ve changes.
The Wu Xing are chiey an ancient mnemonic device for
systems with ve stages; hence the preferred translation of
movements,phasesorstepsoverelements.
In the bagua, metal is associated with the divination gure
Du (, the lake or marsh: / z) and with Qin
(, the sky or heavens: tin). Wood is associated with
Xn (, the wind: / fng) and with Zhn (,
the arousing/thunder: li). In view of the durability
of meteoric iron, metal came to be associated with the
aether, which is sometimes conated with Stoic pneuma,
as both terms originally referred to air (the former being
higher, brighter, more ery or celestial and the latter being
merely warmer, and thus vital or biogenetic). In Taoism,
qi functions similarly to pneuma in a prime matter (a basic
principle of energetic transformation) that accounts for
both biological and inanimate phenomena.

The names of the elements are analogous to categorised


experiential sensations of the natural world. The names
are symbolic and key to their inherent qualities and/or
modes of action by analogy. In Bn the elemental processes are fundamental metaphors for working with external, internal and secret energetic forces. All ve elemental processes in their essential purity are inherent in
the mindstream and link the trikaya and are aspects of
primordial energy. As Herbert V. Gnther states:
In Chinese philosophy the universe consists of heaven and
earth. The ve major planets are associated with and even
Thus, bearing in mind that thought strugnamed after the elements: Jupiter is Wood (),
gles incessantly against the treachery of lanMars is Fire (), Saturn is Earth (), Venus
guage and that what we observe and describe
is Metal (), and Mercury is Water ().
is the observer himself, we may nonetheless
Also, the Moon represents Yin (), and the Sun
proceed to investigate the successive phases
represents Yang (). Yin, Yang, and the ve elements
in our becoming human beings. Throughout
are associated with themes in the I Ching, the oldest of
these phases, the experience (das Erlebnis) of
Chinese classical texts which describes an ancient system
ourselves as an intensity (imaged and felt as a
of cosmology and philosophy. The ve elements also play
god, lha) setting up its own spatiality (iman important part in Chinese astrology and the Chinese
aged and felt as a housekhang) is present
form of geomancy known as Feng shui.
in various intensities of illumination that occur
The doctrine of ve phases describes two cycles of balwithin ourselves as atemple.A corollary of
ance, a generating or creation (, shng) cycle and an
this Erlebnis is its light character manifesting
overcoming or destruction (/, k) cycle of interacitself in variousfrequenciesor colors. This
tions
between the phases.
is to say, since we are beings of light we display
*
Generating
this light in a multiplicity of nuances. [24]

9.9. MODERN
Wood feeds re;
Fire creates earth (ash);
Earth bears metal;

55

9.9 Modern
See also: Chemical element History
The Aristotelian tradition and medieval Alchemy eventu-

Metal collects water;


Water nourishes wood.
Overcoming
Wood parts earth;
Earth absorbs water;
Water quenches re;

1s, 2s, 2p,2py , and 2pz .


The shapes of the rst ve atomic orbitals using color to depict
the phase of the wave function

ally gave rise to modern scientic theories and new taxonomies. By the time of Antoine Lavoisier, for exam Metal chops wood.
ple, a list of elements would no longer refer to classical
elements.* [26] The classical elements correspond more
There are also two cycles of imbalance, an overacting cy- closely to four of the states of matter: solid, liquid, gas
cle (cheng) and an insulting cycle (wu).
and plasma.
Fire melts metal;

9.7 Japan
Main article: Five elements (Japanese philosophy)
Japanese traditions use a set of elements called the
(godai, literally ve great). These ve are earth,
water, re, wind/air, and void. These came from Indian
Vastu shastra philosophy and Buddhist beliefs; in addition, the classical Chinese elements (, wu xing) are
also prominent in Japanese culture, especially to the inuential Neo-Confucianists during the Edo period.
Earth represented things that were solid.

Modern science recognizes classes of elementary particles which have no substructure (or rather, particles that
are not made of other particles) and composite particles
having substructure (particles made of other particles).

9.10 See also


Alchemy
Classical elements in popular culture
Elemental (Renaissance alchemy)
Five elements (Chinese w xng)

Water represented things that were liquid.

Five elements (Hindu mahbhta) and Four elements (Buddhist mahbhtni)

Fire represented things that destroy.

Five elements (Japanese godai)

Air represented things that moved.


Void or Sky/Heaven represented things not of our
everyday life.

9.8 Western astrology and tarot


Main articles: astrology and the classical elements and
divinatory tarot
Western astrology uses the four classical elements in connection with astrological charts and horoscopes. The
twelve signs of the zodiac are divided into the four elements: Fire signs are Aries, Leo and Sagittarius, Earth
signs are Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn, Air signs are
Gemini, Libra and Aquarius, and Water signs are Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces.

First principle (Pre-Socratic arche and Aristotelian


substratum)
First principle (Chinese q and Japanese ki)
Overview of the fundamental interaction
First principle (Prima materia in Alchemy)
Periodic table of the elements (Modern science)
Philosopher's stone (Middle Ages and Renaissance
alchemy)
Phlogiston theory (History of science)
Fundamental interaction (Quantum Mechanics)
State of matter
Table of correspondences (Magic and the occult)

56

9.11 Notes
[1] Boyd, T.J.M.; Sanderson, J.J. (2003). The Physics of
Plasmas. Cambridge University Press. p. 1. ISBN
9780521459129. LCCN 2002024654.
[2] Ball, P. (2004). The Elements: A Very Short Introduction.
Very Short Introductions. OUP Oxford. p. 33. ISBN
9780191578250.
[3] Francesca Rochberg (December 2002). A consideration of Babylonian astronomy within the historiography
of science. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science
33 (4): 661684. doi:10.1016/S0039-3681(02)00022-5.
[4] Russell, p. 72
[5] Russell, p. 61
[6] Russell, p. 46
[7] Russell, pp. 62, 75
[8] Plato, Timaeus, 48b
[9] G. E. R. Lloyd (1968). Aristotle: The Growth and Structure of his Thought. Cambridge Univ. Pr. pp. 133139.
ISBN 0-521-09456-9.

CHAPTER 9. CLASSICAL ELEMENT

[23] Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche (2002). Healing with Form,


Energy, and Light. Ithaca, New York: Snow Lion Publications. p. 1. ISBN 1-55939-176-6.
[24] Herber V. Gnther (1996). The Teachings of Padmasambhava (Hardcover ed.). Leiden, Netherlands: E.
J. Brill. pp. 115116.
[25] Wolfram Eberhard (1986). A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols. London: Routledge and Keegan Paul. pp. 93, 105,
309. ISBN 0-7102-0191-5.
[26] Antoine Lavoisier (1743-1794), in Classic Chemistry,
compiled by Carmen Giunta

9.12 References
Bertrand Russell. History of Western Philosophy,
Routledge, 1995 ISBN 0-415-07854-7.
Paul Strathern (2000). Mendeleyev's Dream the
Quest for the Elements. New York: Berkley Books.

9.13 External links

[10] Proclus, Commentary on Plato


s Timaeus, 3.38.13.39.28
[11] Norris, John A. (2006). The Mineral Exhalation Theory of Metallogenesis in Pre-Modern Mineral Science.
Ambix 53: 43. doi:10.1179/174582306X93183.
[12] Clulee, Nicholas H. (1988). John Dee's Natural Philosophy. Routledge. p. 97. ISBN 978-0-415-00625-5.
[13] Strathern, 2000. Page 79.
[14] Subhash Ranade. Natural Healing Through Ayurveda.
Motilal Banarsidass Publisher.
p.
32.
ISBN
9788120812437.
[15] Maithily Jagannathan. South Indian Hindu Festivals and
Traditions. Abhinav Publications. pp. 6062.
[16] Daniel Meyer-Dinkgrfe (2005). Theatre and Consciousness: Explanatory Scope and Future Potential. Intellect
Books.
[17] Samir Nath. Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Buddhism.
Sarup & Sons. p. 653.
[18] Poola Tirupati Raju. Structural Depths of Indian Thought:
Toward a Constructive Postmodern Ethics. SUNY Press.
p. 81.
[19] Lusthaus, Dan. What is and isn't Yogcra.
[20] Majjhima Nikaya. "Kayagata-sati Sutta". p. 119. Retrieved 2009-01-30.
[21] Gurmet, Padma (2004). "'Sowa - Rigpa' : Himalayan art
of healing. Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge 3
(2): 212218.
[22] Fernando Guimaraes. Vibrational Energy Medicine. pedipress. p. 50.

Section on 4 elements in Buddhism


The Kore Kosmou or Virgin of the World. www.
sacred-texts.com for Ancient Egypt Elements

Chapter 10

Potentiality and actuality


Energeiaredirects here. For other uses, see Energia
(disambiguation) and Energy (disambiguation).
Dunamisredirects here. For other uses, see Dunamis
(disambiguation).

is the root of modern English wordsdynamic,dynamite, anddynamo.* [5] In early modern philosophy,
English authors like Hobbes and Locke used the English
word poweras their translation of Latin potentia.* [6]
In his philosophy, Aristotle distinguished two meanings
of the word dunamis. According to his understanding of
nature there was both a weak sense of potential, meaning
simply that somethingmight chance to happen or not to
happen, and a stronger sense, to indicate how something
could be done well. For example, sometimes we say
that those who can merely take a walk, or speak, without
doing it as well as they intended, cannot speak or walk
. This stronger sense is mainly said of the potentials of
living things, although it is also sometimes used for things
like musical instruments.* [7]

In philosophy, potentiality and actuality* [1] are principles of a dichotomy which Aristotle used to analyze
motion, causality, ethics, and physiology in his Physics,
Metaphysics, Nicomachean Ethics and De Anima (which
is about the human psyche).* [2]
The concept of potentiality, in this context, generally
refers to anypossibilitythat a thing can be said to have.
Aristotle did not consider all possibilities the same, and
emphasized the importance of those that become real of
their own accord when conditions are right and nothing
stops them.* [3] Actuality, in contrast to potentiality, is
the motion, change or activity that represents an exercise
or fulllment of a possibility, when a possibility becomes
real in the fullest sense.* [4]
These concepts, in modied forms, remained very important into the middle ages, inuencing the development of
medieval theology in several ways. Going further into
modern times, while the understanding of nature (and,
according to some interpretations, deity) implied by the
dichotomy lost importance, the terminology has found
new uses, developing indirectly from the old. This is most
obvious in words likeenergyanddynamic(words
brought into modern physics by Leibniz) but also in examples such as the biological concept of an "entelechy".

10.1 Potentiality
Potentiality and potency are translations of the Ancient
Greek word dunamis () as it is used by Aristotle
as a concept contrasting with actuality. Its Latin translation is "potentia", root of the English word potential, and
used by some scholars instead of the Greek or English
variants.

Throughout his works, Aristotle clearly distinguishes


things that are stable or persistent, with their own strong
natural tendency to a specic type of change, from things
that appear to occur by chance. He treats these as having a dierent and more real existence. "Natures which
persistare said by him to be one of the causes of all
things, while natures that do not persist,might often be
slandered as not being at all by one who xes his thinking
sternly upon it as upon a criminal. The potencies which
persist in a particular material are one way of describing
the nature itselfof that material, an innate source of
motion and rest within that material. In terms of Aristotle's theory of four causes, a material's non-accidental
potential, is the material cause of the things that can come
to be from that material, and one part of how we can
understand the substance (ousia, sometimes translated as
thinghood) of any separate thing. (As emphasized by
Aristotle, this requires his distinction between accidental
causes and natural causes.)* [8] According to Aristotle,
when we refer to the nature of a thing, we are referring
to the form, shape or look of a thing, which was already
present as a potential, an innate tendency to change, in
that material before it achieved that form, but things show
what they are more fully, as a real thing, when they are
fully at work.* [9]

Dunamis is an ordinary Greek word for possibility or capability. Depending on context, it could be translated
potency,potential,capacity,ability,power
,capability,strength,possibility,forceand
57

58

CHAPTER 10. POTENTIALITY AND ACTUALITY

10.2 Actuality

everything in Aristotle's thinking, including the


denition of motion.

Actuality is often used to translate both energeia


() and entelecheia () (sometimes rendered in English as "entelechy").Actualitycomes from
Latin actualitas and is a traditional translation, but its
normal meaning in Latin is anything which is currently
happening.
The two words energeia and entelecheia were coined by
Aristotle, and he stated that their meanings were intended
to converge.* [10] In practice, most commentators and
translators consider the two words to be interchangeable.* [11]* [12] They both refer to something being in its
own type of action or at work, as all things are when they
are real in the fullest sense, and not just potentially real.
For example, to be a rock is to strain to be at the center of the universe, and thus to be in motion unless constrained otherwise.* [2]

Sachs therefore proposed a complex neologism of his


own, being-at-work-staying-the-same.* [17] Another
translation in recent years is being-at-an-end(which
Sachs has also used).* [2]
Entelecheia, as can be seen by its derivation, is a kind of
completeness, whereas the end and completion of any
genuine being is its being-at-work(energeia). The entelecheia is a continuous being-at-work (energeia) when
something is doing its completework. For this reason,
the meanings of the two words converge, and they both
depend upon the idea that every thing's thinghoodis
a kind of work, or in other words a specic way of being
in motion. All things that exist now, and not just potentially, are beings-at-work, and all of them have a tendency
towards being-at-work in a particular way that would be
their proper and completeway.* [17]

Sachs explains the convergence of energeia and entelecheia as follows, and uses the word actuality to de*
Energeia is a word based upon (ergon), mean- scribe the overlap between them: [2]
ing work.* [11]* [13] It is the source of the modern
Just as energeia extends to entelecheia beword "energy" but the term has evolved so much over the
cause it is the activity which makes a thing what
course of the history of science that reference to the modit is, entelecheia extends to energeia because it
ern term is not very helpful in understanding the original
is the end or perfection which has being only
as used by Aristotle. It is dicult to translate his use of
in, through, and during activity.
energeia into English with consistency. Joe Sachs renders
it with the phrase beingatworkand says that we
might construct the word is-at-work-ness from AngloSaxon roots to translate energeia into English.* [14] Aris- 10.3 Motion
totle says the word can be made clear by looking at examples rather than trying to nd a denition.* [15]
Aristotle discusses motion (kinsis) in his Physics quite
Two examples of energeiai in Aristotle's works are dierently from modern science. Aristotle's denition of
pleasure and happiness (eudaimonia). Pleasure is an en- motion is closely connected to his actuality-potentiality
ergeia of the human body and mind whereas happiness is distinction. Taken literally, Aristotle denes motion as
more simply the energeia of a human being a human.* [16] the actuality (entelecheia) of a potentiality as such
*
Kinesis, translated as movement, motion, or in some con- . [18] What Aristotle meant however is the subject of
texts change, is also explained by Aristotle as a particular several dierent interpretations. A major diculty
comes from the fact that the terms actuality and potentype of energeia. See below.
tiality, linked in this denition, are normally understood
within Aristotle as opposed to each other. On the other
hand theas suchis important and is explained at length
10.2.2 Entelechy or entelechia
by Aristotle, giving examples of potentiality as such.
Entelechy, in Greek entelcheia, was coined by Aristotle For example the motion of building is the energeia of the
and transliterated in Latin as entelechia. According to dunamis of the building materials as building materials
as opposed to anything else they might become, and this
Sachs (1995, p. 245):
potential in the unbuilt materials is referred to by Aristotle as the buildable. So the motion of building is
Aristotle invents the word by combining
the actualization of the buildableand not the actualentels (,complete, full-grown) with
ization of a house as such, nor the actualization of any
echein (= hexis, to be a certain way by the
other possibility which the building materials might have
continuing eort of holding on in that conhad.* [19]
dition), while at the same time punning on

10.2.1

Energeia

endelecheia (, persistence) by
inserting "telos" (,completion). This
is a three-ring circus of a word, at the heart of

In an inuential 1969 paper Aryeh Kosman divided up


previous attempts to explain Aristotle's denition into
two types, criticised them, and then gave his own third

10.4. THE IMPORTANCE OF ACTUALITY IN ARISTOTLE'S PHILOSOPHY

59

interpretation. While this has not become a consensus, it 10.3.3 3. The interpretation of Kosman,
has been described as having becomeorthodox.* [20]
Coope, Sachs and others
This and similar more recent publications are the basis of
the following summary.
Sachs (2005), amongst other authors (such as Aryeh
Kosman and Ursula Coope), proposes that the solution
to problems interpreting Aristotle's denition must be
10.3.1 1. The processinterpretation
found in the distinction Aristotle makes between two different types of potentiality, with only one of those correKosman (1969) and Coope (2009) associate this ap- sponding to the potentiality as suchappearing in the
proach with W.D. Ross. Sachs (2005) points out that it denition of motion. He writes:
was also the interpretation of Averroes and Maimonides.
This interpretation is, to use the words of Ross thatit is
the passage to actuality that is kinesisas opposed to any
potentiality being an actuality.* [21]
The argument of Ross for this interpretation requires him
to assert that Aristotle actually used his own word entelecheia wrongly, or inconsistently, only within his denition, making it meanactualization, which is in conict with Aristotle's normal use of words. According to
Sachs (2005) this explanation also can not account for the
as suchin Aristotle's denition.

10.3.2

The man with sight, but with his eyes


closed, diers from the blind man, although
neither is seeing. The rst man has the capacity to see, which the second man lacks. There
are then potentialities as well as actualities in
the world. But when the rst man opens his
eyes, has he lost the capacity to see? Obviously not; while he is seeing, his capacity to
see is no longer merely a potentiality, but is a
potentiality which has been put to work. The
potentiality to see exists sometimes as active or
at-work, and sometimes as inactive or latent.

2. The productinterpretation

Coming to motion, Sachs gives the example of a man


Sachs (2005) associates this interpretation with St walking across the room and says that...
Thomas of Aquinas and explains that by this explanation
Once he has reached the other side of the room,
the apparent contradiction between potentiality and achis potentiality to be there has been actualized in
tuality in Aristotle
s denition of motionis resolvedby
Rosssense of the term. This is a type of enarguing that in every motion actuality and potentiality are
ergeia. However it is not a motion, and not relevant
mixed or blended. Motion is therefore the actuality
to the denition of motion.
of any potentiality insofar as it is still a potentiality. Or
in other words:
While a man is walking his potentiality to be on the
The Thomistic blend of actuality and potentiality has the characteristic that, to the extent that it is actual it is not potential and to the
extent that it is potential it is not actual; the hotter the water is, the less is it potentially hot, and
the cooler it is, the less is it actually, the more
potentially, hot.
As with the rst interpretation however, Sachs (2005) objects that:
One implication of this interpretation is
that whatever happens to be the case right now
is an entelechia, as though something that is intrinsically unstable as the instantaneous position of an arrow in ight deserved to be described by the word that everywhere else Aristotle reserves for complex organized states that
persist, that hold out against internal and external causes that try to destroy them.

other side of the room is actual just as a potentiality,


or in other words the potential as such is an actuality.
The actuality of the potentiality to be on the other
side of the room, as just that potentiality, is neither
more nor less than the walking across the room.
Sachs (1995, pp. 7879), in his commentary of Aristotle's Physics book III gives the following results from his
understanding of Aristotle's denition of motion:
The genus of which motion is a species
is being-at-work-staying-itself (entelecheia), of
which the only other species is thinghood.
The being-at-work-staying-itself of a potency
(dunamis), as material, is thinghood. The
being-at-work-staying-the-same of a potency
as a potency is motion.

10.4 The importance of actuality in


Aristotle's philosophy

In a more recent paper on this subject, Kosman associates


the view of Aquinas with those of his own critics, David The actuality-potentiality distinction in Aristotle is a key
element linked to everything in his physics and metaCharles, Jonathan Beere, and Robert Heineman.* [22]

60
physics.* [23]

CHAPTER 10. POTENTIALITY AND ACTUALITY


not just possible, requires reason, and desire or deliberate
choice.* [26] Because of this style of reasoning, Aristotle
is often referred to as having a teleology, and sometimes
as having a theory of forms.
While actuality is linked by Aristotle to his concept of a
formal cause, potentiality (or potency) on the other hand,
is linked by Aristotle to his concepts of hylomorphic matter and material cause. Aristotle wrote for example that
matter exists potentially, because it may attain to the
form; but when it exists actually, it is then in the form
.* [27]

10.5 The active intellect


A marble block in Carrara. Could there be a particular sculpture
already existing in it as a potentiality? Aristotle wrote approvingly
of such ways of talking, and felt it reected a type of causation
in nature which is often ignored in scientic discussion.

Aristotle describes potentiality and actuality, or potency


and action, as one of several distinctions between things
that exist or do not exist. In a sense, a thing that exists potentially does not exist, but the potential does exist. And
this type of distinction is expressed for several dierent
types of being within Aristotle's categories of being. For
example, from Aristotle's Metaphysics, 1017a:* [24]
We speak of an entity being aseeingthing whether
it is currently seeing or just able to see.
We speak of someone having understanding,
whether they are using that understanding or not.
We speak of corn existing in a eld even when it is
not yet ripe.
People sometimes speak of a gure being already
present in a rock which could be sculpted to represent that gure.
Within the works of Aristotle the terms energeia and entelecheia, often translated as actuality, dier from what is
merely actual because they specically presuppose that
all things have a proper kind of activity or work which,
if achieved, would be their proper end. Greek for end
in this sense is telos, a component word in entelecheia (a
work that is the proper end of a thing) and also teleology.
This is an aspect of Aristotle's theory of four causes and
specically of formal cause (eidos, which Aristotle says
is energeia* [25]) and nal cause (telos).
In essence this means that Aristotle did not see things as
matter in motion only, but also proposed that all things
have their own aims or ends. In other words, for Aristotle (unlike modern science) there is a distinction between things with a natural cause in the strongest sense,
and things that truly happen by accident. He even says
that for any possibility (dunamis) to be become real and

Main article: Active Intellect


The active intellect was a concept Aristotle described that
requires an understanding of the actuality-potentiality dichotomy. Aristotle described this in his De Anima (book
3, ch. 5, 430a10-25) and covered similar ground in his
Metaphysics (book 12, ch.7-10). The following is from
the De Anima, translated by Joe Sachs,* [28] with some
parenthetic notes about the Greek. The passage tries to
explain how the human intellect passes from its original state, in which it does not think, to a subsequent state,
in which it does.He inferred that the energeia/dunamis
distinction must also exist in the soul itself:* [29]...since in nature one thing is the material [hul] for each kind [genos] (this is what
is in potency all the particular things of that
kind) but it is something else that is the causal
and productive thing by which all of them are
formed, as is the case with an art in relation to
its material, it is necessary in the soul [psuch]
too that these distinct aspects be present;
the one sort is intellect [nous] by becoming
all things, the other sort by forming all things,
in the way an active condition [hexis] like light
too makes the colors that are in potency be at
work as colors [to phs poiei ta dunamei onta
chrmata energeiai chrmata].
This sort of intellect is separate, as well as
being without attributes and unmixed, since it
is by its thinghood a being-at-work, for what
acts is always distinguished in stature above
what is acted upon, as a governing source is
above the material it works on.
Knowledge [epistm], in its being-atwork, is the same as the thing it knows, and
while knowledge in potency comes rst in time
in any one knower, in the whole of things it
does not take precedence even in time.

10.6. POST-ARISTOTELIAN USAGE


This does not mean that at one time it
thinks but at another time it does not think, but
when separated it is just exactly what it is, and
this alone is deathless and everlasting (though
we have no memory, because this sort of intellect is not acted upon, while the sort that
is acted upon is destructible), and without this
nothing thinks.
This has been referred to as one of the most intensely
studied sentences in the history of philosophy.* [29] In
the Metaphysics, Aristotle wrote at more length on a similar subject and is often understood to have equated the
active intellect with being the "unmoved mover" and God.
Nevertheless, as Davidson remarks:
Just what Aristotle meant by potential intellect and active intellect - terms not even explicit in the De anima and at best implied - and
just how he understood the interaction between
them remains moot to this day. Students of the
history of philosophy continue to debate Aristotle's intent, particularly the question whether
he considered the active intellect to be an aspect of the human soul or an entity existing independently of man.* [29]

10.6 Post-Aristotelian usage


10.6.1

61
The Monad orthe Onesometimes also described
as "the Good". This is the dunamis or possibility of
existence.
The Intellect, or Intelligence, or, to use the Greek
term, Nous, which is described as God, or a
Demiurge. It thinks its own contents, which are
thoughts, equated to the Platonic ideas or forms
(eide). The thinking of this Intellect is the highest
activity of life. The actualization of this thinking is
the being of the forms. This Intellect is the rst principle or foundation of existence. The One is prior to
it, but not in the sense that a normal cause is prior to
an eect, but instead Intellect is called an emanation
of the One. The One is the possibility of this foundation of existence.
Soul or, to use the Greek term, psyche. The soul is
also an energeia: it acts upon or actualizes its own
thoughts and creates a separate, material cosmos
that is the living image of the spiritual or noetic
Cosmos contained as a unied thought within the
Intelligence.
This was based largely upon Plotinus' reading of Plato,
but also incorporated many Aristotelian concepts, including the Unmoved Mover as energeia.* [33]

New meanings of energeia or energy 10.6.3 Essence-energies debate in medieval Christian theology

Already in Aristotle's own works, the concept of a distinction between energeia and dunamis was used in many
ways, for example to describe the way striking metaphors
work,* [30] or human happiness. Polybius about 150 BC,
in his work the Histories uses Aristotle's word energeia in
both an Aristotelian way and also to describe theclarity
and vividnessof things.* [31] Diodorus Siculus in 60-30
BC used the term in a very similar way to Polybius. However Diodorus uses the term to denote qualities unique to
individuals. Using the term in ways that could translated
asvigoror "energy" (in a more modern sense); for society,practiceorcustom"; for a thing,operation
or working"; like vigor in action.* [32]

For more details on this topic, see Essence-Energies


distinction.
In Eastern Orthodox Christianity, St Gregory Palamas
wrote about theenergies(actualities; singular energeia
in Greek, or actus in Latin) of God in contrast to God's
"essence" (ousia). These are two distinct types of existence, with God's energy being the type of existence
which people can perceive, while the essence of God is
outside of normal existence or non-existence or human
understanding, in that it is not caused or created by anything else.

Palamas gave this explanation as part of his defense


of the Eastern Orthodox ascetic practice of hesychasm.
Plotinus was a late classical pagan philosopher and the- Palamism* became a standard part of Orthodox dogma afologian whose monotheistic re-workings of Plato and ter 1351. [34]
Aristotle were inuential amongst early Christian theolo- In contrast, the position of Western Medieval (or
gians. In his Enneads he sought to reconcile ideas of Catholic) Christianity, can be found for example in the
Aristotle and Plato together with a form of monotheism, philosophy of Thomas Aquinas, who relied on Aristotle's
that used three fundamental metaphysical principles, concept of entelechy, when he dened God as actus puwhich were conceived of in terms consistent with Aristo- rus, pure act, actuality unmixed with potentiality. The
tle's energeia/dunamis dichotomy, and one interpretation existence of a truly distinct essence of God which is not
of his concept of the Active Intellect (discussed above):- actuality, is not generally accepted in Catholic Theology.

10.6.2

Neoplatonism

62

10.6.4

CHAPTER 10. POTENTIALITY AND ACTUALITY

Inuence on modal logic

The notion of possibility was greatly analyzed by medieval and modern philosophers. Aristotle's logical work
in this area is considered by some to be an anticipation
of modal logic and its treatment of potentiality and time.
Indeed, many philosophical interpretations of possibility
are related to a famous passage on Aristotle's On Interpretation, concerning the truth of the statement: There
will be a sea battle tomorrow.* [35]
Contemporary philosophy regards possibility, as studied
by modal metaphysics, to be an aspect of modal logic.
Modal logic as a named subject owes much to the writings
of the Scholastics, in particular William of Ockham and
John Duns Scotus, who reasoned informally in a modal
manner, mainly to analyze statements about essence and
accident.

10.6.5

Inuence on modern physics

Aristotle's metaphysics, his account of nature and causality, was for the most part rejected by the early modern
philosophers. Francis Bacon in his Novum Organon in Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz, the source of the modern adapone explanation of the case for rejecting the concept of a tations of Aristotle's concepts of potentiality and actuality.
formal cause or naturefor each type of thing, argued
for example that philosophers must still look for formal
causes but only in the sense of simple naturessuch as
or activity ; that is, a state from which action
colour, and weight, which exist in many gradations and
naturally ows if nothing hinders it. But matmodes in very dierent types of individual bodies.* [36]
ter, primary and pure, taken without the souls
In the works of Thomas Hobbes then, the traditional Arisor lives which are united to it, is purely passive
totelian terms, "potentia et actus", are discussed, but he
; properly speaking also it is not a substance,
equates them simply to cause and eect.* [37]
but something incomplete.
There was an adaptation of at least one aspect of Aristotle's potentiality and actuality distinction, which has become part of modern physics, although as per Bacon's
approach it is a generalized form of energy, not one conLeibniz's study of theentelechynow known as energy
nected to specic forms for specic things. The denition
was a part of what he called his new science ofdynamof energy in modern physics as the product of mass and
ics, based on the Greek word dunamis and his underthe square of velocity, was derived by Leibniz, as a corstanding that he was making a modern version of Aristorection of Descartes, based upon Galileo's investigation
tle's old dichotomy. He also referred to it as thenew sciof falling bodies. He preferred to refer to it as an entence of power and action, (Latin "potentia et eectu" and
elecheia or living force(Latin vis viva), but what he
"potentia et actione"). And it is from him that the modern
dened is today calledkinetic energy, and was seen by
distinction between statics and dynamics in physics stems.
Leibniz as a modication of Aristotle's energeia, and his
The emphasis on dunamis in the name of this new science
concept of the potential for movement which is in things.
comes from the importance of his discovery of potential
Instead of each type of physical thing having its own speenergy which is not active, but which conserves energy
cic tendency to a way of moving or changing, as in Arisnevertheless. As 'a science of power and action', dytotle, Leibniz said that instead, force, power, or motion
namics arises when Leibniz proposes an adequate archiitself could be transferred between things of dierent
tectonic of laws for constrained, as well as unconstrained,
types, in such a way that there is a general conservation of
motions.* [40]
this energy. In other words, Leibniz's modern version of
entelechy or energy obeys its own laws of nature, whereas For Leibniz, like Aristotle, this law of nature concerning
dierent types of things do not have their own separate entelechies was also understood as a metaphysical law,
important not only for physics, but also for understanding
laws of nature.* [38] Leibniz wrote:* [39]
life and the soul. A soul, or spirit, according to Leib...the entelechy of Aristotle, which has
niz, can be understood as a type of entelechy (or living
made so much noise, is nothing else but force
monad) which has distinct perceptions and memory.

10.8. REFERENCES

10.6.6

Entelecheia in modern philosophy


and biology

63

[10] Metaphysics 1047a30, in the Sachs (1999) translation:


the phrase being-at-work, which is designed to converge in meaning with being-at-work-staying-complete.
Greek is: ,

As discussed above, terms derived from dunamis and energeia have become parts of modern scientic vocabulary
with a very dierent meaning from Aristotle's. The origi- [11] Bradshaw (2004) page 13
nal meanings are not used by modern philosophers unless
they are commenting on classical or medieval philosophy. [12] Durrant (1993, p. 201)
In contrast, entelecheia, in the form of entelechyis a [13] Metaphysics 1050a21-23. In Tredinnick's translation:
word used much less in technical senses in recent times.
For the activity is the end, and the actuality (energeia)
is the activity (ergon); hence the term actualityis
As mentioned above, the concept had occupied a central
derived
from activity,and tends to have the meanposition in the metaphysics of Leibniz, and is closely reing of complete reality (entelecheia).Greek:
lated to his monad in the sense that each sentient entity
, ,
contains its own entire universe within it. But Leibniz' use

of this concept inuenced more than just the development
.
of the vocabulary of modern physics. Leibniz was also
one of the main inspirations for the important movement [14] Sachs (1995), Sachs (1999), Sachs (2005)
in philosophy known as German Idealism, and within this
[15] Metaphysics 1048a30.
movement and schools inuenced by it entelechy may denote a force propelling one to self-fulllment.
[16] Nicomachean Ethics, Book X. Chapters 15.
In the biological vitalism of Hans Driesch, living things [17] Sachs (1995)
develop by entelechy, a common purposive and organising eld. Leading vitalists like Driesch argued that many [18] Physics 201a10-11, 201a27-29, 201b4-5. Metaphysics
Book VII.
of the basic problems of biology cannot be solved by a
philosophy in which the organism is simply considered a
[19] Metaphysics Book XI, 1066a.
machine.* [41]
Aspects and applications of the concept of entelechy [20] Trifogli, Cecilia (2000), Oxford Physics in the Thirteenth
Century (ca. 1250-1270): Motion, Innity, Place & Time,
have been explored by the American critic and philosoBrill, p. 8, ISBN 9004116575
pher Kenneth Burke (18971993) whose concept of the
"terministic screens" illustrates his thought on the subject. [21] Physics, text with commentary, London, 1936, p. 359,
quoted by Sachs (2005).

10.7 See also

[22] Kosman (2013), chapter 2, footnote 19.


[23] Sachs (1995:245).

10.8 References
[1] The words potentialityand actualityare one set
of translations from the original Greek terms of Aristotle.
Other translations (including Latin) and alternative Greek
terms are sometimes used in scholarly work on the subject.
[2] Sachs (2005)
[3] Sachs (1999, p. lvii).
[4] Durrant (1993, p. 206)
[5] See Perseus dictionary references for dunamis.
[6] Locke (1689, chpt. XXI)
[7] Metaphysics 1019a - 1019b. The translations used are
those of Tredennick on the Perseus project.

[24] Tredennick's translation, with links to his footnote cross


references, using the Perseus online resources: For we
say that both that which sees potentially and that which
sees actually is a seeing thing.And in the same way
we call understandingboth that which can use the understanding, and that which does ; and we call tranquil
both that in which tranquillity is already present, and that
which is potentially tranquil. Similarly too in the case of
substances. For we say that Hermes is in the stone, (Cf.
Aristotle Met. 3.5.6.) and the half of the line in the whole;
and we callcornwhat is not yet ripe. But when a thing
is potentially existent and when not, must be dened elsewhere.Aristotle Metaphysics 9.9.
[25] Metaphysics 1050b. Greek:
.
[26] Metaphysics 1048a. The Greek words are orexis for desire
and proairesis for deliberate choice.

[8] From Physics 192a18. Translation from Sachs (1995, p.


45)

[27] Metaphysics 1050a15. Greek:


: ,

[9] Physics 193b. (Sachs (1995, p. 51).)

[28] Sachs (2001)

64

[29] Davidson (1992, p. 3)


[30] Rhetoric 1411b
[31] Bradshaw (2004, p. 51)
[32] Bradshaw (2004, p. 55)
[33] See Moore, Edward,Plotinus, Internet Encyclopedia of
Philosophy and Gerson, Lloyd,Plotinus, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. The direct quote above comes
from Moore.
[34] Gregory Palamas: An Historical Overview. Retrieved
2010-12-27.
[35] See copy of W.D. Ross's translation scanned on Internet
Archive.
[36] Book II, aphorism V
[37] De Corpore chapter X (in Latin; in English).
[38] Klein (1985), and Sachs (2005): "Leibniz, who criticized
Descartesphysics and invented a science of dynamics,
explicitly acknowledged his debt to Aristotle (see, e.g.,
Specimen Dynamicum), whose doctrine of entelecheia he
regarded himself as restoring in a modied form. From
Leibniz we derive our current notions of potential and
kinetic energy, whose very names, pointing to the actuality which is potential and the actuality which is motion,
preserve the Thomistic resolutions of the two paradoxes
in Aristotles denition of motion.
[39] Leibniz (1715, p. 234)
[40] Duchesneau (1998)

CHAPTER 10. POTENTIALITY AND ACTUALITY


Duchesneau, Franois (1998), Leibniz's Theoretical Shift in the Phoranomus and Dynamica de Potentia, Perspectives on Science 6 (1&2): 77109
Durrant, Michael (1993). Aristotle's De Anima in
Focus. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-415-053402.
Klein, Jacob (1985), Leibnitz, an Introduction,
Lectures and Essays, St Johns College Press
Kosman, Aryeh (1969), Aristotle's Denition of
Motion, Phronesis 14 (1): 4062
Kosman, Aryeh (2013), The Activity of Being: an
Essay on Aristotle's Ontology, Harvard University
Press
Heinaman, Robert (1994),Is Aristotle's denition
of motion circular?", Apeiron (27)
Leibniz, Gottfried (1890) [1715], On the Doctrine of Malebranche. A Letter to M. Remond de
Montmort, containing Remarks on the Book of Father Tertre against Father Malebranche, The Philosophical Works of Leibnitz, p. 234
Locke, John (1824) [1689],Book II Chapter XXI
Of Power"", An Essay concerning Human Understanding and Other Writings, Part 2, The Works of
John Locke in Nine Volumes 2 (12th ed.), Rivington
Mayr Ernst (2002) The Walter Arndt Lecture: The
Autonomy of Biology, adapted for the internet, on

[41] Mayr (2002)

Sachs, Joe (1995), Aristotle's Physics: a Guided


Study, Rutgers University Press

10.9 Bibliography

Sachs, Joe (1999), Aristotle's Metaphysics, a New


Translation by Joe Sachs, Santa Fe, NM: Green Lion
Books, ISBN 1-888009-03-9

Aristotle (1999), Aristotle's Metaphysics, a new


translation by Joe Sachs, Santa Fe, NM: Green Lion
Books, ISBN 1-888009-03-9
Beere, Jonathan (1990), Doing and Being: An interpretation of Aristotle's Metaphysics Theta, Oxford
Bradshaw, David (2004). Aristotle East and West:
Metaphysics and the Division of Christendom. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-82865-9.
Charles, David (1984), Aristotle's Philosophy of Action, Duckworth
Coope, Ursula (2009), Change and its Relation
to Actuality and Potentiality, in Anagnostopoulos,
Georgios, A Companion to Aristotle, Blackwell, p.
277, ISBN 9781444305678
Davidson, Herbert (1992), Alfarabi, Avicenna, and
Averroes, on Intellect, Oxford University Press

Sachs, Joe (2001), Aristotle's On the Soul and On


Memory and Recollection, Green Lion Books
Sachs, Joe (2005),Aristotle: Motion and its Place
in Nature, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Warnock, Mary (1950).A Note on Aristotle: Categories 6a 15. Mind. New Series (59).
Old translations of Aristotle
Aristotle (2009). The Internet Classics Archive Aristotle On the Soul, J.A. Smith translator. MIT.
Aristotle (2009). The Internet Classics Archive Aristotle Categories, E.M. Edghill translator. MIT.
Aristotle (2009). The Internet Classics Archive Aristotle Physics, R.P. Hardie & Gaye, R.K. translators. MIT.

10.9. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Aristotle (1908). Metaphysica translated by W.D.
Ross. The Works of Aristotle VIII. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Aristotle (1989). Metaphysics, Hugh Tredennick
trans.. Aristotle in 23 Volumes. 17, 18. Cambridge:
Harvard University Press; (London: William Heinemann Ltd.). This 1933 translation is reproduced online at the Perseus Project.

65

Chapter 11

Four causes
explanation for how a thing came about;* [6] in this context, x is the aition of y means x makes a y.

See also: Potentiality and actuality


"Four causes" refers to an inuential principle in Aristotelian thought whereby causes of change or movement
are categorized into four fundamental types of answer to
the questionwhy?". Aristotle wrote thatwe do not have
knowledge of a thing until we have grasped its why, that
is to say, its cause.* [1]* [2] While there are cases where
identifying a cause is dicult, or in which causes might
merge, Aristotle was convinced that his four causes provided an analytical scheme of general applicability.* [3]

11.2 Material cause

The material cause of an object is equivalent to the nature of the raw material out of which the object is composed. (The wordnaturefor Aristotle applies to both
its potential in the raw material and its ultimate nished
form. In a sense this form already existed in the material.
Aristotle held that there were four kinds of See Potentiality and actuality.)
causes:* [2]* [4]
Whereas modern physics looks to simple bodies, Aristotle's physics instead treated living things as exemplary.
However, he felt that simple natural bodies such as earth,
re, air, and water also showed signs of having their
own innate sources of motion, change, and rest. Fire,
for example, carries things upwards, unless stopped from
doing so. Things like beds and cloaks, formed by hu A change or movement's formal cause is a change man artice, have no innate tendency to become beds or
or movement caused by the arrangement, shape or cloaks.* [7]
appearance of the thing changing or moving. Aris- In Aristotelian terminology, material is not the same as
totle says for example that the ratio 2:1, and number substance. Matter has parallels with substance in so far
in general, is the cause of the octave.
as primary matter serves as the substratum for simple
A change or movement's material cause is the aspect of the change or movement which is determined by the material which the moving or changing
things are made of. For a table, that might be wood;
for a statue, that might be bronze or marble.

A change or movement's ecient or moving cause


consists of things apart from the thing being changed
or moved, which interact so as to be an agency of
the change or movement. For example, the ecient
cause of a table is a carpenter, or a person working
as one, and according to Aristotle the ecient cause
of a boy is a father.

bodies which are not substance: sand and rock (mostly


earth), rivers and seas (mostly water), atmosphere and
wind (mostly air and then mostly re below the moon).
Only individuals are said to be substance (subjects) in the
primary sense. Secondary substance, in a dierent sense,
also applies to man-made artifacts.

An event's nal cause is the end toward which it


directs. That for the sake of which a thing is what 11.3 Formal cause
it is. For a seed, it might be an adult plant. For a
sailboat, it might be sailing. For a ball at the top of Formal cause is a term describing the pattern or form
a ramp, it might be coming to rest at the bottom.
which when present makes matter into a particular type
of thing, which we recognize as being of that particular
type.

11.1 Meaning of cause

By Aristotle's own account, this is a dicult and controversial concept. It is associated with theories of forms
Aristotle's word forcauseis the Greek , aition, a such as those of Aristotle's teacher, Plato, but in Arisneuter, singular form of an adjective meaning respon- totle's own account (see his Metaphysics), he takes into
sible.* [5] He uses this word in the sense meaning an account many previous writers who had expressed opin66

11.6. THE FOUR CAUSES IN MODERN SCIENCE

67

ions about forms and ideas, but he shows how his own sawing as being a certain kind of dividing, then this canviews are dierent.
not come about unless the saw has teeth of a certain kind;
and these cannot be unless it is of iron.* [10] According
See also Platonic realism.
to Aristotle, once a nal cause is in place, the material,
ecient and formal causes follow by necessity. However
he recommends that the student of nature determine the
11.4 Ecient cause
other causes as well,* [11] and notes that not all phenomena have a nal cause, e.g., chance events.* [12]
The ecient causeof an object is equivalent to that
which causes change and motion to start or stop (such
as a painter painting a house) (see Aristotle, Physics II
3, 194b29). In many cases, this is simply the thing that
brings something about. For example, in the case of a
statue, it is the person chiseling away which transforms a
block of marble into a statue.

11.5 Final cause


Main article: Teleology
Final cause, or telos, is dened as the purpose, end, aim,
or goal of something. Like the formal cause, this is a controversial type of cause in science (some of its aspects are
used for instance in evolutionary biology, chaos theory
see: attractor) . It is commonly claimed that Aristotle's
conception of nature is teleological in the sense that he
believed that Nature has goals apart from those that humans have. On the other hand, as will be discussed further below, it has also been claimed that Aristotle thought
that a telos can be present without any form of deliberation, consciousness or intelligence. An example of a
passage which is discussed in this context is Physics II.8
(from
This is most obvious in the animals other
than man: they make things neither by art nor
after inquiry or deliberation. That is why people wonder whether it is by intelligence or by
some other faculty that these creatures work,
spiders, ants, and the like... It is absurd to
suppose that purpose is not present because we
do not observe the agent deliberating. Art does
not deliberate. If the ship-building art were in
the wood, it would produce the same results by
nature. If, therefore, purpose is present in art,
it is present also in nature.* [8]

George Holmes Howison, in The Limits of Evolution


, highlights nal causationin presenting his theory of
metaphysics, which he terms personal idealism, and
to which he invites not only man, but all (ideal) life; at p.
39:
Here, in seeing that Final Cause causation at the call of self-posited aim or end is
the only full and genuine cause, we further see
that Nature, the cosmic aggregate of phenomena and the cosmic bond of their law which
in the mood of vague and inaccurate abstraction we call Force, is after all only an eect.
... Thus teleology, or the Reign of Final Cause,
the reign of ideality, is not only an element in
the notion Evolution, but is the very vital cord
in the notion. The conception of evolution is
founded at last and essentially in the conception of Progress: but this conception has no
meaning at all except in the light of a goal;
there can be no goal unless there is a Beyond
for everything actual; and there is no such Beyond except through a spontaneous ideal. The
presupposition of Nature, as a system undergoing evolution, is therefore the causal activity
of our Pure Ideals. These are our three organic
and organizing conceptions called the True, the
Beautiful, and the Good.
However, Edward Feser argues, in line with the Aristotelian and Aquinian tradition, that nality has been
greatly misunderstood. Indeed, without nality, ecient
causality becomes inexplicable. Finality thus understood
is not purpose but that end towards which a thing is ordered. When a match is rubbed against the side of a
matchbox, the eect is not the appearance of an elephant
or the sounding of a drum, but re. The eect is not arbitrary because the match is ordered towards the end of
re which is realized through ecient causes.* [13]

For example, according to Aristotle a seed has the even- 11.6 The four causes in modern scitual adult plant as its nal cause (i.e., as its telos) if and
ence
only if the seed would become the adult plant under normal circumstances.* [9] In Physics II.9, Aristotle hazards
a few arguments that a determination of the nal cause of See also: Teleology Teleology and science
a phenomenon is more important than the others. He argues that the nal cause is the cause of that which brings Francis Bacon wrote in his Advancement of Learning
it about, so for example if one denes the operation of (1605) that natural sciencedoth make inquiry, and take

68

CHAPTER 11. FOUR CAUSES

consideration of the same natures : but how? Only as to


the material and ecient causes of them, and not as to
the forms.According to the demands of Bacon, apart
from the "laws of nature" themselves, the causes relevant
to natural science are only ecient causes and material
causes in terms of Aristotle's classication, or to use the
formulation which became famous later, all nature visible
to human science is matter and motion. Using the terminology of Aristotle, he divided knowledge into physics
and metaphysics in The New Organon.
From the two kinds of axioms which have
been spoken of arises a just division of philosophy and the sciences, taking the received terms
(which come nearest to express the thing) in a
sense agreeable to my own views. Thus, let the
investigation of forms, which are (in the eye
of reason at least, and in their essential law)
eternal and immutable, constitute Metaphysics;
and let the investigation of the ecient cause,
and of matter, and of the latent process, and the
latent conguration (all of which have reference to the common and ordinary course of nature, not to her eternal and fundamental laws)
constitute Physics. And to these let there be
subordinate two practical divisions: to Physics,
Mechanics; to Metaphysics, what (in a purer
sense of the word) I call Magic, on account of
the broadness of the ways it moves in, and its
greater command over nature. Francis Bacon
The New Organon, Book II, Aphorism 9, 1620

11.6.1

Biology

modern evolutionary biology as a type of shorthand. For


example, S. H. P. Madrell writes that the proper but
cumbersome way of describing change by evolutionary
adaptation [may be] substituted by shorter overtly teleological statementsfor the sake of saving space, but that
thisshould not be taken to imply that evolution proceeds
by anything other than from mutations arising by chance,
with those that impart an advantage being retained by natural selection.* [18] However, Lennox states that in evolution as conceived by Darwin, it is true both that evolution is the result of mutations arising by chance and that
evolution is teleological in nature.* [14]
Statements that a species does something in order to
achieve survival are teleological. The validity or invalidity of such statements depends on the species and the intention of the writer as to the meaning of the phrase in
order to. Sometimes it is possible or useful to rewrite
such sentences so as to avoid teleology. Some biology
courses have incorporated exercises requiring students to
rephrase such sentences so that they do not read teleologically. Nevertheless, biologists still frequently write in a
way which can be read as implying teleology even if that
is not the intention.

11.6.2 Physics
In quantum mechanics, a physically existing or actual
quantal entity is dened by a process of passage from
source to destination. Source and destination are respectively dened by values in conguration space or an equivalent space, for example momentum space. The quantum
kinematics does not allow a complete specication of an
entity's sourcestatethat would allow precise prediction
of the destinationstate. This contrasts with the kinematics of classical mechanics, which does allow such precise prediction. In thermodynamics, the internal energy
and entropy of a body are dened by its nal state with respect to a process by which it came from some standard
initial reference state. In this sense, both quantum mechanics and thermodynamics use both of Aristotle's initiating (or ecient) and nal explanatory modes (causes).
Thermodynamics was born in the nineteenth century and
quantum mechanics in the twentieth, unknown to earlier
philosophy.

It has been argued that explanations in terms of nal


causes remain common in modern science, including contemporary evolutionary biology,* [14]* [15] and that teleology is indispensable to biology in general for (among
other reasons) the very concept of adaptation is teleological in nature.* [15] In an appreciation of Charles Darwin
published in Nature in 1874, Asa Gray noted Darwin's
great service to Natural Sciencelies in bringing back
Teleology so that, instead of Morphology versus Teleology, we shall have Morphology wedded to Teleology.
Darwin quickly responded,What you say about Teleology pleases me especially and I do not think anyone else
has ever noticed the point.* [14] Francis Darwin and T.
11.7 The four causes in technology
H. Huxley reiterate this sentiment. The latter wrote that
"..the most remarkable service to the philosophy of Biolby Heidegger
ogy rendered by Mr. Darwin is the reconciliation of Teleology and Morphology, and the explanation of the facts In The Question Concerning Technology, Martin Heidegof both, which his view oers.* [14] James G. Lennox ger explains the four causes as follows:
states that Darwin uses the term 'Final Cause' consistently
in his Species Notebook, Origin of Species and after.* [16]
1. causa materialis is the material or matter
Ernst Mayr states that adaptedness... is a posteriori
result rather than an a priori goal-seeking.* [17] Var2. causa formalis is the form or shape the material or
ious commentators view the teleological phrases used in
matter enters

11.8. SEE ALSO


3. causa nalis is the end
4. causa eciens is the eect that is nished.* [19]
Upon explaining them in this formal state as well as with
the example of a silver challis, Heidegger raises the questions of why just these four causes, how was it determined that they exclusively go together, what exactly unies them and what makes causa nalis and causa eciens dierent. These are important questions to analyze
and attempt to answer or else the denition of technology will remain obscure. He explains the necessity of the
four causes as they allow for the material or matter is not
present a path to become present. Heidegger argues that
the ability to create a nal product using these four steps
is what unies them as an exclusive group.

69
technology. Heidegger uses examples like this to draw
readers back to the four causes, proving that they remain
relevant in today's world either directly with the newest
products or their origination.

11.8 See also


Anthropic principle
Causality
Convergent evolution
Four discourses, by Jacques Lacan
Proximate and ultimate causation

This group of causes arrives Heidegger at poiesis: the


bringing forth of something out of itself.* [20] He states
that poiesis is the highest form of physis. Heidegger states
that the four causes are at play in the bringing forth process of bursting open to the next artisan or creator. This
process of bringing forth is revealing truth or aletheia, a
key function of technology.* [21] Heidegger explains it as
thus:

Teleology

Whoever builds a house or a ship or


forges a sacricial chalice reveals what is to
be brought forth, according to the terms of the
four modes of occasioning.* [22]"

11.9 Notes

The purpose of a system is what it does, Anthony


Staord Beer's POSIWID principle
Tinbergen's four questions
Socrates

[1] Aristotle, Physics 194 b1720; see also: Posterior Analytics 71 b911; 94 a20.

Notice the word revealsinstead of manufacturing as


Heidegger argues that manufacturing is not what brings
forth a material but the actual reveal. Technology is the
mode of revealing which gives truth, aletheia.

[2] Four Causes. Falcon, Andrea. Aristotle on Causality.


Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy 2008.

Highlighted is the issue of social and technological


progress along with society with the four causes. One
of his examples is the words through translation from
the language of the Greeks, Romans and to today have
created some issues with the denitions of these words.
Most notably he emphasizes the need to clarify the difference between words that now have dierent meaning
through these translations. In particular he uses the words
responsible and indebted as they relate to the four causes
and the creation process. Also used is the term techne
which means technology now but it also was the word
used for the revealing which brings forth truth into
the splendor of radiant appearance.* [23]Within Greece,
techne also meant art as it required the revealing and presenting the appearance of the work of art. The word
aletheia was replaced by the Romans with veritas.* [24]
Another issue arising with progress of technology and
society is the techniques. Heidegger presents the argument that even though these Greek ideas work with techniques of handicraftsmen, they are essentially outdated
with modern machine powered technology as they are
based on modern physics. The problem is the modern
physical theory of nature prepares for simple and modern

[4] Aristotle,Book 5, section 1013a, Metaphysics, Translated by Hugh Tredennick Aristotle in 23 Volumes, Vols.
17, 18, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1933, 1989; (hosted at
perseus.tufts.edu.) Aristotle also discusses the four causes
in his Physics, Book B, chapter 3.

[3] Lindberg, David.


(1992). p53

The Beginnings of Western Science

[5] original text on Perseus


[6] Archetypes of Wisdom: An Introduction to Philosophy.
By Douglas J. Soccio. Page 161.
[7] Physics 192b
[8] The Complete Works of Aristotle Vol. I. The Revised Oxford Translation, ed. Jonathan Barnes).
[9] This example is given by Aristotle in Parts of Animals I.1.
[10] Aristotle, Physics II.9. 200b47.
[11] Aristotle, Physics II.9.
[12] Physics II.5 where chance is opposed to nature, which he
has already said acts for ends.
[13] Aquinas, Edward Feser.

70

[14] Lennox, James G. (1993). Darwin was a Teleologist


Biology and Philosophy, 8, 40921.
[15] Ayala, Francisco (1998). Teleological explanations
in evolutionary biology.Nature's purposes: Analyses of
Function and Design in Biology. The MIT Press.
[16] Lennox, James G. (1993). Darwin was a Teleologist
Biology and Philosophy, 8, p. 410.
[17] Mayr, Ernst W. (1992). The idea of teleologyJournal
of the History of Ideas, 53, 117135.
[18] Madrell SHP (1998) Why are there no insects in the open
sea? The Journal of Experimental Biology 201:2461
2464.
[19] Heidegger, Martin. ed. Krell, D. F. (1977). The Question Concerning Technology. Basic Writings. New York:
Harper & Row, Publishers. 289-290.
[20] Heidegger, Martin. ed. Krell, D. F. (1977). The Question Concerning Technology. Basic Writings. New York:
Harper & Row, Publishers. 293.
[21] Heidegger, Martin. ed. Krell, D. F. (1977). The Question Concerning Technology. Basic Writings. New York:
Harper & Row, Publishers. 294.
[22] Heidegger, Martin. ed. Krell, D. F. (1977). The Question Concerning Technology. Basic Writings. New York:
Harper & Row, Publishers. 295.
[23] Heidegger, Martin. ed. Krell, D. F. (1977). The Question Concerning Technology. Basic Writings. New York:
Harper & Row, Publishers. 315.
[24] Heidegger, Martin. ed. Krell, D. F. (1977). The Question Concerning Technology. Basic Writings. New York:
Harper & Row, Publishers. 294.

11.10 References
Cohen, Marc S.The Four Causes(Lecture Notes)
Accessed March 14, 2006.
Falcon, Andrea. Aristotle on Causality (link to section labeledFour Causes). Stanford Encyclopedia
of Philosophy 2008.
Hennig, Boris.The Four Causes.Journal of Philosophy 106(3), 2009, 13760.
Moravcsik, J.M.Aitia as generative factor in Aristotle's philosophy.Dialogue, 14 : pp 622638,
1975.
English translation of Study on Phideas, by Pa
Figueroa written with theme of Final Cause as per
Aristotle PDF le with references

CHAPTER 11. FOUR CAUSES

11.11 External links


The Consequences of Ideas: Understanding the
Concepts that Shaped Our World, By R. C. Sproul
Aristotle on denition. By Marguerite Deslauriers,
page 81
Philosophy in the ancient world: an introduction. By
James A. Arieti. p201.
Doctrine of Being in the Aristotelian Metaphysics.
By Joseph Owens and Etienne Gilson.
Aitia as generative factor in Aristotle's philosophy*
A Compass for the Imagination, by Harold C. Morris. Philosophy thesis elaborates on Aristotle's Theory of the Four Causes. Washington State University, 1981.

Chapter 12

Metaphysics (Aristotle)
Metaphysics (Greek: ; Latin: Metaphysica* [1]) is one of the principal works of Aristotle and
the rst major work of the branch of philosophy with the
same name. The principal subject is being qua being, or being understood as being. It examines what
can be asserted about anything that exists just because of
its existence and not because of any special qualities it
has. Also covered are dierent kinds of causation, form
and matter, the existence of mathematical objects, and a
prime-mover God.

12.1 Overview

though we believe we are surrounded by a world of things


that remain identical through time, this world is really in
ux, with no underlying structure or identity. By contrast,
Parmenides argued that we can reach certain conclusions
by means of reason alone, making no use of the senses.
What we acquire through the process of reason is xed,
unchanging and eternal. The world is not made up of a
variety of things in constant ux, but of one single Truth
or reality. Platos theory of forms is a synthesis of these
two views. Given, any object that changes is in an imperfect state. Then, the form of each object we see in
this world is an imperfect reection of the perfect form
of the object. For example, Plato claimed a chair may
take many forms, but in the perfect world there is only
one perfect form of chair.

The Metaphysics is considered to be one of the greatest philosophical works. Its inuence on the Greeks,
the Muslim philosophers, the scholastic philosophers and
even writers such as Dante, was immense. It is essentially
a reconciliation of Plato's theory of Forms that Aristotle acquired at the Academy in Athens, with the view of
the world given by common sense and the observations
of the natural sciences. According to Plato, the real nature of things is eternal and unchangeable. However, the
world we observe around us is constantly and perpetually
changing. Aristotles genius was to reconcile these two
apparently contradictory views of the world.* [2] The result is a synthesis of the naturalism of empirical science,
and the rationalism of Plato, that informed the Western
intellectual tradition for more than a thousand years.* [3]

Aristotle encountered the theory of forms when he studied at the Academy, which he joined at the age of about
18 in the 360s B.C.* [4] Aristotle soon expanded on the
concept of forms in his Metaphysics. He believed that in
every change there is something which persists through
the change (for example, Socrates), and something else
which did not exist before, but comes into existence as a
result of the change (musical Socrates). To explain how
Socrates comes to be born (since he did not exist before
he was born) Aristotle says that it is
matter
(hyle) that underlies the change. The matter has theformof Socrates
imposed on it to become Socrates himself. Thus all the
things around us, all substances, are composites of two
radically dierent things: form and matter. This doctrine
is sometimes known as Hylomorphism (from the Greek
At the heart of the book lie three questions. What is ex- words for matter and form).
istence, and what sorts of things exist in the world? How
can things continue to exist, and yet undergo the change
we see about us in the natural world? And how can this
12.2 Title, date, and the arrangeworld be understood?
By the time Aristotle was writing, the tradition of Greek
philosophy was only two hundred years old. It had begun
with the eorts of thinkers in the Greek world to theorize
about the common structure that underlies the changes we
observe in the natural world. Two contrasting theories,
those of Heraclitus and Parmenides, were an important
inuence on both Plato and Aristotle.

ment of the treatises

Subsequent to the arrangement of Aristotle's works by


scholars at Alexandria in the rst century CE, a number
of his treatises were referred to as
(ta meta ta fysika; literally, the [writings] after the
Physics"). This is the origin of the title for collection
Heraclitus argued that things that appear to be perma- of treatises now known as Aristotle's Metaphysics. Some
nent are in fact always gradually changing. Therefore, have interpreted the expression " " to
71

72

CHAPTER 12. METAPHYSICS (ARISTOTLE)


by later editors. However, Ross cautions that books A, B,
, E, Z, H, , M, N, and I with or without the insertion
of the others do not constitutea complete work.* [8]

12.3 Summary
12.3.1 Books IVI: Alpha, little Alpha,
Beta, Gamma, Delta and Epsilon
Book 7 of the Metaphysics: Ens dicitur multipliciter- the word
'being' is meant in many ways. It's translated from Greek into
Latin.

imply that the subject of the work goes beyondthat


of Aristotle's Physics or that it is metatheoretical in relation to the Physics. But others believe that "
" referred simply to the work's place in the
canonical arrangement of Aristotle's writings, which is at
least as old as Andronicus of Rhodes or even Hermippus
of Smyrna.* [5] Within the Aristotelian corpus itself,* [6]
the metaphysical treatises are referred to as
(literally, the [writings] concerning rst philosophy);rst philosophywas what Aristotle called the subjects of metaphysics. (He called the
study of nature or natural philosophy second philosophy(Metaphysics 1037a15).)

Book I or Alpha outlines rst philosophy, which is


a knowledge of the rst principles or causes of things.
The wise are able to teach because they know the why of
things, unlike those who only know that things are a certain way based on their memory and sensations. Because
of their knowledge of rst causes and principles they are
better tted to command, rather than to obey. Book Alpha also surveys previous philosophies from Thales to
Plato, especially their treatment of causes.
Book II or little alpha: The purpose of this chapter is
to address a possible objection to Aristotles account of
how we understand rst principles and thus acquire wisdom. Aristotle replies that the idea of an innite causal
series is absurd, and thus there must be a rst cause which
is not itself caused. This idea is developed later in book
Lambda, where he develops an argument for the existence of God.

It is notoriously dicult to specify the date at which Aristotle wrote these treatises as a whole or even individually,
especially because the Metaphysics is, in Jonathan Barnes'
words, a farrago, a hotch-potch, and more generally
because of the diculty of dating any of Aristotle's writings.* [7]

Book III or Beta lists the main problems or puzzles


( aporia) of philosophy.* [9]

It is almost certain that Aristotle did not write the books


in the order in which they have come down to us; their arrangement is due to later editors, and there is little reason
to think that it reects how Aristotle himself would have
arranged them. Based on a careful study of the content of
the books and of the cross-references within them, W.D.
Ross concluded that books A, B, , E, Z, H, , M, N, and
I form a more or less continuous work, while the remaining books were inserted into their present locations

target (, end or goal; , complete or perfect)


beyond themselves, they are superior. The study of being qua being, or First Philosophy, is superior to all the
other theoretical sciences because it is concerned the ultimate causes of all reality, not just the secondary causes
of a part of reality. The second concern of Epsilon is
proving that being ( ) considered per accidens (
) cannot be studied as a science. Per accidens being does not involve art (), nor does exist by

Book IV or Gamma: Chapters 2 and 3 argue for its status as a subject in its own right. The rest is a defense of (a)
what we now call the principle of contradiction, the principle that it is not possible for the same proposition to be
In the manuscripts, books are referred to by Greek let- (the case) and not to be (the case), and (b) what we now
call the principle of excluded middle: tertium non datur
ters. The second book was given the title little alpha,
apparently because it appears to have nothing to do with there cannot be an intermediary between contradictory
statements.
the other books (and, very early, it was supposed not to
have been written by Aristotle) or, although this is less Book V or Delta (philosophical lexicon) is a list of
likely, because of its shortness. This, then, disrupts the denitions of about fty key terms such as cause, nature,
correspondence of letters to numbers, as book 2 is little one, and many.
alpha, book 3 is beta, and so on. For many scholars, it Book VI or Epsilon has two main concerns. Aristotle
is customary to refer to the books by their letter names. is rst concerned with a hierarchy of the sciences. As
Thus book 1 is called Alpha (); 2, little alpha (); 3, we know, a science can be either productive, practical or
Beta (); 4, Gamma (); 5, Delta (); 6, Epsilon (); 7, theoretical. Because theoretical sciences study being or
Zeta (); 8, Eta (); 9, Theta (); 10, Iota (); 11, Kappa beings for their own sakefor example, Physics studies
(); 12, Lambda (); 13, Mu (); 14, Nu ().
beings that can be moved (1025b27)and do not have a

12.4. STYLE
necessity (per se or ), and therefore does not
deserve to be studied as a science. Aristotle dismisses
the study of the per accidens as a science t for Sophists,
a group whose philosophies (or lack thereof) he consistently rejects throughout the Metaphysics.

12.3.2

Books VII-IX: Zeta, Eta, and Theta

The Middle Books are generally considered the core of


the Metaphysics.

VII: Zeta
Book Zeta begins with the remark thatBeinghas many
senses. The purpose of philosophy is to understand being. The primary kind of being is what Aristotle calls
substance. What substances are there, and are there any
substances besides perceptible ones? Aristotle considers
four candidates for substance: (i) theessenceorwhat
it was to be a thing(ii) the Platonic universal, (iii) the
genus to which a substance belongs and (iv) the substratum or matterwhich underlies all the properties of a
thing. He dismisses the idea that matter can be substance,
for if we eliminate everything that is a property from what
can have the property, we are left with something that has
no properties at all. Such 'ultimate matter' cannot be substance. Separability and 'this-ness' are fundamental to our
concept of substance.

73
IX: Theta
Theta sets out to dene potentiality and actuality. Chapters 15 discuss potentiality. We learn that this term indicates the potential (, dunamis) of something
to change: potentiality is a principle of change in another thing or in the thing itself qua other(1046a9). In
chapter 6 Aristotle turns to actuality. We can only know
actuality through observation oranalogy;" thusas that
which builds is to that which is capable of building, so is
that which is awake to that which is asleep...or that which
is separated from matter to matter itself(1048b14).
Actuality is the completed state of something that had
the potential to be completed. The relationship between
actuality and potentiality can be thought of as the relationship between form and matter, but with the added aspect of time. Actuality and potentiality are diachronic
(across time) distinctions, whereas form and matter are
synchronic (at one time) distinctions.

12.3.3 Books XXIV: Iota,


Lambda, Mu, and Nu

Kappa,

Book X or Iota: Discussion of unity, one and many,


sameness and dierence.
Book XI or Kappa: Briefer versions of other chapters
and of parts of the Physics.

Book XII or Lambda: Further remarks on beings in


general, rst principles, and God or gods. This book
includes Aristotle's famous description of the unmoved
mover, the most divine of things observed by us, as
Chapters 412 are devoted to Aristotles own theory that the thinking of thinking.
essence is the criterion of substantiality. The essence of
something is what is included in a secundum se ('accord- Books XIII and XIV, or Mu and Nu: Philosophy of
ing to itself') account of a thing, i.e. which tells what a mathematics, in particular how numbers exist.
thing is by its very nature. You are not musical by your
very nature. But you are a human by your very nature.
Your essence is what is mentioned in the denition of 12.4 Style
you.
Chapters 1315 consider, and dismiss, the idea that substance is the universal or the genus, and are mostly an attack on the Platonic theory of Ideas. Aristotle argues that
if genus and species are individual things, then dierent
species of the same genus contain the genus as individual
thing, which leads to absurdities. Moreover, individuals
are incapable of denition.

Many scholars believe that Aristotle's works as we have


them today are little more than lecture notes.* [10] Many
of his works are extremely compressed and thus baing
to beginners. Nowhere is this more evident than in the
Metaphysics Ibn Sina (Avicenna), one of the greatest
Medieval Islamic philosophers, said that he had read the
Metaphysics of Aristotle forty times, but still did not unChapter 17 takes an entirely fresh direction, which turns derstand it. Only later, after having read al-Farabi's, Purposes of the Metaphysics of Aristotle, did he understand
on the idea that substance is really a cause.
Aristotle's book.* [11]
In the 19th century, with the rise of textual criticism,
the Metaphysics was examined anew. Critics, noting the
VIII: Eta
wide variety of topics and the seemingly illogical order of the books, concluded that it was actually a colBook Eta consists of a summary of what has been said so lection of shorter works thrown together haphazardly.
far (i.e., in Book Zeta) about substance, and adds a few Werner Jaeger further maintained that the dierent books
were taken from dierent periods of Aristotle's life.
further details regarding dierence and unity.

74

CHAPTER 12. METAPHYSICS (ARISTOTLE)

Everyman's Library, for their 1000th volume, published [11]



the Metaphysics in a rearranged order that was intended
.
to make the work easier for readers.

12.5 Translations and inuence



.

.

[ . See
'The Biography of Ibn Sn [Avicenna] According to the
Tabaqt of Ibn Ab Usayb]

Some of the earlier scholars of the Metaphysics were


Arabs, who relied on Arabic translations from early
Syriac translations from the Greek (see Medieval Philosophy). The book was lost in the Latin West from the collapse of Rome until the twelfth century. For a period, [12] Cited by Foster, in his translation of Aquinas' commentary
scholars relied on Latin translations of the Arabic. These
on the De Anima, Indiana 1994.
were sometimes inaccurate, having been through so many
stages of translation.
In the thirteenth century, following the Fourth Crusade,
the original Greek manuscripts became available. One of
the rst Latin translations was made by William of Moerbeke. William's translations are literal, and were intended
faithfully to reect the Greek word order and style. These
formed the basis of the commentaries of Albert the Great,
Thomas Aquinas and Duns Scotus. They were also used
by modern scholars for Greek editions, as William had
access to Greek manuscripts that are now lost. Werner
Jaeger lists William's translation in his edition of the
Greek text in the Scriptorum Classicorum Bibliotheca
Oxoniensis (Oxford 1962).* [12]

12.6 Notes
[1] Aristotelis Opera by August Immanuel Bekker (1837)
[2] Bertrand Russell said that Aristotle is Plato diluted by
common sense. History of Western Philosophy, chapter
19.
[3] Lawson-Tancred, introduction.
[4] Lawson-Tancred.
[5] W. D. Ross, Aristotle's Metaphysics (1953), vol. 1, p.
xxxii.
[6] e.g., in Movement of Animals 700b9.
[7] Jonathan Barnes, Life and Workin The Cambridge
Companion to Aristotle (1995), pp. 18-22."Farrago":
Barnes, Metaphysicsin The Cambridge Companion to
Aristotle, p. 58.
[8] Aristotle's Metaphysics (1953), vol. 1, p. xxiii.

12.7 See also


Energeia or Actus et potentia
Four causes
Categories

12.8 References
Greek text with commentary: Aristotle's Metaphysics. W.D. Ross. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1924. Reprinted 1953 with corrections.
Greek text: Aristotelis Metaphysica. Ed. Werner
Jaeger. Oxford Classical Texts. Oxford University
Press, 1957. ISBN 978-0-19-814513-4.
Greek text with English: Metaphysics. Trans. Hugh
Tredennick. 2 vols. Loeb Classical Library 271,
287. Harvard U. Press, 1933-35. ISBN 0-67499299-7, ISBN 0-674-99317-9.
Aristotle's Metaphysics. Trans. Hippocrates Gorgias
Apostle. Bloomington: Indiana U. Press, 1966.
Aristotle's Metaphysics. Trans. Joe Sachs. 2nd
ed. Santa Fe, N.M.: Green Lion, 2002. ISBN 1888009-03-9.
Thomas Aquinas. Commentary on Aristotle's Metaphysics. Trans. John P. Rowan. 1961; rpt. Notre
Dame, Ind.: Dumb Ox, 1995.

[9] Robert Maynard Hutchins (1952), Great Books of the


Western World 8: Aristotle, p. 495.

Copleston, Frederick, S.J. A History of Philosophy:


Volume I Greece and Rome (Parts I and II) New
York: Image Books, 1962.

[10] E.g. J.A.K. Thomson, The Ethics of Aristotle, (Penguin,


1953) p. 13 and E. Barker The Political Thought of Plato
and Aristotle (Dover, 1959) p. 65.

Aristotle's Metaphysics translated with an introduction by H. Lawson-Tancred. Penguin 1998.

12.9. EXTERNAL LINKS

12.9 External links


Works related to Metaphysics at Wikisource
Greek Wikisource has original text related to this
article:
Available bundled with Organon and other works
can be downloaded as .epub, .mobi and other formats.
English translation and original Greek at Perseus.
Translation by Hugh Tredennick from the Loeb
Classical Library.
English translation by W.D. Ross at The Classical
Library
Metaphysics at the Internet Classics Archive
Averroes' commentary on the Metaphysics, in Latin,
together with the 'old' (Arabic) and new translation
based on Moerbeke. Digitized at Gallica.
Aristotle: Metaphysics entry by Joe Sachs in the
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Aristotle's Metaphysics entry by S. Marc Cohen in
the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Metaphysics Audiobook at LibriVox.org (public domain)
A good summary of scholarly comments at: Theory
and History of Ontology

75

Chapter 13

Aristotle's theory of universals


Aristotle's theory of universals is one of the classic solutions to the problem of universals. Universals are types,
properties, or relations that are common to their various
instances. In Aristotle's view, universals exist only where
they are instantiated; they exist only in things (in Latin, it
is said they exist in re, which means in things), never
apart from things. Furthermore, Aristotle said that a universal is identical in each of its instances. So all red things
are similar in that there is the same universal, redness, in
each thing. There is no Platonic Form of Redness, standing apart from all red things; instead, each red thing has
a copy of the same property, redness.

ing a generic concept such as human being. The child is


marshaling their memories of various encounters with a
human specimen in such a way that the universal genus
stands in for the essential similarity that stands out, on reection, in each instance. Today, it might be said that one
mentally extracts from each thing the quality that they all
have in common. When the child gets the concept of a human being, he or she has learned to ignore the accidental
details of their past experiences, (tall or short, male or female, etc.) and pay attention to the relevant quality they
all have in common, namely, humanity. On Aristotle's
view, the universal humanity is a natural kind dened by
To further esh out Aristotle's theory of universals, it is the essential properties that all humans have in common.
useful to consider how the theory might satisfy the constraints on theories of universals, (see problem of univer13.1 See also
sals).
First of all, on Aristotle's view, universals can be instantiated multiple times. Aristotle stresses, after all, the one
and the same universal, applehood (say), appears in each
apple. Common sense might detect a problem here, a
problem that can arise for other forms of realism about
universals as well, namely: how to make sense of what is
exactly the same in all of these dierent things? That,
after all, is what the theory says: to say that dierent
deserts, the Sahara, the Atacama, and the Gobi are all dry
places, is just to say that each place is exactly the same
(qualitatively) in terms of dryness, or in so far as being a
dry place (not that each place is quantitatively dry to exactly the same degree). This may seem troubling if universals are thought to be like physical objects, but Aristotle is talking about a dierent category of being. So
a common defense of realism (and hence of Aristotle's
realism) is that we should not expect universals to separately behave as an ordinary physical object itself would
do. To say the same universal, dryness, occurs simultaneously in all these places, after all, is nothing more strange
than saying each place is dry, ex hypothesi.
Are Aristotelian universals abstract? If so, then for example, how does one abstract the concept of redness from
one or more red things?
It will help to explain something about concept formation
or generalization, according to Aristotle. Consider what
a young child does, who is just on the verge of grasp-

76

Aristotle
Hylomorphism
Problem of universals

Chapter 14

Aristotelian ethics
Aristotle rst used the term "ethics" to name a eld of 14.1 Three ethical treatises
study developed by his predecessors Socrates and Plato.
Philosophical ethics is the attempt to oer a rational re- Three Aristotelian ethical works survive today which are
sponse to the question of how humans should best live. considered to be either by Aristotle, or from relatively
Aristotle regarded ethics and politics as two related but soon after:
separate elds of study, since ethics examines the good
of the individual, while politics examines the good of the
Nicomachean Ethics, abbreviated as the NE or
city-state (Greek polis).
sometimes (from the Latin version of the name) as
Aristotle's writings have been read more or less continthe EN. The NE is in 10 books, and is the most
uously since ancient times,* [1] and his ethical treatises
widely read of Aristotle's ethical treatises.
in particular continue to inuence philosophers working
Eudemian Ethics, often abbreviated as the EE.
today. Aristotle emphasized the importance of developing excellence (virtue) of character (Greek ethik aret),
Magna Moralia, often abbreviated as the MM.
as the way to achieve what is nally more important, excellent activity (Greek energeia). As Aristotle argues in
Book II of the Nicomachean Ethics, the man who pos- The exact origins of these texts is unclear, although they
sesses character excellence does the right thing, at the were already considered the works of Aristotle in ancient
right time, and in the right way. Bravery, and the cor- times. Textual oddities suggest that they may not have
rect regulation of one's bodily appetites, are examples been put in their current form by Aristotle himself. For
of character excellence or virtue. So acting bravely and example, Books IV-VI of Eudemian Ethics also appear as
acting temperately are examples of excellent activities. Books V-VII of Nicomachean Ethics. The authenticity of
The highest aims are living well and eudaimonia a Greek the Magna Moralia has been doubted,* [3] whereas almost
word often translated as well-being, happiness orhuman no modern scholar doubts that Aristotle wrote the Nicoourishing.* [2] Like many ethicists, Aristotle regards machean Ethics and the Eudemian Ethics himself, even if
excellent activity as pleasurable for the man of virtue. For an editor also played some part in giving us those texts in
example, Aristotle thinks that the man whose appetites their current forms.
are in the correct order actually takes pleasure in acting The Nicomachean Ethics has received the most scholarly
moderately.
attention, and is the most easily available to modern readAristotle emphasized that virtue is practical, and that the
purpose of ethics is to become good, not merely to know.
Aristotle also claims that the right course of action depends upon the details of a particular situation, rather
than being generated merely by applying a law. The type
of wisdom which is required for this is calledprudence
orpractical wisdom(Greek phronesis), as opposed to
the wisdom of a theoretical philosopher (Greek sophia).
But despite the importance of practical decision making,
in the nal analysis the original Aristotelian and Socratic
answer to the question of how best to live, at least for the
best types of human, was to live the life of philosophy.

ers in many dierent translations and editions. Some critics consider the Eudemian Ethics to be less mature,
while others, such as Kenny (1978),* [4] contend that the
Eudemian Ethics is the more mature, and therefore later,
work.
Traditionally it was believed that the Nicomachean Ethics
and the Eudemian Ethics were either edited by or dedicated to Aristotle's son and pupil Nicomachus and his
disciple Eudemus, respectively, although the works themselves do not explain the source of their names. Although
Aristotle's father was also called Nicomachus, Aristotle's
son was the next leader of Aristotle's school, the Lyceum,
and in ancient times he was already associated with this
work.* [5]
A fourth treatise, Aristotle's Politics, is often regarded as
the sequel to the Ethics, in part because Aristotle closes

77

78

CHAPTER 14. ARISTOTELIAN ETHICS

the Nicomachean Ethics by saying that his ethical inquiry


has laid the groundwork for an inquiry into political questions (NE X.1181b6-23). Aristotle's Ethics also states
that the good of the individual is subordinate to the good
of the city-state, or polis.

sial matters such as those concerning what is just or


what is beautiful.* [6] (From this starting point however, he built up to similar theoretical conclusions
concerning the importance of intellectual virtue and
a contemplative life.)* [7]

Fragments also survive from Aristotle's Protrepticus, another work which dealt with ethics.

Rather than discussing only four "cardinal virtues"


of Plato (courage, temperance, justice, and
prudence), all three of the ethical works, starts
with courage and temperance as the two typical
moral virtues which can be described as a mean,
then discusses a whole range of minor virtues
and vices which can be described as a mean, and
only then discusses justice and the intellectual
virtues. Aristotle places prudence (phronsis, often
translated as practical wisdom) amongst these
intellectual virtues. (Nevertheless, like Plato he
eventually says that all the highest forms of the
moral virtues require each other, and all require
intellectual virtue, and in eect that the happiest
and most virtuous life is that of a philosopher.)* [8]

14.2 Aristotle as a Socratic


Some scholars regarded Aristotle as a Socratic thinker.
Aristotle's ethics builds upon earlier Greek thought, particularly that of his teacher Plato and Plato's teacher,
Socrates. While Socrates left no written works, and Plato
wrote dialogues and a few letters, Aristotle wrote treatises
in which he sets forth philosophical doctrines directly. To
be more precise, Aristotle did write dialogues, but they
unfortunately survive only in fragments.
According to Aristotle in his Metaphysics, Socrates was
the rst Greek philosopher to concentrate on ethics, although he apparently did not give it this name, as a philosophical inquiry concerning how people should best live.
Aristotle dealt with this same question but giving it two
names, the political(or Politics) and the ethical
(Ethics), both with Politics being the name for the two
together as the more important part. The original Socratic questioning on ethics started at least partly as a response to sophism, which was a popular style of education
and speech at the time. Sophism emphasized rhetoric,
and argument, and therefore often involved criticism of
traditional Greek religion and irtation with moral relativism.
Aristotle's ethics, or study of character, is built around
the premise that people should achieve an excellent character (a virtuous character, "ethik aret" in Greek) as a
pre-condition for attaining happiness or well-being (eudaimonia). It is sometimes referred to in comparison
to later ethical theories as a character based ethics.
Like Plato and Socrates he emphasized the importance of
reason for human happiness, and that there were logical
and natural reasons for humans to behave virtuously, and
try to become virtuous.

Aristotle emphasizes throughout all his analyses of


virtues that they aim at what is beautiful (kalos), effectively equating the good, at least for humans, with
the beautiful (to kalon).* [9]
Aristotle's analysis of ethics makes use of his metaphysical theory of potentiality and actuality. He denes happiness in terms of this theory as an actuality
(energeia); the virtues which allow happiness (and
enjoyment of the best and most constant pleasures)
are dynamic-but-stable dispositions (hexeis) which
are developed through habituation; and this pleasure
in turn is another actuality that compliments the actuality of happy living.* [10]

14.3 Practical ethics

Aristotle believed that ethical knowledge is not only a


theoretical knowledge, but rather that a person must have
experience of the actions in lifeand have beenbrought
up in ne habitsto become good (NE 1095a3 and b5).
For a person to become virtuous, he can't simply study
Aristotle's treatment of the subject is distinct in several what virtue is, but must actually do virtuous things.
ways from that found in Plato's Socratic dialogues.
Aristotle's presentation is obviously dierent from
Plato's because he does not write in dialogues, but
in treatises. Apart from this dierence, Aristotle
explicitly stated that his presentation was dierent
from Plato's because he started from whatever could
be agreed upon by well brought-up gentlemen, and
not from any attempt to develop a general theory of
what makes anything good. He explained that it was
necessary not to aim at too much accuracy at the
starting point of any discussion to do with controver-

14.4 Aristotle's starting point


The Aristotelian Ethics all aim to begin with approximate
but uncontroversial starting points. In the Nicomachean
Ethics Aristotle says explicitly that one must begin with
what is familiar to us, andthe thatorthe fact that(NE
I.1095b2-13). Ancient commentators agree that Aristotle means here that his treatise must rely upon practical,
everyday knowledge of virtuous actions as the starting
points of his inquiry, and that he is supposing that his

14.6. FOUR CARDINAL VIRTUES

79

readers will have some kind of experienced understand- gets angry too easily is hot-headed, but the man who does
ing of such actions, and value noble and just actions to at not get angry easily enough is soft. This so-called docleast some degree.* [11]
trine of the meanis one of the best-known aspects of
Aristotle's
ethics. As Aristotle himself remarks, it is still
Elsewhere, Aristotle also seems to rely upon common
possible
to
be extremely brave,but what this actually
conceptions of how the world works. In fact, some regard
means
is
to
be extremely close to the mean. It is also a
his ethical inquiries as using a method that relies upon
mistake
to
suppose
that the mean is some mechanical avpopular opinion (his so-called endoxic methodfrom
erage
of
the
excess
and
deciency. For example, Aristotle
the Grk. endoxa). There is some dispute, however, about
thinks that knowingly going to one's death is sometimes
exactly how such common conceptions t into Aristotle's
method in his ethical treatises,* [12] particularly since he the right thing to do, but such an action is not moderate
in the usual sense of that word.
also makes use of more formal arguments, especially the
so-calledfunction argument,which is described below. Aristotle distinguishes the disposition to feel emotions
Aristotle describes popular accounts about what life of a certain kind from virtue and vice. But such emowould be happy as dividing into three most common tional dispositions may also lie at a mean between two
types: a life dedicated to vulgar pleasure; a life dedicated extremes, and these are also to some extent a result of
to fame and honor; or a life dedicated to contemplation up-bringing and habituation. Two examples of such dis(NE I.1095b17-19). To reach his own conclusion about positions would be modesty, or a tendency to feel shame,
the best life, however, Aristotle tries to isolate the func- which Aristotle discusses in NE IV.9; and righteous intion of humans. The argument he develops here is ac- dignation (nemesis), which is a balanced feeling of symthe undeserved pleasures and
cordingly widely known asthe function argument,and pathetic pain concerning
*
pains
of
others.
[15]
Exactly
which habitual dispositions
is among the most-discussed arguments made by any anare
virtues
or
vices
and
which
only
concern emotions, dif*
cient philosopher. [13] He argues that while humans unfers
between
the
dierent
works
which
have survived, but
dergo nutrition and growth, so do other living things, and
the
basic
examples
are
consistent,
as
is
the basis for diswhile humans are capable of perception, this is shared
tinguishing
them
in
principle.
with animals (NE I.1098b22-1098a15). Thus neither of
these characteristics is particular to humans. According
to Aristotle, what remains and what is distinctively human is reason. Thus he concludes that the human function
is some kind of excellent exercise of the intellect. And,
since Aristotle thinks that practical wisdom rules over the
character excellences, exercising such excellences is one
way to exercise reason and thus fulll the human function.

Some people, despite intending to do the right thing,


cannot act according to their own choice. For example, someone may choose to refrain from eating chocolate cake, but nds himself eating the cake contrary to
his own choice. Such a failure to act in a way that is consistent with one's own decision is called "akrasia", and
may be translated as weakness of will, incontinence, or
One common objection to Aristotle's function argument lack of self-mastery.
is that it uses descriptive or factual premises to derive conclusions about what is good.* [14] Such arguments are often thought to run afoul of the is-ought gap.
14.6 Four Cardinal Virtues

14.5 Moral virtue


Moral virtue, or excellence of character, is the disposition (Grk hexis) to act excellently, which a person develops partly as a result of his upbringing, and partly as a
result of his habit of action. Aristotle develops his analysis of character in Book II of the Nicomachean Ethics,
where he makes this argument that character arises from
habitlikening ethical character to a skill that is acquired
through practice, such as learning a musical instrument.
In Book III of the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle argues
that a person's character is voluntary, since it results from
many individual actions which are under his voluntary
control.

I. Prudence
II. Temperance
III. Courage
IV. Justice
I. Prudence, also known as practical wisdom, is the most
important virtue for Aristotle. In war, soldiers must ght
with prudence by making judgments through practical
wisdom. This virtue is a must to obtain because courage
requires judgments to be made.

II. Temperance, or self-control, simply means moderation. Soldiers must display moderation with their enjoyment while at war in the midst of violent activities. Temperance concerning courage gives one moderation in priAristotle also claims that each specic character excel- vate which leads to moderation in public.
lence lies between an excess and a deciency, each of III. Courage, the one we will focus on in this article, is
which is a dierent vice that deviates in some way from moderation or observance of the mean with respect to
the virtuous character state. For example, the man who feelings of fear and condence.Courage isobservance

80

CHAPTER 14. ARISTOTELIAN ETHICS

of the mean with regard to things that excite condence


or fear, under the circumstances which we have specied,
and chooses its course and sticks to its post because it
is noble to do so, or because it is disgraceful not to do
so.Concerning warfare, Aristotle believes soldiers are
morally signicant and are military and political heroes.
War is simply a stage for soldiers to display courage, and
is the only way courage can be exemplied. Any other
action by a human is simply them copying a soldiers
ways; they are not actually courageous.

educated judge is needed to apply just decisions regarding any particular case. This is where we get the image
of the scales of justice, the blindfolded judge symbolizing blind justice, balancing the scales, weighing all the
evidence and deliberating each particular case individually.

IV. Justice means giving the enemy what is due to them in


the proper ways; being just toward them. In other words,
one must recognize what is good for the community and
one must undertake a good course of action.

In his ethical works, Aristotle describes eudaimonia as


the highest human good. In Book I of the Nicomachean
Ethics he goes on to identify eudaimonia as the excellent
exercise of the intellect, leaving it open whether he means
practical activity or intellectual activity. With respect to
practical activity, in order to exercise any one of the practical excellences in the highest way, a person must possess
all the others. Aristotle therefore describes several apparently dierent kinds of virtuous person as necessarily
having all the moral virtues, excellences of character.

Vices of courage must also be identied which are cowardice and recklessness. Soldiers who are not prudent act
with cowardice, and soldiers who do not have temperance act with recklessness. One should not be unjust toward their enemy no matter the circumstance. On another
note, one becomes virtuous by rst imitating another who
exemplies such virtuous characteristics, practicing such
ways in their daily lives, turning those ways into customs
and habits by performing them each and every day, and
nally, connecting or uniting the four of them together.

14.8 The highest good

Being of great soul(magnanimity), the virtue


where someone would be truly deserving of the
highest praise and have a correct attitude towards
the honor this may involve. This is the rst such
case mentioned in the Nicomachean Ethics.* [16]

Only soldiers can exemplify such virtues because war demands soldiers to exercise disciplined and rm virtues,
but war does everything in its power to shatter the virtues
Being just in the true sense. This is the type of jusit demands. Since virtues are very fragile, they must be
tice or fairness of a good ruler in a good commupracticed always, for if they are not practiced they will
nity.* [17]
weaken and eventually disappear. One who is virtuous
Phronesis or practical wisdom, as shown by good
has to avoid the enemies of virtue which are indierleaders.* [18]
ence or persuasion that something should not be done,
self-indulgence or persuasion that something can wait and
The virtue of being a truly good friend.* [19]
does not need to be done at that moment, and despair
or persuasion that something simply cannot be accom Having the nobility kalokagathia of a gentleplished anyway. In order for one to be virtuous they
man.* [20]
must display prudence, temperance, courage, and justice;
moreover, they have to display all four of them and not
Aristotle also says, for example in NE Book VI, that such
just one or two to be virtuous.
a complete virtue requires intellectual virtue, not only
practical virtue, but also theoretical wisdom. Such a virtuous person, if they can come into being, will choose the
most pleasant and happy life of all, which is the philo14.7 Justice
sophical life of contemplation and speculation.
Aristotle devotes Book V of the Nicomachean Ethics to
justice (this is also Book IV of the Eudemian Ethics). In
this discussion, Aristotle denes justice as having two different but related sensesgeneral justice and particular
justice. General justice is virtue expressed in relation to
other people. Thus the just man in this sense deals properly and fairly with others, and expresses his virtue in his
dealings with themnot lying or cheating or taking from
others what is owed to them. Particular justice is the correct distribution of just deserts to others. For Aristotle,
such justice is proportionalit has to do with people receiving what is proportional to their merit or their worth.
In his discussion of particular justice, Aristotle says an

Aristotle claims that a human's highest functioning must


include reasoning, being good at what sets humans apart
from everything else. Or, as Aristotle explains it, The
function of man is activity of soul in accordance with reason, or at least not without reason.He identies two different ways in which the soul can engage: reasoning (both
practical and theoretical) and following reasoning. A person that does this is the happiest because they are fullling
their purpose or nature as found in the rational soul.
(The wise person will) be more than human.
A man will not live like that by virtue of his
humanness, but by virtue of some divine thing

14.10. AS LISTED IN THE CORPUS ARISTOTELICUM


within him. His activity is as superior to the
activity of the other virtues as this divine thing
is to his composite character. Now if mind is
divine in comparison with man, the life of the
mind is divine in comparison with mere human
life. We should not follow popular advice and,
being human, have only mortal thoughts, but
should become immortal and do everything toward living the best in us. (NE 10.7)

81
est. Modern science develops theories about the physical world based on experiments and careful observation
in particular, on the basis of exact measurements of
time and distance. Aristotle, on the other hand, bases his
science largely on qualitative and non-experimental observation. Accordingly, he made some inaccurate claims
which have been overturnedsuch as the claim that objects of dierent mass accelerate at dierent rates due to
gravity.

On the other hand, The Nicomachean Ethics continues to


In other words, the thinker is not only the 'best' person, be relevant to philosophers today. In fact, Virtue Ethics
but is also most like God.
takes its inspiration from Aristotle's approach to ethics
in particular, sharing his emphasis on character excellence, and ethical psychology. Some philosophers, in
particular Bernard Williams, regard Aristotle's ethics as
14.9 Inuence on later thinkers
superior to the Utilitarian and Kantian traditions, which
have come to be the dominant approaches to philosophSee also: University of Magnaura
ical ethics. Aristotle's well-known function argument is
less commonly accepted today, since he seems to use it in
Aristotle's writings were taught in the Academy in Athens order to develop a claim about human perfection from an
until 529 CE when the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I observation from what is distinctive about man. But the
closed down non-Christian schools of philosophy.
exact role of the function argument in Aristotle's ethical
Aristotle's work however continued to be taught as a part theory is itself a matter of dispute.
of secular education. Aristotle's teachings spread through
the Mediterranean and the Middle East, where some early
Islamic regimes allowed rational philosophical descriptions of the natural world. Alfarabi was a major inuence in all medieval philosophy and wrote many works
which included attempts to reconcile the ethical and political writings of Plato and Aristotle. Later Avicenna,
and later still Averroes, were Islamic philosophers who
commented on Aristotle as well as writing their own philosophy in Arabic. Averroes, a European Muslim, was
particularly inuential in turn upon European Christian
philosophers, theologians and political thinkers.
In the twelfth century, Latin translations of Aristotle's
works were made, enabling the Dominican priest Albert
the Great and his pupil Thomas Aquinas to synthesize
Aristotle's philosophy with Christian theology. Later
the medieval church scholasticism in Western Europe insisted on Thomist views and suppressed non-Aristotelian
metaphysics. Aquinas' writings are full of references to
Aristotle, and he wrote a commentary on Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. Aquinas also departed from Aristotle in
certain respects. In particular, his Summa Theologica argued that Eudaimonia or human ourishing was held to
be a temporary goal for this life, but perfect happiness as
the ultimate goal could only be attained in the next life by
the virtuous. Aquinas also added new theological virtues
were added to Arstotle's system: faith, hope and charity.
And supernatural assistance could help people to achieve
virtue. Nevertheless, much of Aristotle's ethical thought
remained intact in Aquinas.

14.10 As listed in the Corpus Aristotelicum


14.11 References
[1]Roman Aristotle,in Philosophia Togata II: Plato and
Aristotle at Rome, Oxford University Press (Oxford:
1997), pp. 1-69.
[2] Nicomachean Ethics, trans. T.H. Irwin, Introduction.
Hackett Publishing Company (Indianapolis: 1999) xv.
[3] But for an argument that the Magna Moralia's philosophical content (if not the language) is authentically Aristotle's, see: John M. Cooper, The Magna Moralia and
Aristotle's Moral Philosophy,in The American Journal
of Philology 94.4 (Winter, 1973): pp. 327-349.
[4] The Aristotelian Ethics: A Study of the Relationship between the Eudemian and Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle,
(Oxford 1978).
[5] Cicero mentioned him in De Finibus.
[6] NE Book I, EE Book I
[7] NE end of Book VI and end of Book X. Also see Burger
(2008).
[8] Burger (2008)
[9] Burger (2008); Sachs (2002)

In modern times, Aristotle's writings on ethics remain


[10] NE Book X
among the most inuential in his broad corpus, along with
The Rhetoric, and The Poetics, while his scientic writ- [11] See M.F. Burnyeat, Aristotle on Learning to be Good,
in Essays on Aristotle's Ethics, ed. Rorty (1980) pg. 71-72.
ings tend to be viewed as of more strictly historical inter-

82

[12] Martha Nussbaum, for example, has argued that Aristotle's so-called endoxic method, described at NE
VII.1145b1 . is in fact Aristotle's general philosophical method. See Nussbaum, Fragility of Goodness (Cambridge: 1986/2001) pp. 240 .
[13] As noted by Rachel Barney, Aristotle's Argument for a
Human Function,in Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy
34 (Summer 2008) pg. 3.
[14] As noted by Jennifer Whiting in an article that defends the
argument. See Whiting,Aristotle's Function Argument:
A DefenseAncient Philosophy 8, pg. 35.
[15] EE III.vii. Also see MM.
[16] It is mentioned within the initial discussion of practical
examples of virtues and vices at Book IV.1123b.
[17] This description occurs for example during the special discussion of the virtue (or virtues) of justice at 1129b in
Book V.
[18] Mentioned in this way at 1144b in Book VI.1144b.
[19] Book VIII.1157a
[20] Eudemian Ethics Book VIII, chapter 3.

14.12 Further reading


14.13 External links
Joe Sachs, Aristotle: Ethics in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Aristotle's Ethics at Project Gutenberg.
Aristotle's Ethics entry by Richard Kraut in the
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Bibliography on Aristotelian Ethics maintained at
the Centre for Contemporary Aristotelian Studies
in Ethics and Politics, London Metropolitan University.

CHAPTER 14. ARISTOTELIAN ETHICS

Chapter 15

Nicomachean Ethics
The Nicomachean Ethics (/nkmkin/) is the name
normally given to Aristotle's best-known work on ethics.
The work, which plays a pre-eminent role in dening
Aristotelian ethics, consists of ten books, originally separate scrolls, and is understood to be based on notes from
his lectures at the Lyceum, which were either edited by
or dedicated to Aristotle's son, Nicomachus.

totelian tradition in practical thinking had become a great


impediment to practical political thinking in their time.
However in more recent generations, Aristotle's original works (if not that of his medieval followers) have
once again become an important source. More recent authors inuenced by this work include Alasdair MacIntyre,
Hans-Georg Gadamer and Martha Nussbaum.

The theme of the work is the Socratic question which


had previously been explored in Plato's works, of how
men should best live. In his Metaphysics, Aristotle described how Socrates turned philosophy to human questions, whereas Pre-Socratic philosophy had only been
theoretical. Ethics, as now separated out for discussion by
Aristotle, is practical rather than theoretical, in the original Aristotelian senses of these terms.* [1] In other words,
it is not only a contemplation about good living, but also
aims to create good living. It is therefore connected to
Aristotle's other practical work, Politics, which similarly
aims at people becoming good. However ethics is about
how individuals should best live, while the study of politics is from the perspective of a law-giver, looking at the
good of a whole community.
The Nicomachean Ethics is widely considered one of the
most important historical philosophical works, and had
an important impact upon the European Middle Ages,
becoming one of the core works of medieval philosophy. It therefore indirectly became critical in the development of all modern philosophy as well as European law
and theology. Many parts of the Nicomachean Ethics are
well known in their own right, within dierent elds. In
the Middle Ages, a synthesis between Aristotelian ethics
and Christian theology became widespread, especially
in Europe. While various philosophers had inuenced
Christendom since its earliest times, in Western Europe
Aristotle becamethe Philosopherunder the inuence
of the Spanish Muslim philosopher Averroes. The most
important version of this synthesis was that of Thomas
of Aquinas. Other more "Averroist" Aristotelians such as
Marsilius of Padua were controversial but also very important. A critical period in the history of this work's
inuence is at the end of the Middle Ages, and beginning of modernity, when several authors such as Niccol
Machiavelli, Francis Bacon and Thomas Hobbes, argued
forcefully and largely successfully that the medieval Aris-

First page of a 1566 edition of the Nicomachean Ethics in Greek


and Latin.

15.1 Title and abbreviations


The English version of the title derives from Greek
, transliterated Ethika Nikomacheia,
which is sometimes also given in the genitive form as
, Ethikn Nikomachein. The
Latin, which is also commonly used, can be thica Nico-

83

84
macha or, De Moribus ad Nicomachum.

CHAPTER 15. NICOMACHEAN ETHICS


Aristotle does not however equate character with habit
(ethos in Greek, with a short e) because real character involves conscious choice, unlike habit. Instead of
being habit, character is a hexis like health or knowledge,
meaning it is a stable disposition which must be pursued
and maintained with some eort. However, good habits
are described as a precondition for good character. (Similarly, in Latin, the language of medieval European philosophy, the habits are mrs, giving us modern English
words likemoral. Aristotle's term for virtue of character (ethik aret) is traditionally translated with the Latinate term moral virtue. Latin virtus, is derived from
the word vir meaning man, and became the traditional
translation of Greek aret.)

The Nicomachean Ethics is very often abbreviatedNE,


orEN, and books and chapters are generally referred
to by Roman and Arabic numerals, respectively, along
with corresponding Bekker numbers. (Thus, NE II.2,
1103b1means Nicomachean Ethics, book II, chapter
2, Bekker page 1103, Bekker column b, line number 1
.) In many ways this work parallels the similar Eudemian
Ethics, which has only eight books, and the two works can
be fruitfully compared. Books V, VI, and VII of the Nicomachean Ethics are identical to Books IV, V, and VI of
the Eudemian Ethics. Opinions about the relationship between the two works, for example which was written rst,
and which originally contained the three common books,
are divided.
Aristotle then turns to examples, reviewing some of specic ways in which people are generally thought worthy
of blame or praise. As he proceeds, he comes to describe
how the highest types of praise, so the highest types of
15.2 Synopsis
virtue, imply having all the virtues of character, and these
in turn imply not just good character, but a kind of wis*
Aristotle argues that the correct approach in studying such dom. [5] The four virtues that he says require the possescontroversial subjects as Ethics or Politics, which involve sion of all the ethical virtues together are:
discussing what is true about what is beautiful or just, is
to start with what would be roughly agreed to be true by
people of good up-bringing and experience in life, and to
work from there to a higher understanding.* [2]

Being of great soul(magnanimity), the virtue


where someone would be truly deserving of the
highest praise and have a correct attitude towards
the honor this may involve. This is the rst case
mentioned, and it is mentioned within the initial discussion of practical examples of virtues and vices at
1123b Book IV.* [6]

Taking this approach, Aristotle begins by saying that the


highest good for humans, the highest aim of all human
practical thinking, is eudaimonia, a Greek word often
translated as well-being or happiness. Aristotle in turn argues that happiness is properly understood as an on-going
The type of justice or fairness of a good ruler in
and stable dynamic, a way of being in action (energeia),
a good community is then given a similar descripspecically appropriate to the human "soul" (psuch), at
tion, during the special discussion of the virtue (or
its mostexcellentor virtuous (virtue representing aret
virtues) of justice at 1129b in Book V.* [7]
in Greek). If there are several virtues the best and most
complete or perfect of them will be the happiest one. An
Phronesis or practical judgment as shown by good
excellent human will be a person good at living life, who
leaders is the next to be mentioned in this way at
does it well and beautifully (kalos). Aristotle says that
1144b in Book VI.* [8]
such a person would also be a serious (spoudaios) human
being, in the same sense of seriousthat one contrasts
The virtue of being a truly good friend is the nal
serious harpists with other harpists. He also asserts as
example at 1157a in Book VIII.* [9]
part of this starting point that virtue for a human must
involve reason in thought and speech (logos), as this is This style of building up a picture wherein it becomes
an aspect (an ergon, literally meaning a task or work) of clear that praiseworthy virtues in their highest form, even
human living.* [3]
virtues like courage, seem to require intellectual virtue,
From this starting point, Aristotle goes into discussion is a theme of discussion which Aristotle chooses to asof what ethics, a term Aristotle helped develop, means. sociate in the Nicomachean Ethics with Socrates, and inAristotelian Ethics is about what makes a virtuous char- deed it is an approach we nd portrayed in the Socratic
acter (ethik aret) possible, which is in turn necessary dialogues of Plato.* [10] Aristotle also does this himself,
if happiness is to be possible. He describes a sequence and though he professes to work dierently from Plato
of necessary steps in order to achieve this: righteous ac- by trying to start with what well-brought up men would
tions, often done under the inuence of teachers, allow agree with, by book VII, Aristotle eventually comes to
the development of the right habits, which in turn can al- argue that the highest of all human virtues is itself not
low the development of a good stable character in which practical, being contemplative wisdom (theria 1177a).
the habits are voluntary, and this in turn gives a chance of But achieving this supreme condition is inseparable from
achieving eudaimonia.* [4] Character is thos in Greek, achieving all the virtues of character, or moral virtues
related to modern words such as ethics, ethical and ethos. .* [11]

15.3. BOOK I
The way in which Aristotle sketches the highest good for
man involving both a practical and a theoretical side, with
the two sides necessary for each other, is also in the tradition of Socrates and Plato, as opposed to pre-Socratic
philosophy. As Burger (2008) points out (p. 212):-The
Ethics does not end at its apparent peak, identifying perfect happiness with the life devoted to theria; instead it
goes on to introduce the need for a study of legislation,
on the grounds that it is not sucient only to know about
virtue, but one should try to put that knowledge to use.At
the end of the book, according to Burger, the thoughtful
reader is led to understand thatthe end we are seeking is
what we have been doingwhile engaging with the Ethics
(p. 215).

15.3 Book I
Book I attempts to both dene the subject matter itself
and justify the method which has been chosen (in chapters 3, 4, 6 and 7). As part of this, Aristotle considers
common opinions along with the opinions of poets and
philosophers.

15.3.1

Who should study ethics, and how

Concerning accuracy and whether ethics can be treated


in an objective way, Aristotle points out that the things
that are beautiful and just, about which politics investigates, involve great disagreement and inconsistency, so
that they are thought to belong only to convention and not
to nature". For this reason Aristotle claims it is important
not to demand too much precision, like the demonstrations we would demand from a mathematician, but rather
to treat the beautiful and the just as things that are so
for the most part. We can do this because people are
good judges of what they are acquainted with, but this in
turn implies that the young (in age or in character), being
inexperienced, are not suitable for study of this type of
political subject.* [12]
Chapter 6 contains a famous digression in which Aristotle appears to question his friendswho introduced
the forms, what is now known as the Theory of Forms,
by which he is understood to be referring to Plato and
his school, for while both the truth and one's friends
are loved it is a sacred thing to give the highest honor
to the truth. The section is yet another explanation of
why the Ethics will not start from rst principles, which
would mean starting out by trying to discussThe Good
as a universal thing which all things called good have
in common. Aristotle says that while all the dierent
things called good do not seem to have the same name
by chance, it is perhaps better to let go for nowbecause this attempt at precision would be more at home
in another type of philosophic inquiry, and would not
seem to be helpful for discussing how particular humans

85
should act, in the same way that doctors do not need to
philosophize over the denition of health in order to treat
each case.* [13]

15.3.2 Dening happiness(eudaimonia)


and the aim of the Ethics
The main stream of discussion starts in Chapter 1, from
an assertion that all making, investigating (every methodos, like the Ethics itself), all deliberate actions and
choice, all aim at some good. Aristotle points to the fact
that many aims are really only intermediate aims, and are
desired only because they make the achievement of higher
aims possible.* [14]
In chapter 2, Aristotle asserts that there is one highest
aim, eudaimonia (traditionally translated ashappiness
), and it must be the same as politics should have, because
what is best for an individual is less beautiful (kalos) and
divine (theios) than what is good for a people (ethnos) or
city (polis). The aim of political capacity should include
the aim of all other pursuits, so that this end would be
the human good (tanthrpinon agathon)" a term which
contrasts with Plato's references to the Good itself.
He concludes what is now known as Chapter 2 of Book 1
by stating that ethics (our investigationor methodos)
is in a certain way political.* [15]
Chapter 3 goes on to elaborate on exactness in its relation to the sought conclusions of actions. It is determined
that the degree of exactness required in concluding arguments made for actions is not universally the same, and
he goes on to explain that all actions, as with the conclusions made of them, vary in exactness and indeed for this
reason are not universally true and therefore not universally applicable. It is for this reason that the continuing
conclusions made throughout the processes of these examinations should be considered only in outlineand
that the premises on which the conclusions are drawn are
on actions that hold the conclusions only usually.
Chapter 4 states that while most would agree to call the
highest aim of humanity (eudaimonia), and also to equate
this with both living well and doing things well, there is
dispute between people, and between the majority (hoi
polloi) andthe wise.* [16] Chapter 5 distinguishes three
distinct ways of life which dierent people associate with
happiness.* [17]
The slavish way of pleasure, which is the way the
majority of people think of happiness.
The rened and active way of politics, which aims at
honor, honor itself implying the incompleteness of
this way also, and the higher divinity of those who
are wise and know and judge, and potentially honor,
political people.
The way of contemplation.

86

CHAPTER 15. NICOMACHEAN ETHICS

Aristotle also mentions two other possibilities that he ar- things of the body, or good external things. Aristotle
gues can be put aside:
says that virtue, practical judgment and wisdom, and also
pleasure, all associated with happiness, and indeed an as Having virtue but being inactive, even suering evils sociation with external abundance, are all consistent with
and misfortunes, which Aristotle says no one would this denition.
consider unless they were defending a hypothesis. If happiness is virtue, or a certain virtue, then it must not
(As Sachs points out, this is indeed what Plato de- just be a condition of being virtuous, potentially, but an
picts Socrates doing in his Gorgias.)
actual way of virtuously "being at work" as a human. For
as in the Ancient Olympic Games, it is not the most
Money making, which Aristotle asserts to be a life
beautiful or the strongest who are crowned, but those who
based on aiming at what is pursued by necessity in
compete. And such virtue will be good, beautiful and
order to achieve higher goals, an intermediate good.
pleasant, indeed Aristotle asserts that in most people different pleasures are in conict with each other whilethe
Each of these three commonly proposed happy ways of things that are pleasant to those who are passionately delife represents a target that people aim at for its own sake, voted to what is beautiful are the things that are pleasant
just like they aim at happiness itself for its own sake. Con- by nature and of this sort are actions in accordance with
cerning honor, pleasure, and intelligence (nous) and also virtue. External goods are also necessary in such a virevery virtue, though they lead to happiness, even if they tuous life, because a person who lacks things such as good
did not we would still pursue them.
family and friends might nd it dicult to be happy.* [21]
Happiness in life then, includes the virtues, and Aristotle adds that it would include self-suciency (autarkeia),
not the self-suciency of a hermit, but of someone with 15.3.3 Questions that might be raised
about the denition
a family, friends and community. By itself this would
make life choiceworthy and lacking nothing. In order
to describe more clearly what happiness is like, Aristo- In chapters 9-12 Aristotle confronts some objections or
tle next asks what the work (ergon) of a human is. All questions that might be had to his denition of happiness
living things have nutrition and growth as a work, all so far.
animals (according to the denition of animal Aristotle
First he considers the denition of happiness in conused) would have perceiving as part of their work, but
trast to an old Socratic question (found for example
what is more particularly human? The answer accordin Plato's Meno) of whether happiness might be a
ing to Aristotle is that it must involve articulate speech
result of learning or habit or training, or perhaps di(logos), including both being open to persuasion by reavine lot or even chance. Aristotle says that it admits
soning, and thinking things through. Not only will happiof being shared by some sort of learning and taking
ness involve reason, but it will also be an active being at
pains. But despite this, even if not divine, it is one
work (energeia), not just potential happiness, and it will
of the most divine things, and for what is greatest
be over a lifetime, because one swallow does not make
and most beautiful to be left to chance would be too
a spring. The denition given is therefore:
discordant.* [22]
The Good of man is the active exercise of
his soul's faculties in conformity with excellence or virtue, or if there be several human
excellences or virtues, in conformity with the
best and most perfect among them. Moreover,
to be happy takes a complete lifetime; for one
swallow does not make a spring.
Rackham translation of I.7.1098a.* [18]
And because happiness is being described as a work or
function of humans, we can say that just as we contrast
harpists with serious harpists, the person who lives well
and beautifully in this actively rational and virtuous way
Neoptolemus killing Priam. Aristotle accepted that it would be
will be a serious(spoudaios) human.* [19]* [20]
wrong to call Priam unhappy only because his last years were

As an example of popular opinions about happiness, Aris- unhappy.


totle cites an ancient one and agreed to by the philosophers. According to this opinion, which he says is right,
Aristotle justies saying that happiness must be conthe good things associated with the soul are most govsidered over a whole lifetime because otherwise
erning and especially good, when compared to the good

15.4. BOOKS IIV: CONCERNING EXCELLENCE OF CHARACTER OR MORAL VIRTUE

87

Priam, for example, would be dened as unhappy These virtues of character, ormoral virtuesas they are
only because of his unhappy old age.* [23]
often translated, become the central topic in Book II. The
intellectual aspect of virtue will be discussed in Book VI.
Concerning the importance of chance to happiness,
Aristotle argues that a happy person at work in accordance with virtue will bear what misfortune
brings most beautifully and in complete harmony 15.4 Books IIV: Concerning exin every instance. Only many great misfortunes
cellence of character or moral
will limit how blessed such a life can be, but even
theneven in these circumstances something beauvirtue
tiful shines through.* [24]
Addressing an opinion that he expected amongst his
contemporaries about happiness, Aristotle says that
it seems too unfeeling and contrary to people's
opinionsto claim that the fortunes of one's descendants and all one's friends have no inuence at
all. But he says that it seems that if anything at
all gets through to the deceased, whether good or
the reverse, it would be something faint and small
.* [25]

15.4.1 Book II: That virtues of character


can be described as means
Aristotle says that whereas virtue of thinking needs teaching, experience and time, virtue of character (moral
virtue) comes about as a consequence of following the
right habits. According to Aristotle the potential for this
virtue is by nature in humans, but whether virtues come to
be present or not is not determined by human nature.* [28]

Once again turning to the divinity of happiness Aristotle distinguishes virtue and happiness saying that
virtue, through which people become apt at performing beautiful actionsis praiseworthy, while
happiness is something more important, like god,
since every one of us does everything else for the
sake of this, and we set down the source and cause of
good things as something honored and divine.* [26]

Trying to follow the method of starting with approximate


things gentlemen can agree upon, and looking at all circumstances, Aristotle says that we can describe virtues
as things which are destroyed by deciency or excess.
Someone who runs away becomes a coward, while someone who fears nothing is rash. In this way the virtue
braverycan be seen as depending upon ameanbetween two extremes. (For this reason, Aristotle is sometimes considered a proponent of a doctrine of a "golden
mean".* [29]) People become habituated well by rst per15.3.4 From dening happiness to discus- forming actions which are virtuous, possibly because of
sion of virtue: introduction to the the guidance of teachers or experience, and in turn these
habitual actions then become real virtue where we choose
rest of the Ethics
good actions deliberately.* [30]
Aristotle asserts that we can usefully accept some things According to Aristotle character properly understood,
which are said about the soul (clearly a cross reference meaning one's virtue or vice, is not just any tendency
to Plato again), including the division of the soul into ra- or habit but something which aects when we feel pleational and irrational parts, and the further division of the sure or pain. A virtuous person feels pleasure at the most
irrational parts into two parts also:
beautiful or noble (kalos) actions. A person who is not
virtuous will often nd his or her perceptions of what
One irrational part of the human soul isnot human is most pleasant to be misleading. For this reason, any
but vegetativeand at most work during sleep, concern with virtue or politics requires consideration of
pleasure and pain.* [31] When a person does virtuous acwhen virtue is least obvious.
tions, for example by chance, or under advice, they are
A second irrational part of the human soul is how- not yet necessarily a virtuous person. It is not like in the
ever able to share in reason in some way. We see productive arts, where the thing being made is what is
this because we know there is something desir- judged as well made or not. To truly be a virtuous pering and generally appetitivein the soul which can son, one's virtuous actions must meet three conditions:
on dierent occasions in dierent people either op- (a) they are done knowingly, (b) they are chosen for their
pose reason, or obey itthus being rational just as own sakes, and (c) they are chosen according to a stable
we would be rational when we listen to a father being disposition (not at a whim, or in any way that the acting
rational.
person might easily change his choice about). And just
knowing what would be virtuous is not enough.* [32] AcThe virtues then will be similarly divided, into intellectual cording to Aristotle's analysis, there are three kinds of
(dianoetic) virtues, and the virtues of character (ethical or things which come to be present in the soul that virtue
moral virtues) pertaining to the irrational part of the soul is: a feeling (pathos), an inborn predisposition or capacity (dunamis), or a stable disposition which has been acwhich can take part in reason.* [27]

88

CHAPTER 15. NICOMACHEAN ETHICS

quired (hexis).* [33] In fact, it has already been mentioned


that virtue is made up of hexeis, but on this occasion the
contrast with feelings and capacities is made clearer
neither is chosen, and neither is praiseworthy in the way
that virtue is.* [34]
Comparing virtue to productive arts (technai) as with arts,
virtue of character must not only be the making of a good
human, but also the way in which a human does his own
work well. And being skilled in an art can also be described as a mean between excess and deciency: when
they are well done we say that we would not want to take
away or add anything from them. But Aristotle points to
a simplication in this idea of hitting amean. In terms
of what is best, we aim at an extreme, not a mean, and in
terms of what is base, the opposite.* [35]

the simplest case where people do not praise or


blame. In such cases a person does not choose the
wrong thing, for example if the wind carries a person
o, or if a person has a wrong understanding of the
particular facts of a situation. Note that ignorance
of what aims are good and bad, such as people of
bad character always have, is not something people
typically excuse as ignorance in this sense. Acting
on account of ignorance seems dierent from acting
while being ignorant.
Non-voluntaryornon willingactions (ouk ekousion) which are bad actions done by choice, or
more generally (as in the case of animals and children when desire or spirit causes an action) whenever the source of the moving of the parts that
are instrumental in such actions is in oneselfand
anythingup to oneself either to do or not. However, these actions are not taken because they are
preferred in their own right, but rather because all
options available are worse.

Chapter 7 turns from general comments to specics. A


list of virtues and vices of character are given which will
be discussed in Books II and III. As Sachs points out
(2002, p. 30) it appears that the list is not especially
xed, because it diers between the Nicomachean and
Eudemian Ethics, and also because Aristotle repeats sevIt is concerning this third class of actions that there is
eral times that this is a rough outline.* [36]
doubt about whether they should be praised or blamed or
Aristotle also mentions somemean conditionsinvolvcondoned in dierent cases.
ing feelings: a sense of shame is sometimes praised, or
said to be in excess or deciency. Righteous indignation Several more critical terms are dened and discussed:
(Greek: nemesis) is a sort of mean between joy at the
misfortunes of others and envy. Aristotle says that such
Deliberate choice (proairesis),seems to determine
cases will need to be discussed later, before the discussion
one's character more than one's actions do. Things
of Justice in Book V, which will also require special disdone on the spur of the moment, and things done by
cussion. But the Nicomachean Ethics only discusses the
animals and children can be willing, but driven by
sense of shame at that point, and not righteous indignadesire and spirit and not what we would normally
tion (which is however discussed in the Eudemian Ethics
call true choice. Choice is rational, and according
Book VIII).
to the understanding of Aristotle, choice can be in
opposition to desire. Choice is also not wishing for
In practice Aristotle explains that people tend more by nathings one does not believe can be achieved, such as
ture towards pleasures, and therefore see virtues as being
immortality, but rather always concerning realistic
relatively closer to the less obviously pleasant extremes.
aims. Choice is also not simply to do with opinWhile every case can be dierent, given the diculty of
ion, because our choices make us the type of pergetting the mean perfectly right it is indeed often most
son we are, and are not simply true or false. What
important to guard against going the pleasant and easy
distinguishes choice is that before a choice is made
way.* [37] However this rule of thumb is shown in later
there is a rational deliberation or thinking things
parts of the Ethics to apply mainly to some bodily plea*
through.
[39]
sures, and is shown to be wrong as an accurate general
rule in Book X.

15.4.2

Book III. Chapters 15:


virtue as conscious choice

Moral

Chapter 1 distinguishes actions which are chosen as the


ones relevant to virtue, and whether actions are to be
blamed, forgiven or even pitied.* [38]
Aristotle divides actions into three categories instead of
two: Voluntary (ekousion) acts.
Involuntary or unwilling (akousion) acts, which is

Deliberation (bouleusis), at least for sane people,


does not include theoretical contemplation about
universal and everlasting things, nor about things
that might be far away, nor about things we can know
precisely, such as letters. We deliberate about
things that are up to us and are matters of action
and concerning things where it is unclear how they
will turn out. Deliberation is therefore not how we
reason about ends we pursue, health for example,
but how we think through the ways we can try to
achieve them. Choice then is decided by both desire
and deliberation.* [40]
Wishing (boulsis) is not deliberation. We cannot
say that what people wish for is good by denition,

15.4. BOOKS IIV: CONCERNING EXCELLENCE OF CHARACTER OR MORAL VIRTUE

89

and although we could say that what is wished for is


always what appears good, this will still be very variable. Most importantly we could say that a worthy
(spoudaios) man will wish for what istrulygood.
Most people are mislead by pleasure, for it seems
to them to be a good, though it is not.* [41]

for the sake of what is beautiful (kalos), because this is


what virtue aims at. Beautiful action comes from a beautiful character and aims at beauty. The vices opposed to
courage were discussed at the end of Book II. Although
there is no special name for it, people who have excessive
fearlessness would be mad, which Aristotle remarks that
some describe Celts as being in his time. Aristotle also
Chapter 5 considers choice, willingness and deliberation remarks that rashpeople (thrasus), those with excesare generally cowards putting on a brave
in cases which exemplify not only virtue, but vice. Virtue sive condence,
*
face.
[44]
and vice according to Aristotle are up to us. This
means that although no one is willingly unhappy, vice Apart from the correct usage above, the word courage
by denition always involves actions which were decided is applied to ve other types of character according to
upon willingly. (As discussed earlier, vice comes from Aristotle:* [45]bad habits and aiming at the wrong things, not deliberately aiming to be unhappy.) Lawmakers also work in this
way, trying to encourage and discourage the right voluntary actions, but don't concern themselves with involuntary actions. They also tend not to be lenient to people for
anything they could have chosen to avoid, such as being
drunk, or being ignorant of things easy to know, or even
of having allowed themselves to develop bad habits and
a bad character. Concerning this point, Aristotle asserts
that even though people with a bad character may be ignorant and even seem unable to choose the right things,
this condition stems from decisions which were originally
voluntary, the same as poor health can develop from past
choices; and while no one blames those who are illformed by nature, people do censure those who are that
way through lack of exercise and neglect. The vices
then, are voluntary just as the virtues are. He states that
people would have to be unconscious not to realize the
importance of allowing themselves to live badly, and he
dismisses any idea that dierent people have dierent innate visions of what is good.* [42]
Hektor, the Trojan hero. Aristotle questions his courage.

15.4.3

Book III. Chapters 612, First examples of moral virtues

Aristotle now deals separately with some of the specic


character virtues, in a form similar to the listing at the end
of Book II, starting with courage and temperance.
Courage
Courage means holding a mean position in one's feelings
of condence and fear. But courage is not thought to relate to fear of evil things which it is right to fear, like
disgrace, and courage is not the word used for a man who
does not fear danger to his wife and children, or punishment for breaking the law. Instead courage usually refers
to condence and fear concerning the most fearful thing,
death, and specically the most potentially beautiful form
of death, death in battle.* [43]
The courageous man, says Aristotle, will sometimes fear
even terrors which not everyone feels the need to fear, but
he will endure fears and feel condent in a rational way,

The courage of citizen soldiers. Aristotle says this is


largely a result of penalties for cowardice and honors
for bravery, but that it is the closest type of seeming
courage to real courage, is very important for making an army ght as if brave, but it is dierent from
true courage because not based on voluntary actions
aimed at being beautiful in their own right. Aristotle
perhaps surprisingly notes that the Homeric heroes
such as Hector had this type of courage.
People experienced in some particular danger often seem courageous. This is something that might
be seen amongst professional soldiers, who do not
panic at false alarms. In another perhaps surprising remark Aristotle specically notes that such men
might be better in a war than even truly courageous
people. However, he also notes that when the odds
change such soldiers run.
Spirit or anger (thumos) often looks like courage.
Such people can be blind to the dangers they run into
though, meaning even animals can be brave in this

90

CHAPTER 15. NICOMACHEAN ETHICS


way, and unlike truly courageous people they are not
aiming at beautiful acts. This type of bravery is the
same as that of a mule risking punishment in order
to keep grazing, or an adulterer taking risks. Aristotle however notes that this type of spirit shows an
anity to true courage and combined with deliberate choice and purpose it seems to be true courage.

The boldness of someone who feels condent based


on many past victories is not true courage. Like a
person who is overcondent when drunk, this apparent courage is based on a lack of fear, and will disappear if circumstances change. A truly courageous
person is not certain of victory and does endure fear.
Similarly, there are people who are overcondent
simply due to ignorance. An overcondent person
might stand a while when things do not turn out as
expected, but a person condent out of ignorance is
likely to run at the rst signs of such things.
Chapter 9. As discussed in Book II already, courage
might be described as achieving a mean in condence
and fear, but we must remember that these means are
not normally in the middle between the two extremes.
Avoiding fear is more important in aiming at courage than
avoiding overcondence. As in the examples explained
above, overcondent people are likely to be called courageous, or considered close to courageous. Aristotle said
in Book II that with the moral virtues such as courage,
it is the extreme which one's normal desires tend away
from which is most important to aim towards. When it
comes to courage, it heads people towards pain in some
circumstances, and therefore away from what they would
otherwise desire. Men are sometimes even called courageous just for enduring pain. There can be a pleasant end
of courageous actions but it is obscured by the circumstances, and death is by denition always a possibility.
So this is one example of a virtue that does not bring a
pleasant result.* [46]

for example delighting in sights or sounds or smells are


not things we are temperate or proigate about, unless it
would be the smell of food or perfume which triggers another yearning. Temperance and dissipation concern the
animal-like, Aphrodisiac, pleasures of touch and taste,
and indeed especially a certain type of touch, because dissipated people do not delight in rened distinguishing of
avors, and nor indeed do they delight in feelings one gets
during a workout or massage in a gymnasium.* [47]
Chapter 11. Some desires like that food and drink, and
indeed sex, are shared by everyone in a certain way. But
not everyone has the same particular manifestations of
these desires. In the natural desiressays Aristotle,
few people go wrong, and then normally in one direction, towards too much. What is just to fulll one's need,
whereas people err by either desiring beyond this need,
or else desiring what they ought not desire. But regarding pains, temperance is dierent from courage. A temperate person does not need to endure pains, but rather
the intemperate person feels pain even with his pleasures,
but also by his excess longing. The opposite is rare, and
therefore there is no special name for a person insensitive
to pleasures and delight. The temperate person will desire the things which are not impediments to health, nor
contrary to what is beautiful, nor beyond that person's resources. Such a person judges according to right reason
(orthos logos).* [48]
Chapter 12. Intemperance is a more willingly chosen
vice than cowardice, because it positively seeks pleasure,
while cowardice avoids pain, and pain can derange a person's choice. So we reproach intemperance more, because it is easier to habituate oneself so as to avoid this
problem. The way children act also has some likeness to
the vice of akolasia. Just as a child needs to live by instructions, the desiring part of the human soul must be
in harmony with the rational part. Desire without understanding can become insatiable, and can even impair reason.* [49]

Plato's treatment of the same subject is once again freAristotle's treatment of the subject is often compared to quently compared to Aristotle's, as was apparently ArisPlato's. Courage was dealt with by Plato in his Socratic totle's intention (see Book I, as explained above):
dialogue named the Laches.
Temperance (sphrosun)

Every virtue, as it comes under examination in the Platonic dialogues, expands far beTemperance (sphrosun, also translated as soundness of
yond the bounds of its ordinary understandmind, moderation, discretion) is a mean with regards to
ing: but sphrosun undergoes, in Plato's
pleasure. He adds that it is only concerned with pains in
Charmides, an especially explosive expansion
a lesser and dierent way. The vice which occurs most
from thee rst denition proposed; a quiet
often in the same situations is excess with regards to pleatemperament (159b), tothe knowledge of itsure (akolasia, translated licentiousness, intemperance,
self and other knowledges(166e).
proigacy, dissipation etc.). Pleasures can be divided
into those of the soul and of the body. But those who
Burger (2008) p.80
are concerned with pleasures of the soul, honor, learning, for example, or even excessive pleasure in talking, are
not usually referred to as the objects of being temperate
or dissipate. Also, not all bodily pleasures are relevant, Aristotle discusses this subject further in Book VII.

15.4. BOOKS IIV: CONCERNING EXCELLENCE OF CHARACTER OR MORAL VIRTUE

15.4.4

91

Book IV. The second set of exam- should not get it, in order to give for a decent sort of
taking goes along with a decent sort of giving. Having
ples of moral virtues

The set of moral virtues discussed here involves getting


the balance of one's behavior right in social or political
situations, leading to themes that become critical to the
development of some of the most important themes.

said this however, most people we call wasteful are not


only wasteful in the sense opposed to being generous, but
also actually unrestrained and have many vices at once.
Such people are actually often wasteful and stingy at the
same time, and when trying to be generous they often
take from sources whence they should not (for example
pimps, loan sharks, gamblers, thieves), and they give to
the wrong people. Such people can be helped by guidance, unlike stingy people, and most people are somewhat stingy. In fact, ends Aristotle, stinginess is reasonably called the opposite of generosity, both because it
is a greater evil than wastefulness, and because people go
wrong more often with it than from the sort of wastefulness described.* [50]

Book IV is sometimes described as being very bound to


the norms of an Athenian gentleman in Aristotle's time.
While this is consistent with the approach Aristotle said
he would take in Book I, in contrast to the approach
of Plato, there is long running disagreement concerning
whether this immersion within the viewpoint of his probable intended readership is just a starting point to build
up to more general conclusions, for example in Book VI,
or else shows that Aristotle failed to successfully generalize, and that his ethical thinking was truly based upon the
beliefs of a Greek gentleman of his time.
Magnicence

Magnicence is described as a virtue similar to generosity except that it deals with spending large amounts of
wealth. Aristotle says that while the magnicent man
This is a virtue we observe when we see how people act is liberal, the liberal man is not necessarily magnicent
with regards to giving money, and things whose worth . The immoderate vices in this case would be concerning
is thought of in terms of money. The two un-virtuous making a great display on the wrong occasions and in
extremes are wastefulness and stinginess (or meanness). the wrong way. The extremes to be avoided in order to
Stinginess is most obviously taking money too seriously, achieve this virtue are paltriness (Rackham) or chintzibut wastefulness, less strictly speaking, is not always ness (Sachs) on the one hand and tastelessness or vulgarthe opposite (an under estimation of the importance of ity on the other. Aristotle reminds us here that he has
money) because it is also often caused by being unre- already said that moral dispositions (hexeis) are caused
strained. A wasteful person is destroyed by their own by the activities (energeia) we perform, meaning that a
acts, and has many vices at once. Aristotle's approach magnicent person's virtue can be seen from the way he
to dening the correct balance is to treat money like any chooses the correct magnicent acts at the right times.
other useful thing, and say that the virtue is to know how The aim of magnicence, like any virtue, is beautiful acto use money: giving to the right people, the right amount tion, not for the magnicent man himself but on public
at the right time. Also, as with each of the ethical virtues, things, such that even his private gifts have some resemAristotle emphasizes that such a person gets pleasures and blance to votive oerings. Because he is aiming at a specpains at doing the virtuous and beautiful thing. Aristotle tacle, a person with this virtue will not be focusing on dogoes slightly out of his way to emphasize that generosity is ing things cheaply, which would be petty, and he or she
not a virtue associated with making money, because, he may well overspend. So as with liberality, Aristotle sees
points out, a virtuous person is normally someone who a potential conict between some virtues, and being good
causes beautiful things, rather than just being a recipient. with money. But he does say that magnicence requires
Aristotle also points out that we do not give much grat- spending according to means, at least in the sense that
itude and praise at all to someone simply for not taking poor man can not be magnicent. The vices of paltriness
(which might however earn praise for being just). Aristo- and vulgar chintziness do not bring serious discredit,
tle also points out that generous people are loved prac- since they are not injurious to others, nor are they excestically the most of those who are recognized for virtue, sively unseemly.* [51]
since they confer benets, and this consists in giving
and he does not deny that generous people often won't
be good at maintaining their wealth, and are often easy Magnanimity or greatness of soul
to cheat. Aristotle goes further in this direction by saying that it might seem that it is better to be wasteful than Book IV, Chapter 3. Magnanimity is a latinization of the
to be stingy: a wasteful person is cured by age, and by original Greek used here which was megalopsuchia which
running out of resources, and if they are not merely unre- means greatness of soul. Although the word magnanimity
strained people then they are foolish rather than vicious has a traditional connection to Aristotelian philosophy, it
and badly brought-up. Also, a wasteful person at least also has its own tradition in English which now causes
benets someone. Aristotle points out also that a person some confusion.* [52] This is why some modern translawith this virtue would not get money from someone he tions refer literally to greatness of soul. In particular, the
Liberality or Generosity (eleutheriots)

92
term implied not just greatness, but a person who thought
of themselves worthy of great thing, or in other words a
sort of pride. (Michael Davis translates it as pride.* [53])
Although the term could imply a negative insinuation of
lofty pride, Aristotle as usual tries to dene what the word
should mean as a virtue. He says that not everybody
who claims more than he deserves is vainand indeed
most small-souled of all would seem to be the man who
claims less than he deserves when his deserts are great.
Being vain, or being small-souled, are the two extremes
which fail to achieve the mean of the virtue of magnanimity.* [54] The small souled person, according to Aristotle,
seems to have something bad about him.* [55]
In order to have the virtue of greatness of soul, and be
worthy of what is greatest, one must be good in a true
sense, and possess what is great in all virtues. As Sachs
points out: Greatness of soul is the rst of four virtues
that Aristotle will nd to require the presence of all the
virtues of character.* [5] Aristotle views magnanimity
asa sort of adornment of the moral virtues; for it makes
them greater, and it does not arise without them.* [56]
Aristotle also focuses on the question of what the greatest
things are which one may be worthy of. At rst he says
this is spoken of in terms of external goods, but he observes that the greatest of these must be honor, because
this is what we assign to gods, and this is what people of
the highest standing aim at. But he qualies this by saying that actually great souled people will hold themselves
moderately toward every type of good or bad fortune,
even honor. It is being good, and being worthy of honor
that is more important. (The disdain of a great souled person towards all kinds of non-human good things can make
great souled people seem arrogant, like an un-deserving
vain person.)* [57] Leo Strauss notes thatthere is a close
kinship between Aristotle's justice and biblical justice,
but Aristotle's magnanimity, which means a man's habitual claiming for himself great honors while he deserves
these honors, is alien to the Bible". Strauss describes the
Bible as rejecting the concept of a gentleman, and that
this displays a dierent approach to the problem of divine law in Greek and Biblical civilization.* [58] See also
below concerning the sense of shame.
Aristotle lists some typical characteristics of great souled
people:* [59]
They do not take small risks, and are not devoted
to risk taking, but they will take big risks, without
regard for their life, because a worse life is worth
less than a great life. Indeed they do few things, and
are slow to start on things, unless there is great honor
involved.
They do not esteem what is popularly esteemed, nor
what others are good at. They take few things seriously, and are not anxious.
They gladly do favors but are ashamed to receive
them, being apt to forget a favor from another, or

CHAPTER 15. NICOMACHEAN ETHICS


to do a greater one in return. They are pleased to
hear discussion about the favors they have done for
others, but not about favors done for them.
They are apt to act more high handedly to a person of
high station than a person of middle or low standing,
which would be below them.
They are frank in expressing opinions and open
about what they hate and love. Not to be so would be
due to fear, or the esteem one has of other's opinions
over your own.
They lead life as they choose and not as suits others,
which would be slave-like.
They are not given to wonder, for nothing seems
great to them.
Because they expect others to be lesser, and are not
overly concerned with their praise, they are not apt
to bear grudges, they are not apt to gossip, and they
are not even interested in speaking ill of enemies,
except to insult them.
They are not apt to complain about necessities or
small matters, nor to ask for help, not wanting to
imply that such things are important to them.
They tend to possess beautiful and useless things,
rather than productive ones.
They tend to move slowly and speak with a deep
steady voice, rather than being hasty or shrill which
would be due to anxiety.
A balanced ambitiousness concerning smaller honors
Book IV, Chapter 4.* [60] In parallel with the distinction of scale already made between normal generosity
and magnicence, Aristotle proposes that there are two
types of virtue associated with honors, one concerned
with great honors, Magnanimity or greatness of soul
and one with more normal honors. This latter virtue is
a kind of correct respect for honor which Aristotle had
no Greek word for, but which he said to be between being ambitious (philotimos honor-loving) and unambitious
(aphilotimos not honor loving) with respect to honor. It
could include a noble and manly person with appropriate
ambition, or a less ambitious person who is moderate and
temperate. (In other words, Aristotle makes it clear that
he does not think being more philotimos than average is
necessarily inappropriate.) To have the correct balance in
this virtue means pursuing the right types of honor from
the right types of source of honor. In contrast, the ambitious man would get this balance wrong by seeking excess
honor from the inappropriate sources, and the unambitious man would not desire appropriately to be honored
for noble reasons.

15.4. BOOKS IIV: CONCERNING EXCELLENCE OF CHARACTER OR MORAL VIRTUE


Gentleness (prats) concerning anger
Book IV Chapter 5.* [61] The virtue of prats is the correct mean concerning anger. In contrast, an excessive
tendency or vice concerning anger would be irascibility
or quickness to anger. Such a person would be unfair in
responses, angry at wrong people, and so on. The decient vice would be found in people who won't defend
themselves. They would lack spirit, and be considered
foolish and servile. Aristotle does not deny anger a place
in the behavior of a good person, but says it should be
on the right grounds and against the right persons, and
also in the right manner and at the right moment and for
the right length of time.* [62] People can get this wrong
in numerous ways, and Aristotle says it is not easy to get
right. So in this case as with several others several distinct types of excessive vice possible. One of the worst
types amongst these is the type which remains angry for
too long.
According to Aristotle, the virtue with regards to anger
would not be led by the emotions (pathoi), but by reason
(logos). So according to Aristotle, anger can be virtuous and rational in the right circumstances, and he even
says that a small amount of excess is not something worth
blaming either, and might even be praised as manly and t
for command. The person with this virtue will however
tend to err on the side of forgiveness rather than anger,
and the person with a deciency in this virtue, despite
seeming foolish and servile, will be closer to the virtue
than someone who gets angry too easily.
Something like friendship, between being obsequious
and surly
Book IV Chapter 6.* [63] These characteristics concern
the attitude people have towards whether they cause pain
to others. The obsequious (oreskos) person is overconcerned with the pain they cause others, backing down
too easily, even when it is dishonorable or harmful to do
so, while a surly (duskolos) or quarrelsome (dusteris) person objects to everything and does not care what pain they
cause others, never compromising. Once again Aristotle
says he has no specic Greek word to give to the correct virtuous mean which avoids the vices, although he
says it resembles friendship (philia). The dierence is
that this friendly virtue concerns behavior towards friends
and strangers alike, and does not involve the special emotional bond that friends have. Concerning true friendship
see books VIII and IX.

93

one's companions at some expense to oneself, if this


pleasure not be harmful or dishonorable.
Being willing to experience pain in the short term
for longer run pleasure of a greater scale.
Apart from the vice of obsequiousness, there is also attery, which is the third vice whereby someone acts in an
obsequious way in order to try to gain some advantage to
themselves.
Honesty about oneself: the virtue between boasting
and self-deprecation
Book IV Chapter 7.* [64] In translations such as Rackham's the vice at issue here is sometimes referred to in
English as boastfulness (Greek alazoneia) and this is contrasted to a virtue concerning truthfulness. The reason is
that Aristotle describes two kinds of untruthful pretense
which are vices, one which exaggerates things, boastfulness, and one which under-states things. Aristotle points
out that this is a very specic realm of honesty, that which
concerns oneself. Other types of dishonesty could involve
other virtues and vices, such as justice and injustice.
This is a similar subject to the last one discussed concerning surliness and obsequiousness, in that it concerns how
to interact socially in a community. In that discussion, the
question was how much to compromise with others if it
would be painful, harmful or dishonorable. Now the discussion turns to how frank one should be concerning one's
own qualities. And just as in the previous case concerning attery, the vices which go too far or not far enough
might be part of one's character, or they might be performed as if they were in character, with some ulterior
motive. Such dishonesty could involve vices of dishonesty other than boastfulness or self-deprecation of course,
but the lover of truth, who is truthful even when nothing
depends on it, will be praised and expected to avoid being
dishonest when it is most disgraceful.

Once again, Aristotle said that he had no convenient


Greek word to give to the virtuous and honest mean in
this case, but a person who boasts claims qualities inappropriately, while a person who self-deprecates excessively makes no claim to qualities they have, or even
disparages himself. Aristotle therefore names the virtuous man as a person who claims the good qualities
he has without exaggeration or understatement. As in
many of these examples, Aristotle says the excess (boastAccording to Aristotle, getting this virtue right also fulness) is more blameworthy than the deciency (being
self-disparaging).
involves:Unlike the treatment of attery, described simply as a
Dealing dierently with dierent types of people, vice, Aristotle describes ways in which a person might
for example people in a higher position than oneself, be relatively blameless if they were occasionally dishonest about their own qualities, as long as this does not bepeople more or less familiar to you, and so on.
come a xed disposition to boast. Specically, according
Sometimes being able to share in the pleasure of to Aristotle boasting would not be very much blamed if

94

CHAPTER 15. NICOMACHEAN ETHICS


this virtue will tend to be like a law maker making suitable
laws for themselves.
Sense of Shame (not a virtue)
Chapter 9. The sense of shame is not a virtue, but more
like a feeling than a stable character trait (hexis). It is a
fear, and it is only tting in the young, who live by feeling, but are held back by the feeling of shame. We would
not praise older people for such a sense of shame according to Aristotle, since shame should concern acts done
voluntarily, and a decent person would not voluntarily do
something shameful. Aristotle mentions here that selfrestraint is also not a virtue, but refers us to a later part of
the book (Book VII) for discussion of this.* [66]
Leo Strauss notes that this approach, as well as Aristotle's
discussion of magnanimity (above), are in contrast to the
approach of the Bible.* [67]

Socrates used irony which Aristotle considers an acceptable type


of dishonesty. But many philosophers can get away with dishonest bragging, which is worse.

15.4.5 Book V: Justice and Fairness: a


moral virtue needing special discussion

Book V is the same as Book IV of the Eudemian Ethics,


the rst of three books common to both works. It represents the special discussion on justice (dikaiosun) which
the aim is honor or glory, but it would be blameworthy if was already foreseen in earlier books, and which covers
some of the same material as Plato's Republic although in
the aim is money.
a strikingly dierent way.
Parts of this section are remarkable because of the implications for the practice of philosophy. At one point Aris- Burger (2008) points that although the chapter nominally
totle says that examples of areas where dishonest boasting follows the same path (methodos) as previous chaptersit
for gain might go undetected, and be very blameworthy, is far from obvious how justice is to be understood as a
would be prophecy, philosophy, or medicine, all of which disposition in relation to a passion: the proposed candihave both pretense and bragging. This appears to be a date, greed (pleonexia), would seem to refer, rather, to the
criticism of contemporary sophists. But even more re- vice of injustice and the single opposite of the virtue.In
markable is the fact that one of the vices under discussion, other words, it is not described as a mean between two
self-deprecation (Greek eirneia from which modern En- extremes. Indeed, as Burger point out, the approach is
glish "irony") is an adjective that was and is often used to also quite dierent from previous chapters in the way in
describe Socrates. Aristotle even specically mentions which it categorizes in terms of general principles, rather
Socrates as an example, but at the same time mentions than building up from commonly accepted opinions.
(continuing the theme) that the vice which is less exces- As Aristotle points out, his approach is partly because
sive is often less blameworthy.
people mean so many dierent things when they use the
word justice. The primary division which he observes in
what kind of person would be called just is that on the one
Being witty or charming
hand it could mean law abidingor lawful (nominos),
and on the other it could mean equitable or fair (isos).
Book IV Chapter 8. The subject matter of this discus- Aristotle points out that whatever is unfair is lawless,
sion is a virtue of being witty, charming and tactful, and but not everything lawless is unfairandit would seem
generally saying the right things when speaking playfully, that to be a good man is not in every case the same thing
at our leisure, which Aristotle says is a necessary part of as to be a good citizen. These two common meanings
life.* [65] In contrast a buoon can never resist making of justice would coincide to the extent that any set of laws
any joke, and the decient vice in this case is an uncul- is itself good, something only lawmakers can aect, and
tivated person who does not get jokes, and is useless in it is this all-encompassing meaning, which would equate
playful conversation. It is hard to set xed rules about to the justice of a good lawmaker, which becomes Ariswhat is funny and what is appropriate, so a person with totle's point of reference for further discussion. Justice in

15.4. BOOKS IIV: CONCERNING EXCELLENCE OF CHARACTER OR MORAL VIRTUE


such a simple and complete and eective sense would according to Aristotle be the same as having a complete ethical virtue, a perfection of character, because this would
be someone who is not just virtuous, but also willing and
able to put virtue to use amongst their friends and in their
community. According to Aristotle,there are many who
can practise virtue in their own private aairs but cannot
do so in their relations with another.* [68]
Aristotle however says that apart from the complete virtue
which would encompass not only all types of justice, but
also all types of excellence of character, there is a partial virtue which gets called justice, which is clearly distinct from other character aws. Cowardice for example,
might specically cause a soldier to throw away his shield
and run. However, not everyone who runs from a battle
does so from cowardice. Often, Aristotle observes, these
acts are caused by over-reaching or greed (pleonexia) and
are ascribed to injustice. Unlike the virtues discussed so
far, an unjust person does not necessarily desire what is
bad for himself or herself as an individual, nor does he
or she even necessarily desire too much of things, if too
much would be bad for him or her. Such particular injusticeis always greed aimed at particular good things
such as honor or money or security.* [69]
To understand how justice aims at what is good, it is necessary to look beyond particular good or bad things we
might want or not want a share of as individuals, and this
includes considering the viewpoint of a community (the
subject of Aristotle's Politics). Alone of the virtues, says
Aristotle, justice looks like someone else's good, an
argument also confronted by Plato in his Republic.
Particular justice is however the subject of this book,
and it has already been divided into the lawful and the
fair, which are two dierent aspects of universal justice
or complete virtue. Concerning areas where being lawabiding might not be the same as being fair, Aristotle says
that this should be discussed under the heading of Politics.* [70] He then divides particular justice further into
two parts: distribution of divisible goods and rectication in private transactions. The rst part relates to members of a community in which it is possible for one person
to have more or less of a good than another person. The
second part of particular justice deals with rectication in
transactions and this part is itself divided into two parts:
voluntary and involuntary, and the involuntary are divided further into furtive and violent divisions.* [71] The
following chart showing divisions with Aristotle's discussion of Justice in Book V, based on Burger (2008) Appendix 3.
In trying to describe justice as a mean, as with the other
ethical virtues, Aristotle says that justice involvesat least
four terms, namely, two persons for whom it is just and
two shares which are just(1131a). The just must fall
between what is too much and what is too little and the
just requires the distribution to be made between people
of equal stature.

95

But in many cases, how to judge what is a mean is not


clear, because as Aristotle points out,if the persons are
not equal, they will not have equal shares; it is when equals
possess or are allotted unequal shares, or persons not
equal equal shares, that quarrels and complaints arise.
(1131a23-24). What is just in distribution must also take
into account some sort of worth. The parties involved will
be dierent concerning what they deserve, and the importance of this is a key dierence between distributive justice and recticatory justice because distribution can only
take place among equals. Aristotle does not state how to
decide who deserves more, implying that this depends on
the principles accepted in each type of community, but
rather he states it is some sort of proportion in which the
just is an intermediate between all four elements (2 for
the goods and 2 for the people). A nal point that Aristotle makes in his discussion of distributive justice is that
when two evils must be distributed, the lesser of the evils
is the more choice worthy and as such is the greater good
(1131b21-25).
The second part of particular justice is recticatory and
it consists of the voluntary and involuntary. This sort of
justice deals with transactions between people who are
not equals and looks only at the harm or suering caused
to an individual. This is a sort of blind justice since it
treats both parties as if they were equal regardless of their
actual worth: It makes no dierence whether a good
man has defrauded a bad man or a bad one a good one
. Once again trying to describe justice as a mean, he says
thatmen require a judge to be a middle term or medium
indeed in some places judges are called mediators,
for they think that if they get the mean they will get what
is just. Thus the just is a sort of mean, inasmuch as the
judge is a medium between the litigants. To restore both
parties to equality, a judge must take the amount that is
greater than the equal that the oender possesses and give
that part to the victim so that both have no more and no
less than the equal. This rule should be applied to rectify
both voluntary and involuntary transactions.* [72]
Finally, Aristotle turns to the idea that reciprocity (an
eye for an eye") is justice, an idea he associates with the
Pythagoreans.* [73] The problem with this approach to
justice, although it is normal in politics and law-making,
is that it ignores the dierence between dierent reasons for doing a crime. For example it could have been
done out of passion or ignorance, and this makes a critical dierence when it comes to determining what is the
just reaction. This in turn returns Aristotle to mention
the fact that laws are not normally exactly the same as
what is just: Political Justice is of two kinds, one natural, the other conventional.* [74] In a famous statement,
Aristotle makes a point which, like many points in Book
5, is thought to refer us to consideration of Plato's Republic. Some people think that all rules of justice are
merely conventional, because whereas a law of nature is
immutable and has the same validity everywhere, as re
burns both here and in Persia, rules of justice are seen to

96
vary.* [75] Aristotle insists that justice is both xed in
nature in a sense, but also variable in a specic way:the
rules of justice ordained not by nature but by man are
not the same in all places, since forms of government are
not the same, though in all places there is only one form
of government that is natural, namely, the best form.
*
[76] He believed people can generally see which types
of rules are conventional, and which by nature, and he felt
that most important when trying to judge whether someone was just or unjust was determining whether someone
did something voluntarily or not. Some people commit
crimes by accident or due to vices other than greed or
injustice.

15.5 Book VI: Intellectual virtue


Book VI of the Nicomachean Ethics is identical to Book
V of the Eudemian Ethics. Earlier in both works, both the
Nicomachean Ethics Book IV, and the equivalent book in
the Eudemian Ethics (Book III), though dierent, ended
by stating that the next step was to discuss justice. Indeed in Book I Aristotle set out his justication for beginning with particulars and building up to the highest things.
Character virtues (apart from justice perhaps) were already discussed in an approximate way, as like achieving
at middle point between two extreme options, but this
now raises the question of how we know and recognize
the things we aim at or avoid. Recognizing the mean recognizing the correct boundary-marker (horos) which denes the frontier of the mean. And so practical ethics,
having a good character, requires knowledge.
Near the end of Book I Aristotle said that we may follow
others in considering the soul (psuch) to be divided into
a part having reason and a part without it. Until now, he
says, discussion has been about one type of virtue or excellence (aret) of the soul that of the character (thos,
the virtue of which is thik aret, moral virtue). Now he
will discuss the other type: that of thought (dianoia).
The part of the soul with reason is divided into two parts:
One whereby we contemplate or observe the things
which have invariable causes.
One whereby we contemplate the variable things. It
is this part with which we deliberate concerning actions.
Aristotle states that if recognition depends upon likeness
and kinship between the things being recognized and the
parts of the soul doing the recognizing, then the soul
grows naturally into two parts, specialised in these two
types of cause.* [77]
Aristotle enumerates ve types of hexis (stable dispositions) which the soul can have, and which can disclose
truth:* [78]

CHAPTER 15. NICOMACHEAN ETHICS


1. Art (Techne). This is rational, because it involves
making things deliberately, in a way that can be explained. (Making things in a way which could not
be explained would not be techne.) It concerns variable things, but specically it concerns intermediate
aims. A house is built not for its own sake, but in order to have a place to live, and so on.
2. Knowledge (Episteme). We all assume that what
we know is not capable of being otherwise.Andit
escapes our notice when they are or not.Also, all
knowledge seems to be teachable, and what is known
is learnable.* [79]
3. Practical Judgement (Phronesis). This is the judgement used in deciding well upon overall actions, not
specic acts of making as in techne. While truth
in techne would concern making something needed
for some higher purpose, phronesis judges things
according to the aim of living well overall. This,
unlike techne and episteme, is an important virtue,
which will require further discussion. Aristotle associates this virtue with the political art. Aristotle
distinguishes skilled deliberation from knowledge,
because we do not need to deliberate about things
we already know. It is also distinct from being good
at guessing, or being good at learning, because true
consideration is always a type of inquiry and reasoning.
4. Wisdom (Sophia). Because wisdom belongs to the
wise, who are unusual, it can not be that which gets
hold of the truth. This is left to nous, and Aristotle describes wisdom as a combination of nous and
episteme (knowledge with its head on).
5. Intellect (Nous). Is the capacity we develop with
experience, to grasp the sources of knowledge and
truth, our important and fundamental assumptions.
Unlike knowledge (episteme), it deals with unarticulated truths.* [80] Both phronsis and nous are directed at limits or extremities, and hence the mean,
but nous is not a type of reasoning, rather it is a
perception of the universals which can be derived
from particular cases, including the aims of practical actions. Nous therefore supplies phronsis with
its aims, without which phronsis would just be the
natural virtue(aret phusik) called cleverness
(deinots).* [81]
In the last chapters of this book (12 and 13) Aristotle
compares the importance of practical wisdom (phronesis) and wisdom (sophia). Although Aristotle describes
sophia as more serious than practical judgement, because
it is concerned with higher things, he mentions the earlier philosophers, Anaxagoras and Thales, as examples
proving that one can be wise, having both knowledge and
intellect, and yet devoid of practical judgement. The dependency of sophia upon phronesis is described as being
like the dependency of health upon medical knowledge.

15.6. BOOK VII. IMPEDIMENTS TO VIRTUE

97

Wisdom is aimed at for its own sake, like health, being Socrates. According to Aristotle, Socrates argued that
a component of that most complete virtue which makes all unrestrained behavior must be a result of ignorance,
happiness.
whereas it is commonly thought that the unrestrained perAristotle closes by arguing that in any case, when one con- son does things that they know to be evil, putting aside
siders the virtues in their highest form, they would all exist their own calculations and knowledge under the inuence
of passion. Aristotle begins by suggesting Socrates must
together.
be wrong, but comes to conclude at the end of Chapter 3
that what Socrates was looking for turns out to be the
case.* [84] His way of accommodating Socrates relies
15.6 Book VII. Impediments to on the distinction between knowledge which is activated
or not, for example in someone drunk or enraged. People
virtue
in such a state may sound like they have knowledge, like
an actor or student reciting a lesson can.
This Book is the last of three books which are identical
in both the Nicomachean Ethics and the Eudemian Ethics. In chapter 4 Aristotle species that when we call someone
It is Book VI in the latter. It extends discussions which unrestrained, it is in cases (just in the cases where we say
were discussed especially at the end of Book II, with the someone has the vice of akolasia in Book II) where bodily
discussion of the vice akolasia and the virtue of sophro- pleasure or pain, such as those associated with food and
sex, has caused someone to act in a shameful way against
sune.
their own choice and reason. Other types of failure to
Aristotle names three things that humans should avoid,
master oneself are akrasia only in a qualied sense, for
that have to do with one's character:example akrasiain angerorin the pursuit of honor
. These he discusses next, under tendencies which are
Evils or vices (kakia), the opposites of virtues. neither vice nor akrasia, but more animal-like.* [85]
These have been discussed already in Book II beAristotle makes a nature and nurture distinction between
cause, like the virtues, vices are stable disposidierent causes of bestial behavior which he says octions (hexeis),knowingly and deliberately chosen
curs in some cases from natural disposition, and in
(Sachs p. 119).
others from habit, as with those who have been abused
Incontinence (akrasia), the opposite of self- from childhood. He refers to these as animal-like and
*
restraint. Unlike true vices, these are weaknesses disease-like conditions. [86] Aristotle says that every
where someone passively follows an urge rather sort of senselessness or cowardice or dissipation or harshness that goes to excess is either animal-like or diseasethan a deliberate choice.
like.* [87]
Being beast-like, or brutish (thoriots), the opposite
For Aristotle, akrasia, unrestraint, is distinct from
of something more than human, something heroic or
animal-like behavior because it is specic to humans and
god-like such as Homer attributes to Hector. (Arisinvolves conscious rational thinking about what to do,
totle notes that these terms beast-like and god-like
even though the conclusions of this thinking are not put
are strictly speaking only for humans, because real
into practice. When someone behaves in a purely animalbeasts or gods would not have virtue or vice.)* [82]
like way, then for better or worse they are not acting based
upon any conscious choice.
Because vice (a bad equivalent to virtue) has already been
discussed in Books II-V, in Book VII then, rst akrasia, Returning to the question of anger or spiritedness (thumos) then, Aristotle distinguishes it from desires because
and then bestiality are discussed.
he says it listens to reason, but often hears wrong, like
a hasty servant or a guard dog. He contrasts this with
15.6.1 Book VII. Chapters 110: Self mas- desire, which he says does not obey reason, although
it is frequently responsible for the weaving of unjust
tery
plots.* [88] He also says that a bad temper is more natural
and less blamable than desire for excessive unnecessary
According to Aristotle, akrasia and self-restraint, are not
pleasure.* [89] And he claims that acts of hubris never reto be conceived as identical with Virtue and Vice, nor
sult from anger, but always have a connection to pleasure
yet as dierent in kind from them.* [83] Aristotle arseeking, whereas angry people act from pain, and often
gues that a simple equation should not be made between
regret it.* [90]
the virtue of temperance, and self-restraint, because selfrestraint might restrain good desires, or weak unremark- So there are two ways in which people lose mastery of
able ones. Furthermore, a truly temperate person would their own actions and do not act according to their own
deliberations, one is through excitability, where a person
not even have bad desires to restrain.
does not wait for reason but follows the imagination, often
Aristotle reviews various opinions held about selfhaving not been prepared for events. The other worse and
mastery, most importantly one which he associates with

98

CHAPTER 15. NICOMACHEAN ETHICS

less curable case is that of a weak person who has thought


things through, but fails to do as deliberated because they
are carried in another direction by a passion.* [91] Nevertheless it is better to have akrasia than the true vice of
akolasia, where intemperate choices are deliberately chosen for their own sake. Such people do not even know
they are wrong, and feel no regrets. These are even less
curable.* [92]
Finally Aristotle addresses a few questions raised earlier,
on the basis of what he has explained: Not everyone who stands rm on the basis of a rational and even correct decision has self-mastery. Stubborn people are actually more like a person without
self-mastery, because they are partly led by the pleasure coming from victory.

at some higher end. Even if a temperate person avoids excesses of some pleasures, they still have pleasures.* [95]
Chapter 13 starts from pain, saying it is clearly bad, either in a simple sense or as an impediment to things. He
argues that this makes it clear that pleasure is good. He
rejects the argument of Speusippus that pleasure and pain
are only dierent in degree because this would still not
make pleasure, bad, nor stop it, or at least some pleasure,
even from being the best thing. Aristotle focuses from
this on to the idea that pleasure is unimpeded, and that
while it would make a certain sense for happiness (eudaimonia) to be a being at work which is unimpeded in
some way, being impeded can hardly be good. Aristotle appeals to popular opinion that pleasure of some type
is what people aim at, and suggests that bodily pleasure,
while it might be the most obvious type of pleasure, is not
the only type of pleasure. He points out that if pleasure is
not good then a happy person will not have a more pleasant life than another, and would have no reason to avoid
pain.* [96]

Not everyone who fails to stand rm on the basis of


his best deliberations has a true lack of self-mastery.
As an example he gives the case of Neoptolemus (in
Sophocles' Philoctetes) refusing to lie despite being
Chapter 14 rst points out that any level of pain is bad,
part of a plan he agreed with.* [93]
while concerning pleasure it is only excessive bodily plea A person with practical judgment (phronesis) can sures which are bad. Finally, he asks why people are so
not have akrasia. Instead it might sometimes seem attracted to bodily pleasures. Apart from natural depravso, because mere cleverness can sometimes recite ities and cases where a bodily pleasure comes from bewords which might make them sound wise, like an ing restored to health Aristotle asserts a more complex
actor or a drunk person reciting poetry. As dis- metaphysical reason which is that for humans change is
cussed above, a person lacking self-mastery can sweet, but only because of some badness in us, which is
have knowledge, but not an active knowledge that that part of every human has a perishable nature, and a
nature that needs change [..] is not simple nor good.
they are paying attention to.* [94]
God, in contrast, enjoys a single simple pleasure perpetually.* [97]

15.6.2

Book VII. Chapters 1114: Pleasure as something to avoid

15.7 Books VIII and IX: Friend-

Aristotle discusses pleasure in two separate parts of the


ship and partnership
Nicomachean Ethics (book 7 chapters 11-14 and book 10
chapters 1-5). Plato had discussed similar themes in several dialogues, including the Republic and the Philebus Book II Chapter 6 discussed a virtue like friendship.
Aristotle now says that friendship (philia) itself is a virtue,
and Gorgias.
or involves virtue. It is not only important for living well,
In chapter 11 Aristotle goes through some of the things
as a means, but is also a noble or beautiful end in itself
said about pleasure and particularly why it might be bad.
which receives praise in its own right, and being a good
But in chapter 12 he says that none of these things show
friend is sometimes thought to be linked to being a good
that pleasure is not good, nor even the best thing. First,
person.* [98]
what is good or bad need not be good or bad simply, but
can be good or bad for a certain person at a certain time.
The treatment of friendship in the NicoSecondly, according to Aristotle's way of analyzing caumachean Ethics is longer than that of any other
sation, a good or bad thing can either be an activity (
topic, and comes just before the conclusion of
being at work, energeia), or else a stable disposition
(hexis). The pleasures which come from being restored
the whole inquiry. Books VIII and IX are coninto a natural hexis are accidental and not natural, for extinuous, but the break makes the rst book foample the temporary pleasure that can come from a bitter
cus on friendship as a small version of the polittaste. Things which are pleasant by nature are activities
ical community, in which a bond stronger than
that are pleasant in themselves and involve no pain or dejustice holds people together, while the second
sire. The example Aristotle gives of this is contemplation.
treats it as an expansion of the self, through
Thirdly, such pleasures are ways of being at work, ends
which all one's powers can approach their highthemselves, not just a process of coming into being aimed
est development. Friendship thus provides a

15.8. BOOK X: PLEASURE, HAPPINESS, AND UP-BRINGING


bridge between the virtues of character and
those of intellect.
Sachs (2002) p.209

compared to the dierent types of constitution, according to the same classication system Aristotle explains in
his Politics (Monarchy, Tyranny, Aristocracy, Oligarchy,
Timocracy, and Democracy).* [106]

Aristotle says speculations (for example about whether


love comes from attractions between like things) are not
germane to this discussion and he divides aims of friend15.8
ships or love into three types, each of them giving feelings of good will which go in two directions: that of utility or usefulness, that of pleasure, and that which pursues
good. Two are inferior to the other because of the motive;
15.8.1
friendships of utility and pleasure do not regard friends as
*
people but what they can give in return. [99]
Friendships of utility are relationships formed without regard to the other person at all. With these friendships are
classed family ties of hospitality with foreigners, types of
friendships Aristotle associates with older people. Such
friends are often not very interested in being together, and
the relationships are easily broken o when they cease to
be useful.* [100]
At the next level, friendships of pleasure are based on
eeting emotions and are associated with young people.
However, while such friends do like to be together, such
friendships also end easily whenever people no longer enjoy the shared activity, or can no longer participate in it
together.* [100]
Friendships based upon what is good are the perfect
form of friendship, where both friends enjoy each other's
virtue. As long as both friends keep similarly virtuous
characters, the relationship will endure and be pleasant
and useful and good for both parties, since the motive
behind it is care for the friend themselves, and not something else. Such relationships are rare, because good people are rare, and bad people do not take pleasure in each
other.* [101]
Aristotle suggests that although the word friend is used in
these dierent ways, it is perhaps best to say that friendships of pleasure and usefulness are only analogous to real
friendships. It is sometimes possible that at least in the
case of people who are friends for pleasure familiarity will
lead to a better type of friendship, as the friends learn to
admire each other's characters.* [102]

99

Book X: Pleasure, happiness,


and up-bringing
Book X. Chapters 15: The theory
of Pleasure

Pleasure is discussed throughout the whole Ethics, but is


given a nal more focused and theoretical treatment in
Book X. Aristotle starts by questioning the rule of thumb
which was accepted as in the more approximate early sections, whereby people think pleasure should be avoided,
if not because it is bad simply, then because people tend
too much towards pleasure seeking. He argues that people's actions show that this is not really what they believe.
He reviews some arguments of previous philosophers, including rst Eudoxus and Plato, to argue that pleasure is
clearly a good which is pursued for its own sake even if
it is not The Good, or in other words that which all
good things have in common.
In chapter 3 Aristotle applies to pleasure his theory of
motion (kinsis) as an energeia as explained in his Physics
and Metaphysics. In terms of this approach, pleasure is
not a movement or (kinsis) because unlike the movement
of walking across a specic room, or of building a house,
or a part of a house, it has no end point when we can
say it is completed. It is more like seeing which is either
happening in a complete way or not happening. Each
moment of pleasurable consciousness is a perfect whole.
*
[107]

A sense perception like sight is in perfect activity (teleia


energeia) when it is in its best conditions and directed at
the best objects. And when any sense is in such perfect
activity, then there is pleasure, and similarly thinking (dianoia) and contemplation (theria) have associated pleasures. But seeing, for example is a whole, as is the assoBook IX and the last sections of Book VIII turn to the ciated pleasure. Pleasure does not complete the seeing or
question of how friends and partners generally should re- thinking, but is an extra activity, just as a healthy *person
ward each other and treat each other, whether it be in can have an extra good bloom of well-being. [108]
money or honor or pleasure. This can sometimes be com- This raises the question of why pleasure does not last, but
plex because parties may not be equals. Aristotle notes seem to fade as if we get tired. Aristotle proposes as a
that the type of friendship most likely to be hurt by com- solution to this that pleasure is pursued because of desire
plaints of unfairness is that of utility and reminds that to live. Life is an activity (energeia) made up of many
the objects and the personal relationships with which activities such as music, thinking and contemplation, and
friendship is concerned appear [...] to be the same as pleasure brings the above-mentioned extra completion to
those which are the sphere of justice.* [103] And it is each of these, bringing fulllment and making life worthy
the transactions of friends by utility which sometimes re- of choice. Aristotle says we can dismiss the question of
quire the use of written laws.* [104] Furthermore, all as- whether we live for pleasure or choose pleasure for the
sociations and friendships are part of the greater commu- sake of living, for the two activities seem incapable of
nity, the polis,* [105] and dierent relationships can be being separated.* [109]

100

CHAPTER 15. NICOMACHEAN ETHICS

Dierent activities in life, the dierent sense perceptions,


thinking, contemplating, bring dierent pleasures, and
these pleasures make the activities grow, for example a
ute player gets better at it as they also get more pleasure
from it. But these pleasures and their associated activities also impede with each other just as a ute player
cannot participate in an argument while playing. This
raises the question of which pleasures are more to be pursued. Some pleasures are more beautiful and some are
more base or corrupt. Aristotle ranks some of them as
follows:* [110]
1. thinking
2. sight
3. hearing and smell
4. taste

which is within humans. According to Aristotle, contemplation is the only type of happy activity which it would
not be ridiculous to imagine the gods having. The intellect
is indeed each person's true self, and this type of happiness would be the happiness most suited to humans, with
both happiness (eudaimonia) and the intellect (nous) being things other animals do not have. Aristotle also claims
that compared to other virtues, contemplation requires
the least in terms of possessions and allows the most selfreliance, though it is true that, being a man and living
in the society of others, he chooses to engage in virtuous
action, and so will need external goods to carry on his life
as a human being.* [113]

15.8.3 Book X. Chapter 9: The need for


education, habituation and good
laws

Aristotle also argues that each type of animal has pleasures which are more appropriate to it, and in the same
way there can be dierences between people and what
pleasures are most suitable to them. Aristotle proposes
that it would be most beautiful to say that the person of
serious moral stature is the appropriate standard, with
whatever things they enjoy being the things most pleasant.* [111]

15.8.2

Book X. Chapters 6-8: Happiness

Turning to happiness then, the aim of the whole Ethics;


according to the original denition of Book I it is the
activity or being-at-work chosen for its own sake by a
morally serious and virtuous person. This raises the question of why play and bodily pleasures cannot be happiness, because for example tyrants sometimes choose such
lifestyles. But Aristotle compares tyrants to children, and
argues that play and relaxation are best seen not as ends
in themselves, but as activities for the sake of more serious living. Any random person can enjoy bodily pleasures, including a slave, and no one would want to be a
slave.* [112]
Aristotle says that if perfect happiness is activity in accordance with the highest virtue, then this highest virtue
must be the virtue of the highest part, and Aristotle says
this must be the intellect (nous) or whatever else it be
that is thought to rule and lead us by nature, and to have
cognizance of what is noble and divine. This highest
activity, Aristotle says, must be contemplation or speculative thinking (energeia ... thertik). This is also the
most sustainable, pleasant, self-sucient activity; something aimed at for its own sake. (In contrast to politics
and warfare it does not involve doing things we'd rather
not do, but rather something we do at our leisure.) However, Aristotle says this aim is not strictly human, and
that to achieve it means to live in accordance not with our
mortal thoughts but with something immortal and divine

Young Spartans Exercising by Edgar Degas (1834-1917). Aristotle approved of how Spartan law focused upon up-bringing.

Finally, Aristotle repeats that the discussion of the Ethics


has not reached its aim if it has no eect in practice. Theories are not enough. However, the practice of virtue requires good education and habituation from an early age
in the community. Young people otherwise do not ever
get to experience the highest forms of pleasure and are
distracted by the easiest ones. While parents often attempt to do this, it is critical that there are also good laws
in the community. But concerning this need for good laws
and education Aristotle says that there has always been a
problem, which he is now seeking to address: unlike in
the case of medical science, theoreticians of happiness
and teachers of virtue such as sophists never have practical experience themselves, whereas good parents and law
makers have never theorized and developed a scientic
approach to analyzing what the best laws are. Furthermore, very few law-makers, perhaps only the Spartans,
have made education the focus of law making, as they
should. Education needs to be more like medicine, with
both practice and theory, and this requires a new approach to studying politics. Such study should, he says,
even help in communities where the laws are not good
and the parents need to try to create the right habits in

15.10. FOOTNOTES
young people themselves without the right help from lawmakers.

101

[6] 1123b at Perseus Project


[7] 1129b at Perseus Project

Aristotle closes the Nicomachean Ethics therefore by announcing a programme of study in politics, including the [8] 1144b at Perseus Project
collecting of studies of dierent constitutions, and the re[9] 1157a at Perseus Project
sults of this programme are generally assumed to be contained in the work which exists today and is known as the [10] See for example Book 6 Chapter 13 for Aristotle on
Socrates; and the Laches for Plato's Socrates on courage.
Politics.* [114]
[11] Book X, chapter 7 1177a, cf. 1170b, 1178b

15.9 See also


Aristotelian ethics
Corpus Aristotelicum
Economics (Oeconomica)
Potentiality and actuality
Ethics
Eudaimonia
Eudemian Ethics (Ethica Eudemia)
Hexis
Intellectual virtue
Magna Moralia (Great Ethics)
Moral character
Nous
On Virtues and Vices (De Virtutibus et Vitiis Libellus)
Phronesis
Politics
Virtue
Virtue ethics

15.10 Footnotes
[1] Book II, chapter 2, 1103b

[2] Book I Chapters 3, 4, 6, 7. See below.
[3] Book I, chapter 7 1098a
[4] Book II, chapter 1, 1103b
[5] Sachs, Joe, Nicomachean Ethics, p. 68 Greatness of
soul is the rst of four virtues that Aristotle will nd to
require the presence of all the virtues of character.In
the Eudemian Ethics (Book VIII, chapter 3) Aristotle also
uses the word "kalokagathia", the nobility of a gentleman
(kalokagathos), to describe this same concept of a virtue
containing all the moral virtues.

[12] Book I Chapter 3 1094b-1095a. Translation by Sachs.


[13] Book I Chapter 6 1096a]1097b. Translation by Sachs.
[14] Book I Chapter 1
[15] Book I Chapter 2. Translation above by Sachs.
[16] Book I Chapter 4 1095a-1095b.
[17] Book I Chapter 5 1095b-1096a.
[18] The denition itself is very important to the whole work.
In Greek:
, ,
. .
, . Some other
translations: Sachs: the human good comes to be disclosed as a
being-at-work of the soul in accordance with virtue,
and if the virtues are more than one, in accordance
with the best and most complete virtue. But also
this must be in a complete life, for one swallow does
not make a Spring
Ross: human good turns out to be activity of soul
exhibiting excellence, and if there are [sic.] more
than one excellence, in accordance with the best and
most complete. But we must add in a complete
life. For one swallow does not make a summer
Thomson: the conclusion is that the good for man
is an activity of soul in accordance with virtue, or
if there are more kinds of virtue than one, in accordance with the best and most perfect kind. There
is one further qualication: in a complete lifetime.
One swallow does not make a summer
Crisp: the human good turns out to be activity of
the soul in accordance with virtue, and if there are
several virtues, in accordance with the best and most
complete. Again, this must be over a complete life.
For one swallow does not make a summer
[19] Book I Chapter 7 1097a-1098b
[20] . This can
be contrasted with several translations, sometimes confusingly treating spoudaios as a simple word for good
(normally agathos in Greek): Sachs: and it belongs to a man of serious stature
to do these things well and beautifully";
Ross:and the function of good man to be the good
and noble performance of these";

102

CHAPTER 15. NICOMACHEAN ETHICS


Rackham:and say that the function of a good man
is to perform these activities well and rightly";
Thomson: and if the function of a good man is to
perform these well and rightly";
Crisp and the characteristic activity of the good
person to be to carry this out well and nobly.

[21] Book I Chapter 8 1098b-1099b. Translations above by


Sachs.
[22] Book I Chapter 9 1099b-1100a. Translations above by
Sachs.
[23] Book I Chapter 9 - 10. Translations above by Sachs.
[24] Book I Chapter 10 1100a-1101a. Translation above by
Sachs.
[25] Book I Chapter 11 1101a-1101b. Translation above by
Sachs.
[26] Book I Chapter 12 1101b-1102a. Translation above by
Sachs.
[27] Book I Chapter 13 1102a-1103a. Translation above by
Sachs.

[45] Book III Chapter 8 1116a-1117a


[46] Book III Chapter 9 1117a-1117b
[47] Book III, Chapter 10 1117b-1118b
[48] Book III, Chapter 11 1118b-1119a
[49] Book III, Chapter 12 1119a-1119b
[50] Book IV, Chapter 1 1119b-1122a. Using Sachs translation.
[51] Book IV Chapter 2. 1122a. Rackham translation used.
[52] See for example the footnote in the Rackham edition. In
the Sachs translation it is remarked that two possible translations prideand high mindednessboth only get
half of the meaning, while magnanimity only shifts the
problem into Latin.
[53] Davis, Michael (1996). The Politics of Philosophy: A
Commentary on Aristotle's Politics. Lanham: Rowman &
Littleeld. pages 3-4.
[54] 1123b
[55] 1125a Sachs translation

[28] Book II, Chapter 1, 1103a-1103b

[56] 1124a Sachs translation

[29] However Aristotle himself seems to choose this formulation as a basic starting point because it is already wellknown. One of the two Delphic motto's strongly associated with Aristotle's own Socratic teachers was nothing
in excess, a motto much older than Socrates himself,
and similar ideas can be found in Pythagorianism, and the
Myth of Icarus.

[57] 1123b-1124a

[30] Book II, Chapter 2, 1103b-1104b

[61] 1125b-1126b

[31] Book II, Chapter 3, 1104b-1105a

[62] Rackham translation

[32] Book II, Chapter 4 1105a-1105b

[63] 1126b-1127a

[33] Dunamis and hexis are translated in numerous ways. See


Categories 8b for Aristotle's explanation of both words.

[64] 1127a - 1127b

[34] Book II, Chapter 5 1105b-1106a


[35] Book II, Chapter 6 1106b-1107a.
[36] Book II, Chapter 7 1107a-1108b.
[37] Book II, Chapter 8 1108b-1109b.
[38] Book III Chapters 1-3 1109b30-1110b. Using Sachs
translations.
[39] Book III Chapter 2 1111b-1113a. Using Sachs translations.

[58] Strauss, Leo, Progress or Return, An Introduction to


Political Philosophy, pp. 276277
[59] 1124b-1125a
[60] 1125b

[65] 1127b - 1128b


[66] Book IV, Chapter 9 1128b
[67] Strauss, Leo, Progress or Return, An Introduction to
Political Philosophy, p. 278
[68] 1129b. Above is the Rackham translation as on the
Perseus website.
[69] 1130b.
[70] Such a discussion appears in Book III of his Politics.
[71] 1131a

[40] Book III Chapter 3 1113a-1113b. Sachs translation.


[72] 1132a. Rackham translation used above.
[41] Book III Chapter 4 1113a
[42] Book III Chapter 5 1113b-1115a.

[73] Book 5 chapter 5

[43] Book III, Chapter 6 1115a

[74] Book 5 Chapter 7 section 1. The translations are from


Rackham, as on the Perseus website.

[44] Book III, Chapter 7 1115b-1116a

[75] Book 5 Chapter 7 section 2.

15.11. FURTHER READING

[76] Book 5 Chapter 7 Section 3.

103

[109] Book X.4.1175a10-20.

[77] [110] Book X.5.


,
[111] Book X.5.1176a.

1139a10
[112] Book X, Chapter 6.
[78] 1139b15-1142a

[113] Book X, Chapters 78. Rackham translation.

[79] Sachs translation.

[114] Book X.9.

[80] 1142a
[81] 1142b

15.11 Further reading

[82] 1145a. Burger (p.133) notes that Aristotle's various remarks throughout the Ethics about this part of the Iliad
seem to indicate that Aristotle seems to have gone out
of his way to furnish a particularly problematic illustration
of divine virtue.

Bostock, David (2000). Aristotles Ethics. New


York: Oxford University Press.

[83] 1146a. Translation used is Rackham's.

Burger, Ronna (2008). Aristotle's Dialogue with


Socrates: On the Nicomachean Ethics. University
of Chicago Press.

[84] Sachs translation


[85] VII.4.6.
[86] VII.5.3. Rackham translation]
[87] 1149a Sachs translation
[88] VII.5
[89] VII.5
[90] VII.5
[91] 1150b
[92] 1151a
[93] 1151b
[94] 1152a
[95] 1153a
[96] 1153b
[97] 1145b. Rackham translation.
[98] 1155a
[99] 1155b
[100] Book, chap. VIII sec. 1156a
[101] Book, chap. VIII sec. 1156b
[102] 1157a
[103] 1159b. Rackham translation.
[104] 1162b
[105] 1160a
[106] 1161a
[107] Book X.4.1174b. Rackham translation.
[108] Book X.4.1175a. Sachs translation.

Broadie, Sarah (1991). Ethics with Aristotle. New


York: Oxford University Press.

Cooper, John M. (1975). Reason and Human Good


in Aristotle. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Hardie, W.F.R. (1968). Aristotle's Ethical Theory.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hughes, Gerald J. (2001). Routledge Philosophy
Guidebook to Aristotle on Ethics. London: Routledge.
Kraut, Richard (1989). Aristotle on the Human
Good. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Kraut, ed., Richard (2006). The Blackwell Guide to
Aristotles Nicomachean Ethics. Oxford: Blackwell.
May, Hope (2010). Aristotle's Ethics Moral Development and Human Nature. London: Continuum.
Pakaluk, Michael (2005). Aristotles Nicomachean
Ethics: An Introduction. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press.
Rorty, ed., Amelie (1980). Essays on Aristotles
Ethics. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Reeve, C.D.C. (1992). Practices of Reason: Aristotles Nicomachean Ethics. New York: Oxford University Press.
Pangle, Lorraine (2003). Aristotle and the Philosophy of Friendship. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Sherman, ed., Nancy (1999). Aristotle
s Ethics: Critical Essays. New York: Rowman & Littleeld.
Urmson, J.O. (1988). Aristotles Ethics. New York:
Blackwell.
Warne, Christopher (2007).
Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics: Reader's Guide. London: Continuum.

104

CHAPTER 15. NICOMACHEAN ETHICS

15.11.1

Translations

Bartlett, Robert C.; Collins, Susan D. (2011). Nicomachean Ethics. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press. ISBN 978-0-226-02674-9. (Translation,
with Interpretive Essay, Notes, Glossary.)

John N. Hatzopoulos, 2009, The boundaries of


right and wrong - Learning and the human brain,
ACSM BULLETIN, February 2009, pp. 2022.
Audiobook version of Nicomachean Ethics (Public
domain. Translated by Thomas Taylor)

Broadie, Sarah; Rowe, Christopher (2002). Aristotle


Nicomachean Ethics: Translation, Introduction, and
Commentary. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Diglossa.org/Aristotle/Ethics: multi-language library Russian: . . , English: W. D.


Ross

Crisp, Roger (2000). Aristotle: Nicomachean Ethics.


Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-63221-8.

PDFs of several (now) public domain translations


and commentaries on The Nicomachean Ethics

Irwin, Terence (1999). Nicomachean Ethics. Hackett Publishing Company. ISBN 0-87220-464-2.
Rackham, H. (1926). Aristotle The Nicomachean
Ethics with an English Translation by H. Rackham.
Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-99081-1.
Ross, David (1925). Aristotle The Nicomachean
Ethics: Translated with an Introduction. Oxford:
Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-283407-X..
Re-issued 1980, revised by J. L. Ackrill and J. O.
Urmson.
Sachs, Joe (2002). Aristotle Nicomachean Ethics:
Translation, Glossary and Introductory Essay. Focus Publishing. ISBN 1-58510-035-8.
Thomson, J. A. K. (1955). The Ethics of Aristotle:
The Nicomachean Ethics. Penguin Classics.. Reissued 1976, revised by Hugh Tredennick.

15.12 External links


Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle with chapter descriptions and direct chapter links for all 10 books
W. D. Ross translation
from the University of Adelaide (University of
Adelaide)
from The Internet Classics Archive
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
from nothingistic.org
from McMaster (PDF)
H Rackham translation plus Greek version (The
Perseus Project)
Lecture on Aristotle's Nicomachaean Ethics A very
complete analysis of Nicomachean Ethics.
Nicomachean Ethics Sparknote A study guide for
Nicomachean Ethics.
Nicomachean Ethics, trans. by Harris Rackham
(HTML at Perseus) with Bekker numbers.

Chapter 16

Eudaimonia
For the moth, see Eudaemonia (moth). For other uses, In his Nicomachean Ethics, (21; 1095a1522) Aristotle
see Eudaemon (disambiguation).
says that everyone agrees that eudaimonia is the highest
good for human beings, but that there is substantial disEudaimonia (Greek: [eu daimona]), agreement on what sort of life counts as doing and living
sometimes anglicized as eudaemonia or eudemonia well; i.e. eudaimon:
/judmoni/, is a Greek word commonly translated
as happiness or welfare; however, human ourishing
Verbally there is a very general agreement;
has been proposed as a more accurate translation.* [1]
for both the general run of men and people of
Etymologically, it consists of the words "eu" (good
superior renement say that it is [eudaimonia],
) and "daimn" (spirit). It is a central concept
and identify living well and faring well with bein Aristotelian ethics and political philosophy, along
ing happy; but with regard to what [eudaimowith the terms "aret", most often translated as "virtue"
nia] is they dier, and the many do not give the
or excellence, and "phronesis", often translated as
same account as the wise. For the former think
practical or ethical wisdom.* [2] In Aristotle's works,
it is some plain and obvious thing like pleasure,
eudaimonia was (based on older Greek tradition) used as
wealth or honour[1095a17]* [5]
the term for the highest human good, and so it is the aim
of practical philosophy, including ethics and political So, as Aristotle points out, saying that eudaimon life is a
philosophy, to consider (and also experience) what it life which is objectively desirable, and means living well,
really is, and how it can be achieved.
is not saying very much. Everyone wants to be eudaiDiscussion of the links between virtue of character (ethik mon; and everyone agrees that being eudaimon is related
s well being. The really
aret) and happiness (eudaimonia) is one of the central to faring well and to an individual
concerns of ancient ethics, and a subject of much dis- dicult question is to specify just what sort of activities
agreement. As a result there are many varieties of eudai- enable one to live well. Aristotle presents various popular
monism. Two of the most inuential forms are those of conceptions of the best life for human beings. The canAristotle* [3] and the Stoics. Aristotle takes virtue and its didates that he mentions are a (1) life of pleasure, (2) a
exercise to be the most important constituent in eudai- life of political activity and (3) a philosophical life.
monia but acknowledges also the importance of external One important move in Greek philosophy to answer the
goods such as health, wealth, and beauty. By contrast, the question of how to achieve eudaimonia is to bring in anStoics make virtue necessary and sucient for eudaimo- other important concept in ancient philosophy, arete
nia and thus deny the necessity of external goods.* [4]
("virtue"). Aristotle says that the eudaimon life is one of

The Denitions, a dictionary of Greek philosophical


terms attributed to Plato himself but believed by modern
scholars to have been written by his immediate followers
in the Academy, provides the following denition of the
word eudaimonia:

virtuous activity in accordance with reason[1097b22


1098a20]. And even Epicurus who argues that the eudaimon life is the life of pleasure maintains that the life of
pleasure coincides with the life of virtue. So the ancient
ethical theorists tend to agree that virtue is closely bound
up with happiness (aret is bound up with eudaimonia).
However, they disagree on the way in which this is so. We
shall consider the main theories in a moment, but rst a
warning about the proper translation of aret.

The good composed of all goods; an ability


which suces for living well; perfection in respect of virtue; resources sucient for a living
creature.

As already noted, the Greek word aret is usually translated into English as virtue. One problem with this is
that we are inclined to understand virtue in a moral sense,
which is not always what the ancients had in mind. For a
Greek, aret pertains to all sorts of qualities we would not

16.1 Denition

105

106

CHAPTER 16. EUDAIMONIA

regard as relevant to ethics, for example, physical beauty. thing else. (see Plato, Apology 30b, Euthydemus 280d
So it is important to bear in mind that the sense ofvirtue 282d, Meno 87d89a). However, Socrates adopted a
operative in ancient ethics is not exclusively moral and quite radical form of eudaimonism (see above): he seems
includes more than states such as wisdom, courage and to have thought that virtue is both necessary and sucompassion. The sense of virtue which aret connotes cient for eudaimonia. Socrates is convinced that virtues
would include saying something like speed is a virtue such as self-control, courage, justice, piety, wisdom and
in a horse, orheight is a virtue in a basketball player. related qualities of mind and soul are absolutely crucial
Doing anything well requires virtue, and each character- if a person is to lead a good and happy (eudaimon) life.
istic activity (such as carpentry, ute playing, etc.) has its Virtues guarantee a happy life eudaimonia. For example,
own set of virtues. The alternative translation excellence in the Meno, with respect to wisdom, he says: every(or a desirable quality) might be helpful in convey- thing the soul endeavours or endures under the guidance
ing this general meaning of the term. The moral virtues of wisdom ends in happiness[Meno 88c].
are simply a subset of the general sense in which a human
In the Apology, Socrates clearly presents his disagreement
being is capable of functioning well or excellently.
with those who think that the eudaimon life is the life of

16.2 Main views on eudaimonia


and its relation to aret
16.2.1

Socrates

honour or pleasure, when he chastises the Athenians for


caring more for riches and honour than the state of their
souls.
Good Sir, you are an Athenian, a citizen of
the greatest city with the greatest reputation for
both wisdom and power; are you not ashamed
of your eagerness to possess as much wealth,
reputation, and honors as possible, while you
do not care for nor give thought to wisdom
or truth or the best possible state of your soul
[29d].* [6]
it does not seem like human nature for
me to have neglected all my own aairs and to
have tolerated this neglect for so many years
while I was always concerned with you, approaching each one of you like a father or an
elder brother to persuade you to care for virtue.
[31ab; italics added]

French painter David portrayed the philosopher in The Death of


Socrates (1787).

What we know of Socrates' philosophy is almost entirely


derived from Platos writings. Scholars typically divide
Platos works into three periods: the early, middle, and
late periods. They tend to agree also that Platos earliest
works quite faithfully represent the teachings of Socrates
and that Platos own views, which go beyond those of
Socrates, appear for the rst time in the middle works
such as the Phaedo and the Republic. This division will
be employed here in dividing up the positions of Socrates
and Plato on eudaimonia.
As with all other ancient ethical thinkers Socrates thought
that all human beings wanted eudaimonia more than any-

It emerges a bit further on that this concern for ones


soul, that ones soul might be in the best possible state,
amounts to acquiring moral virtue. So Socratespoint
that the Athenians should care for their souls means that
they should care for their virtue, rather than pursuing honour or riches. Virtues are states of the soul. When a soul
has been properly cared for and perfected it possesses the
virtues. Moreover, according to Socrates, this state of the
soul, moral virtue, is the most important good. The health
of the soul is incomparably more important for eudaimonia than (e.g.) wealth and political power. Someone with
a virtuous soul is better o than someone who is wealthy
and honoured but whose soul is corrupted by unjust actions. This view is conrmed in the Crito, where Socrates
gets Crito to agree that the perfection of the soul, virtue,
is the most important good:
And is life worth living for us with that part
of us corrupted that unjust action harms and
just action benets? Or do we think that part of
us, whatever it is, that is concerned with justice
and injustice, is inferior to the body? Not at

16.2. MAIN VIEWS ON EUDAIMONIA AND ITS RELATION TO ARET

107

all. It is much more valuable? Much more


(47e48a)
Here Socrates argues that life is not worth living if the
soul is ruined by wrongdoing.* [7] In summary, Socrates
seems to think that virtue is both necessary and sucient
for eudaimonia. A person who is not virtuous cannot be
happy, and a person with virtue cannot fail to be happy.
We shall see later on that Stoic ethics takes its cue from
this Socratic insight.

16.2.2

Plato

Platos great work of the middle period, the Republic,


is devoted to answering a challenge made by a sophist
Thrasymachus, that conventional morality, particularly
thevirtueof justice, actually prevents the strong man
from achieving eudaimonia. Thrasymachuss views are
restatements of a position which Plato discusses earlier on
in his writings, in the Gorgias, through the mouthpiece
of Callicles. The basic argument presented by Thrasymachus and Callicles is that justice (being just) hinders
or prevents the achievement of eudaimonia because conventional morality requires that we control ourselves and
hence live with un-satiated desires. This idea is vividly
illustrated in book 2 of the Republic when Glaucon, taking up Thrasymachuschallenge, recounts a myth of the
magical ring of Gyges. According to the myth, Gyges
becomes king of Lydia when he stumbles upon a magical
ring, which, when he turns it a particular way, makes him
invisible, so that he can satisfy any desire he wishes without fear of punishment. When he discovers the power
of the ring he kills the king, marries his wife and takes
over the throne. The thrust of Glaucons challenge is
that no one would be just if he could escape the retribution he would normally encounter for fullling his desires
at whim. But if eudaimonia is to be achieved through
the satisfaction of desire, whereas being just or acting
justly requires suppression of desire, then it is not in the
interests of the strong man to act according to the dictates of conventional morality. (This general line of argument reoccurs much later in the philosophy of Nietzsche.)
Throughout the rest of the Republic, Plato aims to refute
this claim by showing that the virtue of justice is necessary for eudaimonia.

The School of Athens by Raaello Sanzio, 1509, showing Plato


(left) and Aristotle (right)

pends on virtue. On Platos version of the relationship,


virtue is depicted as the most crucial and the dominant
constituent of eudaimonia.

16.2.3 Aristotle

Aristotles account is articulated in the Nicomachean


Ethics and the Eudemian Ethics. In outline, for Aristotle, eudaimonia involves activity, exhibiting virtue (aret
sometimes translated as excellence) in accordance with
reason. This conception of eudaimonia derives from
Aristotles essentialist understanding of human nature, the view that reason (logos sometimes translated as
rationality) is unique to human beings and that the ideal
function or work (ergon) of a human being is the fullest
or most perfect exercise of reason. Basically, well being
(eudaimonia) is gained by proper development of one's
highest and most human capabilities and human beings
The argument of the Republic is lengthy, complex, and are the rational animal. It follows that eudaimonia
profound, and the present context does not allow that we for a human being is the attainment of excellence (aret)
give it proper consideration. In a thumbnail sketch, Plato in reason.
argues that virtues are states of the soul, and that the just According to Aristotle, eudaimonia actually requires
person is someone whose soul is ordered and harmonious, activity, action, so that it is not sucient for a person
with all its parts functioning properly to the person
s ben- to possess a squandered ability or disposition. Eudaimoet. In contrast, Plato argues that the unjust mans soul, nia requires not only good character but rational activity.
without the virtues, is chaotic and at war with itself, so Aristotle clearly maintains that to live in accordance with
that even if he were able to satisfy most of his desires, reason means achieving excellence thereby. Moreover,
his lack of inner harmony and unity thwart any chance he he claims this excellence cannot be isolated and so comhas of achieving eudaimonia. Platos ethical theory is petencies are also required appropriate to related funceudaimonistic because it maintains that eudaimonia de- tions. For example, if being a truly outstanding scientist

108

CHAPTER 16. EUDAIMONIA

requires impressive math skills, one might say doing


mathematics well is necessary to be a rst rate scientist
. From this it follows that eudaimonia, living well, consists in activities exercising the rational part of the psyche in accordance with the virtues or excellency of reason [1097b221098a20]. Which is to say, to be fully engaged in the intellectually stimulating and fullling work
at which one achieves well-earned success. The rest of
the Nicomachean Ethics is devoted to lling out the claim
that the best life for a human being is the life of excellence
in accordance with reason. Since reason for Aristotle is
not only theoretical but practical as well, he spends quite
a bit of time discussing excellence of character, which enables a person to exercise his practical reason (i.e., reason
relating to action) successfully.
Aristotles ethical theory is eudaimonist because it maintains that eudaimonia depends on virtue. However, it is
Aristotles explicit view that virtue is necessary but not
sucient for eudaimonia. While emphasizing the importance of the rational aspect of the psyche, he does not ignore the importance of other goodssuch as friends,
wealth, and power in a life that is eudaimonic. He doubts
the likelihood of being eudaimonic if one lacks certain
external goods such as good birth, good children, and
beauty. So, a person who is hideously ugly or haslost
children or good friends through death(1099b56), or
who is isolated, is unlikely to be eudaimon. In this way,
dumb luck(chance) can preempt one's attainment of
eudaimonia.

16.2.4

Epicurus

Epicurusethical theory is hedonistic. (His view proved


very inuential on the founders and best proponents of
utilitarianism, Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill.)
Hedonism is the view that pleasure is the only intrinsic
good and that pain is the only intrinsic bad. An object,
experience or state of aairs is intrinsically valuable if it
is good simply because of what it is. Intrinsic value is to
be contrasted with instrumental value. An object, experience or state of aairs is instrumentally valuable if it
serves as a means to what is intrinsically valuable. To see
this, consider the following example. Suppose you spend
your days and nights in an oce, working at not entirely
pleasant activities, such as entering data into a computer,
and this, all for money. Someone asks,why do you want
the money?and you answer,So, I can buy an apartment
overlooking the Mediterranean, and a red Ferrari.This
answer expresses the point that money is instrumentally
valuable because it is a means to getting your apartment
and red Ferrari. The value of making money is dependent on the value of commodities. It is instrumentally
valuable: valuable only because of what one obtains by
means of it.

Epicurus identied eudaimonia with the life of pleasure.

pain and distress. But it is important to notice that Epicurus does not advocate that one pursue any and every
pleasure. Rather, he recommends a policy whereby pleasures are maximized in the long run.In other words,
Epicurus claims that some pleasures are not worth having because they lead to greater pains, and some pains
are worthwhile when they lead to greater pleasures. The
best strategy for attaining a maximal amount of pleasure
overall is not to seek instant gratication but to work out
a sensible long term policy.

Ancient Greek ethics is eudaimonist because it links


virtue and eudaimonia, where eudaimonia refers to an individuals (objective) well being. Epicurus' doctrine can
be considered eudaimonist since Epicurus argues that a
life of pleasure will coincide with a life of virtue. He believes that we do and ought to seek virtue because virtue
brings pleasure. Epicurusbasic doctrine is that a life
of virtue is the life which generates the most amount of
pleasure, and it is for this reason that we ought to be virtuous. This thesisthe eudaimon life is the pleasurable
Epicurus identies the eudaimon life with the life of plea- lifeis not a tautology as eudaimonia is the good life
sure. He understands eudaimonia as a more or less con- would be: rather, it is the substantive and controversial
tinuous experience of pleasure, and also, freedom from claim that a life of pleasure and absence of pain is what

16.2. MAIN VIEWS ON EUDAIMONIA AND ITS RELATION TO ARET


eudaimonia consists in.
One important dierence between Epicuruseudaimonism and that of Plato and Aristotle is that for the latter
virtue is a constituent of eudaimonia, whereas Epicurus
makes virtue a means to happiness. To this dierence,
consider Aristotles theory. Aristotle maintains that eudaimonia is what everyone wants (and Epicurus would
agree). He also thinks that eudaimonia is best achieved by
a life of virtuous activity in accordance with reason. The
virtuous person takes pleasure in doing the right thing as a
result of a proper training of moral and intellectual character (See e.g., Nicomachean Ethics 1099a5). However,
Aristotle does not think that virtuous activity is pursued
for the sake of pleasure. Pleasure is a byproduct of virtuous action: it does not enter at all into the reasons why
virtuous action is virtuous. Aristotle does not think that
we literally aim for eudaimonia. Rather, eudaimonia is
what we achieve (assuming that we arent particularly
unfortunate in the possession of external goods) when we
live according to the requirements of reason. Virtue is the
largest constituent in a eudaimon life. By contrast, Epicurus holds that virtue is the means to achieve happiness.
His theory is eudaimonist in that he holds that virtue is indispensable to happiness; but virtue is not a constituent of
a eudaimon life, and being virtuous is not (external goods
aside) identical with being eudaimon. Rather, according
to Epicurus, virtue is only instrumentally related to happiness. So whereas Aristotle would not say that one ought to
aim for virtue in order to attain pleasure, Epicurus would
endorse this claim.

16.2.5

The Stoics

Zeno, thought happiness was a good ow of life.

109

Stoic philosophy begins with Zeno of Citium c.300 BCE,


and was developed by Cleanthes (331232 BCE) and
Chrysippus (c.280c.206 BCE) into a formidable systematic unity.* [8] Zeno believed happiness was a good
ow of life"; Cleanthes suggested it wasliving in agreement with nature, and Chrysippus believed it wasliving in accordance with experience of what happens by
nature.* [8] Stoic ethics is a particularly strong version of eudaimonism. According to the Stoics, virtue
is necessary and sucient for eudaimonia. (This thesis
is generally regarded as stemming from the Socrates of
Platos earlier dialogues.) We saw earlier that the conventional Greek concept of arete is not quite the same
as that denoted by virtue, which has Christian connotations of charity, patience, and uprightness, since arete includes many non-moral virtues such as physical strength
and beauty. However, the Stoic concept of arete is much
nearer to the Christian conception of virtue, which refers
to the moral virtues. However, unlike Christian understandings of virtue, righteousness or piety, the Stoic conception does not place as great an emphasis on mercy,
forgiveness, self-abasement (i.e. the ritual process of
declaring complete powerlessness and humility before
God), charity and self-sacricial love, though these behaviors/mentalities are not necessarily spurned by the
Stoics (they are spurned by other philosophers of Antiquity). Rather Stoicism emphasizes states such as justice,
honesty, moderation, simplicity, self-discipline, resolve,
fortitude, and courage (states which Christianity also encourages).
The Stoics make a radical claim that the eudaimon life is
the morally virtuous life. Moral virtue is good, and moral
vice is bad, and everything else, such as health, honour
and riches, are merely neutral.* [8] The Stoics therefore are committed to saying that external goods such
as wealth and physical beauty are not really good at all.
Moral virtue is both necessary and sucient for eudaimonia. In this, they are akin to Cynic philosophers such
as Antisthenes and Diogenes in denying the importance
to eudaimonia of external goods and circumstances, such
as were recognized by Aristotle, who thought that severe
misfortune (such as the death of one
s family and friends)
could rob even the most virtuous person of eudaimonia.
This Stoic doctrine re-emerges later in the history of ethical philosophy in the writings of Immanuel Kant, who
argues that the possession of a good willis the only
unconditional good. One dierence is that whereas the
Stoics regard external goods as neutral, as neither good
nor bad, Kants position seems to be that external goods
are good, but only so far as they are a condition to achieving happiness.

110

16.3 Eudaimonia and


moral philosophy

CHAPTER 16. EUDAIMONIA

modern

Interest in the concept of eudaimonia and ancient ethical


theory more generally enjoyed a revival in the twentieth
century. Elizabeth Anscombe in her article Modern
Moral Philosophy(1958) argued that duty-based conceptions of morality are conceptually incoherent for they
are based on the idea of alaw without a lawgiver.* [9]
She claims a system of morality conceived along the lines
of the Ten Commandments depends on someone having
made these rules.* [10] Anscombe recommends a return
to the eudaimonistic ethical theories of the ancients, particularly Aristotle, which ground morality in the interests
and well being of human moral agents, and can do so
without appealing to any such lawgiver.

3. Self-acceptance
4. Purpose in life
5. Environmental mastery
6. Positive relations with others.
Importantly, she also produced scales for assessing
mental health.* [12]
This factor structure has been debated,* [13]* [14] but has
generated much research in wellbeing, health and successful aging.

16.4.1 Genetics

Individual dierences in both overall Eudaimonia, idenJulia Driver in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy tied loosely with self-control and in the facets of eudaimonia are heritable. Evidence from one study supports
explains:
5 independent genetic mechanisms underlying the Ry
facets of this trait, leading to a genetic construct of euAnscombe's article Modern Moral Philosodaimonia in terms of general self-control, and four subphy stimulated the development of virtue ethics
sidiary biological mechanisms enabling the psychological
as an alternative to Utilitarianism, Kantian
capabilities of purpose, agency, growth, and positive soEthics, and Social Contract theories. Her pricial relations * [15]
mary charge in the article is that, as secular approaches to moral theory, they are without foundation. They use concepts such as
16.5 Etymology and translation
morally ought,
morally obligated,
morally
right,
and so forth that are legalistic and require
a legislator as the source of moral authority. In
In terms of its etymology, eudaimonia is an abstract noun
the past God occupied that role, but systems
derived from eu meaning welland daimon (daemon),
that dispense with God as part of the theory are
which refers to a minor deity or a guardian spirit.* [3]
lacking the proper foundation for meaningful
Eudaimonia implies a positive and divine state of being
employment of those concepts.* [11]
that humanity is able to strive toward and possibly reach.
A literal view of eudaimonia means achieving a state of
being similar to benevolent deity, or being protected and
16.4 Eudaimonia and modern psy- looked after by a benevolent deity. As this would be considered the most positive state to be in, the word is ofchology
ten translated as 'happiness' although incorporating the
divine nature of the word extends the meaning to also inFurther information: Psychological well-being and clude the concepts of being fortunate, or blessed. Despite
Meaningful Life
this etymology, however, discussions of eudaimonia in
ancient Greek ethics are often conducted independently
Models of eudaimonia in psychology emerged from early of any super-natural signicance.
work on self-actualisation and the means of its accom- In his Nicomachean Ethics, (1095a1522) Aristotle says
plishment by researchers such as Erikson, Allport, and that eudaimonia means doing and living well. It is
Maslow.* [12] The psychologist C. D. Ry highlighted signicant that synonyms for eudaimonia are living well
the distinction between eudaimonia wellbeing, which she and doing well. On the standard English translation, this
identied as psychological well-being, and hedonic well- would be to say that happiness is doing well and living
being or pleasure. Building on Aristotelian ideals of be- well
. The wordhappiness
does not entirely capture the
longing and beneting others, ourishing, thriving and meaning of the Greek word. One important dierence is
exercising excellence, she conceptualised eudaimonia as that happiness often connotes being or tending to be in
a six-factor structure :
a certain pleasant state of consciousness. For example,
when we say that someone isa very happy person,we
usually mean that they seem subjectively contented with
1. Autonomy
the way things are going in their life. We mean to im2. Personal growth
ply that they feel good about the way things are going for

16.7. REFERENCES
them. In contrast, eudaimonia is a more encompassing
notion than feeling happy since events that do not contribute to ones experience of feeling happy may aect
ones eudaimonia.
Eudaimonia depends on all the things that would make
us happy if we knew of their existence, but quite independently of whether we do know about them. Ascribing eudaimonia to a person, then, may include ascribing such things as being virtuous, being loved and having good friends. But these are all objective judgments
about someones life: they concern a persons really
being virtuous, really being loved, and really having ne
friends. This implies that a person who has evil sons and
daughters will not be judged to be eudaimonic even if he
or she does not know that they are evil and feels pleased
and contented with the way they have turned out (happy).
Conversely, being loved by your children would not count
towards your happiness if you did not know that they
loved you (and perhaps thought that they did not), but
it would count towards your eudaimonia. So eudaimonia corresponds to the idea of having an objectively good
or desirable life, to some extent independently of whether
one knows that certain things exist or not. It includes conscious experiences of well being, success, and failure, but
also a whole lot more. (See Aristotles discussion: Nicomachean Ethics, book 1.101.11.)

111

16.7 References
[1] Daniel N. Robinson. (1999). Aristotle's Psychology.
Published by Daniel N. Robinson. ISBN 0-9672066-0-X
ISBN 978-0967206608
[2] Rosalind Hursthouse (July 18, 2007). Virtue Ethics
. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 201006-05. But although modern virtue ethics does not have
to take the form known as neo-Aristotelian, almost
any modern version still shows that its roots are in ancient Greek philosophy by the employment of three concepts derived from it. These are aret (excellence or
virtue) phronesis (practical or moral wisdom) and eudaimonia (usually translated as happiness or ourishing.) As
modern virtue ethics has grown and more people have
become familiar with its literature, the understanding of
these terms has increased, but it is still the case that readers familiar only with modern philosophy tend to misinterpret them.

[3] Verena von Pfetten (09-4-08). 5 Things Happy People


Do. Hungton Post. Retrieved 2010-06-05. But researchers now believe that eudaimonic well-being may be
more important. Cobbled from the Greek eu (good)
and daimon spirit
(
ordeity), eudaimonia means striving toward excellence based on one's unique talents and
potentialAristotle considered it to be the noblest goal
in life. In his time, the Greeks believed that each child
was blessed at birth with a personal daimon embodying
Because of this discrepancy between the meaning of euthe highest possible expression of his or her nature. One
daimonia and happiness, some alternative translations
way they envisioned the daimon was as a golden gurine
have been proposed. W.D. Ross suggests well-being
that would be revealed by cracking away an outer layer
and John Cooper proposesourishing. These translaof cheap pottery (the person's baser exterior). The eftions may avoid some of the misleading associations carfort to know and realize one's most golden self"personal
ried by happinessalthough each tends to raise some
growth,in today's vernacularis now the central concept
problems of its own. In some modern texts therefore, the
of eudaimonia, which has also come to include continuother alternative is to leave the term in an English form
ally taking on new challenges and fullling one's sense of
purpose in life. Check date values in: |date= (help)
of the original Greek, as eudaimonia.

16.6 See also


Eudaemon (mythology)
Eudaemons
Eupraxsophy
Humanism
Maslow's hierarchy of needs
Nicomachean Ethics
Phronesis
Summum bonum
Virtue ethics

[4] Jacobs, J.A. (2012). Reason, Religion, and Natural Law:


From Plato to Spinoza. OUP USA. pp. 6364. ISBN
9780199767175. LCCN 2012001316. According to Irwin, the Stoic thesis that loss and tragedy do not aect an
agents welfare does not imply that a rational agent has
no reason to regret such a loss, for on Irwins account
of Stoic theory the life of virtue and happiness and the
life that accords with nature constitute independently rational aims... A number of considerations tell against this
interpretation, however. One such consideration is merely
an ex silentio appeal. No Stoic source, to my knowledge,
suggests that actions may be justied with respect to anything other than what contributes to the end of happiness,
and virtue alone does this in the Stoics view. A few texts,
moreover, are explicit on this point. Ciceros summary
of Stoicsethics in De nibus 3 considers and rejects the
suggestion that Stoic theory is implicitly committed to two
nal ends, virtue and a life that accords with nature, where
these are conceived as independent objectives at which a
rational agent might aim... Independent, that is, in the
strong sense according to which one of these rational objectives may be realized while the other is not. See Irwin
(2007), p. 316: 'Virtuous action. therefore, is not sucient for achieving the life according to nature, which in-

112

CHAPTER 16. EUDAIMONIA

cludes the natural advantages.' Irwin is certainly correct to


point out that virtue is not sucient for attaining the natural advantages, preferred indierents such as health and
wealth. But it is the Stoicscritics, not the Stoics themselves, who maintain that the actual possession of these
items is a necessary condition of the life according to nature.
[5] Aristotle, also David Ross, Lesley Brown (1980). The
Nicomachean Ethics. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 2010-06-05. Verbally there is very general agreement, for both the general run of men and people of superior renement...
[6] Uncertain (19 September 2008).HowGodfunctioned
in Socrates' life. DD:Religion. Retrieved 2010-06-05.
Men of Athens, I am grateful and I am your friend, but I
will obey the god rather than you, and as long as I draw
breath and am able, I shall not cease to practice philosophy, to exhort you and in my usual way to point out to
any of you whom I happen to meet: Good Sir, you are
an Athenian, a citizen of the greatest city with the greatest reputation for both wisdom and power; are you not
ashamed of your eagerness to possess as much wealth, reputation and honors as possible, while you do not care for
nor give thought to wisdom or truth, or the best possible
state of your soul?"

present to do moral philosophy; that should be laid aside at


any rate until we have an adequate philosophy of psychology, in which we are conspicuously lacking. The second
is that the concepts of obligation, and dutymoral obligation and moral duty, that is to sayand of what is morally
right and wrong, and of the moral sense ofought, ought
to be jettisoned if this is psychologically possible; because
they are survivals, or derivatives from survivals, from an
earlier conception of ethics which no longer generally survives, and are only harmful without it. My third thesis is
that the dierences between the wellknown English writers on moral philosophy from Sidgwick to the present day
are of little importance.
[11] Julia Driver (Jul 21, 2009).Gertrude Elizabeth Margaret
Anscombe: 5.1 Virtue Ethics. Stanford Encyclopedia
of Philosophy. Retrieved 2010-06-05. In the past God
occupied that role, but systems that dispense with God as
part of the theory are lacking the proper foundation for
meaningful employment of those concepts.
[12] C. D. Ry. (1989). Happiness is everything, or is it?
Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, 10691081.

[13] K. W. Springer, R. M. Hauser and J. Freese. (2006). Bad


news indeed for Ry's six-factor model of well-being. So[7] Richard Parry (Aug 7, 2009). Ancient Ethical Theory
cial Science Research, 35, 1120-1131.
. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 201006-05. Socrates says that a man worth anything at all does
not reckon whether his course of action endangers his life [14] C. D. Ry and B. H. Singer. (2006). Best news yet on the
six-factor model of well-being. Social Science Research,
or threatens death. He looks only at one thing whether
35, 1103-1119.
what he does is just or not, the work of a good or of a bad
man (28bc).
[8] Dirk Baltzly (Feb 7, 2008). Stoicism. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 2010-06-05. But what
is happiness? The Epicureans' answer was deceptively
straightforward: the happy life is the one which is most
pleasant. (But their account of what the highest pleasure
consists in was not at all straightforward.) Zeno's answer
wasa good ow of life(Arius Didymus, 63A) orliving in agreement, and Cleanthes claried that with the
formulation that the end was living in agreement with
nature(Arius Didymus, 63B). Chrysippus amplied this
to (among other formulations)living in accordance with
experience of what happens by nature"; later Stoics inadvisably, in response to Academic attacks, substituted
such formulations as the rational selection of the primary things according to nature.The Stoics' specication of what happiness consists in cannot be adequately
understood apart from their views about value and human
psychology.
[9] The ethics of virtue: The Ethics of Virtue and the Ethics
of Right Action. wutsamada.com. 2010-06-05. Retrieved 2010-06-05. legalistic ethics rest on the incoherent notion of alawwithout a lawgiver: DCT unacceptable; and the alternative sources of moral legislation
are inadequate substitutes
[10] G. E. M. Anscombe (January 1958).Modern Moral Philosophy. Philosophy 33, No. 124. Retrieved 2010-0605. Originally published in Philosophy 33, No. 124 (January 1958). ... The rst is that it is not protable for us at

[15] D. Archontaki, G. J. Lewis and T. C. Bates. (2012).


Genetic inuences on psychological well-being: A nationally representative twin study. Journal of Personality10.1111/j.1467-6494.2012.00787.x

16.8 Further reading


Ackrill, J. L. (1981) Aristotle the Philosopher. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-2891189
Anscombe, G. E. M. (1958) Modern Moral Philosophy. Philosophy 33; repr. in G.E.M. Anscombe
(1981), vol. 3, 2642.
Aristotle. The Nichomachean Ethics, translated by
Martin Oswald (1962). New York: The BobsMerrill Company.
Aristotle. The Complete Works of Aristotle, vol. 1
and 2, rev. ed. Jonathan Barnes, ed. Princeton: Princeton University Press, [1984]. Bollingen
Foundation, 1995. ASIN: B000J0HP5E
Broadie, Sarah W. (1991) Ethics with Aristotle. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ASIN:
B000VM6T34

16.9. EXTERNAL LINKS


Cicero. De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum: On
Ends, H. Rackham, trans. Loeb Classical Library
(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1914).
Latin text with old-fashioned and not always philosophically precise English translation.
Epicurus. Letter to Menoeceus, Principal Doctrines, and Vatican Sayings,2840 in B. Inwood
and L. Gerson, Hellenistic Philosophy: Introductory Readings, Second Edition Indianapolis: Hackett
Publishing Co., 1998. ISBN 0-87220-378-6
Irwin, T. H. (1995) Platos Ethics, Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Long, A. A., and D.N. Sedley, The Hellenistic
Philosophers, vol 1 and 2 (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1987)
Norton, David L. (1976) Personal Destinies, Princeton University Press.
Plato. Plato's Complete Works, John M. Cooper,
ed. Translated by D. S. Hutchinson. Indianapolis:
Hackett Publishing Co., 1997. ISBN 0-87220-3492
Urmson, J. O. (1988) Aristotles Ethics. Oxford:
Blackwell.
Vlastos, G. (1991) Socrates: Ironist and Moral
Philosopher. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
ISBN 0-8014-9787-6
McMahon, Darrin M., Happiness: A History, Atlantic Monthly Press, November 28, 2005. ISBN
0-87113-886-7
McMahon, Darrin M., The History of Happiness:
400 B.C. A.D. 1780, Daedalus journal, Spring
2004.

16.9 External links


Ancient Ethical Theory, Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy
Aristotle's Ethics, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

113

Chapter 17

Politics (Aristotle)
Politics (Greek: ) is a work of political philosophy by Aristotle, a fourth-century BC Greek philosopher.
The end of the Nicomachean Ethics declared that the inquiry into ethics necessarily follows into politics, and the
two works are frequently considered to be parts of a larger
treatise, or perhaps connected lectures, dealing with the
philosophy of human aairs.The title of the Politics
literally means the things concerning the polis.

Book I concludes with Aristotle's assertion that the proper


object of household rule is the virtuous character of one's
wife and children, not the management of slaves or the
acquisition of property. Rule over the slaves is despotic,
rule over children kingly, and rule over one's wife political
(except there is no rotation in oce). Aristotle questions
whether it is sensible to speak of the virtueof a slave
and whether the virtuesof a wife and children are
the same as those of a man before saying that because
the city must be concerned that its women and children
be virtuous, the virtues that the father should instill are
dependent upon the regime and so the discussion must
turn to what has been said about the best regime.

17.1 Overview
17.1.1

form a part of household management (oikonomike) and


criticizing those who take it too seriously. It is necessary,
but that does not make it a part of household management any more than it makes medicine a part of household management just because health is necessary. He
criticizes income based upon trade and upon interest, saying that those who become avaricious do so because they
forget that money merely symbolizes wealth without being wealth and contrary to natureon interest because
it increases by itself not through exchange.

Book I

In the rst book, Aristotle discusses the city (polis) or


political community(koinnia politik) as opposed to
other types of communities and partnerships such as the
household and village. The highest form of community
is the polis. Aristotle comes to this conclusion because
he believes the public life is far more virtuous than the
private. He comes to this conclusion because men are
political animals.* [1] He begins with the relationship
between the city and man (I. 12), and then specically
discusses the household (I. 313).* [2] He takes issue with
the view that political rule, kingly rule, rule over slaves 17.1.2 Book II
and rule over a household or village are only dierent in
terms of size. He then examines in what way the city may Book II examines various views concerning the best
be said to be natural.
regime.* [2] It opens with an analysis of the regime preAristotle discusses the parts of the household, which in- sented in Plato's Republic (2. 15) before moving to that
cludes slaves, leading to a discussion of whether slavery presented in Plato's Laws (2. 6). Aristotle then discusses
can ever be just and better for the person enslaved or is the systems presented by two other philosophers, Phaleas
always unjust and bad. He distinguishes between those of Chalcedon (2. 7) and Hippodamus of Miletus (2. 8).
who are slaves because the law says they are and those
who are slaves by nature, saying the inquiry hinges on
whether there are any such natural slaves. Only someone
as dierent from other people as the body is from the
soul or beasts are from human beings would be a slave by
nature, Aristotle concludes, all others being slaves solely
by law or convention. Some scholars have therefore concluded that the qualications for natural slavery preclude
the existence of such a being.* [3]

After addressing regimes invented by theorists, Aristotle


moves to the examination of three regimes that are commonly held to be well managed. These are the Spartan
(2. 9), Cretan (2. 10), and Carthaginian (2. 11). The
book concludes with some observations on regimes and
legislators.

17.1.3 Book III

Aristotle then moves to the question of property in general, arguing that the acquisition of property does not
114

Who can be a citizen?

17.2. CLASSIFICATION OF CONSTITUTIONS

115

He who has the power to take part in the deliberative or


judicial administration of any state is said by us to be a
citizen of that state; and speaking generally, a state is a
body of citizens sucing for the purpose of life. But in
practice a citizen is dened to be one of whom both the
parents are citizens; others insist on going further back;
say two or three or more grandparents.Aristotle asserts
that a citizen is anyone who can take part in the governmental process. He nds that most people in the polis are
capable of being citizens. This is contrary to the Platonist
view which asserts that only very few can take part in the
deliberative or judicial administration of the state.* [1]
Classication of constitution.
Just distribution of political power.
Types of monarchies: Monarchy: exercised over voluntary subjects, but limited to certain functions; the
king was a general and a judge, and had
control of religion.
Absolute: government of one for the absolute good
Barbarian: legal and hereditary+ willing
subjects
Dictator: installed by foreign power elective dictatorship + willing subjects (elective tyranny)

17.1.4

Book IV

Tasks of political theory


Why are there many types of constitutions?

Aristotle's classication of constitutions

17.1.6 Book VI
Democratic constitutions
Oligarchic constitutions

Types of democracies
Types of oligarchies
Polity (Constitutional Government) is the optimal
form of government
When perverted, a Polity becomes a
Democracy, the least harmful derivative
government as regarded by Aristotle.
Government oces

17.1.5

Book V

Constitutional change
Revolutions in dierent types of constitutions and
ways to preserve constitutions
Instability of tyrannies

17.1.7 Book VII


Best state and best life
Ideal state. Its population, territory, position etc.
Citizens of the ideal state
Marriage and children

17.1.8 Book VIII


Education in the ideal state

17.2 Classication of constitutions


After studying a number of real and theoretical citystate's constitutions, Aristotle classied them according

116
to various criteria. On one side stand the true (or good)
constitutions, which are considered such because they
aim for the common good, and on the other side the perverted (or deviant) ones, considered such because they
aim for the well being of only a part of the city. The constitutions are then sorted according to the numberof
those who participate to the magistracies: one, a few, or
many. Aristotle's sixfold classication is slightly dierent from the one found in The Statesman by Plato. The
diagram above illustrates Aristotle's classication.

CHAPTER 17. POLITICS (ARISTOTLE)

[3] Nichols, Mary (1992). Citizens and Statesmen. Maryland:


Rowman and Little eld Publishers, Inc.
[4] Lord, Introduction,15.
[5] Lord, Introduction,19, 246n53.
[6] Jaeger, Aristoteles.
[7] Lord, Introduction,1516

17.5 Further reading


17.3 Composition

Barker, Sir Ernest (1906). The Political Thought of


Plato and Aristotle. London: Methuen.

The literary character of the Politics is subject to some


dispute, growing out of the textual diculties that attended the loss of Aristotle's works. Book III ends with
a sentence that is repeated almost verbatim at the start
of Book VII, while the intervening Books IVVI seem to
have a very dierent avor from the rest; Book IV seems
to refer several times back to the discussion of the best
regime contained in Books VIIVIII.* [4] Some editors
have therefore inserted Books VIIVIII after Book III. At
the same time, however, references to thediscourses on
politicsthat occur in the Nicomachean Ethics suggest that
the treatise as a whole ought to conclude with the discussion of education that occurs in Book VIII of the Politics,
although it is not certain that Aristotle is referring to the
Politics here.* [5]

Davis, Michael (1996). The Politics of Philosophy: A Commentary on Aristotle's Politics. Lanham:
Rowman & Littleeld.

Werner Jaeger suggested that the Politics actually represents the conation of two, distinct treatises.* [6] The rst
(Books IIII, VIIVIII) would represent a less mature
work from when Aristotle had not yet fully broken from
Plato, and consequently show a greater emphasis on the
best regime. The second (Books IVVI) would be more
empirically minded, and thus belong to a later stage of
development.
Carnes Lord has argued against the suciency of this
view, however, noting the numerous cross-references between Jaeger's supposedly separate works and questioning the dierence in tone that Jaeger saw between them.
For example, Book IV explicitly notes the utility of examining actual regimes (Jaeger's empiricalfocus) in
determining the best regime (Jaeger'sPlatonicfocus).
Instead, Lord suggests that the Politics is indeed a nished
treatise, and that Books VII and VIII do belong in between Books III and IV; he attributes their current ordering to a merely mechanical transcription error.* [7]

Goodman, Lenn E.; Talisse, Robert B. (2007). Aristotles Politics Today. Albany: State University of
New York Press.
Keyt, David; Miller, Fred D. (1991). A Companion
to Aristotles Politics. Cambridge: Blackwell.
Kraut, ed., Richard; Skultety, Steven (2005). Aristotles Politics: Critical Essays. Lanham: Rowman
& Littleeld.
Simpson, Peter L. (1998). A Philosophical Commentary on the Politics of Aristotle. Chapel Hill:
University of North Carolina Press.
Nichols, Mary P. (1992). Citizens and Statesmen: A
Study of Aristotles Politics. Lanham: Rowman &
Littleeld.
Lord, Carnes (1982). Education and Culture in the
Political Thought of Aristotle. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Miller, Fred D. (1995). Nature, Justice, and Rights
in Aristotles Politics. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Mayhew, Robert (1997). Aristotles Criticism of
Platos Republic. Lanham: Rowman & Littleeld.
Strauss, Leo (Ch. 1). The City and Man.
Salkever, Stephen. Finding the Mean.
Nussbaum, Martha. The Fragility of Goodness.
Nichols, Mary. Citizens and Statesmen.

17.4 Notes
[1] Ebenstein, Alan (2002). Introduction to Political Thinkers.
Boston, MA: Wadsworth.
[2] Lord, Introduction,27.

Mara, Gerald. Political Theory 23 (1995): 280-303.


Frank, Jill. A Democracy of Distinction.
Salkever, Stephen. The Cambridge Companion to
Ancient Greek Political Theory.

17.7. EXTERNAL LINKS

17.6 Translations
Barker, Sir Ernest (1995). The Politics of Aristotle.
Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19953873-7.
Jowett, Benjamin (1984). Jonathan Barnes, ed. Politics. The Complete Works of Aristotle 2. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-69101651-1.
Lord, Carnes (2013). Aristotle's Politics: Second
Edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
ISBN 978-0-226-92183-9.
Lord, Carnes (1984). The Politics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-026695. (Out of Print)
Reeve, C. D. C. (1998). Politics. Indianapolis:
Hackett. ISBN 978-0-87220-388-4.
Simpson, Peter L. P. (1997). The Politics of Aristotle: Translation, Analysis, and Notes. Chapel Hill:
University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-08078-2327-9.
Sinclair, T. A. (1981).
The Politics.
Harmondsworth: Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-044421-6.

17.7 External links


Aristotle: Politics entry by Edward Clayton in the
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Aristotle's Political Theory entry by Fred Miller in
the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Aristotle's Politics on In Our Time at the BBC.


(listen now)
Versions
Politics full text by Project Gutenberg
English translation at Perseus Digital Library translation by Harris Rackham
Australian copy trans. by Benjamin Jowett
HTML trans. by Benjamin Jowett
PDF at McMaster trans. by Benjamin Jowett

Politics at LibriVox

117

Chapter 18

Rhetoric (Aristotle)
Aristotle's Rhetoric (Greek: ; Latin: Ars
Rhetorica* [1]) is an ancient Greek treatise on the art of
persuasion, dating from the 4th century BC. The English title varies: typically it is titled Rhetoric, the Art of
Rhetoric, or a Treatise on Rhetoric.

18.1 Background
Aristotle is generally credited with developing the basics
of the system of rhetoric that thereafter served as its
touchstone,* [2] inuencing the development of rhetorical theory from ancient through modern times. The
Rhetoric is regarded by most rhetoricians as the most
important single work on persuasion ever written.* [3]
Gross and Walzer concur, indicating that, just as Alfred
North Whitehead considered all Western philosophy a
footnote to Plato, all subsequent rhetorical theory is
but a series of responses to issues raisedby Aristotle's
Rhetoric.* [4] This is largely a reection of disciplinary
divisions, dating back to Peter Ramus' attacks on Aristotlean rhetoric in the late 16th century* [5] and continuing to the present.* [6]
Like the other works of Aristotle that have survived from
antiquity, the Rhetoric seems not to have been intended
for publication, being instead a collection of his students'
notes in response to his lectures. The treatise shows the
development of Aristotle's thought through two dierent
periods while he was in Athens, and illustrates Aristotle's
expansion of the study of rhetoric beyond Plato's early
criticism of it in the Gorgias (ca. 386 BC) as immoral,
dangerous, and unworthy of serious study.* [7]* [8] Plato's
nal dialogue on rhetoric, the Phaedrus (ca.370 BC), offered a more moderate view of rhetoric, acknowledging
its value in the hands of a true philosopher (themidwife
of the soul) for winning the soul through discourse.
This dialogue oered Aristotle, rst a student and then a
teacher at Plato's Academy, a more positive starting point
for the development of rhetoric as an art worthy of systematic, scientic study.
The Rhetoric was developed by Aristotle during two periods when he was in Athens, the rst, from 367 to 347
BC (when he was seconded to Plato in the Academy), and
the second, from 335 to 322 BC (when he was running

his own school, the Lyceum)


The study of rhetoric was contested in classical Greece:
on the one side were the Sophists, and on the other side
were Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. The trio saw rhetoric
and poetry as tools that were too often used to manipulate
others by manipulating emotion and omitting facts. They
particularly accused the sophists, including Gorgias and
Isocrates, of this manipulation. Plato, particularly, laid
the blame for the arrest and the death of Socrates at the
feet of sophistical rhetoric. In stark contrast to the emotional rhetoric and poetry of the sophists was a rhetoric
grounded in philosophy and the pursuit of enlightenment.
One of the most important contributions of Aristotle's approach was that he identied rhetoric as one of the three
key elementsalong with logic and dialecticof philosophy. Indeed, the rst line of the Rhetoric isRhetoric is
a counterpart (antistrophe) of dialectic.* [9] According
to Aristotle, logic is concerned with reasoning to reach
scientic certainty while dialectic and rhetoric are concerned with probability and, thus, are the branches of philosophy that are best suited to human aairs. Dialectic is
a tool for philosophical debate; it is a means for skilled
audiences to test probable knowledge in order to learn.
Conversely, rhetoric is a tool for practical debate; it is
a means for persuading a general audience using probable knowledge to resolve practical issues. Dialectic and
rhetoric create a partnership for a system of persuasion
based on knowledge instead of upon manipulation and
omission.

18.2 English translation


Most English readers in the 20th century relied on four
translations of the Rhetoric. The rst, by Richard C. Jebb,
was published in 1909.* [10] The next two translations
were published in 1924. John H. Freese's translation was
published as a part of the Loeb Classical Library* [11]
while W. Rhys Roberts' was published as a part of the Oxford University series of works in the Classics. Roberts'
translation was edited and republished in 1954.* [12] The
1954 edition is widely considered the most readable of
these translations and is widely available online. The
fourth standard translation, by Lane Cooper, came out

118

18.4. OVERVIEW OF BOOK I


in 1932.* [13]

119
Chapter Two Aristotle's famous denition of rhetoric
is viewed as the ability in any particular case to
see the available means of persuasion. He denes
pisteis as atechnic (inartistic) and entechnic (artistic). Of the pisteis provided through speech there are
three parts: ethos, pathos, and logos. He introduces
paradigms and syllogisms as means of persuasion.

Not until the 1990s did another major translation of


the Rhetoric appear. Published in 1991 and translated
by George A. Kennedy, a leading classicist and rhetorician,* [14] this work is notable for the precision of its
translation and for its extensive commentary, notes, and
references to modern scholarship on Aristotle and the
Rhetoric. It is generally regarded today as the standard
Chapter Three Introduces the three genres of rhetoric:
scholarly resource on the Rhetoric.* [15]
deliberative, forensic, and epideictic rhetoric. Here
he also touches on the endsthe orators of each
of these genres hope to reach with their persuasions
18.3 Neo-Aristotelian theory
which are discussed in further detail in later chapters (Bk. 1:3:5-7). Aristotle introduces these three
Main article: Neo-Aristotelianism (rhetorical criticism)
genres by saying, The kinds of rhetoric are three
in number, corresponding to the three kinds of hearers.* [20]* [21]
Rhetorical theory and criticism in the rst half of the 20th
century was dominated by neo-Aristotelian criticism, the
tenets of which were grounded in the Rhetoric and were Chapter Four Aristotle discusses the types of political
topics of deliberative rhetoric. The ve most comtraditionally considered to have been summed up most
*
mon are nance, war and peace, national defense,
clearly in 1925 by Herbert Wichelns. [16] However,
imports and exports, and the framing of laws.
Forbes I. Hill argues that while Wichelns traditionally
gets the credit for summing up Neo-Aristotelian theory,
that instead Hoyt Hopewell Hudson is more deserving Chapter Five Aristotle discusses the dierent ethical
topics of deliberative rhetoric. Aristotle identies
of this credit.* [17] The dominance of neo-Aristotelian
the goal of human action with happinessand
criticism was virtually unchallenged until the 1960s
describes the many factors contributing to it (Bk.
and even now is considered not only as one of many ap1:5:5-18).
proaches to criticism, but as fundamental for understanding other theoretical and critical approaches as theydeveloped largely in response to [its] strengths and weak- Chapter Six This is a continuation of Chapter Five, explaining in greater detail the stoikhea (elements) of
nesses.* [18]
the gooddescribed in the previous chapter.

18.4 Overview of Book I

Chapter Seven Introduces the term koinon of degree.


Discusses the 'ends' of deliberative rhetoric in relation to the greater good or more advantageous.

The Rhetoric consists of three books. Book I oers a general overview, presenting the purposes of rhetoric and a
Chapter Eight Aristotle denes and discusses the four
working denition; it also oers a detailed discussion of
forms of politeia (constitution) useful in deliberathe major contexts and types of rhetoric. Book II distive rhetoric: democracy, oligarchy, aristocracy, and
cusses in detail the three means of persuasion that an ormonarchy.
ator must rely on: those grounded in credibility (ethos),
in the emotions and psychology of the audience (pathos),
Chapter Nine This chapter discusses the virtues and
and in patterns of reasoning (logos). Book III introduces
concepts of to kalon (the honorable) included in epithe elements of style (word choice, metaphor, and sendeictic rhetoric. Aristotle describes what makes certence structure) and arrangement (organization). Some
tain topics appropriate or worthy for praise or blame.
attention is paid to delivery, but generally the reader
He also states that it is important to highlight certain
is referred to the Poetics for more information in that
traits of the subject of praise.
*
area. [19]
Many chapters in Book I of Aristotle's Rhetoric cover the Chapter Ten Discusses what syllogisms should be devarious typical deliberative arguments in Athenian culrived from kategoria (accusations) and apologia (deture.
fenses) for judicial rhetoric. Also introduces the
wrongdoing, which is useful for judicial rhetoric.
Chapter One Aristotle rst denes rhetoric as the
counterpart (antistrophos) of dialectic (Bk. 1:1:1- Chapter Eleven This chapter discusses the many dif2). He explains the similarities between the two but
ferent types of hedone (pleasure) useful for judicial
fails to comment on the dierences. Here he introrhetoric. Aristotle states these as the reasons for
duces the term enthymeme (Bk. 1:1:3).
people doing wrong.

120

CHAPTER 18. RHETORIC (ARISTOTLE)

Chapter Twelve This chapter, also about judicial


rhetoric, discusses people's dispositions of mind and
whom people wrong from the hedone discussed in
the previous chapter. Aristotle emphasizes the importance of willingness, or intentions, of wrongdoings.

in a state of distress due to a foiling of their desires (Book


2.2.9). The angry direct their emotion towards those who
insult the latter or that which the latter values. These insults are the reasoning behind the anger (Book 2.2.1227). In this way, Aristotle proceeds to dene each emotion, assess the state of mind for those experiencing the
emotion, determine to whom people direct the emotion,
Chapter Thirteen Aristotle classies all acts that are and reveal their reasoning behind the emotion. The sigjust and unjust dened in judicial rhetoric. He also nicance of Aristotles analysis stems from his idea that
distinguishes what kinds of actions are fair and un- emotions have logical grounding and material sources.
fair with being just.
Chapters 12-17: Ethos: Adapting the Character of the
Speech to the Character of the Audience
Chapter Fourteen This chapter parallels the koinon
George A. Kennedy in On Rhetoric: A Theory of Civic
described in Chapter Seven. Aristotle is clarifying
Discourse remarks that ethos predominantly refers to
the magnitude in relation to questions of wrongthe moral characterof actions and mind. On page
doingmeant for judicial rhetoric.
148, Kennedy reveals the purpose of chapters 12-17 as
a demonstration to the speaker of how his ethos must
Chapter Fifteen Aristotle summarises the arguments
attend and adjust to the ethos of varied types of auditor if
available to a speaker in dealing with evidence that
he is to address them successfully.* [22] As seen in the
supports or weakens a case. These atechnic pischapters explaining the various emotions, in chapters 12teis contain laws, witnesses, contracts, tortures, and
17 Aristotle focuses on the necessary means of successoaths.
fully persuading an audience. Yet, in these chapters, Aristotle analyzes the character of dierent groups of people
so that a speaker might adjust his portrayed ethos in order
18.5 Overview of Book II
to inuence the audience. First, he describes the young
as creatures of desire, easily changeable and swiftly satBook II of Aristotles Rhetoric generally concentrates on ised. The young hate to be belittled because they long
ethos and pathos, and as noted by Aristotle, both aect for superiority (Book 2.12.1-15). According to Aristojudgment. Specically, Aristotle refers to the eect of tle, the old are distrustful, cynical, and small-minded for
ethos and pathos on an audience since a speaker needs to unlike the young their past is long and their future short
exhibit these modes of persuasion before that audience. (Book 2.13.1-5). The old do not act on a basis of desire
but rather act for prot (Book 2.13.13-14). Those in the
Chapter 1: Introduction
prime of life represent the mean to Aristotle, possessing
In Chapter 1, Aristotle notes that emotions cause men to the advantages of both old and young without excess or
change their opinion in regard to their judgments. As deciency (Book 2.14.1). One of good birth, wealth, or
such, emotions have specic causes and eects (Book power has the character of a lucky fool, a character in
2.1.2-3). Thus, a speaker can employ his understand- which insolence and arrogance breed if these good foring as a stimulus for the sought emotion from an audi- tunes are not used to ones advantage (Book 2.15-17).
ence. However, Aristotle states that along with pathos,
Chapters 18-26: Dialectical Features of Rhetoric Comthe speaker must also exhibit ethos, which for Aristomon to All Three Genres
tle encompasses wisdom (phronesis), virtue (arete), and
Although Book II primarily focuses on ethos and pathos,
good will (eunoia) (Book 2.1.5-9).
Aristotle discusses paradigm and enthymeme as two comChapters 2-11: Ecacious Emotions for Speakers in All
mon modes of persuasion. There exist two kinds of
Genres of Rhetoric
paradigm: comparisons, referencing that which has hapChapters 2-11 explore those emotions useful to a pened before, and fables, inventing an illustration (Book
rhetorical speaker. Aristotle provides an account on how 2.20.2-3). Maxims, or succinct, clever statements about
to arouse these emotions in an audience so that a speaker actions, serve as the conclusion of enthymemes (Book
might be able to produce the desired action successfully 2.1-2). In choosing a maxim, one should assess the audi(Book 2.2.27). Aristotle arranges the discussion of the ence views and employ a tting maxim (Book 2.21.15emotions in opposing pairs, such as anger and calmness 16). Amplication and deprecation, although not eleor friendliness and enmity. For each emotion, Aristotle ments of an enthymeme, can contribute to refuting an
discusses the persons state of mind, against whom one opponents enthymeme or revealing a falsehood by exdirects the emotion, and for what reasons (Book 2.1.9). posing it as just or unjust, good or evil, etc. Aristotle also
It is pertinent to understand all the components in order mentions the koina, fallacious enthymemes, and lysis (the
to stimulate a certain emotion within another person. For refutation of an opponents enthymeme). In all of these
example, to Aristotle, anger results from the feeling of be- techniques, Aristotle considers popular wisdom and aulittlement (Book 2.2.3-4). Those who become angry are

18.6. OVERVIEW OF BOOK III

121

diences as a central guide. Thus, the speakers eect on Chapter 7 Aristotle expands on the use of appropriate
the audience serves as a key theme throughout Book II.
style in addressing the subject. Lexis will be appropriate if it expresses emotion and character and
Book II ends with a transition to Book III. The transition
is proportional to the subject matter. Aristotle
concludes the discussion of pathos, ethos, paradigms, enstresses emotion, credibility, genus (like age), and
thymemes, and maxims so that Book III may focus on
moral state as important considerations (Bk. 3 7:1delivery, style, and arrangement.
6).

18.6 Overview of Book III

Chapter 8 Rhythm should be incorporated into prose to


make it well rhythmedbut not to the extent of a
poem (Bk.3 8:3-7).

Book III of Aristotles Rhetoric is often overshadowed


by the rst two books. While Books I and II are more Chapter 9 Looks at periodic style and how it should be
systematic and address ethos, logos, and pathos, Book III
seen as a rhythmical unit and used to complete a
is often considered a conglomeration of Greek stylistic
thought to help understand meaning (Bk.3 9:3-4).
devices on rhetoric. However, Book III contains informative material on lexis (style) which refers to the way Chapter 10 Aristotle further highlights the metaphor
of saying(in Chapters 1-12) and taxis, which refers to
and addresses how it brings about learning and enthe arrangement of words (in Chapters 13-19).
ables visualization (Bk. 3 10:1-6).

18.6.1

Chapters 112: Style (lexis)

Chapter 11 Explains why devices of style can defamiliarize language. Aristotle warns that it is inappropriate to speak in hyperbole (Bk. 3 11:15).

Chapter 1 Summarizes Aristotle's Book I and Book II


and introduces the term hypokrisis (pronuntiatio).
Aristotle argues that voice should be used to most Chapter 12 The three genres of oral and written language are deliberative, judicial, and epideictic, all
accurately represent the given situation as exempliof which are written by logographoi (speech writers)
ed by poets (Bk. 3 1:3-4).
who are each skilled at dierent types of speeches.
This transitions into the next section of chapters on
Chapter 2 Highlights arte, which is dened as virtue or
taxis.
excellence. When applied to rhetoric, arte means
natural rather than forced or articial (Bk. 3 2:1-4).
Metaphors are also addressed as a skill that cannot
18.6.2 Chapters 1319: Taxis
be taught and should bestow verbal beauty(Bk.
3 2:6-13).
Chapter 13 Covers the necessary parts of a speech
which include the prosthesis (which is the statement
Chapter 3 Deals with frigidlanguage. This occurs
of the proposition) and then the pistis (which is the
when one uses elaborate double words, archaic, and
proof of the statement), along with the prooemium
rare words, added descriptive words or phrases, and
(introduction) and epilogue (Bk.3 13:1-4).
inappropriate metaphors (Bk. 3 3:1-4).
Chapter 4 Discusses another gurative part of speech,
the simile (also known as an eikon). Similes are only
occasionally useful in speech due to their poetic nature and similarity to metaphor.

Chapter 14 Discusses the prooemiun (introduction),


which demonstrates how the introduction should be
used in both epideictic and judicial speeches. Both
have the main goal of signaling the end of the speech
(Bk. 3 14:1-11).

Chapter 5 Addresses how to speak properly by using Chapter 15 Handles prejudicial attacks according to
Aristotle which later on became part of Stasis (arguconnectives, calling things by their specic name,
mentation theory) which is determining the quesavoiding terms with ambiguous meanings, observtion at issue in a trial.
ing the gender of nouns, and correctly using singular
and plural words (Bk. 3 5:1-6).
Chapter 16 Digsis or narration is discussed and
demonstrates how one must work through an arguChapter 6 Gives practical advice on how to amment by using logos. Narration diers in epideictic,
plify language by using Onkos (expansiveness) and
judicial, and deliberative narratives.
syntomia (conciseness). Not using the term circle,
but giving its denition, would exemplify onkos, and
using the word as the denition would exemplify Chapter 17 Looks at the pistis or the proof in an oration, and how it varies in each type of speech.
syntomia (Bk.3 5:1-3).

122
Chapter 18 Erotsis, also known as interrogation referred to asking and demanding responses in trials
during Aristotle's time. It is seen as, most opportune when an opponent has said one thing and when
if the right question is asked, an absurdity results
(Bk. 3 19:1).
Chapter 19 Aristotle's nal chapter in Book III discusses epilogues, which are the conclusion of
speeches and must include four things: disposing
the hearer favorably toward the speaker and unfavorably to the opponent, amplifying and minimizing, moving the hearer into emotional reactions, and
giving reminder of the speech's main points(Bk.
3 19:1-4).
Scholars are turning to Book III once again to develop
theories about Greek style and its contemporary relevance.* [23]

18.7 Importance of deliberative


rhetoric
Amlie Oksenberg Rorty discusses the structure and
characteristics of deliberative rhetoric in her research.
She cites Aristotle to persuade her audience of the characteristics of deliberative rhetoric's inuential nature.
Aristotle marks as central to deliberative rhetoric: considerations of prudence and justice, the projected political and psychological consequences of the decision and
the likelihood of encouragingor entrenchingsimilar
rebellious attitudes amongst allies.* [24] The outstanding characteristic of deliberative rhetoric is practicality.
Rorty argues,the deliberative rhetorician who wishes to
retain his reputation as trustworthy must pay attention to
what is, in fact, actually likely to happen.* [25] Additionally, Aristotle focuses on deliberative rhetoric so heavily
because it most clearly reveals the primary importance
of truth as it functions within the craft of rhetoric itself.
*
[26] A path to action is determined through deliberative
rhetoric, since an individual following practical means is
likely to foresee likely events and act accordingly.
In interpreting Aristotle's work on use of rhetoric,
Bernard Yack discusses the vast need for public discourse
and public reasoning. He states: We deliberate together in political communities by making and listening
to each other's attempts to persuade us that some future
action will best serve the end that citizens share with each
otherIt is this shared goal that distinguishes deliberative rhetoric, and therefore public reasoning, from the
other forms of rhetoric and political judgment that Aristotle examines.* [27] Shared goals are of utmost importance when deliberating on an issue that aects the
common good. Without such a version of deliberative
rhetoric, arguments would unfairly favor the interests of
power and neglect the rights of the common people.

CHAPTER 18. RHETORIC (ARISTOTLE)

18.8 See also


Enthymeme
Arthur Schopenhauer, The Art of Being Right
Contra principia negantem disputari non potest
War from the Ground Up, book partially based on
Aristotle's Rhetoric

18.9 Notes
[1] Ars Rhetorica. Edited by W. D. Ross. OCT. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1959.
[2] Bizzell, P. and Bruce Herzberg. (2000). The Rhetorical
Tradition: Readings from Classical Times to the Present.
NY: Bedford/St. Martin's. p. 3.
[3] Golden, James L., Goodwin F. Berquist, William E. Coleman, Ruth Golden and J. Michael Sproule (eds.). (2007).
The rhetoric of Western thought: From the Mediterranean
world to the global setting, 9th ed. Dubuque, IA (USA):
p.67.
[4] Gross, Alan G. and Arthur E. Walzer. (2000). Rereading Aristotle's Rhetoric. Carbondale, IL (USA): Southern
Illinois University Press: p.ix. Gross and Walzer further
say that There is no comparable situation in any other
discipline: No other discipline would claim that a single
ancient text so usefully informs current deliberations on
practice and theory."(p.x).
[5] Murphy, John J. (1983). Introduction, " Peter Ramus,
Arguments in Rhetoric against Quintilian. C. Newlands
(trans.), J. J. Murphy (ed.). DeKalb IL (USA): Univ. of
Illinois Press.
[6] Gross and Walzer, 2000, p.ix.
[7] Griswold, Charles.Plato on Rhetoric and Poetry, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, December 22, 2003.
[8] Gorgias, 465a, Perseus Project.
[9] Aristotle, Retoric, 1.1.1.
[10] Jebb, Richard C. (trans.) (1909). The Rhetoric of Aristotle. Cambridge: University Press.
[11] Freese, John H. (trans.) (1924). Aristotle, The Art of
Rhetoric. With Greek text. Cambridge: Loeb Classical
Library/Harvard University Press.
[12] Roberts, W.Rhys (trans). (1924). Rhetorica: The Works
of Aristotle, Vol.11. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Rpt. 1954
in Aristotle, Rhetoricand Poetics(trans. Roberts
and Ingram Bywater). New York: Modern Library.
[13] Cooper, Lane (trans). (1932/1960). The Rhetoric of
Aristotle. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
[14] Kennedy, George A. (trans./ed.). 1991. Aristotle
'On Rhetoric': A Theory of Civic Discourse. New
York/Oxford: Oxford University Press.

18.11. EXTERNAL LINKS

123

[15] van Noorden, Sally. A translation of Aristotle's


Rhetoric,The Classical Review, 1993, 43.2, pp. 251252.

Bizzell, P. and Bruce Herzberg. (2000). The


Rhetorical Tradition: Readings from Classical Times
to the Present. NY: Bedford/St. Martin's. p. 3.

[16] Wichelns, H. (1925/1958). 'The Literary Criticism of Oratory' in D.C.Bryant (ed.) The Rhetorical Idiom: Essays
in Rhetoric, Oratory, Language, and Drama. D.C.Bryant
(ed.). Rpt. Ithaca NY (USA): Cornell University Press.
p.5-42.

Garver, Eugene. Aristotle's Rhetoric: An Art of


Character. The University of Chicago Press, 1995.

[17] Hill, Forbes I. (2005),TheTraditionalPerspective


, in Kuypers, Jim A., The Art of Rhetorical Criticism, New
York: Pearson, pp. 7281

Golden, James L., Goodwin F. Berquist, William


E. Coleman, Ruth Golden and J. Michael Sproule
(eds.). (2007). The rhetoric of Western thought:
From the Mediterranean world to the global setting,
9th ed. Dubuque, IA (USA).

[18] Foss, Sonja J. (1989). Rhetorical criticism: Exploration


and practice. Prospect Heights IL (USA): Waveland
Press. pp. 71 and 75.

Kennedy, George A. Aristotle, on Rhetoric: A Theory of Civic Discourse. NY/Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991.

[19] Corbett, 1984, pp.v-xxvi.

Audiobook version of Aristotle's Rhetoric (Public


domain. Translated by Thomas Taylor)

[20] Garver, Eugene. Aristotle on the Kinds of Rhetoric


. Rhetorica: A Journal of the History of Rhetoric 27 (1):
118. doi:10.1525/rh.2009.27.1.1.
[21] Garver, Eugene (Winter 2009). Aristotle on the Kinds
of Rhetoric. International Society for the History of
Rhetoric 27 (1): 118. doi:10.1525/rh.2009.27.1.1.
[22] Aristotle. On Rhetoric: A Theory of Civic Discourse.
Trans. George A. Kennedy. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford
University, 2007. Print.
[23] Gra, Richard (2005).
Prose versus Poetry
in Early Greek Theories of Style.
Rhetorica
(University of California Press) 23 (4): 303335.
doi:10.1525/rh.2005.23.4.303.
[24] Rorty, Amelie (1996).Exemplary Rhetorical Speeches
. Essays on Aristotle's Rhetoric. Berkeley: University of
California. p. 6.
[25] Rorty, Amelie (1996).Exemplary Rhetorical Speeches
. Essays on Aristotle's Rhetoric. Berkeley: University of
California. p. 6.
[26] Rorty, Amelie (1996).Exemplary Rhetorical Speeches
. Essays on Aristotle's Rhetoric. Berkeley: University of
California. p. 6.
[27] Yack, Bernard (2006). Rhetoric and Public Reasoning:
An Aristotelian Understanding of Political Deliberation
. Political Theory. p. 421.

18.10 Further reading


Translation of Rhetoric by W. Rhys Roberts
Perseus Project Rh.1.1.1
Aristotle's Rhetoric entry by Christof Rapp in the
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Allen, Danielle S. Talking to Strangers: Anxieties
of Citizenship since Brown v. Board of Education.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004.

18.11 External links


Works related to Rhetoric at Wikisource

Chapter 19

Poetics (Aristotle)
Aristotle's Poetics (Greek: , Latin: De 19.1.1 Form
Poetica;* [1] c. 335 BCE* [2]) is the earliest surviving
work of dramatic theory and the rst extant philosoph- The table of contents page of the Poetics found in Modern
ical treatise to focus on literary theory.* [3]
Library's Basic Works of Aristotle (2001) identies ve
*
In it, Aristotle oers an account of what he callspoetry basic parts within it. [9]
(a term which in Greek literally means makingand
in this context includes dramacomedy, tragedy, and the
satyr playas well as lyric poetry and epic poetry). They
are similar in the fact that they are all imitations but different in the three ways that Aristotle describes:
1. Dierences in music rhythm, harmony, meter and
melody.
2. Dierence of goodness in the characters.
3. Dierence in how the narrative is presented: telling
a story or acting it out.
In examining itsrst principles, Aristotle nds two: 1)
imitation and 2) genres and other concepts by which that
of truth is applied/revealed in the poesis. His analysis
of tragedy constitutes the core of the discussion.* [4] Although Aristotle's Poetics is universally acknowledged in
the Western critical tradition,almost every detail about
his seminal work has aroused divergent opinions.* [5]
The work was lost to the Western world for a long time.
It was available in the Middle Ages and early Renaissance
only through a Latin translation of an Arabic version written by Averroes.* [6]

19.1 Form and content


Aristotle's work on aesthetics consists of the Poetics and
Rhetoric. The Poetics is specically concerned with
drama. At some point, Aristotle's original work was
divided in two, each bookwritten on a separate
roll of papyrus.* [7] Only the rst partthat which focuses on tragedysurvives. The lost second part addressed comedy.* [7] Scholars speculate that the Tractatus
coislinianus summarises the contents of the lost second
book.* [8]
124

A. Preliminary discourse on tragedy, epic poetry,


and comedy, as the chief forms of imitative poetry.
B. Denition of a tragedy, and the rules for its construction. Denition and analysis into qualitative
parts.
C. Rules for the construction of an epic: Tragic pleasure, or catharsis experienced by fear and pity should
be produced in the spectator. The characters must
be four things: good, appropriate, realistic, and consistent. Discovery must occur within the plot. It is
important for the poet to visualize all of the scenes
when creating the plot. The poet should incorporate
Complication and Denouement within the story, as
well as combine all of the elements of Tragedy. The
poet must express Thought through the characters'
words and actions, while paying close attention to
Diction and how a character's spoken words express
a specic idea. Aristotle believed that all of these
dierent elements had to be present in order for the
poetry to be well-done.
D. Possible criticisms of an epic or tragedy, and the
answers to them.
E. Tragedy as artistically superior to epic poetry:
Tragedy has everything that the Epic has even the
epic meter being admissible. The reality of presentation is felt in the play as read, as well as in the play
as acted. The tragic imitation requires less space for
the attainment of its end. If it has more concentrated
eect, it is more pleasurable than one with a large
admixture of time to dilute it. There is less unity in
the imitation of the epic poets (plurality of actions)
and this is proved by any work of their supplies matter for several tragedies. Considers tragedy a higher
form of art.

19.1. FORM AND CONTENT

19.1.2

Content

Aristotle distinguishes between the genres of poetry


in three ways:
Matter
language, rhythm, and melody, for
Aristotle, make up the matter of
poetic creation. Where the epic
poem makes use of language alone,
the playing of the lyre involves
rhythm and melody. Some poetic
forms include a blending of all materials; for example, Greek tragic
drama included a singing chorus,
and so music and language were all
part of the performance.
Subjects
Alsoagentsin some translations.
Aristotle dierentiates between
tragedy and comedy throughout
the work by distinguishing between
the nature of the human characters
that populate either form. Aristotle
nds that tragedy treats of serious,
important, and virtuous people.
Comedy, on the other hand, treats
of people who are less virtuous,
focusing on human weaknesses
and foibles.* [10] Aristotle introduces here the inuential tripartite
division of characters in superior
() to the audience,
inferior (), or at the same
level ().* [11]* [12]* [13]
Method
One may imitate the agents through
use of a narrator throughout, or
only occasionally (using direct
speech in parts and a narrator in
parts, as Homer does), or only
through direct speech (without a
narrator), using actors to speak
the lines directly. This latter is the
method of tragedy (and comedy):
without use of any narrator.
Having examined briey the eld ofpoetryin general,
Aristotle proceeds to his denition of tragedy:
Tragedy is a representation of a serious,
complete action which has magnitude, in embellished speech, with each of its elements

125
[used] separately in the [various] parts [of the
play] and [represented] by people acting and
not by narration, accomplishing by means of
pity and terror the catharsis of such emotions.
By embellished speech, I mean that
which has rhythm and melody, i.e. song. By
with its elements separately, I mean that
some [parts of it] are accomplished only by
means of spoken verses, and others again by
means of song (1449b25-30).* [14]
Tragedy consists of six parts which Aristotle enumerates
in order of importance, beginning with the most essential
and ending with the least: Aristotle considers Tragedy superior to Epics and considers them higher forms of art.
Tragedies are said to be animitation of an action that is
serious.Tragedies are written in a dramatic form with dialogue between multiple character, and not in traditional
narrative form. Tragedy should make the viewer feel fear
and pity. Tragedy arouses the emotions of pity and fear in
order to purge away their excess, to reduce these passions
to a healthy level. Aristotle also talks about pleasure
that is proper to tragedy, apparently meaning the aesthetic
pleasure one gets from contemplating the pity and fear
that are aroused through the play. Tragedy is rooted in
the fundamental order of the universe; it creates a causeand-eect chain that clearly reveals what may happen at
any time or place because that is the way the world operates.
plot (mythos)
Refers to the structure of incidents(actions). Key elements
of the plot are reversals, recognition, and suering. The best plot
should be complex(i.e. involve
a change of fortune). It should
imitate actions arousing fear and
pity. Thus it should proceed from
good fortune to bad and involve a
high degree of suering for the protagonist, usually involving physical
harm or death.
Actions should be logical and follow naturally from actions that precede them. They will be more satisfying to the audience if they come
about by surprise or seeming coincidence and are only afterward seen
as plausible, even necessary.
When a character is unfortunate
by reversal(s) of fortune (peripeteia
known today in pop culture as
a plot twist), at rst he suers

126

CHAPTER 19. POETICS (ARISTOTLE)


(pathos) and then he can realize
(anagnorisis) the cause of his misery or a way to be released from the
misery.

character (ethos)
It is much better if a tragical accident happens to a hero because of
a mistake he makes (hamartia) instead of things that might happen
anyway. That is because the audience is more likely to be moved
by it. A hero may have made it
knowingly (in Medea) or unknowingly (Oedipus). A hero may leave
a deed undone (due to timely discovery, knowledge present at the
point of doing deed). Character
is the moral or ethical character in
tragic play. In a perfect tragedy,
the character will support the plot,
which means personal motivations
will somehow connect parts of the
cause-and-eect chain of actions
producing pity and fear.
Main character should be
good Aristotle explains that
audiences do not like, for example, villains making fortune from miseryin the end.
It might happen though, and
might make the play interesting. Nevertheless, the moral
is at stake here and morals
are important to make people
happy (people can, for example, see tragedy because they
want to release their anger)
appropriateif a character is
supposed to be wise, it is unlikely he is young (supposing
wisdom is gained with age)
consistent if a person is a
soldier, he is unlikely to be
scared of blood (if this soldier
is scared of blood it must be
explained and play some role
in the story to avoid confusing
the audience); it is alsogood
if a character doesn't change
opinionthat muchif the play
is not drivenby who characters are, but by what they
do (audience is confused in
case of unexpected shifts in
behaviour [and its reasons and
morals] of characters)

consistently inconsistentif
a character always behaves
foolishly it is strange if he suddenly becomes smart. In this
case it would be good to explain such change, otherwise
the audience may be confused.
If character changes opinion
a lot it should be clear he is
a character who has this trait,
not a real life person - this is
also to avoid confusion
thought (dianoia) spoken (usually) reasoning of
human characters can explain the characters or story
background
diction (lexis)
Refers to the quality of speech in
tragedy. Speeches should reect
character, the moral qualities of
those on the stage. The expression
of the meaning of the words.
melody (melos)
The Chorus too should be regarded
as one of the actors. It should be
an integral part of the whole, and
share in the action. Should be contributed to the unity of the plot. It
is a very real factor in the pleasure
of the drama.
spectacle (opsis)
Refers to the visual apparatus of
the play, including set, costumes
and props (anything you can see).
Aristotle calls spectacle the least
artisticelement of tragedy, and the
least connected with the work of
the poet (playwright). For example:
if the play hasbeautifulcostumes
andbadacting andbadstory,
there is something wrongwith
it. Even though thatbeautymay
save the play it isnot a nice thing.
Spectacle is like a suspenseful horror lm.
He oers the earliest-surviving explanation for the origins
of tragedy and comedy:
Anyway, arising from an improvisatory beginning (both tragedy and comedy tragedy

19.3. CORE TERMS


from the leaders of the dithyramb, and comedy from the leaders of the phallic processions
which even now continue as a custom in many
of our cities) [...] (1449a10-13)* [15]

127

19.3 Core terms


Mimesis or imitation, representation
Catharsis or, variously,purgation,purication
, clarication

19.2 Inuence

Peripeteia or reversal
Anagnorisis or recognition, identication
Hamartia or miscalculation(understood in Romanticism as tragic aw)
Mythos or plot
Ethos or character
Dianoia or thought, theme
Lexis or diction, speech
Melos, or melody

Shimer College student reading the Poetics, 1973

The Poetics and Rhetoric have often been treated as sister works, separate from the rest of the Aristotelian
canon.* [16] This is probably because in Aristotle's time
rhetoric and poetics were classied as sort of siblings,
two dierent aspects of performance.* [17] Because of
rhetoric's direct importance for law and politics, it
evolved to become, to a large degree, distinct from poetics, in spite of both themes being classied under aesthetics in the Aristotelian system. In this sense, rhetoric
and poetics are two sides of the same thingthe aesthetic
dimension.
The Arabic version of Aristotles Poetics that inuenced
the Middle Ages was translated from a Greek manuscript
dated to sometime prior to the year 700. This manuscript
was translated from Greek to Syriac and is independent
of the currently-accepted 11th-century source designated
Paris 1741. The Syriac language source used for the
Arabic translations departed widely in vocabulary from
the original Poetics and it initiated a misinterpretation of
Aristotelian thought that continued through the Middle
Ages.* [18] Paris 1741 today can be found on line at the
Bibliothque nationale de France (National Library of
France).* [19]

Opsis or spectacle

19.4 English translations


Thomas Twining, 1789
Samuel Henry Butcher, 1902: full text
Ingram Bywater, 1909: full text
William Hamilton Fyfe, 1926: full text
L. J. Potts, 1953
G. M. A. Grube, 1958
Richard Janko, 1987
Stephen Halliwell, 1987
Stephen Halliwell, 1995 (Loeb Classical Library)
Malcolm Heath, 1996 (Penguin Classics)
Seth Benardete and Michael Davis, 2002 (St. Augustine's Press)

Joe Sachs, 2006 (Focus Publishing)


Arabic scholars who published signicant commentaries
on Aristotles Poetics included Avicenna, Al-Farabi and
Anthony Kenny, 2013 (Oxford World's Classics)
Averroes.* [20] Many of these interpretations sought to
use Aristotelian theory to impose morality on the Arabic poetic tradition.* [21] In particular, Averroes added a
moral dimension to the Poetics by interpreting tragedy as 19.5 Cultural references
the art of praise and comedy as the art of blame.* [22]
Averroes' interpretation of the Poetics was accepted by The Poeticsboth the extant rst book and the lost secthe West, where it reected the prevailing notions of ond book gure prominently in Umberto Eco's novel
poetryinto the 16th century.* [23]
The Name of the Rose.

128

19.6 Notes

CHAPTER 19. POETICS (ARISTOTLE)

[21] Ezzaher 2013, p. 15.

[2] Dukore (1974, 31).

[22] Kennedy, George Alexander; Norton, Glyn P. (1999).


The Cambridge History of Literary Criticism: Volume 3.
p. 54. ISBN 0521300088.

[3] Janko (1987, ix).

[23] Kennedy 1999, p. 54.

[1] Aristotelis Opera by August Immanuel Bekker (1837)

[4] Aristotle Poetics 1447a13 (1987, 1).


[5] Carlson (1993, 16).
[6] Habib, M.A.R. (2005). A History of Literary Criticism
and Theory: From Plato to the Present. Wiley-Blackwell.
p. 60. ISBN 0-631-23200-1.
[7] Janko (1987, xx).
[8] Janko (1987, xxi).
[9] The Basic Works of Aristotle. Ed. Richard McKeon
Modern Library (2001) - Poetics. Trans. Ingrid Bywater, pp. 1453-1487
[10] Halliwell, Stephen (1986). Aristotle's Poetics. p. 270.
ISBN 0226313948.
[11] Gregory Michael Sifakis (2001) Aristotle on the function
of tragic poetry p.50
[12] Aristotle, Poetics 1448a, English, original Greek
[13] Northrop Frye (1957) Anatomy of Criticism
[14] Janko (1987, 7). In Butcher's translation, this passage
reads: Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that
is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the
several kinds being found in separate parts of the play, in
the form of action, not of narrative; through pity and fear
eecting the proper catharsis of these emotions.
[15] Janko (1987, 6). This text is available online in an older
translation, in which the same passage reads: At any
rate it originated in improvisationboth tragedy itself and
comedy. The one tragedy came from the prelude to the
dithyramb and the other comedy from the prelude to the
phallic songs which still survive as institutions in many
cities.
[16] Garver, Eugene (1994). Aristotle's Rhetoric: An Art of
Character. p. 3. ISBN 0226284247.
[17] Haskins, Ekaterina V. (2004). Logos and Power in
Isocrates and Aristotle. p. 31. ISBN 1570035261.
[18] Hardison, 81.
[19] To obtain it on images or on a pdf format, follow
this route: > http://www.bnf.fr/; > COLLECTIONS ET
SERVICES; > Catalogues; > Accs BnF archives et
manuscrits; > Collections; > Dpartement des Manuscrits;
> Grec; > Manuscrits grecs - Prsentation du fonds. >
Grec 1741 > Download Images or pdf. The Poetics beguins at 184r, page 380 of the pdf.
[20] Ezzaher, Lahcen E. (2013).Arabic Rhetoric. In Enos,
Theresa. Encyclopedia of Rhetoric and Composition. pp.
1516. ISBN 1135816069.

19.7 Sources
Editions commentaries translations
Aristotles Treatise On Poetry, transl. with notes by
Th. Twining, I-II, London 2 1812
Aristotelis De arte poetica liber, tertiis curis recognovit et adnotatione critica auxit I. Vahlen, Lipsiae
3
1885
Aristotle on the Art of Poetry. A revised Text with
Critical Introduction, Translation and Commentary
by I. Bywater, Oxford 1909
Aristoteles: , mit Einleitung, Text
und adnotatio critica, exegetischem Kommentar [...]
von A. Gudeman, Berlin/Leipzig 1934
,
. , ,
. , (. ,
2) 1937
Aristotele: Poetica, introduzione, testo e commento
di A. Rostagni, Torino 2 1945
Aristotles Poetics: The Argument, by G. F. Else,
Harvard 1957
Aristotelis De arte poetica liber, recognovit brevique
adnotatione critica instruxit R. Kassel, Oxonii 1965
Aristotle: Poetics, Introduction, Commentary and
Appendixes by D. W. Lucas, Oxford 1968
Aristotle: Poetics, with Tractatus Coislinianus, reconstruction of Poetics II, and the Fragments of
the On the Poets, transl. by R. Janko, Indianapolis/Cambridge 1987
Aristotle: Poetics, edited and translated by St. Halliwell, (Loeb Classical Library), Harvard 1995
Aristotle: Poetics, translated with an introduction and
notes by M. Heath, (Penguin) London 1996
Aristoteles: Poetik, (Werke in deutscher bersetzung
5) bers. von A. Schmitt, Darmstadt 2008
Aristotle: Poetics, editio maior of the Greek text with
historical introductions and philological commentaries by L. Tarn and D. Goutas, (Mnemosyne Supplements 338) Leiden/Boston 2012

19.7. SOURCES

129
Lanza, D. (ed.), La poetica di Aristotele e la sua storia, Pisa 2002

Further reading
Belore, Elizabeth, S., Tragic Pleasures: Aristotle on
Plot and Emotion. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton UP
(1992). ISBN 0-691-06899-2
Bremer, J.M., Hamartia: Tragic Error in the Poetics of Aristotle and the Greek Tragedy, Amsterdam
1969
Butcher, Samuel H., Aristotles Theory of Poetry
and Fine Art, New York 4 1911
Carroll, M., Aristotles Poetics, c. xxv, n the Light
of the Homeric Scholia, Baltimore 1895
Cave, Terence, Recognitions. A Study in Poetics, Oxford 1988
Carlson, Marvin, Theories of the Theatre: A Historical and Critical Survey from the Greeks to the
Present. Expanded ed. Ithaca and London: Cornell
UP (1993). ISBN 978-0-8014-8154-3.
Dukore, Bernard F., Dramatic Theory and Criticism:
Greeks to Grotowski. Florence, KY: Heinle & Heinle
(1974). ISBN 0-03-091152-4
Downing, E., o : n ssay on Aristotle
s muthos, Classical Antiquity 3 (1984) 164-78

Leonhardt, J., Phalloslied und Dithyrambos. Aristoteles ber den Ursprung des griechischen Dramas.
Heidelberg 1991
Lienhard, K., Entstehung und Geschichte von Aristoteles Poetik, Zrich 1950
Lord, C.,Aristotles History of Poetry, Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological
Association 104 (1974) 195-228
Lucas, F. L., Tragedy: Serious Drama in Relation
to Aristotle's Poetics. London: Hogarth (1957).
New York: Collier. ISBN 0-389-20141-3. London:
Chatto. ISBN 0-7011-1635-8
Luserke, M. (ed.), Die aristotelische Katharsis.
Dokumente ihrer Deutung im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert, Hildesheim/Zrich/N. York 1991
Morpurgo- Tagliabue, G., Linguistica e stilistica di
Aristotele, Rome 1967
Rorty, Amlie Oksenberg (ed.), Essays on Aristotle
s Poetics, Princeton 1992

Else, Gerald F., Plato and Aristotle on Poetry,


Chapel Hill/London 1986

Schtrumpf, E.,Traditional Elements in the Concept of Hamartia in Aristotles Poetics, Harvard


Studies in Classical Philology 92 (1989) 137-56

Heath, Malcolm,Aristotelian Comedy, Classical


Quarterly 39 (1989) 344-54

Sen, R. K., Mimesis, Calcutta: Syamaprasad College, 2001

Heath, Malcolm, The Universality of Poetry in


Aristotles Poetics, Classical Quarterly 41 (1999)
389-402
Heath, Malcolm,Cognition in Aristotle
s Poetics
, Mnemosyne 62 (2009) 51-75
Halliwell, Stephen, Aristotles Poetics, Chapel Hill
1986.
Halliwell, Stephen, The Aesthetics of Mimesis. Ancient Texts and Modern Problems, Princeton/Oxford
2002.
Hardison, O. B., Jr.,Averroes, in Medieval Literary Criticism: Translations and Interpretations. New
York: Ungar (1987), 81-88.
Hiltunen, Ari, Aristotle in Hollywood.
(2001). ISBN 1-84150-060-7.

Intellect

e, O. (ed.), Aristoteles: Poetik, (Klassiker auslegen, Band 38) Berlin 2009


Janko, R., Aristotle on Comedy, London 1984
Jones, John, On Aristotle and Greek Tragedy, London 1971

Sen, R. K., Aesthetic Enjoyment: Its Background in


Philosophy and Medicine, Calcutta: University of
Calcutta, 1966
Sifakis, Gr. M., Aristotle on the Function of Tragic
Poetry, Heraklion 2001. ISBN 960-524-132-3
Sng, W., Deskriptive und normative Bestimmungen in der Poetik des Aristoteles, Amsterdam
1981
Srbom, G., Mimesis and Art, Uppsala 1966
Solmsen, F.,The Origins and Methods of Aristotle
s Poetics, Classical Quarterly 29 (1935) 192-201
Tsitsiridis, S., Mimesis and Understanding. An
Interpretation of Aristotles Poetics 4.1448* b4-19
, Classical Quarterly 55 (2005) 435-46
Vahlen, Johannes, Beitrge zu AristotelesPoetik,
Leipzig/Berlin 1914
Vhler, M. Seidensticker B. (edd.), Katharsiskonzeptionen vor Aristoteles: zum kulturellen Hintergrund des Tragdiensatzes, Berlin 2007

130

19.8 External links


librivox.org audio recording
Project Gutenberg - Poetics (Aristotle)
Aristotle's Poetics: Perseus Digital Library edition.
Greek text from Hodoi elektronikai
Critical edition (Oxford Classical Texts) by Ingram
Bywater
Seven parallel translations of Poetics: Russian, English, French
Aristotle: Poetics entry by Joe Sachs in the Internet
Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Notes of Friedrich Sylburg (1536-1596) in a critical edition (parallel Greek and Latin) available at
Google Books
Analysis and discussion in the BBC's In Our Time
series on Radio 4.

CHAPTER 19. POETICS (ARISTOTLE)

Chapter 20

Aristotle's views on women


Aristotle's views on women inuenced later Western
thinkers, who quoted him as an authority until the end
of the Middle Ages, and are thus an important topic in
women's history. He saw women as subject to men, but
as higher than slaves. In Chapter 12 of his Politics he
writes, The slave is wholly lacking the deliberative element; the female has it but it lacks authority; the child
has it but it is incomplete* [1] (1260a11)

20.1 Dierences between male and


female
Aristotle believed that nature ordained not only physical
dierences between male and female but mental dierences as well. By comparison to man, he argued, woman
is more mischievous, less simple, more impulsive ...
more compassionate[,] ... more easily moved to tears[,]
... more jealous, more querulous, more apt to scold and
to strike[,] ... more prone to despondency and less hopeful[,] ... more void of shame or self-respect, more false of
speech, more deceptive, of more retentive memory [and]
... also more wakeful; more shrinking [and] more dicult to rouse to action(History of Animals, 608b. 1-14).
Moreover, in accord with his society's custom of allowing girls and women to eat only half as much as boys and
men, he added that the womanrequires a smaller quantity of nutriment(History of Animals, 608b. 14) * [2]
Aristotle wrote extensively on his views of the nature of
semen. His views on how a child's sex is decided have
since been abandoned.* [3]
He wrote that only fair-skinned women, not darkerskinned women, had a sexual discharge and climaxed.
He also believed this discharge could be increased by eating of pungent foods. Aristotle thought a woman's sexual
discharge was akin to that of an infertile or amputated
male's.* [4]* [5] He concluded that both sexes contributed
to the material of generation, but that the female's contribution was in her discharge (as in a male's) rather than
within the ovary.* [4]

man and woman takes on a hierarchical character by commenting on male rule overbarbarians, or non-Greeks.
By nature the female has been distinguished from the
slave. For nature makes nothing in the manner that the
coppersmiths make the Delphic knife - that is, frugally
- but, rather, it makes each thing for one purpose. For
each thing would do its work most nobly if it had one task
rather than many. Among the barbarians the female and
the slave have the same status. This is because there are
no natural rulers among them but, rather, the association
among them is between male and female slave. On account of this, the poets say that it is tting that Greeks
rule barbarians,as the barbarian and the slave are by
nature the same.* [7] While Aristotle reduced women's
roles in society, and promoted the idea that women should
receive less food and nourishment than males, he also criticised the results: a woman, he thought, was then more
compassionate, more opinionated, more apt to scold and
to strike. He stated that women are more prone to despondency, more void of shame or self-respect, more false
of speech, more deceptive, and of having a better memory.* [8]

20.2 Modes of Rule


Aristotle supported the laws that meant a woman's personal wealth automatically became her husband's. According to Aristotle, there were dierent waysor
modes (tropoi) of rule, including despotic, royal, and political rule.* [9] Political ruleis of those who are free
and equal, who tend in their nature to be on equal terms
and to dier in nothing.* [10] And Aristotle thought that
a husband and wife should live under political rule,* [11]
the rule suitable to those who are free and equal. Aristotle
nevertheless thought that women should not leave the female quarters of the house, and by his death the health of
women in Athens had deteriorated, and they were living
on average 10 years less than males with elevated rates of
death through child-birth.

As for the dierences between husband and wife, ArisHis idea of procreation was an active, ensouling mascu- totle says that these alwaysconsisted in external apline element bringing life to a passive female element.* [6] pearances, in speeches, and in honors.* [12] Aristotle adAristotle explains how and why the association between vocated that, should a husband lose money and his rep131

132

CHAPTER 20. ARISTOTLE'S VIEWS ON WOMEN

utation, a wife was to refrain from complaint and to attribute this to sickness, ignorance or accidental errors. He
thought that, sometimes but not always, males were leaders, or, both the male and the female have the deliberative
capacity of the soul, but he thought that in the female it
lacked authority.

20.2.1

Aristotle wrote that a husband should secure the agreement, loyalty, and devotion of his wife, so that whether
he himself is present or not, there may be no dierence
in her attitude towards him, since she realizes that they
are alike guardians of the common interests; and so when
he is away she may feel that to her no man is kinder or
more virtuous or more truly hers than her own husband.

On a Good Wife, from Oikonomikos,


20.2.2 Spartan women
c. 330 BCE
Main article: Women in ancient Sparta
Aristotle wrote that in Sparta, the legislator wanted to
make the whole city (or country) hardy and temperate,
and that he carried out his intention in the case of the
men, but he overlooked the women, who lived in every
sort of intemperance and wealth. He added that in those
regimes in which the condition of the women was bad,
half the city could be regarded as having no laws.* [14]

20.2.3 Equal weight to female and male


happiness
Aristotle gave equal weight to women's happiness as he
did to men's, and commented in his Rhetoric that a society
cannot be happy unless women are happy too. In an article titled Aristotle's Account of the subjection of Women
Stauer explains that Aristotle believed that in nature a
common good came of the rule of a superior being. But
he doesn't indicate a common good for men being superior to women. He uses the word 'Kreitton' to indicate
superiority, meaning stronger. Aristotle believed that rational reasoning is what made you superior over lesser beings in nature, yet still used the term meaning stronger,
not more rational or intelligent.* [15]

20.2.4 Children

Book cover of an edition of Oikonomikos from 1830.

Therefore it bets not a man of sound mind to bestow


his person promiscuously, or have random intercourse
with women; for otherwise the base-born will share in the
rights of his lawful children, and his wife will be robbed
of her honor due, and shame be attached to his sons. And
it is tting that he should approach his wife in honor, full
of self-restraint and awe; and in his conversation with her,
should use only the words of a right-minded man, suggesting only such acts as are themselves lawful and honorable. Aristotle's thought that a wife was best honored
when she saw that her husband was faithful to her, and
that he had no preference for another woman; but before
all others loves, trusts her and holds her as his own.* [13]

On children, he said, And what could be more divine


than this, or more desired by a man of sound mind, than to
beget by a noble and honored wife children who shall be
the most loyal supporters and discreet guardians of their
parents in old age, and the preservers of the whole house?
Rightly reared by father and mother, children will grow
up virtuous, as those who have treated them piously and
righteously deserve that they should.Aristotle believed
we all have a biological drive to procreate, to leave behind
something to take the place and be similar to ourselves.
This then justies the natural partnership between man
and woman. And each person has one specic purpose
because we are better at mastering one specic trait rather
than being adequate at multiple. Women's purpose, it
seems he believes, is to birth children. Aristotle stressed
that man and woman work together to raise the children
and that how they raise them has a huge inuence over the

20.4. REFERENCES

133

kind of people they become and thus the kind of society [14] The Politics of Aristotle, Book 2 Ch. 9, trans. Benjamin
Jowett, London: Colonial Press, 1900
or community that everyone lives in.

20.3 Legacy
20.3.1

Galen

[15] Stauer, Dana (Oct 2008). Aristotle's Account of the


Subjection of Women. The Journal of Politics 70 (4):
929941. doi:10.1017/s0022381608080973. Retrieved
2014-02-18.
[16] Tuana, Nancy (1993). The Less Noble Sex: Scientic, Religious and Philosophical Conceptions of Women's Nature.
Indiana University Press. pp. 21, 169. ISBN 0-25336098-6.

Aristotle's assumptions on female coldness inuenced


Galen and others for almost two thousand years until the
sixteenth century.* [16]
[17] Church Fathers, Independent Virgins, Joyce E. Salisbury,
1992

20.3.2

Church Fathers

Joyce E. Salisbury argues that the Church Fathers, inuenced by Aristotle's opinions, opposed the practice
of independent female ascetism because it threatened to
emancipate women from men.* [17]

20.3.3

Otto Weininger

In his Sex and Character, written in 1903, Otto Weininger


explained that all people are composed of a mixture of the
male and the female substance, and that these views are
supported scientically.

20.4 References
[1] Aristotle: Politics [Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]". Iep.utm.edu. 2005-07-27. Retrieved 2013-10-09.
[2] Contributed by: BARBARA A. PARSONS. Aristotle
On Women. Gem.greenwood.com. Retrieved 2013-1009.
[3] Generation of Animals, II, 728a
[4] Generation of Animals, I, 728a
[5] Generation of Animals, VI, 728a
[6] Aristotle on woman
[7] Dana Jalbert Stauer The Journal of Politics, Vol. 70, No.
4 (Oct. 2008), pp. 929941
[8] History of Animals, book IX, part 1
[9] Politics, 1252a7f., 1254b2-6, 1255b16-20
[10] Politics, 1255b20, 1259b4-6; see also Book III, 1277b7-9
[11] Politics, I, 1259a39-b1
[12] Politics, 1259b6-10
[13] The Politics and Economics of Aristotle, Edward English
Walford and John Gillies, trans., (London: G. Bell &
Sons, 1908)

Chapter 21

Aristotelian physics
Aristotelian physics is a form of natural science described in the works of the Greek philosopher Aristotle
(384322 BCE). In the Physics, Aristotle established general principles of change that govern all natural bodies,
both living and inanimate, celestial and terrestrial including all motion, change with respect to place, change
with respect to size or number, qualitative change of any
kind; andcoming to be(coming into existence,generation) andpassing away(no longer existing,corruption).

mathematics and its proper role in physics


(particularly in the analysis of local motion),
and relied on such suspect explanatory principles as nal causes andoccultessences. Yet
in his Physics Aristotle characterizes physics
or the science of natureas pertaining to
magnitudes (megeth), motion (or process
or gradual change kinsis), and time
(chronon) (Phys III.4 202b301). Indeed, the
Physics is largely concerned with an analysis
of motion, particularly local motion, and the
other concepts that Aristotle believes are
requisite to that analysis.* [2]
Michael J. White,Aristotle on the Innite,
Space, and Timein Blackwell Companion to
Aristotle

To Aristotle, physicswas a broad eld that included


subjects such as the philosophy of mind, sensory experience, memory, anatomy and biology. It constitutes the
foundation of the thought underlying many of his works.

21.1 Concepts
nature is everywhere the cause of order.* [1]
Aristotle, Physics VIII.1

21.1.1 Terrestrial change


FIRE

While consistent with common human experience, Aristotle's principles were not based on controlled, quantitative experiments, so, while they account for many broad
features of nature, they do not describe our universe in the
precise, quantitative way now expected of science. Contemporaries of Aristotle like Aristarchus rejected these
principles in favor of heliocentrism, but their ideas were
not widely accepted. Aristotle's principles were dicult to disprove merely through casual everyday observation, but later development of the scientic method challenged his views with experiments and careful measurement, using increasingly advanced technology such as the
telescope and vacuum pump.

hot

dry

AIR

EARTH

wet

cold

WATER

The four terrestrial elements

In claiming novelty for their doctrines,


those natural philosophers who developed the
new scienceof the seventeenth century
frequently contrasted Aristotelianphysics
with their own. Physics of the former sort,
so they claimed, emphasized the qualitative
at the expense of the quantitative, neglected

Unlike the eternal and unchanging celestial aether, each


of the four terrestrial elements are capable of changing
into either of the two elements they share a property with:
e.g. the cold and wet (water) can transform into the hot
and wet (air) or the cold and dry (earth) and any apparent change into the hot and dry (re) is actually a two-step
134

21.1. CONCEPTS
process. These properties are predicated of an actual substance relative to the work it is able to do; that of heating
or chilling and of desiccating or moistening. The four elements exist only with regard to this capacity and relative
to some potential work. The celestial element is eternal
and unchanging, so only the four terrestrial elements account forcoming to beandpassing away or, in the
terms of Aristotle's De Generatione et Corruptione (
),generationandcorruption
.

21.1.2

Elements

According to Aristotle, the elements which compose the


terrestrial spheres are dierent from that constituting
the celestial spheres.* [3] He believed that four elements
make up everything under the Moon, i.e. everything terrestrial: earth, air, re and water.* [a]* [4] He also held
that the heavens are made of a special weightless and
incorruptible (i.e. unchangeable) fth element called
"aether".* [4] Aether also has the name quintessence
, meaning, literally, fth substance.* [5]

135
ements. Other, lighter objects, he believed, have less
earth, relative to the other three elements in their composition.* [5]

Aether
Main articles: Aether (classical element) and Dynamics
of the celestial spheres
The Sun, Moon, planets and stars are embedded in
perfectly concentric "crystal spheres" that rotate eternally at xed rates. Because the celestial spheres are
incapable of any change except rotation, the terrestrial
sphere of re must account for the heat, starlight and
occasional meteorites.* [6] The lunar sphere is the only
celestial sphere that actually comes in contact with the
sublunary orb's changeable, terrestrial matter, dragging
the rareed re and air along underneath as it rotates.* [7]
Like Homer's there () thepure airof Mount
Olympus was the divine counterpart of the air breathed
by mortal beings (, aer). The celestial spheres are
composed of the special element aether, eternal and unchanging, the sole capability of which is a uniform circular motion at a given rate (relative to the diurnal motion
of the outermost sphere of xed stars).
The concentric, aetherial, cheek-by-jowl "crystal
spheres" that carry the Sun, Moon and stars move
eternally with unchanging circular motion. Spheres are
embedded within spheres to account for the wandering
stars(i.e. the planets, which, in comparison with the
Sun, Moon and stars, appear to move erratically). Later,
the belief that all spheres are concentric was forsaken in
favor of Ptolemy's deferent and epicycle model. Aristotle
submits to the calculations of astronomers regarding
the total number of spheres and various accounts give
a number in the neighborhood of fty spheres. An
unmoved mover is assumed for each sphere, including
a prime moverfor the sphere of xed stars. The
unmoved movers do not push the spheres (nor could
they, being immaterial and dimensionless) but are the
nal cause of the spheres' motion, i.e. they explain it in a
way that's similar to the explanation the soul is moved
by beauty.

21.1.3 Four causes


Main articles: Four causes and Teleology
A page from an 1837 edition of the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle's Physica, a book addressing a variety of subjects
including the philosophy of nature and topics now part of its
modern-day namesake: physics.

According to Aristotle, there are four ways to explain the


aitia or causes of change. He writes thatwe do not have
knowledge of a thing until we have grasped its why, that
*
*
Aristotle considered heavy substances such as iron and is to say, its cause. [8] [9]
other metals to consist primarily of the element earth, Aristotle held that there were four kinds of
with a smaller amount of the other three terrestrial el- causes.* [9]* [10]

136
Material

CHAPTER 21. ARISTOTELIAN PHYSICS

a table is a carpenter, who knows the form of the table. In


his Physics II, 194b2932, Aristotle writes:there is that
The material cause of a thing is that of which it is made. which is the primary originator of the change and of its
For a table, that might be wood; for a statue, that might cessation, such as the deliberator who is responsible [sc.
be bronze or marble.
for the action] and the father of the child, and in general
the producer of the thing produced and the changer of the
thing changed.
In one way we say that the aition is that
out of which. as existing, something comes
to be, like the bronze for the statue, the silver
Aristotles examples here are instructive:
for the phial, and their genera(194b2 3
one case of mental and one of physical cau6). By genera,Aristotle means more
sation, followed by a perfectly general chargeneral ways of classifying the matter (e.g.
acterization. But they conceal (or at any rate
metal; material); and that will become
fail to make patent) a crucial feature of Arisimportant. A little later on. he broadens the
totles concept of ecient causation, and one
range of the material cause to include letters
which serves to distinguish it from most mod(of syllables), re and the other elements (of
ern homonyms. For Aristotle, any process rephysical bodies), parts (of wholes), and even
quires a constantly operative ecient cause as
premisses (of conclusions: Aristotle re-iterates
long as it continues. This commitment appears
this claim, in slightly dierent terms, in An.
most starkly to modern eyes in Aristotles disPost II. 11).* [11]
cussion of projectile motion: what keeps the
R.J. Hankinson , The Theory of the
projectile moving after it leaves the
Physicsin Blackwell Companion to Aristotle
hand?Impetus,
momentum,much less
inertia,are not possible answers. There must
be a mover, distinct (at least in some sense)
from the thing moved, which is exercising its
Formal
motive capacity at every moment of the projectiles ight (see Phys VIII. 10 266b29
The formal cause of a thing is the essential property that
267a11).
Similarly, in every case of animal
makes it the kind of thing it is. In Metaphysics Book
generation,
there is always some thing respon Aristotle emphasizes that form is closely related to
sible
for
the
continuity of that generation, alessence and denition. He says for example that the ratio
though
it
may
do so by way of some intervening
2:1, and number in general, is the cause of the octave.
instrument (Phys II.3 194b35195a3).* [12]
R.J. Hankinson, Causesin Blackwell
Another [cause] is the form and the
Companion to Aristotle
exemplar: this is the formula (logos) of the
essence (to ti en einai), and its genera, for
instance the ratio 2:1 of the octave(Phys
11.3 194b268)... Form is not just shape...
Final
We are asking (and this is the connection
with essence, particularly in its canonical
The nal cause is that for the sake of which something
Aristotelian formulation) what it is to be
takes place, its aim or teleological purpose: for a germisome thing. And it is a feature of musical
nating seed, it is the adult plant,* [13] for a ball at the top
harmonics (rst noted and wondered at by the
of a ramp, it is coming to rest at the bottom, for an eye,
Pythagoreans) that intervals of this type do
it is seeing, for a knife, it is cutting.
indeed exhibit this ratio in some form in the
instruments used to create them (the length
Goals have an explanatory function: that
of pipes, of strings, etc.). In some sense, the
is a commonplace, at least in the context of
ratio explains what all the intervals have in
action-ascriptions. Less of a commonplace is
common, why they turn out the same.* [12]
the view espoused by Aristotle, that nality
R.J. Hankinson, Causein Blackwell
and purpose are to be found throughout naCompanion to Aristotle
ture. which is for him the realm of those things
which contain within themselves principles of
movement and rest (i.e. ecient
causes); thus it makes sense to attribute
Ecient
purposes not only to natural things themselves,
The ecient cause of a thing is the primary agency by
but also to their parts: the parts of a natural
which its matter took its form. For example, the ecient
whole exist for the sake of the whole. As Ariscause of a baby is a parent of the same species and that of
totle himself notes,for the sake oflocutions

21.1. CONCEPTS
are ambiguous: "A is for the sake of B" may
mean that A exists or is undertaken in order to
bring B about; or it may mean that A is for B
s benet (An II.4 415b23, 201); but both
types of nality have, he thinks. a crucial role
to play in natural. as well as deliberative, contexts. Thus a man may exercise for the sake of
his health: and so health,and not just the
hope of achieving it, is the cause of his action
(this distinction is not trivial). But the eyelids
are for the sake of the eye (to protect it: PA
II.1 3) and the eye for the sake of the animal
as a whole (to help it function properly: cf. An
II.7).* [14]
R.J. Hankinson, Causesin Blackwell
Companion to Aristotle

21.1.4

Biology

According to Aristotle, the science of living things proceeds by gathering observations about each natural kind
of animal, organizing them into genera and species (the
dierentiae in History of Animals) and then going on to
study the causes (in Parts of Animals and Generation of
Animals, his three main biological works).* [15]
The four causes of animal generation can
be summarized as follows. The mother and
father represent the material and ecient
causes, respectively. The mother provides the
matter out of which the embryo is formed,
while the father provides the agency that
informs that material and triggers its development. The formal cause is the denition of the
animals substantial being (GA I.1 715a4: ho
logos ts ousias). The nal cause is the adult
form, which is the end for the sake of which
development takes place.* [15]
Devin M. Henry, Generation of Animals
in Blackwell Companion to Aristotle

Organism and mechanism


Main articles: Organism (philosophy) and Mechanism
(philosophy)
The four elements make up the uniform materials such as
blood, esh and bone, which are themselves the matter
out of which are created the non-uniform organs of the
body (e.g. the heart, liver and hands) which in turn, as
parts, are matter for the functioning body as a whole (PA
II. 1 646a 1324)".* [11]
[There] is a certain obvious conceptual
economy about the view that in natural

137
processes naturally constituted things simply
seek to realize in full actuality the potentials
contained within them (indeed, this is what
is for them to be natural); on the other hand,
as the detractors of Aristotelianism from the
seventeenth century on were not slow to point
out, this economy is won at the expense of any
serious empirical content. Mechanism, at least
as practiced by Aristotles contemporaries
and predecessors, may have been explanatorily
inadequate but at least it was an attempt at a
general account given in reductive terms of the
lawlike connections between things. Simply
introducing what later reductionists were to
sco at as occult qualitiesdoes not explain
it merely, in the manner of Molires
famous satirical joke, serves to re-describe the
eect. Formal talk, or so it is said, is vacuous.
Things are not however quite as bleak as this.
For one thing, theres no point in trying to engage in reductionist science if you dont have
the wherewithal, empirical and conceptual, to
do so successfully: science shouldn't be simply
unsubstantiated speculative metaphysics. But
more than that. there is a point to describing
the world in such teleologically loaded terms:
it makes sense of things in a way that atomist
speculations do not. And further. Aristotle
s talk of species-forms is not as empty as
his opponents would insinuate. He doesn't
simply say that things do what they do because
that's the sort of thing they do: the whole
point of his classicatory biology, most clearly
exemplied in PA, is to show what sorts of
function go with what, which presuppose
which and which are subservient to which.
And in this sense, formal or functional biology
is susceptible of a type of reductionism. We
start, he tells us, with the basic animal kinds
which we all pre-theoretically (although not
indefeasibly) recognize (cf. PA I.4): but we
then go on to show how their parts relate to
one another: why it is, for instance that only
blooded creatures have lungs, and how certain
structures in one species are analogous or
homologous to those in another (such as scales
in sh, feathers in birds, hair in mammals).
And the answers, for Aristotle, are to be found
in the economy of functions, and how they all
contribute to the overall well-being (the nal
cause in this sense) of the animal.* [16]
R.J. Hankinson, The Relations between
the Causesin Blackwell Companion to
Aristotle

See also Organic Form.

138

CHAPTER 21. ARISTOTELIAN PHYSICS

Psychology
According to Aristotle, perception and thought are similar, though not exactly alike in that perception is concerned only with the external objects that are acting on
our sense organs at any given time, whereas we can think
about anything we choose. Thought is about universal
forms, in so far as they've been successfully understood,
based on our memory of having encountered instances of
those forms directly.* [17]
Aristotles theory of cognition rests on two
central pillars: his account of perception and
his account of thought. Together, they make
up a signicant portion of his psychological
writings, and his discussion of other mental
states depends critically on them. These two
activities, moreover, are conceived of in an
analogous manner, at least with regard to their
most basic forms. Each activity is triggered
by its object each, that is, is about the very
thing that brings it about. This simple causal
account explains the reliability of cognition:
perception and thought are, in eect, transducers, bringing information about the world into
our cognitive systems, because, at least in their
most basic forms, they are infallibly about
the causes that bring them about (An III.4
429a1318). Other, more complex mental
states are far from infallible. But they are still
tethered to the world, in so far as they rest on
the unambiguous and direct contact perception
and thought enjoy with their objects.* [17]
Victor Caston, Phantasia and Thought
in Blackwell Companion to Aristotle

Arab polymath al-Hasan Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) in his


Discourse on Place.* [20]

21.1.6 Natural motion


Terrestrial objects rise or fall, to a greater or lesser extent,
according to the ratio of the four elements of which they
are composed. For example, earth, the heaviest element,
and water, fall toward the center of the cosmos; hence the
Earth and for the most part its oceans, will have already
come to rest there. At the opposite extreme, the lightest
elements, air and especially re, rise up and away from
the center.
The elements are not proper substances in Aristotelian
theory (or the modern sense of the word). Instead, they
are abstractions used to explain the varying natures and
behaviors of actual materials in terms of ratios between
them.
Motion and change are closely related in Aristotelian
physics. Motion, according to Aristotle, involved a
change from potentiality to actuality.* [21] He gave example of four types of change.

Aristotle proposed that the speed at which two identically


shaped objects sink or fall is directly proportional to their
weights and inversely proportional to the density of the
medium through which they move.* [22] While describing their terminal velocity, Aristotle must stipulate that
there would be no limit at which to compare the speed
of atoms falling through a vacuum, (they could move indenitely fast because there would be no particular place
for them to come to rest in the void). Now however it is
understood that at any time prior to achieving terminal velocity in a relatively resistance-free medium like air, two
such objects are expected to have nearly identical speeds
because both are experiencing a force of gravity proportional to their masses and have thus been accelerating at
nearly the same rate. This became especially apparent
21.1.5 Natural place
from the eighteenth century when partial vacuum experThe Aristotelian explanation of gravity is that all bodies iments began to be made, but some two hundred years
move toward their natural place. For the elements earth earlier Galileo had already demonstrated that objects of
and water, that place is the center of the (geocentric) uni- dierent weights reach the ground in similar times.* [23]
verse;* [18] the natural place of water is a concentric shell
around the earth because earth is heavier; it sinks in water. The natural place of air is likewise a concentric shell 21.1.7 Unnatural motion
surrounding that of water; bubbles rise in water. Finally,
the natural place of re is higher than that of air but below Apart from the natural tendency of terrestrial exhalations
to rise and objects to fall, unnatural or forced motion from
the innermost celestial sphere (carrying the Moon).
side to side results from the turbulent collision and slidIn Book Delta of his Physics (IV.5), Aristotle denes ing of the objects as well as transmutation between the
topos (place) in terms of two bodies, one of which con- elements (On Generation and Corruption).
tains the other: aplaceis where the inner surface of the
former (the containing body) touches the outer surface of
the other (the contained body). This denition remained Chance
dominant until the beginning of the 17th century, even
though it had been questioned and debated by philoso- In his Physics Aristotle examines accidents
phers since antiquity.* [19] The most signicant early cri- (, sumbebekos) that have no cause but
tique was made in terms of geometry by the 11th-century chance. Nor is there any denite cause for an accident,

21.2. MEDIEVAL COMMENTARY

139

but only chance (, tukhe), namely an indenite be temporary and self-expending, meaning that all mo() cause(Metaphysics V, 1025a25).
tion would tend toward the form of Aristotle's natural motion.
It is obvious that there are principles and
causes which are generable and destructible
apart from the actual processes of generation
and destruction; for if this is not true, everything will be of necessity: that is, if there must
necessarily be some cause, other than accidental, of that which is generated and destroyed.
Will this be, or not? Yes, if this happens; otherwise not (Metaphysics VI, 1027a29).

21.1.8

Continuum and vacuum

In The Book of Healing (1027), the 11th-century Persian


polymath Avicenna developed Philoponean theory into
the rst coherent alternative to Aristotelian theory. Inclinations in the Avicennan theory of motion were not
self-consuming but permanent forces whose eects were
dissipated only as a result of external agents such as air
resistance, making himthe rst to conceive such a permanent type of impressed virtue for non-natural motion
. Such a self-motion (mayl) is almost the opposite of
the Aristotelian conception of violent motion of the projectile type, and it is rather reminiscent of the principle
of inertia, i.e. Newton's rst law of motion.* [26]

The eldest Ban Ms brother, Ja'far Muhammad ibn


Ms ibn Shkir (800-873), wrote the Astral Motion
and The Force of Attraction. The Persian physicist, Ibn
al-Haytham (965-1039) discussed the theory of attraction between bodies. It seems that he was aware of the
magnitude of acceleration due to gravity and he discovered that the heavenly bodies were accountable to the
laws of physics".* [27] The Persian polymath Ab Rayhn al-Brn (973-1048) was the rst to realize that
acceleration is connected with non-uniform motion (as
later expressed by Newton's second law of motion).* [28]
During his debate with Avicenna, al-Biruni also criticized
the Aristotelian theory of gravity rstly for denying the
The "voids" of modern-day astronomy (such as the Local existence of levity or gravity in the celestial spheres; and,
Void adjacent to our own galaxy) have the opposite eect: secondly, for its notion of circular motion being an innate
*
ultimately, bodies o-center are ejected from the void due property of the heavenly bodies. [29]
to the gravity of the material outside.* [25]
In 1121, al-Khazini, in The Book of the Balance of Wisdom, proposed that the gravity and gravitational potential
energy of a body varies depending on its distance from the
21.1.9 Speed, weight and resistance
centre of the Earth.* [30] Hibat Allah Abu'l-Barakat alBaghdaadi (10801165) wrote al-Mu'tabar, a critique of
The ideal speed of a terrestrial object is directly propor- Aristotelian physics where he negated Aristotle's idea that
tional to its weight. In nature however, vacuum does not a constant force produces uniform motion, as he realized
occur, the matter obstructing an object's path is a limiting that a force applied continuously produces acceleration, a
factor that is inversely proportional to the viscosity of the fundamental law of classical mechanics and an early foremedium.
shadowing of Newton's second law of motion.* [31] Like
Newton, he described acceleration as the rate of change
of speed.* [32]
Aristotle argues against the indivisibles of Democritus
(which dier considerably from the historical and the
modern use of the term "atom"). As a place without
anything existing at or within it, Aristotle argued against
the possibility of a vacuum or void. Because he believed
that the speed of an object's motion is proportional to the
force being applied (or, in the case of natural motion, the
object's weight) and inversely proportional to the viscosity of the medium, he reasoned that objects moving in
a void would move indenitely fast and thus any and
all objects surrounding the void would immediately ll it.
The void, therefore, could never form.* [24]

21.2 Medieval commentary


Main article: Theory of impetus
The Aristotelian theory of motion came under criticism
and modication during the Middle Ages. Modications began with John Philoponus in the 6th century, who
partly accepted Aristotle's theory that continuation of
motion depends on continued action of a forcebut modied it to include his idea that a hurled body also acquires
an inclination (or motive power) for movement away
from whatever caused it to move, an inclination that secures its continued motion. This impressed virtue would

In the 14th century, Jean Buridan developed the theory


of impetus as an alternative to the Aristotelian theory
of motion. The theory of impetus was a precursor to
the concepts of inertia and momentum in classical mechanics.* [33] Buridan and Albert of Saxony also refer
to Abu'l-Barakat in explaining that the acceleration of
a falling body is a result of its increasing impetus.* [34]
In the 16th century, Al-Birjandi discussed the possibility
of the Earth's rotation and, in his analysis of what might
occur if the Earth were rotating, developed a hypothesis
similar to Galileo's notion ofcircular inertia.* [35] He
described it in terms of the following observational test:
The small or large rock will fall to the

140

CHAPTER 21. ARISTOTELIAN PHYSICS


Earth along the path of a line that is perpendicular to the plane (sath) of the horizon; this
is witnessed by experience (tajriba). And this
perpendicular is away from the tangent point of
the Earths sphere and the plane of the perceived (hissi) horizon. This point moves with
the motion of the Earth and thus there will be
no dierence in place of fall of the two rocks.
*
[36]

jects revolving around a body other than the Earth


and noted the phases of Venus, which demonstrated that
Venus (and, by implication, Mercury) traveled around the
Sun, not the Earth.

21.3 Life and death of Aristotelian


physics

In a relatively dense medium such as water, a heavier body


falls faster than a lighter one. This led Aristotle to speculate that the rate of falling is proportional to the weight
and inversely proportional to the density of the medium.
From his experience with objects falling in water, he concluded that water is approximately ten times denser than
air. By weighing a volume of compressed air, Galileo
showed that this overestimates the density of air by a
factor of forty.* [38] From his experiments with inclined
planes, he concluded that if friction is neglected, all bodies fall at the same rate.

According to legend, Galileo dropped balls of various


densities from the Tower of Pisa and found that lighter
and heavier ones fell at almost the same speed. His experiments actually took place using balls rolling down
inclined planes, a form of falling suciently slow to be
measured without advanced instruments.

Galileo also advanced a theoretical argument to support


his conclusion. He asked if two bodies of dierent
weights and dierent rates of fall are tied by a string,
does the combined system fall faster because it is now
more massive, or does the lighter body in its slower fall
hold back the heavier body? The only convincing answer
is neither: all the systems fall at the same rate.* [37]
Followers of Aristotle were aware that the motion of
falling bodies was not uniform, but picked up speed with
time. Since time is an abstract quantity, the peripatetics
postulated that the speed was proportional to the distance.
Galileo established experimentally that the speed is proportional to the time, but he also gave a theoretical arguAristotle depicted by Rembrandt.
ment that the speed could not possibly be proportional to
the distance. In modern terms, if the rate of fall is proThe reign of Aristotelian physics, the earliest known specportional to the distance, the dierential equation for the
ulative theory of physics, lasted almost two millennia.
distance y travelled after time t is:
After the work of many pioneers such as Copernicus,
Galileo, Descartes and Newton, it became generally accepted that Aristotelian physics was neither correct nor dy
viable.* [5] Despite this, it survived as a scholastic pur- dt = y
suit well into the seventeenth century, until universities
...with the condition that y(0) = 0 . Galileo demonamended their curricula.
strated that this system would stay at y = 0 for all time.
In Europe, Aristotle's theory was rst convincingly dis- If a perturbation set the system into motion somehow,
credited by Galileo's studies. Using a telescope, Galileo the object would pick up speed exponentially in time, not
observed that the Moon was not entirely smooth, but had quadratically.* [38]
craters and mountains, contradicting the Aristotelian idea
of the incorruptibly perfect smooth Moon. Galileo also Standing on the surface of the Moon in 1971, David Scott
criticized this notion theoretically; a perfectly smooth famously repeated Galileo's experiment by dropping a
Moon would reect light unevenly like a shiny billiard feather and a hammer from each hand at the same time.
ball, so that the edges of the moon's disk would have a In the absence of a substantial atmosphere, the two obdierent brightness than the point where a tangent plane jects fell and hit the Moon's surface at the same time.
reects sunlight directly to the eye. A rough moon re- The rst convincing mathematical theory of gravity
ects in all directions equally, leading to a disk of approx- in which two masses are attracted toward each other by
imately equal brightness which is what is observed.* [37] a force whose eect decreases according to the inverse
Galileo also observed that Jupiter has moons i.e. ob- square of the distance between them was Newton's law

21.7. REFERENCES

141

of universal gravitation. This, in turn, was replaced by [11] Hankinson, R.J.The Theory of the Physics. Blackwell
Companion to Aristotle. p. 216.
the General theory of relativity due to Albert Einstein.
Further information: Gravity

[12] Hankinson, R.J.Causes. Blackwell Companion to Aristotle. p. 217.


[13] Aristotle. Parts of Animals I.1.

21.4 See also


Minima naturalia, a hylomorphic concept suggested by
Aristotle broadly analogous in Peripatetic and Scholastic
physical speculation to the atoms of Epicureanism.

[14] Hankinson, R.J.Causes. Blackwell Companion to Aristotle. p. 218.


[15] Henry, Devin M. (2009). Generation of Animals.
Blackwell Companion to Aristotle. p. 368.
[16] Hankinson, R.J.Causes. Blackwell Companion to Aristotle. p. 222.

21.5 Works
21.6 Notes

[17] Caston, Victor (2009).Phantasia and Thought. Blackwell Companion to Aristotle. pp. 3222233.
[18] De Caelo II. 13-14.
[19] For instance, by Simplicius in his Corollaries on Place.

a * ^ Here, the term Earthdoes not refer to planet


Earth, known by modern science to be composed of a [20] El-Bizri, Nader (2007).In Defence of the Sovereignty of
large number of chemical elements. Modern chemical
Philosophy: al-Baghdadi's Critique of Ibn al-Haytham's
elements are not conceptually similar to Aristotle's eleGeometrisation of Place.
Arabic Sciences and
Philosophy (Cambridge University Press) 17: 5780.
ments; the term air, for instance, does not refer to
doi:10.1017/s0957423907000367.
breathable air.

21.7 References

[21] Bodnar, Istvan,Aristotle's Natural Philosophyin The


Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2012 Edition, ed. Edward N. Zalta).

[1] Lang, H.S. (2007). The Order of Nature in Aristotle's


Physics: Place and the Elements. Cambridge University
Press. p. 290. ISBN 9780521042291.

[22] Gindikin, S.G. (1988). Tales of Physicists and Mathematicians. Birkh. p. 29. ISBN 9780817633172. LCCN
87024971.

[2] White, Michael J. (2009). Aristotle on the Innite,


Space, and Time. Blackwell Companion to Aristotle. p.
260.

[23] Lindberg, D. (2008), The beginnings of western science:


The European scientic tradition in philosophical, religious, and institutional context, prehistory to AD 1450 (2nd
ed.), University of Chicago Press.

[3] Physics of Aristotle vs. The Physics of Galileo.


Archived from the original on 11 April 2009. Retrieved
6 April 2009.
[4] "www.hep.fsu.edu" (PDF). Retrieved 26 March 2007.
[5] Aristotle's physics. Retrieved 6 April 2009.
[6] Aristotle, meteorology.
[7] Sorabji, R. (2005). The Philosophy of the Commentators,
200-600 AD: Physics. G - Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series. Cornell University Press.
p. 352. ISBN 978-0-8014-8988-4. LCCN 2004063547.
[8] Aristotle, Physics 194 b1720; see also: Posterior Analytics 71 b911; 94 a20.
[9] Four Causes. Falcon, Andrea. Aristotle on Causality.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy 2008.
[10] Aristotle, Book 5, section 1013a, Metaphysics, Hugh
Tredennick (trans.) Aristotle in 23 Volumes, Vols. 17,
18, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1933, 1989; (hosted at
perseus.tufts.edu.) Aristotle also discusses the four causes
in his Physics, Book B, chapter 3.

[24] Land, Helen, The Order of Nature in Aristotle's Physics:


Place and the Elements (1998).
[25] Tully; Shaya; Karachentsev; Courtois; Kocevski; Rizzi;
Peel (2008). Our Peculiar Motion Away From the
Local Void. The Astrophysical Journal 676 (1):
184. arXiv:0705.4139. Bibcode:2008ApJ...676..184T.
doi:10.1086/527428.
[26] Aydin Sayili (1987),Ibn Sn and Buridan on the Motion
of the Projectile, Annals of the New York Academy of
Sciences 500 (1): 477482 [477]:
According to Aristotle, continuation of
motion depends on continued action of a
force. The motion of a hurled body, therefore, requires elucidation. Aristotle maintained that the air of the atmosphere was responsible for the continuation of such motion. John Philoponos of the 6th century
rejected this Aristotelian view. He claimed
that the hurled body acquires a motive power
or an inclination for forced movement from
the agent producing the initial motion and

142

CHAPTER 21. ARISTOTELIAN PHYSICS

that this power or condition and not the ambient medium secures the continuation of
such motion. According to Philoponos this
impressed virtue was temporary. It was a
self-expending inclination, and thus the violent motion thus produced comes to an end
and changes into natural motion. Ibn Sina
adopted this idea in its rough outline, but the
violent inclination as he conceived it was a
non-self-consuming one. It was a permanent
force whose eect got dissipated only as a result of external agents such as air resistance.
He is apparently the rst to conceive such a
permanent type of impressed virtue for nonnatural motion. [...] Indeed, self-motion of
the type conceived by Ibn Sina is almost the
opposite of the Aristotelian conception of violent motion of the projectile type, and it is
rather reminiscent of the principle of inertia,
i.e., Newton's rst law of motion.
[27] Duhem, Pierre (1908, 1969). To Save the Phenomena: An
Essay on the Idea of Physical theory from Plato to Galileo,
University of Chicago Press, Chicago, p. 28.
[28] O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., Al-Biruni
, MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of
St Andrews.
[29] Rak Berjak and Muzaar Iqbal, Ibn Sina--Al-Biruni
correspondence, Islam & Science, June 2003.
[30] Mariam Rozhanskaya and I. S. Levinova (1996), Statics, in Roshdi Rashed, ed., Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science, vol. 2, pp. 614642 [621-622].
(Routledge, London and New York.)
[31] Shlomo Pines (1970).Abu'l-Barakt al-Baghdd, Hibat
Allah. Dictionary of Scientic Biography 1. New York:
Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 2628. ISBN 0-684-101149.
(cf. Abel B. Franco (October 2003).Avempace, Projectile Motion, and Impetus Theory, Journal of the History
of Ideas 64 (4), pp. 521546 [528].)
[32] A. C. Crombie, Augustine to Galileo 2, p. 67.
[33] Aydin Sayili (1987),Ibn Sn and Buridan on the Motion
of the Projectile, Annals of the New York Academy of
Sciences 500 (1): 477482
[34] Gutman, Oliver (2003). Pseudo-Avicenna, Liber Celi Et
Mundi: A Critical Edition. Brill Publishers. p. 193. ISBN
90-04-13228-7.
[35] (Ragep 2001b, pp. 634)
[36] (Ragep 2001a, pp. 1523)
[37] Galileo Galilei, Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World
Systems.
[38] Galileo Galilei, Two New Sciences.

21.8 Sources
Ragep, F. Jamil (2001a). Tusi and Copernicus:
The Earth's Motion in Context. Science in Context
(Cambridge University Press) 14 (12): 145163.
doi:10.1017/s0269889701000060.
Ragep, F. Jamil; Al-Qushji, Ali (2001b). Freeing
Astronomy from Philosophy: An Aspect of Islamic
Inuence on Science. Osiris, 2nd Series 16 (Science in Theistic Contexts: Cognitive Dimensions):
4964 and 6671. Bibcode:2001Osir...16...49R.
doi:10.1086/649338.
H. Carteron (1965) Does Aristotle Have a Mechanics?" in Articles on Aristotle 1.
Science
eds. Jonathan Barnes, Malcolm Schoeld, Richard
Sorabji (London: General Duckworth and Company
Limited), 161-174.

21.9 Further reading


Katalin Martins, Aristotelian Thermodynamics
in Thermodynamics: history and philosophy: facts,
trends, debates (Veszprm, Hungary 2328 July
1990), pp. 285303.

Chapter 22

Aristotelian Society
The Aristotelian Society for the Systematic Study of
Philosophy, more generally known as the Aristotelian
Society, was founded at a meeting on 19 April 1880, at
17 Bloomsbury Square* [1] which resolvedto constitute
a society of about twenty and to include ladies; the society
to meet fortnightly, on Mondays at 8 o'clock, at the rooms
of the Spelling Reform Association"* [2]

cuss philosophical papers from all philosophical traditions. The current President is Sarah Broadie, a Professor
of Philosophy at University of St Andrews.* [5]
Its other work includes giving grants to support the organisation of academic conferences in philosophy, and, with
Oxford University Press, the production of the 'Lines of
Thought' series of philosophical monographs.

Amongst other things, the rules of the Society stipulated: Its annual conference, organised since 1918 in conjunction with the Mind Association (publishers of the philoThe object of this Society shall be the
sophical journal Mind), known as the Joint Session of the
systematic study of philosophy; 1st,
Aristotelian Society and the Mind Association, is hosted
as to its historical development; 2nd,
by dierent university departments in turn in July each
as to its methods and problems.
year.
According to H. Wildon Carr, in choosing a name for the
society, it was:
essential to nd a name which would denitely prescribe the speculative character of the
study which was to be the Society's ideal, and
it seemed that this could best be secured by
adopting the name of a philosopher eminently
representative. There is only one such name in
the history of philosophy and so we became the
Aristotelian Society, not for the special study
of Aristotle, or of Aristotelianism, but for the
systematic study of Philosophy.* [3]

22.1 Publications
The rst edition of the Society's proceedings, the Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society for the Systematic Study
of Philosophy, now the Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, was issued in 1888.
The papers from the invited speakers at the Joint Session
conference are published in the June of each year (i.e.,
prior to the joint conference) in The Proceedings of the
Aristotelian Society, Supplementary Volume.ISSN 00667374

The Society's rst president was Mr. Shadworth H.


Hodgson. He was president for fourteen years from 1880
until 1894, when he proposed Dr. Bernard Bosanquet as
his replacement.

The Proceedings and the Supplementary Volume are


published by the Society and distributed by WileyBlackwells.

The entire back run of both journals has been digitised


Professor Alan Willard Brown noted in 1947 that '[The by JSTOR.
Society]'s members were not all men of established intellectual position. It welcomed young minds just out of university as well as older amateur philosophers with serious 22.2 List of current and past presinterests and purposes. But many distinguished men were
idents
faithful members, and not the least virtue of the society
has remained, even to the present day, the opportunity
it aords for dierent intellectual generations to meet in Many signicant philosophers have served the Society as
an atmosphere of reasoned and responsible discussion.'. its president:
*
[4]
Shadworth H. Hodgson (1880-1894)
The Society continues to meet fortnightly at the
University of London's Senate House to hear and dis Bernard Bosanquet (1894-1898)
143

144

CHAPTER 22. ARISTOTELIAN SOCIETY

D. G. Ritchie (1898-1899)

Gilbert Ryle (1945-1946)

G. F. Stout (1899-1904)

R. B. Braithwaite (1946-1947)

Hastings Rashdall (1904-1907)

Norman Kemp Smith (1947-1948)

Lord Haldane of Cloan (1907-1908)

C. A. Mace (1948-1949)

Samuel Alexander (1908-1911)

W.C. Kneale (1949-1950)

Bertrand Russell (1911-1913)

J. Wisdom (1950-1951)

G. Dawes Hicks (1913-1914)

A. J. Ayer (1951-1952)

Arthur Balfour (1914-1915)

H. B. Acton (1952-1953)

H. Wildon Carr (1915-1918)

Dorothy Emmet (1953-1954)

G. E. Moore (1918-1919)

C. D. Broad (1954-1955)

James Ward (1919-1920)

J. N. Findlay (1955-1956)

W. R. Inge (1920-1921)

J. L. Austin (1956-1957)

F. C. S. Schiller (1921-1922)

R. I. Aaron (1957-1958)

A. N. Whitehead (1922-1923)

Sir Karl Popper (1958-1959)

T. Percy Nunn (1923-1924)

H. L. A. Hart (1959-1960)

Lord Lindsay of Birker (1924-1925)

A. E. Duncan-Jones (1960-1961)

J. A. Smith (1925-1926)

Prof. A. M. MacIver (1961-1962)

C. Lloyd Morgan (1926-1927)

H. D. Lewis (1962-1963)

C. D. Broad (1927-1928)

Sir Isaiah Berlin (1963-1964)

A. E. Taylor (1928-1929)

W. H. Walsh (1964-1965)

J. Laird (1929-1930)

Ruth L. Saw (1965-1966)

Beatrice Edgell (1930-1931)

Stephan Krner (1966-1967)

W. G. de Burgh (1931-1932)

Richard Wollheim (1967-1968)

Leonard J. Russell (1932-1933)

D. J. O'Connor (1968-1969)

L. S. Stebbing (1933-1934)

P. F. Strawson (1969-1970)

G. C. Field (1934-1935)

W. B. Gallie (1970-1971)

J. L. Stocks (1935-1936)

Martha Kneale (1971-1972)

Samuel Alexander (1936-1937)

R. M. Hare (1972-1973)

Bertrand Russell (1937-1938)

Charles H. Whiteley (1973-1974)

G. F. Stout (1938-1939)

David Daiches Raphael (1974-1975)

Sir William David Ross (1939-1940)

A. M. Quinton (1975-1976)

Hilda D. Oakeley (1940-1941)

D. M. Mackinnon (1976-1977)

A. C. Ewing (1941-1942)

D. W. Hamlyn (1977-1978)

Morris Ginsberg (1942-1943)

G. E. L. Owen (1978-1979)

H. H. Price (1943-1944)

A.R. White (1979-1980)

H. J. Paton (1944-1945)

P. G. Winch (1980-1981)

22.3. NOTES
R. F. Holland (1981-1982)
T. J. Smiley (1982-1983)

145

22.3 Notes

Peter Alexander (1984-1985)

[1] Five individuals attended this meeting: Mr. F. G. Fleay,


Dr. Alfred Senier (1853-I918) (later Professor of Chemistry in the University of Galway), Mr. Herbert Burrows,
Mr. Edward Clarkson, and Mr. Alfred Lowe (Carr, 19281929, pp.360).

Richard Sorabji (1985-1986)

[2] Carr (1928-1929), pp.360.

Martin Hollis (1986-1987)

[3] Carr (1928-1929), pp.361.

G. E. M. Anscombe (1987-1988)

[4] Brown (1947), p.249.

Onora O'Neill (1988-1989)

[5] The Executive Committee, Aristotelian Society website

A. R. Manser (1983-1984)

Renford Bambrough (1989-1990)


John Skorupski (19901991)
Timothy Sprigge (1991-1992)
Hugh Mellor (1992-1993)
David E. Cooper (1993-1994)
Jonathan Dancy (1994-1995)

22.4 References
Brown, A.W., The Metaphysical Society: Victorian Minds in Crisis, 1869-1880New York:
Columbia University Press (1947)
Carr, H.W., The Fiftieth Session: A Retrospect
, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Vol.29,
(1928-1929), pp. 359386.

Christopher Hookway (1995-1996)


Jennifer Hornsby (1996-1997)
John Cottingham (1997-1998)
Adam Morton (1998-1999)
David Wiggins (1999-2000)
James Grin (2000-2001)
Jane Heal (2001-2002)
Bob Hale (2002-2003)
Paul Snowdon (2003-2004)
Timothy Williamson (2004-2005)
Myles Burnyeat (2005-2006)
Thomas Baldwin (2006-2007)
Dorothy Edgington (2007-2008)
M G F Martin (2008-2009)
Simon Blackburn (2009-2010)
Quassim Cassam (2010-2011)
Marie McGinn (2011-2012)
Sarah Broadie (2012-2013)
David Papineau (2013present)

22.5 External links


The Aristotelian Society for the Systematic Study of
Philosophy

Chapter 23

Aristotelian theology
Aristotelian theology and the scholastic view of God
have been inuential in Western intellectual history.

23.1 Metaphysics
Main articles: Metaphysics (Aristotle) and Unmoved
movers
In his rst philosophy, later called the Metaphysics, (or
after the Physics), Aristotle discusses the meaning
of being as being. He refers to the unmoved movers,
and assigns one to each movement in the heavens and
tasks future astronomers with correlating the estimated
47 to 55 motions of the Eudoxan planetary model with
the most current and accurate observations. According
to Aristotle, each unmoved mover continuously contemplates its own contemplation; they have no knowledge of
the cosmos, nor do they participate therein. The planets
and stars, which have their source of motion within themselves (by virtue of aether, Aristotle's fth element) aspire
to emulate the uniform circular motion of their particular mover. Thus captivated, their tireless performance is
entirely the result of their own desire. This is one way in
which the movers are said to be unmoved. Also, because
they are immaterial eternal substantial form, they lack any
aspect of magnitude or volume and occupy no location;
thus, they are physically incapable of moving anywhere,
or of moving anything. Likewise, they must have no sensory perception whatsoever on account of Aristotle's theory of cognition: were any form of sense perception to intrude upon their thoughts, in that instant they would cease
to be themselves, because actual self-reection is their singular essence, their whole being. Like the heavenly bodies in their unadorned pursuit, so the wise look, with affection, toward the star; and hence as a role model, they
inspire those who look up to them, and by whom others
still, will yet nd themselves enthralled, and so on, creating the enduring natural order of aeon, season, animal
and plant.

Aristotle, by Francesco Hayez

23.2 Principles of being


See also: Categories (Aristotle) and Substance theory
In the Metaphysics, Aristotle discusses actuality
(entelecheia, Greek: ) and potentiality
(dynamis, Greek: ). The former is perfection,
realization, fullness of being; the latter imperfection,
incompleteness, perfectibility. The former is the determining, the latter the determinable principle. The
unmoved movers are entirely actual, Actus Purus, because
they are unchanging, eternal, immaterial substance.
All material beings have some potentiality. The Physics
introduces matter and form and the four causes -- material, formal, ecient and nal. For example, to explain a
statue, one can oer:

146

The material cause, that out of which the statue is

23.4. SEE ALSO


made, is the marble or bronze.

147
that might not exist, may have led Anselm to his famous
ontological argument for God's existence.

The formal cause, that according to which the statue


Many medieval philosophers made use of the idea of
is made, is the shape that the sculptor has learned to
approaching a knowledge of God through negative atsculpt.
tributes. For example, we should not say that God exists in the usual sense of the term, all we can safely say is
The ecient cause, or agent, is the sculptor.
that God is not nonexistent. We should not say that God
The nal cause, is that for the sake of which the is wise, but we can say that God is not ignorant (i.e. in
some way God has some properties of knowledge). We
statue is made, the (actual) statue.
should not say that God is One, but we can state that there
is no multiplicity in God's being.
Contrary to the later so-calledtraditionalview of prime
matter (prima materia in Latin), Aristotle asserts that Aristotelian theological concepts were accepted by
there can be no pure potentiality without any actuality many later Jewish, Islamic, and Christian philosophers.
whatsoever. All material substances have unactualized Key Jewish philosophers included Samuel Ibn Tibbon,
Maimonides, and Gersonides, among many others. Their
potentials.
views of God are considered mainstream by many Jews
Aristotle argues that, although motion is eternal, there of all denominations even today. Preeminent among Iscannot be an innite series of movers and of things lamic philosophers who were inuenced by Aristotelian
moved. Therefore there must be some, who are not the theology are Avicenna and Averroes. In Christian theolrst in such a series, that inspire the eternal motion with- ogy, the key philosopher inuenced by Aristotle was unout themselves being moved as the soul is moved by doubtedly Thomas Aquinas. There had been earlier Arisbeauty. Because the planetary spheres each move un- totelian inuences within Christianity (notably Anselm),
falteringly for all eternity in uniform circular motion with but Aquinas (who, incidentally, found his Aristotelian ina given rotational period relative to the supreme diurnal uence via Avicenna, Averroes, and Maimonides) incormotion of the sphere of xed stars (or First Heaven), they porated extensive Aristotelian ideas throughout his own
must each love and desire to mimic dierent unmoved theology. Through Aquinas and the Scholastic Christian
movers corresponding to the given periods.
theology of which he was a signicant part, Aristotle beBecause they eternally inspire uniform motion in the cameacademic theology's great authority in the course
celestial spheres, the unmoved movers must themselves of the thirteenth century* [3] and exerted an inuence
be eternal and unchanging. Because they are eternal, upon Christian theology that become both widespread
they have already had an innite amount of time in which and deeply embedded. However, notable Christian theto actualize any potentialities and therefore cannot be a ologians rejected* [4] Aristotelian theological inuence,
composition of matter and form, or potentiality and ac- especially the rst generation of Christian Reformers* [5]
tuality. They must always be fully actual, and thus im- and most notably Martin Luther.* [6]* [7]* [8] In subsematerial, because at all times in history they have already quent Protestant theology, Aristotelian thought quickly
existed an innite amount of time, and things that do not reemerged in Protestant Scholasticism.
actually come to fruition given unlimited opportunities to
do so cannot potentially do so.
The life of the unmoved mover is self-contemplative
thought (" (noeseos noesis)", i.e.
thought of thought).* [1]* [2] According to Aristotle,
the gods cannot potentially be distracted from this eternal
self-contemplation because, in that instant, they would
cease to exist.

23.4 See also


Conceptions of God
Existence of God
Henosis

23.3 Inuence
See also: Ontological argument and Apophatic theology
Aristotle's principles of being (see section above) inuenced Anselm's view of God, whom he calledthat than
which nothing greater can be conceived.Anselm thought
that God did not feel emotions such as anger or love, but
appeared to do so through our imperfect understanding.
The incongruity of judging beingagainst something

Henotheism

23.5 References
[1] Aristotle, Metaphysics 1074b.
[2] Leo Elders, Aristotle's theology: A commentary on Book
[lambda] of the Metaphysics, Assen: Van Gorcum, 1972;
Michael Frede, David Charles, ed., Aristotle's Metaphysics
Lambda, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.

148

[3] Oberman, Heiko. Luther: Man Between God and the


Devil, 1982, trans. Eileen Walliser-Schwarzbart, 1989.
p. 160.
[4] Especially since the 1990s, there have been scholars who
argue that the early Reformers have been misunderstood
in their stance against Aristotle (and the Scholasticism
that he permeated). A distinction must be made between
scholastic methodology and its theological content. See
the self-avowedly ground-breaking collection, Protestant
Scholasticism, eds. Trueman, Carl, and R. Scott Clark,
1997, page xix. Even within that volume, however, Luther
is admitted to have made a complete, sincere, and absolute
renunciation of scholasticism (see D.V.N.Bagchi within
Trueman and Clark, page 11).
[5] Luther is certainly more acerbic and quotable, but both
Calvin who denounced scholastic theology as contemptible(Payton, James R., Jr, Getting the Reformation Wrong, 2010, page 197) and Melanchthon who found
that the church hadembraced Aristotle instead of Christ
(see Melanchthon, Loci Communes, 1521 edition, 23) also
rejected Aristotelian elements of scholasticism.
[6] Luther's quotes aimed directly against Aristotle are many
and sometimes strident. For example, Virtually the entire Ethics of Aristotle is the worst enemy of grace(Thesis
41) and Briey, the whole of Aristotle is to theology as
shadow is to light(Thesis 50) in Luther's 97 Theses of
September 1517 (Luther, Disputation Against Scholastic
Theology, 1517).
[7] In a personal note, Luther wrote, Should Aristotle not
have been a man of esh and blood, I would not hesitate
to assert that he was the Devil himself.(Luther, 8 Feb
1517; quoted in Oberman, 121).
[8]Thomas [Aquinas] wrote a great deal of heresy, and is responsible for the reign of Aristotle, the destroyer of godly
doctrine.(Luther, Against Latomus, 1521; quoted in Payton, 196).

CHAPTER 23. ARISTOTELIAN THEOLOGY

Chapter 24

Corpus Aristotelicum
rection 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 nal 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]
The end of Sophistical Refutations and beginning of Physics on
page 184 of Bekker'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 classications of these works.

24.2 Bekker numbers


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 (1785
1871).

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
The extant works of Aristotle are broken down according is 1094a1, which corresponds to page 1094 of Bekker's
to the ve categories in the Corpus Aristotelicum. Not all edition of the Greek text of Aristotle's works, rst colof these works are considered genuine, but dier with re- umn, line 1.
spect to their connection to Aristotle, his associates and All modern editions or translations of Aristotle intended
his views. Some are regarded by most scholars as prod- for scholarly readers use Bekker numbers, in addition to
ucts of Aristotle's schooland compiled under his di- or instead of page numbers. Contemporary scholars writ-

24.1 Overview of the extant works

149

150

CHAPTER 24. CORPUS ARISTOTELICUM

ing on Aristotle use the Bekker number so that the au- The works surviving only in fragments include the diathor's citations can be checked by readers without having logues On Philosophy (or On the Good), Eudemus (or On
to use the same edition or translation that the author used. the Soul), Protrepticus, On Justice, and On Good Birth.
While Bekker numbers are the dominant method used The possibly spurious work, On Ideas survives in quotato refer to the works of Aristotle, Catholic or Thomist tions by Alexander of Aphrodisias in his commentary on
scholars often use the medieval method of reference by Aristotle's Metaphysics. For the dialogues, see also the
book, chapter, and sentence, albeit generally in addition editions of Richard Rudolf Walzer, Aristotelis Dialogorum fragmenta, in usum scholarum (Florence 1934), and
to Bekker numbers.
Renato Laurenti, Aristotele: I frammenti dei dialoghi (2
Stephanus pagination is the comparable system for refer- vols.), Naples: Luigi Loredo, 1987.
ring to the works of Plato.

24.3 Aristotle's works by Bekker


numbers
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.

24.4 Aristotelian works lacking


Bekker numbers

24.5 Notes
[1] W. D. Ross, Aristotle's Metaphysics (1953), vol. 1, p.
lxxxii. By thephysical works, Ross means the Physics,
On the Heavens, On Generation and Corruption, and the
Meteorology; see Ross, Aristotle's Physics (1936), p. 3.
[2] E.g., Jonathan Barnes,Life and Workin The Cambridge
Companion to Aristotle (1995), pp. 18-22.
[3] The Complete Works of Aristotle, edited by Jonathan
Barnes, 2 vols., Princeton University Press, 1984.
[4] "CU-Boulder Expert Wins $75,000 Award For Research
On Aristotle, University of Colorado Oce of News
Services, December 14, 2005.

24.4.1 Constitution of the Athenians


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

24.4.2

Fragments

Surviving fragments of the many lost works of Aristotle were included in the fth volume of Bekker's edition,
edited by Valentin Rose. These are not cited by Bekker
numbers, however, but according to fragment numbers.
Rose's rst 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 dierent 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.

24.6 External links


The Ancient Catalogues of Aristotle's Writings. A
Survey of Current Research
The Peripatos after Aristotle's and the Origin of the
Corpus Aristotelicum with an annotated bibliography
Bekker's Prussian Academy of Sciences edition of
the complete works of Aristotle at Archive.org

vol.
vol.
vol.
vol.
vol.

1
2
3
4
5

Oxford Translation of The Works of Aristotle at


Archive.org (contents by volume)

vol.
vol.
vol.
vol.
vol.
vol.
vol.
vol.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

24.6. EXTERNAL LINKS

vol.
vol.
vol.
vol.

9
10
11
12

151

Chapter 25

Categories (Aristotle)
The Categories (Greek Katgoriai; Latin
Categoriae) is a text from Aristotle's Organon that enumerates all the possible kinds of things that can be the
subject or the predicate of a proposition. They areperhaps the single most heavily discussed of all Aristotelian
notions.* [1] The work is brief enough to be divided,
not into books as is usual with Aristotle's works, but into
fteen chapters.

1. Some may be predicated of a subject, but are in no


subject; as man may be predicated of James or John,
but is not in any subject.
2. Some are in a subject, but cannot be predicated
of any subject. Thus a certain individual point of
grammatical knowledge is in me as in a subject, but
it cannot be predicated of any subject; because it is
an individual thing.

The Categories places every object of human


apprehension under one of ten categories (known
to medieval writers as the Latin term praedicamenta).
Aristotle intended them to enumerate everything that
can be expressed without composition or structure, thus
anything that can be either the subject or the predicate
of a proposition.

3. Some are both in a subject and able to be predicated of a subject, for example science, which is in
the mind as in a subject, and may be predicated of
geometry as of a subject.
4. Last, some things neither can be in any subject nor
can be predicated of any subject. These are individual substances, which cannot be predicated, because
they are individuals; and cannot be in a subject, because they are substances.

25.1 The text


25.1.1

The antepraedicamenta

25.1.2 The praedicamenta

The text begins with an explication of what is meant


by "synonymous,or univocal words, what is meant by
"homonymous,or equivocal words, and what is meant
by "paronymous,or denominative (sometimes translated
derivative) words.

Then we come to the categories themselves, whose


denitions depend upon these four forms of predication.* [2]* [3] Aristotle's own text in Ackrill's standard English version is:* [4]* [5]

It then divides forms of speech as being:


Either simple, without composition or structure,
such as man,horse,ghts,etc.
Or having composition and structure, such as a
man ghts,the horse runs,etc.
Only composite forms of speech can be true or false.

Of things said without any combination,


each signies either substance or quantity or
qualication or a relative or where or when
or being-in-a-position or having or doing or
being-aected. To give a rough idea, examples of substance are man, horse; of quantity: four-foot, ve-foot; of qualication:
white, grammatical; of a relative: double, half,
larger; of where: in the Lyceum, in the marketplace; of when: yesterday, last-year; of beingin-a-position: is-lying, is-sitting; of having:
has-shoes-on, has-armour-on; of doing: cutting, burning; of being-aected: being-cut,
being-burned. (1b25-2a4)

Next, he distinguishes between what is saidofa subject


and what is ina subject. What is said ofa subject
describes the kind of thing that it is as a whole, answering
the question what is it?" What is said to be ina
subject is a predicate that does not describe it as a whole
but cannot exist without the subject, such as the shape of
something. The latter has come to be known as inherence. A brief explanation (with some alternative translations) is
Of all the things that exist,
as follows:
152

25.2. SEE ALSO


1. Substance (, ousia, essence or substance).* [6] Substance is that which cannot be
predicated of anything or be said to be in anything.
Hence, this particular man or that particular tree
are substances. Later in the text, Aristotle calls
these particulars primary substances, to distinguish them from secondary substances, which are
universals and can be predicated. Hence, Socrates
is a primary substance, while man is a secondary
substance. Man is predicated of Socrates, and
therefore all that is predicated of man is predicated
of Socrates.

153
Traditionally, this category is also called a habitus
(from Latin habere, to have).
9. Doing or action (, poiein, to make or do). The
production of change in some other object (or in the
agent itself qua other).
10. Being aected or aection (, paschein, to
suer or undergo). The reception of change from
some other object (or from the aected object itself
qua other). Aristotle's name paschein for this category has traditionally been translated into English as
aectionandpassion(alsopassivity), easily misinterpreted to refer only or mainly to aection
as an emotion or to emotional passion. For action he
gave the example, to lance, to cauterize; for
aection, to be lanced, to be cauterized. His
examples make clear that action is to aection as the
active voice is to the passive voice as acting is to
being acted on.

2. Quantity (, poson, how much). This is the


extension of an object, and may be either discrete or
continuous. Further, its parts may or may not have
relative positions to each other. All medieval discussions about the nature of the continuum, of the innite and the innitely divisible, are a long footnote
to this text. It is of great importance in the development of mathematical ideas in the medieval and
late Scholastic period. Examples: two cubits long,
The rst four are given a detailed treatment in four chapnumber, space, (length of) time.
ters, doing and being-aected are discussed briey in
3. Qualication or quality (, poion, of what kind a single small chapter, the remaining four are passed
or quality). This determination characterizes the na- over lightly, as being clear in themselves. Later texts by
ture of an object. Examples: white, black, gram- scholastic philosophers also reect this disparity of treatmatical, hot, sweet, curved, straight.
ment.

4. Relative or relation ( , pros ti, toward something). This is the way one object may be related
25.1.3 The postpraedicamenta* [7]
to another. Examples: double, half, large, master,
knowledge.
After discussing the categories, four ways are given in
5. Where or place (, pou, where). Position in rela- which things may be considered contrary to one another.
tion to the surrounding environment. Examples: in Next, the work discusses ve senses wherein a thing may
be considered prior to another, followed by a short section
a marketplace, in the Lyceum.
on simultaneity. Six forms of movement are then dened:
6. When or time (, pote, when). Position in rela- generation, destruction, increase, diminution, alteration,
tion to the course of events. Examples: yesterday, and change of place. The work ends with a brief considlast year.
eration of the word 'have' and its usage.
7. Being-in-a-position, posture, attitude (,
keisthai, to lie). The examples Aristotle gives indicate that he meant a condition of rest resulting from
an action: Lying, sitting, standing. Thus
position may be taken as the end point for the corresponding action. The term is, however, frequently
taken to mean the relative position of the parts of an
object (usually a living object), given that the position of the parts is inseparable from the state of rest
implied.
8. Having or state, condition (, echein, to have
or be). The examples Aristotle gives indicate that
he meant a condition of rest resulting from an affection (i.e. being acted on): shod, armed
. The term is, however, frequently taken to mean
the determination arising from the physical accoutrements of an object: one's shoes, one's arms, etc.

25.2 See also


Category of being
Categorization
Category (Kant)
Schema (Kant)
Categories (Stoic)
Category (disambiguation)
Simplicius of Cilicia

154

CHAPTER 25. CATEGORIES (ARISTOTLE)

25.3 Notes
[1] Smith, Robin 1995Logic. In J. Barnes (ed) The Cambridge companion to Aristotle, Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, p. 55.
[2] The forms of predication were called by the medieval
scholastic philosophers the antepraedicamenta.
[3] Note, however, that although Aristotle has apparently distinguished between being in a subject, and being
predicated truly of a subject, in the Prior Analytics these
are treated as synonymous. This has led some to suspect
that Aristotle was not the author of the Categories.
[4] Aristotle (1995)
[5] The Oxford Translation is universally recognized as the
standard English version of Aristotle. See the publisher
s blurb
[6] Note that while Aristotle's use of ousia is ambiguous between 'essence' and substance' there is a close link between
them. See his Metaphysics
[7] This part was probably not part of the original text, but
added by some unknown editor, Ackrill (1963) pp.69-70

25.4 References
Ackrill, John (1963). Aristotle, Categories and De
Interpretatione. Oxford: At the Clarendon Press.
Aristotle (1995). Categories. In Barnes,
Jonathan. The Complete Works of Aristotle, 2 vols.
Transl. J. L. Ackrill. Princeton: Princeton University Press. pp. 324.

25.5 External links


25.5.1

Text and translations

at Wikisource
Works related to Categories (Owen) at Wikisource
1930 Oxfordtranslation by E. M. Edghill
Classical Library HTML
MIT Classical Archive HTML
1963 translation by J. L. Ackrill, Chapters 1-5 PDF
Translation by Octavius Freire Owen, Librivox
(public domain) audiobook

25.5.2 Commentary
Aristotle's Theory of Categories with an extensive
bibliography
Aristotle's Categories entry by Paul Studtmann in
the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Chapter 26

Constitution of the Athenians


The Constitution of the Athenians (The Athenian constitution; Greek: Athenaion Politeia) is
the name given to two texts from Classical antiquity: one
probably by Aristotle or a student of his, the second attributed to Xenophon, but not thought to be his work. The
Aristotelian text is contained in two leaves of a papyrus
codex discovered at Oxyrhynchus, Egypt in 1879. The
other work was traditionally included among the shorter
works of Xenophon.

The Aristotelian Constitution of Athens, now in the British Library (Papyrus 131)

26.1 Aristotle

text in widest use today are Kenyon's Oxford Classical


Text of 1920 and the Teubner edition by Mortimer H.
Chambers (1986, second edition 1994). The papyrus text
is now held in the British Library.
Ancient accounts of Aristotle credit him with 170 Constitutions of various states; it is widely assumed that these
were research for the Politics, and that many of them were
written or drafted by his students. Athens, however, was a
particularly important state, and where Aristotle was living at the time, therefore it is plausible that, even if students composed the others, Aristotle had composed that
one himself as a model for the rest. On the other hand
a number of prominent scholars doubt that it was written
by Aristotle.* [3]
If it is a genuine writing of Aristotle, then it is of particular signicance, because it is the only one of his extant
writings that was actually intended for publication.
Because it purports to supply us with so much contemporary information previously unknown or unreliable, modern historians have claimed that the discovery of this
treatise constitutes almost a new epoch in Greek historical study.* [4] In particular, 2122, 26.24, and 3940
of the work contain factual information not found in any
other extant ancient text.* [5]

26.1.1 Synopsis
The Constitution of the Athenians (in ancient Greek , Athenaion Politeia) describes the political system of ancient Athens. The treatise was composed
between 330 and 322 BC. Some ancient authors, such as
A facsimile of the papyrus with the textConstitution of the Athe- Diogenes Lartius, state that Aristotle assigned his pupils
niansby Aristotle.
to prepare a monograph of 158 constitutions of Greek
cities, including a constitution of Athens.
The Aristotelian text is unique, because it is not a part of
the Corpus Aristotelicum. It was lost until two leaves of a The work consists of two parts. The rst part, from Chappapyrus codex carrying part of the text were discovered in ter I to Chapter XLI, deals with the dierent forms of the
Oxyrhynchus, Egypt in 1879 and published in 1880.* [1] constitution, from the trial of the Alcmaeonidae until 403
A second, more extensive papyrus text was purchased in BC. The second part describes the city's institutions, inEgypt by an American missionary in 1890. E. A. Wallis cluding the terms of access to citizenship, magistrates and
Budge of the British Museum acquired it later that year, the courts.
and the rst edition of it by Frederic G. Kenyon was pub- The text was published in 1891 by Frederic George
lished in January, 1891.* [2] The editions of the Greek Kenyon.
Shortly after a controversy arose over
155

156

CHAPTER 26. CONSTITUTION OF THE ATHENIANS

the authorship of the work that continues today.<ref the Knights;


name="Page text.* [6]
(iii) Demosthenes read that the Athenians thought themselves weak in the hoplite department, and so accepted
the challenge and instituted the Delium campaign; and

26.2 Pseudo-Xenophon

(iv) Brasidas read that long marches were not practical,


and so accepted the challenge and instituted the Thracian
Included in the shorter works of Xenophon is a hostile campaign.
treatise about the Athenian Constitution. The author,
who appears to be an Athenian, regards the Athenian
democracy as undesirable, as giving the mob undue voice
26.3 Notes
in the state; but he argues that it is well-designed for its
purpose, if you wanted so vile a thing to be done. The
[1] F. Blass, in Hermes 15 (1880:366-82); the text was identiauthor goes on to say that whilst 'the good', a description
ed as Aristotle's Athenaion Politeia by T. Bergk in 1881.
he uses to cover the rich and the aristocracy of Athens,
are better qualied to run the state due to their wealth [2] Peter John Rhodes. A Commentary on the Aristotelian
Athenaion Politeia (Oxford University Press), 1981, 1993:
and education, this would lead to 'the masses' being disintroduction, pp. 25.
enfranchised as the rich would naturally act in their own
interests, leading to the suppression of the lower classes.
[3] e.g., Rhodes, A Commentary on the Aristotelian Athenaion
The Athenian democracy allows the poor to exert their
Politeia.
inuence, in line with the thetes' crucial role in the Athe[4] J. Mitchell and M. Caspari (eds.), p. xxvii, A History of
nian Navy and therefore in Athens' aairs.
Greece: From the Time of Solon to 403 B.C., George
Grote, Routledge 2001.

26.2.1

Dating and authenticity

In the early 20th century, evidence against Xenophon's


authorship was presented, and has become the majority
view. The author is now usually called pseudo-Xenophon,
or the Old Oligarch, based on the anti-democratic tone of
the work. The style is not Xenophon's, who is remarkably
clear; this treatise is crabbed and inelegant.
The date of the treatise can only be estimated. The Old
Oligarch says that lengthy land expeditions cannot be supplied against a sea power; since Brasidas marched the
length of Greece in 424 BC, when Xenophon was about
ve, the Old Oligarch presumably wrote before that date.
On the other hand, he discusses the military advantages of
democracy at some length, and in listing the business of
the boule puts it rst; so it has been argued that he wrote
in wartime. There are plausible arguments that this was
in fact the Peloponnesian War; but G.W. Bowersock, the
editor of the Loeb text, is not convinced this is certain,
and argues for a date about 443 BC.
H.B. Mattingly argues, in view of the apparent relevance
of the text to the showdown between democracy and oligarchy which resulted in the oligarchic coup of 411, that
the treatise was written no earlier than 414.
W.G. Forrest used to quote (although he did not agree
with) H.T. Wade-Gery's idea about the date of the Old
Oligarch's treatise, which was that it was written and circulated in winter 425, because:
(i) Cleon read in it that poneroi [rascally persons] could
not be generals, and so accepted the challenged and got
elected;
(ii) Aristophanes read that comic poets did not make fun
of the demos, and so accepted the challenge and wrote

[5] Rhodes, 1981, pp. 2930.


[6] , introduction la Constitution d'Athnes, Le Livre de
Poche, n4688, p. 14 et seq..

26.4 External links

The Athenian Constitution at Project Gutenberg


Aristotelian Text, trans.
(HTML at Perseus)

by Horace Rackham

Aristotelian Text, trans. by Frederic G. Kenyon


Aristotelian Text, trans. by Frederic G. Kenyon, alternate presentation
Pseudo-Xenophon, translated by E. G. Marchant
The Athenian Constitution by Aristotle (translated by
Sir Frederic G. Kenyon)
P. J. Rhodes' 1981 Commentary on the Aristotelian
Athenaion Politeia at Google Books.
Public domain audiobook version of The Athenian
Constitution (translated by Sir Frederic G. Kenyon)

Chapter 27

De Interpretatione
De Interpretatione or On Interpretation (Greek:
, Peri Hermeneias) is the second text from
Aristotle's Organon and is among the earliest surviving
philosophical works in the Western tradition to deal with
the relationship between language and logic in a comprehensive, explicit, and formal way. The work is usually
known by its Latin title.

'cat' and the French word 'chat' are dierent symbols, but
the mental experience they stand for the concept of a
cat is the same for English speakers and French speakers). Nouns and verbs on their own do not involve truth
or falsity.

Chapter 2. A noun signies the subject by convention,


but without reference to time (i.e. 'Caesar' signies the
The work begins by analyzing simple categoric propo- same now, two thousand years after his death, as it did in
sitions, and draws a series of basic conclusions on the Roman times).
routine issues of classifying and dening basic linguis- Chapter 3. A verb carries with it the notion of time. 'He
tic forms, such as simple terms and propositions, nouns was healthy' and 'he will be healthy' are tenses of a verb.
and verbs, negation, the quantity of simple propositions An untensed verb indicates the present, the tenses of a
(primitive roots of the quantiers in modern symbolic verb indicate times outside the present.
logic), investigations on the excluded middle (what to
Aristotle is not applicable to future tense propositions Chapter 4. The sentence is an expression whose parts
the problem of future contingents), and on modal propo- have meaning. The word 'man' signies something, but
is not a sentence. Only when words are added to it do we
sitions.
have armation and negation.
The rst ve chapters deal with the terms that form
propositions. Chapters 6 and 7 deal with the relation- Chapter 5. Every simple proposition contains a verb. A
ship between armative, negative, universal and partic- simple proposition indicates a single fact, and the conular propositions. These relationships are the basis of the junction of its parts gives a unity. A complex proposition
well-known Square of opposition. The distinction be- is several propositions compounded together.
tween universal and particular propositions is the basis Chapter 6. An armation is an assertion of something, a
of modern quantication theory. The last three chapters denial an assertion denying something of something. (For
deal with modalities. Chapter 9 is famous for the dis- example, 'a man is an animal' asserts 'animal' of 'man'. 'A
cussion of the sea-battle. (If it is true that there will be a stone is not an animal' denies 'animal' of stone').
sea-battle tomorrow, then it is true today that there will be
a sea-battle. Thus a sea-battle is apparently unavoidable, Chapter 7. Terms. Some terms are universal. A universal
and thus necessary. Another interpretation would be: that term is capable of being asserted of several subjects (for
we can not know that which has not yet come to pass. In example 'moon' even though the Earth has one moon,
other words: if there is a sea battle tomorrow then it is it may have had more, and the noun 'moon' could have
true today that tomorrow there will be a sea battle. So, been said of them in exactly the same sense). Other terms
only if we can know whether or not there will be a sea are individual. An individual or singular term ('Plato')
battle tomorrow then can we know if there will be a sea is not predicated (in the same) sense of more than one
individual.
battle).
A universal armative proposition, such as, 'Every man
is white' and a universal negative proposition having the
same subject and predicate, such as, 'No man is white,'
27.1 Contents
are called contrary. A universal armative proposition (
Every man is white) and the non-universal denial of
Chapter 1. Aristotle denes words as symbols of 'aec- that proposition in a way (Some man is not white)
tions of the soul' or mental experiences. Spoken and writ- are called contradictories. Of contradictories, one must
ten symbols dier between languages, but the mental ex- be true, the other false. Contraries cannot both be true,
periences are the same for all (so that the English word although they can both be false, and hence their contra157

158

CHAPTER 27. DE INTERPRETATIONE

dictories are both true (for example, both, 'Every man is


honest,' and 'No man is honest,' are false. But their contradictories, 'Some men are not honest,' and, 'Some men
are honest,' are both true.

guage. The study of the four propositions constituting the


square is found in Chapter 7 and its appendix Chapter 8.
Most important also is the immediately following Chapter 9 dealing with the problem of future contingents. This
Chapter 8. An armation is single, if it expresses a single chapter and the subsequent ones are at the origin of modal
fact. For example 'every man is white'. However, if a logic.
word has two meanings, for example if the word 'garment'
meant 'a man and a horse', then 'garment is white' would
not be a single armation, for it would mean 'a man and 27.3 Translations
a horse are white', which is equivalent to the two simple
propositions 'a man is white and a horse is white'.
Aristotle's original Greek text, (Peri
Chapter 9. Of contradictory propositions about the past Hermeneias) was translated into the LatinDe Interpretaand present, one must be true, the other false. But when tioneby Marius Victorinus, at Rome, in the 4th century.
the subject is individual, and the proposition is future, this Another translation was completed by Boethius in the 6th
is not the case. For if so, nothing takes place by chance. century, c. 510/512.
For either the future proposition such as, 'A sea battle will
take place,' corresponds with future reality, or its negation
does, in which case the sea battle will take place with ne- 27.4 See also
cessity, or not take place with necessity. But in reality,
such an event might just as easily not happen as happen;
Hermeneutics
the meaning of the word 'by chance' with regard to future
events is that reality is so constituted that it may issue in
Interpretation
either of two opposite possibilities. This is known as the
Semiosis
problem of future contingents.
Chapter 10. Aristotle enumerates the armations and
denials that can be assigned when 'indenite' terms such
as 'unjust' are included. He makes a distinction that was
to become important later, between the use of the verb
'is' as a mere copula or 'third element', as in the sentence
'a man is wise', and as a predicate signifying existence, as
in 'a man is [i.e. exists]'.
Chapter 11.
Chapter 12.
Chapter 13.
Chapter 14.

27.2 Square of opposition (logical


square) and modal logic
The logical square, also called square of opposition or
square of Apuleius has its origin in the four marked sentences to be employed in syllogistic reasoning: Every man
is white, the universal armative and its negation Not every man is white (or Some men are not white), the particular negative on the one hand, Some men are white, the
particular armative and its negation No man is white,
the universal negative on the other. Robert Blanch published with Vrin his Structures intellectuelles in 1966 and
since then many scholars think that the logical square
or square of opposition representing four values should
be replaced by the logical hexagon which by representing six values is a more potent gure because it has the
power to explain more things about logic and natural lan-

Semiotics
Sign
Sign relation

27.5 Further reading


Hans Arens (ed.), Aristotle's Theory of Language
and Its Tradition. Texts from 500 to 1750, Amsterdam: Benjamins, 1984.
Deborah Modrak, Aristotle's Theory of Language
and Meaning, Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2001.
Jean-Franois Monteil, La transmission dAristote
par les Arabes la chrtient occidentale: une trouvaille relative au De Interpretatione, Revista Espaola de Filosoa Medieval 11: 181195
Jean-Franois Monteil, Isidor Pollak et les deux traductions arabes direntes du De interpretatione d
Aristote, Revue dtudes Anciennes 107: 2946
(2005).
Jean-Franois Monteil, Une exception allemande: la
traduction du De Interpretatione par le Professeur
Gohlke: la note 10 sur les indtermines dAristote,
Revues de tudes Anciennes 103: 409427 (2001).
C. W. A. Whitaker, Aristotle's De interpretatione.
Contradiction and Dialectic, Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1996.

27.6. EXTERNAL LINKS

27.6 External links


Works related to De Interpretatione at Wikisource
Text of On Interpretation, as translated by E. M.
Edghill
Aristotle's De Interpretatione: Semantics and Philosophy of Language with an extensive bibliography
of recent studies
The Master Argument: The Sea Battle in De Intepretatione 9, Diodorus Cronus, Philo the Dialectician with a bibliography on Diodorus and the problem of future contingents
Sea Battle Hub, a tutorial introduction to the discussion of the truth status of future events from De
Interpretatione 9.
Audiobook of On Interpretation, as translated by Octavius Owen (Public Domain).
Jules Vuillemin, "Le chapitre IX du De Interpretatione d'Aristote Vers une rhabilitation de
l'opinion comme connaissance probable des choses
contingentes, in Philosophiques, vol. X, n1, April
1983 (French)

159

Chapter 28

Economics (Aristotle)
This article is about the treatise sometimes said to be writ- 28.1 Introduction
ten by Aristotle. For the similarly named Socratic dialogue by Xenophon, see Oeconomicus.
The title of this piece is derived from the Greek word
The Economics (Greek: ; Latin: Oeconomi- oikos meaning household. However it is still based
on the origin of economics that is commonly known today. This term refers to household management and how
the roles have been created that members of the household should have. In a broad sense the household is the
beginning to economics as a whole. The natural, every day activities of maintaining a house is essential to
the beginning of the economy. From farming, cleaning,
cooking to hiring workers and guarding your property the
household becomes the center for modern understanding
of a society. In this text, the two books explore the true
meaning of economics, while showing that there are many
dierent aspects of it.

28.2 Book I
Book I is broken down to six chapters that begin to give
background of what economics is. The text starts out describing that economics and politics dier in two major
ways. One, from the subjects which they deal with and
two, the number of rulers involved. Like an owner of a
house, there is only one ruling being in the economy while
politics involve many rulers. The one thing that both of
the sciences have in common is they both have a household or city and are trying to make the best use of what
they have to thrive.

Book cover of an edition of Oikonomikos from 1830.

A household is made up of man and property. Next the


use of agriculture on a man
s land is the most natural form
to make a good use for this property. In respect to the
man and the household, the man should next nd a wife.
Following, children should come next because they will
be able to take care of the household as the man becomes
old. These are known as the subject matters to economics.

The subject of the duties of a wife is the next important


issue that is portrayed. A wife should be treated with respect by a man and she will help him bring about chilca) is a work that has been ascribed to Aristotle. It is usu- dren. A man has to be modest of the sexual encounters
ally attributed, by modern scholars, to a student of Aris- with his wife and not dwell on sexual experiences. The
totle, or to a student of his successor Theophrastus.* [1]
wife should be nurturing and attend to the quiet aspects
160

28.4. SEE ALSO


of the household. Her duties should remain on keeping
up the inner part of the household. The male should have
a set of laws instilled in him on never doing wrong to his
wife.
Next, the male involved in his agriculture will need slaves
to help him perform his duties. A slave should be treated
with food for his work but, well disciplined. It is his duty
of a man however to oversee every aspect of his land for
this is his. The quality of his land should never be left
to others alone because naturally people do not respect a
man
s property as he does. In the light of a true economist
a man needs to represent four qualities in the relation of
wealth. Acquisition of land and guarding it are key factors
to maintain wealth. He needs to use his property wisely
to have things he can sell to produce actual wealth from
his land.
Behind this rst book, Aristotle
s work shows the preface
of getting into the basic formation of an economy. With
every man performing these duties a system will emerge
of buying and selling other properties and maintaining a
happy life style instilled in a civilization. With these basic guidelines man can accumulate wealth and stimulate
a form of economy.

28.3 Book II
The second book begins with the idea of there being
four dierent types of economies. The four consist of
the Royal Economy, the Satrapic Economy, the Political Economy, and the Personal Economy. Aristotle states
that he who intends to participate in the economy needs
to know every characteristic of the part of economy they
are involved in to be successful and make the economy
work as whole.
All the economies have one specic thing in common. No
matter what is done, expenditures cannot exceed income.
Aristotle saw this as an important issue, a fundamental to
the notion ofeconomy.The rest of Aristotles second
book involves historical events that created very important ways in which an economy began to function more
eciently and where certain terms arose from that we use
today. The main aspect is the ow of money through any
economy and certain events. War, and more specically
overall protection of countries is where many aspects of
loans, debt, increase taxes, and intriguing investments became important. In times of war an increase of money
to pay for the war was needed. So, places like Athens
needed to either borrow money from other places or be
given men (mercenaries) at specic nancial deals. Other
events like paying for sea explorations and schooling also
increased the dierent types of money exchanges further
stimulating economies. In all, Aristotles book on economy shows an idea of what actually was going on in his
economy from the macro levels all the way down to many
specic micro levels in which still stand to be relevant to-

161
day.
The third book is only known from Latin versions, not
Greek, and deals with the relationship between husband
and wife.

28.4 See also


Politics (Aristotle)
Oeconomicus by Xenophon

28.5 Notes
[1] Pomeroy, Sarah B. (1995). Oeconomicus: A Social and
Historical Commentary, p. 68. Oxford University Press.
Preview. ISBN 0-19-815025-3.

28.6 References
Armstrong, G Cyril,Introduction to Oeconomica
, Aristotle XVIII, Loeb Classical Library

28.7 External links


Scanned version of Economics translated by Edward
Seymour Forster (Internet Archive)
LibriVox human read Audiobook version of Economics translated by Edward Seymour Forster (Internet Archive)

Chapter 29

Eudemian Ethics
The Eudemian Ethics (Greek: ; Latin:
Ethica Eudemia* [1]), sometimes abbreviated EE in
scholarly works, is a work of philosophy by Aristotle. Its
primary focus is on Ethics, making it one of the primary
sources available for study of Aristotelian Ethics. It is
named for Eudemus of Rhodes, a pupil of Aristotle who
may also have had a hand in editing the nal work.* [2]
It is commonly believed to have been written before the
Nicomachean Ethics, though this is not without controversy.* [2]* [3]
The Eudemian Ethics usually receives less attention than
Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, and when scholars refer simply to The Ethics of Aristotle, they usually mean
the latter. The Eudemian Ethics is shorter than the Nicomachean Ethics, eight books as opposed to ten, and some
of its most interesting passages are mirrored in the latter.
Books IV, V, and VI of the Eudemian Ethics, for example,
are identical to Books V, VI, and VII of the Nicomachean
Ethics, and as a result some critical editions of the former
include only Books IIII and VIIVIII (the omitted books
being included in the publisher's critical edition of the latter).
The translator for the Loeb edition, Harris Rackham,
states in the Introduction to that edition that in some
places The Eudemian Ethics is fuller in expression or more
discursive than The Nicomachean Ethics.Compared to
the Nicomachean Ethics, Rackham mentions, for example
in Book III, which discusses the virtues and some minor
graces of character:

length and detail in the Nicomachean Ethics than it is here.


Book VIII discusses the epistemological aspect of virtue,
which as Rackham notes is treated in Book I section 9 of
Nicomachean Ethics, and also discusses good luck. Then
there is a section concerning kalokagathia, the beautiful
and good nobility of a gentleman, a virtue which implies
all the moral virtues as well as good fortune. This has no
parallel in the Nicomachean Ethics. And then nally there
is some discussion of speculative wisdom or "theoria".

29.1 Notes
[1] Aristotelis Opera by August Immanuel Bekker (1837)
[2] Rackham,Introduction, The Eudemian Ethics, Harvard
University Press
[3] p. xii, M. Woods, Aristotle's Eudemian Ethics: Books I, II,
and VIII, Clarendon Press 1982.

29.2 External links

Itinserts the virtue of Mildness between Temperance and Liberality. Temperance is discussed at
the end of Book III of the Nicomachean Ethics, and
Liberality immediately afterwards in the beginning
of Book IV.
Itadds to the minor Graces of Character Nemesis
(righteous indignation at another's undeserved good
or bad fortune), Friendliness and Dignity, while it
omits Gentleness and Agreeableness. The Nicomachean Ethics actually states in Book II that Nemesis will be discussed within that work, but never does
so.
Book VII is concerning friendship, discussed in greater
162

Works related to Eudemian Ethics at Wikisource


Aristotle's Eudemian Ethics by the Perseus Project
Ethica Eudemiatranslated by J. Solomon (Internet
Archive, 1915)
Eudemian Ethics audio book translated by J.
Solomon (Librivox)

Chapter 30

Generation of Animals
The Generation of Animals (or On the Generation of Animals; Greek ; Latin De Generatione Animalium) is a text by Aristotle.

30.1 Arabic translation


The Arabic translation of De Generatione Animalium
comprises treatises 15-19 of the Kitb al-Hayawn (The
Book of Animals).

30.2 See also


Historiae animalium

30.3 External links


Works related to On the Generation of Animals at
Wikisource
On the Generation of Animals, translated by Arthur
Platt
at Univ. of Virginia
at Adelaide (eText / eBook)
at Greek Texts
De Generatione Animalium, English translation by Arthur Platt (Internet Archive)

163

Chapter 31

History of Animals

Historia animalium et al., Costantinople, XII sec. (Biblioteca


Medicea Laurenziana, pluteo 87.4)

Aristotle spent many years at Plato's academy in Athens. Mosaic,


1st century, Pompeii

History of Animals (Greek:


Inquiries on Animals"; Latin: Historia Animlium
History of Animals) is a natural history text by the
Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, who had studied at
Plato's Academy in Athens. It was written in the fourth
century BC; Aristotle died in 322 BC.
Generally seen as a pioneering work of zoology, Aristotle
frames his text by explaining that he is investigating the
what, the existing facts about animals, prior to establishing the why, their causes. The book is thus an attempt to
apply philosophy to part of the natural world. His method
is to identify dierences, both between individuals and
between groups. A group is established when it is seen
that all members have the same set of distinguishing features; for example the birds all have feathers, wings, and
beaks. This relationship between the birds and their features is identied as a universal.
The History of Animals had a powerful inuence on zoology for some two thousand years. It continued to be a
primary source of knowledge until in the sixteenth century zoologists including Conrad Gessner, all inuenced
by Aristotle, wrote their own studies of the subject.

31.1 Context
Aristotle (384322 BC) studied at Plato's Academy in
Athens, remaining there for some 17 years. Like Plato,
he sought universals in his philosophy, but unlike Plato he
backed up his views with detailed observation, notably of
the natural history of the island of Lesbos and the marine
life in the seas around it. This study made him the earliest
natural historian whose written work survives. No similarly detailed work on zoology was attempted until the
sixteenth century; accordingly Aristotle remained highly
inuential for some two thousand years. His writings on
zoology form about a quarter of his surviving work.* [1]

31.2 Approach
In the History of Animals, Aristotle sets out to investigate
the existing facts (Greekhoti, what), prior to establishing their causes (Greekdioti, why).* [1]* [2] The book
is thus a defence of his method of investigating zoology.
Aristotle investigates four types of dierences between

164

31.5. INFLUENCE

165

animals: dierences in particular body parts (Books I


to IV); dierences in ways of life and types of activity
(Books V, VI, VII and IX); and dierences in specic
characters (Book VIII).* [1]

A French translation was made by J. Barthlemy-Saint


Hilaire in 1883.* [6] Another translation into French was
made by J. Tricot in 1957, following D'Arcy Thompson's
interpretation.* [7]

To illustrate the philosophical method, consider one


grouping of many kinds of animal, 'birds': all members
of this group possess the same distinguishing features
feathers, wings, beaks, and two bony legs. This is an instance of a universal: if something is a bird, it will have
feathers and wings; if something has feathers and wings,
that also implies it is a bird, so the reasoning here is bidirectional. On the other hand, some animals that have red
blood have lungs; other red-blooded animals (such as sh)
have gills. Here one can rightly conclude that if something has lungs, it has red blood; but Aristotle is careful
not to imply that all red-blooded animals have lungs, so
the reasoning here is not bidirectional.* [1]

A German translation of books IVIII was made by Anton Karsch, starting in 1866.* [8] A translation of all
ten books into German was made by Paul Gohlke in
1949.* [9]

31.3 Organisation
Book I The grouping of animals and the parts of the human body.
Book II The dierent parts of red-blooded animals.
Book III The internal organs, including generative system, veins, sinews, bone etc.
Book IV Animals without blood (non-vertebrates)
cephalopods, crustaceans, etc. In chapter 8, the sense organs of all animals.
Book V Reproduction, spontaneous and sexual of nonvertebrates.
Book VI Reproduction of birds, sh and quadrupeds.
Book VII Reproduction of man.
Book VIII The character and habits of animals, food,
migration, health, diseases and the inuence of climate.

31.5 Inuence
The comparative anatomist Richard Owen said in 1837
that Zoological Science sprang from [Aristotle's]
labours, we may almost say, like Minerva from the Head
of Jove, in a state of noble and splendid maturity.* [10]
Ben Waggoner of the University of California Museum
of Paleontology wrote that
Though Aristotle's work in zoology was not
without errors, it was the grandest biological
synthesis of the time, and remained the ultimate authority for many centuries after his
death. His observations on the anatomy of octopus, cuttlesh, crustaceans, and many other
marine invertebrates are remarkably accurate,
and could only have been made from rsthand experience with dissection. Aristotle described the embryological development of a
chick; he distinguished whales and dolphins
from sh; he described the chambered stomachs of ruminants and the social organization
of bees; he noticed that some sharks give birth
to live young his books on animals are lled
with such observations, some of which were
not conrmed until many centuries later.* [11]

Book IX The relations of animals to each other, means Walter Pagel comments that Aristotle perceptibly inof procuring food.
uencedthe founders of modern zoology, the Swiss
A Book X is included in some versions, dealing with the Conrad Gessner with his Historiae animalium, the Italian
causes of barrenness in women, but is generally regarded Ulisse Aldrovandi, the French Guillaume Rondelet and
as not being by Aristotle. In the preface to his translation, the Dutch Volcher Coiter, while his methods of looking
D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson calls it spurious beyond at time series and making use of comparative anatomy
assisted the Englishman William Harvey in his work on
question.* [3]
embryology.* [12]

31.4 Translations
The Arabic translation comprises treatises 110 of the
Kitb al-Hayawn (The Book of Animals). It was known
to the Arab philosopher Al-Kind (d. 850) and was commented on by Avicenna.
English translations were made by Richard Cresswell
in 1862* [4] and by the zoologist D'Arcy Wentworth
Thompson in 1910.* [5]

31.6 References
[1] Lennox, James (27 July 2011). Aristotle's Biology.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford University.
Retrieved 28 November 2014.
[2] History of Animals, I, 6.
[3] Thompson, 1910, page iv

166

[4] Cresswell, Richard. A History of Animals.


Henry G. Bohn, 1862.

CHAPTER 31. HISTORY OF ANIMALS

London:

[5] Thompson, D'Arcy Wentworth. A History of Animals.


Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1910.
[6] Barthlemy-Saint Hilaire.
J. Histoire des Animaux
D'Aristote (3 volumes). Paris: Librairie Hachette, 1883.
[7] Tricot, J. Histoire des Animaux. Paris, 1957.
[8] Karsch, Anton. Natur-geschichte der Thiere.
Bcher. Stuttgart. Vol 1, 1866. Vols 2 and 3, n.d.

Zehn

[9] Gohlke, Paul. Tierkunde, being section VIII.1 of Die


Lehrschriften. Paderborn, 1949. 2nd Edition 1957.
[10] Owen, Richard (1992). Sloan, Phillip Reid, ed. The
Hunterian Lectures in Comparative Anatomy (May and
June 1837). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p.
91.
[11] Waggoner, Ben (9 June 1996). Aristotle (384-322
B.C.E.)". University of California Museum of Paleontology. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
[12] Walter Pagel (1967). William Harvey's Biological Ideas:
Selected Aspects and Historical Background. Karger Medical and Scientic Publishers. p. 335. ISBN 978-3-80550962-6.

31.7 External links


English translation by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1910. Adelaide library Archive.org
English translation by Richard Cresswell. London:
Henry G. Bohn, 1862.
Complete Works of Aristotle, Volume 1: Revised
Oxford Translation. Edited by Jonathan Barnes.
Princeton University Press, 1984.

Chapter 32

Magna Moralia
The Magna Moralia (Latin, Great Ethics) is a treatise on ethics traditionally attributed to Aristotle, though
the consensus now is that it represents an epitome of
his ethical thought by a later, if sympathetic, writer.
Several scholars have disagreed with this, taking the
Magna Moralia to be an authentic work by Aristotle, notably Friedrich Schleiermacher, Hans von Arnim, and
J. L. Ackrill. In any case, it is considered a less mature piece than Aristotle's other ethical works, viz. the
Nicomachean Ethics, the Eudemian Ethics, and Virtues
and Vices. There is some debate as to whether they follow
more closely the Eudemian or the Nicomachean version
of the Ethics.
The name "Magna Moralia" cannot be traced further
back in time than the reign of Marcus Aurelius. Henry
Jackson suggested that the work acquired its name from
the fact that the two rolls into which it is divided would
have loomed large on the shelf in comparison to the eight
rolls of the Eudemian Ethics, even though the latter are
twice as long.* [1] The title has been translated to Greek
as " .* [2]

Harvard University Press hardcover edition (with


the Metaphysics), ISBN 0-674-99317-9
Magna Moraliatranslated by St. George Stock
(Internet Archive, 1915)
Audiobook Version ofMagna Moraliatranslated
by St. George Stock (Librivox)

32.3 Commentaries
Magna Moralia. bersetzt und erlutert von Franz
Dirlmeier, Berlin 1958. ISBN 3-05-001193-9

32.4 External links

Saint Gregory's Commentary on Job is sometimes also referred to by the title Magna Moralia.

32.1 References
[1] G. Cyril Armstrong, Introduction to theMagna Moralia
in Aristotle, Metaphysics X-XIV, Oeconomica, and Magna
Moralia, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1947), 4278.
[2] Pietro Tomasi, Una nuova lettura dell'Aristotele di Franz
Brentano alla luce di alcuni inediti, Editrice UNI Service,
2009, p. 55.

32.2 Editions
Losada (Spanish) paperback edition, ISBN 950-039305-0
trans. Taylor (1911), ISBN 0-7661-8801-9
167

Greek Wikisource has original text related to this


article:

Chapter 33

Mechanics (Aristotle)
Mechanics (or Mechanica or Mechanical Problems;
Greek: ) is a text traditionally attributed to
Aristotle, though his authorship of it is disputed. Thomas
Winter has suggested that the author was Archytas.* [1]
However, Coxhead says that it is only possible to conclude that the author was one of the Peripatetics.* [2]
During the Renaissance, an edition of this work was published by Francesco Maurolico.

33.1 See also


Aristotle's wheel paradox

33.2 Notes
[1] Thomas Nelson Winter, "The Mechanical Problems in
the Corpus of Aristotle,DigitalCommons@University of
Nebraska - Lincoln, 2007.
[2] Coxhead, Michael A. (2012). A close examination of
the pseudo-Aristotelian Mechanical Problems: The homology between mechanics and poetry as techne. Studies
in History and Philosophy of Science 43: 300306.

33.3 External links


Greek Wikisource has original text related to this
article:
Pseudo-Aristotle, Mechanica - Greek text and English translation

168

Chapter 34

Meteorology (Aristotle)
Renaissance.* [3]

34.1 Physics
"...the motion of these latter bodies [of four] being of two kinds: either from the centre or to the
centre. (339a14-15)

So we must treat re and earth and the elements like them as the material causes of the
events in this world (meaning by material what
is subject and is aected), but must assign
causality in the sense of the originating principle of motion to the inuence of the eternally
moving bodies. (339a27-32)
This is a reference to the unmoved movers, a teleological
explanation.

34.2 Four elements


"...four bodies are re, air, water, earth.
(339a15-16)
Meteorologica

Fire occupies the highest place among them all,


earth the lowest, and two elements correspond to
these in their relation to one another, air being
nearest to re, water to earth. (339a16-19)

Meteorology (Greek: ; Latin: Meteorologica or Meteora) is a treatise by Aristotle which contains


his theories about the earth sciences. These include early
Fire, air, water, earth, we assert, originate
accounts of water evaporation, weather phenomena, and
from one another, and each of them exists poearthquakes. An Arabic compendium of the text called
tentially in each, as all things do that can be reAl'thaar Al'ulwiyyah (Arabic: ) made c. 800
solved into a common and ultimate substrate.
CE by the Antiochene scholar Yahya ibn al-Bitriq and
(339a36-b2)
widely circulated among Muslim scholars,* [1] was translated into Latin by Gerard of Cremona in the 12th century All terrestrial matter consists of these four elements. Varand by this means during the Twelfth-century Renais- ious ratios of the elements combine to create the diverse
sance entered the Western European world of medieval materials found in nature.
scholaticism.* [2] Gerard'sold translation(vetus translatio) was superseded by an improved text by William of
Moerbeke, the nova translatio, which was widely read, as
it survives in numerous manuscripts; it received commen- 34.3 Atmosphere
tary by Thomas Aquinas and was often printed during the
169

170

CHAPTER 34. METEOROLOGY (ARISTOTLE)

34.3.1

Water vapor

Some of the vapour that is formed by day does


not rise high because the ratio of the re that
is raising it to the water that is being raised is
small. (347a13-15)
Both dew and hoar-frost are found when the
sky is clear and there is no wind. For the vapour
could not be raised unless the sky were clear,
and if a wind were blowing it could not condense. (347a26-28)
"...hoar-frost is not found on mountains contributes to prove that these phenomena occur because the vapour does not rise high. One reason
for this is that it rises from hollow and watery
places, so that the heat that is raising it, bearing as it were too heavy a burden cannot lift
it to a great height but soon lets it fall again.
(347a29-34)

34.3.2

Weather

When there is a great quantity of exhalation


and it is rare and is squeezed out in the cloud
itself we get a thunderbolt. (371a17-19)
So the whirlwind originates in the failure of an
incipient hurricane to escape from its cloud: it is
due to the resistance which generates the eddy,
and it consists in the spiral which descends to
the earth and drags with it the cloud which it
cannot shake o. It moves things by its wind in
the direction in which it is blowing in a straight
line, and whirls round by its circular motion and
forcibly snatches up whatever it meets.(371a915)
Aristotle describes the properties of tornadoes and
lightning.

34.4 Geology
So it is clear, since there will be no end to time
and the world is eternal, that neither the Tanais
nor the Nile has always been owing, but that
the region whence they ow was once dry: for
their eect may be fullled, but time cannot.
And this will be equally true of all other rivers.
But if rivers come into existence and perish and
the same parts of the earth were not always
moist, the sea must needs change correspondingly. And if the sea is always advancing in one
place and receding in another it is clear that the
same parts of the whole earth are not always
either sea or land, but that all this changes in
course of time.. " (353a14-24)

34.5 Geography
To judge from what is known from journeys by
sea and land, the length [of the inhabited earth]
is much greather than the width; indeed the distance from the pillars of Heracles [at Cadiz] to
India exceeds that from Aethiopia [Sudan] to
Lake Maeotis [Sea of Azov] and the farthest
part of Scythia is the proportion of more than
ve to three (362b19-23)

34.6 Hydrology
The Red Sea, for instance, communicates but
slightly with the ocean outside the straits,...
(354a1-3)
The whole of the Mediterranean does actually
ow. The direction of this ow is determined
by the depth of the basins and by the number of rivers. Maeotis ows into Pontus and
Pontus into the Aegean. After that the ow of
the remaining seas is not so easy to observe.
(354a11-14)

34.7 Spherical Earth


The earth is surrounded by water, just as that
is by the sphere of air, and that again by the
sphere called that of re. (354b23-25)
Aristotle is describing a spherical lithosphere (Earth), hydrosphere (water) and atmosphere (air and re).

34.8 Notes
[1] It was the basis for the early thirteenth-century Hebrew translation made by Samuel ben Judah ibn Tibbon
(Schoonheim 2000).
[2] Translations of both texts are in Peter L. Schoonheim,
Aristotle's Meteorology in the Arabico-Latin Tradition,
(Leiden: brill) 2000.
[3] A copy of Meteorologicorum libri quatuor, edited by
Joachim Prion with corrections by Nicolas de Grouchy
(Paris, 1571) exists in the Morgan Library (New York),
the Cambridge University Library, the Bibliotheek Universiteit Leiden and the Tom Slick rare book collections
of the Southwest Research Institute library (San Antonio,
Texas), and other libraries.

34.9 See also


Bekker numbers

34.10. EXTERNAL LINKS


Classical compass winds
Timeline of meteorology
History of science

34.10 External links


Greek Wikisource has original text related to this
article:
Meteorology, translated by E. W. Webster (Alternate
at mit.edu)
Meteorologica, translated by E.W. Webster (Internet Archive, 1931)
Modern aspects of Aristotle's Meteorology

171

Chapter 35

Movement of Animals
De motu animaliumredirects here. For other uses,
see De motu animalium (disambiguation).
Movement of Animals (or On the Motion of Animals;
Greek ; Latin De Motu Animalium)
is a text by Aristotle on the general principles of motion
in animals.

35.1 External links


Works related to On the Movement of Animals at
Wikisource
On the Motion of Animals, translated by A. S. L. Farquharson
De Motu and De Incessu Animalium, translated by
A. S. L. Farquharson (Internet Archive)

172

Chapter 36

On Breath
On Breath (Greek: , Latin: De spiritu)
is a philosophical treatise included in the Corpus Aristotelicum but usually regarded as spurious. Its opening sentence raises the question: What is the mode of
growth, and the mode of maintenance, of the natural (or
'connate': emphutos) vital spirit (pneuma)?"

Daniel Furlanus, Theophrasti Eresii, Peripateticorum


post Aristotelem principis pleraque... (Greek text
with Latin translation and commentary), Hanover,
1605 (available online).

36.1 Authorship

Abraham P. Bos and Rein Ferwerda, Aristotle, On


the Life-Bearing Spirit (De Spiritu): A Discussion
with Plato and his Predecessors on Pneuma as the
Instrumental Body of the Soul (with English translation and commentary), Leiden: Brill, 2008.

Among the ancient catalogues of Aristotle's works, a


work On Breath (but in three books, not one) is listed
only by Ptolemy-el-Garib, and Pliny the Elder (N.H.
XI.220) and Galen (De simpl. med. temp. et fac. V.9)
are the rst authors who appear to make reference to
the treatise we possess.* [1] In modern times, its authenticity has been virtually unanimously rejected, although
most or all of it has been acknowledged to be an early
work of the Peripatetic school, possibly connected with
Theophrastus, Strato of Lampsacus, or Erasistratus, and
shedding light on Hellenistic medicine.* [2] In 2008, however, Bos and Ferwerda published a commentary in which
they maintain that On Breath is a genuine work of Aristotle whose doctrines respond to those of Plato's Timaeus
and constitute an important part of Aristotle's philosophy
of nature.

Amneris Roselli, [Aristotele]: De spiritu (Greek text


with Italian translation and commentary), Pisa: ETS
Editrice, 1992.

36.5 External links

36.2 See also


On Youth, Old Age, Life and Death, and Respiration

36.3 Notes
[1] Roselli, p. 13
[2] Roselli, pp. 17. with nn. 1720

36.4 References
Commentaries
173

English translation: J. F. Dobson's 1914 Oxford


translation bound with De Mundo, pp. 32 .
(archive.org)
Greek text: Werner Jaeger's 1913 Teubner text
available in HTML format via Greco interattivo

Chapter 37

On Colors
On Colors (Greek , Latin De Coloribus)
is a treatise attributed to Aristotle but sometimes ascribed
to Theophrastus or Strato. The work outlines the theory
that all colors (yellow, red, purple, green, and blue) are
derived from mixtures of black and white. On colors had
a pronounced impact on subsequent color theories and remained inuential until Isaac Newton's experiments with
light refraction.

37.1 See also


Corpus Aristotelicum

174

Chapter 38

On Divination in Sleep
On Divination in Sleep (or On Prophesying by Dreams;
Greek: ; Latin: De divinatione per somnum) is a text by Aristotle in which he
discusses precognitive dreams.
The treatise, one of the Parva Naturalia, is an early inquiry (perhaps the rst formal one) into this phenomenon.
In his skeptical consideration of such dreams, Aristotle
argues that, although the sender of such dreams should
be God,it is nonetheless the casethat those to whom he
sends them are not the best and wisest, but merely commonplace persons(i, 462b20-22). Thus, Most [socalled prophetic] dreams are, however, to be classed as
mere coincidences(i, 463a31-b1).

38.1 External links


Works related to On Prophesying by Dreams at
Wikisource
English translation by J. I. Beare
Greek text ed. W. D. Ross available in HTML format via Greco interattivo

175

Chapter 39

On Dreams
For the book by Sigmund Freud, see The Interpretation
of Dreams.
On Dreams (Ancient Greek: , Latin:
De insomniis) is one of the short treatises that make up
Aristotle's Parva Naturalia.

39.1 External links


Works related to On Dreams at Wikisource
Greek Wikisource has original text related to this
article:
On Dreams, translated by J. I. Beare
HTML Greek text: Mikros apoplous

176

Chapter 40

On Generation and Corruption


On Generation and Corruption (Ancient Greek:
, Latin: De Generatione et Corruptione), also known as On Coming to Be and Passing
Away) is a treatise by Aristotle. Like many of his texts,
it is both scientic and philosophic (although not necessarily scientic in the modern sense). The philosophy,
though, is essentially empirical; as in all Aristotle's works,
the deductions made about the unexperienced and unobservable are based on observations and real experiences.
The question raised at the beginning of the text builds
on an idea from Aristotle's earlier work The Physics.
Namely, whether things come into being through causes,
through some prime material, or whether everything is
generated purely through alteration.
Alteration concerned itself with the ability for elements
to change based on common and uncommon qualities.
From this important work Aristotle gives us two of his
most remembered contributions. First, the Four Causes
and also the Four Elements (earth, wind, re and water).
He uses these four elements to provide an explanation for
the theories of other Greeks concerning atoms, an idea
Aristotle considered absurd.

40.1 Bibliography
The most recent and authoritative Greek text is the
Bud edition by Marwan Rashed, Aristote. De la
gneration et la corruption. Nouvelle dition. Paris:
Les Belles Lettres, 2005. ISBN 2-251-00527-7.
This edition includes a French translation, notes and
appendices, and a lengthy introduction exploring the
treatise's contents and the history of the text.

40.2 External links


Greek Wikisource has original text related to this
article:
Text translated by H. H. Joachim
Audiobook (Public domain/Joachim translation)

177

Chapter 41

On Indivisible Lines
On Indivisible Lines (Greek ,
Latin De Lineis Insecabilibus) is a short treatise attributed
to Aristotle, but likely written by a member of the
Peripatetic school some time before the 2nd century BC.
On Indivisible Lines seeks to refute Xenocrates' views on
lines and minimal parts.

41.1 See also


Corpus Aristotelicum

178

Chapter 42

On Length and Shortness of Life


On Length and Shortness of Life (or On Longevity and
Shortness of Life; Greek:
, Latin: De longitudine et brevitate vitae)
is a text by the Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle and
one of the Parva Naturalia.

42.1 External links


Works related to On Longevity and Shortness of
Life at Wikisource
On longevity and shortness of life, translated by G.
R. T. Ross
Original Greek text:
Greek Wikisource has original text related
to this article:

Greco interattivo
Mikros Apoplous (with Modern Greek translation and notes)

179

Chapter 43

On Marvellous Things Heard


On Marvellous Things Heard (Greek:
, Latin: De mirabilibus auscultationibus) is
a collection of thematically arranged anecdotes traditionally attributed to Aristotle but written by a PseudoAristotle. The material included in the collection mainly
deals with the natural world* [1] (e.g., plants, animals,
minerals, weather, geography). The work is an example
of the paradoxography literary genre.
According to the revised Oxford translation of The Complete Works of Aristotle, however, this treatise's spuriousness has never been seriously contested.* [2]

43.1 See also


Corpus Aristotelicum
Antigonus of Carystus

43.2 Notes
[1] Thomas (2002:138).
[2] Barnes (1995:VII).

43.3 References
Thomas, Rosalind (2002). Herodotus in context:
ethnography, science and the art of persuasion.
Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-01241-4
Jonathan Barnes (ed.) (6 1995)The Complete Works
of Aristotle, Volume 2, Princeton University Press,
ISBN 0-691-01651-8

43.4 External links


English translation

180

Chapter 44

On Melissus, Xenophanes, and Gorgias


On Melissus, Xenophanes, and Gorgias (Greek:
, , Latin: De Melisso, Xenophane, Gorgia) is a short work falsely attributed
to Aristotle. The work was likely written during the
1st century AD. or later by a member of the peripatetic
school.* [1]

44.1 See also


Melissus
Xenophanes
Gorgias

44.2 Notes
[1] Guthrie (1962:367).

44.3 References
Guthrie, W. K. C. (1962). A History of Greek Philosophy Volume I: The Earlier Presocratics and the
Pythagoreans. Cambridge University Press. ISBN
978-0-521-29420-1

181

Chapter 45

On Memory
On Memory (Greek: ,
Latin: De memoria et reminiscentia) is one of the short
treatises that make up Aristotle's Parva Naturalia. It
is frequently published together, and read together, with
Aristotle's De Anima.

45.1 Editions
Richard Sorabji, Aristotle On Memory, second edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006,
ISBN 0-226-76823-6 (review)
David Bloch, Aristotle on Memory and Recollection:
Text, Translation, Interpretation, and Reception in
Western Scholasticism, Leiden: Brill, 2007, ISBN
978-90-04-16046-0 (review)

45.2 External links


Works related to On Memory and Reminiscence at
Wikisource
On Memory and Reminiscence, translated by J. I.
Beare
HTML Greek text: Mikros Apoplous

182

Chapter 46

On Plants
On Plants (Greek: ; Latin: De Plantis) is
a work, sometimes attributed to Aristotle, but generally
believed to have been written by Nicolaus of Damascus
in the rst century BC. It describes the nature and origins
of plants.

46.1 Book
The work is divided into two parts.

46.1.1

Part 1

The rst part discusses the nature of plant life, sex in


plants, the parts of plants, the structure of plants, the
classication of plants, the composition and products of
plants, the methods of propagation and fertilization of
plants, and the changes and variations of plants.

46.1.2

Part 2

The second part describes the origins of plant life, the


material of plants, the eects of external conditions and
climate on plants, water plants, rock plants, eects of locality on plants, parasitism, the production of fruits and
leaves, the colors and shapes of plants, and fruits and their
avors.

46.2 See also


Historia Plantarum (Theophrastus)
Andrea Cesalpino (wrote De Plantis Libri XVI in
1583)

46.3 External links


Works related to On Plants at Wikisource

183

Chapter 47

On Sleep
On Sleep (or On Sleep and Sleeplessness; Greek
; Latin: De somno et vigilia) is
a text by Aristotle, one of the Parva Naturalia.

47.1 External links


Works related to On Sleep and Sleeplessness at Wikisource
On sleep and sleeplessness, translated by J. I. Beare
HTML Greek text: Mikros Apoplous, Greco interattivo

184

Chapter 48

On the Heavens
tions are eternal and perfect, and the perfect motion is
the circular one, which, unlike the earthly up-and downward locomotions, can last eternally selfsame. As substances, celestial bodies have matter (aether) and form
(a given period of uniform rotation). Sometimes Aristotle seems to regard them as living beings with a rational soul as their form* [1] (see also Metaphysics, bk. XII)
This work is signicant as one of the dening pillars of
the Aristotelian worldview, a school of philosophy that
dominated intellectual thinking for almost two millennia.
Similarly, this work and others by Aristotle were important seminal works by which much of scholasticism was
derived.

48.1 Historical connections


Aristotelian philosophy and cosmology was inuential in
the Islamic world, where his ideas were taken up by the
Falsafa school of philosophy throughout the later half of
the rst millennia AD. Of these, philosophers Averroes
and Avicenna are especially notable. Averroes in particular wrote extensively about On The Heavens, trying for
some time to reconcile the various themes of Aristotelian
philosophy, such as natural movement of the elements
and the concept of planetary spheres centered around
Page one of Aristotle's On the Heavens, from an edition pubthe Earth, with the mathematics of Ptolemy.* [2] These
lished in 1837
ideas would remain central to the philosophical thinking
of that culture until the rise to prominence of Al-Ghazali,
On the Heavens (Greek: , Latin: De Caelo a philosopher and theologian who argued against Arisor De Caelo et Mundo) is Aristotle's chief cosmological totelianism and neoplatonism during the 12th century.
treatise: written in 350 BC it contains his astronomical European philosophers had a similarly complex relationtheory and his ideas on the concrete workings of the ter- ship with De Caelo, attempting to reconcile church docrestrial world. It should not be confused with the spurious trine with the mathematics of Ptolemy and the strucwork On the Universe (De mundo, also known as On the ture of Aristotle. A particularly cogent example of this
Cosmos).
is in the work of Thomas Aquinas, theologian, philosoAccording to Aristotle in On the Heavens, the heavenly
bodies are the most perfect realities, (or substances),
whose motions are ruled by principles other than those of
bodies in the sublunary sphere. The latter are composed
of one or all of the four classical elements (earth, water,
air, re) and are perishable; but the matter of which the
heavens are made is imperishable aether, so they are not
subject to generation and corruption. Hence their mo-

pher and writer of the 13th century. Known today as


St. Thomas of the Catholic Church, Aquinas worked
to synthesize Aristotle's cosmology as presented in De
Caelo with Christian doctrine, an endeavor that led him
to reclassify Aristotle's unmoved movers as angels and attributing the 'rst cause' of motion in the celestial spheres
to them.* [3] Otherwise, Aquinas accepted Aristotle's explanation of the physical world, including his cosmology

185

186

CHAPTER 48. ON THE HEAVENS


Internet Archive (Scanned Version of Printed
Text)
Audiobook
Archive)

(Public

Domain

Internet

Thomas Taylor, The treatises of Aristotle, on the


heavens, on generation & corruption, and on meteors
(Somerset, England : The Prometheus Trust, 2004,
1807). ISBN 1-898910-24-3

48.2.2 French
Dalimier, C. and Pellegrin, P. (2004) Aristote.
Trait du ciel (Paris).
Moraux, P. (1965) Aristote. Du ciel (Paris).
Thomas Aquinas and Averroes

Tricot, J. (1949) Aristote. Trait du ciel. Traduction


et notes (Paris).

and physics.
The 14th century French philosopher Nicole Oresme
translated and commentated on De Caelo in his role as 48.2.3 German
adviser to King Charles V of France, on two separate oc Jori, A., (2008), ber den Himmel (Berlin).
casions, once early on in life, and again near the end of it.
These versions were a traditional Latin transcription and a
Gigon, O. (1950) Vom Himmel, Von der Seele, Von
more comprehensive French version that synthesized his
der Dichtkunst (Zurich).
views on cosmological philosophy in its entirety, Questiones Super de Celo and Livre du ciel et du monde respec Prantl, C. (1857) AristotelesVier Bcher ber das
tively. Livre du ciel et du mondewas written at the
Himmelsgebude und Zwei Bcher ber Entstehen
command of King Charles V, though for what purpose
und Vergehen (Leipzig).
remains of some debate. Some speculate that, having already had Oresme translate Aristotelian works on ethics
Prantl, C., (1881) De coelo, et de generatione et corand politics in the hope of educating his courtiers, doruptione (Leipzig).
ing the same with De Caelo may be of some value to the
king.* [4]

48.2.4 Italian

48.2 Translations
48.2.1

English

(in reverse chronological order)


Stuart Leggatt, On the Heavens I and II (Warminster:
Aris & Phillips, 1995). ISBN 0-85668-663-8

Jori, A. (1999) Il cielo (Milan).


Longo, O. (1961) Aristotele. De caelo (Florence).

48.3 See also


Physics (Aristotle)

William Keith Chambers Guthrie, Aristotle On the


Heavens (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University
Press Loeb Classical Library, 1939).

Aristotelian physics

John Leofric Stocks, On the Heavens (Oxford:


Clarendon Press, 1922).

Celestial spheres

Adelaide Etexts
Sacred Texts
InfoMotions
MIT (incomplete)

Dynamics of the celestial spheres

48.4 References
[1] Alan C. Bowen, Christian Wildberg, New perspectives on
Aristotle's De caelo (Brill, 2009)

48.6. EXTERNAL LINKS

[2] Gerhard Endress (1995). Averroes' De Caelo Ibn Rushd's


Cosmology in his Commentaries on Aristotle's On the
Heavens. Arabic Sciences and Philosophy, 5, pp 9-49.
doi:10.1017/S0957423900001934.
[3] McInerny, Ralph and O'Callaghan, John. Saint Thomas
Aquinas. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(Winter 2010 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.).
[4] Grant, E. (n.d). Nicole Oresme, Aristotle's 'On the heavens', and the court of Charles V. Texts And Contexts In
Ancient And Medieval Science : Studies On The Occasion Of John E, 187-207.

48.5 Further reading


Elders, L., Aristotles Cosmology: A Commentary
on the De Caelo (Assen, Netherlands: Van Gorcum,
1966).

48.6 External links


Greek Wikisource has original text related to this
article:
On the Heavensin Greek is found in the 2nd volume of the 11-volume 1837 Bekker edition of Aristotle's Works in Greek (PDF DJVU)
On the Heavensin The Internet Classics Archive.

187

Chapter 49

On the Soul
On the Soul (Greek , Per Pschs; Latin
De Anima) is a major treatise by Aristotle on the nature
of living things. His discussion centres on the kinds of
souls possessed by dierent kinds of living things, distinguished by their dierent operations. Thus plants have
the capacity for nourishment and reproduction, the minimum that must be possessed by any kind of living organism. Lower animals have, in addition, the powers of
sense-perception and self-motion (action). Humans have
all these as well as intellect.

not a distinct substance from the body that it is in. That


it is the possession of soul (of a specic kind) that makes
an organism an organism at all, and thus that the notion
of a body without a soul, or of a soul in the wrong kind of
body, is simply unintelligible. (He argues that some parts
of the soulthe intellectcan exist without the body, but
most cannot.) It is dicult to reconcile these points with
the popular picture of a soul as a sort of spiritual substance inhabitinga body. Some commentators have
suggested that Aristotle's term soul is better translated as
lifeforce.* [1]
In 1855, Charles Collier published a translation titled
On the Vital Principle; George Henry Lewes, however,
found this description also wanting.* [2]

49.1 Division of chapters


The treatise is divided into three books, and each of the
books is divided into chapters (ve, twelve, and thirteen,
respectively). The treatise is near-universally abbreviated
DA,forDe anima,and books and chapters generally
referred to by Roman and Arabic numerals, respectively,
along with corresponding Bekker numbers. (Thus,DA
I.1, 402a1meansDe anima, book I, chapter 1, Bekker
page 402, Bekker column a [the column on the left side
of the page], line number 1.)

49.1.1 Book I
DA I.1 introduces the theme of the treatise;
DA I.25 provide a survey of Aristotles predecessors
views about the soul;

49.1.2 Book II
Expositio et quaestionesin Aristoteles De Anima (Jean Buridan, c. 1362)

DA II.13 gives Aristotle


s denition of soul and outlines
his own study of it,* [3] which is then pursued as follows:
DA II.4 discusses nutrition and reproduction;
The notion of soul used by Aristotle is only distantly re- DA II.56 discuss sensation in general;
lated to the usual modern conception. He holds that the DA II.711 discuss each of the ve senses (in the folsoul is the form, or essence of any living thing; that it is lowing order: sight, sound, smell, taste, and touchone
188

49.1. DIVISION OF CHAPTERS

189

chapter for each);


have other senses (sight, hearing, taste), and some have
DA II.12 again takes up the general question of sensation; more subtle versions of each (the ability to distinguish objects in a complex way, beyond mere pleasure and pain.)
He discusses how these function. Some animals have in
addition the powers of memory, imagination, and self49.1.3 Book III
motion.
DA III.1 argues there are no other senses than the ve al- Book III discusses the mind or rational soul, which beready mentioned;
longs to humans alone. He argues that thinking is dierDA III.2 discusses the problem of what it means tosense ent from both sense-perception and imagination because
sensing(i.e., to be awareof sensation);
the senses can never lie and imagination is a power to
DA III.3 investigates the nature of imagination;
make something sensed appear again, while thinking can
DA III.47 discuss thinking and the intellect, or mind;
sometimes be false. And since the mind is able to think
DA III.8 rearticulates the denition and nature of soul;
when it wishes, it must be divided into two faculties: one
DA III.910 discuss the movement of animals possessing which contains all the mind's ideas which are able to be
all the senses;
considered, and another which brings them into act, i.e.
DA III.11 discusses the movement of animals possessing to be actually thinking about them. These are called the
only touch;
possible and agent intellect. The possible intellect is the
DA III.1213 take up the question of what are the mini- store-house of all concepts, i.e. universal ideas liketrimal constituents of having a soul and being alive.
angle, tree, man, red, etc. When the

49.1.4

Summary

Book I contains a summary of Aristotle's method of investigation and a dialectical determination of the nature
of the soul. He begins by conceding that attempting to dene the soul is one of the most dicult questions in the
world. But he proposes an ingenious method to tackle
the question: just as we can come to know the properties
and operations of something through scientic demonstration, i.e. a geometrical proof that a triangle has its
interior angles equal to two right angles, since the principle of all scientic demonstration is the essence of the
object, so too we can come to know the nature of a thing
if we already know its properties and operations. It is like
nding the middle term to a syllogism with a known conclusion. Therefore we must seek out such operations of
the soul to determine what kind of nature it has. From a
consideration of the opinions of his predecessors, a soul,
he concludes, will be that in virtue of which living things
have life.
Book II contains his scientic determination of the nature
of the soul. By dividing substance into its three meanings
(matter, form, and what is composed of both), he shows
that the soul must be the rst actuality of a naturally organised body. This is its form or essence. It cannot be
matter because the soul is that in virtue of which things
have life, and matter is only being in potency. The rest
of the book is divided into a determination of the nature of the nutritive and sensitive souls. (1) All species
of living things, plant or animal, must be able to nourish themselves and reproduce others of the same kind.
(2) All animals have, in addition to the nutritive power,
sense-perception, and thus they all have at least the sense
of touch, which he argues is presupposed by all other
senses, and the ability to feel pleasure and pain, which is
the simplest kind of perception. If they can feel pleasure
and pain they also have desire. Some animals in addition

mind wishes to think, the agent intellect recalls these ideas


from the possible intellect and combines them to form
thoughts. The agent intellect is also the faculty which
abstracts the whatnessor intelligibility of all sensed
objects and stores them in the possible intellect. For example, when a student learns a proof for the Pythagorean
theorem, his agent intellect abstracts the intelligibility of
all the images his eye senses (and that are a result of the
translation by imagination of sense perceptions into immaterial phantasmata), i.e. the triangles and squares in
the diagrams, and stores the concepts that make up the
proof in his possible intellect. When he wishes to recall
the proof, say, for demonstration in class the next day,
his agent intellect recalls the concepts and their relations
from the possible intellect and formulates the statements
that make up the arguments in the proof.
The argument for the existence of the agent intellect in
Chapter V perhaps due to its concision has been interpreted in a variety of ways. One standard scholastic interpretation is given in the Commentary on De anima begun
by Thomas Aquinas when he was regent at the studium
provinciale at Santa Sabina in Rome, the forerunner of
the Pontical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum. Aquinas' commentary is based on the new translation of the text from the Greek completed by Aquinas'
Dominican associate at Viterbo William of Moerbeke in
1267.* [4] The argument, as interpreted by St Thomas
Aquinas, runs something like this: in every nature which
is sometimes in potency and act, it is necessary to posit an
agent or cause within that genus that, just like art in relation to its suering matter, brings the object into act. But
the soul is sometimes in potency and act. Therefore the
soul must have this dierence. In other words, since the
mind can move from not understanding to understanding
and from knowing to thinking, there must be something
to cause the mind to go from knowing nothing to knowing
something, and from knowing something but not thinking
about it to actually thinking about it.

190
Aristotle also argues that the mind (only the agent intellect) is immaterial, able to exist without the body, and
immortal. His arguments are notoriously concise. This
has caused much confusion over the centuries, causing a
rivalry between dierent schools of interpretation, most
notably, between the Arabian commentator Averroes and
St Thomas Aquinas. One argument for its immaterial existence runs like this: if the mind were material, then it
would have to possess a corresponding thinking-organ.
And since all the senses have their corresponding senseorgans, thinking would then be like sensing. But sensing
can never be false, and therefore thinking could never be
false. And this is of course untrue. Therefore, Aristotle
concludes, the mind is immaterial.
Perhaps the most important but obscure argument in the
whole book is Aristotle's demonstration of the immortality of the thinking part of the human soul, also in Chapter
V. Taking a premise from his Physics, that as a thing acts,
so it is, he argues that since the mind acts with no bodily organ, it exists without the body. And if it exists apart
from matter, it therefore cannot be corrupted. And therefore the human mind is immortal.

49.2 Arabic paraphrase


Just as there is an important Arabic paraphrase of
Plotinus' Six EnneadsThe Theology of Aristotle, blending it with Aristotle's thought so there is an Arabic
paraphrase of the De Anima, blending it with Plotinus'
thought. Thus later Islamic philosophy and European
philosophy which built on the Islamic texts were based
on this Neoplatonic synthesis.

CHAPTER 49. ON THE SOUL

[3] In chapter 3 of Book II he enumerates ve psychic powers:


the nutritive (), the sensory (), the
appetitive (), the locomotive (), and
the power of thinking ().
[4] Torrell, 161 .

49.5 English translations


Mark Shiman, De Anima: On the Soul, (Newburyport, MA: Focus Publishing/R. Pullins Co, 2011).
ISBN 978-1585102488
Joe Sachs, Aristotle's On the Soul and On Memory
and Recollection (Green Lion Press, 2001). ISBN
1-888009-17-9
Hugh Lawson-Tancred, De Anima (On the Soul)
(Penguin Classics, 1986). ISBN 978-0140444711
Hippocrates Apostle, Aristotle's On the Soul,
(Grinell, Iowa: Peripatetic Press, 1981). ISBN
0-9602870-8-6
D.W. Hamlyn, Aristotle De Anima, Books II and III
(with passages from Book I), translated with Introduction and Notes by D.W. Hamlyn, with a Report on
Recent Work and a Revised Bibliography by Christopher Shields (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968).
Walter Stanley Hett, On the Soul (Cambridge, Mass.
: Harvard University PressLoeb Classical Library
, 1957).
John Alexander Smith, On the Soul (1931)
MIT Internet Classics Archive

49.3 Some manuscripts


49.4 References
[1] "... in the Old Testament and Homeric notions of soul
as life-force, through Plato's infusion of an immortal and
divine power, Aristotle's functional matter-form theory,
the New Testament's doctrine of a double life and a double death, and its culmination in Augustine's ChristianPlatonist synthesis."Contents: Ancient Hebrew and
Homeric Greek life-force; Plato, Aristotle and Hellenistic
thought; From the New Testament to St Augustine; Medieval Islamic and Christian ideas; Renaissance Platonism, Hermeticism and other heterodoxies; Mind and soul
in English from Chaucer to Shakespeare; The triumph of
rationalist concepts of mind and intellect; The empiricists
advocacy of matter designed for thought; Bibliography;
Indexes.Retrieved 1 March 2011.
[2] George Henry Lewes (1864). Aristotle: A Chapter from
the History of Science, Including Analyses of Aristotle's Scientic Writings. OCLC 15174038.

Adelaide
Google Books
Classics in the History of Psychology
UVa EText Center
Georgetown
R. D. Hicks, Aristotle De Anima with Translation, Introduction, and Notes (Cambridge University
Press, 1907).
Archive.org
Audiobook (Public Domain) of De Anima at
Archive.org
Edwin Wallace, Aristotle's Psychology in Greek and
English, with Introduction and Notes by Edwin Wallace (Cambridge University Press, 1882).
Archive.org
Thomas Taylor, On the Soul (Prometheus Trust,
2003, 1808). ISBN 1-898910-23-5

49.7. EXTERNAL LINKS

49.6 Further reading


J. Barnes, M. Schoeld, & R. Sorabji, Articles on
Aristotle, vol. 4, 'Psychology and Aesthetics'. London, 1979.
M. Durrant, Aristotle's De Anima in Focus. London,
1993.
M. Nussbaum & A. O. Rorty, Essays on Aristotle's
De Anima. Oxford, 1992.
F. Nuyens, L'volution de la psychologie d'Aristote.
Louvain, 1973.
Rdiger Arnzen, Aristoteles' De anima : eine verlorene sptantike Paraphrase in arabischer und persischer berlieferung (1998: Leiden, Brill) ISBN
90-04-10699-5.

49.7 External links


Greek text: Mikros Apoplous (HTML)
English text: Electronic Text Center, University of
Virginia Library (HTML)

191

Chapter 50

On Things Heard
On Things Heard (Greek , Latin De
audibilibus) is a work which was formerly attributed to
Aristotle, but is now generally believed to be the work of
Strato of Lampsacus. Our extant version of On Things
Heard is made up of long extracts included in Porphyry's
Commentary on Ptolemy's Harmonics, and is thus partial.
The extracts are concerned with the nature of sound production.

50.1 See also


Corpus Aristotelicum

50.2 References
Barker, Andrew (2004). Greek Musical Writings,
Vol. 2: Harmonic and Acoustic Theory. Cambridge
University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-61697-3.

192

Chapter 51

On Virtues and Vices


On Virtues and Vices (Greek: ; Latin: De Virtutibus et Vitiis Libellus) is the shortest of the four ethical treatises attributed to Aristotle. The
work is now regarded as spurious by scholars and its true
origins are uncertain though it was probably created by a
member of the peripatetic school.* [1]

51.1 See also


Eudemian Ethics
Magna Moralia
Nicomachean Ethics

51.2 Notes
[1] Zeller (1883:145).

51.3 References
Zeller, Eduard (1883). A History of Eclecticism in
Greek Philosophy. Longmans, Green, and Co..

51.4 External links


Greek Wikisource has original text related to this
article:
De Virtutibus et Vitiis (English Translation, Internet
Archive, 1915)

193

Chapter 52

On Youth, Old Age, Life and Death, and


Respiration
On Youth, Old Age, Life and Death, and Respiration
(Greek: , , , Latin: De Juventute et Senectute,
De Vita et Morte, De Respiratione) is one of the short treatises that make up Aristotle's Parva Naturalia.

52.1.3 The heart as the primary organ of


soul

52.1 Structure and contents


52.1.1

Place in the Parva Naturalia

In comparison to the rst ve treatises of the Parva Naturalia, this one and On Length and Shortness of Life, while
still dealing with natural phenomena involving the body
and the soul, are denitely biological rather than psychological.* [1] They are omitted from the Parva Naturalia commentary of Sophonias.

52.1.2

nus refers to the whole in this way), youth and old age
are important aspects of the subject, because Aristotle's
conception is not of a constant, unvarying lifebut of
a life-cycle of natural development and decay.* [2]

Title and divisions of the treatise

Modern editions divide the treatise into 27 chapters. The


Bekker edition of Aristotle's works distinguished two
works, De Senectute et Juventute (chapters 1-6), and De
Respiratione (chapters 7-27, for this reason sometimes
cited as De Respiratione, chapters 1-21). However, the
manuscripts give no basis for this distinction, and the contents are not accurately described by these labels; youth
and old age only come into focus as part of the explanation of life as a wholein chapter 24. The work
may, instead, be considered as a single, unied treatise
on life, death, and the functions necessary to life: nutrition and respiration.* [2] The title On Youth, Old Age,
Life and Death, and Respiration, given in the Medieval
manuscripts, derives from the treatise's opening words:
We must now treat of youth and old age and life and
death. We must probably also at the same time state the
causes of respiration as well, since in some cases living
and the reverse depend on this.This statement explains
how respiration is part of the more general subject of life
and death. While De Vita et Morte might, then, seem to be
a more satisfactory title for the work (and Ptolemy Chen-

Aristotle begins by raising the question of the seat of life


in the body (while it is clear that [the soul's] essential
reality cannot be corporeal, yet manifestly it must exist
in some bodily part which must be one of those possessing control over the members) and arrives at the answer
that the heart is the primary organ of soul, and the central
organ of nutrition and sensation (with which the organs
of the ve senses communicate).* [3] The motivation for
this disappointing feature of Aristotle's physiologyis
a matter of conjecture; the importance of the brain had
been suggested before Aristotle by Alcmaeon of Croton
(on the basis of the fact...that the end-organs of smell
and sight are connected with the brain,with which Aristotle was familiar* [4]), and this had been accepted in turn
by Diogenes of Apollonia, Democritus, and Plato.* [3]

52.1.4 Heart, lungs, and respiration


Aristotle's account of the heart provides one of the clearest indications that he was familiar with the medical theories of some parts of the Hippocratic Corpus. Among
other debts,his comparison of the heart-lung system to
a double bellows (ch. 26, 480a20-23) is clearly borrowed
from the earlier treatiseOn Regimen (De Victu).* [3] That
is, the heart (hot substancein animals) is inside the
lungs (the primary organ of cooling,a function also
served by gills); the heart expands under the inuence of
heat, forcing the lungs to expand under the same inuence, causing inhalation, and this introduction of cold air
from outside in turn causes contraction and exhalation. In
this continuous process, life and respiration are inseparable.* [5]

194

52.5. EXTERNAL LINKS

52.1.5

The life-cycle

Chapter 24 of the treatise gives several denitions that


summarize Aristotle's theory.* [5]

52.2 Commentaries
Michael of Ephesus, CAG XXII.1 (Greek text)
W. D. Ross, Aristotle: Parva Naturalia, Oxford,
1955

52.3 Notes
[1] Ross, p. 52
[2] King, pp. 3840
[3] Ross, pp. 55f.
[4] Sense and Sensibilia, 438b2530, 444a9
[5] Ross, pp. 60f.

52.4 References
R.A.H. King, Aristotle on Life and Death, London:
Duckworth, 2001

52.5 External links


Works related to On Youth and Old Age at Wikisource
Works related to On Life and Death at Wikisource
Works related to On Breathing at Wikisource
Ancient Greek text (with translation and notes in
Modern Greek)
English translation by G.R.T. Ross: University of
Adelaide eBooks (HTML), MIT Classics Archive
(HTML), Archive.org (scan of published version,
with Bekker numbers and notes, beginning on p.
406 of the PDF le)

195

Chapter 53

Parts of Animals
On the Parts of Animals (Greek ;
Latin De Partibus Animalium) is a text by Aristotle. It
was written around 350 BC. The whole work is roughly a
study in animal anatomy and physiology; it aims to provide a scientic understanding of the parts (organs, tissues, uids, etc.) of animals.

53.1 Arabic translation


The Arabic translation of De Partibus Animalium comprises treatises 11-14 of the Kitb al-Hayawn (The Book
of Animals).

53.2 External links


Works related to On the Parts of Animals at Wikisource
On the Parts of Animals, English translation by
William Ogle
De Partibus Animalium, English translation by
William Ogle (Internet Archive)
Greek text: Hodoi elektronikai (with parallel French
translation), Greco interattivo

196

Chapter 54

Parva Naturalia
The Parva Naturalia (a conventional Latin title rst used
by Giles of Rome:short treatises on nature) are a collection of seven works by Aristotle, which discuss natural
phenomena involving the body and the soul. The individual works are as follows (with links to online English
translations):

54.1 Editions
All the Parva Naturalia
Aristote: Petits traits d'histoire naturelle (with
French translation and brief notes), ed. Ren Mugnier, Collection Bud, 1953
Aristotle: Parva Naturalia (with extensive commentary in English), ed. W. D. Ross, Oxford, 1955
(repr. 2000, ISBN 0-19-814108-4)
Aristotelis Parva Naturalia Graece et Latine (with
Latin translation and notes), ed. Paul Siwek, Rome:
Descle, 1963
Multiple treatises
David Gallop, Aristotle on Sleep and Dreams: A Text
and Translation with Introduction, Notes, and Glossary. Petersborough, Ontario: Broadview Press,
1990, ISBN 0-921149-60-3 (On Sleep, On Dreams,
and On Divination in Sleep)

54.2 External links


Greek text: Parva Naturalia (Biehl's 1898 Teubner
edition); HTML text from HODOI (with concordance) and Mikros apoplous (with Modern Greek
translation and notes)
1908 English translation by J.I. Beare and G.R.T.
Ross (Oxford 1931): archive.org
1902 English translation by William Alexander Hammond (1861-1938): Google Books,
archive.org, audiobook
197

Annotated French translation by Jules BarthlemySaint-Hilaire

Chapter 55

Physiognomonics
Physiognomonics (Greek: , Latin:
ments often prevailed on people. (trans. Pratt
Physiognomonica) is an Ancient Greek treatise on
rev. Barnes)
physiognomy casually attributed to Aristotle (and part of
the Corpus Aristotelicum) but now believed to be by an
Already in antiquity, physiognomy's pretensions to asciauthor writing approximately 300 BC.* [1]
enticfoundation were questioned and debated. It
had connections to medicine, but also to magic and
divination.* [2]

55.1 Ancient physiognomy before


the Physiognomonics

Although Physiognomonics is the earliest work surviving


in Greek devoted to the subject, texts preserved on clay
tablets provide evidence of physiognomy manuals from
the First Babylonian Dynasty, containing divinatory case
studies of the ominous signicance of various bodily dispositions. At this point physiognomy is a specic, already theorized, branch of knowledgeand the heir of a
long-developed technical tradition.* [2]
While loosely physiognomic ways of thinking are present
in Greek literature as early as Homer, physiognomy
proper is not known before the classical period. The
term physiognomonia rst appears in the fth-century
BC Hippocratic treatise Epidemics (II.5.1). Physiognomy was mentioned in a work by Antisthenes on the
Sophists, which provides evidence of its recognition as
an art (techne).* [2]

55.2 The treatise


55.2.1 Structure and content
The treatise is divided into sections on theory (805a1808b10) and method (808b11-814b9). The connections
between bodily features and character are treated in detail, cataloguing, for example, twelve kinds of nose, and
the distinctive features of the cinaedus.* [1]

55.2.2 Connections to Aristotle

The pseudo-Aristotelian treatise begins with an allusion


to Aristotle's Prior Analytics (II.27, on the body-soul correlation), and many of the physiognomic connections discussed are mentioned specically in the History of Ani*
In Aristotle's time, physiognomics was acknowledged as mals. [1]
an art (techne) with its own skilled practitioners (technitai), as we see from a reference in Generation of Animals
55.2.3 Inuence
(IV.3):* [2]
Then people say that the child has the head
of a ram or a bull, and so on with other animals,
as that a calf has the head of a child or a sheep
that of an ox. All these monsters result from
the causes stated above, but they are none of
the things they are said to be; there is only some
similarity, such as may arise even where there
is no defect of growth. Hence often jesters
compare someone who is not beautiful to a
goat breathing re, or again to a ram butting,
and a certain physiognomist reduced all faces
to those of two or three animals, and his argu-

The author's systematic scheme of physiognomic relationships was not adopted by later writers on the subject;
the proliferation of incompatible teachings had the cumulative eect of undermining the authority of the profession as a whole.* [1]

55.3 Notes
[1] Brennan.
[2] Raina, Introduction.

198

55.6. EXTERNAL LINKS

55.4 References
T. Corey Brennan, review of Vogt, Classical World
99.2 (2006), pp. 202f.
Giampiera Raina (trans. and comm.), Pseudo Aristotele: Fisiognomica; Anonimo Latino: Il trattato di
siognomica, 2nd ed., Milan: Biblioteca Universale
Rizzoli, 1994.

55.5 Further reading


Sabine Vogt (trans. and comm.), Aristoteles: Physiognomonica, Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1999,
ISBN 3-05-003487-4

55.6 External links


Greek Wikisource has original text related to this
article:
Greek texts: Immanuel Bekker's text available via
Greco interattivo; Richard Foerster's 1893 Teubner
edition via Google Books
English translation of E.S. Forster and T. Loveday
in The Works of Aristotle, Oxford, 1913

199

Chapter 56

Posterior Analytics
The Posterior Analytics (Greek: ;
Latin: Analytica Posteriora) is a text from Aristotle's
Organon that deals with demonstration, denition, and
scientic knowledge. The demonstration is distinguished
as a syllogism productive of scientic knowledge, while the
denition marked as the statement of a thing's nature, ... a
statement of the meaning of the name, or of an equivalent
nominal formula.

nite number of middle terms between the rst principle and the conclusion.
In all demonstration, the rst principles, the conclusion, and all the intermediate propositions, must
be necessary, general and eternal truths. Of things
that happen by chance, or contingently, or which can
change, or of individual things, there is no demonstration.
Some demonstrations prove only that the things are
a certain way, rather than why they are so. The latter
are the most perfect.

56.1 Contents
In the Prior Analytics, syllogistic logic is considered in its
formal aspect; in the Posterior it is considered in respect
of its matter. Theformof a syllogism lies in the necessary connection between the premises and the conclusion.
Even where there is no fault in the form, there may be in
the matter, i.e. the propositions of which it is composed,
which may be true or false, probable or improbable.

The rst gure of the syllogism (see term logic for


an outline of syllogistic theory) is best adapted to
demonstration, because it aords conclusions universally armative. This gure is commonly used
by mathematicians.
The demonstration of an armative proposition is
preferable to that of a negative; the demonstration of
a universal to that of a particular; and direct demonstration to a reductio ad absurdum.

When the premises are certain, true, and primary, and


the conclusion formally follows from them, this is demonstration, and produces scientic knowledge of a thing.
Such syllogisms are called apodeictical, and are dealt with
The principles are more certain than the conclusion.
in the two books of the Posterior Analytics. When the
There cannot be both opinion and knowledge of the
premises are not certain, such a syllogism is called disame thing at the same time.
alectical, and these are dealt with in the eight books of
the Topics. A syllogism which seems to be perfect both
in matter and form, but which is not, is called sophisti- The second book Aristotle starts with a remarkable statecal, and these are dealt with in the book On Sophistical ment, the kinds of things determine the kinds of quesRefutations.
tions, which are four:
The contents of the Posterior Analytics may be summarised as follows:
1. Whether the relation of a property (attribute) with a
thing is a true fact.
All demonstration must be founded on principles already known. The principles on which it is founded
must either themselves be demonstrable, or be socalled rst principles, which cannot be demonstrated, nor need to be, being evident in themselves
(nota per se).

2. What is the reason of this connection.


3. Whether a thing exists.
4. What is the nature and meaning of the thing.

The last of these questions was called by Aristotle, in


We cannot demonstrate things in a circular way, Greek, the what it isof a thing. Scholastic logicians
supporting the conclusion by the premises, and the translated this into Latin as "quiddity" (quidditas). This
premises by the conclusion. Nor can there be an in- quiddity cannot be demonstrated, but must be xed by a
200

56.2. REFERENCES
denition. He deals with denition, and how a correct
denition should be made. As an example, he gives a
denition of the number three, dening it to be the rst
odd number.
Maintaining that to know a thing's nature is to know
the reason why it isand we possess scientic knowledge of a thing only when we know its cause, Aristotle
posited four major sorts of cause as the most sought-after
middle terms of demonstration: the denable form; an
antecedent which necessitates a consequent; the ecient
cause; the nal cause.
He concludes the book with the way the human mind
comes to know the basic truths or primary premisses or
rst principles, which are not innate, because we may be
ignorant of them for much of our life. Nor can they be
deduced from any previous knowledge, or they would not
be rst principles. He states that rst principles are derived by induction, from the sense-perception implanting
the true universals in the human mind. From this idea
comes the scholastic maxim there is nothing in the understanding which was not prior in the senses.
Of all types of thinking, scientic knowing and intuition
are considered as only universally true, where the latter is
the originative source of scientic knowledge.

56.2 References
Mure, G. R. G. (translator) (2007), Posterior Analytics, The University of Adelaide: eBooks @ Adelaide.
Posterior Analytics Audio Book (Public Domain),
The Internet Archive: Librivox Audiobook.

201

Chapter 57

Problems (Aristotle)
The Problems (Greek: ; Latin: Problemata) is an Aristotelian or possibly pseudo-Aristotelian, as
its authenticity has been under questioning, collection of
problems written in a question and answer format. The
collection, gradually assembled by the peripatetic school,
reached its nal form anywhere between the third century BC to the 6th century AD. The work is divided by
topic into 38 sections, and the whole contains almost 900
problems.
Later writers of Problemata include Plutarch, Alexander
of Aphrodisias, and Cassius Iatrosophista.* [1]

57.1 See also


Corpus Aristotelicum

57.2 Notes
[1] Ann M. Blair, The Problemata as a Natural Philosophical Genre,in Anthony Grafton and Nancy Siraisi, eds.,
Natural Particulars: Nature and the Disciplines in Renaissance Europe, p. 173

57.3 External links


Problemata translated by E.S. Forster (Internet
Archive, 1927)

202

Chapter 58

Progression of Animals
Progression of Animals (or On the Gait of Animals;
Greek: ; Latin: De incessu animalium) is a text by Aristotle on the details of gait and movement in various species of animals.
Aristotle's approach to the subject is to ask why some
animals are footless, others bipeds, others quadrupeds,
others polypods, and why all have an even number of feet,
if they have feet at all; why in ne the points on which
progression depends are even in number.
It's a good example of the way he brought teleological
presumptions to empirical studies.

58.1 Texts and translations


Works related to On the Progression of Animals at
Wikisource
Greek text and English translation by E.S. Forster
(Loeb Classical Library, Aristotle Parts of Animals, Movement of Animals, Progression of Animals,
1937): archive.org
On the Gait of Animals, translated by A. S. L. Farquharson, Oxford, 1912: Google Books,Adelaide
(HTML), MIT Classics (HTML)
Greek text with Farquharson's translation facing
Greek text with French translation and commentary
by Jules Barthlemy-Saint-Hilaire

203

Chapter 59

Protrepticus (Aristotle)
Protrepticus (Greek: ) is the title of a
work by Aristotle that survives only in fragments. Since
the 19th century, when inquiry was initiated by Jakob
Bernays (1863), several scholars have attempted to reconstruct the work.* [1] Attempted reconstructions include:
A 1961 book by Ingemar Dring* [2]
A 1964 book by Anton-Hermann Chroust* [3]

59.1 References
[1] Anton-Hermann Chroust (1965). A brief account of
the reconstruction of Aristotle's Protrepticus. Classical
Philology (The University of Chicago Press) 60 (4): 229
239. doi:10.1086/365046. ISSN 0009-837X.
[2] Dring, Ingemar; Aristotle (1961). Aristotle's Protrepticus: An attempt at reconstruction. Gteborg, Sweden:
Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis.
[3] Chroust, Anton-Hermann; Aristotle (1964). Protrepticus:
A reconstruction. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre
Dame Press.

59.2 External links


Downloadable reconstruction of Protrepticus (D. S.
Hutchinson and M. R. Johnson)

204

Chapter 60

Rhetoric to Alexander
The Rhetoric to Alexander (also widely known by its title in Latin: Rhetorica ad Alexandrum; Ancient Greek:
) is a treatise traditionally attributed
to Aristotle. It was written by a Pseudo-Aristotle instead and is now generally believed to be the work of
Anaximenes of Lampsacus.* [1]

60.1 Authorship

it is sometimes thought to have stood in the tradition surrounding the person of Isocrates, but there is no clear evidence for this. The treatise Rhetoric to Alexander does
not seem to have made a big impact on rhetorical studies
at the time and is not often heard of afterwards. It only
survived because it was thought to have been written by
Aristotle.* [5]

60.3 See also

Quintilian seems to refer to this work under Anaximenes'


name in Institutio Oratoria,* [2] as the Italian Renaissance
philologist Piero Vettori rst recognized. This attribution
has been disputed by some scholars however.

Rhetoric (Aristotle)
Rhetorica ad Herennium

60.4 References
60.2 Content
As a complete Greek manual on rhetoric still extant from
the fourth century BCE, Rhetoric to Alexander gives us
an invaluable look into the rhetorical theory of the time.
Aristotle did in fact write a work On Rhetoric at much the
same time. The author claims to have based this treatise
on the Techne of Corax and the Theodectea of Aristotle
which may in fact refer to On Rhetoric seeing that Aristotle's work was not published until 83 BCE. The teaching of Aristotle on the matter was made available during
his lectures and his lecturing notes was preserved after
his death by his pupil, Theophrastus.* [3] The structure
of Rhetoric to Alexander is quite similar to that of Aristotle's work.* [4] Chapters 1-5 deal with arguments specic
to each of the species of rhetoric corresponding to the
rst book of Aristotle's work. Chapters 6-22 are about
useswhat Aristotle callstopics, discussing them in
the latter part of his second book. Chapters 23-28 discuss
style which Aristotle discusses in the rst half of his third
book. And chapters 29-37 nally treat arrangement as
discussed by Aristotle in the latter part of his third book.
From this it is clear that both the Rhetoric to Alexander
and Aristotle's On Rhetoric were using a structure common to rhetorical handbooks of the fourth century. In
contrast to Aristotle the author of Rhetoric for Alexander does not use examples illustrating his precepts. Because this treatise diers from Aristotle in some details

[1] Chiron, P. (2010). The Rhetoric to Alexander. In


Worthington, Ian. A Companion to Greek Rhetoric. John
Wiley & Sons. p. 90. ISBN 9781444334142.
[2] Quitilian, Institutio Oratoria 3.4.9
[3] Kennedy, George (1991). Aristotle on Rhetoric: A Theory
of Civil Discourse. New York: Oxford University Press.
p. 305. ISBN 0195064879.
[4] Kennedy, George (1994). A New History of Classical
Rhetoric. Princeton: Princeton University Press. p. 50.
ISBN 069100059X.
[5] Kennedy, George (1994). A New History of Classical
Rhetoric. Princeton: Princeton University Press. p. 51.
ISBN 069100059X.

60.5 External links

205

Greek text, edited by Immanuel Bekker, Oxford


1837
Greek text with Latin commentary edited by
Leonhard von Spengel, Leipzig, 1847
English translations: Aristotle's Rhetoric to King
Alexander (London, 1686); De Rhetorica ad Alexandrum, translated by E.S. Forster, Oxford, 1924 (beginning on p. 231 of the PDF le)

Chapter 61

Sense and Sensibilia (Aristotle)


Sense and Sensibilia (or On Sense and the Sensible, On
Sense and What is Sensed, On Sense Perception; Greek:
, Latin: De sensu et sensibilibus, De sensu et sensili, De sensu et sensato) is one
of the short treatises by Aristotle that make up the Parva
Naturalia.
The English title Sense and Sensibilia adopted by the Revised Oxford Translation repeats the title J. L. Austin
chose for his 1962 book Sense and Sensibilia, which in
turn incorporated an allusive echo of Jane Austen's title
Sense and Sensibility.* [1]

61.1 Commentaries
Alexander of Aphrodisias (Greek text)
Averroes (Latin translation, Venice, 1562, beginning on p. 455 of the PDF le)
Thomas Aquinas (Latin text (Parma 1866), Latin
text (HTML), English translation)
G.R.T. Ross, 1906 (Greek text, English translation,
and commentary)

61.2 Notes
[1] Kevin White, Translator's Introduction, in Aquinas,
Commentaries on Aristotle's On Sense and What Is
SensedandOn Memory and Recollection, trans. Kevin
White and Edward M. Macierowski, Washington, D.C.:
CUA Press, 2005, p. 6.

61.3 External links


Works related to On Sense and the Sensible at Wikisource
Greek Wikisource has original text related to this
article:
On sense and the sensible, translated by J. I. Beare
206

HTML Greek text: HODOI (with concordance and


French translation), Mikros apoplous (with Modern
Greek translation and notes)

Chapter 62

The Situations and Names of Winds


The Situations and Names of Winds (Greek: ; Latin: Ventorum Situs) is a spurious work
sometimes attributed to Aristotle. The text lists winds
blowing from twelve dierent directions and their alternative names used in dierent places. According to
the manuscript version of the work, The Situations and
Names of Winds is an extract from a larger work entitled
On Signs (De Signis)* [1] likely written by a member of
the peripatetic school.

62.1 See also


Corpus Aristotelicum

62.2 Notes
[1] Ross (1995:7).

62.3 References
Ross, David (1995). Aristotle. Routledge. ISBN 0415-12068-3

207

Chapter 63

Sophistical Refutations
Sophistical Refutations (Greek: ;
Latin: De Sophisticis Elenchis) is a text in Aristotle's
Organon in which he identied thirteen fallacies, as follows:

63.2 External links


Works related to Sophistical Refutations at Wikisource
HTML Greek text via Greco interattivo

Fallacies in the language

Translated by W. A. Pickard-Cambridge
ChangingMinds.org: Aristotle's 13 fallacies

1. Equivocation
2. Amphibology
3. Composition
4. Division
5. Accent
6. Figure of speech or form of expression
Fallacies not in the language
1. Accident
2. Secundum quid
3. Irrelevant conclusion
4. Begging the question
5. False cause
6. Arming the consequent
7. Fallacy of many questions

63.1 References
Parry, William T.; Hacker, Edward A. (1991),
Aristotelian Logic, SUNY Press, p. 435, ISBN 9780-7914-0690-8
208

Chapter 64

Topics (Aristotle)
The Topics (Greek: ; Latin: Topica) is the name low from these..* [7] Dialectical reasoning is thereafter digiven to one of Aristotle's six works on logic collectively vided by Aristotle into inductive and deductive parts. The
known as the Organon:
endoxa themselves are sometimes, but not always, set out
in a propositional form, i.e. an express major or minor
The Topics constitutes Aristotle's treatise on the art of
dialecticthe invention and discovery of arguments in proposition, from which the complete syllogism may be
constructed. Often, such propositional construction is left
which the propositions rest upon commonly held opin*
ions or endoxa ( in Greek). [1] Topoi () are as a task to the practitioner of the dialectic art; in these
instances Aristotle gives only the general strategy for arplacesfrom which such arguments can be discovered
gument, leaving the provision of propositionsto the
or invented.
ingenuity of the disputant.

64.1 What is a topic"?

64.3 Division of the text

In his treatise on the Topics, Aristotle does not explicitly


dene a topos, though it isat least primarily a strategy for
argument not infrequently justied or explained by a principle.* [2] He characterises it in the Rhetoric* [3] thus:
I call the same thing element and topos; for an element
or a topos is a heading under which many enthymemes
fall.* [4] By element, he means a general form under
which enthymemes of the same type can be included.
Thus, the topos is a general argument source, from which
the individual arguments are instances, and is a sort of
template from which many individual arguments can be
constructed. The word (tpos, literallyplace, location) is also related to the ancient memory method
ofloci, by which things to be remembered are recollected by mentally connecting them with successive real
or imagined places.* [5]

Book I of the Topics is introductory, laying down a number of preliminary principles upon which dialectical argumentation proceeds. After dening dialectical reasoning (syllogism) and distinguishing it from demonstrative,
contentious, and (one might say) pseudo-scientic* [8]
syllogism, Aristotle notes the utility of the art of dialectic, then sets out four bases (accident, property, genus,
denition) from which invention of such reasoning proceeds. He next elucidates various senses ofsameness,
as bearing directly upon the usual character of such arguments. Dialectical propositions and dialectical problems
are characterized. Then, the (rgana) or means
by which arguments may be obtained are described, in a
four-fold summary, as:
1. the provision of propositions

64.2 How topics relate to Aristotle's theory of the syllogism

2. discovery of the number of senses of a term

Though the Topics, as a whole, does not deal directly with


the forms of syllogism",* [6] clearly Aristotle contemplates the use of topics as places from which dialectical syllogisms (i.e. arguments from the commonly held
) may be derived. This is evidenced by the fact
that the introduction to the Topics contains and relies
upon his denition of reasoning (, syllogisms): a verbal expression (, lgos) in which, certain
things having been laid down, other things necessarily fol-

4. the investigation of similarities

3. the discovery of dierences

Methods and rationale for attaining each of these ends are


briey illustrated and explained.
Book II is devoted to an explication of topics relating
to arguments where an "accident" (i.e. non-essential attribute, or an attribute that may or may not belong) is
predicated of a subject.

209

210

CHAPTER 64. TOPICS (ARISTOTLE)

Book III concerns commonplaces from which things can [4] Rhet. 1403a18-19
be discussed with respect to whether they are better
[5] E.g. as houses along a street one knows by heart
or worse.
Book IV deals with genushow it is discovered and
what are the sources of argument for and against attribution of a genus.
Book V discusses the base ofpropertythat which is
attributable only to a particular subject and is not an essential attribute. Property is subdivided into essential* [9]
and permanent, versus relative and temporary.
Book VI describesdenitionand the numerous means
that may be used to attack and defend a denition.
Book VII is a short recapitulation of denitionand
sameness, and compares the various diculties involved in forming arguments, both pro and con, about the
other bases of dialectical disputation.

[6] These are discussed elsewhere, as in the Prior Analytics.


[7] Topics 100a25-27
[8] For Aristotle, demonstrativearguments (,
apodexeis) are those that comprise science, and analyze
a particular genus or subject matter by means of propositions or axioms that admit of no further syllogistic proof.
Contentiousarguments are those that proceed from
propositions that only seem to be , or that only seem
to reason from such propositions.Pseudo-scienticarguments are those based upon faulty modelssuch as a
geometer's argument from a falsely drawn diagram.
[9] This does not mean that it expresses an attribute comprising an essential element of the subject, but rather that it
is a characteristic that is predicated solely of that subject
and that it is an eect of the essential nature of the subject

Book VIII (the nal book) is a lengthy survey containing


suggestions, hints, and some tricks about the technique of
organizing and delivering one or the other side of verbal
disputation.* [10]
[10] The Topics contemplates an adversarial system of ques-

64.4 The Topics as related to the


treatise on sophistical refutations
The Sophistical Refutations is viewed by some* [11] as an
appendix to the Topics, inasmuch as its nal section* [12]
appears to form an epilogue to both treatises.

tion and answer, in which one party attempts to elicit from


another, through yes-or-no questions, the conclusion he
wishes to prove.
[11] E.g. Forster, E. S. in Aristotle. Topica. Loeb Classical
Library Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1989. p.
265.
[12] 183a38-184b9

64.6 Further reading


64.5 Footnotes
[1] Thesecommonly held opinionsare not merely popular
notions held by the man-on-the-street about any and all
subjects; rather, the dialectical are commonplaces
of reason upon which those who conscientiously dispute
(all men, most men, the wise, most of the wise, or the best
known among the wise) agree in principle -- i.e. that which
is enshrined(to borrow a cognate religious term) in
opinion or belief among those who engage in disputation.
[2]Dialectic and Aristotle's Topics. Stump, Eleonore.
Boethius's De topicis dierentiis. Cornell University Press.
Ithaca and London, 1978. p. 170.
[3] Aristotle refers to rhetoric as the counterpart to dialecticin the introduction to his Rhetoric (1354a et seq), noting that both alike are arts of persuasion. Both deal, not
with a specic genus or subject, but with the broadly applicable principles of things that come within the ken of
all people. Rhetoric is distinguished from dialectic in that
the former employs not only syllogism (i.e. enthymeme),
but additionally makes use of the character of the speaker
and the emotions of the audience to perform its persuasive
task.

64.6.1 Critical editions and translations


Bekker, Immanuel. Corpus Aristotelicum. Berlin
1831. Oxford 1837. This is probably the most traditionally accepted critical edition of the works of
Aristotle (Greek).
Oxford Classical Text edition by W. D. Ross, 1958.
Aristotle. Topica. Translated by E. S. Forster. Loeb
Classical Library. Cambridge: Harvard University
Press, 1989. With facing Greek and English pages.
Collection Bud edition (includes French translation) of Books 14 by Jacques Brunschwig, 1967
(3nd ed., 2009).
Collection Bud edition (includes French translation) of Books 58 by Jacques Brunschwig, 2007).
Robin Smith (ed.). Aristotle's Topic Book I and VIII
Translation and commentary. Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1997.

64.7. EXTERNAL LINKS

64.6.2

Critical studies

G. E. L. Owen (ed). Aristotle on Dialectic: the


Topics. Proceedings of the Third Symposium Aristotelicum. Oxford, 1963). Oxford: Clarendon Press
1968.
Paul Slomkowski. Aristotle's Topics. Leiden: Brill
1997.
Sara Rubinelli. Ars Topica: the Classical Technique
of Constructing Arguments from Aristotle to Cicero.
Springer 2009.

64.7 External links


Works related to Topics at Wikisource
Topics, trans. by W. A. Pickard-Cambridge
http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/a/a8t/
http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/topics.html

211

Chapter 65

Aristotelianism
accordance with Christian theology.
After retreating under criticism from modern natural philosophers, the distinctively Aristotelian idea of
teleology was transmitted through Wol and Kant to
Hegel, who applied it to history as a totality. Although
this project was criticized by Trendelenburg and Brentano
as non-Aristotelian, Hegel's inuence is now often said
to be responsible for an important Aristotelian inuence
upon Marx. Postmodernists, in contrast, reject Aristotelianism's claim to reveal important theoretical truths.
In this, they follow Heidegger's critique of Aristotle as the
greatest source of the entire tradition of Western philosophy.
Recent Aristotelian ethical and 'practical' philosophy,
such as that of Gadamer and McDowell, is often
premissed upon a rejection of Aristotelianism's traditional metaphysical or theoretical philosophy. From
this viewpoint, the early modern tradition of political
republicanism, which views the res publica, public sphere
or state as constituted by its citizens' virtuous activity, can
appear thoroughly Aristotelian.
Aristotle, by Francesco Hayez

Aristotelianism (/rsttilinzm/ ARR-i-st-TEE-li-niz-m) is a tradition of philosophy that takes its dening inspiration from the work of Aristotle. The works of
Aristotle were initially defended by the members of the
Peripatetic school, and, later on, by the Neoplatonists,
who produced many commentaries on Aristotle's writings. In the Islamic world, the works of Aristotle were
translated into Arabic, and under philosophers such as AlKindi, Al-Farabi, Avicenna, and Averroes, Aristotelianism became a major part of early Islamic philosophy.
Moses Maimonides adopted Aristotelianism from the Islamic scholars and based his famous Guide for the Perplexed on it; and that became the basis of Jewish Scholastic Philosophy. Although some knowledge of Aristotle's
logical works was known to western Europe, it wasn't until the Latin translations of the 12th century that the works
of Aristotle and his Arabic commentators became widely
available. Scholars such as Albertus Magnus and Thomas
Aquinas interpreted and systematized Aristotle's works in

The most famous contemporary Aristotelian philosopher


is Alasdair MacIntyre. Especially famous for helping to
revive virtue ethics in his book After Virtue, MacIntyre
revises Aristotelianism with the argument that the highest
temporal goods, which are internal to human beings, are
actualized through participation in social practices. He
opposes Aristotelianism to the managerial institutions of
capitalism and its state, and to rival traditions - including the philosophies of Hume and Nietzsche - that reject
its idea of essentially human goods and virtues and instead legitimate capitalism. Therefore, on MacIntyre's
account, Aristotelianism is not identical with Western
philosophy as a whole; rather, it isthe best theory so far,
[including] the best theory so far about what makes a particular theory the best one.Politically and socially, it has
been characterized as a newly 'revolutionary Aristotelianism'. This may be contrasted with the more conventional,
apolitical and eectively conservative uses of Aristotle
by, for example, Gadamer and McDowell. Other important contemporary Aristotelian theorists include Fred D.
Miller, Jr. in politics and Rosalind Hursthouse in ethics.

212

65.1. HISTORY

65.1 History
65.1.1

Ancient Greece

Main article: Peripatetic school


The original followers of Aristotle were the members of
the Peripatetic school. The most prominent members of
the school after Aristotle were Theophrastus and Strato of
Lampsacus, who both continued Aristotle's researches.
During the Roman era the school concentrated on preserving and defending his work.* [1] The most important
gure in this regard was Alexander of Aphrodisias who
commentated on Aristotle's writings. With the rise of
Neoplatonism in the 3rd century, Peripateticism as an independent philosophy came to an end, but the Neoplatonists sought to incorporate Aristotle's philosophy within
their own system, and produced many commentaries on
Aristotle.

65.1.2

Islamic world

In the Abbasid Empire, many foreign works were translated into Arabic, large libraries were constructed, and
scholars were welcomed.* [2] Under the caliphs Harun alRashid and his son Al-Ma'mun, the House of Wisdom in
Baghdad ourished. Christian scholar Hunayn ibn Ishaq
(809873) was placed in charge of the translation work
by the caliph. In his lifetime, Ishaq translated 116 writings, including works by Plato and Aristotle, into Syriac
and Arabic.* [3]* [4] Al-Kindi (801873) was the rst of
the Muslim Peripatetic philosophers, and is known for
his eorts to introduce Greek and Hellenistic philosophy
to the Arab world.* [5] He incorporated Aristotelian and
Neoplatonist thought into an Islamic philosophical framework. This was an important factor in the introduction
and popularization of Greek philosophy in the Muslim
intellectual world.* [6]

213
work, and some 38 commentaries by Averroes on the
works of Aristotle have been identied.* [10] Although
his writings had only marginal impact in Islamic countries, his works would eventually have a huge impact in
the Latin West,* [10] and would lead to the school of
thought known as Averroism.

65.1.3 Europe
Although some knowledge of Aristotle seems to have
lingered on in the ecclesiastical centres of western Europe after the fall of the Roman empire, by the ninth
century nearly all that was known of Aristotle consisted
of Boethius's commentaries on the Organon, and a few
abridgments made by Latin authors of the declining empire, Isidore of Seville and Martianus Capella.* [11] From
that time until the end of the eleventh century, little
progress is apparent in Aristotelian knowledge.* [11]
The renaissance of the 12th century saw a major search
by European scholars for new learning. James of Venice,
who probably spent some years in Constantinople, translated Aristotle's Posterior Analytics from Greek into Latin
in the mid-twelfth century,* [12] thus making the complete Aristotelian logical corpus, the Organon, available
in Latin for the rst time. Scholars travelled to areas of
Europe that once had been under Muslim rule and still
had substantial Arabic-speaking populations. From central Spain, which had come under Christian rule in the
eleventh century, scholars produced many of the Latin
translations of the 12th century. The most productive of
these translators was Gerard of Cremona,* [13] (c. 1114
1187), who translated 87 books,* [14] which included
many of the works of Aristotle such as his Posterior Analytics, Physics, On the Heavens, On Generation and Corruption, and Meteorology. Michael Scot (c. 11751232)
translated Averroes' commentaries on the scientic works
of Aristotle.* [15]

The philosopher Al-Farabi (872950) had great inuence on science and philosophy for several centuries, and
in his time was widely thought second only to Aristotle
in knowledge (alluded to by his title of the Second
Teacher). His work, aimed at synthesis of philosophy and Susm, paved the way for the work of Avicenna
(9801037).* [7] Avicenna was one of the main interpreters of Aristotle.* [8] The school of thought he founded
became known as Avicennism, which was built on ingredients and conceptual building blocks that are largely
Aristotelian and Neoplatonist.* [9]

Aristotle's physical writings began to be discussed openly,


and at a time when Aristotle's method was permeating all
theology, these treatises were sucient to cause his prohibition for heterodoxy in the Condemnations of 1210
1277.* [11] In the rst of these, in Paris in 1210, it was
stated that neither the books of Aristotle on natural
philosophy or their commentaries are to be read at Paris
in public or secret, and this we forbid under penalty
of excommunication.* [16] However, despite further
attempts to restrict the teaching of Aristotle, by 1270
the ban on Aristotle's natural philosophy was ineective.* [17]

At the western end of the Mediterranean Sea, during the


reign of Al-Hakam II (961 to 976) in Crdoba, a massive
translation eort was undertaken, and many books were
translated into Arabic. Averroes (11261198), who spent
much of his life in Cordoba and Seville, was especially
distinguished as a commentator of Aristotle. He often
wrote two or three dierent commentaries on the same

William of Moerbeke (c. 12151286) undertook a complete translation of the works of Aristotle or, for some
portions, a revision of existing translations. He was the
rst translator of the Politics (c. 1260) from Greek into
Latin. Many copies of Aristotle in Latin then in circulation were assumed to have been inuenced by Averroes,
who was suspected of being a source of philosophical and

214

CHAPTER 65. ARISTOTELIANISM

theological errors found in the earlier translations of Aristotle. Such claims were without merit, however, as the
Alexandrian Aristotelianism of Averroes followed the
strict study of the text of Aristotle, which was introduced
by Avicenna, [because] a large amount of traditional
Neoplatonism was incorporated with the body of traditional Aristotelianism.* [18] Albertus Magnus (c. 1200
1280) was among the rst among medieval scholars to apply Aristotle's philosophy to Christian thought. He produced paraphrases of most of the works of Aristotle available to him.* [19] He digested, interpreted and systematized the whole of Aristotle's works, gleaned from the
Latin translations and notes of the Arabian commentators, in accordance with Church doctrine. His eorts resulted in the formation of a Christian reception of Aristotle in the Western Europe.* [19] Thomas Aquinas (1225
1274), the pupil of Albertus Magnus, wrote a dozen commentaries on the works of Aristotle.* [20] Thomas was
emphatically Aristotelian, he adopted Aristotle's analysis of physical objects, his view of place, time and motion, his proof of the prime mover, his cosmology, his
account of sense perception and intellectual knowledge,
and even parts of his moral philosophy.* [20] The philosophical school that arose as a legacy of the work of
Thomas Aquinas was known as Thomism, and was especially inuential among the Dominicans, and later, the
Jesuits.* [20]

MacIntyre is specially famous for helping to revive virtue


ethics in his book After Virtue. MacIntyre revises Aristotelianism with the argument that the highest temporal
goods, which are internal to human beings, are actualized through participation in social practices. He opposes Aristotelianism to the managerial institutions of
capitalism and its state, and to rival traditionsincluding the philosophies of Hume, Kant, Kierkegaard, and
Nietzschethat reject its idea of essentially human goods
and virtues and instead legitimize capitalism. Therefore,
on MacIntyre's account, Aristotelianism is not identical
with Western philosophy as a whole; rather, it isthe best
theory so far, [including] the best theory so far about what
makes a particular theory the best one.* [24] Politically
and socially, it has been characterized as a newly 'revolutionary Aristotelianism'. This may be contrasted with the
more conventional, apolitical and eectively conservative
uses of Aristotle by, for example, Gadamer and McDowell.* [25] Other important contemporary Aristotelian theorists include Fred D. Miller, Jr.* [26] in politics and Rosalind Hursthouse in ethics.* [27]
In metaphysics, an Aristotelian realism about universals is
defended by such philosophers as David Malet Armstrong
and Stephen Mumford, and is applied to the philosophy
of mathematics by James Franklin.

65.2 Criticism
65.1.4

Modern era

Bertrand Russell criticizes Aristotle's logic on the followAfter retreating under criticism from modern natu- ing points:* [28]
ral philosophers, the distinctively Aristotelian idea of
teleology was transmitted through Wol and Kant to
1. The Aristotelian system allows formal defects leadHegel, who applied it to history as a totality. Although
ing tobad metaphysics. For example, the followthis project was criticized by Trendelenburg and Brentano
ing syllogism is permitted: All golden mountains
as un-Aristotelian, Hegel's inuence is now often said
are mountains, all golden mountains are golden,
to be responsible for an important Aristotelian inutherefore some mountains are golden, which inence upon Marx.* [21] Postmodernists, in contrast, resinuates the existence of at least one golden mounject Aristotelianism's claim to reveal important theorettain.* [29] Furthermore, according to Russell, a
*
ical truths. [22] In this, they follow Heidegger's critique
predicate of a predicate can be a predicate of the
of Aristotle as the greatest source of the entire tradition
original subject, which blurs the distinction between
of Western philosophy.
names and predicates with disastrous consequences;
for example, a class with only one member is erroneously identied with that one member, making
65.1.5 Contemporary Aristotelianism
impossible to have a correct theory of the number
one.* [30]
Aristotelianism is understood by its proponents as
2. The syllogism is overvalued in comparison to other
critically developing Plato's theories.* [23] Recent
forms of deduction. For example, syllogisms are not
Aristotelian ethical and 'practical' philosophy, such as
employed in mathematics since they are less convethat of Gadamer and McDowell, is often premised upon
nient.* [30]
a rejection of Aristotelianism's traditional metaphysical
or theoretical philosophy. From this viewpoint, the early
modern tradition of political republicanism, which views In addition, Russell ends his review of the Aristotelian
the res publica, public sphere or state as constituted logic with these words:
by its citizens' virtuous activity, can appear thoroughly
Aristotelian.
I conclude that the Aristotelian doctrines
The contemporary Aristotelian philosopher Alasdair

with which we have been concerned in this

65.4. NOTES
chapter are wholly false, with the exception of
the formal theory of the syllogism, which is
unimportant. Any person in the present day
who wishes to learn logic will be wasting his
time if he reads Aristotle or any of his disciples. None the less, Aristotle's logical writings show great ability, and would have been
useful to mankind if they had appeared at a
time when intellectual originality was still active. Unfortunately, they appeared at the very
end of the creative period of Greek thought,
and therefore came to be accepted as authoritative. By the time that logical originality revived, a reign of two thousand years had made
Aristotle very dicult to dethrone. Throughout modern times, practically every advance in
science, in logic, or in philosophy has had to be
made in the teeth of the opposition from Aristotle's disciples.* [31]

215

[10] Edward Grant, (1996), The foundations of modern science


in the Middle Ages, page 30. Cambridge University Press
[11] Auguste Schmolders, History of Arabian Philosophy in
The eclectic magazine of foreign literature, science, and
art, Volume 46. February 1859
[12] L.D. Reynolds and Nigel G. Wilson, Scribes and Scholars,
Oxford, 1974, p. 106.
[13] C. H. Haskins, Renaissance of the Twelfth Century, p.
287. more of Arabic science passed into Western Europe at the hands of Gerard of Cremona than in any other
way.
[14] For a list of Gerard of Cremona's translations see: Edward
Grant (1974) A Source Book in Medieval Science, (Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Pr.), pp. 358 or Charles Burnett,
The Coherence of the Arabic-Latin Translation Program
in Toledo in the Twelfth Century,Science in Context, 14
(2001): at 249-288, at pp. 275281.

65.3 See also

[15] Christoph Kann (1993). Michael Scotus. In Bautz,


Traugott. Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon
(BBKL) (in German) 5. Herzberg: Bautz. cols. 1459
1461. ISBN 3-88309-043-3.

Hylomorphism

[16] Edward Grant, A Source Book in Medieval Science, page


42 (1974). Harvard University Press

Phronesis
Platonism

65.4 Notes
[1] Furley, David (2003), From Aristotle to Augustine: Routledge History of Philosophy, 2, Routledge
[2] Gaston Wiet, Baghdad: Metropolis of the Abbasid
Caliphate Retrieved 2010-04-16
[3] Opth: Azmi, Khurshid.Hunain bin Ishaq on Ophthalmic
Surgery.Bulletin of the Indian Institute of History of
Medicine 26 (1996): 6974. Web. 29 Oct. 2009
[4] Lindberg, David C. The Beginnings of Western Science:
Islamic Science. Chicago: The University of Chicago,
2007. Print.
[5] Klein-Frank, F. Al-Kindi. In Leaman, O & Nasr, H
(2001). History of Islamic Philosophy. London: Routledge. p 165
[6] Felix Klein-Frank (2001) Al-Kindi, pages 166167. In
Oliver Leaman & Hossein Nasr. History of Islamic Philosophy. London: Routledge.
[7] Avicenna (Ibn Sina) (c.9801037)". The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 2007-07-13.

[17] Rubenstein, Richard E. Aristotle's Children: How Christians, Muslims, and Jews Rediscovered Ancient Wisdom and Illuminated the Middle Ages, page 215 (2004).
Houghton Miin Harcourt
[18] Schmlders, Auguste (1859). "Essai sur les Ecoles
Philosophiques chez les Arabespar Auguste Schmlders,
(Paris 1842)" [Essay on the Schools of Philosophy in
Arabia] (fulltext/pdf). In Telford, John; Barber, Benjamin Aquila; Watkinson, William Lonsdale; Davison,
William Theophilus. The London Quarterly Review 11.
J.A. Sharp. p. 60. We have said already that the most
interesting and important of the Arabian schools is that
which was the simple expression of Alexandrian Aristotelianism, the school of Avicenna and Averroes; or, as
the Arabians themselves called it par excellence, that of
the 'philosophers.' In no material point did they dier
from their master, and, therefore, an exposition of their
doctrines would be useless to those who know anything of
the history of philosophy; but, before the strict study of
the text of Aristotle, which was introduced by Avicenna,
a large amount of traditional Neo-Platonism was incorporated with the body of traditional Aristotelianism, so as to
take them sometimes far astray from their master's track.
[19] Albert the Great entry by Markus Fhrer in the Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy
[20] Saint Thomas Aquinas entry by Ralph McInerny in the
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

[8] Avicenna (Abu Ali Sina)". Sjsu.edu. Archived from the


original on 11 January 2010. Retrieved 2010-01-19.

[21] For example, George E. McCarthy (ed.), Marx and Aristotle: Nineteenth-Century German Social Theory and Classical Antiquity, Although many disagree Rowman & Littleeld, 1992.

[9] Avicenna. Encyclopedia Iranica. Retrieved 2010-0414.

[22] For example, Ted Sadler, Heidegger and Aristotle: The


Question of Being, Athlone, 1996.

216

[23] For contrasting examples of this, see Hans-Georg


Gadamer, The Idea of the Good in Platonic-Aristotelian
Philosophy (trans. P. Christopher Smith), Yale University Press, 1986, and Lloyd P. Gerson, Aristotle and Other
Platonists, Cornell University Press, 2005.
[24] Alasdair MacIntyre, 'An Interview with Giovanna Borradori', in Kelvin Knight (ed.), The MacIntyre Reader,
Polity Press / University of Notre Dame Press, 1998, p.
264.
[25] Kelvin Knight, Aristotelian Philosophy: Ethics and Politics
from Aristotle to MacIntyre, Polity Press, 2007.
[26] Fred D. Miller, Jr., Nature, Justice, and Rights in Aristotle's
Politics, Oxford University Press, 1997.
[27] Rosalind Hursthouse, On Virtue Ethics, Oxford University
Press, 1999.
[28] Russell (1967), Chapter XXII Aristotle's Logic
[29] Russell (1967, p. 197)
[30] Russell (1967, p. 198)
[31] Russell (1967, p. 202)

65.5 Further reading

CHAPTER 65. ARISTOTELIANISM


MacIntyre, Alasdair, Three Rival Versions of Moral
Enquiry: Encyclopaedia, Genealogy, and Tradition,
University of Notre Dame Press / Duckworth, 1990.
MacIntyre, Alasdair, 'The Theses on Feuerbach: A
Road Not Taken', in Kelvin Knight (ed.), The MacIntyre Reader, University of Notre Dame Press /
Polity Press, 1998.
MacIntyre, Alasdair, Dependent Rational Animals:
Why Human Beings Need the Virtues, Open Court /
Duckworth, 1999.
MacIntyre, Alasdair, 'Natural Law as Subversive:
The Case of Aquinas' and 'Rival Aristotles: 1. Aristotle Against Some Renaissance Aristotelians; 2.
Aristotle Against Some Modern Aristotelians', in
MacIntyre, Ethics and Politics: Selected Essays volume 2, Cambridge University Press, 2006.
Moraux, Paul, Der Aristotelismus bei den Griechen,
Von Andronikos bis Alexander von Aphrodisias: Vol.
I: Die Renaissance des Aristotelismus im I. Jh.v.
Chr. (1973); Vol. II: Der Aristotelismus im I.
und II. Jh.n. Chr. (1984); Vol. III: Alexander
von Aphrodisias (2001) Edited by Jrgen Wiesner,
with a chapter on Ethics by Robert W. Sharples.

Russell, Bertrand (1967), A History of Western Philosophy, Simon & Schuster, ISBN 0671201581

Riedel, Manfred (ed.), Rehabilitierung der praktischen Philosophie, Rombach, volume 1, 1972; volume 2, 1974.

Chappell, Timothy (ed.), Values and Virtues: Aristotelianism in Contemporary Ethics, Oxford University Press, 2006.

Ritter, Joachim, Metaphysik und Politik: Studien zu


Aristoteles und Hegel, Suhrkamp, 1977.

Ferrarin, Alfredo, Hegel and Aristotle, Cambridge


University Press, 2001.

Schrenk, Lawrence P. (ed.), Aristotle in Late Antiquity, Catholic University of America Press, 1994.

Kenny, Anthony, Essays on the Aristotelian Tradition, Oxford University Press, 2001.

Sharples, R. W. (ed.), Whose Aristotle? Whose Aristotelianism?, Ashgate, 2001.

Knight, Kelvin, Aristotelian Philosophy: Ethics and


Politics from Aristotle to MacIntyre, Polity Press,
2007. ISBN 978-0-7456-1976-7.

Shute, Richard, On the History of the Process by


Which the Aristotelian Writings Arrived at Their
Present Form, Arno Press, 1976 (originally 1888).

Knight, Kelvin & Paul Blackledge (eds.), Revolutionary Aristotelianism: Ethics, Resistance and
Utopia, Lucius & Lucius (Stuttgart, Germany),
2008.

Sorabji, Richard (ed.), Aristotle Transformed: The


Ancient Commentators and Their Inuence, Duckworth, 1990.

Lobkowicz, Nicholas, Theory and Practice: History


of a Concept from Aristotle to Marx, University of
Notre Dame Press, 1967.
MacIntyre, Alasdair, After Virtue: A Study in Moral
Theory, University of Notre Dame Press, 1984 /
Duckworth, 1985 (2nd edn.).
MacIntyre, Alasdair, Whose Justice? Which Rationality?, University of Notre Dame Press / Duckworth, 1988.

Stocks, John Leofric, Aristotelianism, Harrap, 1925.


Veatch, Henry B., Rational Man: A Modern Interpretation of Aristotelian Ethics, Indiana University
Press, 1962.

65.6 External links


The Peripatos after Aristotle: Origin of the Corpus
Aristotelicum with an annotated bibliography

65.6. EXTERNAL LINKS


Clayton, Edward. (2005) Political Philosophy of
Alasdair MacIntyre, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
International Society for MacIntyrean Enquiry

217

Chapter 66

Ancient commentators project


The Ancient Commentators on Aristotle project based
at King's College London and under the direction of
Richard Sorabji has undertaken to translate into English
the ancient commentaries on Aristotle. The project began in 1987 and in 2012 published its 100th volume. A
further 30 or so volumes are planned. The project is now
co-edited by Michael Grin (UBC).

66.1 See also


Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca

66.2 External links


Ancient Commentators Project at King's College
London
Commentators on Aristotle entry by Andrea Falcon
in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
The Aristotelian Commentators: A Bibliographical
Guide (PDF) by John Sellars

218

Chapter 67

Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca


Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca [edita consilio
et auctoritate academiae litterarum Regiae Borussicae]
(CAG) is the standard collection of extant ancient Greek
commentaries on Aristotle. The 23 volumes in the series were released between the years 1882 and 1909 by
the publisher Reimer. Many of these commentaries have
since been translated into English by the Ancient commentators project.

67.1 External links


Commentators on Aristotle entry by Andrea Falcon
in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Digitalised Volumes at archive.org.
Ancient Greek OCR of the above archive.org volumes, provided at the Lace collection of Mount Allison University. An open source XML version of the
Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca has been made
available by the Open Greek and Latin Project at the
University of Leipzig in collaboration with Lace.
Ancient Commentators Project at King's College
London.
The Aristotelian Commentators: A Bibliographical
Guide (PDF) by John Sellars.

219

Chapter 68

Commentaries on Aristotle
Commentaries on Aristotle refers to the great mass of
literature produced, especially in the ancient and medieval world, to explain and clarify the works of Aristotle. The pupils of Aristotle were the rst to comment on his writings, a tradition which was continued
by the Peripatetic school throughout the Hellenistic period and the Roman era. The Neoplatonists of the late
Roman empire wrote many commentaries on Aristotle,
attempting to incorporate him into their philosophy. Although Ancient Greek commentaries are considered the
most useful, commentaries continued to be written by the
Christian scholars of the Byzantine Empire, and by the
many Islamic philosophers and Western scholastics who
had inherited his texts.

68.1 Greek commentators

which was found to be so suitable a complement to the


Categories of Aristotle, that it was usually prexed to that
treatise.* [1] Porphyry sought to show that Plato and Aristotle were in harmony with each other, especially in regards to the compatibility of Aristotle's Categories with
Plato's Theory of Forms.* [3] Porphyry's pupil Iamblichus
continued this process of harmonising Plato and Aristotle, and Dexippus, a disciple of Iamblichus, wrote a Reply to the Objections of Plotinus against Aristotle's Categories, which is still extant. Themistius (4th century),
who taught at Constantinople with great success, paraphrased several of the works of Aristotle, particularly
the Posterior Analytics, the Physics, and the book On the
Soul. In the 5th century, Ammonius Hermiae represented Plato and Aristotle in agreeing that god was the
articier of a beginningless universe.* [3] Olympiodorus,
an Alexandrian philosopher, wrote commentaries upon
Aristotle's Meteorology and Categories.* [2] Simplicius of
Cilicia (6th century) wrote extensive commentaries upon
Aristotle, and, like many of the other Neoplatonists, attempted to reconcile the doctrines of the Pythagoreans,
of the Eleatics, of Plato, and of the Stoics, with those
of Aristotle.* [1] He also strenuously defended Aristotle's
doctrine concerning the eternity of the world.* [2]

The rst pupils of Aristotle commentated on his writings, but often with a view to expand his work. Thus
Theophrastus invented ve moods of syllogism in the rst
gure, in addition to the four invented by Aristotle, and
stated with additional accuracy the rules of hypothetical
syllogisms. He also often diered with his master,* [1]
including in collecting much information concerning an- In the 6th century, Boethius, whose commentaries on
the logical works of Aristotle became the only commenimals and natural events, which Aristotle had omitted.
taries in Latin available to the West, entertained the deDuring the early Roman empire we nd few celebrated sign of translating into Latin the whole of Aristotle's and
names among the Peripatetic philosophers. Nicolaus of Plato's works, and of showing their agreement; a giganDamascus wrote several treatises on the philosophy of tic plan, which he never executed.* [1] Others employed
Aristotle; and Alexander of Aegae also wrote commen- themselves in disentangling the confusion which such attaries on Aristotle.* [2] The earliest commentaries which tempts produced, as John Philoponus, who, in the sixth
survive, are those written in the 2nd century by Adrastus century, maintained that Aristotle was entirely misunderand Aspasius.* [3] Alexander of Aphrodisias (c. 200) was stood by Porphyry and Proclus in incorporating his docregarded by subsequent Aristotelians among the Greeks, trines into those of the Neoplatonists, or even in reconcilLatins, and Muslims, as the best interpreter of Aristotle. ing him with Plato himself on the subject of ideas, oerOn account of the number and value of his commentaries, ing instead a Christian interpretation of the Aristotelian
he was called, by way of distinction, The Commenta- corpus.* [1] Others, again, wrote epitomes, compounds,
tor. Several of his works are still extant, among which abstracts; and tried to throw the works of Aristotle into
is a treatise On Fate, wherein he supports the doctrine of some simpler and more obviously regular form, as John
divine providence.* [2]
of Damascus, in the middle of the 8th century, who made
Many of the Neoplatonists undertook to explain and il- abstracts of some of Aristotle's works, and introduced the
lustrate the writings of Aristotle, particularly on the sub- study of the author into theological education. John of
ject of dialectics, which Plato had left imperfect.* [2] Damascus lived under the patronage of the Arabs, and
Porphyry (3rd century) wrote a book on the Categories, was at rst secretary to the Caliph, but afterwards with220

68.4. COMMENTATORS IN THE LATIN WEST


drew to a monastery.* [1]

68.2 Islamic commentators


In the 9th century, the Platonising school of Thbit ibn
Qurra in Baghdad translated Aristotle and his commentators into Arabic.* [3] Islamic scholars made a point
of studying the writings of Aristotle, especially his
metaphysical and logical writings, and also of his Physics.
They wrote commentaries on Aristotle, and developed
still further the abstract logical element. Many of these
commentaries are still extant.* [4]

221

68.4 Commentators in the Latin


West
Scholastic philosophy in the Latin West was decisively
shaped when the works of Aristotle became widely available, at rst through translations of commentators and
their basis texts from Arabic, and later through translations from Greek of Aristotle's original text (notably by
William of Moerbeke) and of the Greek commentators.
Albertus Magnus, Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, and
William of Ockham, among many others, wrote important philosophical works in the form of Aristotelian commentaries.

Al-Kindi, who wrote a commentary on Aristotelian 68.5 Lists and indices of commenlogic, lived in the 9th century, under Al-Ma'mun. Altaries on Aristotle
Farabi (10th century) wrote commentaries on Aristotle's Organon, which were made diligent use of by the
Scholastics. It is related of him that he read through A list of Medieval and Renaissance commentaries on all
Aristotle's treatise On Hearing forty times, and his of Aristotle's works has been compiled by Charles H.
Rhetoric two hundred times, without getting at all tired Lohr:* [6]
of them.* [4] The physicians made a study of philosophy,
and formulated theories; among them was Avicenna (c.
1967:Medieval Aristotle Commentaries: Authors
980-1037), who came from Bukhara, to the east of the
A-F, Traditio, 23, 313-413.
Caspian Sea; he wrote a commentary on Aristotle. AlGhazali (10581111) wrote compendiums of logic and
1968:Medieval Aristotle Commentaries: Authors
metaphysics. Averroes (11261198) was especially disG-I, Traditio, 24, 149-245.
tinguished as a commentator of Aristotle.* [4] He often
1970:Medieval Aristotle Commentaries: Authors
wrote two or three dierent commentaries on the same
Jacobus-Johannes Ju, Traditio, 26, 135-216.
work, and some 38 commentaries by Averroes on the
*
works of Aristotle have been identied. [5] Although his
1971:Medieval Aristotle Commentaries: Authors
writings had only marginal impact in Islamic countries,
Johannes de KanthiMyngodus, Traditio, 27, 251his works had a huge impact in the Latin West following
351.
the Latin translations of the 12th and 13th centuries.* [5]
1972:Medieval Aristotle Commentaries: Authors
NarcissusRichardus, Traditio, 28, 281-396.

68.3 Byzantine commentators


The line of the Aristotelian commentators was continued
to the later ages of the Byzantine Empire. In the 12th century Anna Comnena organised a group of scholars which
included the commentators Michael of Ephesus,* [3] and
Eustratius of Nicaea who employed himself upon the dialectic and moral treatises, and whom she does not hesitate to elevate above the Stoics and Platonists for his talent
in philosophical discussions.* [1] Nicephorus Blemmydes
wrote logical and physical epitomes for the use of John
Ducas; George Pachymeres composed an epitome of the
philosophy of Aristotle, and a compendium of his logic:
Theodore Metochites, who was famous in his time for his
eloquence and his learning, has left a paraphrase of the
books of Aristotle on Physics, On the Soul, On the Heavens, etc.* [1] The same period saw the commentaries and
paraphrases of Sophonias.

1973:Medieval Aristotle Commentaries: Authors


RobertusWilgelmus, Traditio, 29, 93-197.
1974:Medieval Aristotle Commentaries: Supplementary Authors ", Traditio, 30, 119-144.
1974:Renaissance Latin Aristotle Commentaries:
Authors A-B, Studies in the Renaissance, 21, 228289.
1975:Renaissance Latin Aristotle Commentaries:
Authors C, Renaissance Quarterly, 28, 689-741.
1976:Renaissance Latin Aristotle Commentaries:
Authors D-F, Renaissance Quarterly, 29, 714-745.
1977:Renaissance Latin Aristotle Commentaries:
Authors G-K, Renaissance Quarterly, 30, 681-741.
1978:Renaissance Latin Aristotle Commentaries:
Authors L-M, Renaissance Quarterly, 31, 532-603.

222
1979:Renaissance Latin Aristotle Commentaries:
Authors N-Ph, Renaissance Quarterly, 32, 529580.
1980:Renaissance Latin Aristotle Commentaries:
Authors Pi-Sm, Renaissance Quarterly, 33, 623374.
1982:Renaissance Latin Aristotle Commentaries:
Authors So-Z, Renaissance Quarterly, 35, 164256.
1988: Latin Aristotle CommentariesII: Renaissance
Authors, Firenze: Leo S. Olschki.

68.6 See also


Ancient commentators project
Aristotelianism
Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca
Commentaries on Plato
Conimbricenses
List of writers inuenced by Aristotle
List of Renaissance commentators on Aristotle

CHAPTER 68. COMMENTARIES ON ARISTOTLE


Richard Sorabji, Aristotle Commentatorsentry
in Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy (1998)
William Whewell, (1837), History of the Inductive
Sciences: From the Earliest to the Present Times,
pages 271-5

68.9 Further reading


Fabrizio Amerini, Gabriele Galluzzo (eds.), (2013),
A Companion to the Latin Medieval Commentaries
on Aristotle's Metaphysics, Leiden-Boston: Brill.
Roy K. Gibson, Christina Shuttleworth Kraus,
(eds,), (2002), The Classical Commentary: Histories,
Practices, Theory, Brill,
Lloyd A. Newton (ed.), (2008), Medieval Commentaries on Aristotle's Categories (Leiden, Brill, 2008)
(Brill's Companions to the Christian Tradition, 10).
Richard Sorabji (ed.), (1990), Aristotle Transformed: The Ancient Commentators and their Inuence, Duckworth.
Richard Sorabji (ed.), (2005), The Philosophy of the
Commentators 200-600 AD. A Sourcebook. Cornell
University Press (3 volumes).
Miira Tuominen, (2009), The Ancient Commentators on Plato and Aristotle, Durham: Acumen.

68.7 References
68.10 External links
[1] Brucker 1837, pages 349-53
[2] Whewell 1837, pages 271-5
[3] Sorabji 1998, pages 435-7
[4] Hegel 1896, pages 34-5
[5] Grant 1996, page 30
[6] Heinrich Kuhn, "Aristotelianism in the Renaissance,
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy accessed September
22, 2009.

68.8 Sources
Johann Jakob Brucker, (1837), The History of Philosophy, from the Earliest Periods, pages 349-53
Edward Grant, (1996), The foundations of modern
science in the Middle Ages: their religious, page 30.
Cambridge University Press
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, (1896), Lectures on
the History of Philosophy, Part Two. Philosophy of
the Middle Ages, pages 3435

Commentators on Aristotle entry by Andrea Falcon


in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
A Bibliographical Guide to the Aristotelian Commentators (PDF)
The Neoplatonic Commentators on Aristotle's
Metaphysics with an annotated bibliography on the
Ancient Greek Commentators
The Stoic Theory of Categories and Plotinus' Criticism of Aristotle
Ancient Greek Commentators on Aristotle's Categories
Latin Medieval Commentators on Aristotle's Categories

Chapter 69

Hexis
For other uses, see Hexis (disambiguation).

(praxis) or motion; for when one thing makes


and another is made, there is between them an
act of making. In this way between the man
who has a garment and the garment which is
had, there is ahaving (hexis).Clearly, then,
it is impossible to have a having(hexis) in
this sense; for there will be an innite series
if we can have the having of what we have.
But (b) there is another sense of having
which means a disposition (diathesis), in virtue
of which (kath' ho) the thing which is disposed
is disposed well or badly, and either independently or in relation to something else. E.g.,
health is a state (hexis), since it is a disposition
of the kind described. Further, any part of such
a disposition is called a state (hexis); and hence
the excellence (arete) of the parts is a kind of
state (hexis).
Aristot. Met. 5.1022b* [3]

Hexis () is a relatively stable arrangement or disposition, for example a person's health or knowledge or character. It is a Greek word, important in the philosophy
of Aristotle, and because of this it has become a traditional word of philosophy. It stems from a verb related
to possession or having, and Jacob Klein, for example, translates it as possession. It is more typically
translated in modern texts occasionally as state(e.g.,
H. Rackham), but more often as "disposition". Joe Sachs
translates it asactive condition, in order to make sure
that hexis is not confused with passive conditions of the
soul, such as feelings and impulses or mere capacities that
belong to us by nature. Sachs points to Aristotle's own
distinction, explained for example in categories 8b, which
distinguishes the word diathesis, normally uncontroversially translated as disposition. In this passage, diathesis
only applies to passive and shallow dispositions that are
easy to remove and change, such as being hot or cold,
while hexis is reserved for deeper and more active dispo- So according to Aristotle, a "hexis" is a type of dispositions, such as properly getting to know something in a sition(diathesis) which he in turn describes in the same
way that it will not be easily forgotten. Another common as follows...
example of a human hexis in Aristotle is health (hugieia,
or sometimes euhexia, in Greek) and in cases where hexis
Dispositionmeans arrangement (taxis) of
is discussed in the context of health, it is sometimes transthat which has parts, either in space (topos) or
lated as constitution.
in potentiality (dunamis) or in form (eidos). It
must be a kind of position (thesis) , as indeed is
Apart from needing to be relatively stable or permaclear
from the word,disposition(diathesis).
nent, in contexts concerning humans (such as knowledge,
Aristot.
Met. 5.1022b* [4]
health, and good character) hexis is also generally understood to be contrasted from other dispositions, conditions
and habits, by beingacquiredby some sort of training And specically it is the type of dispositionin virtue of
or other habituation.* [1]
which (kath' ho) the thing which is disposed is disposed
Other uses also occur, for example it is sometimes trans- well or badly, and either independently or in relation to
lated as habit, based upon the classical translation something else.
from Greek to Latin "habitus", which also comes from a
verb indicating having.

The wording in virtue of whichwas also described in


the same passage...

Being in a truly xed state, as opposed to being stable,


is not implied in the original Aristotelian usage of this
word.* [2] He uses the example of "health" being a hexis.
Having(hexis) means (a) In one sense
an activity (energeia), as it were, of the haver
and the thing had, or as in the case of an action
223

That in virtue of whichhas various meanings. (a) The form or essence of each individual thing; e.g., that in virtue of which a man is
good is goodness itself.(b) The immediate substrate in which a thing is naturally produced; as, e.g., color is produced in the surface

224

CHAPTER 69. HEXIS

of things. Thusthat in virtue of whichin the


primary sense is the form , and in the secondary
sense, as it were, the matter of each thing, and
the immediate substrate. And in generalthat
in virtue of whichwill exist in the same number of senses as cause. For we say indifferently in virtue of what has he come?" or
for what reason has he come?" andin virtue
of what has he inferred or inferred falsely?" or
what is the cause of his inference or false inference?" (And further, there is the positional
sense of kath' ho, in which he stands,or
in which he walks"; all these examples denote
place or position).
Aristot. Met. 5.1022a.* [5]

Happiness then, is an energeia, but virtue of character (often translated as moral virtue) is made up of hexeis.
Happiness is said to deserve honoring like the divine if it
actually achieved, while virtue of character, being only a
potential achievement, deserves praise but is lower.* [8]

69.1 New Testament


This Greek word is also found in the new testament in
Hebrews 5:14
14 But strong meat belongeth to them that
are of full age, even those who by reason of
use(1838) have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
Hebrews 5:14 (KJV)

In Aristotle then, a hexis is an arrangement of parts such


that the arrangement might have excellence, being well
arranged, or in contrast, might be badly arranged. Also ...and dened in the Strong's concordance* [9]...
see Aristotle's Categories viii* [6] where a hexis (habit
in the translation of Edghill) is contrasted with a disposi1838 [hexis /hexis/] n f. From 2192;
tion (diathesis) in terms of it being more permanent and
GK 2011; AV translates as useonce. 1 a
less easy to change. The example given is knowledge
habit whether of body or mind. 2 a power ac(epistem).
quired by custom, practice, use.
In perhaps the most important case, Aristotle contrasted
hexis with energeia (in the sense of activity or operation)
at Nicomachean Ethics I.viii.1098b33 and Eudemian 69.2 References
Ethics II.i.1218b. The subject here was eudaimonia, the
proper aim of human life, often translated ashappiness
[1] See for example hexis entry in LSJ.
and hexis is contrasted with energeia () in order
to show the correctness of a proposed denition of eudai- [2] Stasis, in Greek, was rest. In fact, neither a hexis nor
monia - activity () in conformity with virtue
a dunamis are static or moving because they do not exist
in the way that moving things exist (Metaphysics IX).

Now with those who pronounce happiness to be virtue, or some particular virtue,
our denition is in agreement; for activity
() in conformity with virtue(aret)
involves virtue. But no doubt it makes a great
dierence whether we conceive the Supreme
Good to depend on possessing virtue or on
displaying iton disposition (), or on the
manifestation of a disposition in action. For
a man may possess the disposition without its
producing any good result, as for instance when
he is asleep, or has ceased to function from
some other cause; but virtue in active exercise cannot be inoperative it will of necessity act (praxis), and act well (eu praxei). And
just as at the Olympic games the wreaths of
victory are not bestowed upon the handsomest
and strongest persons present, but on men who
enter for the competitionssince it is among
these that the winners are found,so it is those
who act rightly who carry o the prizes and
good things of life.
Aristot. Nic. Eth. 1098b* [7]

[3] Greek from Perseus Project:


[5] ,

, :
:

,
[10] ,
,
, :
.
:
.
[4] Greek from Perseus:
:
,
.
[5] Greek from Perseus Project:
, [15]
, ,
, ,
.
,
.

69.3. BIBLIOGRAPHY

[20] :
,
,
.
, :
.
[6] http://www.classicallibrary.org/aristotle/categories/2.
htm#8
[7] Greek from Perseus Project:
:
.

, .
,
,
: ,
.

,

.
[8] Aristot. Nic. Eth. Book I Ch.12 1101b-1102a
[9] Strong, J. (1996). The exhaustive concordance of the
Bible : Showing every word of the test of the common English version of the canonical books, and every occurrence
of each word in regular order. (electronic ed.) (G1838).
Ontario: Woodside Bible Fellowship.

69.3 Bibliography
A Commentary on Plato's Meno (University of North
Carolina Press, 1965)
Sachs, Joe (1995), Aristotle's physics: a guided study
Sachs, Joe (1999), Introduction by Joe Sachs
, Aristotle's Metaphysics, a new translation by Joe
Sachs, Santa Fe, NM: Green Lion Books, ISBN 1888009-03-9

225

Chapter 70

Hyle
In philosophy, hyle (/hali/; from Ancient Greek: )
refers to matter or stu. It can also be the material cause
underlying a change in Aristotelian philosophy. The
Greeks originally had no word for matter in general, as
opposed to raw material suitable for some specic purpose or other, so Aristotle adapted the word for wood
to this purpose.* [1] The idea that everything physical is
made of the same basic substance holds up well under
modern science, although it may be thought of more in
terms of energy or matter/energy.* [2]

in order to explain what is observed, that is a valid indirect demonstration (by abductive reasoning). Moreover,
something like a prime substance is posited by physics in
the form of matter/energy.

70.2 See also


Aristotle
Aristotelianism
Holor

70.1 Substance

Hylomorphism

The matter of hyle is closely related to that of substance,


in so far as both endure a change in form, or transformation. Aristotle dened primary substance as that which
can neither be predicated nor attributed to something
else,* [3] and he explained the transformation between
the four terrestrial elements in terms of an abstract primary matter that underlies each element due to the four
combinations of two properties: hot or cold and wet or
dry. He stipulated that transformations between opposing elements, where both properties dier, must be analyzed as two discrete steps wherein one of the two properties changes to its contrary while the other remains unchanged, (see essence and hylomorphism).

Hylopathism
Hylozoism
Matter
Materialism
Noumenon
Prima materia
Substance theory

70.3 References

Modern substance theory diers, for example Kant's


Ding an sich, or "thing in itself", is generally described
as whatever is its own cause, or alternatively as a thing
whose only property is that it is that thing (or, in other
words, that it has only that property). However, this notion is subject to the criticism, as by Nietzsche, that there
is no way to directly prove the existence of any thing
which has no properties, since such a thing could not possibly interact with other things and thus would be unobservable and indeterminate.
On the other hand, we may need to postulate a substance
that endures through change in order to explain the nature of changewithout an enduring factor that persists
through change, there is no change but only a succession
of unrelated events. The existence of change is hard to
deny, and if we have to postulate something unobserved

[1] Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, James Morris


Whiton, A lexicon abridged from Liddell & Scott's GreekEnglish lexicon (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1891),
725.
[2] Leclerc, Ivor (2004). The Nature of Physical Existence.
Routledge. p. 117. ISBN 0-415-29561-0.
[3] Robinson, Howard (2009). Substance. In Edward N.
Zalta. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter
2009 ed.).

70.4 External links

226

Denition

Chapter 71

Instantiation principle
The principle of instantiation or principle of exemplication is the concept in metaphysics and logic that there
can be no uninstantiated or unexemplied properties (or
universals). In other words, it is impossible for a property
to exist which is not had by some object. Aristotle is well
known for endorsing the principle and Plato for denying
it.
Consider a chair. Presumably chairs did not exist 150,000
years ago. Thus, according to the Principle of Instantiation, the property of being a chair did not exist 150,000
years ago either. Similarly (and assuming objects are colored), if all red objects were to suddenly go out of existence, then the property of being red would likewise go
out of existence.
To make the Principle of Instantiation more plausible in
the light of these examples, the existence of properties or
universals is not tied to their actual existence now, but to
their existence in space-time considered as a whole.* [1]
Thus, any property which is instantiated, has been instantiated, or will be instantiated exists. The property of being red would exist even if all red things were to be destroyed, because it has been instantiated. This broadens
the range of properties which exist if the principle is true.
Those who endorse the principle of instantiation are
known as in re realists or immanent realists.* [2]

71.1 References
[1] Armstrong, David (1989). Universals: An Opinionated
Introduction (paperback) (book). Colorado: Westview
Press.
[2] Loux, Michael (2006). Aristotle's Constituent Ontology. In Zimmerman, Dean W. Oxford Studies in Metaphysics (paperback) (book). Oxford University Press.
ISBN 978-0-19-929058-1. Retrieved 2012-06-25.

227

Chapter 72

The Kitsch Movement


72.1 The kitsch philosophy
The positive view of kitsch (i.e. kitsch philosophy) reasons that the term art, or ne art, which is solely theconceptas opposed to its physical manifestation, was popularized in the 18th century by the German philosopher
Immanuel Kant in his book Critique of Judgement. At this
point, art became separated from craft and, consequently,
from life. According to Kant, art should then be regarded
with aesthetic indierence. This denition of Art is
generally held to be the correct one within dominant academic circles. Others have come to similar conclusions
about the origin of art, notably, Larry Shiner in The Invention of Art.* [6]
The word, kitsch, was popularized in the 1930s by the art
theorists Theodor Adorno, Hermann Broch, and Clement
Greenberg, who each sought to dene avant-garde and
kitsch as opposites. To the art world of the time, the immense popularity of kitsch was perceived as a threat to
culture. The arguments of all three theorists relied on an
implicit denition of kitsch as a type of false consciousness, a Marxist term meaning a mindset present within
Hope George Frederic Watts, 1886, On cover of Odd Nerdrum's the structures of capitalism that is misguided as to its own
desires and wants. Marxists believe there to be a disjuncOn Kitsch
tion between the real state of aairs and the way that they
phenomenally appear.
Kitsch painting is an international movement of classical painters, founded in 1998 upon a philosophy proposed by Odd Nerdrum* [1] and later claried in his
book On Kitsch* [2] in cooperation with Jan-Ove Tuv and
others, incorporating the techniques of the Old Masters
with narrative, romanticism, and emotionally charged imagery. The movement denes Kitsch as synonymous with
the ars of ancient Rome or the Greek techne. Kitsch
painters embrace it as a positive term: not in opposition
to art, but as its own independent superstructure. Thus,
Kitsch painters assert that Kitsch is not an art movement,
but a philosophical movement: a superstructure of values
and philosophy which are separate from art. The Kitsch
movement has been considered an indirect criticism of Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan on November 16, 1581
the contemporary art world, but according to Nerdrum (" 16 1581 " ("
and many Kitsch painters, this is not their expressed in- ")) (1885)
tention.* [3]* [4]* [5]
228

72.4. KITSCH'S ORIGINS

229

72.2 The yin-yang of kitsch


According to Hermann Broch there is genialischer
kitsch, orkitsch of genius, such as the paintings of
Ilya Repin or the composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.* [7]
Broch called kitsch the evil within the value-system of
artthat is, if true art isgood, kitsch isevil. While
art was creative, Broch held that kitsch depended solely
on plundering creative art by adopting formulas that seek
to imitate it, limiting itself to conventions and demanding a totalitarianism of those recognizable conventions.
Broch accuses kitsch of not participating in the development of art, having its focus directed at the past, as Greenberg speaks of its concern with previous cultures. To
Broch, kitsch was not the same as bad art; it formed a system of its own. He argued that kitsch involved trying to
achievebeautyinstead oftruthand that any attempt
to make something beautiful would lead to kitsch. Consequently, he opposed the Renaissance to Protestantism.
Some argue that the avant-garde, in becoming the established academic norm, has become the embodiment of
this kitsch. That is, art now depends solely on plundering creative art by adopting formulas that seek to imitate it, limiting itself to conventions and demanding a
totalitarianism of those recognizable conventions."(Such
as the zeitgeist and aesthetic indierence). Thus, Nerdrum's position could be construed as ironic. However, to
conclude this as the primary objective would be an oversimplication of the kitsch philosophy.

Memorosa by Odd Nerdrum

72.4 Kitsch's origins


The philosophy originated by Nerdrum rst manifested
into a group among Nerdrum's circle of students* [10]
Jan-Ove Tuv, Helene Knoop, Hege Elizabeth Haugen,
Monika Helgesen, Kjetil Jul, Brad Silverstein, Carlos
Madrid, Stefan Boulter, Brandon Kralik, Nanne Nyander, and soon expanded. Many kitsch painters were featured in and contributed essays to Nerdrum's book Kitsch:
More than Art * [11]

72.5 Collaborations
The Kitsch Movement has collaborated with The Florence Academy in a 2009 exhibition Immortal Works
.* [12] Every two years, World Wide Kitsch* [13] hosts the
Kitsch Biennale,* [14]* [15]* [16]* [17]* [18]* [19]* [20] a
traveling exhibition which includes painters from around
the world.

72.3 Objective questioning


72.6 Philosophical basis
The kitsch philosophy is humanist in nature and characterized by empiricism, and/or objectivism, especially
Aristotle
concerning aesthetics. It is founded upon knowledge a
posteriori, or based upon experience. This is in distinc David Hume
tion to Kant's claim that Art (as the sublime - aesthetic
William James
experience of the pure concept) is based upon knowledge a priori. As such, in contrast with the common con Nietzsche
temporary denition of art, the positive view of kitsch
rejects Hegel's assertion that the artist should follow the
Ayn Rand
zeitgeist,* [8] and further, questions the assumption of its
existence; reasoning that many dierent ideologies, dog Odd Nerdrum
mas, and social perspectives exist simultaneously around
the world at any given point in time. Consequently, the
kitsch philosophy emphasizes individualism and liberty.
It is emphatically non-political, though some argue that 72.7 Painters
the movement and specically Nerdrum have, nevertheless, been the victims of political and social persecution Orfeus Publishing, in Nov, 2013 released a book entibecause of their individualism.* [9](Also see Odd Ner- tled: The Nerdrum School: The Master and His Studrum legal diculties).
dents* [21] depicting over 80 students of Nerdrum.

230
Jan-Ove Tuv* [22]
Roberto Ferri
Rose Freymuth-Frazier
Helene Knoop* [23]
Per Lundgren* [24]
Richard T. Scott

CHAPTER 72. THE KITSCH MOVEMENT

72.10 References
[1] E.J. Pettinger The Kitsch Campaign[Boise Weekly],
December 29, 2004.
[2] Dag Solhjell and Odd NerdrumOn KitschKagge Publishing, August 2001.
[3] Signy Norendal, Interview with Robert Dale Williams
[Aktuell Kunst] September 5, 2007
[4] Richard Scott The Philosophy of Kitsch.
[5] Jan-Ove Tuv

72.8 Exhibitions
2002 Kitsch Katakomben, Haugar Vestfold KunstMuseum, Tonsberg, Norway
2002 Raugland Atelier, Stavern, Norway
2002 Larvik Kunstforening, Larvik, Norway
2004 Kitsch, Telemark Museum, Skien, Norway
2005 Kitsch Annuale, Krutthuset, Fredricksvern
Verft, Stavern, Norway
2006 Kitsch Annuale, Stavern, Norway
2008 Kitsch Biennale Pasinger Fabrik, Munich,
Germany
2009 Kitsch, Krapperup Castle, Sweden

[6] Larry Shiner University of Chicago Press; New edition


(July 15, 2003)
[7]
[8] Encyclopedia Britannica,Aesthetics: Kant, Schiller, and
Hegel
[9] Allison Malafronte American Artist Magazine, January
February 2012
[10] Kristiane
Larssen
Skolemesteren
[D2/DagensNaeringsliv] November 18, 2011
[11] Odd Nerdrum Schibsted Forlag, September 30, 2011.
[12]
[13] http://www.worldwidekitsch.com/
[14] Mariachiara MarzariLe particelle elementari[Venezia
News] #146 giugno 2010.

2009 Fall Kitsch, Galleri PAN, Oslo, Norway

[15] Maria Rita Cerilli [Venezia News],

2009 Immortal Works, VASA KONSTHALL,


Gothenburg, Sweden

[16] La Nouva Venezia, September 19, 2010

2010 Kitsch Biennale, Palazzo Cini, Venice,


Italy* [25]

[17] Lidia Panzeri, Biennale Kitsch e il retorno alla qualita


, Il Gazzettino, September 18, 2010
[18]L'arte e un'automobile: Kitsch un CavalloIl Giornale
Dell'Arte, #300 Luglio, August 2010.
[19] Atmosphere, Meridiana Fly publication, July 2010

72.9 See also

[20]

Aesthetics

[21] The Nerdrum School [Orfeus Publishing] Nov, 2013

Classical Realism

[22] Wikipedia Norwegian

Empiricism
Metamodernism
New Sincerity

[23] Wikipedia Norwegian


[24] Wikipedia Norwegian
[25]Kitsch Biennale: VeniceKunst magazine, Oslo, Norway, May 2011

Objectivity (philosophy)
Positivism
Post-postmodernism
Reconstructivism

72.11 External links


Ocial Website

Chapter 73

George E. McCarthy
George E. McCarthy is a professor of sociology at
Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio.

(Savage, MD: Rowman and Littleeld Publishers,


1990)
Eclipse of Justice: Ethics, Economics, and the Lost
Traditions of American Catholicism, with Royal
Rhodes (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1992)

73.1 Education

Marx and Aristotle: Nineteenth-Century German


Social Theory and Classical Antiquity, editor (Savage, MD: Rowman and Littleeld Publishers, 1992)

M.A., Ph.D. New School for Social Research (Sociology)


M.A., Ph.D. Boston College (Philosophy)

Dialectics and Decadence: Echoes of Antiquity in


Marx and Nietzsche (Lanham, MD: Rowman and
Littleeld Publishers, 1994)

B.A. Manhattan College (Philosophy) 1968 [1]


*

Romancing Antiquity: German Critique of the Enlightenment from Weber to Habermas (Lanham,
MD: Rowman and Littleeld Publishers, 1997)

73.2 Career
George E. McCarthy became National Endowment for
the Humanities Distinguished Teaching Professor of Sociology in 2000. He has been a research fellow at
the University of Frankfurt am Main, a guest professor at the Institute for Political Science at the University
of Munich, and a Senior Fulbright Research Fellow in
philosophy and sociology at the University of Kassel,
Germany. He has received a Deutscher Akademischer
Austauschdienst (DAAD), Fulbright Research Fellowship, and an NEH Research Fellowship. McCarthy's
courses at Kenyon College focus on ethics and social justice, political and social theory, philosophy and sociology of science, German social thought and Greek philosophy/literature, and American political economy. His
major area of concentration is nineteenth- and twentiethcentury German social theory: Karl Marx, Max Weber,
Friedrich Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud, Martin Heidegger,
Hans-Georg Gadamer, Max Horkheimer, Herbert Marcuse, and Juergen Habermas.

Objectivity and the Silence of Reason: Weber,


Habermas, and the Methodological Disputes in German Sociology (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction
Publishers, 2001)
Classical Horizons: The Origins of Sociology in Ancient Greece (Albany, NY: State University of New
York Press, 2003)
Eclipse of Justice: Ethics, Economics, and the Lost
Traditions of American Catholicism, with Royal
Rhodes, paperback reprint (Eugene, Oregon: Wipf
and Stock Publishers, 2009)
Dreams in Exile: Rediscovering Science and Ethics
in Nineteenth-Century Social Theory (Albany, NY:
State University of New York Press, 2009)
Justice Beyond Liberalism, with Royal Rhodes (Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press, forthcoming 2010)
Shadows of the Enlightenment: Toward a Critical
Theory of Ecology and Environmental Justice (work
in progress)

73.3 Recent publications


Marx's Critique of Science and Positivism (Dordrecht, Holland: Kluwer Academic Publishers,
1988)

73.4 External links

Marx and the Ancients: Classical Ethics, Social


Justice, and Nineteenth-Century Political Economy
231

Kenyon web page

Chapter 74

Michael III of Constantinople

Seal of Michael III

Michael III of Anchialus (Greek: ) was


Patriarch of Constantinople from January 1170 to March
1178.
Michael was appointed patriarch by the Byzantine emperor Manuel I Komnenos, culminating what had been
a highly distinguished intellectual and administrative career.* [1] Before becoming Patriarch, Michael III had held
a progression of important church administrative oces,
including referendarios, epi tou sakelliou, and protekdikos,
the last of which was in charge of the tribunal which
adjudicated claims for asylum within the Great Church.
The most important of his appointments before receiving the Patriarchal throne was the oce of hpatos tn
philosphn ( , chief of the
philosophers), a title given to the head of the imperial University of Constantinople in the 11th-14th centuries.* [2] In this role he condemned the neoplatonist
philosophers, and encouraged study of Aristotle's work
on the natural sciences as an antidote.* [3] As Patriarch,
Michael III continued to deal with the theological issue of
the relation between the Son and the Father in the Holy
Trinity. The issue was created due to the explanation that
one Demetrius of Lampi (in Phrygia) gave to the phrase
of the Gospel of John ,
which means my Father is bigger than me (John, XIV.29).
Michael acted as the Emperor's chief spokesman on this
issue. Michael also ordered a review of Eastern Orthodox
ecclesiastical and imperial laws and decrees by Theodore
Balsamon known as the "Scholia" (Greek: ) (c.
1170).

Alexander III demanded recognition of their religious authority over all Christians everywhere, and wished themselves to reach superiority over the Byzantine Emperor;
they were not at all willing to fall into a state of dependence from one emperor to the other.* [4] Manuel, on
the other side, wanted an ocial recognition of his secular authority over both East and West.* [5] Such conditions would not be accepted by either side. Even if a
pro-western Emperor such as Manuel agreed to it, the
Greek citizens of the Empire would have rejected outright any union of this sort, as they did almost three hundred years later when the Orthodox and Catholic churches
were briey united under the Pope. In existing correspondence Michael presents a deeply courteous but unbending
position on the authority of his Church. The correspondence also show a good working relationship with the Emperor.
Some of Michael III's correspondence with Manuel I survive,* [6] as does his inaugural address as hpatos.* [7]
Other documents including correspondence with Pope
Alexander III have been attributed to him, though they
are more likely later apocryphal creations of the 13th century.* [8] Michael III can also take credit for acting as patron to the young Michael Choniates, who composed an
encomium in his honour, still extant.* [9]

74.1 References

Michael's patriarchy was marked by the Emperor


Manuel's attempts to forge a union with the Catholic
Church.
Continuing a longstanding papal policy,
232

[1] Magdalino, p. 301.


[2] Kazhdan 1991, p. 964.
[3] Hussey, p. 155.
[4] A.A. Vasiliev, History of the Byzantine Empire (1952)
chapter 7 in passim
[5] J.W. Birkenmeier, The Development of the Komnenian
Army, 114
[6] P. Magdalino, The Empire of Manuel I Komnenos, p. 21.
[7] R. Browning, A New Source on Byzantine-Hungarian
Relations, Balkan Studies, 2 (1961), pp. 173-214
[8] Hussey, p. 173.
[9] P. Magdalino, p. 301.

74.2. SOURCES

74.2 Sources

J.M. Hussey. The Orthodoox Church in the Byzantine Empire. Oxford: University Press, 1986.
Kurtz, Johann Heinrich (1860). Dogmatic Controversies, 12th and 14th Centuries. History of the
Christian Church to the Reformation. T. & T. Clark.
Paul Magdalino. The Empire of Manuel Komnenos.
Cambridge: University Press, 1993.
Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. (1991), Oxford Dictionary
of Byzantium, Oxford University Press, ISBN 9780-19-504652-6

233

Chapter 75

Mimesis
Mimeticredirects here. For the mimetic muscles, see Luce Irigaray, Jacques Derrida, Ren Girard, Nikolas
Facial muscles. For other uses of the word Mimesis, see Kompridis, Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe, Michael Taussig,
Mimesis (disambiguation).
Merlin Donald, and Homi Bhabha.
Not to be confused with Memetics.
Mimesis (Ancient Greek: (mmsis), from 75.1 Classical denitions
(mmeisthai), to imitate,from (mimos), imitator, actor) is a critical and philosophical
term that carries a wide range of meanings, which include 75.1.1 Plato
imitation, representation, mimicry, imitatio, receptivity,
nonsensuous similarity, the act of resembling, the act of Both Plato and Aristotle saw in mimesis the
representation of nature. Plato wrote about mimeexpression, and the presentation of the self.* [1]
sis in both Ion and The Republic (Books II, III, and
In ancient Greece, mimesis was an idea that governed the
X). In Ion, he states that poetry is the art of divine
creation of works of art, in particular, with corresponmadness, or inspiration. Because the poet is subject
dence to the physical world understood as a model for
to this divine madness, instead of possessing art
beauty, truth, and the good. Plato contrasted mimesis,
or knowledge(techne) of the subject (532c), the
or imitation, with diegesis, or narrative. After Plato, the
poet does not speak truth (as characterized by Plato's
meaning of mimesis eventually shifted toward a specifaccount of the Forms). As Plato has it, only truth is the
ically literary function in ancient Greek society, and its
concern of the philosopher. As culture in those days
use has changed and been reinterpreted many times since
did not consist in the solitary reading of books, but in
then.
the listening to performances, the recitals of orators
One of the best-known modern studies of mimesis, un- (and poets), or the acting out by classical actors of
derstood as a form of realism in literature, is Erich Auer- tragedy, Plato maintained in his critique that theatre
bach's Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in West- was not sucient in conveying the truth (540c). He
ern Literature, which opens with a famous comparison was concerned that actors or orators were thus able to
between the way the world is represented in Homer's persuade an audience by rhetoric rather than by telling
Odyssey and the way it appears in the Bible. From these the truth (535b).
two seminal Western texts, Auerbach builds the foundaIn Book II of The Republic, Plato describes Socrates' diation for a unied theory of representation that spans the
logue with his pupils. Socrates warns we should not serientire history of Western literature, including the Modously regard poetry as being capable of attaining the truth
ernist novels being written at the time Auerbach began
and that we who listen to poetry should be on our guard
his study. In art history, mimesis, realismand
against its seductions, since the poet has no place in our
naturalismare used, often interchangeably, as terms for
idea of God.* [3]
the accurate, even illusionistic, representation of the
In developing this in Book X, Plato told of Socrates'
visual appearance of things.
metaphor of the three beds: one bed exists as an idea
The Frankfurt school critical theorist T. W. Adorno made
made by God (the Platonic ideal); one is made by the
use of mimesis as a central philosophical term, interpretcarpenter, in imitation of God's idea; one is made by the
ing it as a way in which works of art embodied a form of
artist in imitation of the carpenter's.* [4]
*
reason that was non-repressive and non-violent. [2]
So the artist's bed is twice removed from the truth. The
Mimesis has been theorised by thinkers as diverse
copiers only touch on a small part of things as they reas Plato, Aristotle, Philip Sidney, Samuel Taylor Coally are, where a bed may appear dierently from various
leridge, Adam Smith, Sigmund Freud, Walter Benpoints of view, looked at obliquely or directly, or dierjamin, Paul Ross, Theodor Adorno, Erich Auerbach,
ently again in a mirror. So painters or poets, though they
234

75.1. CLASSICAL DEFINITIONS

235

may paint or describe a carpenter or any other maker of


things, know nothing of the carpenter's (the craftsman's)
art,* [5] and though the better painters or poets they are,
the more faithfully their works of art will resemble the reality of the carpenter making a bed, nonetheless the imitators will still not attain the truth (of God's creation).* [5]

whereas literature, although sometimes based on history,


deals with events that could have taken place or ought to
have taken place.

75.1.2

Contrast to diegesis

Aristotle thought of drama as being an imitation of an


actionand of tragedy as falling from a higher to a
lower estate" and so being removed to a less ideal situaThe poets, beginning with Homer, far from improving tion in more tragic circumstances than before. He posited
and educating humanity, do not possess the knowledge the characters in tragedy as being better than the average
of craftsmen and are mere imitators who copy again and human being, and those of comedy as being worse.
again images of virtue and rhapsodise about them, but Michael Davis, a translator and commentator of Aristotle
never reach the truth in the way the superior philosophers writes:
do.

Aristotle

Similar to Plato's writings about mimesis, Aristotle also


dened mimesis as the perfection and imitation of nature.
Art is not only imitation but also the use of mathematical ideas and symmetry in the search for the perfect, the
timeless, and contrasting being with becoming. Nature is
full of change, decay, and cycles, but art can also search
for what is everlasting and the rst causes of natural phenomena. Aristotle wrote about the idea of four causes in
nature. The rst formal cause is like a blueprint, or an
immortal idea. The second cause is the material, or what
a thing is made out of. The third cause is the process and
the agent, in which the artist or creator makes the thing.
The fourth cause is the good, or the purpose and end of a
thing, known as telos.
Aristotle's Poetics is often referred to as the counterpart to
this Platonic conception of poetry. Poetics is his treatise
on the subject of mimesis. Aristotle was not against literature as such; he stated that human beings are mimetic
beings, feeling an urge to create texts (art) that reect and
represent reality.
Aristotle considered it important that there be a certain
distance between the work of art on the one hand and life
on the other; we draw knowledge and consolation from
tragedies only because they do not happen to us. Without this distance, tragedy could not give rise to catharsis.
However, it is equally important that the text causes the
audience to identify with the characters and the events in
the text, and unless this identication occurs, it does not
touch us as an audience. Aristotle holds that it is through
simulated representation, mimesis, that we respond to
the acting on the stage which is conveying to us what the
characters feel, so that we may empathise with them in
this way through the mimetic form of dramatic roleplay.
It is the task of the dramatist to produce the tragic enactment in order to accomplish this empathy by means of
what is taking place on stage.
In short, catharsis can only be achieved if we see something that is both recognisable and distant. Aristotle argued that literature is more interesting as a means of
learning than history, because history deals with specic facts that have happened, and which are contingent,

It was also Plato and Aristotle who contrasted mimesis


with diegesis (Greek ). Mimesis shows, rather
than tells, by means of directly represented action that
is enacted. Diegesis, however, is the telling of the story
by a narrator; the author narrates action indirectly and
describes what is in the characters' minds and emotions.
The narrator may speak as a particular character or may
be theinvisible narratoror even theall-knowing narratorwho speaks from above in the form of commenting
on the action or the characters.
In Book III of his Republic (c. 373 BCE), Plato examines
the style of poetry (the term includes comedy, tragedy,
epic and lyric poetry):* [7] All types narrate events, he argues, but by diering means. He distinguishes between
narration or report (diegesis) and imitation or representation (mimesis). Tragedy and comedy, he goes on to explain, are wholly imitative types; the dithyramb is wholly
narrative; and their combination is found in epic poetry.
When reporting or narrating,the poet is speaking in his
own person; he never leads us to suppose that he is any
one else"; when imitating, the poet produces an assimilation of himself to another, either by the use of voice
or gesture.* [8] In dramatic texts, the poet never speaks
directly; in narrative texts, the poet speaks as himself or
herself.* [9]
In his Poetics, Aristotle argues that kinds of poetry (the
term includes drama, ute music, and lyre music for Aristotle) may be dierentiated in three ways: according to
their medium, according to their objects, and according to
their mode or manner (section I);For the medium being
the same, and the objects the same, the poet may imitate
by narrationin which case he can either take another
personality, as Homer does, or speak in his own person,
unchangedor he may present all his characters as living
and moving before us(section III).
Though they conceive of mimesis in quite dierent ways,
its relation with diegesis is identical in Plato's and Aristotle's formulations; one represents, the other reports; one
embodies, the other narrates; one transforms, the other
indicates; one knows only a continuous present, the other
looks back on a past.

236

CHAPTER 75. MIMESIS

In ludology, mimesis is sometimes used to refer to the


self-consistency of a represented world, and the availability of in-game rationalisations for elements of the gameplay. In this context, mimesis has an associated grade:
highly self-consistent worlds that provide explanations for
their puzzles and game mechanics are said to display a
higher degree of mimesis. This usage can be traced back
to the essay Crimes Against Mimesis.* [10]

75.3 Luce Irigaray


The Belgian feminist Luce Irigaray used the term to describe a form of resistance where women imperfectly imitate stereotypes about themselves so as to show up these
stereotypes and undermine them.* [14]

75.4 Michael Taussig


75.1.3

Dionysian imitatio

Main article: Dionysian imitatio

Cultural appropriation and


Further information:
Appropriation (sociology)

In Mimesis and Alterity (1993), the anthropologist


Michael Taussig examines the way that people from one
culture adopt another's nature and culture (the process of
mimesis) at the same time as distancing themselves from
it (the process of alterity). He describes how a legendary
tribe, thewhite Indians, or Cuna, have adopted in various representations gures and images reminiscent of the
Dionysius' concept marked a signicant depart from the white people they encountered in the past (without acconcept of mimesis formulated by Aristotle's in the 4th knowledging doing so).
century BCE, which was only concerned withimitation
of natureinstead of the imitation of other authors Taussig, however, criticises anthropology for reducing
.* [11] Latin orators and rhetoricians adopted the literary yet another culture, that of the Cuna, for having been
method of Dionysius' imitatio and discarded Aristotle's so impressed by their exotic technologies of the whites,
that they raised them to the status of gods. To Tausmimesis.* [11]
sig, this reductionism is suspect, and he argues thus from
both sides in his Mimesis and Alterity to see values in the
anthropologists' perspective, at the same time as defending the independence of a lived culture from anthropo75.2 Samuel Taylor Coleridge
logical reductionism.* [15]
Dionysian imitatio is the inuential literary method of
imitation as formulated by Greek author Dionysius of
Halicarnassus in the 1st century BCE, which conceived
it as technique of rhetoric: emulating, adaptating, reworking and enriching a source text by an earlier author.* [11]* [12]

Mimesis, or imitation, as he referred to it, was a crucial concept for Samuel Taylor Coleridge's theory of the
imagination. Coleridge begins his thoughts on imitation and poetry from Plato, Aristotle, and Philip Sidney,
adopting their concept of imitation of nature instead of
other writers. His middling departure from the earlier
thinkers lies in his arguing that art does not reveal a unity
of essence through its ability to achieve sameness with
nature. Coleridge claims:
[T]he composition of a poem is among the
imitative arts; and that imitation, as opposed to
copying, consists either in the interfusion of the
SAME throughout the radically DIFFERENT,
or the dierent throughout a base radically the
same.* [13]
Here, Coleridge opposes imitation to copying, the latter referring to William Wordsworth's notion that poetry
should duplicate nature by capturing actual speech. Coleridge instead argues that the unity of essence is revealed
precisely through dierent materialities and media. Imitation, therefore, reveals the sameness of processes in
nature.

75.5 See also


Illusionistic tradition
Life imitating art
Girard's mimetic double bind

75.6 Notes
[1] Gebauer and Wulf (1992, 1).
[2] Karla L. Schultz (1990) Mimesis on the move: Theodor
W. Adorno's concept of imitation, Peter Lang AG, ISBN
3-261-04208-7
[3] The Republic, 377.
[4] The Republic, 596599.
[5] Plato. Book X. The Republic.
[6] Davis (1993, 3).

75.7. REFERENCES

[7] An etext of Plato's Republic is available from Project


Gutenberg. The most relevant section is the following:
You are aware, I suppose, that all mythology and poetry
is a narration of events, either past, present, or to come? /
Certainly, he replied. / And narration may be either simple narration, or imitation, or a union of the two? / [...]
/ And this assimilation of himself to another, either by
the use of voice or gesture, is the imitation of the person
whose character he assumes? / Of course. / Then in this
case the narrative of the poet may be said to proceed by
way of imitation? / Very true. / Or, if the poet everywhere
appears and never conceals himself, then again the imitation is dropped, and his poetry becomes simple narration.
(Plato, Republic, Book III.)
[8] Plato, Republic, Book III.
[9] See also Pster (1977, 23) and Elam: classical narrative is always oriented towards an explicit there and
then, towards an imaginary 'elsewhere' set in the past
and which has to be evoked for the reader through predication and description. Dramatic worlds, on the other
hand, are presented to the spectator as 'hypothetically
actual' constructs, since they are 'seen' in progress 'here
and now' without narratorial mediation. [...] This is not
merely a technical distinction but constitutes, rather, one
of the cardinal principles of a poetics of the drama as opposed to one of narrative ction. The distinction is, indeed, implicit in Aristotle's dierentiation of representational modes, namely diegesis (narrative description) versus mimesis (direct imitation)" (1980, 1101).
[10] Giner-Sorolla, Roger (April 2006). Crimes Against
Mimesis. Archived from the original on 19 June 2005.
Retrieved 2006-12-17. This is a reformatted version of a
set of articles originally posted to Usenet:
Giner-Sorolla, Roger (11 April 2006). Crimes
Against Mimesis, Part 1. Retrieved 2006-12-17.

237
Coleridge, S.T. 1983. Biographia Literaria. v.1 eds.
James Engell and W. Jackson Bate. Princeton, NJ:
Princeton UP. ISBN 0-691-09874-3.
Davis, Michael. 1999. The Poetry of Philosophy:
On Aristotle's Poetics. South Bend, Indiana: St Augustine's P. ISBN 1-890318-62-0.
Elam, Keir. 1980. The Semiotics of Theatre and
Drama. New Accents Ser. London and New York:
Methuen. ISBN 0-416-72060-9.
Gebauer, Gunter, and Christoph Wulf. 1992.
Mimesis: Culture Art Society. Trans. Don Reneau. Berkeley and London: U of California P,
1995. ISBN 0-520-08459-4.
Ren Girard. 2008. Mimesis and Theory: Essays on
Literature and Criticism, 19532005. Ed. by Robert
Doran. Stanford: Stanford University Press. ISBN
978-0-8047-5580-1.
Halliwell, Stephen, The Aesthetics of Mimesis. Ancient Texts and Modern Problems, Princeton 2002.
ISBN 0-691-09258-3.
Kaufmann, Walter. 1992. Tragedy and Philosophy.
Princeton: Princeton UP. ISBN 0-691-02005-1.
Miller, Gregg Daniel. 2011. Mimesis and Reason: Habermas's Political Philosophy. Albany, NY:
SUNY Press. ISBN 978-1-4384-3740-8
Pster, Manfred. 1977. The Theory and Analysis
of Drama. Trans. John Halliday. European Studies
in English Literature Ser. Cambridige: Cambridge
UP, 1988. ISBN 0-521-42383-X.

Giner-Sorolla, Roger (25 April 2006). Crimes


Against Mimesis, Part 3. Retrieved 2006-12-17.

Prang, Christoph. 2010. Semiomimesis: The inuence of semiotics on the creation of literary texts. Peter Bichsel's Ein Tisch ist ein Tisch and Joseph Roth's
Hotel Savoy. In: Semiotica. Vol. 2010, Issue 182,
S. 37596.

Giner-Sorolla, Roger (29 April 2006). Crimes


Against Mimesis, Part 4. Retrieved 2006-12-17.

Srbom, Gran, Mimesis and Art, Uppsala 1966.

Giner-Sorolla, Roger (18 April 2006). Crimes


Against Mimesis, Part 2. Retrieved 2006-12-17.

[11] Ruthven (1979) pp. 1034


[12] Jansen (2008)
[13] Coleridge, S.T. (1983) Biographia Literaria. v.1 eds.
James Engell and W. Jackson Bate. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. p. 72. ISBN 0-691-09874-3.
[14] See .
[15] Taussig, 1993:47, 48.

75.7 References
Auerbach, Erich. 1953. Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature. Princeton:
Princeton UP. ISBN 0-691-11336-X.

Snow, Kim; Crethar, Hugh; Robey, Patricia & Carlson, John. 2005. Theories of Family Therapy
(Part 1)". As cited in Family Therapy Review:
Preparing for Comprehensive Licensing Examination.2005. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. ISBN
0-8058-4312-4.
Sen, R. K., Mimesis, Calcutta: Syamaprasad College, 2001
Sen, R. K., Aesthetic Enjoyment: Its Background in
Philosophy and Medicine, Calcutta: University of
Calcutta, 1966.
Tatarkiewicz, Wadysaw. 1980. A History of Six
Ideas: An Essay in Aesthetics. Trans. Christopher
Kasparek. The Hague: Martinus Nijho. ISBN 90247-2233-0.

238
Taussig, Michael. 1993. Mimesis and Alterity: A
Particular History of the Senses. London and New
York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-90686-5.
Tsitsiridis, Stavros, Mimesis and Understanding.
An Interpretation of Aristotles Poetics 4.1448b419, In: Classical Quarterly 55 (2005) 435-46.

75.8 External links


Plato's Republic II, transl. Benjamin Jowell
Plato's Republic III, transl. Benjamin Jowell
Plato's Republic X, transl. Benjamin Jowell
INFINITE REGRESS OF FORMS Plato's recounting of the bednesstheory involved in the bed
metaphor
The University of Chicago, Theories of Media Keywords
University of Barcelona Mimesi (Research on Poetics & Rhetorics in Catalan Literature)
Mimesislab, Laboratory of Pedagogy of Expression
of the Department of Educational Design of the
University Roma Tre
Mimesis, an article by Wadysaw Tatarkiewicz
for the Dictionary of History of Ideas

CHAPTER 75. MIMESIS

Chapter 76

Minima naturalia
Moreover, "[s]ince every body must diminish in size
when something is taken from it, and esh is quantitatively denite in respect both of greatness and
smallness, it is clear that from the minimum quantity of esh no body can be separated out; for the
esh left would be less than the minimum of esh.
*
[3]

Minima naturalia (natural minima)* [n 1] were theorized by Aristotle as the smallest parts into which a homogeneous natural substance (e.g., esh, bone, or wood)
could be divided and still retain its essential character. In
this context, "nature" means formal nature. Thus,natural minimummay be taken to meanformal minimum":
the minimum amount of matter necessary to instantiate a
certain form.
Speculation on minima naturalia in late Antiquity, in
the Islamic world, and by Scholastic and Renaissance
thinkers in Europe provided a conceptual bridge between the atomism of ancient Greece and the mechanistic philosophy of early modern thinkers like Descartes,
which in turn provided a background for the rigorously
mathematical and experimental atomism of modern science.* [1]* [2]

76.1 Aristotle's initial suggestion


According to Aristotle, the Pre-Socratic Greek philosopher Anaxagoras had taught that every thing, and every
portion of a thing, contains within itself an innite number of like and unlike parts. For example, Anaxagoras
maintained that there must be blackness as well as whiteness in snow; how, otherwise, could it be turned into dark
water? Aristotle criticized Anaxagoras' theory on multiple grounds, among them the following:* [1]* [3]

Unlike the atomism of Leucippus, Democritus, and


Epicurus, and also unlike the later atomic theory of John
Dalton, the Aristotelian natural minimum was not conceptualized as physically indivisible--"atomicin the contemporary sense. Instead, the concept was rooted in
Aristotle's hylomorphic worldview, which held that every
physical thing is a compound of matter (Greek hyle) and
a substantial form (Greek morphe) that imparts its essential nature and structure. For instance, a rubber ball for
a hylomorphist like Aristotle would be rubber (matter)
structured by spherical shape (form).

Aristotle's intuition was that there is some smallest size


beyond which matter could no longer be structured as
esh, or bone, or wood, or some other such organic substance that (for Aristotle, living before the microscope)
could be considered homogeneous. For instance, if esh
were divided beyond its natural minimum, what would
remain might be some elemental water, and smaller
amounts of the other elements (e.g., earth) with which
water was thought to mix to form esh. But whatever
Animals and plants cannot be innitely small acwas left, the water (or earth, etc.), would no longer have
cording to Aristotle; thus the relatively homogethe formal "nature" of esh in particular the remainneous substances of which they are composed (e.g.,
ing matter would have the form of water (or earth, etc.)
bone and esh in animals, or wood in plants) could
rather than the substantial form of esh.
not be innitely small, either, but must have a smallThis is suggestive of modern chemistry, in which, e.g.,
est determinate sizei.e., a natural minimum.
a bar of gold can be continually divided until one has
On Anaxagoras' argument in which all things con- a single atom of gold, but further division of that atom
tain all others innitely, water could be drawn from of gold yields only subatomic particles (electrons, quarks,
esh, then esh from that water, and water from that etc.) which are no longer the chemical element gold. Just
esh, and so on. However, as above, because there as water alone is not esh, electrons alone are not gold.
is a smallest determinate size beyond which a fur- Although suggestive, the parallel is not exact: the Aristher divided substance would no longer be esh, any totelian concept of the natural minimum of a substance
further cycle of such drawings out would be impos- is not a direct anticipation of the modern concept of an
atom of a certain chemical element.
sible.
239

240

76.2 Scholastic elaboration


Aristotle's brief comments on minima naturalia in the
Physics and Meteorology prompted further speculations
by later philosophers. The idea was taken up by John
Philoponus and Simplicius of Cilicia in late Antiquity and
by the Islamic Aristotelian Averroes (Ibn Rushd).
Minima naturalia were discussed by Scholastic and Renaissance thinkers including Roger Bacon, Albertus Magnus, Thomas Aquinas, Giles of Rome, Siger of Brabant,
Boethius of Dacia, Richard of Middleton, Duns Scotus, John of Jandun, William of Ockham, William Alnwick, Walter Bury, Adam de Wodeham, Jean Buridan,
Gregory of Rimini, John Dumbleton, Nicole Oresme,
John Marsilius Inguen,* [n 2] John Wyclie, Albert of
Saxony, Facinus de Ast, Peter Alboinis of Mantua, Paul
of Venice, Gaetano of Thiene, Alessandro Achillini, Luis
Coronel, Juan de Celaya, Domingo de Soto, Didacus de
Astudillo, Ludovicus Buccaferrea, Francisco de Toledo,
and Benedict Pereira.* [1] Of this list, the most inuential Scholastic thinkers on minima naturalia were Duns
Scotus and Gregory of Rimini.* [1]

CHAPTER 76. MINIMA NATURALIA


Scholastic Aristotelianism, and his own attempted reconciliation between the atomism of Epicurus and the
Catholic faith. Aristotle's mininima naturalia became
corpusclesin the alchemical works of Geber and Daniel
Sennert, who in turn inuenced the corpuscularian alchemist Robert Boyle, one of the founders of modern
chemistry. Boyle occasionally referred to his postulated
corpuscles as minima naturalia.* [2]

76.4 Notes
[1] Minima naturalia is the conventional Latin translation
of Greek (elachista,singular ,
elachiston), which means minima.
[2] Not to be confused with Marsilius of Inghen* [1]

76.5 References
[1] John Emery Murdoch; Christoph Herbert Lthy, William
Royall Newman (1 January 2001). The Medieval and
Renaissance Tradition of Minima Naturalia. Late Medieval and Early Modern Corpuscular Matter Theories.
BRILL. pp. 91133. ISBN 90-04-11516-1.

A chief theme in later commentary is reconciling minima


naturalia with the general Aristotelian principle of innite divisibility.* [2] Commentators like Philoponus and
Aquinas reconciled these aspects of Aristotle's thought [2] Alan Chalmers (4 June 2009). The Scientist's Atom and
by distinguishing between mathematical and natural
the Philosopher's Stone: How Science Succeeded and Phidivisibility. For example, in his commentary on Aristolosophy Failed to Gain Knowledge of Atoms. Springer. pp.
7596. ISBN 978-90-481-2362-9.
tle's Physics, Aquinas writes of natural minima that,although a body, considered mathematically, is divisible to
[3] Aristotle, Physics 1.4, 187b1421.
innity, the natural body is not divisible to innity. For in
a mathematical body nothing but quantity is considered. [4] Thomas Aquinas. In octo libros Physicorum expositio. Sed
And in this there is nothing repugnant to division to indicendum quod licet corpus, mathematice acceptum, sit
divisibile in innitum, corpus tamen naturale non est dinity. But in a natural body the form also is considered,
visibile in innitum. In corpore enim mathematico non
which form requires a determinate quantity and also other
consideratur nisi quantitas, in qua nihil invenitur divisioni
accidents. Whence it is not possible for quantity to be
in innitum repugnans; sed in corpore naturali considerfound in the species of esh except as determined within
atur forma naturalis, quae requirit determinatam quanti*
some termini. [4]

76.3 Inuence on corpuscularianism


In the early modern period, Aristotelian hylomorphism
fell out of favor with the rise of the mechanical philosophy of thinkers like Descartes and John Locke,
who were more sympathetic to the ancient Greek atomism of Democritus than to the natural minima of Aristotle. However, the concept of minima naturalia continued
to shape philosophical thinking even among these mechanistic philosophers in the transitional centuries between
the Aristotelianism of the medieval Scholastics and the
worked-out atomic theory of modern scientists like Dalton.
The mechanist Pierre Gassendi discussed minima naturalia in the course of expounding his opposition to

tatem sicut et alia accidentia. Unde non potest inveniri


quantitas in specie carnis nisi infra aliquos terminos determinata.

Chapter 77

Peripatetic school
losophy, which would play a large part in the revival of
Aristotle's doctrines in Europe in the Middle Ages and
the Renaissance.

77.1 Background
Aristotle's School, a painting from the 1880s by Gustav Adolph
Spangenberg

The Peripatetic school was a school of philosophy in


Ancient Greece.
Its teachings derived from its founder, the Greek philosopher, Aristotle, and Peripatetic is an adjective ascribed to his followers. The school originally derived
its name Peripatos (Greek: ) from the peripatoi (, "colonnades") of the Lyceum in Athens
where the members met. A similar Greek word peripatetikos () refers to the act of walking,
and as an adjective, peripateticis often used to mean
itinerant, wandering, meandering, or walking about. After Aristotle's death, a legend arose that he was a peripateticlecturer that he walked about as he taught and
the designation Peripatetikos came to replace the original
Peripatos.
The school dates from around 335 BC when Aristotle began teaching in the Lyceum. It was an informal institution whose members conducted philosophical and scientic inquiries. Aristotle's successors Theophrastus and
Strato continued the tradition of exploring philosophical
and scientic theories, but after the middle of the 3rd century BC, the school fell into a decline, and it was not until
the Roman era that there was a revival. Later members of
the school concentrated on preserving and commenting
on Aristotle's works rather than extending them, and the
school eventually died out in the 3rd century AD.

The termPeripateticis a transliteration of the ancient


Greek word peripattikos, which means
of walkingor given to walking about.* [1] The
Peripatetic school was actually known simply as the Peripatos.* [2] Aristotle's school came to be so named because
of the peripatoi (colonnadesor covered walkways
) of the Lyceum where the members met.* [3] The legend that the name came from Aristotle's alleged habit of
walking while lecturing may have started with Hermippus
of Smyrna.* [4] Unlike Plato, Aristotle was not a citizen of Athens and so could not own property; he and
his colleagues therefore used the grounds of the Lyceum
as a gathering place, just as it had been used by earlier
philosophers such as Socrates.* [5] Aristotle and his colleagues rst began to use the Lyceum in this way in about
335 BC.,* [6] after which Aristotle left Plato's Academy
and Athens, and then returned to Athens from his travels about a dozen years later.* [7] Because of the school's
association with the gymnasium, the school also came
to be referred to simply as the Lyceum.* [5] Some modern scholars argue that the school did not become formally institutionalized until Theophrastus took it over, at
which time there was private property associated with the
school.* [8]
Originally at least, the Peripatetic gatherings were probably conducted less formally than the termschoolsuggests: there was likely no set curriculum or requirements
for students, or even fees for membership.* [9] Aristotle
did teach and lecture there, but there was also philosophical and scientic research done in partnership with other
members of the school.* [10] It seems likely that many
of the writings that have come down to us in Aristotle's
name were based on lectures he gave at the school, or vice
versa.* [11]

Although the school died out, the study of Aristotle's


works continued by scholars who were called Peripatetics through Later Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the
Renaissance. After the fall of the Roman empire, the
works of the Peripatetic school were lost to the west, but Among the members of the school in Aristotle's time
in the east they were incorporated into early Islamic phi- were Theophrastus, Phanias of Eresus, Eudemus
241

242
of Rhodes, Clytus of Miletus, Aristoxenus, and
Dicaearchus.* [12] Much like Plato's Academy, there
were in Aristotle's school junior and senior members, the
junior members generally serving as pupils or assistants
to the senior members who directed research and lectured.* [12] The aim of the school, at least in Aristotle's
time, was not to further a specic doctrine, but rather to
explore philosophical and scientic theories; those who
ran the school worked rather as equal partners.* [12]
Sometime shortly after Alexander's death in June 323
BC, Aristotle left Athens to avoid persecution by antiMacedonian factions in Athens due to his ties to
Macedonia.* [13]

CHAPTER 77. PERIPATETIC SCHOOL


actually anything.* [14] A determinate thing only comes
into being when the potentiality in matter is converted into
actuality. This is achieved by form, the idea existent not
as one outside the many, but as one in the many, the completion of the potentiality latent in the matter.* [14]
The soul is the principle of life in the organic body,
and is inseparable from the body. As faculties of the
soul, Aristotle enumerates the faculty of reproduction and
nutrition; of sensation, memory and recollection; the faculty of reason, or understanding; and the faculty of desiring, which is divided into appetition and volition.* [15]
By the use of reason conceptions, which are formed in
the soul by external sense-impressions, and may be true
or false, are converted into knowledge.* [14] For reason
alone can attain to truth either in understanding or action.* [14]

After Aristotle's death in 322 BC, his colleague


Theophrastus succeeded him as head of the school. The
most prominent member of the school after Theophrastus
was Strato of Lampsacus, who increased the naturalistic The best and highest goal is the happiness which origielements of Aristotle's philosophy and embraced a form nates from virtuous actions.* [15] Aristotle did not, with
of atheism.
Plato, regard virtue as knowledge pure and simple, but as
founded on nature, habit, and reason.* [14] Virtue consists
in acting according to nature: that is, keeping the mean
between
the two extremes of the too much and the too
77.2 Doctrines
little.* [15] Thus valor, in his view the rst of virtues, is
a mean between cowardice and recklessness; temperance
The doctrines of the Peripatetic school are the doctrines
is the mean in respect to sensual enjoyments and the total
laid down by Aristotle, and henceforth maintained by his
avoidance of them.* [15]
followers.
Whereas Plato had sought to explain things with his
theory of Forms, Aristotle preferred to start from the facts
given by experience. Philosophy to him meant science,
and its aim was the recognition of thewhyin all things.
Hence he endeavoured to attain to the ultimate grounds of
things by induction; that is to say, by a posteriori conclusions from a number of facts to a universal.* [14] Logic either deals with appearances, and is then called dialectics;
or of truth, and is then called analytics.* [15]
All change or motion takes place in regard to substance,
quantity, quality and place.* [15] There are three kinds
of substances those alternately in motion and at rest,
as the animals; those perpetually in motion, as the sky;
and those eternally stationary. The last, in themselves
immovable and imperishable, are the source and origin
of all motion. Among them there must be one rst being, unchangeable, which acts without the intervention of
any other being. All that is proceeds from it; it is the most
perfect intelligence God.* [15] The immediate action of
this prime mover happy in the contemplation of itself
extends only to the heavens; the other inferior spheres
are moved by other incorporeal and eternal substances,
which the popular belief adores as gods. The heavens are
of a more perfect and divine nature than other bodies. In
the centre of the universe is the Earth, round and stationary. The stars, like the sky, beings of a higher nature,
but of grosser matter, move by the impulse of the prime
mover.* [15]
For Aristotle, matter is the basis of all that exists; it comprises the potentiality of everything, but of itself is not

77.3 History of the school

Aristotle and his disciples Alexander, Demetrius, Theophrastus,


and Strato; part of a fresco in the portico of the National University of Athens.

The names of the rst seven or eight scholarchs (leaders)


of the Peripatetic school are known with varying levels
of certainty. A list of names with the approximate dates
they headed the school is as follows:* [16]
Aristotle (c. 334 322)
Theophrastus (322288)
Strato of Lampsacus (288 c. 269)

77.4. INFLUENCE

243

Lyco of Troas (c. 269 225)

dronicus the school concentrated on preserving and defending his work.* [24] The most important gure in the
Aristo of Ceos (225 c. 190)
Roman era is Alexander of Aphrodisias (c. 200 CE)
who commentated on Aristotle's writings. With the rise
Critolaus (c. 190 155)
of Neoplatonism (and Christianity) in the 3rd century,
Diodorus of Tyre (c. 140)
Peripateticism as an independent philosophy came to an
end, but the Neoplatonists sought to incorporate Aristo Erymneus (c. 110)
tle's philosophy within their own system, and produced
There are some uncertainties in this list. It is not certain many commentaries on Aristotle's works. In the 5th cenwhether Aristo of Ceos was the head of the school, but tury, Olympiodorus the Elder is sometimes described as
since he was a close pupil of Lyco and the most impor- a Peripatetic.
tant Peripatetic philosopher in the time when he lived,
it is generally assumed that he was. It is not known if
Critolaus directly succeeded Aristo, or if there were any 77.4 Inuence
leaders between them. Erymneus is known only from
a passing reference by Athenaeus.* [17] Other important Main article: Aristotelianism
Peripatetic philosophers who lived during these centuries See also: Avicennism, Averroism and Scholasticism
include Eudemus of Rhodes, Aristoxenus, Dicaearchus,
and Clearchus of Soli.
The last philosophers in classical antiquity to comment
After the time of Strato, the Peripatetic school fell into on Aristotle were Simplicius and Boethius in the 6th cena decline. Lyco was famous more for his oratory than tury. After this, although his works were mostly lost to
his philosophical skills, and Aristo is perhaps best known the west, they were maintained in the east where they
for his biographical studies;* [18] and although Crito- were incorporated into early Islamic philosophy. Some of
laus was more philosophically active, none of the Peri- the greatest Peripatetic philosophers in the Islamic philopatetic philosophers in this period seem to have con- sophical tradition were Al-Kindi (Alkindus), Al-Farabi
tributed anything original to philosophy.* [19] The rea- (Alpharabius), Avicenna (Ibn Sina) and Averroes (Ibn
sons for the decline of the Peripatetic school are unclear. Rushd). By the 12th century, Aristotle's works began beUndoubtably Stoicism and Epicureanism provided many ing translated into Latin during the Latin translations of
answers for those people looking for dogmatic and com- the 12th century, and gradually arose Scholastic philosoprehensive philosophical systems, and the scepticism of phy under such names as Thomas Aquinas, which took its
the Middle Academy may have seemed preferable to any- tone and complexion from the writings of Aristotle, the
one who rejected dogmatism.* [20] Later tradition linked commentaries of Averroes, and The Book of Healing of
the school's decline to Neleus of Scepsis and his descen- Avicenna.
dents hiding the works of Aristotle and Theophrastus in
a cellar until their rediscovery in the 1st century BC, and
even though this story may be doubted, it is possible that
77.5 See also
Aristotle's works were not widely read.* [21]
In 86 BCE, Athens was sacked by the Roman general Lucius Cornelius Sulla, all the schools of philosophy in Athens were badly disrupted, and the Lyceum
ceased to exist as a functioning institution.* [19] Ironically, this event seems to have brought new life to the
Peripatetic school. Sulla brought the writings of Aristotle and Theophrastus back to Rome, where they became the basis of a new collection of Aristotle's writings compiled by Andronicus of Rhodes which forms
the basis of the Corpus Aristotelicum which exists today.* [19] Later Neoplatonist writers describe Andronicus, who lived around 50 BCE, as the eleventh scholarch
of the Peripatetic school,* [22] which would imply that
he had two unnamed predecessors. There is considerable
uncertainty over the issue, and Andronicus' pupil Boethus
of Sidon is also described as the eleventh scholarch.* [23]
It is quite possible that Andronicus set up a new school
where he taught Boethus.
Whereas the earlier Peripatetics had sought to extend
and develop Aristotle's works, from the time of An-

Aristotelianism
Peripatetic axiom

77.6 Notes
[1] The entry peripattikos in Liddell, Henry and Robert Scott,
A Greek-English Lexicon.
[2] Furley 2003, p. 1141; Lynch 1997, p. 311
[3] Nussbaum 2003, p. 166; Furley 2003, p. 1141; Lynch
1997, p. 311
[4] Furley 1970, p. 801 citing Diogenes Laertius, Lives and
Opinions of Eminent Philosophers 5.2. Some modern
scholars discredit the legend altogether; see p. 229 & p.
229 n. 156, in Hegel 2006, p. 229
[5] Furley 2003, p. 1141

244

CHAPTER 77. PERIPATETIC SCHOOL

[6] 336 BC: Furley 2003, p. 1141; 335 BC: Lynch 1997, p.
311; 334 BC: Irwin 2003

Irwin, T. (2003), Aristotle, in Craig, Edward,


Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Routledge.

[7] Barnes 2000, p. 14

Lieber, Francis; Wigglesworth, Edward; Bradford,


T. G. (1832), Encyclopedia Americana 10.

[8] Ostwald & Lynch 1982, p. 623, citing Diogenes Laertius,


5.39 & 5.52.
[9] Barnes 2000, p. 9
[10] Barnes 2000, pp. 79
[11] Irwin 2003
[12] Ostwald & Lynch 1982, pp. 6234
[13] Barnes 2000, p. 11
[14]Greek Philosophyentry in Seyert 1895, p. 482
[15]Peripatetic philosophyentry in Lieber, Wigglesworth &
Bradford 1832, p. 22
[16] Ross & Ackrill 1995, p. 193
[17] Athenaeus, v. 211e
[18] Sharples 2003, p. 150
[19] Drozdek 2007, p. 205
[20] Sharples 2003, p. 151
[21] Sharples 2003, p. 152
[22] Ammonius, In de Int. 5.24
[23] Ammonius, In An. Pr. 31.11
[24] Sharples 2003, p. 153

77.7 References
Barnes, Jonathan (2000), Aristotle: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford Paperbacks, ISBN 0-19-2854089.
Drozdek, Adam (2007), Greek Philosophers as Theologians: The Divine Arche, Ashgate publishing,
ISBN 0-7546-6189-X.
Furley, David (1970), Peripatetic School, in
Hammond, N. G. L.; Scullard, H. H., The Oxford
Classical Dictionary (2nd ed.), Oxford University
Press.
Furley, David (2003), Peripatetic School, in
Hornblower, Simon; Spawforth, Antony, The Oxford Classical Dictionary (3rd ed.), Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-860641-9.
Hegel, G. W. F. (2006), Brown, Robert F., ed.,
Lectures on the History of Philosophy 18251826:
Greek Philosophy 2, Oxford University Press, ISBN
0-19-927906-3.

Lynch, J. (1997), Lyceum, in Zeyl, Donald


J.; Devereux, Daniel; Mitsis, Phillip, Encyclopedia
of Classical Philosophy, Greenwood Press, ISBN 0313-28775-9.
Nussbaum, M. (2003),Aristotle, in Hornblower,
Simon; Spawforth, Antony, The Oxford Classical
Dictionary (3rd ed.), Oxford University Press, ISBN
0-19-860641-9.
Ostwald, M.; Lynch, J. (1982), The Growth of
Schools & the Advance of Knowledge, in Lewis, D.
M.; Boardman, John; Hornblower, Simon et al., The
Cambridge Ancient History Volume 6: The Fourth
Century BC, Cambridge University Press .
Ross, David; Ackrill, John L. (1995), Aristotle,
Routledge, ISBN 0-415-12068-3.
Seyert, Oskar (1895), A Dictionary of Classical
Antiquities.
Sharples, Robert W. (2003), The Peripatetic
school, in Furley, David, From Aristotle to Augustine: Routledge History of Philosophy, Routledge,
ISBN 0-415-30874-7.
Fritz Wehrli (Ed.): Die Schule des Aristoteles. Texte
und Kommentare. 10 volumes and 2 Supplements.
Basel 19441959, 2. Edition 19671969.

Chapter 78

Substance theory
Substance theory, or substance attribute theory, is an
Aristotle, Categories 2a13, (trans. J.L.
ontological theory about objecthood, positing that a subAckrill)
stance is distinct from its properties. A thing-in-itself is a
property-bearer that must be distinguished from the propIn chapter 6 of the Physics Aristotle argues that any
erties it bears.* [1]
change must be analysed in reference to the property of
Substance is a key concept in ontology and metaphysics,
an invariant subject as it was before the change and therewhich may be classied into monist, dualist or pluralist
after. Thus, in his hylomorphic account of change, matter
varieties according to how many substances or individserves as a relative substratum of transformation, i.e., of
uals are said to populate, furnish or exist in the world.
changing form. In the Categories, properties are prediAccording to Monistic views, such as those of stoicism
cated only of substance, but in chapter 7 of the Physics,
and Spinoza, there is only one substance, pneuma or God,
Aristotle discusses substances coming to be and passing
respectively. These modes of thinking are sometimes asaway in the unqualied sensewherein a primary subsociated with the idea of immanence. Dualism sees the
stance is generated from (or perishes into) a material subworld as being composed of two fundamental substances,
stratum by having gained (or lost) the essential property
for example, the Cartesian substance dualism of mind and
that formally denes a substance of that kind (in the secmatter. Pluralist philosophies include Plato's Theory of
ondary sense). However, because an essential property
Forms and Aristotle's hylomorphic categories.
remains invariant during an accidental change in form,
by identifying the substance with its formal essence, substance may thereby serve as the relative subject matter or
78.1 Ancient Greek philosophy
property-bearer of change in a qualied sense (i.e., barring matters of life or death).
Aristotle used the term in a secondary sense for genera Neither the bare particularsnor property bundles
and species understood as hylomorphic forms. Primar- of modern theory have their antecedent in Aristotle, acily, however, he used it with regard to his category of cording to whom, all matter exists in some form. There is
substance, the specimen (this personor this horse no prime matter or pure elements, there is always a mix) or individual, qua individual, who survives accidental ture: a ratio weighing the four potential combinations of
change and in whom the essential properties inhere that primary and secondary properties and analysed into disdene those universals. In contrast, Plato and later crete one-step and two-step abstract transmutations beNeoplatonism, spoke of the objective reality of a thing tween the elements.
or its inner reality (as opposed to outer appearance or
However, according to Aristotle's theology, a form of inillusion).
variant form exists without matter, beyond the cosmos,
powerless and oblivious, in the eternal substance of the
A substance that which is called a
unmoved movers.
substance most strictly, primarily, and most of
allis that which is neither said of a subject
nor in a subject, e.g. the individual man or
78.2 Early Western philosophy
the individual horse. The species in which
the things primarily called substances are, are
Descartes means bysubstancean entity which exists in
called secondary substances, as also are the
such a way that it needs no other entity in order to exist.
genera of these species. For example, the
Therefore, only God is a substance is the strict sense. But
individual man belongs in a species, man, and
he extends the term to created things, which need only
animal is a genus of the species; so these
the concurrence of God to exist. Of these there are two
both man and animal are called secondary
and only two: mind and matter, each being distinct from
substances.* [2]
245

246

CHAPTER 78. SUBSTANCE THEORY

the other in their attributes and therefore in their essence,


and neither needing the other in order to exist. This is
Descartes' dualism. Spinoza denied Descartes' 'real distinction' between mind and matter. Substance, according
to Spinoza, is one and indivisible, but has multiple 'attributes'. But an 'attribute' is 'what we conceive as constituting the [single] essence of substance'. We may conceive of the single essence of the one substance as material and also, consistently, as mental. What we ordinarily
call the natural world, together with all the individuals in
it, is immanent in God: hence the famous phrase deus sive
natura ("God or Nature").
Locke dened substance as follows:
The idea that we have, to which we give
the general name substance, being nothing but
the supposed, but unknown, support of those
qualities we nd existing, which we imagine
cannot subsist sine re substante, without something to support them, we call that support
substantia; which, according to the true import
of the word, is, in plain English, standing
under or upholding.
John Locke, "An Essay Concerning Human
Understanding"; book 2, chapter 23; Of our
Complex Ideas of Substances

78.3 Criticisms of the concept of


substance
See also: Noumenon and Phenomenon
The idea of substance was famously critiqued by David
Hume, who held that since substance cannot be perceived,
it should not be assumed to exist. But the claim that substance cannot be perceived is neither clear nor obvious,
and neither is the implication obvious.

and of subject, which explains why, instead of talking


about manor humankind, he speaks about the
Dasein, which is not a simple subject, nor a substance.
*
[3]
Alfred North Whitehead has argued that the concept of
substance has only a limited applicability in everyday life
and that metaphysics should rely upon the concept of process.* [4]
Roman Catholic theologian Karl Rahner, as part of his
critique of transubstantiation, rejected substance theory
and instead proposed the doctrine of transnalization,
which he felt was more attuned to modern philosophy.
However, this doctrine was rejected by Pope Paul VI in
his encyclical Mysterium dei.

78.4 Irreducible concepts


Two irreducible concepts encountered in substance theory are the bare particular and inherence.

78.4.1 Bare particular


In substance theory, a bare particular of an object is the
element without which the object would not exist, that is,
its substance, which exists independently from its properties, even if it is impossible for it to lack properties entirely. It is barebecause it is considered without its
properties andparticularbecause it is not abstract. The
properties that the substance has are said to inhere in the
substance.

78.4.2 Inherence
Another primitive concept in substance theory is the
inherence the properties within a substance. For example, in the sentence,The apple is red,substance theory
says that red inheres in the apple. Substance theory takes
the meaning of an apple having the property of redness
to be understood, and likewise that of a property's inherence in substance, which is similar to, but not identical
with, being part of the substance.

Friedrich Nietzsche and, after him, Martin Heidegger,


Michel Foucault and Gilles Deleuze also rejected the
notion of substance, and in the same movement
the concept of subject contained with the framework of
Platonic idealism. For this reason, Althusser's antihumanismand Foucault's statements were criticized, by The inverse relation is participation. Thus in the examJrgen Habermas and others, for misunderstanding that ple above, just as red inheres in the apple, so the apple
this led to a fatalist conception of social determinism. For participates in red.
Habermas, only a subjective form of liberty could be conceived, to the contrary of Deleuze who talks about "a life
, as an impersonal and immanent form of liberty.

78.5 Arguments supporting the

For Heidegger, Descartes means bysubstancethat by


theory
which we can understand nothing else than an entity
which is in such a way that it need no other entity in order
to be.Therefore, only God is a substance as ens perfec- Two common arguments supporting substance theory are
tissimus (most perfect being). Heidegger showed the in- the argument from grammar and the argument from conextricable relationship between the concept of substance ception.

78.7. STOICISM

78.5.1

Argument from grammar

The argument from grammar uses traditional grammar


to support substance theory. For example, the sentence
Snow is whitecontains a grammatical subject snow
and the predicate is white, thereby asserting snow is
white. The argument holds that it makes no grammatical sense to speak ofwhitenessdisembodied, without
asserting that snow or something else is white. Meaningful assertions are formed by virtue of a grammatical
subject, of which properties may be predicated, and in
substance theory, such assertions are made with regard to
a substance.

247

78.6.1 Identity of indiscernibles


The indiscernibility argument from the substance theorist
targets those bundle theorists who are also metaphysical
realists. Metaphysical realism uses the identity of universals to compare and identify particulars. Substance theorists say that bundle theory is incompatible with metaphysical realism due to the identity of indiscernibles: particulars may dier from one another only with respect to
their attributes or relations.

The substance theorist's indiscernibility argument against


the metaphysically realistic bundle theorist states that numerically dierent concrete particulars are discernible
Bundle theory rejects the argument from grammar on the from the self-same concrete particular only by virtue of
basis that a grammatical subject does not necessarily re- qualitatively dierent attributes.
fer to a metaphysical subject. Bundle theory, for example, maintains that the grammatical subject of statement
Necessarily, for any complex objects, a and b
refers to its properties. For example, a bundle theorist un, if for any entity, c , c is a constituent of a if
derstands the grammatical subject of the sentence,Snow
and only if c is a constituent of b , then a is
is white, to be a bundle of properties such as white.
numerically identical with b .* [5]
Accordingly, one can make meaningful statements about
bodies without referring to substances.
The indiscernibility argument points out that if bundle
theory and discernible concrete particulars theory explain
78.5.2 Argument from conception
the relationship between attributes, then the identity of
indiscernibles theory must also be true:
Another argument for the substance theory is the argument from conception. The argument claims that in order
Necessarily, for any concrete objects, a and b
to conceive of an object's properties, like the redness of
, if for any attribute, , is an attribute of a
an apple, one must conceive of the object that has those
if and only if is an attribute of b , then a is
properties. According to the argument, one cannot connumerically identical with b .* [5]
ceive of redness, or any other property, distinct from the
substance that has that property.
The indiscernibles argument then asserts that the identity of indiscernibles is violated, for example, by identical
sheets of paper. All of their qualitative properties are the
78.6 Bundle theory
same (e.g. white, rectangular, 9 x 11 inches...) and thus,
the argument claims, bundle theory and metaphysical reMain article: Bundle theory
alism cannot both be correct.
However, bundle theory combined with trope theory
In direct opposition to substance theory is bundle theory, (as opposed to metaphysical realism) avoids the indiswhose most basic premise is that all concrete particulars cernibles argument because each attribute is a trope if
are merely constructions or 'bundles' of attributes or qual- can only be held by only one concrete particular.
itative properties:
The argument does not consider whether position
should be considered an attribute or relation. It is after
Necessarily, for any concrete entity, a , if for
all through the diering positions that we in practice difany entity, b , b is a constituent of a , then b is
ferentiate between otherwise identical pieces of paper.
an attribute.* [5]

The bundle theorist's principal objections to substance


theory concern the bare particulars of a substance, which
substance theory considers independently of the substance's properties. The bundle theorist objects to the
notion of a thing with no properties, claiming that such
a thing is inconceivable and citing John Locke, who described a substance as a something, I know not what.
To the bundle theorist, as soon as one has any notion of a
substance in mind, a property accompanies that notion.

78.7 Stoicism
The Stoics rejected the idea that incorporeal beings inhere in matter, as taught by Plato. They believed that
all being is corporeal infused with a creative re called
pneuma. Thus they developed a scheme of categories different from Aristotle's based on the ideas of Anaxagoras
and Timaeus.

248

78.8 See also


78.9 References
[1] Rae Langton (2001). Kantian humility: our ignorance of
things in themselves. Oxford University Press. p. 28.
ISBN 0-19-924317-4.
[2] Ackrill, J.L. (1988). A New Aristotle Reader. Princeton
University Press. p. 7. ISBN 9781400835829.
[3] A. Kadir Cucen (2002-01-18). Heidegger's Critique of
Descartes' Metaphysics. Uludag University. Retrieved
2011-12-28.
[4] See, e.g., Ronny Desmet and Michel Weber (edited by),
Whitehead. The Algebra of Metaphysics. Applied Process
Metaphysics Summer Institute Memorandum, Louvain-laNeuve, ditions Chromatika, 2010 (ISBN 978-2-93051708-7).
[5] Loux, M.J. (2002). Metaphysics: A Contemporary Introduction. Routledge Contemporary Introductions to Philosophy Series. Taylor & Francis. p. 106-107,110. ISBN
9780415140348. LCCN 97011036.

78.10 External links


Substance entry by Howard Robinson in the Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Friesian School on Substance and Essence

CHAPTER 78. SUBSTANCE THEORY

Chapter 79

Substantial form
Formsredirects here.
(disambiguation).

For other uses, see Forms

knowledge of that to which he says it is like, but


deciently so?
[Simmias] Necessarily. ...

A theory of substantial forms asserts that forms (or


ideas) organize matter and make it intelligible. Substantial forms are the source of properties, order, unity, identity, and information about objects.
The idea of substantial forms dominates ancient Greek
philosophy and medieval philosophy, but has fallen out of
favour in modern philosophy.* [1] The idea of substantial
forms has been abandoned for a mechanical, orbottomuptheory of organization.* [2] However, such mechanistic treatments have been criticized for the same reasons
atomism has received criticism, viz., for merely denying
the existence of certain kinds of substantial forms in favor of others (here, that of atoms, which are then thought
to be arranged into things possessing accidental forms)
and not denying substantial forms as such, an impossible
move.

We must then possess knowledge of the Equal


before that time when we rst saw the equal objects and realized that all these objects strive to
be like the Equal but are decient in this.

79.1.2

Aristotelian forms

Main article: Hylomorphism

Aristotle was the rst to distinguish between matter (hyle)


and form (morphe). For Aristotle, matter is the undifferentiated primal element: it is rather that from which
things develop than a thing in itself. The development
of particular things from this germinal matter consists in
dierentiation, the acquiring of particular forms of which
the knowable universe consists (cf. Formal cause). The
perfection of the form of a thing is its entelechy in virtue
79.1 Articulation
of which it attains its fullest realization of function (De
anima, ii. 2). Thus the entelechy of the body is the soul.
79.1.1 Platonic forms
The origin of the dierentiation process is to be sought in
a prime mover, i.e. pure form entirely separate from all
Main article: Theory of Forms
matter, eternal, unchangeable, operating not by its own
activity but by the impulse which its own absolute exisPlato maintains in the Phaedo regarding our knowledge tence excites in matter.* [3]
of equals:

79.1.3 Early adoption


Do they [equal things] seem to us to be equal in
the same sense as what is Equal itself? Is there
some deciency in their being such as the Equal,
or is there not?
[Simias]-A considerable deciency.
Whenever someone, on seeing something, realizes that that which he now sees wants to be like
some other reality but falls short and cannot be
like that other since it is inferior, do we agree
that the one who thinks this must have prior

Both Platonic and Aristotelian forms appear in medieval


philosophy.
Medieval theologians, newly exposed to Aristotle's philosophy, applied hylomorphism to Christianity, such as to
the transubstantiation of the Eucharist's bread and wine
to the body and blood of Jesus. Theologians such as
Duns Scotus developed Christian applications of hylomorphism.
The Aristotelian conception of form was adopted by the
Scholastics, to whom, however, its origin in the observation of the physical universe was an entirely foreign
249

250

CHAPTER 79. SUBSTANTIAL FORM

idea. The most remarkable adaptation is probably that


of Aquinas, who distinguished the spiritual world with
its subsistent forms (formae separatae) from the material
with its inherent forms which exist only in combination
with matter.

79.2 Criticism
Descartes, referring to substantial forms, says:

"(...) They were introduced by philosophers


solely to account for the proper action of natural things, of which they were supposed to be
the principles and bases . . . But no natural
action at all can be explained by these substantial forms, since their defenders admit that they
are occult, and that they do not understand them
themselves. If they say that some action proceeds from a substantial form, it is as if they
said it proceeds from something they do not understand; which explains nothing. (...)"* [4]

79.3 Response to criticism


Leibniz made eorts to return to forms. Substantial
forms, in the strictest sense for Leibniz, are primitive active forces and are required for his metaphysics.* [5]* [6]
In the Discourse on Metaphysics (10):
"(...) the belief in substantial forms has a
certain basis in fact, but that these forms effect no changes in the phenomena and must not
be employed for the explanation of particular
events. (...)"

79.4 References
[1] David Banach. What Killed Substantial Form?
[2] Benjamin Hill. Substantial Forms and the Rise of Modern
Science
[3] This article incorporates text from a publication now in
the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Form".
Encyclopdia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
[4] Descartes. Letter to Regius,January 1642, in Oeuvres
de Descartes.
[5] Adams, Robert Merrihew. Leibniz: Determinist, Theist,
Idealist, February 1999, pp. 308-341 (34)
[6] Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Chapter 80

List of writers inuenced by Aristotle


Many philosophers and other writers have been signi- 80.2.1 Greek commentators
cantly inuenced by Aristotle.
Asclepius of Tralles
Eustratius of Nicaea

80.1 Antiquity

Sophonias (commentator)
Stephen of Alexandria

Plotinus

80.1.1

Greek commentators

80.2.2 Islamic commentators


Averroes

Adrastus of Aphrodisias

Avicenna

Alexander of Aegae

Al-Farabi

Alexander of Aphrodisias

Al-Kindi
Al-Ghazali

Ammonius Hermiae

Al-Biruni

David Anhaght
Aspasius

80.2.3 Latin commentators


Albert of Saxony (philosopher)

Damascius

Albertus Magnus

Dexippus (philosopher)

Thomas Aquinas

John Philoponus

Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius

Olympiodorus the Younger

Jean Buridan

Porphyry (philosopher)

Gilbert de la Porre
Giles of Rome

Simplicius of Cilicia

John Hennon

Syrianus

Lambertus de Monte

Themistius

William of Ockham
Gerardus Odonis
Peter of Auvergne

80.2 Middle Ages

Duns Scotus
Al-Jahiz

Guido Terrena

Maimonides

Walter Burley
251

252

CHAPTER 80. LIST OF WRITERS INFLUENCED BY ARISTOTLE

80.3 Modern

80.4 See also

Francis Bacon

Aristotelianism

Franco Burgersdijck

Peripatetic school

Nicolaus Copernicus

Commentaries on Aristotle

Ren Descartes

Scholasticism

G.W.F. Hegel
Thomas Hobbes
Immanuel Kant
Karl Marx
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Baruch Spinoza

80.3.1

Latin commentators

See also: List of Renaissance commentators on Aristotle

Robert Balfour
Domingo Bez
Niccol Cabeo
John Case
Conimbricenses
Cesare Cremonini (philosopher)
Domingo de Soto
Philip Faber
Pedro da Fonseca (philosopher)
Sebastin Fox Morcillo
John Mair
Pietro Pomponazzi
Francis Robortello
Franciscus Toletus
Cuthbert Tunstall
Jacopo Zabarella
Mortimer Adler, Hannah Arendt, Giannina Braschi,
Philippa Foot, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Martin Heidegger, Muhammad Iqbal, James Joyce, Alasdair MacIntyre, Jacques Maritain, Martha Nussbaum, Ayn Rand,
Leo Strauss, Michael Sandel, Olavo de Carvalho

80.5 References

Chapter 81

J. L. Ackrill
John Lloyd Ackrill FBA (30 December 1921 30
November 2007) was a philosopher and classicist who
specialized in Ancient Greek philosophy, especially the
philosophy of Plato and Aristotle. Ackrill has been said
to be, along with Gregory Vlastos and G. E. L. Owen,
one of the most important scholars of Greek philosophy
in the English-speaking world in the latter half of the 20th
century.* [1]

81.4 External links

Ackrill was a visiting scholar at the Institute for Advanced


Study in 1950-51 and again in 1961-62.* [2] At the time
of his death he was Emeritus Professor of the History of
Philosophy and Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford.

81.1 Early life


After attending Reading School, Ackrill read classical
mods at St John's College, Oxford.* [3]

81.2 Major writings


81.2.1

Books

Essays on Plato and Aristotle (1997)


Aristotle the Philosopher (1981)
Aristotle's Ethics (1983)

81.2.2

Translations and commentaries

Aristotle, A New Aristotle Reader (1988)


Aristotle, Categories and De Interpretatione (1963)

81.3 References
[1] Owen Goldin J. L. Ackrill, Essays on Plato and Aristotle.
in Bryn Mawr Classical Review 98.4.01.
[2] Institute for Advanced Study: A Community of Scholars
[3] Professor J.L. Ackrill. Obituary. London: Times
Newspapers. 2007-12-20. Retrieved 2008-06-19.

253

Times Obituary

Chapter 82

Adrastus of Aphrodisias
Adrastus (Greek: ; . 2nd century) of
Aphrodisias was a Peripatetic philosopher who lived in
the 2nd century AD. He was the author of a treatise on
the arrangement of Aristotle's writings and his system of
philosophy, quoted by Simplicius,* [1] and by Achilles
Tatius. Some commentaries of his on the Timaeus
of Plato are also quoted by Porphyry,* [2] and a treatise on the Categories of Aristotle by Galen. None of
these have come down to us.* [3] He was a competent
mathematician, whose writings on harmonics are frequently cited by Theon of Smyrna in the surviving sections of his On Mathematics Useful for the Understanding of Plato.* [4] In the 17th century, a work by Adrastus
on harmonics, (On Harmonics),
was said by Gerhard Johann Vossius to have been preserved, in manuscript, in the Vatican Library, although
the manuscript appears to be no longer extant, if indeed
this was not an error on Vossius' part.* [5]

(2006), The philosophers of the ancient world: an A to Z


guide, page 8. Duckworth.

82.2 References

Adrastus of Philippi is also reported by Stephanus of


Byzantium, as a peripatetic philosopher,* [6] he is presumably the same philosopher, unless there was a dierent, earlier, disciple of Aristotle.* [7]

82.1 Notes
[1] Simplicius, Praefat. in viii. lib. Phys.
[2] p. 270, in Harmonica Ptolemaei
[3] Jowett, Benjamin (1867), Adrastus (3)", in Smith,
William, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and
Mythology 1, Boston, p. 21
[4] Andrew Barker, (1984), Greek Musical Writings, page
210. Cambridge University Press
[5] Long, George (1842),Adrastus, The Biographical Dictionary of the Society for the Diusion of Useful Knowledge 1, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, p. 366
[6] Fragmente der griechischen Historiker Part 7, Page 51
(1999)
[7] Among the (very) few sources prepared to give Adrastus
of Philippi an independent existence is: Trevor Curnow,

254

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William,
ed. (1870). "* article name needed". Dictionary of
Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

Chapter 83

Ahmad ibn al-Tayyib al-Sarakhsi


Ahmad ibn al-Tayyib al-Sarakhsi (Arabic:
; died 899 CE) was a Persian traveller, historian and philosopher from the city of Sarakh. He was a
pupil of al-Kindi.* [1]
Al-Sarakhsi was killed by Caliph al-Mu'tadid because,
according to an anecdote preserved in Yaqut al-Hamawi's
Mu'jam al-Udaba', he had urged the caliph towards apostasy. Al-Biruni reports in his Chronology that al-Sarakhsi
had written books in which he denounced prophecy and
ridiculed the prophets, whom he styled charlatans. However, Rosenthal has disputed the historicity of the stories that claim al-Sarakhsi was executed for heretical beliefs.* [2]

83.1 References
[1] F. E., Peters (1968). Aristotle and the Arabs: The Aristotelian Tradition in Islam. New York University Press.
p. 159.
[2] McKinney, Robert C. (2004). The case of rhyme versus
reason: Ibn al-Rm and his poetics in context. Leiden:
Brill. p. 27. ISBN 90-04-13010-1.

255

Chapter 84

Alexander of Aegae
Alexander (Greek: ) of Aegae was a
Peripatetic philosopher who ourished in Rome in the
1st century, and was a disciple of the celebrated mathematician Sosigenes of Alexandria.* [1] He was tutor to
the emperor Nero.* [2]* [3] He wrote commentaries on the
Categories* [4] and the De Caelo* [5] of Aristotle.* [6] Attempts in the 19th century to ascribe some of the works
of Alexander of Aphrodisias to Alexander of Aegae have
been shown to be mistaken.* [7]

84.1 References
[1] Jowett, Benjamin (1867). Alexander of Aegae. In
William Smith. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology 1. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. pp. 110111.
[2] Suda,
[3] The quote attributed to Alexander in the Suda entry is
found in Suetonius (Tiberius 57), where it is attributed to
Theodorus of Gadara.
[4] Simplicius, In Cat. 10.20, 13.16
[5] Simplicius, In De Caelo, 430.29-32
[6] cf. Commentators on Aristotle entry in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
[7] Victor Carlisle Barr Coutant, (1936), Alexander of Aphrodisias: Commentary on Book IV of Aristotle's Meteorologica, page 21. Columbia University

84.2 Sources

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William,
ed. (1870). "* article name needed". Dictionary of
Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

256

Chapter 85

Alexander of Aphrodisias
and Sensibilia, and Metaphysics. Several original treatises
also survive, and include a work On Fate, in which he argues against the Stoic doctrine of necessity; and one On
the Soul. His commentaries on Aristotle were considered
so useful that he was styled, by way of pre-eminence,the
commentator( ).

85.1 Life and career


Alexander was a native of Aphrodisias in Caria* [1] and
came to Athens towards the end of the 2nd century. He
was a student of the two Stoic,* [2] or possibly Peripatetic,
philosophers Sosigenes* [3] and Herminus,* [4] and perhaps of Aristotle of Mytilene.* [5] At Athens he became head of the Peripatetic school and lectured on Peripatetic philosophy. Alexander's dedication of On Fate to
Septimius Severus and Caracalla, in gratitude for his position at Athens, indicates a date between 198 and 209.
A recently published inscription from Aphrodisias conrms that he was head of one of the Schools at Athens
and gives his full name as Titus Aurelius Alexander.* [1]
His full nomenclature shows that his grandfather or other
ancestor was probably given Roman citizenship by the
emperor Antoninus Pius, while proconsul of Asia. The
inscription honours his father, also called Alexander and
also a philosopher. This fact makes it plausible that some
of the suspect works that form part of Alexander's corpus
should be ascribed to his father.* [6]

Opening paragraph of the treatise On Fate (Pros tous Autokratoras) by Alexander of Aphrodisias. From an anonymous edition
published in 1658.

Alexander of Aphrodisias (Greek:


; . 200 AD) was a Peripatetic philosopher and the most celebrated of the Ancient Greek
commentators on the writings of Aristotle. He was a
native of Aphrodisias in Caria, and lived and taught in
Athens at the beginning of the 3rd century, where he held
a position as head of the Peripatetic school. He wrote
many commentaries on the works of Aristotle, extant are
those on the Prior Analytics, Topics, Meteorology, Sense

85.1.1 Commentaries
Alexander composed several commentaries on the works
of Aristotle, in which he sought to escape a syncretistic
tendency and to recover the pure doctrines of Aristotle.* [7] His extant commentaries are on Prior Analytics
(Book 1), Topics, Meteorology, Sense and Sensibilia, and
Metaphysics (Books 1-5).* [8] The commentary on the
Sophistical Refutations is deemed spurious, as is the commentary on the nal nine books of the Metaphysics.* [9]
The lost commentaries include works on the De Interpretatione, Posterior Analytics, Physics, On the Heavens, On
Generation and Corruption, On the Soul, and On Memory.* [9] Simplicius of Cilicia mentions that Alexander

257

258

CHAPTER 85. ALEXANDER OF APHRODISIAS


deals with questions of vision and light, and the nal four
with fate and providence.* [15] The Mantissa was probably not written by Alexander in its current form, but much
of the actual material may be his.* [16]
Problems and Solutions (Quaestiones) consists of three
books which, although termed problems and solutions
of physical questions,treat of subjects which are not all
physical, and are not all problems.* [17] Among the sixtynine items in these three books, twenty-four deal with
physics, seventeen with psychology, eleven with logic and
metaphysics, and six with questions of fate and providence.* [17] It is unlikely that Alexander wrote all of the
Quaestiones, some may be Alexander's own explanations,
while others may be exercises by his students.* [18]
Ethical Problems was traditionally counted as the fourth
book of the Quaestiones.* [17] The work is a discussion
of ethical issues based on Aristotle, and contains responses to questions and problems deriving from Alexander's school.* [19] It is likely that the work was not written
by Alexander himself, but rather by his pupils on the basis
of debates involving Alexander.* [19]

Andrea Briosco, Aristotle and Alexander of Aphrodisias, 16th


century plaquette, Bode-Museum

provided commentary on the quadrature of the lunes, and


the corresponding problem of squaring the circle.* [10]
In April 2007, it was reported that imaging analysis had
discovered an early commentary on Aristotle's Categories
in the Archimedes Palimpsest, and Robert Sharples suggested Alexander as the most likely author.* [11]

85.1.2

Original treatises

There are also several extant original writings by Alexander. These include: On the Soul, Problems and Solutions, Ethical Problems, On Fate, and On Mixture and
Growth.* [8] Three works attributed to him are considered
spurious: Medical Questions, Physical Problems, and On
Fevers.* [8] Additional works by Alexander are preserved
in Arabic translation, these include: On the Principles of
the Universe,* [12] On Providence, and Against Galen on
Motion.* [13]
On the Soul (De anima) is a treatise on the soul written
along the lines suggested by Aristotle in his own De anima.* [14] Alexander contends that the undeveloped reason in man is material (nous hulikos) and inseparable
from the body.* [7] He argued strongly against the doctrine of the soul's immortality.* [7] He identied the active intellect (nous poietikos), through whose agency the
potential intellect in man becomes actual, with God.* [7]
A second book is known as the Supplement to On the
Soul (Mantissa). The Mantissa is a series of twenty-ve
separate pieces of which the opening ve deal directly
with psychology.* [15] The remaining twenty pieces cover
problems in physics and ethics, of which the largest group

On Fate is a treatise in which Alexander argues against


the Stoic doctrine of necessity.* [7] In On Fate Alexander denied three things - necessity (Greek: ), the
foreknowledge of fated events that was part of the Stoic
identication of God and Nature, and determinism in the
sense of a sequence of causes that was laid down beforehand (Greek: ) or predetermined
by antecedents (Greek: ). He defended a
view of moral responsibility we would call libertarianism
today.* [20]
On Mixture and Growth discusses the topic of mixture
of physical bodies.* [21] It is both an extended discussion
(and polemic) on Stoic physics, and an exposition of Aristotelian thought on this theme.* [21]
On the Principles of the Universe is preserved in Arabic translation. This treatise is not mentioned in surviving Greek sources, but it enjoyed great popularity in the
Muslim world, and a large number of copies have survived.* [22] The main purpose of this work is to give
a general account of Aristotelian cosmology and metaphysics, but it also has a polemical tone, and it may be
directed at rival views within the Peripatetic school.* [23]
Alexander was concerned with lling the gaps of the
Aristotelian system and smoothing out its inconsistencies,
while also presenting a unied picture of the world, both
physical and ethical.* [24] The topics dealt with are the
nature of the heavenly motions and the relationship between the unchangeable celestial realm and the sublunar
world of generation and decay.* [24] His principal sources
are the Physics (book 7), Metaphysics (book 12), and the
Pseudo-Aristotelian On the Universe.* [24]
On Providence survives in two Arabic versions.* [25] In
this treatise, Alexander opposes the Stoic view that divine
Providence extends to all aspects of the world; he regards
this idea as unworthy of the gods.* [25] Instead, provi-

85.4. NOTES
dence is a power that emanates from the heavens to the
sublunar region, and is responsible for the generation and
destruction of earthly things, without any direct involvement in the lives of individuals.* [25]

85.2 Inuence
By the 6th century Alexander's commentaries on Aristotle were considered so useful that he was referred to as
the commentator(Greek: ).* [26] His commentaries were greatly esteemed among the Arabs, who
translated many of them,* [7] and he is heavily quoted by
Maimonides.
In 1210, the Church Council of Paris issued a condemnation, which probably targeted the writings of Alexander
among others.* [27]
In the early Renaissance his doctrine of the soul's mortality was adopted by Pietro Pomponazzi (against the
Thomists and the Averroists),* [7] and by his successor
Cesare Cremonini. This school is known as Alexandrists.
Alexander's band, an optical phenomenon, is named after
him.

85.3 Modern editions


Several of Alexander's works were published in the
Aldine edition of Aristotle, Venice, 14951498; his De
Fato and De Anima were printed along with the works
of Themistius at Venice (1534); the former work, which
has been translated into Latin by Grotius and also by
Schulthess, was edited by J. C. Orelli, Zrich, 1824;
and his commentaries on the Metaphysica by H. Bonitz,
Berlin, 1847.* [7] In 1989 the rst part of his On Aristotle
Metaphysics was published as part of the Ancient commentators project. Since then, other works of his have
been translated into English.

259

[4] Simplicius, Comm. in Arist. de Caelo, p. 430.32 Heiberg,


quoting Alexander: ...,
,I heard from Herminus,
as was said among Aspasius' students...
[5] Pierre Thillet, in his 1984 Bud edition of On Fate, has
argued against Moraux's identication (Der Aristotelismus
im I. und II. Jahrhundert n. Chr., vol. 2, 1984) of Aristotle
of Mytilene as Alexander's teacher, pointing out that the
text that has been taken to mean this (On Fate, mantissa, p.
110.4 Bruns, ... ) could refer instead to Alexander's learning from the texts of Aristotle the Stagirite. See R.W. Sharples, Classical Review,
n.s., 36 (1986), p. 33. Cyril of Alexandria, Against Julian
2.38, may name Aristocles of Messene, but the text edited
by Burguire and vieux (Sources Chrtiennes 322, 1985)
reads .
[6] R. Sharples, 'Implications of the new Alexander of Aphrodisias inscription', in Bulletin of the Institute of Classical
Studies 48 (2005) pp. 47-56.
[7] One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text
from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm,
Hugh, ed. (1911). Alexander of Aphrodisias.
Encyclopdia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
[8] Donald J. Zeyl, Daniel Devereux, Phillip Mitsis, (1997),
Encyclopedia of Classical Philosophy, page 20.
[9] William W. Fortenbaugh, R. W. Sharples, (2005),
Theophrastus of Eresus, sources for his life, writings,
thought and Inuence, page 22. BRILL
[10] Dunham, William. Journey through Genius, Penguin,
1991
[11] Text reveals more ancient secrets. BBC News. 200704-26.
[12] Charles Genequand, (2001), Alexander of Aphrodisias:
On the Cosmos. BRILL
[13] N. Rescher, M. E. Marmura, (1965), The Refutation by
Alexander of Aphrodisias of Galen's Treatise on the Theory of Motion. Islamic Research Institute
[14] Gerd Van Riel, 2010, Ancient Perspectives on Aristotle's de
Anima, page 174. Leuven University Press

85.4 Notes
[1] A. Chaniotis, 'Epigraphic evidence for the philosopher
Alexander of Aphrodisias', in Bulletin of the Institute of
Classical Studies, ISSN 0076-0730, v.47 (2004) pp. 7981
[2] J.P. Lynch, Aristotle's School, Berkeley, 1972, p. 215. See
Sosigenes the Peripatetic.
[3] See Alexander's Comm. in Arist. Meteor., p. 143.13
Hayduck ( ), Themistius,
Paraphr. in Arist. de Anima, p. 61.23 Heinze, Ps.Ammonius, Comm. in Arist. Anal. Pr. p. 39.24 Wallies,
and Philoponus, Comm. in Arist. Anal. Pr., p. 126.20-23
Wallies.

[15] Robert B. Todd, (1976), Alexander of Aphrodisias on Stoic


physics: a study of the De Mixtione with Preliminary Essays, Text, Translation and Commentary, page 18. BRILL
[16]The two books of the De Anima dier markedly in form
and content, and they were not originally a single work.
Book I is generally recognized as authentic. Book II is
almost certainly not by Alexander of Aphrodisias in its
present form, though much of the material may be his or
from his school.F. Edward Cranz, (1960), Alexander
Aphrodisiensis, in: Catalogus Translationum et Commentariorum: Medieval and Renaissance Latin Translations and Commentaries, page 84. Vol. 1. Washington.
[17] Robert B. Todd, (1976), Alexander of Aphrodisias on Stoic
physics: a study of the De Mixtione with Preliminary Essays, Text, Translation and Commentary, page 19. BRILL

260

CHAPTER 85. ALEXANDER OF APHRODISIAS

[18] R. W. Sharples, 1992, Alexander of Aphrodisias: Quaestiones 1.1-2.15, pages 3-4. Duckworth.

comm.). Paris: Librairie Philosophique J. Vrin,


2008. 416 p. ISBN 2-7116-1973-7

[19] Miira Tuominen, (2009), The ancient commentators on


Plato and Aristotle, page 237. University of California
Press

R. W. Sharples, 1990, Alexander of Aphrodisias:


Ethical Problems. Duckworth. ISBN 0-7156-22412

[20] Alexander of Aphrodisias


[21] Robert B. Todd, (1976), Alexander of Aphrodisias on Stoic
physics: a study of the De Mixtione with Preliminary Essays, Text, Translation and Commentary, page ix. BRILL
[22] Charles Genequand, (2001), Alexander of Aphrodisias:
On the Cosmos, page 1. BRILL
[23] Charles Genequand, (2001), Alexander of Aphrodisias:
On the Cosmos, page 4. BRILL
[24] Charles Genequand, (2001), Alexander of Aphrodisias:
On the Cosmos, page 6. BRILL
[25] Robert W. Sharples,The Peripatetic school, in David
Furley (editor), (2003), From Aristotle to Augustine, pages
159-160. Routledge
[26] Cf. Simplicius, in Phys. 707, 33; 1170, 13; 1176, 32;
Philoponus, in An. Pr. 126, 21; Olympiodorus, in Meteor.
263, 21. But see Jonathan Barnes et al., (1991), Alexander
of Aphrodisias, On Aristotle Prior Analytics 1.1-7, page 4,
who argue: In all these texts Alexander is indeed referred to by phrases such as 'the commentator' or 'Aristotle's commentator'; but these phrases are not honoric
titles - they are ordinary referring expressions. If, at the
end of a book review, you read 'The author deserves our
thanks', you will rightly take this for praise - but you will
not think that the author has been honoured as The Author
par excellence.

W. E. Dooley, 1989, Alexander of Aphrodisias: On


Aristotle Metaphysics 1. Duckworth. ISBN 0-71562243-9
W. E. Dooley, A. Madigan, 1992, Alexander of
Aphrodisias: On Aristotle Metaphysics 2-3. Duckworth. ISBN 0-7156-2373-7
A. Madigan, 1993, Alexander of Aphrodisias: On
Aristotle Metaphysics 4. Duckworth. ISBN 0-71562482-2
W. Dooley, 1993, Alexander of Aphrodisias: On
Aristotle Metaphysics 5. Duckworth. ISBN 0-71562483-0
E. Lewis, 1996, Alexander of Aphrodisias: On Aristotle Meteorology 4. Duckworth. ISBN 0-71562684-1
E. Gannag, 2005, Alexander of Aphrodisias: On
Aristotle On Coming-to-Be and Perishing 2.2-5.
Duckworth. ISBN 0-7156-3303-1
A. Towey, 2000, Alexander of Aphrodisias: On Aristotle On Sense Perception. Duckworth. ISBN 07156-2899-2

[27] G. Thry, Autour du dcret de 1210: II, Alexandre


d'Aphrodise. Aperu sur l'inuence de sa notique, Kain,
Belgium, 1926, pp. 7 .

V. Caston, 2011, Alexander of Aphrodisias: On


Aristotle On the Soul. Duckworth. ISBN 0-71563923-4

85.5 See also

J. Barnes, S. Bobzien, K. Flannery, K. Ierodiakonou,


1991, Alexander of Aphrodisias: On Aristotle Prior
Analytics 1.1-7. Duckworth. ISBN 0-7156-2347-8

Free will in antiquity

85.6 References
This article incorporates text from a publication now
in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911).
Alexander of Aphrodisias. Encyclopdia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

85.7 Bibliography
85.7.1

Translations

Alexandre D'Aphrodise. De lme. Textes & Commentaires. Bergeron, M. and R. Dufour (trans.,

I. Mueller, J. Gould, 1999, Alexander of Aphrodisias: On Aristotle Prior Analytics 1.8-13. Duckworth. ISBN 0-7156-2855-0
I. Mueller, J. Gould, 1999, Alexander of Aphrodisias: On Aristotle Prior Analytics 1.14-22. Duckworth. ISBN 0-7156-2876-3
I. Mueller, 2006, Alexander of Aphrodisias: On
Aristotle Prior Analytics 1.23-31. Duckworth. ISBN
0-7156-3407-0
I. Mueller, 2006, Alexander of Aphrodisias: On
Aristotle Prior Analytics 1.32-46. Duckworth. ISBN
0-7156-3408-9
J. M. Van Ophuijsen, 2000, Alexander of Aphrodisias: On Aristotle Topics 1. Duckworth. ISBN 07156-2853-4

85.8. EXTERNAL LINKS


R. W. Sharples, 1983, Alexander of Aphrodisias: On
Fate. Duckworth. ISBN 0-7156-1739-7
R. W. Sharples, 1992, Alexander of Aphrodisias:
Quaestiones 1.1-2.15. Duckworth. ISBN 0-71562372-9
R. W. Sharples, 1994, Alexander of Aphrodisias:
Quaestiones 2.16-3.15. Duckworth. ISBN 0-71562615-9
R. W. Sharples, 2004, Alexander of Aphrodisias:
Supplement to On the Soul. Duckworth. ISBN 07156-3236-1
Charles Genequand, 2001, Alexander of Aphrodisias: On the Cosmos. BRILL. ISBN 90-04-119639

85.7.2

Studies

Flannery, Kevin L. Ways into the Logic of Alexander


of Aphrodisias, Leiden: Brill, 1995. ISBN 90-0409998-0
Gili, Luca. La sillogistica di Alessandro di Afrodisia. Sillogistica categorica e sillogistica modale
nel commento agli Analitici Primidi Aristotele,
Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 2011. ISBN 978-3-48714614-0
Merlan, Philip (1970).Alexander of Aphrodisias
. Dictionary of Scientic Biography 1. New York:
Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 117120. ISBN 0684-10114-9.
Moraux, Paul. Der Aristotelismus bei den Griechen,
Von Andronikos bis Alexander von Aphrodisias, III:
Alexander von Aphrodisias, Berlin: Walter Gruyter,
2001.
Rescher, Nicholas & Marmura, Michael E., The
Refutation by Alexander of Aphrodisias of Galen's
Treatise on the Theory of Motion, Islamabad: Islamic Research Institute, 1965.
ISBN 0-19636065-X
Todd, Robert B., 'Alexander of Aphrodisias on Stoic
Physics. A Study of theDe Mixtionewith Preliminary Essays, Text, Translation and Commentary,
Leiden: Brill, 1976. ISBN 90-04-04402-7

85.8 External links


Alexander of Aphrodisias entry by Dorothea Frede
in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Alexander on Information Philosopher
Online Greek texts:

261
Scripta minora, ed. Bruns
Aristotelian commentaries: Metaphysics, Prior
Analytics I, Topics, De sensu and Meteorology,

Chapter 86

Andronicus of Rhodes
Andronicus of Rhodes (Greek: ; . c. 60
BC) was a Greek philosopher from Rhodes who was also
the head (scholarch) of the Peripatetic school. He is
most famous for publishing a new edition of the works
of Aristotle which forms the basis of the texts which survive today. * [1]

86.4 References
[1] Falcon, Andrea; Zalta, Edward N. Commentators on
Aristotle. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(Stanford University). Summer 2012. Retrieved 201303-03.
[2] Ammonius, In de Int. 5.24
[3] Strabo, xiv.; Ammonius, in Aristot. Categ..

86.1 Life

[4] Plutarch, Sulla c. 26


[5] Comp. Porphyry, Vit. Plotin. c. 24; Boethius, ad Aristot.
de Interpret.

Little is known about his life. He was at the eleventh


scholarch of the Peripatetic school.* [2] He taught in
Rome, about 58 BC, and was the teacher of Boethus of
Sidon, with whom Strabo studied.* [3]

[6] Smith 1870.


[7] Chisholm 1911.

Attribution

86.2 Works of Aristotle

Andronicus is of special interest in the history of philosophy, from the statement of Plutarch,* [4] that he published
a new edition of the works of Aristotle and Theophrastus,
which formerly belonged to the library of Apellicon, and
were brought to Rome by Sulla with the rest of Apellicon's library in 84 BC. Tyrannion commenced this task,
but apparently did not do much towards it.* [5] The arrangement which Andronicus made of Aristotle's writings seems to be the one which forms the basis of our
present editions and we are probably indebted to him
for the preservation of a large number of Aristotle's
works.* [6]

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed.
(1870). "Andronicus of Rhodes". Dictionary of
Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

This article incorporates text from a publication now


in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911).
"Andronicus of Rhodes". Encyclopdia Britannica
(11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

86.5 Sources

86.3 Writings
Andronicus wrote a work upon Aristotle, the fth book of
which contained a complete list of the philosopher's writings, and he also wrote commentaries upon the Physics,
Ethics, and Categories. None of these works is extant.
Two treatises are sometimes erroneously attributed to
him, one On Emotions, the other a commentary on Aristotle's Ethics (really by Constantine Palaeocapa in the 16th
century, or by John Callistus of Thessalonica).* [7]
262

Jonathan Barnes, Roman Aristotle, in: Jonathan


Barnes & Miriam Grin: Philosophia Togata II.
Plato and Aristotle at Rome, New York: Oxford University Press, 1997, pp. 2444.
Ingemarg Dring, Aristotle in the Ancient Biographical Tradition Gteborg, 1957 (reprint Garland
1987).
Freidrich von Littig, Andronikos von Rhodos, t. I
Mnchen,1890, t. II Erlangen, 1894, t. III Erlangen,
1895.
Paul Moraux, Les listes anciennes des ouvrages
d'Aristote, Louvain, 1951.

86.6. EXTERNAL LINKS

86.6 External links


The Peripatos after Aristotle: Origin of the Corpus
Aristotelicum with an annotated bibliography

263

Chapter 87

David the Invincible


David the Invincible (Classical Armenian:
Mkrtchyan
; reformed: , Davit'
Anhat' ) was a 5th-century Armenian philosopher. He is
best known as the author of several works including Def- 87.3 Legacy
inition of Philosophy and Exegesis of Aristotle. He was
the member of Neoplatonic school and the founder of a
The David Anhaght medal, the highest ranking medal
non-religious branch of Medieval Armenian philosophy.
granted by the Armenian Academy of Philosophy is
named after him.* [3]

87.1 Life
87.4 See also
David (commentator)

87.5 References
[1] Hacikyan, Agop J. (2000). The heritage of Armenian literature. Detroit: Wayne State Univ. Press. p. 288. ISBN
0814328156.
[2] Barnes, textes runis et dites par Valentina Calzolari et
Jonathan (2009). L'uvre de David l'Invincible et la transmission de la pense grecque dans la tradition armnienne
et syriaque. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 9789004160477. Retrieved 1 February 2013.

The statue of David Anhaght in Yerevan

David Anhaght was born in Nergin in the Taron province


of Armenia.* [1] David the Invincible worked out of
Alexandria, Egypt and was highly interested and gave
courses of Aristotle's Physics.* [2] It is believed that he received the nickname Anhaght, meaning invincible, due to
his exceptional oratory and argumentative skills.* [1] After spending many years abroad, Anhaght returned to Armenia where he taught philosophy and science.* [1] The
church, however, was discontent over much of his teachings and he was forced to seek refuge. He ultimately died
in Haghbat.* [1]

[3] Grand Medal of David the Invincible. International


Progress Organization.

87.6 External links

87.2 Film
David the Invincible ( - David
Anhaght), Armenlm, 1978; Director: Levon
264

David entry by Christian Wildberg in the Stanford


Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Chapter 88

Asclepius of Tralles
For other people of the same name, see Asclepius
(disambiguation).
Asclepius of Tralles (Greek: ; died c. 560
570) was a student of Ammonius Hermiae. Two works
of his survive:
Commentary on Aristotle's Metaphysics, books IVII (In Aristotelis metaphysicorum libros - (1 - 7)
commentaria, ed. Michael Hayduck, Commentaria
in Aristotelem Graeca, VI.2, Berin: Reiner, 1888).
Commentary on Nicomachus' Introduction to Arithmetic (Leonardo Tarn, Asclepius of Tralles, Commentary to Nicomachus' Introduction to Arithmetic,
Transactions of the American Philosophical Society
(n.s.), 59: 4. Philadelphia, 1969.
Both works seem to be notes on the lectures conducted
by Ammonius.

88.1 References
Martindale, John Robert, The Prosopography of the
later Roman Empire, Cambridge University Press,
1994, vol. 3, pp. 135-136. ISBN 978-0-52120160-5

265

Chapter 89

Aspasius
This article is about the 2nd-century philosopher. For
the 3rd-century Roman rhetorician, see Aspasius of
Rome. For the 6th-century Christian saint, see Aspasius
of Auch.
Aspasius (/speis, spezis, spes/; Greek:
; c. 80 c. 150 AD) was a Peripatetic
philosopher. Boethius, who frequently refers to his
works, says that Aspasius wrote commentaries on most of
the works of Aristotle. The following commentaries are
expressly mentioned: on De Interpretatione, the Physica,
Metaphysica, Categoriae, and the Nicomachean Ethics. A
portion of the commentary on the Nicomachean Ethics
(books 1, 2, 4, 7, and 8) is extant. The Greek text of
this commentary has been published as Commentaria in
Aristotelem Graeca (CAG) vol. 19.1, and David Konstan has published an English translation. It is notable
as the earliest extant commentary on any of Aristotle's
works. From Porphyry, who also states that Aspasius
wrote commentaries on Plato, we learn that his commentaries on Aristotle were used in the school of Plotinus.
Albert the Great, in his commentary on Aristotle's Politics
also refers to a monograph on natural aections (Libellus
de naturalibus passionibus), as written by Aspasius.

89.1 References
Antonina Alberti and Robert W. Sharples, eds., Aspasius: The Earliest Extant Commentary on Aristotle's Ethics (de Gruyter, 1999) ISBN 3-11-016081-1

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed.
(1870). Aspasius (2)". Dictionary of Greek and
Roman Biography and Mythology.

266

Chapter 90

Avempace
Avempace (c. 1085 1138) is the Latinate form of Ibn 90.2 Astronomy
Bjja (Arabic: ) , full name Ab Bakr Muammad Ibn Yay ibn a-igh at-Tjb Ibn Bjja In Islamic astronomy, Maimonides wrote the following
al-Tujibi () , a medieval An- on the planetary model proposed by Avempace:
dalusian polymath: his writings include works regarding mathematics, astronomy, physics, psychology, and
I have heard that Abu Bakr [Ibn Bajja]
music, as well as logic, philosophy, medicine, botany, and
discovered a system in which no epicycles oc*
poetry. [1]
cur, but eccentric spheres are not excluded by
him. I have not heard it from his pupils; and
He was the famous author of the Kitab al-Nabat (The
even if it be correct that he discovered such a
Book of Plants), a popular work on Botany, which dened
system, he has not gained much by it, for ecthe sex of Plants. His philosophic ideas had a clear eect
centricity is likewise contrary to the principles
on Ibn Rushd and Albertus Magnus. Most of his writings
laid down by Aristotle.... I have explained to
and book were not completed (or well organized) because
you that these diculties do not concern the asof his early death. He had a vast knowledge of Medicine,
tronomer, for he does not profess to tell us the
Mathematics and Astronomy. His main contribution to
existing properties of the spheres, but to sugIslamic Philosophy is his idea on Soul Phenomenology,
gest, whether correctly or not, a theory in which
which was never completed.
the motion of the stars and planets is uniform
Avempace was, in his time, not only a prominent gure of
and circular, and in agreement with observaphilosophy, but also of music and poetry.* [2] His diwan
tion.* [6]
(Arabic: collection of poetry) was rediscovered in 1951.
Though many of his works have not survived, his theories
on astronomy and physics were preserved by Maimonides
and Averroes respectively, which had a subsequent inuence on later astronomers and physicists in the Islamic
civilization and Renaissance Europe, including Galileo
Galilei.* [3]

90.1 Biography
He was born in Zaragoza in what is today Aragon, Spain,
around 1085* [4] and died in Fes, Morocco, in 1138.
Avempace worked as vizir for Abu Bakr ibn Ibrahim Ibn
Tlwt, the Almoravid governor of Zaragoza. Avempace
also wrote poems (panegyrics and muwasshahat) for him.
Avempace joined in poetic competitions with the poet alTutili. He later worked, for some twenty years, as the
vizir of Yahy ibn Ysuf Ibn Tashun, another brother
of the Almoravid Sultan Yusuf Ibn Tashun (died 1143)
in Morocco.* [5] Among his many teachers was Abu Jafar
ibn Harun of Trujillo a physician in Seville, Al-Andalus.

In his commentary on Aristotle's Meteorology, Avempace


presented his own theory on the Milky Way galaxy. Aristotle believed the Milky Way to be caused bythe ignition
of the ery exhalation of some stars which were large, numerous and close togetherand that the ignition takes
place in the upper part of the atmosphere, in the region
of the world which is continuous with the heavenly motions.On the other hand, Aristotle's Arabic commentator Ibn al-Bitriq considered the Milky Way to be a
phenomenon exclusively of the heavenly spheres, not of
the upper part of the atmosphereand that the light
of those stars makes a visible patch because they are so
close.Avempace's view diered from both, as he considered the Milky Way to be a phenomenon both of
the spheres above the moon and of the sublunar region.
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy describes his
theory and observation on the Milky Way as follows:* [7]

267

The Milky Way is the light of many stars


which almost touch one another. Their light
forms acontinuous image(khayl muttasil)
on the surface of the body which is like a
tent(takhawwum) under the erily element

268

CHAPTER 90. AVEMPACE

and over the air which it covers. Avempace


denes the continuous image as the result of
refraction (iniks) and supports its explanation
with an observation of a conjunction of two
planets, Jupiter and Mars which took place in
500/1106-7. He watched the conjunction and
saw them having an elongate gurealthough
their gure is circular.
Avempace also reported observingtwo planets as black
spots on the face of the Sun.In the 13th century, the
Maragha astronomer Qotb al-Din Shirazi identied this
observation as the transit of Venus and Mercury.* [8]
However, Avempace cannot have observed a Venus transit, as there were no Venus transits in his lifetime.* [9]

90.3 Physics
Text 71 of Averroes' commentary on Aristotle's Physics
contains a discussion on Avempace's theory of motion, as
well as the following quotation from the seventh book of
Avempace's lost work on physics:
And this resistance which is between the
plenum and the body which is moved in it,
is that between which, and the potency of
the void, Aristotle made the proportion in his
fourth book; and what is believed to be his
opinion, is not so. For the proportion of water to air in density is not as the proportion of
the motion of the stone in water to its motion in
air; but the proportion of the cohesive power of
water to that of air is as the proportion of the retardation occurring to the moved body by reason of the medium in which it is moved, namely
water, to the retardation occurring to it when it
is moved in air.* [10]
For, if what some people have believed
were true, then natural motion would be violent; therefore, if there were no resistance
present, how could there be any motion? For
it would necessarily be instantaneous. What
then shall be said concerning the circular motion? There is no resistance there, because
there is no cleavage of a medium involved; the
place of the circle is always the same, so that
it does not leave one place and enter another;
it is therefore necessary that the circular motion should be instantaneous. Yet we observe
in it the greatest slowness, as in the case of the
xed stars, and also the greatest speed, as in the
case of the diurnal rotation. And this is caused
only by the dierence in perfection between
the mover and the moved. When therefore the
mover is of greater perfection, that which is

moved by it will be more rapid; and when the


mover is of lesser perfection, it will be nearer
(in perfection) to that which is moved, and the
motion will be slower.* [10]
Averroes writes the following comments on Avempace's
theory of motion:
Avempace, however, here raises a good
question. For he says that it does not follow
that the proportion of the motion of one and
the same stone in water to its motion in air is
as the proportion of the density of water to the
density of air, except on the assumption that the
motion of the stone takes time only because it
is moved in a medium. And if this assumption were true, it would then be the case that
no motion would require time except because
of something resisting it for the medium seems
to impede the thing moved. And if this were
so, then the heavenly bodies, which encounter
no resistant medium, would be moved instantaneously. And he says that the proportion of
the rarity of water to the rarity of air is as the
proportion of the retardation occurring to the
moved body in water, to the retardation occurring to it in air.* [11]
And if this which he has said be conceded,
then Aristotle's demonstration will be false; because, if the proportion of the rarity of one
medium to the rarity of the other is as the proportion of accidental retardation of the movement in one of them to the retardation occurring to it in the other, and is not as the proportion of the motion itself, it will not follow
that what is moved in a void would be moved
in an instant; because in that case there would
be subtracted from the motion only the retardation aecting it by reason of the medium, and
its natural motion would remain. And every
motion involves time; therefore what is moved
in a void is necessarily moved in time and with
a divisible motion; and nothing impossible will
follow. This, then, is Avempace's question.
*
[12]

90.4 Psychology
In Islamic psychology, Avempace based his
psychological studies on physics.In his essay,
Recognition of the Active Intelligence, he wrote that
active intelligence is the most important ability of human
beings, and he wrote many other essays on sensations
and imaginations. He concluded that "knowledge cannot
be acquired by senses alone but by Active Intelligence,

90.7. REFERENCES

269

which is the governing intelligence of nature.He begins [9] Fred Espenak, Six Millennium Catalog of Venus Transits
his discussion of the soul with the denition thatbodies
[10] Ernest A. Moody (April 1951). Galileo and Avemare composed of matter and form and intelligence is
pace: The Dynamics of the Leaning Tower Experiment
the most important part of man sound knowledge is
(I)", Journal of the History of Ideas 12 (2), p. 163-193
obtained through intelligence, which alone enables one
[185].
to attain prosperity and build character.He viewed
the unity of the rational soul as the principle of the [11] Ernest A. Moody (April 1951). Galileo and Avempace: The Dynamics of the Leaning Tower Experiment
individual identity, and that by its contact with the Active
(I)", Journal of the History of Ideas 12 (2), p. 163-193
Intelligence, it becomes one of those lights that gives
[184-185].
glory to God.His denition of freedom is that when
one can think and act rationally. He also writes that [12] Ernest A. Moody (April 1951). Galileo and Avemthe aim of life should be to seek spiritual knowledge
pace: The Dynamics of the Leaning Tower Experiment
(I)", Journal of the History of Ideas 12 (2), p. 163-193
and make contact with Active Intelligence and thus with
[185-186].
the Divine.* [13]
[13] (Haque 2004, p. 368)

90.5 Music
Recently, the web page Webislam of Spanish converts
to Islam, reported that the score of the Nuba al-Istihll
of Avempace (11th century), arranged by Omar Metiou
and Eduardo Paniagua, save almost complete similarity
with Marcha Granadera (18th century) is now the ocial
anthem of Spain. That makes it the world's oldest song
(about a thousand years old) used for the ocial anthem
of a country.* [14]

90.6 Notes
[1] Jon Mcginnis, Classical Arabic Philosophy: An Anthology
of Sources, p. 266, Hackett Publishing Company, ISBN
0-87220-871-0.
[2] D. M. Dunlop, The Dwn Attributed to Ibn Bjjah (Avempace)", Bulletin of the School of Oriental and
African Studies, University of London Vol. 14, No. 3,
Studies Presented to Vladimir Minorsky by His Colleagues and Friends (1952), pp. 463
[3] Ernest A. Moody (April 1951). Galileo and Avempace: The Dynamics of the Leaning Tower Experiment
(I)", Journal of the History of Ideas 12 (2), p. 163-193.
[4] http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ibn-bajja/#LifCir
[5] Vincent Lagardre, 1989, pp. 80 and 174-178)
[6] Bernard R. Goldstein (March 1972). Theory and Observation in Medieval Astronomy, Isis 63 (1), p. 39-47
[40-41].
[7] Josep Puig Montada (September 28, 2007). Ibn Bajja
. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 200807-11.
[8] S. M. Razaullah Ansari (2002). History of oriental astronomy: proceedings of the joint discussion-17 at the
23rd General Assembly of the International Astronomical
Union, organised by the Commission 41 (History of Astronomy), held in Kyoto, August 2526, 1997. Springer.
p. 137. ISBN 1-4020-0657-8.

[14] Redaccin de Webislam, El himno nacional, de origen


andalus?, Nmero 189, 8 de octubre de 2002. (URL
visitada el 13 de marzo de 2007); Actualizacin: 19 de
agosto de 2007.. Grabacin sonora de la Nuba al-Istihll

90.7 References
Haque, Amber (2004), Psychology from Islamic
Perspective: Contributions of Early Muslim Scholars and Challenges to Contemporary Muslim Psychologists, Journal of Religion and Health 43 (4):
357377, doi:10.1007/s10943-004-4302-z
Marcinkowski, M. Ismail (April 2002), A Biographical Note on Ibn Bajjah (Avempace) and an
English Translation of his Annotations to al-Farabi's
Isagoge", in Iqbal Review (Lahore, Pakistan), vol.
43, no. 2, pp. 8399.
The Diwan Attributed to Ibn Bajjah (Avempace),D.
M. Dunlop, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and
African Studies, University of London, Vol. 14, No.
3, Studies Presented to Vladimir Minorsky by His
Colleagues and Friends (1952), pp. 463477
Miquel Forcada (2005). Ibn Bajja. In Thomas
F. Glick, Steven John Livesey, and Faith Wallis.
Medieval Science, Technology, and Medicine: An
Encyclopedia. Routledge. pp. 243246. ISBN
0415969301.

90.8 External links


Forcada, Miquel (2007).
Ibn Bjja: Ab
Bakr Muammad ibn Yay ibn aligh alTujb
alAndalus alSaraqus". In Thomas Hockey et
al. The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers.
New York: Springer. pp. 5501. ISBN 978-0-38731022-0. (PDF version)
Ibn Bajja-Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

270
Muslim Philosophy on Ibn Bajjah
Catholic Encyclopedia: Avempace

CHAPTER 90. AVEMPACE

Chapter 91

Averroes
Averros (/vroiz/; April 14, 1126 December 10,
1198) is the Latinized form of Ibn Rushd (Arabic:
), full name Ab l-Wald Muammad Ibn Amad Ibn Rud () , was
a Berber medival Andalusian Muslim polymath. He
wrote on logic, Aristotelian and Islamic philosophy,
theology, the Maliki school of Islamic jurisprudence,
psychology, political and Andalusian classical music theory, geography, mathematics, and the medival sciences of medicine, astronomy, physics, and celestial mechanics. Averroes was born in Crdoba, Al Andalus
(present-day Spain), and died at Marrakesh in presentday Morocco. His body was interred in his family tomb at
Crdoba.* [6] The 13th-century philosophical movement
based on Averroes's work is called Averroism.
Averroes was a defender of Aristotelian philosophy
against Ash'ari theologians led by Al-Ghazali. Although
highly regarded as a legal scholar of the Maliki school of
Islamic law, Averroes's philosophical ideas were considered controversial in Ash'arite Muslim circles.* [7] Averroes had a greater impact on Christian Europe: he has
been described as thefounding father of secular thought
in Western Europe* [7]* [8]* [9] and was known by the
sobriquet the Commentator for his detailed emendations to Aristotle. Latin translations of Averroes's work
led the way to the popularization of Aristotle.* [10]

91.1 Name
See also: Latinization of names
Averroes's name is the Medieval Latin form of the
Hebrew translation Aben Rois or Rosh of the Arabic Ibn
Rushd. It is also seen as Averros, Averrhos, or Averros to mark that the o and e are separate vowels and not
an or diphthong.* [11] Other forms of the name include
Ibin-Ros-din, Filius Rosadis, Ibn-Rusid, Ben-Raxid, IbnRuschod, Den-Resched, Aben-Rassad, Aben-Rasd, AbenRust, Avenrosdy Avenryz, Adveroys, Benroist, Avenroyth,
and Averroysta.* [12]

91.2 Biography

Averroes was the preeminent philosopher in the history of AlAndalus.

Averroes was born in Crdoba to a family with a long


and well-respected tradition of legal and public service.
His grandfather Abu Al-Walid Muhammad (d. 1126)
was chief judge of Crdoba under the Almoravids. His
father, Abu Al-Qasim Ahmad, held the same position
until the Almoravids were replaced by the Almohads in
1146.* [13]
Averroes's education followed a traditional path, beginning with studies in Hadith, linguistics, jurisprudence
and scholastic theology. Throughout his life he wrote
extensively on Philosophy and Religion, attributes of
God, origin of the universe, Metaphysics and Psychology.
It is generally believed that he was perhaps once tutored by Ibn Bajjah (Avempace). His medical education was directed under Abu Jafar ibn Harun of Trujillo
in Seville.* [14] Averroes began his career with the help
of Ibn Tufail (Aben Tofailto the West), the author
of Hayy ibn Yaqdhan and philosophic vizier of Almohad
king Abu Yaqub Yusuf who was an amateur of philosophy and science. It was Ibn Tufail who introduced him to
the court and to Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoarto the West), the
great Muslim physician, who became Averroes's teacher
and friend. Averroes's aptitude for medicine was noted
by his contemporaries and can be seen in his major enduring work Kitab al-Kulyat al-Tibb (Generalities) the

271

272

CHAPTER 91. AVERROES

work was inuenced by the Kitab al-Taisir al-Mudawat


wa al-Tadbir (Particularities) of Ibn Zuhr.* [15] Averroes
later reported how it was also Ibn Tufail that inspired him
to write his famous commentaries on Aristotle:
Abu Bakr ibn Tufayl summoned me
one day and told me that he had heard the
Commander of the Faithful complaining
about the disjointedness of Aristotle's mode
of expression or that of the translators
and the resultant obscurity of his intentions.
He said that if someone took on these books
who could summarize them and clarify their
aims after rst thoroughly understanding them
himself, people would have an easier time
comprehending them. If you have the
energy, " Ibn Tufayl told me, you do it.
I'm condent you can, because I know what a
good mind and devoted character you have,
and how dedicated you are to the art. You
understand that only my great age, the cares of
my oce and my commitment to another
task that I think even more vital keep me
from doing it myself. "
* [16]

Averroes also studied the works and philosophy of


Ibn Bajjah (Avempaceto the West), another famous Islamic philosopher who greatly inuenced his own
Averroist thought.

the garden of the king of the Berbers.


And that is the same way he would mention
another king of some other people or land, as
it is frequently done by writers, but he omitted
that those working for the service of the king
should glorify him and observe the usual
protocol. This was why they held a grudge
against him [Averroes] but initially, they
did not show it and in reality, Abu al-Walid
wrote that inadvertently...Then a number of
his enemies in Cordoba, who were jealous
of him and were competing with him both
in knowledge and nobility, went to Yaqub
al-Mansur with excerpts of Abu Walid's work
on some old philosophers which were in his
own handwriting. They took one phrase out
of context that said: and it was shown that
Venus is one of the Godsand presented it
to the king who then summoned the chiefs
and noblemen of Crdoba and said to Abu
al-Walid in front of them Is this your
handwriting?". Abu al-Walid then denied and
the king said May God curse the one who
wrote thisand ordered that Abu al-Walid
be exiled and all the philosophy books to be
gathered and burned...And I saw, when I was
in Fes, these books being carried on horses in
great quantities and burned* [17]
Abdelwahid al-Marrakushi, The Pleasant
Book in Summarizing the History of the
Maghreb, (1224)

However, while the thought of his mentors Ibn Tufail and


Ibn Bajjah were mystic to an extent, the thought of Averroes was purely rationalist. Together, the three men are
considered the greatest Andalusian philosophers.* [13]
Averroes devoted the next 30 years to his philosophical
writings.

Averroes's strictly rationalist views collided with the more


orthodox views of Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur, who
therefore eventually banished Averroes in 1195 and ordered his writings burned, though he had previously appointed him as his personal physician. Averroes was not
In 1160, Averroes was made Qadi (judge) of Seville and allowed to return to Marrakesh until 1197, shortly before
he served in many court appointments in Seville, Cor- his death in the year 1198 AD. His body was returned to
doba, and Morocco during his career. Sometime during Corboda for burial.
the reign of Yaqub al-Mansur, Averroes's political career
was abruptly ended and he faced severe criticism from the
Fuqaha (Islamic jurists) of the time.* [17]

91.3 Works

A contemporary of Averroes, Abdelwahid al-Marrakushi


writing in 1224, reported that there were secret and public reasons for his falling out of favor with Yaqub al- See also: List of works by Averroes
Mansour:* [17]
Averroes's rst writings date from his age of 31 (year
And in his days [Yaqub al-Mansur], Abu
1157).* [19] His works were spread over 20,000 pages
al-Walid Ibn Rushd faced his severe ordeal
covering a variety of dierent subjects, including early
and there were two causes for this; one is
Islamic philosophy, logic in Islamic philosophy, Islamic
medicine, mathematics, astronomy, Arabic grammar,
known and the other is secret. The secret
Islamic theology, Sharia (Islamic law), and Fiqh (Islamic
cause, which was the major reason, is that Abu
jurisprudence). In particular, his most important works
al-Walid [Averroes] may God have mercy
dealt with Islamic philosophy, medicine and Fiqh. He
on his soulwhen summarizing, commenting
wrote at least 80 original works, which included 28 works
and expending upon Aristotle's book "History
of Animals" wrote: And I saw the Girae at
on philosophy, 20 on medicine, 8 on law, 5 on theology,

91.4. SCIENCE

273
the original Arabic. The fullest version of his works is in
Latin, and forms part of the multi-volume Juntine edition
of Aristotle published in Venice 1562-1574.

91.4 Science
91.4.1 Medicine

Imaginary debate between Averroes and Porphyry. Monfredo de


Monte Imperiali Liber de herbis, 14th century.* [18]

and 4 on grammar, in addition to his commentaries on


most of Aristotle's works and his commentary on Plato's
The Republic.* [13]
Averroes commentaries on Aristotle were the foundation
for the Aristotelian revival in the 12th and 13th centuries.
Averroes wrote short commentaries on Aristotle's work in
logic, physics, and psychology. Averroes long commentaries provided an in depth line by line analysis of Aristotle's "Posterior Analytics,"De Anima,"Physics,"De
Caelo,and the "Metaphysics.* [20]
His most important original philosophical work was The
Incoherence of the Incoherence (Tahafut al-tahafut), in
which he defended Aristotelian philosophy against alGhazali's claims in The Incoherence of the Philosophers
(Tahafut al-falasifa).
In Fasl al-Maqal ma bayn al-Hikma wa al-Shariah min
Ittisal (
translated as The Harmony of Religion and
Philosophy, or The Decisive Treatise, Determining the Nature of the Connection between Religion and Philosophy),
Averroes proves that philosophy and revelation do not Colliget
contradict each other, and are essentially dierent means
of reaching the same truth. However, he warns against Averroes wrote a medical encyclopedia called Kulliyat
teaching philosophical methods to the general populace. (Colliget) Generalities
(
, i. e. general medicine), known
in
its
Latin
translation
as
Colliget.* [21] He also made a
Other works include Kitab al-Kashf an Manahij al-Adilla
compilation of the works of Galen, and wrote a com.
mentary on the Canon of Medicine (Qanun 't-tibb) of
Averroes is also a highly regarded legal scholar of the Avicenna (Ibn Sina) (9801037).
Maliki school. Perhaps his best-known work in this eld
is Bidyat al-Mujtahid wa Nihyat al-Muqtaid (
) , a textbook of Maliki doc- 91.4.2 Physics
trine in a comparative framework.
Jacob Anatoli translated several of the works of Averroes from Arabic into Hebrew in the 13th century. Many
of them were later translated from Hebrew into Latin
by Jacob Mantino and Abraham de Balmes. Other
works were translated directly from Arabic into Latin
by Michael Scot. Many of his works in logic and
metaphysics have been permanently lost, while others,
including some of the longer Aristotelian commentaries,
have only survived in Latin or Hebrew translation, not in

Averroes also authored three books on physics namely:


Short Commentary on the Physics, Middle Commentary
on the Physics and Long Commentary on the Physics.
Averroes dened and measured force asthe rate at which
work is done in changing the kinetic condition of a material bodyand correctly argued that the eect and
measure of force is change in the kinetic condition of a
materially resistant mass. He took a particular and keen
interest in the understanding ofmotor force.* [22]* [23]

274

CHAPTER 91. AVERROES

Averroes also developed the notion that bodies have


a (non-gravitational) inherent resistance to motion into
physics. This idea in particular was adopted by Thomas
Aquinas and subsequently by Johannes Kepler, who referred to this fact as Inertia.* [24]* [25]
In optics, Averroes followed Alhazen's incorrect explanation that a rainbow is due to reection, not
refraction.* [26]

91.4.3

Astronomy

Regarding his studies in astronomy, Averroes argued


for a strictly concentric model of the universe, and explained sunspots and scientic reasoning regarding the
occasional opaque colors of the moon. He also worked
on the description of the spheres, and movement of the
spheres.* [27]

91.4.4

Psychology

Commentarium magnum Averrois in Aristotelis De Anima libros. French Manuscript, third quarter of the 13th century.

Averroes also made some studies regarding Active intellect and Passive intellect, both of the following were formerly regarded subjects of Psychology.* [7]* [28]* [29]

91.5.2 Commentaries on Aristotle and


Plato

91.5 Philosophy
Averroes wrote commentaries on most of the surviving

91.5.1

The tradition of Islamic philosophy works of Aristotle working from Arabic translations. He

wrote three types of commentaries. The short commenAverroes furthered the tradition of Greek philosophy in tary (jami) is generally an epitome; the middle commentary (talkhis) is a paraphrase; the long commentary
the Islamic world (falsafa). His commentaries removed
the whole text with a detailed analysis of
*
the neo-Platonic bias of his predecessors. [2] Criticizing (tafsir) includes
each line.* [37]
al-Farabi's attempt to merge Plato and Aristotle's ideas,
Averroes argued that Aristotle's philosophy diverged in Not having access to Aristotle's Politics, Averroes subsignicant ways from Plato's.* [30] Averroes rejected stituted Plato's Republic. Averroes, following Plato's paAvicenna's Neoplatonism* [31] which was partly based on ternalistic model, advances an authoritarian ideal. Abthe works of neo-Platonic philosophers, Plotinus and Pro- solute monarchy, led by a philosopher-king, creates a
clus, that were mistakenly attributed to Aristotle.* [32]
justly ordered society. This requires extensive use of co*
and is posIn metaphysics, or more exactly ontology, Averroes re- ercion, [38] although persuasion is preferred
*
sible
if
the
young
are
properly
raised.
[39]
Rhetoric,
not
jects the view advanced by Avicenna that existence is
logic,
is
the
appropriate
road
to
truth
for
the
common
merely accidental. Avicenna holds that essence is ontologically prior to existence. The accidental, i. e. at- man. Demonstrative knowledge via philosophy and logic
study. Rhetoric aids religion in reaching
tributes that are not essential, are additional contingent requires special
*
[40]
the
masses.
characteristics. Averroes, following Aristotle, holds that
individual existing substances are primary. One may separate them mentally; however, ontologically speaking, existence and essence are one.* [33]* [34]* [35] According to
Fakhry,* [36] this represents a change from Plato's theory
of Ideas, where ideas precede particulars, to Aristotle's
theory where particulars come rst and the essence isarrived at by a process of abstraction. "

Following Plato, Averroes accepts the principle of


women's equality. They should be educated and allowed
to serve in the military; the best among them might be
tomorrow's philosophers or rulers.* [41]* [42] He also accepts Plato's illiberal measures such as the censorship of
literature. He uses examples from Arab history to illustrate just and degenerate political orders.* [43]

91.7. JURISPRUDENCE AND LAW

91.5.3

275

Independent philosophical works

His most important original philosophical work was The


Incoherence of the Incoherence (Tahafut al-tahafut), in
which he defended Aristotelian philosophy against alGhazali's claims in The Incoherence of the Philosophers
(Tahafut al-falasifa). Al-Ghazali argued that Aristotelianism, especially as presented in the writings of
Avicenna, was self-contradictory and an aront to the
teachings of Islam. Averroes's rebuttal was two-pronged:
he contended both that al-Ghazali's arguments were mistaken and that, in any case, the system of Avicenna was
a distortion of genuine Aristotelianism so that al-Ghazali
was aiming at the wrong target.
In Fasl al-Maqal, Averroes argues for the legality of
philosophical investigation under Islamic law, and that
there is no inherent contradiction between philosophy and
religion.
In Kitab al-Kashf, which argued against the proofs of Islam advanced by the Ash'arite school and discussed what
Averroes, detail of the fresco The School of Athens by Raphael.
proofs, on the popular level, should be used instead.

91.5.4

System of philosophy

Main article: Averroism


Averroes tried to reconcile Aristotle's system of thought
with Islam. According to him, there is no conict between religion and philosophy, rather that they are different ways of reaching the same truth. He believed in
the eternity of the universe. He also held that the soul
is divided into two parts, one individual and one divine;
while the individual soul is not eternal, all humans at the
basic level share one and the same divine soul. Averroes
has two kinds of Knowledge of Truth. The rst being his
knowledge of truth of religion being based in faith and
thus could not be tested, nor did it require training to understand. The second knowledge of truth is philosophy,
which was reserved for an elite few who had the intellectual capacity to undertake its study.

did not have access. Hebrew translations of his work


also had a lasting impact on Jewish philosophy. Moses
Maimonides, Samuel Ben Tibbon, Juda Ben Solomon
Choen, and Shem Tob Ben Joseph Falaquera were Jewish
philosophers inuenced by Averroes.* [44] His ideas were
assimilated by Siger of Brabant and Thomas Aquinas and
others (especially in the University of Paris) within the
Christian scholastic tradition which valued Aristotelian
logic. Famous scholastics such as Aquinas did not refer
to him by name, simply calling himThe Commentator
and calling AristotleThe Philosopher.Averroes had no
discernible inuence on Islamic philosophic thought until modern times.* [45] His death coincides with a change
in the culture of Al-Andalus. In his work Fasl al-Maql
(translated a. o. as The Decisive Treatise), he stresses
the importance of analytical thinking as a prerequisite to
interpret the Qur'an.

91.6 Signicance
Averroes is most famous for his commentaries of Aristotle's works, which had been mostly forgotten in the
West. Before 1150, only a few of Aristotle's works existed in translation in Latin Europe (i. e. excluding Greek
Byzantium). It was in large part through the Latin translations of Averroes's work beginning in the thirteenth century, that the legacy of Aristotle was recovered in the
Latin West.

91.7 Jurisprudence and law

Averroes is also a highly regarded legal scholar of the


Maliki school. Perhaps his best-known work in this eld
isBidyat al-Mujtahid wa Nihyat al-Muqtaid, " a textbook of Maliki doctrine in a comparative framework,
which is rendered in English as The Distinguished Jurist's
Primer* [46]. He is also the author of al-Bayn wa'lAverroes's work on Aristotle spans almost three decades, Tal, wa'l-Shar wa'l-Tawjh wa'l-Ta`ll Mas'il aland he wrote commentaries on almost all of Aristo- Mustakhraja, " a long and detailed commentary based on
tle's work except for Aristotle's Politics, to which he the Mustakhrajaof Muammad al-`Utb al-Qurtub.

276

91.8 Legacy

CHAPTER 91. AVERROES

91.10 References

Reecting the deference that some medieval


European scholars paid to him, Averroes is named
by Dante in The Divine Comedy along with the
thinkers and creative minds of ancient Greece and
Rome whose spirits dwell in the place that favor
owes to famein Limbo.

[1] Liz Sonneborn: Averroes (Ibn Rushd):He is an Arab,


Muslim scholar, philosopher, and physician of the twelfth
century, The Rosen Publishing Group, 2005 (ISBN
1404205144, ISBN 978-1-4042-0514-7) p.31

Averroes appears in a short story by Jorge Luis


Borges, entitled "Averroes's Search", in which he
is portrayed trying to nd the meanings of the
words tragedy and comedy. He is briey mentioned in the novel Ulysses by James Joyce alongside Maimonides. He appears to be waiting outside
the walls of the ancient city of Cordoba in Alamgir
Hashmi's poem In Cordoba.

[4] H-Net Reviews. H-net.org. Retrieved 2012-10-13.

The claim that Averroes deserves equal respect with


Maimonides got the ctional Balthazar Abrabanel
banished from Amsterdam by the Amsterdam rabbinate in Eric Flint's novel 1634.
Averroes is also the title of a play called The Gladius and The Rose, written by Tunisian writer
Mohamed Ghozzi, and which took rst prize in the
theater festival in Charjah in 1999.

[2] (Leaman 2002, p. 27)


[3] (Fakhry 2001, p. 1)

[5] Spinoza on Philosophy and Religion: The Averroistic


Sources.
[6] Duignan, Brian (2010). Medieval Philosophy: From 500
to 1500 Ce. The Rosen Publishing Group. p. 102. ISBN
1615302441. Retrieved November 7, 2012.
[7] Averros (Ibn Rushd) > By Individual Philosopher >
Philosophy. Philosophybasics.com. Retrieved 201210-13.
[8] John Carter Brown Library Exhibitions Islamic encounters. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
[9] Ahmed, K. S.Arabic Medicine: Contributions and Inuence. The Proceedings of the 17th Annual History of
Medicine Days, March 7th and 8th, 2008 Health Sciences
Centre, Calgary, AB.. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
[10] Sonneborn, Liz (2006). Averroes (Ibn Rushd): Muslim
Scholar, Philosopher, and Physician of the Twelfth Century. The Rosen Publishing Group. p. 89. ISBN
1404205144. Retrieved November 3, 2012.

In his memoir, persecuted British Indian novelist


Salman Rushdie recalls that his father adopted the
family nameRushdiein honour of Averroes (Ibn
Rushd).
[11] Robert Irwin (2006). Dangerous Knowledge: Orientalism
The asteroid 8318 Averroes was named in his honor.

and its Discontents. The Overlook Press. ISBN 978-158567-835-8.

Plant genus Averrhoa was named after him.

[12] Ernest Renan, Averros et l'Averrosme: essai historique,


1882.

A lunar crater, ibn Rushd, was also named in his


honor

[13] Ahmad, Jamil (September 1994), Averroes, Monthly


Renaissance 4 (9), retrieved 2008-10-14

The Muslim pop musician Kareem Salama composed and performed a song in 2007 titled Aristotle and Averroes.
Averroes is the subject of the lm Al Massir (Destiny) by Youssef Chahine.
The Ibn Rushd Price for Freedom of Thought,
awarded since 1999, is named after Averroes.

91.9 See also


List of Arab scientists and scholars
List of Islamic studies scholars

[14] H. Chad Hillier (2006). Averroes (Averroes) (11261198


CE), Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
[15] Bynum, WF & Bynum, Helen (2006), Dictionary of Medical Biography, Greenwood Press, ISBN 0-313-32877-3
[16] Seyyed Hossein Nasr and Oliver Leaman (1996), History
of Islamic Philosophy, p. 314, Routledge, ISBN 0-41513159-6.
[17] Abdelwahid al-Marrakushi, al-Mojib Talkhis Akhbar
al-Maghrib [The Pleasant Book in Summarizing the History of the Maghreb], pp. 150151 (1224), King Saud
University
[18]Inventions et decouvertes au Moyen-Age, Samuel
Sadaune, p.112
[19] Kenny, Joseph.Chronology of the works of Ibn-Rushd.
Archived from the original on August 31, 2002. Retrieved
April 18, 2014.

91.11. FURTHER READING

[20] Richard C. Taylor (2005). Richard C. Taylor and Peter


Adamson, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy. Cambridge University Press. p. 181. ISBN 9780521520690.

277

[41] (Averroes 2005, p. xix)


[42] (Fakhry 2001, p. 110)
[43] (Fakhry 2001, p. 114)

[21] http://www.wdl.org/ar/item/10673/
[22] http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/
acprof:
oso/9780199567737.001.0001/acprof9780199567737
[23] IBN RUSHD: AVERROES PB - Urvoy - Google Books.
Books.google.com.pk. 1991-04-25. Retrieved 2012-1013.
[24] Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science
Rushd Rshid, Rgis Morelon Google Books.
Books.google.com.pk. Retrieved 2012-10-13.
[25] Renaissance of Sciences in Islamic Countries - Abdus
Salam, H. R. Dala, Mohamed Hassan Google Books.
Books.google.com.pk. Retrieved 2012-10-13.

[44] (Fakhry 2001, p. 132)


[45] (Leaman 2002, p. 28)
[46] Nyazee, The Distinguished Jurist's Primer, 2 vols. (Reading: Garnet Publishing 1994 & 1996)

91.11 Further reading


Averroes, Translated by Ralph Lerner (2005), Averroes On Plato's Republic, Cornell University Press,
ISBN 0-8014-8975-X

[26] Hseyin Gazi Topdemir, Kamal Al-Din Al-Farisi's Explanation of the Rainbow, , Humanity & Social Sciences
Journal 2 (1): 7585, 2007,p77

Fakhry, Majid (2001), Averroes (Ibn Rushd) His


Life, Works and Inuence, Oneworld Publications,
ISBN 1-85168-269-4

[27] Ibn Rushd (Averroes) [Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]". Iep.utm.edu. 2010-01-05. Retrieved 2012-10-13.

Campanini, Massimo. Averro [Il Mulino, Bologna,


2007].

[28] The Legacy of Muslim Spain Google Books.


Books.google.com.pk. Retrieved 2012-10-13.
[29] Ibn Rushd's Metaphysics: A Translation with Introduction of Ibn Rushd's ... Averros Google Books.
Books.google.com.pk. 1986-12-31. Retrieved 2012-1013.
[30] (Fakhry 2001, p. 6)
[31] (Fakhry 2001, p. 7)
[32] Popkin, Richard H., ed. (1999). The Columbia History
of Western Philosophy. MJF Books. pp. 184185.. The
works in question were the Liber de Causis and The Theology of Aristotle.
[33] Hyman, Arthur, ed. (2010). Philosophy in the Middle
Ages: The Christian, Islamic, and Jewish Traditions (3rd
ed.). Hackett Publishing Co. p. 285. ISBN 978-1-60384208-2.
[34] (Fakhry 2001, pp. 89)
[35] (Leaman 2002, p. 35)

Glasner, Ruth. Averroes' Physics: A Turning Point in


Medieval Natural Philosophy (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2009).
Kogan, Barry S. (1985), Averroes and the Metaphysics of Causation, SUNY Press, ISBN 0-88706063-3
Kupka, Thomas, Averroes als Rechtsgelehrter
(Averroes as a Legal Scholar),in: Rechtsgeschichte
18 (2011), 214216 (in German; pdf at ssrn)
Leaman, Olivier (1998), Averroes and his philosophy, Routledge, ISBN 0-7007-0675-5
Leaman, Olivier (2002), An Introduction to Classical
Islamic Philosophy (2nd ed.), Cambridge University
Press, ISBN 978-0-521-79757-3
Baoni, Carmela (2004), Averroes and the Aristotelian Heritage, Guida Editori, ISBN 88-7188862-6

[36] (Fakhry 2001, pp. 8)


[37] McGinnis, Jon, ed. (2007). Classical Arabic Philosophy:
An Anthology of Sources. Hackett Pub Co Inc. p. 295.
ISBN 978-0-87220-871-1.
[38] Black, Antony (2011). The History of Islamic Political
Thought (2nd ed.). Edinburgh University Press. p. 122.
ISBN 978-0-7486-3987-8.
[39] (Fakhry 2001, p. 106)
[40] Robert Pasnau (NovDec 2011). The Islamic Scholar
Who Gave Us Modern Philosophy. Humanities 32 (6).

Sorabji, Richard Matter, Space and Motion Duckworth 1988


Wilhelm Schmidt-Biggemann, Sketch of a Cosmic
Theory of the Soul from Aristotle to Averroes, in:
Variantology 4. On Deep Time Relations of Arts,
Sciences and Technologies In the Arabic-Islamic
World and Beyond, ed. by Siegfried Zielinski and
Eckhard Frlus in cooperation with Daniel Irrgang
and Franziska Latell (Cologne: Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther Knig, 2010), pp. 1942.

278

CHAPTER 91. AVERROES

91.12 External links

Averroes Database, including full bibliography of


his works

Works of Averroes

Averroes, BBC Radio 4 discussion, 5 October


2006, "In Our Time" programme.

DARE, the Digital Averroes Research Environment, an ongoing eort to collect digital images of
all Averroes manuscripts and full texts of all three
language traditions.
Averroes, Islamic Philosophy Online (links to works
by and about Averroes in several languages)
The Philosophy and Theology of Averroes: Tractata translated from the Arabic, trans. Mohammad
Jamil-ur-Rehman, 1921
The Incoherence of the Incoherence translation by
Simon van den Bergh. [N. B. : This also contains
a translation of most of the tahafut as the refutations are mostly commentary of al-Ghazali statements that were quoted verbatim.] There is also
an Italian translation by Massimo Campanini, Averro, L'incoerenza dell'incoerenza dei loso, Turin,
Utet, 1997.
SIEPM Virtual Library, including scanned copies
(PDF) of the Editio Juntina of Averroes' works in
Latin (Venice 15501562)
Information about Averroes
Forcada, Miquel (2007).Ibn Rushd: Ab alWald
Muammad ibn Amad ibn Muammad ibn Rushd
alafd. In Thomas Hockey et al. The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. New York:
Springer. pp. 5645. ISBN 978-0-387-31022-0.
(PDF version)
Iskandar, Albert Z. (2008) [1970-80].Ibn Rushd,
Ab'L-Wald Muammad Ibn Ahmad Ibn Muammad. Complete Dictionary of Scientic Biography.
Encyclopedia.com.
Fouad Ben Ahmed. Ibn Rud: Knowledge, pleasures and analogy, in: Philosophia: E-Journal of
Philosophy and Culture, 4/2013. ISSN: 13145606

Averroes on In Our Time at the BBC. (listen now)


Chisholm, Hugh, ed.
(1911).
"Averroes".
Encyclopdia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge
University Press.
"Averroes". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York:
Robert Appleton Company. 1913.
DARE Bibliography, a comprehensive overview of
the extant bibliography

Chapter 92

Avicenna
Avicennais the Latinate form of Ibn Sn. For the of the Islamic world.* [26]
mountain peak known by this name, see Ibn Sn Peak. The study of the Quran and the Hadith thrived in such
a scholarly atmosphere. Philosophy, Fiqh and theolAvicenna (/vsn/; Latinate form of Ibn-Sn ogy (kalaam) were further developed, most noticeably
(Persian: / ; Arabic: ) , full name Ab by Avicenna and his opponents. Al-Razi and Al-Farabi
Al al-usayn ibn Abd Allh ibn Al-Hasan ibn Ali had provided methodology and knowledge in medicine
ibn Sn* [4] (Arabic: ; c. and philosophy. Avicenna had access to the great libraries of Balkh, Khwarezm, Gorgan, Rey, Isfahan and
980 June 1037) was a Persian* [5]* [6]* [7]* [8] polymath
Hamadan. Various texts (such as the 'Ahd with Bahwho is regarded as one of the most signicant thinkers
manyar) show that he debated philosophical points with
*
and writers of the Islamic Golden Age. [9] He has been
the greatest scholars of the time. Aruzi Samarqandi dedescribed as the Father of Early Modern Medicine
scribes how before Avicenna left Khwarezm he had met
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
. [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] Of the 450
Rayhan Biruni (a famous scientist and astronomer), Abu
works he is known to have written, around 240 have
Nasr Iraqi (a renowned mathematician), Abu Sahl Masihi
survived, including 150 on philosophy and 40 on
(a respected philosopher) and Abu al-Khayr Khammar (a
*
medicine. [18]
great physician).
His most famous works are The Book of Healing a
vast philosophical and scientic encyclopedia and The
Canon of Medicine,* [19] an overview of all aspects of
92.2 Biography
medicine* [20]* [21] that became a standard medical text
*
at many medieval universities [22] and remained in use
92.2.1 Early life
as late as 1650.* [23]
As well as philosophy and medicine, Avicenna's corThe only source of information for the rst part of Avipus includes writings on astronomy, alchemy, geography
cenna's life is his autobiography, as written down by his
and geology, psychology, Islamic theology, logic,
student Jzjn. In the absence of any other sources it
*
mathematics, physics and poetry. [24]
is impossible to be certain how much of the autobiography is accurate. It has been noted that he uses his autobiography to advance his theory of knowledge (that it
was possible for an individual to acquire knowledge and
92.1 Circumstances
understand the Aristotelian philosophical sciences withAvicenna created an extensive corpus of works during out a teacher), and it has been questioned whether the
what is commonly known as the Islamic Golden Age, in order of events described was adjusted to t more closely
which the translations of Greco-Roman, Persian, and In- with the Aristotelian model; in other words, whether Avidian texts were studied extensively. Greco-Roman (Mid- cenna described himself as studying things in the 'corand Neo-Platonic, and Aristotelian) texts by the Kindi rect' order. However given the absence of any other evaccount essentially has to be taken at
school were commented, redacted and developed sub- idence, Avicenna's
*
[27]
face
value.
stantially by Islamic intellectuals, who also built upon
Persian and Indian mathematical systems, astronomy,
algebra, trigonometry and medicine.* [25] The Samanid
dynasty in the eastern part of Persia, Greater Khorasan
and Central Asia as well as the Buyid dynasty in the western part of Persia and Iraq provided a thriving atmosphere for scholarly and cultural development. Under the
Samanids, Bukhara rivaled Baghdad as a cultural capital

Avicenna was born c. 980 in Afana, a village near


Bukhara (in present-day Uzbekistan), the capital of
the Samanids, a Persian dynasty in Central Asia and
Greater Khorasan. His mother, named Setareh, was
from Bukhara;* [28] his father, Abdullah, was a respected
Ismaili* [29] scholar from Balkh, an important town of
the Samanid Empire, in what is today Balkh Province,

279

280

CHAPTER 92. AVICENNA

Afghanistan. His father was at the time of his son's birth quickly, and he treated many patients without asking for
the governor in one of the Samanid Nuh ibn Mansur's es- payment.
tates. He had his son very carefully educated at Bukhara.
Ibn Sina's independent thought was served by an extraordinary intelligence and memory, which allowed him to 92.2.2 Adulthood
overtake his teachers at the age of fourteen. As he said
in his autobiography, there was nothing that he had not
learned when he reached eighteen.
A number of dierent theories have been proposed regarding Avicenna's madhab. Medieval historian ahr
al-dn al-Bayhaq (d. 1169) considered Avicenna to
be a follower of the Brethren of Purity.* [30] On the
other hand, Dimitri Gutas along with Aisha Khan and
Jules J. Janssens demonstrated that Avicenna was a Sunni
Hana.* [30]* [30]* [31] However, Shia faqih Nurullah
Shushtari and Seyyed Hossein Nasr, in addition to Henry
Corbin, have maintained that he was most likely a
Twelver Shia.* [29]* [30]* [32] Similar disagreements exist on the background of Avicenna's family, whereas
some writers considered them Sunni, more recent writers thought they were Shia.* [31]
According to his autobiography, Avicenna had memorised the entire Quran by the age of 10.* [19] He learned
Indian arithmetic from an Indian greengrocer, and he began to learn more from a wandering scholar who gained
a livelihood by curing the sick and teaching the young.
He also studied Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) under the
Hana scholar Ismail al-Zahid.* [33]
As a teenager, he was greatly troubled by the Metaphysics
of Aristotle, which he could not understand until he read
al-Farabi's commentary on the work.* [29] For the next
year and a half, he studied philosophy, in which he encountered greater obstacles. In such moments of baed
inquiry, he would leave his books, perform the requisite
ablutions, then go to the mosque, and continue in prayer
till light broke on his diculties. Deep into the night, he
would continue his studies, and even in his dreams problems would pursue him and work out their solution. Forty
times, it is said, he read through the Metaphysics of Aristotle, till the words were imprinted on his memory; but
their meaning was hopelessly obscure, until one day they
found illumination, from the little commentary by Farabi,
which he bought at a bookstall for the small sum of three
dirhams. So great was his joy at the discovery, made with
the help of a work from which he had expected only mystery, that he hastened to return thanks to God, and bestowed alms upon the poor.
He turned to medicine at 16, and not only learned medical
theory, but also by gratuitous attendance of the sick had,
according to his own account, discovered new methods
of treatment. The teenager achieved full status as a qualied physician at age 18,* [19] and found thatMedicine
is no hard and thorny science, like mathematics and
metaphysics, so I soon made great progress; I became
an excellent doctor and began to treat patients, using approved remedies.The youthful physician's fame spread

A drawing of Avicenna from 1271

Ibn Sina's rst appointment was that of physician to the


emir, Nuh II, who owed him his recovery from a dangerous illness (997). Ibn Sina's chief reward for this service was access to the royal library of the Samanids, wellknown patrons of scholarship and scholars. When the library was destroyed by re not long after, the enemies
of Ibn Sina accused him of burning it, in order for ever
to conceal the sources of his knowledge. Meanwhile, he
assisted his father in his nancial labors, but still found
time to write some of his earliest works.
When Ibn Sina was 22 years old, he lost his father. The
Samanid dynasty came to its end in December 1004. Ibn
Sina seems to have declined the oers of Mahmud of
Ghazni, and proceeded westwards to Urgench in modern Turkmenistan, where the vizier, regarded as a friend
of scholars, gave him a small monthly stipend. The pay
was small, however, so Ibn Sina wandered from place to
place through the districts of Nishapur and Merv to the
borders of Khorasan, seeking an opening for his talents.
Qabus, the generous ruler of Tabaristan, himself a poet
and a scholar, with whom Ibn Sina had expected to nd

92.3. AVICENNA'S PHILOSOPHY

281

asylum, was on about that date (1012) starved to death


by his troops who had revolted. Ibn Sina himself was at
this time stricken by a severe illness. Finally, at Gorgan,
near the Caspian Sea, Ibn Sina met with a friend, who
bought a dwelling near his own house in which Ibn Sina
lectured on logic and astronomy. Several of Ibn Sina's
treatises were written for this patron; and the commencement of his Canon of Medicine also dates from his stay in
Hyrcania.
Ibn Sina subsequently settled at Rey, in the vicinity of
modern Tehran, the home town of Rhazes; where Majd
Addaula, a son of the last Buwayhid emir, was nominal ruler under the regency of his mother (Seyyedeh
Khatun). About thirty of Ibn Sina's shorter works are said
to have been composed in Rey. Constant feuds which
raged between the regent and her second son, Shams alDaula, however, compelled the scholar to quit the place.
After a brief sojourn at Qazvin he passed southwards
to Hamadn where Shams al-Daula, another Buwayhid
emir, had established himself. At rst, Ibn Sina entered
into the service of a high-born lady; but the emir, hearing
of his arrival, called him in as medical attendant, and sent
him back with presents to his dwelling. Ibn Sina was even
raised to the oce of vizier. The emir decreed that he
should be banished from the country. Ibn Sina, however,
remained hidden for forty days in sheikh Ahmed Fadhel's
house, until a fresh attack of illness induced the emir to
restore him to his post. Even during this perturbed time,
Ibn Sina persevered with his studies and teaching. Every
evening, extracts from his great works, the Canon and
the Sanatio, were dictated and explained to his pupils.
On the death of the emir, Ibn Sina ceased to be vizier
and hid himself in the house of an apothecary, where,
with intense assiduity, he continued the composition of
his works.

The inside view of Avicenna's tomb in Hamadan, Iran.

During these years he began to study literary matters and


philology, instigated, it is asserted, by criticisms on his
style. A severe colic, which seized him on the march of
the army against Hamadan, was checked by remedies so
violent that Ibn Sina could scarcely stand. On a similar
occasion the disease returned; with diculty he reached
Meanwhile, he had written to Abu Ya'far, the prefect of Hamadan, where, nding the disease gaining ground, he
the dynamic city of Isfahan, oering his services. The refused to keep up the regimen imposed, and resigned
new emir of Hamadan, hearing of this correspondence himself to his fate.
and discovering where Ibn Sina was hiding, incarcerated
him in a fortress. War meanwhile continued between the His friends advised him to slow down and take life moda
rulers of Isfahan and Hamadn; in 1024 the former cap- erately. He refused, however, stating that: I prefer
*
short
life
with
width
to
a
narrow
one
with
length

.
[34]
tured Hamadan and its towns, expelling the Tajik mercenaries. When the storm had passed, Ibn Sina returned On his deathbed remorse seized him; he bestowed his
with the emir to Hamadan, and carried on his literary goods on the poor, restored unjust gains, freed his slaves,
through the Quran every three days until his
labors. Later, however, accompanied by his brother, a and read
*
[35]
He died in June 1037, in his fty-eighth year,
death.
favorite pupil, and two slaves, Ibn Sina escaped from the
in
the
month
of Ramadan and was buried in Hamadan,
city in the dress of a Su ascetic. After a perilous jour*
[35]
Iran.
ney, they reached Isfahan, receiving an honorable welcome from the prince.

92.2.3

Later life and death

The remaining ten or twelve years of Ibn Sn's life were


spent in the service of the Kakuyid ruler Muhammad ibn
Rustam Dushmanziyar, whom he accompanied as physician and general literary and scientic adviser, even in his
numerous campaigns.

92.3 Avicenna's philosophy


Ibn Sn wrote extensively on early Islamic philosophy,
especially the subjects logic, ethics, and metaphysics, including treatises named Logic and Metaphysics. Most of
his works were written in Arabic then the language of
science in the Middle East and some in Persian. Of lin-

282

CHAPTER 92. AVICENNA

92.3.1 Metaphysical doctrine


Early Islamic philosophy and Islamic metaphysics, imbued as it is with Islamic theology, distinguishes more
clearly than Aristotelianism between essence and existence. Whereas existence is the domain of the contingent and the accidental, essence endures within a being
beyond the accidental. The philosophy of Ibn Sn, particularly that part relating to metaphysics, owes much to
al-Farabi. The search for a denitive Islamic philosophy
separate from Occasionalism can be seen in what is left
of his work.
Following al-Farabi's lead, Avicenna initiated a fulledged inquiry into the question of being, in which he distinguished between essence (Mahiat) and existence (Wujud). He argued that the fact of existence can not be inferred from or accounted for by the essence of existing
things, and that form and matter by themselves cannot
interact and originate the movement of the universe or
the progressive actualization of existing things. Existence
must, therefore, be due to an agent-cause that necessitates, imparts, gives, or adds existence to an essence. To
do so, the cause must be an existing thing and coexist with
its eect.* [38]

The rst page of a manuscript, authored by Ibn Sina.

guistic signicance even to this day are a few books that


he wrote in nearly pure Persian language (particularly the
Danishnamah-yi 'Ala', Philosophy for Ala' ad-Dawla').
Ibn Sn's commentaries on Aristotle often criticized the
philosopher, encouraging a lively debate in the spirit of
ijtihad.
In the medieval Islamic world, due to Avicenna's successful reconciliation between Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism along with Kalam, Avicennism eventually became
the leading school of Islamic philosophy by the 12th century, with Avicenna becoming a central authority on philosophy.* [36]
Avicennism was also inuential in medieval Europe, particularly his doctrines on the nature of the soul and his
existence-essence distinction, along with the debates and
censure that they raised in scholastic Europe. This was
particularly the case in Paris, where Avicennism was
later proscribed in 1210. Nevertheless, his psychology
and theory of knowledge inuenced William of Auvergne, Bishop of Paris and Albertus Magnus, while his
metaphysics had an impact on the thought of Thomas
Aquinas.* [37]

Avicenna's consideration of the essence-attributes question may be elucidated in terms of his ontological analysis of the modalities of being; namely impossibility, contingency, and necessity. Avicenna argued that the impossible being is that which cannot exist, while the contingent in itself (mumkin bi-dhatihi) has the potentiality to be or not to be without entailing a contradiction.
When actualized, the contingent becomes a 'necessary
existent due to what is other than itself' (wajib al-wujud
bi-ghayrihi). Thus, contingency-in-itself is potential beingness that could eventually be actualized by an external
cause other than itself. The metaphysical structures of
necessity and contingency are dierent. Necessary being
due to itself (wajib al-wujud bi-dhatihi) is true in itself,
while the contingent being is 'false in itself' and 'true due
to something else other than itself'. The necessary is the
source of its own being without borrowed existence. It is
what always exists.* [39]* [40]
The Necessary exists 'due-to-Its-Self', and has no quiddity/essence (mahiyya) other than existence (wujud).
Furthermore, It is 'One' (wahid ahad)* [41] since there
cannot be more than one 'Necessary-Existent-due-toItself' without dierentia (fasl) to distinguish them from
each other. Yet, to require dierentia entails that they
exist 'due-to-themselves' as well as 'due to what is other
than themselves'; and this is contradictory. However, if
no dierentia distinguishes them from each other, then
there is no sense in which these 'Existents' are not one
and the same.* [42] Avicenna adds that the 'NecessaryExistent-due-to-Itself' has no genus (jins), nor a denition (hadd), nor a counterpart (nadd), nor an opposite
(did), and is detached (bari) from matter (madda), quality (kayf), quantity (kam), place (ayn), situation (wad),

92.3. AVICENNA'S PHILOSOPHY


and time (waqt).* [43]* [44]* [45]

92.3.2

Al-Biruni correspondence

Correspondence between Ibn Sina (with his student Ahmad ibn 'Ali al-Ma'sumi) and Ab Rayhn al-Brn has
survived in which they debated Aristotelian natural philosophy and the Peripatetic school. Abu Rayhan began
by asking Avicenna eighteen questions, ten of which were
criticisms of Aristotle's On the Heavens.* [46]

92.3.3

Theology

Avicenna was a devout Muslim and sought to reconcile


rational philosophy with Islamic theology. His aim was
to prove the existence of God and His creation of the
world scientically and through reason and logic.* [47]
Avicenna's views on Islamic theology (and philosophy)
were enormously inuential, forming part of the core of
the curriculum at Islamic religious schools until the 19th
century.* [48] Avicenna wrote a number of short treatises dealing with Islamic theology. These included treatises on the Islamic prophets (whom he viewed as inspired philosophers), and also on various scientic and
philosophical interpretations of the Quran, such as how
Quranic cosmology corresponds to his own philosophical
system. In general these treatises linked his philosophical writings to Islamic religious ideas; for example, the
body's afterlife.
There are occasional brief hints and allusions in his longer
works however that Avicenna considered philosophy as
the only sensible way to distinguish real prophecy from
illusion. He did not state this more clearly because of
the political implications of such a theory, if prophecy
could be questioned, and also because most of the time
he was writing shorter works which concentrated on explaining his theories on philosophy and theology clearly,
without digressing to consider epistemological matters
which could only be properly considered by other philosophers.* [49]
Later interpretations of Avicenna's philosophy split into
three dierent schools; those (such as al-Tusi) who continued to apply his philosophy as a system to interpret
later political events and scientic advances; those (such
as al-Razi) who considered Avicenna's theological works
in isolation from his wider philosophical concerns; and
those (such as al-Ghazali) who selectively used parts of
his philosophy to support their own attempts to gain
greater spiritual insights through a variety of mystical
means. It was the theological interpretation championed
by those such as al-Razi which eventually came to predominate in the madrasahs.* [50]
Avicenna memorized the Quran by the age of ten, and
as an adult, he wrote ve treatises commenting on suras
from the Quran. One of these texts included the Proof

283
of Prophecies, in which he comments on several Quranic
verses and holds the Quran in high esteem. Avicenna
argued that the Islamic prophets should be considered
higher than philosophers.* [51]

92.3.4 Thought experiments


While he was imprisoned in the castle of Fardajan near
Hamadhan, Avicenna wrote his famousFloating Manliterally falling man - thought experiment to demonstrate
human self-awareness and the substantiality and immateriality of the soul. Avicenna believed his Floating
Manthought experiment demonstrated that the soul is
a substance, and claimed humans cannot doubt their own
consciousness, even in a situation that prevents all sensory data input. The thought experiment told its readers to imagine themselves created all at once while suspended in the air, isolated from all sensations, which includes no sensory contact with even their own bodies. He
argued that, in this scenario, one would still have selfconsciousness. Because it is conceivable that a person,
suspended in air while cut o from sense experience,
would still be capable of determining his own existence,
the thought experiment points to the conclusions that the
soul is a perfection, independent of the body, and an immaterial substance. The conceivability of this Floating Manindicates that the soul is perceived intellectually, which entails the soul's separateness from the body.
Avicenna referred to the living human intelligence, particularly the active intellect, which he believed to be the
hypostasis by which God communicates truth to the human mind and imparts order and intelligibility to nature.
Following is an English translation of the argument:
One of us has to consider (yatawaham)
that one has been just created in a stroke, and
that one has been thus created fully developed
and perfectly complete (kmilan), yet [created] with one's vision shrouded [or veiled]
(hujiba baarahu) from watching [perceiving]
(mushhadt) external entities created falling
[oating] (yahwa) in the air or in empty space
(al-khal ) in a fall not bueted by any felt
air that buets it [i.e. the Person in question];
its limbs separated and not in contact nor
touching on another. Then let it contemplate
(yataamal) whether it would arm the
existence of its own self. It would not then
doubt the armation that its self is existent
(mawjda), yet not arming the existence of
any other limbs nor inner bowels, nor heart,
nor brain, nor anything of the external things.
Rather it was arming the existence of its-self
without arming that it had length, breadth,
or depth. And if it were possible for it, in
such a state, to imagine (yatakhayal) a hand
or any other limb, it would not then imagine

284

CHAPTER 92. AVICENNA


it to be part of its-self nor to be condition
of it [i.e. its-self existence]. And you know
that what is armed is distinct from what is
not armed, and what is implied is distinct
from what is not implied. Therefore the nafs
[self, soul], whose existence the person has
armed, is its [the person's] characteristic
identity that is not identical to its body nor
its limbs [whose existence] it did not arm.
Therefore, the attentive (al-mutanabih) [to
this situation] has a means of realizing (yatanabah) that the armation of the existence
of its-self (soul, al-nafs) is distinct from the
body and something that is quite non-body
[i.e. that the mind/soul (al-nafs) is distinct
from the body (jism)]; this is known through
self-consciousness and if one was distracted
from it, one needs to knock one's baton [as to
be alerted to it].
Ibn Sina, Kitab Al-Shifa, On the Soul* [42]

Avicenna thus concluded that the idea of the self is not


logically dependent on any physical thing, and that the
soul should not be seen in relative terms, but as a primary
given, a substance. The body is unnecessary; in relation
to it, the soul is its perfection.* [54]* [55]* [56] In itself,
the soul is an immaterial substance.* [57]

92.4 The Canon of Medicine


Main article: The Canon of Medicine
About 100 treatises were ascribed to Ibn Sina. Some

The original Arabic text reads as follows:



A Latin copy of The Canon of Medicine, dated 1484, located at


the P. I. Nixon Medical Historical Library, University of Texas
Health Science Center at San Antonio.




.
Ibn Sina, Kitab Al-Shifa, On the Soul* [52]

However, Avicenna posited the brain as the place where


reason interacts with sensation. Sensation prepares the
soul to receive rational concepts from the universal Agent
Intellect. The rst knowledge of the ying person would
be I am,arming his or her essence. That essence
could not be the body, obviously, as the ying person has An Arabic copy of The Canon of Medicine, dated 1593.
no sensation. Thus, the knowledge thatI amis the core
of a human being: the soul exists and is self-aware.* [53] of them are tracts of a few pages. Others are works

92.4. THE CANON OF MEDICINE


extending through several volumes. His 14-volume The
Canon of Medicine (Al-Qanoon al-Tibb, The Laws of
Medicine) was a standard medical text in Europe and the
Islamic world until the 17th century.

92.4.1

Medicine and pharmacology

The book is known for its description of contagious diseases and sexually transmitted diseases,* [58] quarantine
to limit the spread of infectious diseases, and testing
of medicines. Like the Greeks, Ibn Sn supported the
miasma theory of disease, which postulates that vapors
in the air are the cause of epidemics.* [59] It classies and describes diseases, and outlines their assumed
causes. Hygiene, simple and complex medicines, and
functions of parts of the body are also covered. The
Canon agrees with Aristotle (and disagrees with Hippocrates) that tuberculosis was contagious, a fact which
was not universally accepted in Europe until centuries
later. It also describes the symptoms and complications
of diabetes. Both forms of facial paralysis were described
in-depth.

285
the Medicamenta Cordialia, Canticum de Medicina, and
the Tractatus de Syrupo Acetoso.
It was mainly accident which determined that from the
12th to the 17th century, Ibn Sn should be the guide of
medical study in European universities, and eclipse the
names of Rhazes, Ali ibn al-Abbas and Averroes. His
work is not essentially dierent from that of his predecessor Rhazes, because he presented the doctrine of Galen,
and through Galen the doctrine of Hippocrates, modied
by the system of Aristotle. But the Canon of Ibn Sn
is distinguished from the Al-Hawi (Continence) or Summary of Rhazes by its greater method, due perhaps to the
logical studies of the former.

The work has been variously appreciated in subsequent


ages, some regarding it as a treasury of wisdom, and others, like Averroes, holding it useful only as waste paper.
In modern times it has been mainly of historic interest as
most of its tenets have been disproved or expanded upon
by scientic medicine. The vice of the book is excessive classication of bodily faculties, and over-subtlety in
the discrimination of diseases. It includes ve books; of
which the rst and second discuss physiology, pathology
and hygiene, the third and fourth deal with the methods
The Canon of Medicine discussed how to eectively test
of treating disease, and the fth describes the composinew medicines:
tion and preparation of remedies. This last part contains
some personal observations.
The drug must be free from any extraneous accidenHe is ample in the enumeration of symptoms, and is
tal quality.
said to be inferior in practical medicine and surgery. He
It must be used on a simple, not a composite, dis- introduced into medical theory the four causes of the
Peripatetic system. Of natural history and botany he preease.
tended to no special knowledge. Up to the year 1650, or
The drug must be tested with two contrary types of thereabouts, the Canon was still used as a textbook in the
diseases, because sometimes a drug cures one dis- universities of Leuven and Montpellier.
ease by Its essential qualities and another by its acIn the museum at Bukhara, there are displays showing
cidental ones.
many of his writings, surgical instruments from the period
The quality of the drug must correspond to the and paintings of patients undergoing treatment. Ibn Sn
strength of the disease. For example, there are some was interested in the eect of the mind on the body, and
drugs whose heat is less than the coldness of certain wrote a great deal on psychology, likely inuencing Ibn
diseases, so that they would have no eect on them. Tufayl and Ibn Bajjah. He also introduced medical herbs.
Avicenna extended the theory of temperaments in The
The time of action must be observed, so that essence Canon of Medicine to encompass emotional aspects,
and accident are not confused.
mental capacity, moral attitudes, self-awareness, move The eect of the drug must be seen to occur con- ments and dreams.He summarized his version of
humours and temperaments in a table as folstantly or in many cases, for if this did not happen, the four
*
lows:
[60]
it was an accidental eect.
Avicenna was the rst to use a cannula inserted into the
The experimentation must be done with the human throat to aid a choking patient. Cutting the windpipe was
body, for testing a drug on a lion or a horse might suggested only as a last resort.* [61]
not prove anything about its eect on man.
An Arabic edition of the Canon appeared at Rome in
the Key to
1593, and a Hebrew version at Naples in 1491. Of the 92.4.2 Physical Exercise:
Health
Latin version there were about thirty editions, founded
on the original translation by Gerard de Sabloneta. In the
15th century a commentary on the text of the Canon was The Canon of Medicine: Volume 1 of 5; Part 4 of 5:
composed. Other medical works translated into Latin are The Preservation of Health

286

CHAPTER 92. AVICENNA

Of Ibn Sina's Canon of Medicine which is written in 5


volumes, only the rst volume has appeared in the English. In the rst volume, Ibn Sina divides medicine into
two parts as he explains it throughout the rst book: the
theoretical and the practical. The theoretical part consists of, but is not limited to, such things as: the causes
of health and disease, the temperaments, the humours,
anatomy, general physiology, the breath, psychology, discussion of causes of diseases and symptoms, the causes of
illness, the classication of diseases, the pulse, the urine
etc. As he himself says in the book on pg 353
In the rst part of this book it was stated
that medicine comprises two parts, one theoretical, and one practical, though both are
really speculative science."(Avicenna 1999, p.
353)
Theoretical and Practical Medicine
Ibn Sina goes on to say that you do not get any benet
from just knowing how your body works, but rather the
true benet of medicine itself is in its practical aspect,
since medicine is for the preservation of health.
That which is speculative named theory
relates to the formation of opinions and the
showing of the evidence upon which they are
based, without reference to the mode of acting upon them. Thus this part deals with
the temperaments, the humors, the drives, and
with the forms, the symptoms, and the causes
of disease. That which is specially named
practical relates to the mode of acting upon
this knowledge, and the prescription of a regimen."(Avicenna 1999, p. 353)
The Benets of Exercise
Once the purpose of medicine has been set forth, then
from pages 377455, Ibn Sina divides the way of achieving health as:
Since the regimen of maintaining health
consists essentially in the regulation of: (1)
exercise (2) food and (3) sleep, we may begin our discourse with the subject of exercise
.(Avicenna 1999, p. 377)
Exercise itself is divided into three main parts: The Massage (which is equivalent to massaging your muscles before you start to exercise); The Exercise itself; and lastly
the Cold Bath.
Giving one of the greatest benets of the regimen of exercise, and then explaining the extremely important and
necessary need for physical exercise; Ibn Sina states:
Once we direct the attention towards regulating exercise as to amount and time, we shall

nd there is no need for such medicines as are


ordinarily required for remedying diseases dependent on [abnormal] matters, or diseases of
temperament consequent upon such. This is
true provided the rest of the regimen is appropriate and proper."(Avicenna 1999, p. 377)
The value of exercise includes the following (1) it hardens the organs and renders them
t for their functions (2) it results in a better absorption of food, aids assimilation, and,
by increasing the innate heat, improves nutrition (3) it clears the pores of the skin (4) it removes eete substances through the lungs (5)
it strengthens the physique. Vigorous exercise invigorates the muscular and nervous system."(Avicenna 1999, p. 379)
In what manner does Ibn Sina uses the word temperament? In saying that exercise cures diseases of temperamant
Ibn Sina divides temperament into that which is harmonious and that which is non-uniform. Ibn Sina says on pg
276277
In addition to the signs of the normal temperament already given, there are: Mental faculties including: vigor of imagination, intellectual power, and memory."(Avicenna 1999, p.
276)
In brief, there is non-uniformity of temperament among the members; or, perchance,
the principal members depart from equability
and come to be of contrary temperament, one
deviating towards one, another to its contrary.
If the components of the body are out of proportion, it is unfortunate both for talent and
reasoning power."(Avicenna 1999, p. 277)
The Purpose of Exercise and the Dangers of its negligence
Continuing on the proof to why exercise
should be so benecial Ibn Sina saysWe know
that this must be so when we reect how in regard to nutriment, our health depends on the
nutriment being appropriate for us and regulated in quantity and quality. For not one of the
aliments which are capable of nourishing the
body is converted into actual nutriment in its
entirety. In every case digestion leaves something untouched, and nature takes care to have
that evacuated. Nevertheless, the evacuation
which nature accomplishes is not a complete
one. Hence at the end of each digestion there
is some superuity left over. Should this be

92.4. THE CANON OF MEDICINE


a frequent occurrence, repetition would lead
to further aggregation until something measurable has accumulated. As a result, harmful effete substances would form and injure various
parts of the body. When they undergo decomposition, putrefactive diseases arise [bacterial
infections]. Should they be strong in quality,
they will give rise to intemperament; and if
they should increase in quantity, they would set
up the symptoms of plethora which have already been described. Flowing to some member, they will result in an inammatory mass,
and their vapors will destroy the temperament
of the substantial basis of the breath.
That is the reason why we must be careful to evacuate these substances. Their evacuation is usually not completely accomplished
without the aid of toxic medicines, for these
break up the nature of the eate substances.
This can be achieved only by toxic agents, although the drinking of them is to a certain extent deleterious to our nature. As Hippocrates
says: Medicine purges and ages.More than
this the discharge of superuous humor entails
the loss of a large part of the natural humidities and of the breath, which is the substance of
life. All this is at the expense of the strength of
the principal and the auxiliary members, and
therefore they are weakened thereby. These
and other things account for the diculties incident to plethora, whether they remain behind
in the body or are evacuated by it."(Avicenna
1999, pp. 3778)
Just before this Ibn Sina explained how accumulation of
food in our body, can cause diseases, and one way to rid
us of this is strong medicines. However, as he explains;
this is not the ideal way, and certainly not the long-term.
Thus, to make his point very clear, and show the extreme
necessity of daily exercise for health, Ibn Sina states:
Now exercise is that agent which most
surely prevents the accumulation of these matters, and prevents plethora. The other forms
of regiment assist it. It is this exercise which
renews and revives the innate heat, and imparts the necessary lightness to the body, for
it causes the subtle heat to be increased and
daily disperses whatever eete substances have
accumulated; the movements of the body help
them to expel them conveying them to those
parts of the body whence they can readily leave
it. Hence the eete matters are not allowed
to collect day after day and besides this, as we
have just said, exercise causes the innate heat
to ourish and keeps the joints and ligaments
rm, so as to be always ready for service, and
also free from injury. It renders the members

287
able to receive nutriment, in being free from
accumulated eate matters. Hence it renders
the members light and the humidities attenuated, and it dilates the pores of the skin.
To forsake exercise would often incur the
risk ofhectic, because the instinctive drives
of the members are impaired, inasmuch as the
deprivation of movement prevents the access
to them of the innate breath. And this last is
the real instrument of life for every one of the
members."(Avicenna 1999, pp. 3789)
Massage
Before you begin to exercise it is important that you massage your muscles; as Ibn Sina says on page 385:
Massage as a preparatory to athletics. The
massage begins gently, and then becomes more
vigorous as the time approaches for the exercise."(Avicenna 1999, p. 385)
Exercises
The exercises themselves are divided into 'strenuous,
mild, vigorous and brisk'. On pages 379381; Ibn Sina
states the types of exercises under each type:
Strenuous exercises include: wrestling
contests, boxing, quick marching, running,
jumping over an object higher than one foot,
throwing the javelin, fencing, horsemanship,
swimming. Mild exercises include: shing,
sailing, being carried on camels, swinging to
and fro. Vigorous exercises include: those performed by soldiers in camp, in military sports;
eld running, long jumping, high jumping,
polo, stone throwing, lifting heavy stones or
weights, various forms of wrestling. Brisk exercises include: involves interchanging places
with a partner as swiftly as possible, each
jumping to and fro, either in time [to music]
or irregularly."(Avicenna 1999, pp. 37981)
There are certain important things to note once you start
exercising, one is the amount, the other consistency; Ibn
Sina states about the amount:
"(1) the color - as long as the skin goes on
becoming orid, the exercise may be continued. After it ceases to do so, the exercise must
be discontinued."(Avicenna 1999, p. 384)
On being consistent with exercise Ibn Sina states (on the
importance of having a regimen):
At the conclusion of the rst day's exercise, you will know the degree of exercise allowable and when you know the amount of

288

CHAPTER 92. AVICENNA


nourishment the person can bear, do not make
any change in either on the second day. Arrange that the measure of aliment, and the
amount of exercise shall not exceed that limit
ascertained on the rst day."(Avicenna 1999,
p. 385)

On the side note those who think themselves to be elderly, and thus think of shunning exercise, Ibn Sina write
a complete chapter titled Concerning the Elderlyin
the Qanun, and states the same regimen for them, as he
does for others. He states on page 433
For if, towards the end of life, the body
is still equable, it will be right to allow attempered exercises. If one part of the body should
not be in a rst-rate condition, then that part
should not be exercised until the others have
been exercised. ... On the other hand, if the ailment were in the feet, then the exercise should
employ the upper limbs: for instance, rowing,
throwing weights, lifting weights."(Avicenna
1999, p. 433)

be followed. To use cold baths in the ways we


have named drives the natural heat suddenly
into the interior parts, and then invigorates the
strength so that the person should leave the bath
twice as strong as when he entered."(Avicenna
1999, p. 390)
Diet
Once Ibn Sina has laid the foundation of exercise being central to health, he names many exercises as running, swimming, weight lifting, polo, fencing, boxing,
wrestling, long jumping, high jumping, etc. He also gives
a diet to go along with the exercise:
The meal should include: (1) meat especially kid of goats; veal, and year-old lambs
[this means white meat in today's terms] (2)
wheat, which is cleaned of extraneous matter
and gathered during a healthy harvest without ever being exposed to injurious inuences
(3) sweets (fruits) of appropriate temperament."(Avicenna 1999, p. 390)

Lastly, the third thing mentioned is sleep; to make sure


that you do not sleep during the days, and do not stay
awake during the nights. From the above reading, it is
Once you have nished exercising; it is often that the perclear that Ibn Sina gave advice in his book which is still
son will feel tired and fatigued; to combat this problem
the same advice medical doctors give to their patients.
Ibn Sina says on page 388:
Daily Physical Exercise; and to defeat diseases such as
type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, the prescription of
The benecial Eects of Baths: The bena diet which contains high amounts of Whole Grains and
ets are (1) induction of sleep (2) dilation of
little to no amounts of Rened Carbohydrates.(Avicenna
pores (3) cleansing of skin (4) dispersal of the
1999, p. 390)
undesirable waste matters (5) maturation of abscesses (6) drawing of nutriment towards the
surface of the body (7) assistance to the physi92.4.3 Psychology
ological dispersion and excretion of poisonous
matters (8) prevention of diarrhea and (9) reIn The Canon of Medicine, Avicenna described a number
moval of fatigue eects."(Avicenna 1999, p.
of conditions, including melancholia.* [62] He described
388)
melancholia as a depressive type of mood disorder in
which the person may become suspicious and develop
certain types of phobias.* [63]
Most importantly you should remember:
Bathing in Cold Water

A person should not go into the bath immediately after exercise. He should rest properly rst."(Avicenna 1999, p. 387)

92.4.4 Unani medicine


Main article: Unani medicine

There are two more things that are important to mention


Though the threads which comprise Unani healing can
on this subject:
be traced all the way back to Galen of Pergamon, who
lived in the 2nd century AD, the basic knowledge of
Injurious eects include the fact that the
Unani medicine as a healing system was developed by
heart is weakened if the person stays too long
Hakim Ibn Sina in his medical encyclopedia The Canon
in the bath"(Avicenna 1999, p. 388)
of Medicine. The time of origin is thus dated at circa
1025 AD, when Avicenna wrote The Canon of Medicine
Cold Bathing should not be done after exin Persia, which remains a text book in the syllabus of
ercise except in the case of the very robust.
Unani medicine in the colleges of India* [64] and Pakistan.
Even then the rules which we have given should

92.5. THE BOOK OF HEALING

92.5 The Book of Healing


Main article: The Book of Healing

289
ence and described an early scientic method of inquiry.
He discusses Aristotle's Posterior Analytics and signicantly diverged from it on several points. Avicenna discussed the issue of a proper methodology for scientic
inquiry and the question of How does one acquire the
rst principles of a science?" He asked how a scientist
would arrive at the initial axioms or hypotheses of
a deductive science without inferring them from some
more basic premises?" He explains that the ideal situation is when one grasps that a relation holds between
the terms, which would allow for absolute, universal certainty.Avicenna then adds two further methods for arriving at the rst principles: the ancient Aristotelian method
of induction (istiqra), and the method of examination
and experimentation (tajriba). Avicenna criticized Aristotelian induction, arguing that it does not lead to the
absolute, universal, and certain premises that it purports
to provide.In its place, he develops a method of experimentation as a means for scientic inquiry.* [66]

92.5.3 Logic
An early formal system of temporal logic was studied
by Avicenna.* [19] Although he did not develop a real
theory of temporal propositions, he did study the relationship between temporalis and the implication.* [67]
Avicenna's work was further developed by Najm al-Dn
al-Qazwn al-Ktib and became the dominant system
of Islamic logic until modern times.* [68]* [69] Avicennian logic also inuenced several early European logicians such as Albertus Magnus* [70] and William of Ock*
*
The oldest copies of Ibn Sina's second volume of Canon Of ham. [71] [72]
Medicinefrom the year 1030.

92.5.4 Physics
In mechanics, Ibn Sn, in The Book of Healing, developed an elaborate theory of motion, in which he made a
Ibn Sn wrote on Earth sciences such as geology in The distinction between the inclination (tendency to motion)
Book of Healing.* [65] While discussing the formation of and force of a projectile, and concluded that motion was
a result of an inclination (mayl) transferred to the projecmountains, he explained:
tile by the thrower, and that projectile motion in a vacuum
would not cease.* [73] He viewed inclination as a permaEither they are the eects of upheavals of
nent force whose eect is dissipated by external forces
the crust of the earth, such as might occur dursuch as air resistance.* [74]
ing a violent earthquake, or they are the ef-

92.5.1

Earth sciences

fect of water, which, cutting itself a new route,


has denuded the valleys, the strata being of
dierent kinds, some soft, some hard ... It
would require a long period of time for all such
changes to be accomplished, during which the
mountains themselves might be somewhat diminished in size.* [65]

92.5.2

Philosophy of science

In the Al-Burhan (On Demonstration) section of The Book


of Healing, Avicenna discussed the philosophy of sci-

The theory of motion developed by Avicenna may have


inuenced Jean Buridan's theory of impetus (the ancestor
of the inertia and momentum concepts).* [75]
In optics, Ibn Sina was among those who argued that light
had a speed, observing that if the perception of light is
due to the emission of some sort of particles by a luminous source, the speed of light must be nite..* [76] He
also provided a wrong explanation of the rainbow phenomenon. Carl Benjamin Boyer described Avicenna's (
Ibn Sn") theory on the rainbow as follows:
Independent observation had demonstrated

290

CHAPTER 92. AVICENNA


to him that the bow is not formed in the dark
cloud but rather in the very thin mist lying between the cloud and the sun or observer. The
cloud, he thought, serves simply as the background of this thin substance, much as a quicksilver lining is placed upon the rear surface of
the glass in a mirror. Ibn Sn would change
the place not only of the bow, but also of the
color formation, holding the iridescence to be
merely a subjective sensation in the eye.* [77]

material and immaterial interact through the Active Intellect, which is a divine lightcontaining the intelligible forms.* [80] The Active Intellect reveals the universals
concealed in material objects much like the sun makes
color available to our eyes.

92.6 Other contributions


92.6.1 Astronomy and astrology

In 1253, a Latin text entitled Speculum Tripartitum stated


Avicenna wrote an attack on astrology titled Resla f
the following regarding Avicenna's theory on heat:
ebl akm al-nojm, in which he cited passages from
the Quran to dispute the power of astrology to foretell
Avicenna says in his book of heaven and
the future.* [81] He believed that each planet had some
earth, that heat is generated from motion in exinuence on the earth, but argued against astrologers beternal things.* [78]
ing able to determine the exact eects.* [82]

92.5.5

Psychology

Avicenna's legacy in classical psychology is primarily


embodied in the Kitab al-nafs parts of his Kitab alshifa' (The Book of Healing) and Kitab al-najat (The
Book of Deliverance). These were known in Latin under the title De Anima (treatises on the soul). The
main thesis of these tracts is represented in his so-called
ying manargument, which resonates with what was
centuries later entailed by Descartes's cogito argument
(or what phenomenology designates as a form of an
"epoche").* [54]* [55]
Avicenna's psychology requires that connection between
the body and soul be strong enough to ensure the soul's
individuation, but weak enough to allow for its immortality. Avicenna grounds his psychology on physiology,
which means his account of the soul is one that deals almost entirely with the natural science of the body and
its abilities of perception. Thus, the philosopher's connection between the soul and body is explained almost
entirely by his understanding of perception; in this way,
bodily perception interrelates with the immaterial human
intellect. In sense perception, the perceiver senses the
form of the object; rst, by perceiving features of the object by our external senses. This sensory information is
supplied to the internal senses, which merge all the pieces
into a whole, unied conscious experience. This process
of perception and abstraction is the nexus of the soul and
body, for the material body may only perceive material
objects, while the immaterial soul may only receive the
immaterial, universal forms. The way the soul and body
interact in the nal abstraction of the universal from the
concrete particular is the key to their relationship and interaction, which takes place in the physical body.* [79]

Avicenna's astronomical writings had some inuence on


later writers, although in general his work could be considered less developed than Alhazen or Al-Brn. One
important feature of his writing is that he considers mathematical astronomy as a separate discipline to astrology.* [83] He criticized Aristotle's view of the stars receiving their light from the Sun, stating that the stars
are self-luminous, and believed that the planets are also
self-luminous.* [84] He claimed to have observed Venus
as a spot on the Sun. This is possible, as there was
a transit on May 24, 1032, but Avicenna did not give
the date of his observation, and modern scholars have
questioned whether he could have observed the transit
from his location at that time; he may have mistaken
a sunspot for Venus. He used his transit observation
to help establish that Venus was, at least sometimes,
below the Sun in Ptolemaic cosmology,* [83] i.e. the
sphere of Venus comes before the sphere of the Sun when
moving out from the Earth in the prevailing geocentric
model.* [85]* [86]
He also wrote the Summary of the Almagest, (based on
Ptolemy's Almagest), with an appended treatiseto bring
that which is stated in the Almagest and what is understood from Natural Science into conformity. For example, Avicenna considers the motion of the solar apogee,
which Ptolemy had taken to be xed.* [83]

92.6.2 Chemistry
Ibn Sn used distillation to produce essential oils such
as rose essence, forming the foundation of what later became aromatherapy.* [87]

Unlike, for example, al-Razi, Ibn Sn explicitly disputed


the theory of the transmutation of substances commonly
The soul completes the action of intellection by accept- believed by alchemists:
ing forms that have been abstracted from matter. This
Those of the chemical craft know well that
process requires a concrete particular (material) to be abno change can be eected in the dierent
stracted into the universal intelligible (immaterial). The

92.7. LEGACY

291

species of substances, though they can produce


the appearance of such change.* [88]
Four works on alchemy attributed to Avicenna were translated into Latin as:* [89]
Liber Aboali Abincine de Anima in arte Alchemiae
Declaratio Lapis physici Avicennae lio sui Aboali

Image of Avicenna on the Tajikistani somoni

Avicennae de congelatione et conglutinatione


lapidum
Avicennae ad Hasan Regem epistola de Re recta
Liber Aboali Abincine de Anima in arte Alchemiae was
the most inuential, having inuenced later medieval
chemists and alchemists such as Vincent of Beauvais.
However Anawati argues (following Ruska) that the de
Anima is a fake by a Spanish author. Similarly the Declaratio is believed not to be actually by Avicenna. The
third work (The Book of Minerals) is agreed to be Avicenna's writing, adapted from the Kitab al-Shifa (Book of
the Remedy).* [89] Ibn Sina classied minerals into stones,
fusible substances, sulfurs, and salts, building on the ideas
of Aristotle and Jabir.* [90] The epistola de Re recta is
somewhat less sceptical of alchemy; Anawati argues that
it is by Avicenna, but written earlier in his career when
he had not yet rmly decided that transmutation was impossible.* [89]

92.6.3

Poetry

Almost half of Ibn Sn's works are versied.* [91] His


poems appear in both Arabic and Persian. As an example,
Edward Granville Browne claims that the following Persian verses are incorrectly attributed to Omar Khayym,
and were originally written by Ibn Sn:* [92]




Up from Earth's Centre through the Seventh
Gate,
I rose, and on the Throne of Saturn sate,
And many Knots unravel'd by the Road,
But not the Master-Knot of Human Fate.

92.7 Legacy
As early as the 14th century when Dante Alighieri depicted him in Limbo alongside the virtuous non-Christian
thinkers in his Divine Comedy such as Virgil, Averroes,
Homer, Horace, Ovid, Lucan, Socrates, Plato, and
Saladin, Avicenna has been recognized by both East and
West, as one of the great gures in intellectual history.

George Sarton, the author of The History of Science, described Ibn Sn asone of the greatest thinkers and medical scholars in history* [58] and called him the most
famous scientist of Islam and one of the most famous of
all races, places, and times.He was one of the Islamic
world's leading writers in the eld of medicine. Along
with Rhazes, Abulcasis, Ibn al-Nas, and al-Ibadi, Ibn
Sn is considered an important compiler of early Muslim
medicine. He is remembered in the Western history of
medicine as a major historical gure who made important
contributions to medicine and the European Renaissance.
His medical texts were unusual in that where controversy
existed between Galen and Aristotle's views on medical matters (such as anatomy), he preferred to side with
Aristotle, where necessary updating Aristotle's position
to take into account post-Aristotilian advances in anatomical knowledge.* [93] Aristotle's dominant intellectual inuence among medieval European scholars meant that
Avicenna's linking of Galen's medical writings with Aristotle's philosophical writings in the Canon of Medicine
(along with its comprehensive and logical organisation
of knowledge) signicantly increased Avicenna's importance in medieval Europe in comparison to other Islamic
writers on medicine. His inuence following translation
of the Canon was such that from the early fourteenth
to the mid-sixteenth centuries he was ranked with Hippocrates and Galen as one of the acknowledged authorities, princeps medicorum (prince of physicians).* [94]
In Iran, he is considered a national icon, and is often regarded as one of the greatest Persians to have ever lived.
Many portraits and statues remain in Iran today. An impressive monument to the life and works of the man who
is known as the doctor of doctorsstill stands outside
the Bukhara museum and his portrait hangs in the Hall
of the Avicenna Faculty of Medicine in the University
of Paris. There is also a crater on the Moon named
Avicenna and a plant genus Avicennia. Bu-Ali Sina University in Hamadan (Iran), the ibn Sn Tajik State Medical University in Dushanbe, Ibn Sina Academy of Medieval Medicine and Sciences at Aligarh, India, Avicenna
School in Karachi and Avicenna Medical College in
Lahore, Pakistan* [95] Ibne Sina Balkh Medical School
in his native province of Balkh in Afghanistan, Ibni
Sina Faculty Of Medicine of Ankara University Ankara,
Turkey and Ibn Sina Integrated School in Marawi City
(Philippines) are all named in his honour.

292

CHAPTER 92. AVICENNA

Monument Avicenna in Qakh (city), Azerbaijan

The statue of Avicenna in Persian Scholars Pavilion, United Nations Oce in Vienna, Austria

In 1980, the former Soviet Union, which then ruled


his birthplace Bukhara, celebrated the thousandth anniversary of Avicenna's birth by circulating various
commemorative stamps with artistic illustrations, and by
erecting a bust of Avicenna based on anthropological research by Soviet scholars. Near his birthplace in Qishlak
Afshona, some 25 km (16 mi) north of Bukhara, a training college for medical sta has been named for him. On
the grounds is a museum dedicated to his life, times and
work.GoogleEarth: SEE.
The Avicenna Prize for Ethics in Science is awarded every two years by UNESCO and rewards individuals and
groups in the eld of ethics in science. The prize was
named after Avicenna.The aim of the award is to promote
ethical reection on issues raised by advances in science
and technology, and to raise global awareness of the importance of ethics in science.
In March 2008, it was announced that Avicenna's name
would be used for new Directories of education institutions for health care professionals, worldwide. The
Avicenna Directories will list universities and schools
where doctors, public health practitioners, pharmacists
and others, are educated. The project team statedWhy The statue of Avicenna in United Nations Oce in Vienna as a
Avicenna? Avicenna ... was ... noted for his synthe- part of Persian Scholars Pavilion denoted by Iran
sis of knowledge from both east and west. He has had
a lasting inuence on the development of medicine and
health sciences. The use of Avicenna's name symbolises 92.8 Arabic works
the worldwide partnership that is needed for the promoThe treatises of Ibn Sn inuenced later Muslim thinkers
tion of health services of high quality.* [96]
In June 2009 Iran donated a scholar pavilion to United in many areas including theology, philology, mathematNations Oce in Vienna which is placed in the cen- ics, astronomy, physics, and music. Ibn Sn's works
tral Memorial Plaza of the Vienna International Cen- numbered almost 450 volumes on a wide range of subter.* [97] The Persian Scholars Pavilion at United Na- jects, of which around 240 have survived. In particular,
tions in Vienna, Austria is featuring the statues of four 150 volumes of his surviving works concentrate on* phiprominent Iranian gures. Highlighting the Iranian ar- losophy and 40 of them concentrate on medicine. [18]
chitectural features, the pavilion is adorned with Persian His most famous works are The Book of Healing, a vast
art forms and includes the statues of renowned Iranian philosophical* and scientic encyclopedia, and The Canon
scientists Avicenna, Abu Rayhan Biruni, Zakariya Razi of Medicine. [19]
(Rhazes) and Omar Khayyam.* [98]* [99]

Ibn Sn wrote at least one treatise on alchemy, but sev-

92.9. PERSIAN WORKS


eral others have been falsely attributed to him. His book
on animals was translated by Michael Scot. His Logic,
Metaphysics, Physics, and De Caelo, are treatises giving a
synoptic view of Aristotelian doctrine, though the Metaphysics demonstrates a signicant departure from the
brand of Neoplatonism known as Aristotelianism in Ibn
Sn's world; Arabic philosophers have hinted at the idea
that Ibn Sn was attempting tore-AristotelianiseMuslim philosophy in its entirety, unlike his predecessors,
who accepted the conation of Platonic, Aristotelian,
Neo- and Middle-Platonic works transmitted into the
Muslim world.
The Logic and Metaphysics have been extensively
reprinted, the latter, e.g., at Venice in 1493, 1495, and
1546. Some of his shorter essays on medicine, logic, etc.,
take a poetical form (the poem on logic was published
by Schmoelders in 1836). Two encyclopaedic treatises,
dealing with philosophy, are often mentioned. The larger,
Al-Shifa' (Sanatio), exists nearly complete in manuscript
in the Bodleian Library and elsewhere; part of it on the
De Anima appeared at Pavia (1490) as the Liber Sextus
Naturalium, and the long account of Ibn Sina's philosophy given by Muhammad al-Shahrastani seems to be
mainly an analysis, and in many places a reproduction,
of the Al-Shifa'. A shorter form of the work is known
as the An-najat (Liberatio). The Latin editions of part of
these works have been modied by the corrections which
the monastic editors confess that they applied. There
is also a ( hikmat-al-mashriqqiyya, in Latin
Philosophia Orientalis), mentioned by Roger Bacon, the
majority of which is lost in antiquity, which according to
Averroes was pantheistic in tone.

92.8.1

List of works

This is the list of some of Avicenna's well-known


works:* [100]* [101]

293
I. a-Qashsh, Cairo, 1987.
(Encyclopedia of
medicine.)* [100] 1597 manuscript,* [102] Latin
translation, Flores Avicenne, Michael de Capella,
1508,* [103] Modern text. Ahmed Shawkat AlShatti, Jibran Jabbur.* [104]
Risalah sirr al-qadar (Essay on the Secret of Destiny), trans. G. Hourani in Reason and Tradition in
Islamic Ethics, Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1985.* [100]
Danishnama-i 'ala'i (The Book of Scientic Knowledge), ed. and trans. P Morewedge, The Metaphysics of Avicenna, London: Routledge and Kegan
Paul, 1973.* [100]
Kitab al-Shifa' (The Book of Healing). (Ibn Sina's
major work on philosophy. He probably began
to compose al-Shifa' in 1014, and completed it in
1020.) Critical editions of the Arabic text have been
published in Cairo, 195283, originally under the
supervision of I. Madkour.* [100]
Kitab al-Najat (The Book of Salvation), trans. F.
Rahman, Avicenna's Psychology: An English Translation of Kitab al-Najat, Book II, Chapter VI with
Historical-philosophical Notes and Textual Improvements on the Cairo Edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1952. (The psychology of al-Shifa'.)
Hayy ibn Yaqdhan a Persian myth. A novel called
Hayy ibn Yaqdhan, based on Avicenna's story, was
later written by Ibn Tufail (Abubacer) in the 12th
century and translated into Latin and English as
Philosophus Autodidactus in the 17th and 18th centuries respectively. In the 13th century, Ibn al-Nas
wrote his own novel Fadil ibn Natiq, known as Theologus Autodidactus in the West, as a critical response
to Hayy ibn Yaqdhan.* [105]

Sirat al-shaykh al-ra'is (The Life of Ibn Sina), ed.


and trans. WE. Gohlman, Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1974. (The only critical
edition of Ibn Sina's autobiography, supplemented
with material from a biography by his student Abu
'Ubayd al-Juzjani. A more recent translation of
the Autobiography appears in D. Gutas, Avicenna
and the Aristotelian Tradition: Introduction to Reading Avicenna's Philosophical Works, Leiden: Brill,
1988; second edition 2014.)* [100]

92.9 Persian works

Al-Isharat wa-'l-tanbihat (Remarks and Admonitions), ed. S. Dunya, Cairo, 1960; parts translated
by S.C. Inati, Remarks and Admonitions, Part One:
Logic, Toronto, Ont.: Pontical Institute for Mediaeval Studies, 1984, and Ibn Sina and Mysticism,
Remarks and Admonitions: Part 4, London: Kegan
Paul International, 1996.* [100]

Danishnama-i 'Alai is calledthe Book of Knowledge for


[Prince] 'Ala ad-Daulah. One of Avicenna's important
Persian work is the Daaneshnaame (literally: the book of
knowledge) for Prince 'Ala ad-Daulah (the local Buyid
ruler). The linguist aspects of the Dne-nma and the
originality of their Persian vocabulary are of great interest to Iranian philologists. Avicenna created new scientic vocabulary that had not existed before in the modern
Persian language. The Dne-nma covers such topics as

Al-Qanun 'l-tibb (The Canon of Medicine), ed.

New Persian, the native language of Avicenna,* [106] was


not a scientic language until the 10th century, however
Avicenna became one of the pioneers in writing new Persian scientic language.

92.9.1 Danishnama-i 'Alai

294

CHAPTER 92. AVICENNA

logic, metaphysics, music theory and other sciences of


his time. This book has been translated into English by
Parwiz Mowewedge.* [107] The book is also important in
respect to Persian scientic works.

92.9.2

Andar Danesh-e-Rag

Andar Danesh-e-Rag is called On the science of the


pulse. This book contains nine chapters on the science
of the pulse and is a condensed synopsis.

92.9.3

Persian poetry

92.11 See also


Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi
Al-Qumri
Avicennia, a genus of mangrove named after Ibn
Sn
Avicenna Research Institute, a biotechnology research institute named after Ibn Sn
Avicenna Prize
Ibn Sina Peak - named after the Scientist
Islamic scholars

Persian poetry from Ibn Sina is recorded in various


manuscripts and later anthologies such as Nozhat alMajales.

Mumijo
Philosophy
Eastern philosophy

92.10 In popular culture


The male nameSina(also spelledSeena, which more
closely reects the Persian pronunciation) is a common
name in Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey. This popularity is
due to the respect for Avicenna.

92.10.1

The Physician

In his book The Physician (1988) Noah Gordon tells the


story of a young English medical apprentice who disguises himself as a Jew to travel from England to Persia
and learn from Avicenna, the great master of his time.
The novel was adapted into a feature lm, The Physician,
in 2013. Avicenna was played by Ben Kingsley.

92.10.3

Science in medieval Islam


List of Muslim scientists
Su philosophy
Science and technology in Iran
Ancient Iranian Medicine

The Walking Drum

In Louis L'Amour's 1985 historical novel The Walking


Drum, Kerbouchard studies and discusses Avicenna's The
Canon of Medicine.

92.10.2

Iranian philosophy

Youth of Genius

The soviet lm Youth of Genius(1982), lmed and


studios Uzbeklm and Tajiklm, dedicated to children
and youth years Avicenna. The lm's director Elyor Ishmuhamedov. Romantic and stormy, performed works,
danger and irresistible thirst of knowledge was the youth
of Al-Husayn ibn Abdallah ibn al-Hasan ibn Ali ibn Sina,
which will be known around the world under the name of
Avicenna - a great physician, scientist and educator X-XI
centuries. The lm is set in the ancient city of Bukhara
at the turn of the millennium.* [108]

List of Iranian scientists and scholars

92.12 References
[1] In Bukhara (19 years) then Gurgnj, Khwrazm (13
years).
[2] In Gorgn, 101214.
[3] In Ray (1 year), Hamadn (9 years) and Isfahn (13 years).
D. Gutas, 1987, ''AVICENNA ii. Biography'', Encyclopdia Iranica. Iranicaonline.org. Retrieved 201201-07.
[4] (Goichon 1999)
[5] Paul Strathern (2005). A brief history of medicine: from
Hippocrates to gene therapy. Running Press. p. 58. ISBN
978-0-7867-1525-1.
[6] Brian Duignan (2010). Medieval Philosophy. The Rosen
Publishing Group. p. 89. ISBN 978-1-61530-244-4.
[7] Michael Kort (2004). Central Asian republics. Infobase
Publishing. p. 24. ISBN 978-0-8160-5074-1.
[8]

He was born in 370/980 in Afshana, his mother's


home, near Bukhara. His native language was Persian(fromIbn Sina
( Avicenna)", Encyclopedia
of Islam, Brill, second edition (2009). Accessed via
Brill Online at www.encislam.brill.nl).

92.12. REFERENCES
Avicenna was the greatest of all Persian thinkers;
as physician and metaphysician...(excerpt from
A.J. Arberry, Avicenna on Theology, KAZI PUBN
INC, 1995).
Whereas the name of Avicenna (Ibn Sina, died
1037) is generally listed as chronologically rst
among noteworthy Iranian philosophers, recent evidence has revealed previous existence of Ismaili
philosophical systems with a structure no less complete than of Avicenna(from p. 74 of Henry
Corbin, The Voyage and the messenger: Iran and
philosophy, North Atlantic Books, 1998.
[9] Avicenna (Persian philosopher and scientist) - Britannica
Online Encyclopedia. Britannica.com. Retrieved 201201-07.
[10] Colgan, Richard. Advice to the Healer: On the Art of Caring. Springer, 2013, p. 37.(ISBN 978-1-4614-5169-3)
[11] Juergensmeyer M., Kitts M., Jerryson M. The Oxford
Handbook of Religion and Violence'. OUP USA, 2013, p.
625.(ISBN 9780199759996)
[12] Paul E. The Emperor Is Buck Naked: Why Medical
Evidence Is Not Necessarily ProofAbbott Press, 2014,
p 12. (ISBN 9781458216410)
[13] Herlihy J. Islam for Our Time: Inside the Traditional
World of Islamic SpiritualityXlibris Corporation, 2012,
p 108.(ISBN 9781479709953)
[14] Ma'oz M.The Meeting of Civilizations: Muslim, Christian, and JewishSussex Academic Press, 2009, p 243.
(ISBN 9781845193959)
[15] Ganchy S. Islam and Science, Medicine, and TechnologyThe Rosen Publishing Group, 2009, p 30. (ISBN
9781435850668)
[16] Galvin T. Come from the Shadows: The Long and
Lonely Struggle for Peace in AfghanistanDouglas &
McIntyre, 2011, p 34. (ISBN 9781553657828)
[17] Ishiyama J., Breuning M. 21st Century Political Science: A Reference HandbookSAGE Publications, 2010,
p 573. (ISBN 9781452266367)
[18]

[19]

[20]

[21]

295

[23] e.g. at the universities of Montpellier and Leuven (see


Medicine: an exhibition of books relating to medicine
and surgery from the collection formed by J.K. Lilly.
Indiana.edu. Archived from the original on 14 December
2009. Retrieved 2010-01-19.).
[24] Avicenna, in Encyclopdia Iranica, Online Version
2006. Iranica.com. Retrieved 2010-01-19.
[25] Major periods of Muslim education and learning. Encyclopdia Britannica Online. 2007. Archived from the
original on 12 December 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-16.
[26] Afary, Janet (2007). Iran. Encyclopdia Britannica
Online. Retrieved 2007-12-16.
[27] Encyclopdia Iranica, Avicenna biography
[28]AvicennaEncyclopdia Britannica, Concise Online
Version, 2006 (); D. Gutas,Avicenna, in Encyclopdia
Iranica, Online Version 2006, (LINK); Avicenna in (Encyclopedia of Islam: 1999 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands)
[29] Corbin, Henry (1993 (original French 1964)). History
of Islamic Philosophy, Translated by Liadain Sherrard,
Philip Sherrard. London; Kegan Paul International in association with Islamic Publications for The Institute of
Ismaili Studies. pp. 167175. ISBN 0-7103-04161. OCLC 22109949 221646817 22181827 225287258.
Check date values in: |date= (help)
[30] Janssens, Jules L. (1991). An annotated bibliography on
Ibn Sn (19701989): including Arabic and Persian publications and Turkish and Russian references. Leuven University Press. pp. 8990. ISBN 978-90-6186-476-9. excerpt: "<expand>... [Dimitri Gutas's Avicenna's mahab]
convincingly demonstrates that I.S. was a sunn-anaf.

[31] Aisha Khan (2006). Avicenna (Ibn Sina): Muslim physician and philosopher of the eleventh century. The Rosen
Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-4042-0509-3.

[32] Seyyed Hossein Nasr, An introduction to Islamic cosmological doctrines,Published by State University of New
O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., Avicenna
York press, ISBN 0-7914-1515-5 Page 183
, MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of
[33] Jorge J. E. Gracia and Timothy B. Noone (2003), A ComSt Andrews.
panion to Philosophy in the Middle Ages, p. 196, Blackwell
Nasr, Seyyed Hossein (2007). Avicenna. EncyclopPublishing, ISBN 0-631-21673-1.
dia Britannica Online. Archived from the original on 31
October 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-05.
[34] Aisha Khan. Avicenna (Ibn Sina): Muslim Physician And
Philosopher of the Eleventh Century. The Rosen PublishEdwin Clarke, Charles Donald O'Malley (1996), The huing Group. p. 85.
man brain and spinal cord: a historical study illustrated by
writings from antiquity to the twentieth century, Norman
[35] Osler, William (2004). The Evolution Of Modern
Publishing, p. 20 (ISBN 0-930405-25-0).
Medicine. Kessinger Publishing. p. 72. ISBN 1-41916153-9.
Iris Bruijn (2009), Ship's Surgeons of the Dutch East India Company: Commerce and the progress of medicine in
the eighteenth century, Amsterdam University Press, p. 26
(ISBN 90-8728-051-3).

[22] Avicenna 980-1037. Hcs.osu.edu. Retrieved 201001-19.

[36] Nahyan A. G. Fancy (2006), p. 8081,Pulmonary Transit and Bodily Resurrection: The Interaction of Medicine,
Philosophy and Religion in the Works of Ibn al-Nafs (d.
1288)", Electronic Theses and Dissertations, University of
Notre Dame.

296

CHAPTER 92. AVICENNA

[37] The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Avicenna/Ibn


Sina (CA. 980-1037)". Iep.utm.edu. 2006-01-06. Retrieved 2010-01-19.
[38] Islam. Encyclopdia Britannica Online. 2007.
Archived from the original on 22 December 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-27.
[39] Avicenna, Kitab al-shifa', Metaphysics II, (eds.) G. C.
Anawati, Ibrahim Madkour, Sa'id Zayed (Cairo, 1975),
p. 36
[40] Nader El-Bizri,Avicenna and Essentialism,Review of
Metaphysics, Vol. 54 (2001), pp. 753778
[41] Avicenna, Metaphysica of Avicenna, trans.
Morewedge (New York, 1973), p. 43.

Parviz

[53] Hasse, Dag Nikolaus (2000). Avicenna's De Anima in the


Latin West. London: Warburg Institute. p. 81.
[54] Nader El-Bizri, The Phenomenological Quest between Avicenna and Heidegger (Binghamton, N.Y.: Global Publications SUNY, 2000), pp. 149171.
[55] Nader El-Bizri,Avicenna's De Anima between Aristotle
and Husserl,in The Passions of the Soul in the Metamorphosis of Becoming, ed. Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2003), pp. 6789.
[56] Nasr, Seyyed Hossein; Oliver Leaman (1996). History of
Islamic philosophy. Routledge. pp. 315, 10223. ISBN
978-0-415-05667-0.
[57] Hasse, Dag Nikolaus (2000). Avicenna's De Anima in the
Latin West. London: Warburg Institute. p. 92.

[42] Nader El-Bizri, The Phenomenological Quest between Avicenna and Heidegger (Binghamton, N.Y.: Global Publications SUNY, 2000)

[58] George Sarton, Introduction to the History of Science.


(cf. Dr. A. Zahoor and Dr. Z. Haq (1997). Quotations
From Famous Historians of Science, Cyberistan.)

[43] Avicenna, Kitab al-Hidaya, ed.


(Cairo, 1874), pp. 2623

[59] Joseph Patrick Byrne (2008). "Encyclopedia of Pestilence, Pandemics, and Plagues: A-M". ABC-CLIO. p.33.
ISBN 0-313-34102-8.

Muhammad 'Abdu

[44] Salem Mashran, al-Janib al-ilahi 'ind Ibn Sina (Damascus,


1992), p. 99
[45] Nader El-Bizri,Being and Necessity: A Phenomenological Investigation of Avicenna's Metaphysics and Cosmology,in Islamic Philosophy and Occidental Phenomenology on the Perennial Issue of Microcosm and Macrocosm,
ed. Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2006), pp. 243261
[46] Rak Berjak and Muzaar Iqbal, Ibn SinaAl-Biruni
correspondence, Islam & Science, June 2003.
[47] Lenn Evan Goodman (2003), Islamic Humanism, p. 89,
Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-513580-6.
[48] James W. Morris (1992), The Philosopher-Prophet
in Avicenna's Political Philosophy, in C. Butterworth
(ed.), The Political Aspects of Islamic Philosophy, ISBN
9780932885074, Chapter 4, Cambridge Harvard University Press, pp.152198 [p.156].
[49] James W. Morris (1992), The Philosopher-Prophet
in Avicenna's Political Philosophy, in C. Butterworth
(ed.), The Political Aspects of Islamic Philosophy, Chapter 4, Cambridge Harvard University Press, pp.152198
[pp.160-161].
[50] James W. Morris (1992), The Philosopher-Prophet
in Avicenna's Political Philosophy, in C. Butterworth
(ed.), The Political Aspects of Islamic Philosophy, Chapter 4, Cambridge Harvard University Press, pp.152198
[pp.156-158].
[51] Jules Janssens (2004),Avicenna and the Qur'an: A Survey of his Qur'anic commentaries, MIDEO 25, p. 177
192.
[52] Ibn Sina,
(Beirut, Lebanon.: M.A.J.D
Enterprise Universitaire d'Etude et de Publication
S.A.R.L)

[60] Lutz, Peter L. (2002). The Rise of Experimental Biology:


An Illustrated History. Humana Press. p. 60. ISBN 089603-835-1. OCLC 47894348.
[61] Missori, Paolo; Brunetto, Giacoma M.; Domenicucci,
Maurizio (7 February 2012). Origin of the Cannula
for Tracheotomy During the Middle Ages and Renaissance. World Journal of Surgery 36 (4): 928934.
doi:10.1007/s00268-012-1435-1.
[62] S Safavi-Abbasi, LBC Brasiliense, RK Workman (2007),
The fate of medical knowledge and the neurosciences
during the time of Genghis Khan and the Mongolian Empire, Neurosurgical Focus 23 (1), E13, p. 3.
[63] Amber Haque (2004),Psychology from Islamic Perspective: Contributions of Early Muslim Scholars and Challenges to Contemporary Muslim Psychologists, Journal
of Religion and Health 43 (4): 357-377 [366].
[64] Indian Studies on Ibn Sina's Works by Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman, Avicenna (Scientic and Practical International Journal of Ibn Sino International Foundation,
Tashkent/Uzbekistan. 1-2; 2003: 40-42
[65] Stephen Toulmin and June Goodeld (1965), The Ancestry of Science: The Discovery of Time, p. 64, University
of Chicago Press (cf. The Contribution of Ibn Sina to the
development of Earth sciences)
[66] McGinnis, Jon (July 2003). Scientic Methodologies in
Medieval Islam. Journal of the History of Philosophy 41
(3): 307327. doi:10.1353/hph.2003.0033.
[67] Peter hrstrm, Per Hasle (1995). Temporal Logic: From
Ancient Ideas to Articial Intelligence. Springer. p. 72.
[68] TONY STREET (2000), TOWARD A HISTORY
OF SYLLOGISTIC AFTER AVICENNA: NOTES ON
RESCHER'S STUDIES ON ARABIC MODAL LOGIC
, Journal of Islamic Studies (Oxford University Press) 11
(2): 209228

92.12. REFERENCES

[69] Street, Tony (2005-01-01). Logic. In Peter Adamson and Richard C. Taylor. The Cambridge Companion to
Arabic Philosophy. Cambridge University Press. pp. 247,
250. ISBN 978-0-521-52069-0.
[70] Richard F. Washell (1973),Logic, Language, and Albert
the Great, Journal of the History of Ideas 34 (3), p. 445
450 [445].
[71] Kneale p. 229
[72] Kneale: p. 266; Ockham: Summa Logicae i. 14; Avicenna: Avicennae Opera Venice 1508 f87rb
[73] Fernando Espinoza (2005).An analysis of the historical
development of ideas about motion and its implications
for teaching, Physics Education 40 (2), p. 141.
[74] A. Sayili (1987), Ibn Sn and Buridan on the Motion
of the Projectile, Annals of the New York Academy of
Sciences 500 (1), p. 477 482:
It was a permanent force whose eect got
dissipated only as a result of external agents
such as air resistance. He is apparently the
rst to conceive such a permanent type of impressed virtue for non-natural motion.
[75] Buridan. Plato.stanford.edu. 2011-08-25. Retrieved
2012-01-07.
[76] George Sarton, Introduction to the History of Science, Vol.
1, p. 710.
[77] Carl Benjamin Boyer (1954)."Robert Grosseteste on the
Rainbow, Osiris 11, p. 247258 [248].
[78] Gutman, Oliver (1997). On the Fringes of the Corpus Aristotelicum: the Pseudo-Avicenna Liber Celi Et
Mundi. Early Science and Medicine (Brill Publishers)
2 (2): 10928. doi:10.1163/157338297X00087.
[79] Avicenna (1952). F. Rahman, ed. Avicenna's Psychology.
An English translation of Kitb al-Najt, Book II, Chapter VI, with Historico-Philosophical Notes and Textual Improvements on the Cairo edition. London: Oxford University Press, Georey Cumberlege. p. 41.
[80] Avicenna (1952). F. Rahman, ed. Avicenna's Psychology.
An English translation of Kitb al-Najt, Book II, Chapter VI, with Historico-Philosophical Notes and Textual Improvements on the Cairo edition. London: Oxford University Press, Georey Cumberlege. pp. 6869.
[81] George Saliba (1994), A History of Arabic Astronomy:
Planetary Theories During the Golden Age of Islam, p. 60,
67-69. New York University Press, ISBN 0-8147-80237.
[82] George Saliba, Avicenna: 'viii. Mathematics and Physical Sciences'. Encyclopdia Iranica, Online Edition,
2011, available at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/
avicenna-viii

297

[84] Ariew, Roger (March 1987).The phases of venus before


1610. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part
A 18 (1): 8192. doi:10.1016/0039-3681(87)90012-4.
[85] Goldstein, Bernard R. (1969). Some Medieval Reports
of Venus and Mercury Transits. Centaurus (John Wiley
& Sons) 14 (1): 4959. Bibcode:1969Cent...14...49G.
doi:10.1111/j.1600-0498.1969.tb00135.x.
[86] Goldstein, Bernard R. (March 1972). Theory and Observation in Medieval Astronomy. Isis (University of
Chicago Press) 63 (1): 3947 [44]. doi:10.1086/350839.
[87] Marlene Ericksen (2000). Healing with Aromatherapy, p.
9. McGraw-Hill Professional. ISBN 0-658-00382-8.
[88] Robert Briault (1938). The Making of Humanity, p.
196197.
[89] Georges C. Anawati (1996),Arabic alchemy, in Roshdi
Rashed, ed., Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science, Vol. 3, p. 853885 [875]. Routledge, London and
New York.
[90] Leicester, Henry Marshall (1971), The Historical Background of Chemistry, Courier Dover Publications, p.
70, ISBN 9780486610535, There was one famous Arab
physician who doubted even the reality of transmutation.
This was 'Abu Ali al-Husain ibn Abdallah ibn Sina (980
1037), called Avicenna in the West, the greatest physician
of Islam. ... Many of his observations on chemistry are
included in the Kitab al-Shifa, theBook of the Remedy
. In the physical section of this work he discusses the formation of minerals, which he classies into stones, fusible
substances, sulfurs, and salts. Mercury is classied with
the fusible substances, metals.
[91] E.G. Browne, Islamic Medicine (sometimes also printed
under the title Arabian medicine), 2002, Goodword Pub.,
ISBN 81-87570-19-9, p61
[92] E.G. Browne, Islamic Medicine (sometimes also printed
under the title Arabian medicine), 2002, Goodword Pub.,
ISBN 81-87570-19-9, p 6061)
[93] Musallam, B. (2011). Avicenna Medicine and Biology
. Encyclopdia Iranica. Retrieved 2011-11-09.
[94] Weisser, U. (2011).Avicenna The inuence of Avicenna
on medical studies in the West. Encyclopdia Iranica.
Retrieved 2011-11-09.
[95] http://www.amch.edu.pk
[96]Educating health professionals: the Avicenna project
The Lancet, March 2008. Volume 371 pp 966967.
[97] http://www.unis.unvienna.org/unis/pressrels/2009/
unisvic167.html
[98] http://en.viennaun.mfa.ir/index.aspx?fkeyid=&siteid=
207&pageid=28858

[99] http://parseed.ir/?ez=8002
[83] Sally P. Ragep (2007). Thomas Hockey, ed. Ibn Sn:
Ab Al alusayn ibn Abdallh ibn Sn. The Bi- [100] Ibn Sina Abu 'Ali Al-Husayn. Muslimphilosophy.com.
Archived from the original on 2 January 2010. Retrieved
ographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers (Springer Science+Business Media). pp. 570572.
2010-01-19.

298

CHAPTER 92. AVICENNA

[101] Tasaneef lbn Sina by Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman, Tabeeb


Haziq, Gujarat, Pakistan, 1986, p. 176198

[102] The Canon of Medicine. World Digital Library. 1597.


Retrieved 2014-03-01.

O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F.,


Abu Ali al-Husain ibn Abdallah ibn Sina (Avicenna)", MacTutor History of Mathematics archive,
University of St Andrews.

[103] Flowers of Avicenna - Flores Avicenne. World Digital


Library. Retrieved 2014-03-01.
[104] Avicenna. The Canon of Medicine. World Digital
Library. Retrieved 2014-03-01.
[105] Nahyan A. G. Fancy (2006), Pulmonary Transit and
Bodily Resurrection: The Interaction of Medicine, Philosophy and Religion in the Works of Ibn al-Nafs (d.
1288)", pp. 95102, Electronic Theses and Dissertations,
University of Notre Dame.
[106] Ibn Sina (Avicenna) Encyclopedia of Islam. 2nd edition. Edited by P. Berman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth,
E. van Donzel and W.P. Henrichs. Brill 2009. Accessed through Brill online: www.encislam.brill.nl (2009)
Quote:He was born in 370/980 in Afshana, his mother's
home, near Bukhara. His native language was Persian.
[107] Avicenna, Danish Nama-i 'Alai. trans. Parviz Morewedge
as The Metaphysics of Avicenna (New York: Columbia
University Pres), 1977.
[108]Youth of Genius(USSR, Uzbeklm and Tajiklm,
1982): 1984 - State Prize of the USSR (Elyer Ishmuhamedov); 1983 - VKF (All-Union Film Festival) Grand Prize
(Elyer Ishmuhamedov); 1983 - VKF (All-Union Film Festival) Award for Best Cinematography (Tatiana Loginov).
See annotation on kino-teatr.ru.

92.13 Sources
Chisholm, Hugh, ed.
(1911).
"Avicenna".
Encyclopdia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge
University Press.

92.14 Further reading


92.14.1

Encyclopedic articles

Syed Iqbal, Zaheer. An Educational Encyclopedia of


Islam (2 ed.). Bangalore: Iqra Publishers. p. 1280.
ISBN 978-603-90004-40.
Flannery, Michael. Avicenna. Encyclopdia
Britannica.
Goichon, A.-M. (1999). IBN SINA, Abu 'Ali alHusayn b. 'Abd Allah b. Sina, known in the West as
Avicenna. Encyclopedia of Islam. Brill Publishers.
Mahdi, M.; D. Gutas, Sh. B. Abed, M. E. Marmura,
F. Rahman, G. Saliba, O. Wright, B. Musallam, M.
Achena, S. Van Riet, U. Weisser (1987). Avicenna. Encyclopdia Iranica.

"Avicenna". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York:


Robert Appleton Company. 1913.

Ragep, Sally P. (2007). Ibn Sn: Ab Al


alusayn ibn Abdallh ibn Sn". In Thomas
Hockey et al. The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. New York: Springer. pp. 5702. ISBN
978-0-387-31022-0. (PDF version)
Avicenna entry by Sajjad H. Rizvi in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

92.14.2 Primary literature


Avicenna (2005). The Metaphysics of The Healing.
A parallel English-Arabic text translation. Michael
E. Marmura (trans.) (1 ed.). Brigham Young University. ISBN 0-934893-77-2.
Avicenna (1999). The Canon of Medicine (al-Qnn
f'l-ibb), vol. 1. Laleh Bakhtiar (ed.), Oskar
Cameron Gruner (trans.), Mazhar H. Shah (trans.).
Great Books of the Islamic World. ISBN 978-1871031-67-6.
Avicenne: Rfutation de l'astrologie. Edition et traduction du texte arabe, introduction, notes et lexique par Yahya Michot. Prface d'Elizabeth Teissier
(Beirut-Paris: Albouraq, 2006) ISBN 2-84161304-6.
For an old list of other extant works, C. Brockelmann's Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur
(Weimar, 1898), vol. i. pp. 452458. (XV. W.; G.
W. T.)
For a current list see the works by A. Bertolacci and
D. Gutas in the section Philosophy
For Ibn Sina's life, see Ibn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary, translated by de Slane (1842); F.
Wstenfeld's Geschichte der arabischen Aerzte und
Naturforscher (Gttingen, 1840).
Madelung, Wilferd and Toby Mayer (ed. and tr.),
Struggling with the Philosopher: A Refutation of
Avicenna's Metaphysics. A New Arabic Edition
and English Translation of Shahrastani's Kitab alMusara'a.

92.14.3 Secondary literature


Afnan, Soheil M. (1958). Avicenna: His Life and
Works. London: G. Allen & Unwin. OCLC
31478971.

92.14. FURTHER READING


This is, on the whole, an informed and good
account of the life and accomplishments of
one of the greatest inuences on the development of thought both Eastern and Western.
... It is not as philosophically thorough as the
works of D. Saliba, A. M. Goichon, or L.
Gardet, but it is probably the best essay in English on this important thinker of the Middle
Ages. (Julius R. Weinberg, The Philosophical
Review, Vol. 69, No. 2, Apr. 1960, pp. 255
259)
Goodman, Lenn E. (2006). Avicenna (Updated
ed.). Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-415-01929X.
This is a distinguished work which stands out
from, and above, many of the books and articles which have been written in this century
on Avicenna (Ibn Sn) (A.D. 980-1037). It
has two main features on which its distinction
as a major contribution to Avicennan studies
may be said to rest: the rst is its clarity and
readability; the second is the comparative approach adopted by the author. ... (Ian Richard
Netton, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,
Third Series, Vol. 4, No. 2, July 1994, pp.
263264)
Gutas, Dimitri (1987). Avicenna's mahab, with
an Appendix on the question of his date of birth.
Quaderni di Studi Arabi 56: 32336.
Y. T. Langermann (ed.), Avicenna and his Legacy.
A Golden Age of Science and Philosophy, Brepols
Publishers, 2010, ISBN 978-2-503-52753-6
For a new understanding of his early career, based
on a newly discovered text, see also: Michot, Yahya,
Ibn Sn: Lettre au vizir Ab Sa'd. Editio princeps d'aprs le manuscrit de Bursa, traduction de
l'arabe, introduction, notes et lexique (Beirut-Paris:
Albouraq, 2000) ISBN 2-84161-150-7.
Strohmaier, Gotthard (2006). Avicenna (in German). BeckC.H. ISBN 3-406-54134-8.

299
CCRIH, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh; (Second
edition 1981) Central Council for Research in Unani
Medicine, Govt. of India, New Delhi; (Fourth edition 1999), Central Council for Research in Unani
Medicine, Govt. of India, New Delhi.
Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman (1996). AI-Advia alQalbia of Ibn Sina. Publication Division, Aligarh
Muslim University, Aligarh.
Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman. Ilmul Amraz of Ibn
Sina (First edition 1969), Tibbi Academy, Delhi
(Second edition 1990), (Third edition 1994), Tibbi
Academy, Aligarh.
Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman (1986). Qanoon lbn
Sina Aur Uskey Shareheen wa Mutarjemeen. Publication Division, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh.
Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman (1986), Qnn-i ibni Sn aur us ke shrn va mutarajimn, Algah:
Pablkeshan Dvzan, Muslim Ynvarsi
Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman (2004). Qanun Ibn
Sina and its Translation and Commentators (Persian
Translation; 203pp). Society for the Appreciation
of Cultural Works and Dignitaries, Tehran, Iran.
Shaikh al Rais Ibn Sina (Special number) 1958
59, Ed. Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman, Tibbia College Magazine, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh,
India.

92.14.4 Medicine
Browne, Edward G.. Islamic Medicine. Fitzpatrick
Lectures Delivered at the Royal College of Physicians in 1919-1920, reprint: New Delhi: Goodword
Books, 2001. ISBN 81-87570-19-9
Pormann, Peter & Savage-Smith, Emilie. Medieval
Islamic Medicine, Washington: Georgetown University Press, 2007.

This German publication is both one of the


Prioreschi, Plinio. Byzantine and Islamic Medicine,
most comprehensive general introductions to
A History of Medicine, Vol. 4, Omaha: Horatius
the life and works of the philosopher and
Press, 2001.
physician Avicenna (Ibn Sn, d. 1037) and
an extensive and careful survey of his contribution to the history of science. Its author is a renowned expert in Greek and Arabic 92.14.5 Philosophy
medicine who has paid considerable attention
Amos Bertolacci, The Reception of Aristotle's Metato Avicenna in his recent studies. ... (Amos
physics in Avicenna's Kitab al-Sifa'. A Milestone of
Bertolacci, Isis, Vol. 96, No. 4, December
Western Metaphysical Thought, Leiden: Brill 2006,
2005, p. 649)
(Appendix C contains an Overview of the Main
Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman. Resalah Judiya of Ibn
Works by Avicenna on Metaphysics in Chronological
Sina (First edition 1971), Literary Research Unit,
Order).

300

CHAPTER 92. AVICENNA

Dimitri Gutas, Avicenna and the Aristotelian Tradition: Introduction to Reading Avicenna's Philosophical Works, Leiden, Brill 2014, second revised and
expanded edition (rst edition: 1988), including an
inventory of Avicenna' Authentic Works.
Jon Mc Ginnis and D. C. Reisman (eds.) Interpreting Avicenna: Science and Philosophy in Medieval
Islam: Proceedings of the Second Conference of the
Avicenna Study Group, Leiden: Brill, 2004.

Ibn Sina. Favorites. - Moscow: Kniga, 1980. (


. . .: , 1980.
Ibn Sina. Favorites Philosophical Works. Moscow: Science, 1980. ( .
. .: , 1980.
Al-Biruni, Ibn Sina. Correspondence. - Tashkent:
Fan, 1973. (-, -. .
: , 1973.

(French) Michot, Jean R., La destine de l'homme Biography:


selon Avicenne, Louvain: Aedibus Peeters, 1986,
ISBN 978-90-6831-071-9.
Ahadova M.A . The arithmetic of the Book of
Knowledgeof Ibn Sina. Geometrical part of the
Nader El-Bizri, The Phenomenological Quest beBook of KnowledgeIbn Sina // Scientists note
tween Avicenna and Heidegger, Binghamton, N.Y.:
Bukhara State Pedagogical Institute. - 1964. Global Publications SUNY, 2000.
12. ( ..
.
Nader El-Bizri, Avicenna and Essentialism,Re //
view of Metaphysics, Vol. 54 (June 2001), pp. 753
. 1964.
778.
12.)
Nader El-Bizri, Avicenna's De Anima between
Dzhibladze G.N. Systems Avicenna, Abu Ali Ibn
Aristotle and Husserl,in The Passions of the Soul
Sina. Exoteric essay. (Some generalizations
in the Metamorphosis of Becoming, ed. Anna-Teresa
and materials). - Tbilisi, 1986. (
Tymieniecka, Dordrecht: Kluwer, 2003, pp. 6789.
.. : -.
Nader El-Bizri, Being and Necessity: A Phe . (
nomenological Investigation of Avicenna's Meta ). , 1986)
physics and Cosmology,in Islamic Philosophy and
Dinorshoev M. Natural philosophy of Ibn
Occidental Phenomenology on the Perennial Issue
Sina.
- Dushanbe, 1985.
( .
of Microcosm and Macrocosm, ed. Anna-Teresa

.
,
1985)
Tymieniecka, Dordrecht: Kluwer, 2006, pp. 243
261.
Zavadovsky N. Abu Ali Ibn Sina: Life and Work.
- Dushanbe, 1980. ( ..
Reisman, David C. (ed.), Before and After Avicenna:
: . ,
Proceedings of the First Conference of the Avicenna
1980)
Study Group, Leiden: Brill, 2003.

92.14.6

In Russian

Publication of works:
Ibn Sina. Danish-name. Book of knowledge.
- Stalinabad, 1957. ( . -.
. , 1957.)

Luther I.O. Metaphysics of Ibn Sina: angle - attitude, quality, position or is it more? // Historical and
mathematical studies. - 2003. - 8 (43). - P. 278302. ( .. :
, , ? // -
. 2003. 8(43). . 278
302)

Ibn Sina. The Canon of Medicine: In 5 volumes. - Tashkent, 1956-1960. ( .


: 5 . , 1956-1960.

Petrov B.D. Ibn Sina (Avicenna). - Moscow:


Medicine, 1980.
( ..
(). .: , 1980)

Ibn Sina.
Mathematical chapter books of
knowledge.- Dushanbe, 1967. ( .
.
, 1967.

Sagadeev A.V. Ibn Sina (Avicenna). - Moscow,


1985. ( .. ().
., 1985)
Shidfar B.Ja. Ibn Sina. - Moscow, 1981. (
. . . ., 1981)

Ibn Sina. Message of love. - Tbilisi: Metsniereba,


1976. ( . .
Bibliography:
: , 1976.

92.15. EXTERNAL LINKS

301

Dinorshoev M. Natural philosophy of Ibn


Sina.
- Dushanbe, 1985 ( .
-.
,
1985);
Avicenna // Encyclopedic Dictionary Brockhaus
and Efron: In 86 volumes (82 m., And 4 extra.). - St. Petersburg., 1890-1907. (
//
: 86 (82 . 4 .). .,
18901907.)
Sina, Abu Ali ibn Husayn ibn Abdullah ibn // Jewish
Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron. - St. Petersburg., 1906-1913. (, - -
- - //
. ., 19061913.)
Frolova .A. Ibn Sina // New Encyclopedia of Philosophy: 4 m. / Institute of Philosophy, Russian
Academy of Sciences; Nat. obschestv.-scientic.
Fund; Presents t. Scientic Ed. Council VS Stepin.
- Moscow: Mysl, 2000-2001. - ISBN 5-244-009613. 2nd ed., Rev. and complement. - Moscow: Mysl,
2010. - ISBN 978-5-244-01115-9. ( .A.
// :
4 . / - ; . .. ; . -. . .
. .: , 20002001. ISBN
5-244-00961-3. 2- ., . . .:
, 2010. ISBN 978-5-244-01115-9.)
Shidfar B.Ja. Ibn Sina. - Moscow: Science, 1981 184 p. (. . -. .: , 1981.
184 .)

92.15 External links


Avicenna (Ibn-Sina) on the Subject and the Object
of Metaphysics with a list of translations of the logical and philosophical works and an annotated bibliography

Avicenna on In Our Time at the BBC. (listen now)


Digitized works by Avicena at Biblioteca Digital
Hispnica, Biblioteca Nacional de Espaa
International Conference on Life & Contribution
of Ibn Sina
,
(in Russian)

Chapter 93

Benedict of Norwich
Benedict of Norwich (. 1340) was an Augustinian
monk who ourished in the reign of Edward III. According to John Bale he was distinguished for his linguistic, his
scientic, and his theological skill. However, Bale nds
great fault with the tendency of Benedict's teaching, accusing him of a leaning towards Novatianism, Arianism,
and other heresies, and also of trusting too much to Gentile authority, 'when he should have known that the divine
wisdom has no need of human inventions.'* [1]
Benedict, who was abbot of the Austin friars at Norwich,
apparently made himself a great reputation by his popular discourses, and in this way so approved himself to
Antony Bek, bishop of Norwich (1337-1443), that this
prelate appointed him suragan in his diocese. Bale calls
him 'episcopus Cardicensis.' * [1] Benedict seems to have
ourished about the year 1340. He was buried at Norwich, but the date of his death is not known. * [1]
His writings, as enumerated by Bale, consisted of an Alphabet of Aristotle, sermons for a year, and hortatory epistles. William Stubbs thought Benedict was suragan of
both Winchester and Norwich from 1333 to 1346.* [1]

93.1 References
[1] "Benedict of Norwich". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 18851900.

Attribution This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Benedict of Norwich". Dictionary of National Biography. London:
Smith, Elder & Co. 18851900.

302

Chapter 94

Boethus of Sidon
For the Stoic philosopher, see Boethus of Sidon (Stoic).
Boethus of Sidon (Greek: ; c. 75 c. 10 BC)
was a Peripatetic philosopher from Sidon, who lived towards the end of the 1st century BC.* [1]
As he was a disciple of Andronicus of Rhodes,* [2] he
must have travelled at an early age to Rome and Athens, in
which cities Andronicus is known to have taught. Strabo,
who mentions him and his brother Diodotus among the
celebrated persons of Sidon, speaks of him at the same
time as his own teacher (or fellow pupil) in Peripatetic
philosophy.* [3] Among his works, all of which are now
lost, there was one on the nature of the soul, and also
a commentary on Aristotle's Categories, which is mentioned by Ammonius in his commentary on the same
work of Aristotle. Ammonius quotes also an opinion
of Boethus concerning the study of the works of Aristotle, viz. that the student should begin with the Physics,
whereas Andronicus had maintained that the beginning
should be made with the Logic writings of Aristotle.

94.1 Notes
[1]Commentators on Aristotle, A. Falcon, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, August 2005, webpage: UVAAristotle.
[2] Ammonius Hermiae, Comment, in Aristotle's Categories.
[3] Strabo, Geographica, 16.2.24

94.2 References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William,
ed. (1870). "* article name needed". Dictionary of
Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

Strabo, Geographica, Volumes i-xvii.

303

Chapter 95

Zarmanochegas
Zarmanochegas (Zarmarus) () was a
gymnosophist (naked philosopher), a monk of the
Sramana tradition (possibly, but not necessarily a Buddhist) who, according to ancient historians such as Strabo
and Dio Cassius, met Nicholas of Damascus in Antioch
while Augustus (died 14 CE) was ruling the Roman Emprire, and shortly thereafter proceeded to Athens where
he burnt himself to death.* [1]* [2]

95.1 Pandion Mission

the date would be the winter of 22/21 BCE when Augustus crossed from Sicily to Greece to visit Athens (Dio
Cassius LIV,7, 2-3).* [6] In support of this Priaulx notes
that the poet Horace alludes to an Indian mission (Carmen Seculare 55, 56 (written 17BCE), Ode 14, L.iv (13
BCE) and Ode 12, L. i (22BCE)). Priaulx also notes that
later writers such as Florus (110 CE) (Hist. Rome IV C
12) and Suetonius (190 CE) (Augustus C21) refer to this
Indian mission.* [7] Augustus in his Ancyra inscription
notes that to me were sent embassies of kings from India, who had never been seen in the camp of any Roman
general.* [8]

95.2 Self-Immolation and Tomb in


Athens
A tomb was made to the sramana, still visible in
the time of Plutarch,* [9] which bore the mention
" " (
The sramana master from Barygaza in India").* [10]
The inscription on the tomb of Zarmanochegas in Athens states
he came from Barygaza. This port, named on the map as
Barigaza on the Gulf of Khambhat facilitated trade with ancient Axum, Egypt, Arabia and the sea-land trade routes via the
Tigris-Euphrates valley and Ancient Rome.

Strabo's (died 24 CE) account at Geographia xv,i,4 is as


follows:
From one place in India, and from one king,
namely, Pandion, or, according to others,
Porus, presents and embassies were sent to Augustus Caesar. With the ambassadors came the
Indian Gymnosophist, who committed himself
to the ames at Athens, like Calanus, who exhibited the same spectacle in the presence of
Alexander.

Nicolaus of Damascus describes how an embassy sent by


the "Indian king Porus (or Pandion, Pandya or Pandita
(Buddhism)) to Caesar Augustus. The embassy was travelling with a diplomatic letter on a skin in Greek, and one
of its members was a sramana who burned himself alive
in Athens to demonstrate his faith. Nicholas of Damascus
met the embassy at Antioch (near present day Antakya Strabo adds (at xv, i, 73)
in Turkey) and this is related by Strabo (XV,1,73 * ) and
Dio Cassius (liv, 9). The monk's self-immolation made
To these accounts may be added that of Nicoa sensation and was quoted by Strabo* [3] and Dio Caslaus Damascenus. This writer states that at
sius (Hist 54.9).* [4] His tomb indicated he came from
Antioch, near Daphne, he met with ambasBarygaza which is now Bharuch city of Gujarat, then the
sadors from the Indians, who were sent to
Augustus Caesar. It appeared from the letcapital of Gaikwar near the north bank of the Narmada
River; the name being derived from one of the ancient
ter that several persons were mentioned in it,
Rishis (Bhrigu) who lived there.* [5] If the Sramana timed
but three only survived, whom he says he saw.
his death to match the arrival of Augustus in Athens then
The rest had died chiey in consequence of
304

95.3. RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION

305
tion:
ZARMANOCHEGAS,
AN
INDIAN, A NATIVE OF BARGOSA, HAVING IMMORTALIZED HIMSELF ACCORDING
TO THE CUSTOM OF HIS
COUNTRY, HERE LIES.* [11]
Dio Cassio's (died 235 CE) later account reads:

Keramikos cemetery, Athens- the tomb of Zarmanochegas was


well known in Athens according to Plutarch.

the length of the journey. The letter was written in Greek upon a skin; the import of it
was, that Porus was the writer, that although he
was sovereign of six hundred kings, yet that he
highly esteemed the friendship of Csar; that
he was willing to allow him a passage through
his country, in whatever part he pleased, and
to assist him in any undertaking that was just.
Eight naked servants, with girdles round their
waists, and fragrant with perfumes, presented
the gifts which were brought. The presents
were a Hermes (i. e. a man) born without
arms, whom I have seen, large snakes, a serpent
ten cubits in length, a river tortoise of three cubits in length, and a partridge larger than a vulture. They were accompanied by the person, it
is said, who burnt himself to death at Athens.
This is the practice with persons in distress,
who seek escape from existing calamities, and
with others in prosperous circumstances, as
was the case with this man. For as everything
hitherto had succeeded with him, he thought
it necessary to depart, lest some unexpected
calamity should happen to him by continuing to
live; with a smile, therefore, naked, anointed,
and with the girdle round his waist, he leaped
upon the pyre. On his tomb was this inscrip-

For a great many embassies came to him, and


the people of India, who had already made
overtures, now made a treaty of friendship,
sending among other gifts tigers, which were
then for the rst time seen by the Romans, as
also, I think by the Greeks...One of the Indians, Zarmarus, for some reason wished to die,
either because, being of the caste of sages,
he was on this account moved by ambition,
or, in accordance with the traditional custom
of the Indians, because of old age, or because
he wished to make a display for the benet of
Augustus and the Athenians (for Augustus had
reached Athens); he was therefore initiated
into the mysteries of the two goddesses, which
were held out of season on account, they say,
of Augustus, who also was an initiate, and he
then threw himself alive into the re.* [12]
The Eleusinian Mysteries ( ) were
initiation ceremonies of pre-historic antiquity focused
on immortality and held in honour of Demeter and
Persephone based at Eleusis in ancient Greece. Augustus became an initiate in 22/21BCE and again in 19BCE
(Cassius Dio 51,4.1 and 54,9.10).* [13] The later Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius also was initiated into the
Eleusinian Mysteries in Athens.* [14]
Plutarch (died 120 AD) in his Life of Alexander, after discussing the self-immolation of Calanus of India
(Kalanos) writes: The same thing was done long after by another Indian who came with Caesar to Athens,
where they still show youthe Indian's Monument.* [15]

95.3 Religious aliation


Charles Eliot in his Hinduism and Buddhism: An Historical Sketch (1921) considers that the name Zarmanochegas
perhaps contains the two words Sramana and Acarya.
*
[16] McCrindle infers from this that Zarmanochegas
was a Buddhist priest or ascetic.* [17]* [18] HL Jones'
translation of the inscription as mentioned by Strabo
reads it as The Sramana master, an Indian, a native of
Bargosa, having immortalized himself according to the
custom of his country, lies here.* [19] Groskurd refers
to Zarmanochegas as 'Zarmanos Chanes' and as an 'Indian

306
wiseman' ('Indischer weiser').* [20] Priaulx translates the
name in Sanskrit as ramanakarja
( teacher of Shamans
) and addswhich points him out as of the Buddhist faith
and a priest, and, as his death proves, a priest earnest in
his faith.* [21] Clement of Alexandria (died 215AD) in
his Stromata (Bk I, Ch XV) after noting how philosophy
ourished in antiquity amongst the barbariansstates:
The Indian gymnosophists are also in the number, and
the other barbarian philosophers. And of these there are
two classes, some of them called Sarman and others
Brahmins. And those of the Sarman who are called
Hylobiineither inhabit cities, nor have roofs over them,
but are clothed in the bark of trees, feed on nuts, and
drink water in their hands. Like those called Encratites
in the present day, they know not marriage nor begetting
of children. Some, too, of the Indians obey the precepts
of Buddha () whom, on account of his extraordinary sanctity, they have raised to divine honours.* [22]

95.4 References
[1] Strabo, xv, 1, on the immolation of the Sramana in Athens
(Paragraph 73).
[2] Dio Cassius, liv, 9.
[3] Strabo, xv, 1, on the immolation of the Sramana in Athens
(Paragraph 73).
[4] Dio Cassius, liv, 9.
[5] JW McCrindle. Ancient India as Described in Classical
Literature. Elibron Classics. Adamant Media Corp. 2005
ISBN 1-4021-6154-9 p 78 fn2 http://books.google.com.
au/books?id=Hjfo-0ytFh0C&pg=PA78&lpg=PA78&
dq=zarmanochegas&source=bl&ots=59GDNAecGN&
sig=Zjtiv47h2iFeAQe9QsBGzs148qA&hl=en&
sa=X&ei=MjnRULXfMu-TiAe5m4HwCg&ved=
0CDoQ6AEwAzgK#v=onepage&q=zarmanochegas&f=
false (accessed 18 Dec 2012)
[6] Hu ML. Civil Disobedience and Unrest in Augustan
Athens Hesperia 1989; 58: 267-276.
[7] Osmond de Beauvoir Priaulx. The Indian Travels of Apollonius of Tyana and the Indian Embassies London 1873
pp67 et seq.
[8] Evelyn Schuckburgh. Augustus. London 1903 Appendix
31.
[9] Plutarch. 'Life of Alexander' in The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans. (trans John Dryden and revised Arthur Hugh Clough) The Modern Library (Random House Inc). New York.p850
[10] Elledge CD. Life After Death in Early Judaism. Mohr
Siebeck Tilbringen 2006 ISBN 3-16-148875-X pp122125
[11] Strabo, xv, 1.73.
[12] Dio Cassius, liv, 9.

CHAPTER 95. ZARMANOCHEGAS

[13] KW Arafat. Pausanius' Greece: Ancient Artists and Roman Rulers. Cambridge University Press. 1996 ISBN
0521553407 p 122.
[14] Gregory Hays Introduction' in Marcus Aurelius. Meditations. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. London. 2003. ISBN
1-84212-675-X p xvii
[15] Plutarch. 'Life of Alexander' in The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans. (trans John Dryden and revised Arthur Hugh Clough) The Modern Library (Random House Inc). New York. p850
[16] Charles Eliot. Hinduism and Buddhism: An Historical
Sketch vol 1. Curzon Press, Richmond 1990. p 431 fn 4.
[17] McCrindle JW. The Invasion of India by Alexander the Great.
Kessinger Publishing.
Montana
http://books.google.com.au/books?
2004.
p 389.
id=ncDFRgtSysIC&pg=PA389&lpg=PA389&dq=
zarmanochegas&source=bl&ots=74bHScngFu&sig=
lSSOiLr9YGksOMiAMu2YcZdVzNI&hl=en&sa=
X&ei=GpvHUIGCNKyeiAfehIGgCg&sqi=2&ved=
0CEoQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=zarmanochegas&f=
false (accessed 12 December 2012)
[18] JW McCrindle. Ancient India as Described in Classical
Literature. Elibron Classics. Adamant Media Corp. 2005
ISBN 1-4021-6154-9 p 78 fn1 http://books.google.com.
au/books?id=Hjfo-0ytFh0C&pg=PA78&lpg=PA78&
dq=zarmanochegas&source=bl&ots=59GDNAecGN&
sig=Zjtiv47h2iFeAQe9QsBGzs148qA&hl=en&
sa=X&ei=MjnRULXfMu-TiAe5m4HwCg&ved=
0CDoQ6AEwAzgK#v=onepage&q=zarmanochegas&f=
false (accessed 18 Dec 2012)
[19] Elledge CD. Life After Death in Early Judaism. Mohr
Siebeck Tilbringen 2006 ISBN 3-16-148875-X p125
[20] Christoph Gottleib Groskurd. Strabons Erdbeschreibung.
Berlin und Stettin. 1833 p470
[21] Osmond de Beauvoir Priaulx. The Indian Travels of Apollonius of Tyana and the Indian Embassies London 1873
p78.
[22] Clement of Alexandria Stromata.
BkI, Ch XV
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf02.vi.iv.i.xv.html
(Accessed 19 Dec 2012)

Chapter 96

Damascius
Damascius (/dms/; Greek: , c. 458
after 538), known asthe last of the Neoplatonists,was
the last scholarch of the School of Athens. He was one
of the pagan philosophers persecuted by Justinian in the
early 6th century, and was forced for a time to seek refuge
in the Persian court, before being allowed back into the
Empire. His surviving works consist of three commentaries on the works of Plato, and a metaphysical text entitled Diculties and Solutions of First Principles.

96.1 Life
Damascius was born in Damascus in Syria, whence he
derived his name: his Syrian name is unknown. In his
early youth he went to Alexandria, where he spent twelve
years partly as a pupil of Theon, a rhetorician, and partly
as a professor of rhetoric. He then turned to philosophy
and science, and studied under Hermias and his sons,
Ammonius and Heliodorus. Later on in life he migrated
to Athens and continued his studies under Marinus, the
mathematician, Zenodotus, and Isidore, the dialectician.
He became a close friend of Isidore, succeeded him as
head of the School of Athens in ca. 515, and wrote his
biography, part of which is preserved in the Bibliotheca
of Photius.* [1]

as the author of the Pseudo-Dionysian writings, thelast


counter-oensive of the pagan(l'ultima controensiva
del paganesimo).

96.2 Writings
His chief treatise is entitled Diculties and Solutions of
First Principles (
). It examines the nature and attributes of God
and the human soul. This examination is, in two respects,
in striking contrast to that of certain other Neoplatonist
writers. It is conspicuously free from Oriental mysticism,
and it contains no polemic against Christianity, to the doctrines of which, in fact, there is no allusion. Hence the
charge of impiety which Photius brings against him. In
this treatise Damascius inquires into the rst principle of
all things, which he nds to be an unfathomable and unspeakable divine depth, being all in one, but undivided.
His main result is that God is innite, and as such, incomprehensible; that his attributes of goodness, knowledge and power are credited to him only by inference
from their eects; that this inference is logically valid and
sucient for human thought. He insists throughout on
the unity and the indivisibility of God.* [1] This work is,
moreover, of great importance for the history of philosophy, because of the great number of accounts which it
contains concerning former philosophers.

In 529 Justinian I closed the school, and Damascius with


six of his colleagues sought an asylum, probably in 532,
at the court of Khosrau I of Persia. They found the con- The rest of Damascius's writings are for the most part
ditions intolerable, and when the following year Justinian commentaries on works of Aristotle and Plato. The surand Khosrau concluded a peace treaty, it was provided viving commentaries are:
that the philosophers should be allowed to return.* [2] It is
Commentary on Plato's Parmenides.
believed that Damascius returned to Alexandria and there
*
devoted himself to the writing of his works. [1]
Commentary on Plato's Phaedo. This work has been
Among the disciples of Damascius the most important
erroneously ascribed to Olympiodorus of Alexanare Simplicius, the celebrated commentator on Aristotle,
dria.* [3]
Epictetus, and Eulamius. We have no further particu Commentary on Plato's Philebus. Also erroneously
lars of the life of Damascius; we only know that he did
ascribed to Olympiodorus.* [3]
not found any new school, and thus Neoplatonist philosophy ended its external existence. But Neoplatonist
ideas were preserved in the Christian church down to the Among the lost works there were:
later times of the Middle Ages, notably by means of the
Commentaries on Plato's Timaeus, First Alcibiades,
tremendous inuence exerted by the Pseudo-Dionysian
corpus. Mazzucchi (2006) identies Damascius himself
and other dialogues.
307

308

CHAPTER 96. DAMASCIUS

Commentaries on Aristotle's De Coelo, and other


works. The writings of Damascius on Time, Space,
and Number, cited by Simplicius in his commentary
on Aristotle's Physica,* [4] are perhaps parts of his
commentaries on Aristotle's writings.
Life of Isidore. Damascius's biography of his
teacher Isidore (perhaps a part of the philosophos
historia attributed to Damascius by the Suda), of
which Photius* [5] has preserved a considerable
fragment. The text has been reconstructed and
translated recently.* [6]
Logoi Paradoxoi, in 4 books, of which Photius [7]
also gives an account and species the respective titles of the books.
*

96.3 See also


Iamblichus
Plotinus
Proclus
Simplicius of Cilicia
Decline of Greco-Roman polytheism

96.4 References
[1] One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text
from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm,
Hugh, ed. (1911). "Damascius". Encyclopdia Britannica 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 783
784.
[2] Agathias, Scholast. ii. 30
[3] Giovanni Reale, John R. Catan, 1989, A History of Ancient Philosophy: The Schools of the Imperial Age, page
546. SUNY Press.
[4] Simplicius, fol. 189, b., 153, a., 183, b.
[5] Photius, Cod. 242, comp. 181; in volume 6 of the edition
by Rene Henry.
[6] Polymnia Athanassiadi (ed.), Damascius. The Philosophical History. Athens: Apamea Cultural Association, 1999.
Pp. 403. ISBN 960-85325-2-3.BMCR review
[7] Photius, Cod. 130

96.5 Sources
Polymnia Athanassiadi: Persecution and Response
in late Paganism. The evidence of Damascius. In:
Journal of Hellenic Studies 113 (1993), pp. 129.

Cosmin Andron: Damascius on Knowledge and its


Object. In: Rhizai 1 (2004) pp. 107124
Sebastian R. P. Gertz: Death and Immortality in
Late Neoplatonism: Studies on the Ancient Commentaries on Plato's Phaedo, Leiden: Brill, 2011.
Raban von Haehling: Damascius und die heidnische Opposition im 5. Jahrhundert nach Christus. In:
Jahrbuch fr Antike und Christentum 23 (1980), pp.
8285.
Udo Hartmann: Geist im Exil.
Rmische
Philosophen am Hof der Sasaniden. In: Udo
Hartmann/Andreas Luther/Monika Schuol (eds.),
Grenzberschreitungen.
Formen des Kontakts
zwischen Orient und Okzident im Altertum. Stuttgart
2002, pp. 123160.
Androniki Kalogiratou: The Portrayal of Socrates
by Damascius. In: Phronimon: Journal of the South
African Society for Greek Philosophy and the Humanities 7 (1) 2006, pp. 4554.
Androniki Kalogiratou: Theology in Philosophy:
The Case of the Late Antique Neoplatonist Damascius. In Skepsis: A Journal for Philosophy and Interdisciplinary Research VII, i-ii, 2007, pp. 5879.
John R. Martindale, John Morris: The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire II. Cambridge 1980,
pp. 342f.
Carlo Maria Mazzucchi, Damascio, Autore del Corpus Dionysiacum, e il dialogo
. In: Aevum: Rassegna di scienze storiche
linguistiche e lologiche 80, N 2 (2006), pp. 299
334.
Carlo Maria Mazzucchi, Iterum de Damascio Areopagita. In: Aevum: Rassegna di scienze storiche linguistiche e lologiche 87, N 1 (2013), pp. 249265.
S. Rappe: Scepticism in the sixth century? Damascius
Doubts and Solutions Concerning First Principles,
Journal of the History of Philosophy 36 (1998),
pp. 337363.
Sara Ahbel-Rappe, Damascius' Problems and Solutions Regarding First Principles, (New York, 2010)
(OUP USA American Academy of Religion - Texts
& Translation).

Chapter 97

David (commentator)
David (Greek: ; . 6th century) was a Greek
scholar and a commentator on Aristotle and Porphyry.

97.2 External links

He may have come from Thessaly, but in later times


he was confused with an Armenian of the same name
(David Anhaght).* [1] He was a pupil of Olympiodorus
in Alexandria in the late 6th century.* [1]* [2] His name
suggests that he was a Christian.* [3]
Two Greek commentaries attributed to him have survived:* [1]* [4] as well as an introduction to philosophy
(prolegomena):
Prolegomena
Commentary on Porphyry's Isagoge
Commentary on Aristotle's Categories
However, it is possible that the Commentary on Aristotle's Categories is actually by his contemporary Elias.* [5]
Another anonymous commentary on Porphyry's Isagoge
which was falsely ascribed to Elias (pseudo-Elias), was
also falsely ascribed to David.* [6]

97.1 Notes
[1] Pamela M. Huby, R. W. Sharples, Dimitri Gutas, 1995,
Theophrastus of Eresus, Sources for His Life, Writings,
Thought and Inuence, page 16. BRILL.
[2] Jonathan Barnes, 2006, Porphyry Introduction, page xxi.
Oxford University Press
[3] Richard Sorabji, (1990), Aristotle transformed: the ancient
commentators and their inuence, page 36.
[4] D. N. Sedley, 2003, The Cambridge companion to Greek
and Roman philosophy, page 249.
[5] The Cambridge Ancient History: Late antiquity: empire
and successors, A.D. 425-600 page 844.
[6] Pamela M. Huby, R. W. Sharples, Dimitri Gutas, 1995,
Theophrastus of Eresus, Sources for His Life, Writings,
Thought and Inuence, page 17. BRILL.

309

David entry by Christian Wildberg in the Stanford


Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Chapter 98

Dexippus (philosopher)
For the 3rd century historian, statesman and general, see
Dexippus.
Dexippus (Greek: ; . 350) was a Greek
philosopher, a pupil of the Neoplatonist Iamblichus, belonging to the middle of the 4th century AD. He wrote
commentaries on Plato and Aristotle of which one, an
explanation and defense of the Aristotelian Categories, is
partially extant. In this work Dexippus explains to one
Seleucus the Aristotelian Categories, and endeavours at
the same time to refute the objections of Plotinus. He
also advocated the harmony of the philosophies of Plato
and Aristotle.* [1]
A Latin edition edited by Flicien was published under
the title Qustionum in Categorias Libri Tres in 1549.
The Greek text was published by Leonhard von Spengel
in 1859. An English translation by John M. Dillon was
published in 1990.

98.1 Notes
[1] Gerson, L. Aristotle and Other Platonists (Cornell University Press, 2005), p. 292.

98.2 References
This article incorporates text from a publication now
in the public domain: Gilman, D. C.; Thurston,
H. T.; Moore, F., eds. (1905). "* article name
needed". New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.).
New York: Dodd, Mead.

98.3 Further reading


J. Dillon, (1990) Dexippus: On Aristotle Categories.
Duckworth.

310

Chapter 99

Elias (commentator)
Elias (/las/; Greek: ; . 6th century) was
a Greek scholar and a commentator on Aristotle and
Porphyry.
He was a pupil of Olympiodorus in Alexandria in the
late-6th century.* [1] His name suggests that he was a
Christian.* [2] A commentary on Porphyry's Isagoge written in Greek has survived.* [1]* [3] Some fragments survive of a commentary he wrote on the Prior Analytics of
Aristotle, and he is known to have written on the De Interpretatione of Aristotle.* [4] It is also possible that the
extant Commentary on Aristotle's Categories which is attributed to David was actually written by Elias.* [5]
In addition, a second extant commentary on Porphyry's
Isagoge was falsely ascribed to Elias.* [1]* [6] The commentary was also falsely ascribed to David,* [6] and it
has been conjectured that it may have been written by
Stephen of Alexandria.* [6]

99.1 Notes
[1] Jonathan Barnes, 2006, Porphyry Introduction, page xxi.
Oxford University Press
[2] Richard Sorabji, (1990), Aristotle transformed: the ancient
commentators and their inuence, page 36.
[3] D. N. Sedley, 2003, The Cambridge companion to Greek
and Roman philosophy, page 249.
[4] Arnold Hugh Martin Jones, John Robert Martindale, J.
Morris, 1992, The prosopography of the later Roman Empire, Volumes 2-3, Elias 6, page 438. Cambridge University Press
[5] The Cambridge Ancient History: Late antiquity: empire
and successors, A.D. 425-600 page 844.
[6] Pamela M. Huby, R. W. Sharples, Dimitri Gutas, 1995,
Theophrastus of Eresus, Sources for His Life, Writings,
Thought and Inuence, page 17. BRILL.

99.2 External links


Elias entry by Christian Wildberg in the Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy

311

Chapter 100

Eudorus of Alexandria
Eudorus of Alexandria (Greek: ; 1st century
BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher, and a representative of Middle Platonism.* [1] He attempted to reconstruct Plato's philosophy in terms of Pythagoreanism.* [2]
He formulated a teleological principle for Platonism, derived from the Theaetetus: as much as we can, become
like God.* [3] In this he believed that he had found an apt
denition of the common goal of Pythagoras, Socrates,
and Plato.* [4] His metaphysics and cosmology combined
Platonist, Pythagorean and Stoic ideas.* [4]
He is mentioned by Alexander of Aphrodisias as a commentator on Aristotle's Metaphysics,* [5] which he is
said to have criticized. Simplicius refers to him as a
Peripatetic philosopher, and relates that he had written on the Aristotelian Categories. He was a native of
Alexandria, and had, like Aristo of Alexandria, written a
work on the Nile.* [6]

100.1 Notes
[1] Middle Platonism entry in the Internet Encyclopedia of
Philosophy
[2] George E. Karamanolis, 2006, Plato and Aristotle in
agreement?, pages 82-4. Oxford University Press
[3] Plato, Theaetetus, 176b
[4] Eduard Zeller, Outlines of the History of Greek Philosophy,
13th edition, page 306
[5] Alexander of Aphrodisias, ad Arist. Metaph. p. 26
[6] Strabo, Geographica, xvii.

312

Chapter 101

Eustratius of Nicaea
Eustratius of Nicaea (Greek:
; c.
1050/1060 c. 1120)* [1] was Metropolitan bishop of
Nicaea in the early 12th century. He wrote commentaries
to Aristotle's second book of Analytica and the Ethica
Nicomachea.
Eustratius was a pupil of John Italus, although he
had deliberately dissociated himself from John's supposed heretical views when John was condemned around
1082.* [2] A few years after the trial of Italus, he wrote a
dialogue and treatise on the use of icons directed against
Leo, the bishop of Chalcedon, who had accused the emperor Alexius Comnenus of sacrilege and iconoclasm in
the way in which he had stripped the churches of gold
to fund his wars.* [3] For this he gained the emperor
Alexios I's friendship, and this probably helped him to
become Metropolitan bishop of Nicaea. Eustratius was
said by Anna Comnena to have been wise both in mundane and in religious matters and especially expert in argument.* [4] Nevertheless he found himself accused of
heresy in 1117 and a charge was placed before the Synod
of Constantinople which narrowly succeeded despite a
defence by Patriarch John IX of Constantinople.* [2] As
a result of the condemnation Eustratius was formally suspended for life.
Two commentaries by Eustratius on the works of
Aristotle survive:* [1]
Commentary on the Posterior Analytics, book 2
Commentary on the Nicomachean Ethics, books 1
and 6

101.1 Notes
[1] Donald J. Zeyl, Daniel Devereux, Phillip Mitsis, 1997,
Encyclopedia of Classical Philosophy, page 59. Greenwood Press
[2] Joan Mervyn Hussey, 1990, The Orthodox Church in the
Byzantine Empire, pages 150-1. Oxford University Press
[3] H. Paul F. Mercken, 1973, The Greek Commentaries on
the Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle in the Latin Translation of Robert Grosseteste. Volume 1, pages vi-vii. BRILL.

313

[4] Georgina Grenfell Buckler, 1968, Anna Comnena; a


Study, page 294. Clarendon Press

Chapter 102

Al-Farabi
Al-Farabi (/lfrbi/; Persian:
Ab Nar Muammad ibn Muammad Frb ;* [1]
for other recorded variants of his name see below) ,
known in the West as Alpharabius* [5] (c. 872* [2] in
Frb* [3] between 14 December, 950 and 12 January,
951 in Damascus),* [3] was a renowned philosopher of
the Islamic Golden Age, who wrote in areas of political
philosophy, metaphysics, ethics and logic. He was also a
scientist, cosmologist, and a music scholar.
Al-Farabi is credited with preserving the original Greek
texts during the Middle Ages because of his commentaries and treaties, and inuencing many prominent
philosophers, like Avicenna and Maimonides. Through
his works, he became well-known in the East as well as
the West.

ries about his life which range from benign extrapolation


on the basis of some known details to tendentious reconstructions and legends.* [1] Most modern biographies
of the philosopher present various combinations of elements drawn at will from this concocted material.* [1]
The sources from the 6th/12th century and later consist
essentially of three biographical entries, all other extant
reports on Farabi being either dependent on them or even
later fabrications:* [1] 1) the Syrian tradition represented
by Ibn Ab Uaibia.* [1] 2) The Wafayt al-ayn waanb abn az-zamn (Deaths of Eminent Men and
History of the Sons of the Epoch; trans. by Baron de
Slane, Ibn Khallikans Biographical Dictionary, 1842
74) compiled by Ibn Khallikn.* [1] 3) the scanty and
legendary Eastern tradition, represented by ahr-al-Dn
Bayhaq.* [1]

From incidental accounts it is known that he spent signicant time in Baghdad with Christian scholars includ102.1 Biography
ing the cleric Yuhanna ibn Haylan, Yahya ibn Adi, and
Abu Ishaq Ibrahim al-Baghdadi. He later spent time in
The existing variations in the basic accounts of al-Farabi's Damascus, Syria and Egypt before returning to Damasorigins and pedigree indicate that they were not recorded cus where he died in 950-1.* [6]
during his lifetime or soon thereafter by anyone with
concrete information, but were based on hearsay or
guesses (as is the case with other contemporaries of 102.1.1 Name
al-Farabi).* [1] The sources for his life are scant which
makes the reconstruction of his biography beyond a mere His name was Ab Nar Muammad b. Muammad
outline nearly impossible.* [1] The earliest and more re- Farabi, as all sources, and especially the earliest and most
liable sources, i.e., those composed before the 6th/12th reliable, Al-Masudi, agree.* [1] In some manuscripts of
century, that are extant today are so few as to indicate that Frbs works, which must reect the reading of their
no one among Frbs successors and their followers, or ultimate archetypes from his time, his full name appears
even unrelated scholars, undertook to write his full biog- as Ab Nar Muammad b. Muammad al-arn, i.e.,
raphy, a neglect that has to be taken into consideration in the element arn appears in a nisba (family surname
assessing his immediate impact.* [1] The sources prior to or attributive title).* [1] Moreover, if the name of Farabi
the 6th/12th century consist of: (1) an autobiographical s grandfather was not known among his contemporaries
passage by Farabi, preserved by Ibn Ab Uaibia. In this and immediately succeeding generations, it is all the more
passage, Farabi traces the transmission of the instruction surprising to see in the later sources the appearance of yet
of logic and philosophy from antiquity to his days. (2) another name from his pedigree, Awzala.* [1] This apReports by Al-Masudi, Ibn al-Nadim and Ibn Hawqal as pears as the name of the grandfather in Ibn Ab Uaibia
well as by Said Al-Andalusi (d. 1070), who devoted a and of the great-grandfather in Ibn Khallikan. Ibn Ab
biography to him.
Uaibia is the rst source to list this name which, as Ibn
When major Arabic biographers decided to write comprehensive entries on Farabi in the 6th-7th/12th-13th
centuries, there was very little specic information on
hand; this allowed for their acceptance of invented sto-

Khallikn explicitly species later, is so to be pronounced


as Awzala.* [1] In modern Turkish scholarship and some
other sources, the pronunciation is given as Uzlu rather
than Awzala, without any explanation.* [1]

314

102.1. BIOGRAPHY

102.1.2

315

Birthplace

His birthplace is Frb on the Jaxartes (Syr Darya) in


modern Kazakhstan * [1] or maybe Fryb in Greater
Khorasan (modern day Afghanistan).
The older
Persian* [1] Prb (in udd al-lam) or Fryb (also
Pryb), is a common Persian toponym meaning lands
irrigated by diversion of river water.* [7]* [8] By the 13th
century, Frb on the Jaxartes was known as Otrr.* [9]

102.1.3

Origin

There is a dierence of opinion on the ethnic background


of Farabi.* [1]* [10]* [11] According to Dimitri Gutas,
"[...] ultimately pointless as the quest for Farabis ethnic
origins might be, the fact remains that we do not have sufcient evidence to decide the matter [...]"* [1] The Cambridge companion to Arabic philosophy also states that
"[...] these biographical facts are paltry in the extreme but
we must resist the urge to embellish them with fanciful
stories, as the medieval biographers did, or engage in idle
speculation about al-Farabi
s ethnicity or religious aliation on the basis of contrived interpretations of his works,
as many modern scholars have done.* [12] According to
the Oxford Encyclopaedia of African Thought "[...] be- An Iranian stamp bearing an illustration of Al-Farabi's imagined
cause the origins of al-Farabi were not recorded during face
his lifetime or soon after his death in 950 C.E. by anyone
with concrete information, accounts of his pedigree and
place of birth have been based on hearsay [...]".* [13]
Iranian origin theory
Medieval Arab historian Ibn Ab Uaibia (died in 1269)
al-Farabi's oldest biographermentions in his Oyn
that al-Farabi's father was of Persian descent.* [1]* [14]
Al-Shahrazr who lived around 1288 A.D. and has written an early biography also states that Farabi hailed from
a Persian family.* [15]* [16] According to Majid Fakhry,
an Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University, Farabi's father "was an army captain of Persian extraction."* [17] As noted by Dimitri Gutas, Farabi
has in a number of his works references and glosses
in Persian and Sogdian (and even Greek but not Turkish).* [1]* [18] Sogdian has also been suggested as his native language* [19] and the language of the inhabitants
of Frb.* [20] Muhammad Javad Mashkoor argues for
an Iranian-speaking Central Asian origin.* [21] A Persian
origin has been discussed by other sources as well.* [22]
Turkic origin theory
The oldest known reference to a possible Turkic origin
is given by the medieval historian Ibn Khallikn (died in
1282), who in his work Wafayt (completed in 669/1271)
states that Farabi was born in the small village of Wasij
near Frb (in what is today Otrar, Kazakhstan) of Tur-

Al-Farabi's imagined face appeared on the currency of the


Republic of Kazakhstan

kic parents. Based on this account, some modern scholars


say he is of Turkic origin.* [23]* [24]* [25]* [26]* [27]* [28]
Others, such as Dimitri Gutas, criticize this, saying that
Ibn Khallikn's account is aimed at the earlier historical
accounts by Ibn Ab Uaibia, and serves the sole purpose
to prove a Turkic origin for al-Farabi, for instance by inventing the additional nisba (surname)al-Turk(arab.
the Turk)a nisba Farabi never had.* [1] However,
Abu al-Fed', who copied Ibn hallekn, corrected this
and changed al-Tork to the descriptive statement wakna rajolan torkyan, meaninghe was a Turkish man.
*
[1] In this regard, Oxford professor C.E. Bosworth notes
that great gures [such] as al-Farabi, al-Biruni, and
ibn Sina have been attached by over enthusiastic Turkish
scholars to their race.* [29]

316

102.1.4

CHAPTER 102. AL-FARABI

Life and education

Stoic tradition of logic rather than the Aristotelian.* [32]


Another addition Al-Farabi made to the Aristotelian traAl-Farabi spent almost his entire life in Baghdad. In dition was his introduction of the concept of poetic
the auto-biographical passage about the appearance of syllogism in a commentary on Aristotle's Poetics.* [33]
philosophy preserved by Ibn Ab Uaibia, Farabi has
stated that he had studied logic,medicine and sociology
with Yann b. ayln up to and including Aristotle 102.2.3 Music
s Posterior Analytics, i.e., according to the order of the
books studied in the curriculum, Frb said that he studied Porphyrys Eisagoge and Aristotles Categories,
De Interpretatione, Prior and Posterior Analytics. His
teacher, Yann b. ayln, was a Christian cleric who
abandoned lay interests and engaged in his ecclesiastical duties, as Frb reports. His studies of Aristotelian
logic with Yann in all probability took place in Baghdad, where Al-Masudi tells us Yann died during the
caliphate of al-Moqtader (295-320/908-32).* [1] He was
in Baghdad at least until the end of September 942 as
we learn from notes in some manuscripts of his Mabde
r ahl al-madna al-fela, he had started to compose
the book in Baghdad at that time and then left and went
to Syria.* [1] He nished the book in Damascus the following year (331), i.e., by September 943).* [1] He also
lived and taught for some time in Aleppo. Later on Farabi
visited Egypt; and complete six sections summarizing the
book Mabde in Egypt in 337/July 948-June 949.* [1] He
returned from Egypt to Syria. Al-Masudi writing barely
ve years after the fact (955-6, the date of the composition of the Tanbh), says that he died in Damascus in Illustration from Kitb al-msq al-kabr. Drawing of a musical
Rajab 339 (between 14 December 950 and 12 January instrument, called shahrud
951).* [1] In Syria, he was supported and gloried by Saif
ad-Daula, the Hamdanid ruler of Syria.
Wrote a book on music titled Kitab al-Musiqa (The Book
of Music). According to Seyyed Hossein Nasr and Mehdi
Aminrazavi:* [34] the book of Kitab al-Musiqa is in reality
102.2 Works and contributions
a study of the theory of Persian music of his day although
in the West it has been introduced as a book on Arab muFarabi made contributions to the elds of logic, sic. He presents philosophical principles about music, its
mathematics, music, philosophy, psychology, and cosmic qualities and its inuences.
education.
Wrote a treatise Meanings of the Intellect, which dealt
with music therapy and discussed the therapeutic eects
of music on the soul.* [35]

102.2.1

Alchemy

Al-Farabi wrote: he Necessity of the Art of the Elixir* [30] 102.2.4

102.2.2

Logic

Though he was mainly an Aristotelian logician, he included a number of non-Aristotelian elements in his
works. He discussed the topics of future contingents, the
number and relation of the categories, the relation between logic and grammar, and non-Aristotelian forms of
inference.* [31] He is also credited for categorizing logic
into two separate groups, the rst being ideaand the
second being "proof".
Al-Farabi also considered the theories of conditional syllogisms and analogical inference, which were part of the

Philosophy

As a philosopher, Al-Farabi was a founder of his own


school of early Islamic philosophy known asFarabism
or Alfarabism, though it was later overshadowed by
Avicennism. Al-Farabi's school of philosophy breaks
with the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle [... and ...]
moves from metaphysics to methodology, a move that anticipates modernity", andat the level of philosophy, Alfarabi unites theory and practice [... and] in the sphere
of the political he liberates practice from theory. His
Neoplatonic theology is also more than just metaphysics
as rhetoric. In his attempt to think through the nature
of a First Cause, Alfarabi discovers the limits of human
knowledge".* [36]

102.3. PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT

317
plungers in water.* [39] He concluded that air's volume
can expand to ll available space, and he suggested that
the concept of perfect vacuum was incoherent.* [38]

102.2.6 Psychology
Wrote Social Psychology and Principles of the Opinions of
the Citizens of the Virtuous City, which were the rst treatises to deal with social psychology. He stated that an
isolated individual could not achieve all the perfections by
himself, without the aid of other individuals,and that it
is the innate disposition of every man to join another
human being or other men in the labor he ought to perform.He concluded that toachieve what he can of that
perfection, every man needs to stay in the neighborhood
of others and associate with them.* [35]
In his treatiseOn the Cause of Dreams, which appeared
as chapter 24 of his Principles of the Opinions of the Citizens of the Ideal City, he distinguished between dream
interpretation and the nature and causes of dreams.* [35]

102.3 Philosophical thought


Latin translation of Kitab ihsa' al-'ulum (In English, An Encyclopedia of the Sciences) by Gerard of Cremona

Al-Farabi had great inuence on science and philosophy


for several centuries , and was widely considered second
only to Aristotle in knowledge (alluded to by his title of
the Second Teacher) in his time. His work, aimed at
synthesis of philosophy and Susm, paved the way for the
work of Ibn Sina (Avicenna).* [37]
Al-Farabi also wrote a commentary on Aristotle's work,
and one of his most notable works is Al-Madina al-Fadila
( ) where he theorized an
ideal state as in Plato's The Republic.* [38] Al-Farabi represented religion as a symbolic rendering of truth, and,
like Plato, saw it as the duty of the philosopher to provide guidance to the state. Al-Farabi incorporated the
Platonic view, drawing a parallel from within the Islamic
context, in that he regarded the ideal state to be ruled by
the prophet-imam, instead of the philosopher-king envisaged by Plato. Al-Farabi argued that the ideal state
was the city-state of Medina when it was governed by the
prophet Muhammad as its head of state, as he was in direct communion with Allah whose law was revealed to
him.

102.2.5

Physics

Al-Farabi wrote a short treatiseOn Vacuum, where he


thought about the nature of the existence of void.* [38] He
may have carried out the rst experiments concerning the
existence of vacuum, in which he investigated handheld

102.3.1 Inuences
The main inuence on al-Farabi's philosophy was the
neo-Aristotelian tradition of Alexandria. A prolic
writer, he is credited with over one hundred works.* [40]
Amongst these are a number of prolegomena to philosophy, commentaries on important Aristotelian works (such
as the Nicomachean Ethics) as well as his own works.
His ideas are marked by their coherency, despite drawing
together of many dierent philosophical disciplines and
traditions. Some other signicant inuences on his work
were the planetary model of Ptolemy and elements of
Neo-Platonism,* [41] particularly metaphysics and practical (or political) philosophy (which bears more resemblance to Plato's Republic than Aristotle's Politics).* [42]

102.3.2 Al Farabi, Aristotle, Maimonides


In the handing down of Aristotles thought to the Christian west in the middle ages, Farabi played an essential
part as appears in the translation of Farabis Commentary and Short Treatise on Aristotles de Interpretatione
that F.W. Zimmermann published in 1981. Farabi had a
great inuence on Maimonides, the most important Jewish thinker of the middle ages. Maimonides wrote in
Arabic a Treatise on logic, the celebrated Maqala sina
at al-mantiq. In a wonderfully concise way, the work
treats of the essentials of Aristotelian logic in the light of
comments made by the Persian philosophers: Avicenna
and above all Al Farabi. To use Maimonideswords, if
Aristotle is the First Master the second one is undoubtedly Farabi. Rmi Brague in his book devoted to the

318

CHAPTER 102. AL-FARABI

Treatise stresses the fact that Farabi is the only thinker from it. Like its predecessor, the second intellect also
mentioned therein.
thinks about itself, and thereby brings its celestial sphere
Al-Farabi as well as Ibn Sina and Averroes have been rec- (in this case, the sphere of xed stars) into being, but in
ognized as Peripatetics (al-Mashshaiyun) or rationalists addition to this it must also contemplate upon the First
(Estedlaliun) among Muslims.* [43]* [44]* [45] However, Cause, and this causes theemanationof the next intelhe tried to gather the ideas of Plato and Aristotle in his lect. The cascade of emanation continues until it reaches
bookThe gathering of the ideas of the two philosophers the tenth intellect, beneath which is the material world.
And as each intellect must contemplate both itself and
.* [46]
an increasing number of predecessors, each succeeding
According to Adamson, his work was singularly directed level of existence becomes more and more complex. It
towards the goal of simultaneously reviving and reinvent- should be noted that this process is based upon necessity
ing the Alexandrian philosophical tradition, to which his as opposed to will. In other words, God does not have a
Christian teacher, Yuhanna bin Haylan belonged. His choice whether or not to create the universe, but by virtue
success should be measured by the honoric title ofthe of His own existence, He causes it to be. This view also
second masterof philosophy (Aristotle being the rst), suggests that the universe is eternal, and both of these
by which he was known . Interestingly, Adamson also points were criticized by al-Ghazzali in his attack on the
says that he does not make any reference to the ideas of philosophers* [51]* [52]
either al-Kindi or his contemporary, Abu Bakr al-Razi,
which clearly indicates that he did not consider their ap- In his discussion of the First Cause (or God), al-Farabi relies heavily on negative theology. He says that it cannot be
proach to Philosophy as a correct or viable one.* [47]
known by intellectual means, such as dialectical division
or denition, because the terms used in these processes
to dene a thing constitute its substance. Therefore if
102.4 Thought
one was to dene the First Cause, each of the terms used
would actually constitute a part of its substance and therefore behave as a cause for its existence, which is impossi102.4.1 Metaphysics and cosmology
ble as the First Cause is uncaused; it exists without being
In contrast to al-Kindi, who considered the subject of caused. Equally, he says it cannot be known according to
metaphysics to be God, al-Farabi believed that it was con- genus and dierentia, as its substance and existence are
cerned primarily with being qua being (that is, being in dierent from all others, and therefore it has no category
and of itself), and this is related to God only to the extent to which it belongs. If this were the case, then it would not
that God is a principle of absolute being. Al-Kindi's view be the First Cause, because something would be prior in
was, however, a common misconception regarding Greek existence to it, which is also impossible. This would sugphilosophy amongst Muslim intellectuals at the time, and gest that the more philosophically simple a thing is, the
it was for this reason that Avicenna remarked that he did more perfect it is. And based on this observation, Adamnot understand Aristotle's Metaphysics properly until he son says it is possible to see the entire hierarchy of alFarabi's cosmology according to classication into genus
had read a prolegomenon written by al-Farabi.* [48]
and species. Each succeeding level in this structure has as
Al-Farabi's cosmology is essentially based upon three pil- its principal qualities multiplicity and deciency, and it is
lars: Aristotelian metaphysics of causation, highly devel- this ever-increasing complexity that typies the material
oped Plotinian emanational cosmology and the Ptolemaic world.* [53]
astronomy.* [49] In his model, the universe is viewed as
a number of concentric circles; the outermost sphere
or rst heaven, the sphere of xed stars, Saturn, 102.4.2 Epistemology and eschatology
Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury and nally, the
Moon. At the centre of these concentric circles is the Human beings are unique in al-Farabi's vision of the
sub-lunar realm which contains the material world.* [50] universe because they stand between two worlds: the
Each of these circles represent the domain of the sec- higher, immaterial world of the celestial intellects and
ondary intelligences (symbolized by the celestial bodies universal intelligibles, and the lower, material world
themselves), which act as causal intermediaries between of generation and decay; they inhabit a physical body, and
the First Cause (in this case, God) and the material world. so belong to thelowerworld, but they also have a ratioFurthermore these are said to have emanated from God, nal capacity, which connects them to thehigherrealm.
who is both their formal and ecient cause.
Each level of existence in al-Farabi's cosmology is charThe process of emanation begins (metaphysically, not acterized by its movement towards perfection, which is
temporally) with the First Cause, whose principal activ- to become like the First Cause; a perfect intellect. Huity is self-contemplation. And it is this intellectual activ- man perfection (or happiness), then,* is equated with
ity that underlies its role in the creation of the universe. constant intellection and contemplation. [54]
The First Cause, by thinking of itself, overowsand Al-Farabi divides intellect into four categories: potential,
the incorporeal entity of the second intellectemanates actual, acquired and the Agent. The rst three are the

102.4. THOUGHT
dierent states of the human intellect and the fourth is
the Tenth Intellect (the moon) in his emanational cosmology. The potential intellect represents the capacity
to think, which is shared by all human beings, and the
actual intellect is an intellect engaged in the act of thinking. By thinking, al-Farabi means abstracting universal
intelligibles from the sensory forms of objects which have
been apprehended and retained in the individual's imagination.* [55]
This motion from potentiality to actuality requires the
Agent Intellect to act upon the retained sensory forms;
just as the Sun illuminates the physical world to allow
us to see, the Agent Intellect illuminates the world of intelligibles to allow us to think.* [56] This illumination removes all accident (such as time, place, quality) and physicality from them, converting them into primary intelligibles, which are logical principles such as the whole
is greater than the part. The human intellect, by its
act of intellection, passes from potentiality to actuality,
and as it gradually comprehends these intelligibles, it is
identied with them (as according to Aristotle, by knowing something, the intellect becomes like it).* [57] Because the Agent Intellect knows all of the intelligibles, this
means that when the human intellect knows all of them, it
becomes associated with the Agent Intellect's perfection
and is known as the acquired Intellect.* [58]
While this process seems mechanical, leaving little room
for human choice or volition, Reisman says that al-Farabi
is committed to human voluntarism.* [57] This takes
place when man, based on the knowledge he has acquired,
decides whether to direct himself towards virtuous or unvirtuous activities, and thereby decides whether or not to
seek true happiness. And it is by choosing what is ethical and contemplating about what constitutes the nature
of ethics, that the actual intellect can becomelikethe
active intellect, thereby attaining perfection. It is only by
this process that a human soul may survive death, and live
on in the afterlife.* [56]* [59]
According to al-Farabi, the afterlife is not the personal
experience commonly conceived of by religious traditions such as Islam and Christianity. Any individual or
distinguishing features of the soul are annihilated after
the death of the body; only the rational faculty survives
(and then, only if it has attained perfection), which becomes one with all other rational souls within the agent intellect and enters a realm of pure intelligence.* [58] Henry
Corbin compares this eschatology with that of the Ismaili Neo-Platonists, for whom this process initiated the
next grand cycle of the universe.* [60] However, Deborah Black mentions we have cause to be skeptical as to
whether this was the mature and developed view of alFarabi, as later thinkers such as Ibn Tufayl, Averroes and
Ibn Bajjah would assert that he repudiated this view in
his commentary on the Nicomachean Ethics, which has
been lost to modern experts.* [58]

319

102.4.3 Psychology, the soul and prophetic


knowledge
In his treatment of the human soul, al-Farabi draws on a
basic Aristotelian outline, which is informed by the commentaries of later Greek thinkers. He says it is composed
of four faculties: The appetitive (the desire for, or aversion to an object of sense), the sensitive (the perception
by the senses of corporeal substances), the imaginative
(the faculty which retains images of sensible objects after they have been perceived, and then separates and combines them for a number of ends), and the rational, which
is the faculty of intellection.* [61] It is the last of these
which is unique to human beings and distinguishes them
from plants and animals. It is also the only part of the soul
to survive the death of the body. Noticeably absent from
these scheme are internal senses, such as common sense,
which would be discussed by later philosophers such as
Avicenna and Averroes.* [62]* [63]
Special attention must be given to al-Farabi's treatment
of the soul's imaginative faculty, which is essential to his
interpretation of prophethood and prophetic knowledge.
In addition to its ability to retain and manipulate sensible images of objects, he gives the imagination the function of imitation. By this he means the capacity to represent an object with an image other than its own. In
other words, to imitate xis to imagine xby associating it with sensible qualities that do not describe its
own appearance. This extends the representative ability
of the imagination beyond sensible forms and to include
temperaments, emotions, desires and even immaterial intelligibles or abstract universals, as happens when, for example, one associatesevilwithdarkness.* [64]* [65]
The prophet, in addition to his own intellectual capacity,
has a very strong imaginative faculty, which allows him to
receive an overow of intelligibles from the agent intellect
(the tenth intellect in the emanational cosmology). These
intelligibles are then associated with symbols and images, which allow him to communicate abstract truths in
a way that can be understood by ordinary people. Therefore what makes prophetic knowledge unique is not its
content, which is also accessible to philosophers through
demonstration and intellection, but rather the form that it
is given by the prophet's imagination.* [66]* [67]

102.4.4 Practical philosophy (ethics and


politics)
The practical application of philosophy is a major concern expressed by al-Farabi in many of his works, and
while the majority of his philosophical output has been
inuenced by Aristotelian thought, his practical philosophy is unmistakably based on that of Plato.* [68] In a
similar manner to Plato's Republic, al-Farabi emphasizes
that philosophy is both a theoretical and practical discipline; labeling those philosophers who do not apply their
erudition to practical pursuits as futile philosophers

320
. The ideal society, he says, is one directed towards the
realization of true happiness(which can be taken to
mean philosophical enlightenment) and as such, the ideal
philosopher must hone all the necessary arts of rhetoric
and poetics to communicate abstract truths to the ordinary people, as well as having achieved enlightenment
himself.* [69] Al-Farabi compares the philosopher's role
in relation to society with a physician in relation to the
body; the body's health is aected by the balance of
its humours" just as the city is determined by the moral
habits of its people. The philosopher's duty, he says, is
to establish a virtuoussociety by healing the souls of
the people, establishing justice and guiding them towards
true happiness.* [70]
Of course, al-Farabi realizes that such a society is rare and
requires a very specic set of historical circumstances to
be realized, which means very few societies could ever attain this goal. He divides thosevicioussocieties, which
have fallen short of the ideal virtuoussociety, into
three categories: ignorant, wicked and errant. Ignorant
societies have, for whatever reason, failed to comprehend
the purpose of human existence, and have supplanted the
pursuit of happiness for another (inferior) goal, whether
this be wealth, sensual gratication or power. It is interesting to note that democratic societies also fall into this
category, as they too lack any guiding principle. Both
wicked and errant societies have understood the true human end, but they have failed to follow it. The former
because they have willfully abandoned it, and the latter
because their leaders have deceived and misguided them.
Al-Farabi also makes mention ofweedsin the virtuous
society; those people who try to undermine its progress
towards the true human end.* [71] The best known Arabic source for al-Farabi's political philosophy is his work
titled, al-Madina al-fadila (The Virtuous City).

CHAPTER 102. AL-FARABI


that humans are not t for such a society.* [75] Some
other authors like Mykhaylo Yakubovych attest that for
al-Farabi religion (milla) and philosophy (falsafa) constituted the same praxeological value (i.e. basis for amal
al-fadhil "virtuous deed), while its epistemological
level (ilm"knowledge) was dierent.* [76]

102.5 See also


List of Muslim scientists
List of modern-day Muslim scholars of Islam
List of Iranian scholars
Islamic mythology

102.6 Notes
[1] Gutas, Dimitri. Farabi. Encyclopdia Iranica. Retrieved April 4, 2010.
[2] Corbin, Henry; Hossein Nasr; Utman Yahya (2001). History of Islamic Philosophy. Kegan Paul. ISBN 978-07103-0416-2.
[3] Dhanani, Alnoor (2007). Frb: Ab Nar Muammad ibn Muammad ibn Tarkhn alFrb". In Thomas
Hockey et al. The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. New York: Springer. pp. 3567. ISBN 9780-387-31022-0. (PDF version)
[4] Brague, Rmi; Brague, Remi (1998).
Athens,
Jerusalem, Mecca: Leo Strauss'sMuslimUnderstanding of Greek Philosophy. Poetics Today 19 (2): 235
259. doi:10.2307/1773441. ISSN 0333-5372. JSTOR
1773441.

Whether or not al-Farabi actually intended to outline a


political programme in his writings remains a matter of
dispute amongst academics. Henry Corbin, who consid- [5] Alternative names and translations from Arabic include:
Alfarabi, Farabi, Avenassar, and Abunaser.
ers al-Farabi to be a crypto-Shi'ite, says that his ideas
should be understood as aprophetic philosophyinstead [6] Reisman, D.(ed.)Before and After Avicenna. Princeton,
of being interpreted politically.* [72] On the other hand,
NJ. 2001
Charles Butterworth contends that nowhere in his work
does al-Farabi speak of a prophet-legislator or revelation [7] DANIEL BALLAND,FRYBin Encyclopedia Iranica . excerpt: Fryb (also Pryb), common Persian
(even the word philosophy is scarcely mentioned), and the
toponym meaning lands irrigated by diversion of river
main discussion that takes place concerns the positions
water
of kingand statesmen.* [73] Occupying a middle position is David Reisman, who like Corbin believes [8] Dehkhoda Dictionary under Parab excerpt: "
that al-Farabi did not want to expound a political doctrine
) ) .
. . ( " translation:
(although he does not go so far to attribute it to Islamic
Lands irrigated by diversion of river water, springs and
Gnosticism either). He argues that al-Farabi was using
qanats.)
dierent types of society as examples, in the context of
an ethical discussion, to show what eect correct or in[9] C. E. Bosworth, OTRRin Encyclopedia Iranica
correct thinking could have.* [74] Lastly, Joshua Parens
. Iranicaonline.org. 2002-07-20. Retrieved 2012-09-19.
argues that al-Farabi was slyly asserting that a pan-Islamic
society could not be made, by using reason to show how [10] al-Frb. (2010). In Encyclopdia Britannica. Retrieved February 20, 2010, from Encyclopdia Brimany conditions (such as moral and deliberative virtue)
tannica Online: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/
would have to be met, thus leading the reader to conclude
topic/201680/al-Farabi

102.6. NOTES

321

[11] Lessons with Texts by Alfarabi. D. Gutas, AlFarabiin Barthaolomew's World accessed Feb 18, 2010
. Bartholomew.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2012-09-19.
[12] David C. Reisman,Al-Farabi and the philosophical curriculum, in Peter Adamson and Richard C. Taylor, The
Cambridge companion to Arabic philosophy, Cambridge
University Press, 2005, p. 53.
[13] F. Abiola Irele/Biodun Jeyifo, Farabi, in The Oxford
Encyclopedia of African Thought, Vol. 1, p. 379.
[14] Ebn Abi Osaybea, Oyun al-anba tabaqat at-atebba, ed.
A. Mller, Cairo, 1299/1882.

[15] Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Mehdi Amin Razavi. An Anthology of Philosophy in Persia, Vol. 1: From Zoroaster
to Umar Khayyam, I.B. Tauris in association with The
Institute of Ismaili Studies, 2007. Pg 134: Ibn Nadim
in his al-Fihrist, which is the rst work to mention Farabi
considers him to be of Persian origin, as does Muhammad
Shahrazuri in his Tarikh al-hukama and Ibn Abi Usaybi'ah
in his Tabaqat al-atibba. In contrast, Ibn Khallikan in his
'"Wafayat al-'ayan considers him to be of Turkish descent.
In any case, he was born in Farab in Khurasan of that day
around 257/870 in a climate of Persianate culture
[16] Arabic: in J. Mashkur, Farab and
Farabi,Tehran,1972. See also Dehkhoda Dictionary under the entry Farabi for the same exact Arabic quote.
[17] Majid Fakhry, Al-Farabi, Founder of Islamic Neoplatonism: His Life, Works and Inuence, Great Islamic
Thinkers (Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2002), 157.
ISBN 9781851683024.
[18]

George Fadlo Hourani, Essays on Islamic Philosophy and Science, Suny press, 1975.
Kiki Kennedy-Day, Books of Denition in Islamic
Philosophy: The Limits of Words, Routledge, 2002,
page 32.

[19] Joshua Parens (2006). An Islamic philosophy of virtuous


religions : introducing Alfarabi. Albany, NY: State Univ.
of New York Press. pp. 3. ISBN 0-7914-6689-2 excerpt:
He was a native speaker of Turkic [sic] dialect, Soghdian.[Note: Sogdian was an East Iranian language and
not a Turkic dialect]
[20] Joep Lameer, Al-Frb and Aristotelian syllogistics:
Greek theory and Islamic practice, E.J. Brill, 1994.
ISBN 90-04-09884-4 pg 22: "..Islamic world of that time,
an area whose inhabitants must have spoken Soghdian or
maybe a Turkish dialect...
[21] . . 14 161
)54 ):15-20 . -J. Mashkur, Farabi and Farabi
in volume 14, No. 161, pp 15-12 ,Tehran,1972. English translations of the arguments used by J. Mashkur can
be found in: G. Lohraspi, Some remarks on Farabi's
background"; a scholarly approach citing C.E. Bosworth,
B. Lewis, R. Frye, D. Gutas, J. Mashkur and partial
translation of J.Mashkur's arguments: PDF .

.


.
[22]

P.J. King, One Hundred Philosophers: the life


and work of the world's greatest thinkers, chapter al-Frbi, Zebra, 2006. pp 50: Of Persian
stock, al-Farabi (Alfarabius, AbuNaser) was born
in Turkestan
Henry Thomas, Understanding the Great Philosophers, Doubleday,Published 1962
T. J. De Boer,The History of Philosophy in Islam
, Forgotten Books, 2008. Excerpt page 98: His
father is said to have been a Persian General. ISBN
1-60506-697-4
Sterling M. McMurrin, Religion, Reason, and
Truth: Historical Essays in the Philosophy of Religion, University of Utah Press, 1982, ISBN 087480-203-2. page 40.
edited by Robert C. Solomon and Kathleen M. Higgins. (2003). From Africa to Zen : an invitation to
world philosophy. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littleeld Publishers. pp. 163. ISBN 0-7425-1350-5
al-Farabi (870-950), a Persian,
Thomas F. Glick. (1995). From Muslim fortress to
Christian castle : social and cultural change in medieval Spain. Manchester: Manchester University
Press. pp. 170. ISBN 0-7190-3349-7It was thus
that al-Farabi (c. 870-950), a Persian philosopher
The World's Greatest Seers and Philosophers..
Gardners Books. 2005. pp. 41. ISBN 81-2230824-4 al-Farabi (also known as Abu al-Nasr alFarabi) was born of Turkish parents in the small village of Wasij near Farab, Turkistan (now in Uzbekistan) in 870 AD. His parents were of Persian descent, but their ancestors had migrated to Turkistan.
Bryan Bunch with Alexander Hellemans. (2004).
The history of science and technology : a browser's
guide to the great discoveries, inventions, and the
people who made them, from the dawn of time to
today. Boston: Houghton Miin. pp. 108. ISBN
0-618-22123-9 Persian scholar al-Farabi
Olivier Roy,The new Central Asia: the creation of
nations ", I.B.Tauris, 2000. 1860642799. pg 167:
Kazakhistan also annexes for the purpose of bank
notes Al Farabi (870-950), the Muslim philosopher
who was born in the south of present-day Kazakhistan but who persumably spoke Persian, particularly
because in that era there were no Kazakhs in the
region
Majid Khadduri; [foreword by R. K. Ramazani].
The Islamic conception of justice. Baltimore :
Johns Hopkins University Press, c1984.. pp. 84.
ISBN 0-8018-6974-9 Nasr al-Farabi was born in
Farab (a small town in Transoxiana) in 259/870 to
a family of mixed parentage the father, who married a Turkish woman, is said to have been of Persian and Turkish descent but both professed the
Shi'l heterodox faith. He spoke Persian and Turkish

322

CHAPTER 102. AL-FARABI

uently and learned the Arabic language before he


went to Baghdad.
ann Fkhr, Trkh al-kr al-falsaf inda alArab, al-Duqq, al-Jzah : al-Sharikah al-Miryah
al-lamyah lil-Nashr, Lnjmn, 2002.
Ammar al-Talbi, al-Farabi, UNESCO: International Bureau of Education, vol. XXIII, no. 1/2,
Paris, 1993, p. 353-372
David Deming,"Science and Technology in World
History: The Ancient World and Classical Civilization, McFarland, 2010. pg 94: Al-Farabi,
known in Medieval Europe as Abunaser, was a Persian philosopher who sought to harmonize..
Philosophers: Abu Al-Nasr Al-Farabi, Trinity College, 1995-2000
[23] B.G. Gafurov, Central Asia:Pre-Historic to Pre-Modern
Times, (Shipra Publications, 2005), 124; "Abu Nasr
Farabi hailed from around ancient Farabi which was situated on the bank of Syr Daria and was the son of a Turk
military commander".
[24] Will Durant, The Age of Faith, (Simon and Schuster,
1950), 253.
[25] Nicholas Rescher, Al-Farabi's Short Commentary on
Aristotle's Prior Analytics, University of Pittsburgh Pre,
1963, p.11, Online Edition.
[26] Antony Black, The History of Islamic Political Thought:
From the Prophet to the Present, Routledge, p. 61, Online
Edition
[27] James Hastings, Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics,
Kessinger Publishing, Vol. 10, p.757, Online Edition
[28]

edited by Ted Honderich. (1995). The Oxford


companion to philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 269. ISBN 0-19-866132-0
Of Turki origin, al-Farabi studied under Christian
thinkers

Fernand Braudel ; translated by Richard Mayne.


(1995). A history of civilizations. New York, N.Y.:
Penguin. ISBN 0-14-012489-6 Al-Farabi, born
in 870, was of Turkish origin. He lived in Aleppo
and died in 950 in Damascus
Jaroslav Krej ; assisted by Anna Krejov.
(1990). Before the European challenge : the great
civilizations of Asia and the Middle East. Albany:
State University of New York Press. pp. 140. ISBN
0-7914-0168-5 the Transoxanian Turk al-Farabi
(d. circa 950)"
Hamid Naseem. (2001). Muslim philosophy science and mysticism. New Delhi: Sarup & Sons.
pp. 78. ISBN 81-7625-230-1 Al-Farabi, the rst
Turkish philosopher
Cliord Sawhney. The World's Greatest Seers and
Philosophers, 2005, p. 41
Zainal Abidin Ahmad. Negara utama (Madinatul
fadilah) Teori kenegaraan dari sardjana Islam al
Farabi. 1964, p. 19
Haroon Khan Sherwani. Studies in Muslim Political Thought and Administration. 1945, p. 63
Ian Richard Netton. Al-Farabi and His School,
1999, p. 5
[29] Cliord Edmund Bosworth, Barbarian Incursions: The
Coming of the Turks into the Islamic World.In Islamic
Civilization, ed. by D.S. Richards. Oxford, 1973.
[30] Houtsma, M. Th (1993).E. J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia
of Islam, 1913-1936. ISBN 9789004097902.
[31] History of logic: Arabic logic, Encyclopdia Britannica.
[32] Feldman, Seymour (26 November 1964). Rescher on
Arabic Logic. The Journal of Philosophy (Journal of
Philosophy, Inc.) 61 (22): 726. ISSN 0022-362X.
JSTOR 2023632.
Long, A. A.; D. N. Sedley (1987). The Hellenistic Philosophers. Vol 1: Translations of the principal sources with
philosophical commentary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-27556-3.

edited and translated by Norman Calder, Jawid Mojaddedi and Andrew Rippin. (2003). Classical Islam : a sourcebook of religious literature. New
[33] Ludescher, Tanyss (February 1996). The Islamic roots
York: Routledge. pp. 170. ISBN 0-415-24032-8
of the poetic syllogism. College Literature. Archived
He was of Turkish origin, was born in Turkestan
from the original on 2008-02-17. Retrieved 2008-02-29.
Ian Richard Netton. (1999). Al-Frb and his
school. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon. ISBN 0-7007- [34] Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr and Professor Mehdi Am1064-7He appears to have been born into a miliinrazavi. An Anthology of Philosophy in Persia, Vol.
1: From Zoroaster to Umar Khayyam, I.B. Tauris
tary family of Turkish origin in the village of Wasil,
in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies, 2007.
Farab, in Turkestan
Pg 135: Morever, he was a master of music theory;
edited by Henrietta Moore. (1996). The future
his Kitab al-Musiqa al-Kabir (The Great book on Music),
of anthropological knowledge. London: Routknown in the West as a book on Arabic music, is in reality
ledge. ISBN 0-415-10786-5al-Farabi (873-950),
a study of the theory of Persian music of his day as well
a scholar of Turkish origin.
as presenting certain great philosophical principle about
Dian Collinson and Robert Wilkinson. (1994).
music, its cosmic qualities, and its inuence on the soul
Thirty-Five Oriental Philosophers.. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-203-02935-6Al-Farabi is thought [35] Amber Haque (2004),Psychology from Islamic Perspecto be of Turkish origin. His family name suggests
tive: Contributions of Early Muslim Scholars and Chalthat he came from the vicinity of Farab in Transoxlenges to Contemporary Muslim Psychologists, Journal
iana.
of Religion and Health 43 (4): 357-377 [363].

102.7. REFERENCES

[36] Netton, Ian Richard (2008). "Breaking with Athens:


Alfarabi as Founder, Applications of Political Theory By Christopher A. Colmo.
Journal of Islamic Studies (Oxford University Press) 19 (3): 3978.
doi:10.1093/jis/etn047.
[37] Avicenna/Ibn Sina (CA. 980-1137)". The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Archived from the original on
23 June 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-13.
[38] Arabic and Islamic Natural Philosophy and Natural Science, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
[39] Zahoor, Akram (2000). Muslim History: 570-1950 C.E.
Gaithersburg, MD: AZP (ZMD Corporation). ISBN 9780-9702389-0-0.
[40] Black, D. Al-Farabi in Leaman, O & Nasr, H (2001). History of Islamic Philosophy. London: Routledge. p178.
[41] Motahhari, Mortaza, Becoming familiar with Islamic
knowledge, V1, p:162
[42] Reisman, D. Al-Farabi and the Philosophical Curriculum
In Adamson, P & Taylor, R. (2005). The Cambridge
Companion to Arabic Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press. p52
[43] Motahhari, Morteza, Becoming familiar with Islamic
knowledge, V1, p.166

( ) .

323

[59] Corbin, p158


[60] Corbin, p165
[61] Black, p184
[62] Reisman, p60-61
[63] Black (2), D. Psychology: Soul and Intellect in Adamson, P
and Taylor, R. (2005). The Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
p313
[64] Black (b), p313
[65] Black, p185
[66] Corbin, p164
[67] Black, p187
[68] Corbin, p162
[69] Black, p190
[70] Butterworth, p278
[71] Black, p191
[72] Corbin, p162-163
[73] Butterworth, C. Ethical and Political Philosophy in Adamson, P and Taylor, R. (2005). The Cambridge Companion
to Arabic Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press. p276

[44] Dictionary of Islamic Philosophical Terms. Muslimphilosophy.com. Retrieved 2012-09-19.

[74] Reisman, p68

[45] Aristotelianism in Islamic philosophy. Muslimphilosophy.com. Retrieved 2012-09-19.

[75] Joshua Parens, An Islamic Philosophy of Virtuous Religions: Introducing Alfarabi (New York: State University
of New York Press, 2006), 2.

[46] Motahhari, Mortaza, Becoming familiar with Islamic


knowledge, V1, p.167
( )


.
[47] Reisman, p55
[48] Black, p188
[49] Reisman, p56
[50] Black, p189
[51] Reisman, p57
[52] Corbin, H. (1993). History of Islamic Philosophy. London: Keagan Paul International. p161
[53] Reisman, p58-59
[54] Reisman, p61
[55] page 461
[56] Reisman, p64
[57] Reisman, p63
[58] Black, p186

[76] Mykhaylo Yakubovych. Al-Farabi's Book of Religion. Ukrainian translation, introduction and comments
/ Ukrainian Religious Studies Bulletin, 2008, Vol. 47, P.
237.

102.7 References
Al-Farabi, Le Livre du rgime politique, introduction, traduction et commentaire de Philippe Vallat,Belles Lettres, 2012
Corbin, Henry; Hossein Nasr; Utman Yahya (1993).
History of Islamic Philosophy. Keagan Paul International. ISBN 978-0-7103-0416-2.
Habib Hassan Touma (1996). The Music of the
Arabs, trans. Laurie Schwartz. Portland, Oregon:
Amadeus Press. ISBN 978-0-931340-88-8
Majid Fakhry, Al-Farabi, Founder of Islamic Neoplatonism: His Life, Works, and Inuence, Oxford:
Oneworld Publications, (2002), ISBN 1-85168302-X. Trad. esp.: Alfarabi y la fundacin de la
losofa poltica islmica, trad R. Ramn Guerrero, Barcelona, Herder, 2003.

324

CHAPTER 102. AL-FARABI

Christoph Marcinkowski,A Biographical Note on


Ibn Bajjah (Avempace) and an English Translation
of his Annotations to Al-Farabi's Isagoge. Iqbal
Review (Lahore, Pakistan), vol. 43, no 2 (April
2002), pp 8399.

The Philosophy of Alfarabi and Its Inuence on Medieval Thought (1947)

Deborah Black. Al-Farabi in Leaman, O & Nasr,


H (2001). History of Islamic Philosophy. London:
Routledge.

Article discussing Soghdian origin for Farabi PDF


version

David Reisman. Al-Farabi and the Philosophical


Curriculum In Adamson, P & Taylor, R. (2005).
The Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

ALFARABI-Unesco

Deborah Black. Psychology: Soul and Intellect in


Adamson, P and Taylor, R. (2005). The Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Charles Butterworth. Ethical and Political Philosophy in Adamson, P and Taylor, R. (2005).
The Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rafael Ramn Guerrero. Apuntes biogrcos de
al-Frb segn sus vidas rabes, in Anaquel de
Estudios rabes, 14 (2003) 231-238.
Rmi Brague Trait de logique, trad. de Rmi
Brague, Paris, Descle De Brouwer, 1996
F.W Zimmermann, Al-Farabi 's Commentary and
Short Treatise on Aristotle 's De Interpretatione,
Oxford, 1981.
Monteil Jean-Franois,La transmission d
Aristote
par les Arabes la chrtient occidentale: une trouvaille relative au De Interpretatione,Revista Espaola de Filosoa Medieval 11: 181-195 (2004).

102.8 External links


Dhanani, Alnoor (2007). Frb: Ab Nar
Muammad ibn Muammad ibn Tarkhn
In Thomas Hockey et al.
The
alFrb".
Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. New
York: Springer. pp. 3567. ISBN 978-0-38731022-0. (PDF version)
Mahdi, Muhsin (2008) [1970-80]. "Al-Frb, Ab
Nar Muammad Ibn Muammad Ibn arkhn Ibn
Awzalagh". Complete Dictionary of Scientic Biography. Encyclopedia.com.
al-Farabi at Britannica
Abu Nasr al-Farabi at muslimphilosophy.com
al-Frbibrief introduction by Peter J. King

al-madina al-fadila (The Virtuous City). German


introduction with Arabic text.

ALFARABI-Trinity College

Chapter 103

Hans-Georg Gadamer
Hans-Georg Gadamer (German: [adam]; February
11, 1900 March 13, 2002) was a German philosopher
of the continental tradition, best known for his 1960
magnum opus Truth and Method (Wahrheit und Methode)
on hermeneutics.

103.1 Life
Gadamer was born in Marburg, Germany,* [1] the son
of Johannes Gadamer (18671928)* [2] a pharmaceutical chemistry professor who later also served as the rector
of the university there. He resisted his father's urging to
take up the natural sciences and became more and more
interested in the humanities. His mother, Emma Karoline Johanna Geiese (18691904) died of diabetes while
Hans-Georg was four years old, and he later noted that
this may have had an eect on his decision to not pursue scientic studies. Jean Grondin describes Gadamer as
nding in his mothera poetic and almost religious counterpart to the iron st of his father.* [3] Gadamer did not
serve during World War I for reasons of ill health* [4] and
similarly was exempted from serving during World War
II due to polio.* [5]
He grew up and studied philosophy in Breslau* [6] under
Richard Hnigswald, but soon moved back to Marburg
to study with the Neo-Kantian philosophers Paul Natorp
and Nicolai Hartmann. He defended his dissertation
"The Essence of Pleasure according to Plato's Dialogues
(Das Wesen der Lust nach den Platonischen Dialogen)
in 1922.* [7]
Shortly thereafter, Gadamer moved to Freiburg University and began studying with Martin Heidegger, who
was then a promising young scholar who had not yet received a professorship. He and Heidegger became close,
and when Heidegger received a position at Marburg,
Gadamer followed him there, where he became one of
a group of students such as Leo Strauss, Karl Lwith,
and Hannah Arendt. It was Heidegger's inuence that
gave Gadamer's thought its distinctive cast and led him
away from the earlier neo-Kantian inuences of Natorp
and Hartmann. Gadamer studied Aristotle both under
Edmund Husserl and under Heidegger.* [8]

Gadamer habilitated in 1929 and spent most of the early


1930s lecturing in Marburg. Unlike Heidegger, who
joined the Nazi Party in May 1933 and continued as a
member until the party was dissolved following World
War II, Gadamer was silent on Nazism, and he was not
politically active during the Third Reich. Gadamer did
not join the Nazis, and he did not serve in the army
because of the polio he had contracted in 1922. He
joined the National Socialist Teachers League in August
1933.* [9] In April 1937 he became a temporary professor
at Marburg,* [10] then in 1938 he received a professorship at Leipzig.* [11] From an SS-point of view Gadamer
was classied as neither supportive nor disapproving in
the "SD-Dossiers ber Philosophie-Professoren(i.e. SDles concerning philosophy professors) that were set up
by the SS-Security-Service (SD).* [12] In 1946, he was
found by the American occupation forces to be untainted
by Nazism and named rector of the university.
The level of Gadamer's involvement with the Nazis
has been disputed in the works of Richard Wolin and
Teresa Orzoco.* [13] Orozco alleges, with reference to
Gadamer's published works, that Gadamer had supported
the Nazis more than scholars had supposed. Gadamer
scholars have rejected these assertions: Jean Grondin has
said that Orozco is engaged in awitch-hunt* [14] while
Donatella Di Cesare said that the archival material on
which Orozco bases her argument is actually quite negligible.* [15] Cesare and Grondin have argued that there
is no trace of antisemitism in Gadamer's work, and that
Gadamer maintained friendships with Jews and provided
shelter for nearly two years for the philosopher Jacob
Klein in 1933 and 1934.* [16] Gadamer also reduced his
contact with Heidegger during the Nazi era.* [17]
Communist East Germany was no more to Gadamer's
liking than the Third Reich, and he left for West Germany, accepting rst a position in Frankfurt am Main
and then the succession of Karl Jaspers in Heidelberg in
1949. He remained in this position, as emeritus, until his
death in 2002 at the age of 102.* [18]* [19]* [20] He was
also an Editorial Advisor of the journal Dionysius.* [21]
It was during this time that he completed his magnum
opus, Truth and Method (1960), and engaged in his famous debate with Jrgen Habermas over the possibility
of transcending history and culture in order to nd a truly

325

326
objective position from which to critique society. The debate was inconclusive, but marked the beginning of warm
relations between the two men. It was Gadamer who secured Habermas's rst professorship in Heidelberg.

CHAPTER 103. HANS-GEORG GADAMER


Gadamer argued thattruthandmethodwere at odds
with one another. He was critical of two approaches to
the human sciences (Geisteswissenschaften). On the one
hand, he was critical of modern approaches to humanities that modelled themselves on the natural sciences. On
the other hand, he took issue with the traditional German
approach to the humanities, represented for instance by
Friedrich Schleiermacher and Wilhelm Dilthey, who believed that correctly interpreting a text meant recovering
the original intention of the author who wrote it. Instead,
Gadamer argued that a text's meaning is not reducible to
the author's intentions, but is dependent on the context of
interpretation.

In 1968, Gadamer invited Tomonobu Imamichi for lectures at Heidelberg, but their relationship became very
cool after Imamichi alleged that Heidegger had taken
his concept of Dasein out of Okakura Kakuzo's concept of das in-der-Welt-sein (to be in the being of the
world) expressed in The Book of Tea, which Imamichi's
teacher had oered to Heidegger in 1919, after having
followed lessons with him the year before.* [22] Imamichi
and Gadamer renewed contact four years later during an
In contrast to both these positions, Gadamer argued
international congress.* [22]
In 1981, Gadamer attempted to engage with Jacques Der- that people have a historically-eectedconsciousrida at a conference in Paris but it proved less enlighten- ness (wirkungsgeschichtliches Bewutsein) and that they
ing because the two thinkers had little in common. A last are embedded in the particular history and culture that
meeting between Gadamer and Derrida was held at the shaped them. These dene an interpreter's prejudices
Stift of Heidelberg in July 2001, coordinated by Derrida's that aect how he or she will make interpretations. For
students, Joseph Cohen and Raphael Zagury-Orly. This Gadamer, these prejudices are not something that hinmeeting marked, in many ways, a turn in their philosoph- ders our ability to make interpretations, but a prerequiical encounter. After Gadamer's death, Derrida called site to interpretation. He postulates that biases cannot
their failure to nd common ground one of the worst de- and should not be eliminated, but embraced in order to
understanding of a situation or arbacles of his life and expressed, in the main obituary for gain a more thorough
*
*
gument's
context.
[27]
[28] Gadamer criticised EnlightGadamer, his great personal and philosophical respect.
enment
thinkers
for
harboring
a prejudice against prejRichard J. Bernstein said that "[a] genuine dialogue be*
udices.
[29]
tween Gadamer and Derrida has never taken place. This
is a shame because there are crucial and consequential is- For Gadamer, interpreting a text involves a fusion of
sues that arise between hermeneutics and deconstruction horizons (Horizontverschmelzung) where the scholar nds
.* [23]
the ways that the text's history articulates with their own
Gadamer received honorary doctorates from the background. In doing so, the reader must acknowlUniversity of Bamberg, the University of Breslau, edge that mere exposure to alternate perspectives, reor not they are agreed with, alters
Boston College,* [24] Charles University in Prague, gardless of whether
*
one's
worldview.
[30]
Truth and Method is not meant to
Hamilton College, the University of Leipzig, the
be
a
programmatic
statement
about a new 'hermeneutic'
University of Marburg (1999) the University of Ottawa,
method
of
interpreting
texts.
Gadamer intended Truth
Saint Petersburg State University (2001), the University
and
Method
to
be
a
description
of what we always do
*
of Tbingen and University of Washington. [25]
when we interpret things (even if we do not know it):
On February 11, 2000, the University of Heidelberg cel- My real concern was and is philosophic: not what we
ebrated Gadamer's one hundredth birthday with a cere- do or what we ought to do, but what happens to us over
mony and conference. Gadamer's last academic engage- and above our wanting and doing.* [31]
ment was in the summer of 2001 at an annual symposium on hermeneutics that two of Gadamer's American Truth and Method was published twice in English, and
students had organised. On March 13, 2002, Gadamer the revised edition is now considered authoritative. The
died at Heidelberg's University Clinic. He is buried in German-language edition of Gadamer's Collected Works
includes a volume in which Gadamer elaborates his arguthe Kpfel cemetery in Ziegelhausen.* [26]
ment and discusses the critical response to the book. Finally, Gadamer's essay on Celan (entitled Who Am I
and Who Are You?") has been considered by manyin103.2 Work
cluding Heidegger and Gadamer himselfas a second
volumeor continuation of the argument in Truth and
Method.
103.2.1 Truth and Method
Gadamer's philosophical project, as explained in Truth
and Method, was to elaborate on the concept of Contributions to Communication Ethics
"philosophical hermeneutics", which Heidegger initiated
but never dealt with at length. Gadamer's goal was to Gadamer's Truth and Method has become an authoriuncover the nature of human understanding. In the book tarian work in the communication ethics eld, spawn-

103.4. BIBLIOGRAPHY

327

ing several prominent ethics theories and guidelines. The 103.4 Bibliography
most profound of these is the formulation of the dialogic
coordinates, a standard set of prerequisite communica- Primary
tion elements necessary for inciting dialogue. Adhering to Gadamer's theories regarding bias, communicators
Dialogue and Dialectic: Eight Hermeneutical Studies
can better initiate dialogic transaction, allowing biases to
on Plato. Trans. and ed. by P. Christopher Smith.
merge and promote mutual understanding and learning.
New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1980.
*
[32]
The Enigma of Health: The Art of Healing in a Scientic Age. Trans. John Gaiger and Richard Walker.
103.2.2 Other works
Oxford: Polity Press, 1996.
Gadamer also added philosophical substance to the notion
of human health. In The Enigma of Health, Gadamer explored what it means to heal, as a patient and a provider.
In this work the practice and art of medicine are thoroughly examined, as is the inevitability of any cure.* [33]
In addition to his work in hermeneutics, Gadamer is also
well known for a long list of publications on Greek philosophy. Indeed, while Truth and Method became central to his later career, much of Gadamer's early life centered around studying Greek thinkers, Plato and Aristotle
specically. In the Italian introduction to Truth and
Method, Gadamer said that his work on Greek philosophy
wasthe best and most original partof his career.* [34]
His book Plato's Dialectical Ethics looks at the Philebus
dialogue through the lens of phenomenology and the philosophy of Martin Heidegger.* [33]

103.3 Prizes and awards


1971: Pour le mrite and the Reuchlin Prize
1972: Great Cross of Merit with Star of the Order of
Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
1979: Sigmund Freud Award for scientic prose and
Hegel Prize

Gadamer on Celan:Who Am I and Who Are You?


and Other Essays. By Hans-Georg Gadamer. Trans.
and ed. Richard Heinemann and Bruce Krajewski.
Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1997.
The Gadamer Reader: A Bouquet of the Later Writings. Ed. by Richard E. Palmer. Evanston, IL:
Northwestern University Press, 2007.
Hegel's Dialectic: Five Hermeneutical Studies. Trans.
P. Christopher Smith. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1976.
Heidegger's Ways. Trans. John W. Stanley. New
York: SUNY Press, 1994.
The Idea of the Good in Platonic-Aristotelian Philosophy. Trans. P. Christopher Smith. New Haven,
CT: 1986.
Literature and Philosophy in Dialogue: Essays in
German Literary Theory. Trans. Robert H. Paslick.
New York: SUNY Press, 1993.
Philosophical Apprenticeships. Cambridge, MA:
MIT Press, 1985 (Gadamer's memoirs.)
Philosophical Hermeneutics. Trans. and ed. by
David Linge. Berkeley: University of California
Press, 1976.

1986: Jaspers Prize

Plato's Parmenidesand Its Inuence. Dionysius,


Volume VII (1983): 3-16* [35]

1990: Great Cross of Merit with Star and Sash of the


Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

Reason in the Age of Science. Trans. by Frederick


Lawrence. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1981.

1993: Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal


Republic of Germany

The Relevance of the Beautiful and Other Essays.


Trans. N. Walker. ed. R. Bernasconi, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1986.

12 January 1996: appointed an honorary member of the


Saxon Academy of Sciences in Leipzig
Honorary doctorates
1995: University of Wrocaw
1996: University of Leipzig
1999: Philipps-University Marburg

Praise of Theory. Trans. Chris Dawson. New


Haven: Yale University Press, 1998.
Truth and Method. 2nd rev. edition. Trans.
J. Weinsheimer and D. G. Marshall.
New
York: Crossroad, 2004. ISBN 978-0-8264-7697-5
excerpt
Secondary

328
Arthos, John. The Inner Word in Gadamer's
Hermeneutics. South Bend, IN: University of Notre
Dame Press, 2009.
Cercel, Larisa (ed.), bersetzung und Hermeneutik / Traduction et hermneutique, Bucharest, Zeta
Books, 2009, ISBN 978-973-199-706-3.
Dostal, Robert L. ed. The Cambridge Companion to
Gadamer. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2002.
Drechsler, Wolfgang. Gadamer in Marburg. Marburg: Blaues Schloss, 2013.
Code, Lorraine. ed. Feminist Interpretations of
Hans-Georg Gadamer. University Park: Penn State
Press, 2003.

CHAPTER 103. HANS-GEORG GADAMER


P. Della Pelle, La dimensione ontologica dell'etica in
Hans-Georg Gadamer, FrancoAngeli, Milano 2013
P. Della Pelle, La losoa di Platone
nell'interpretazione di Hans-Georg Gadamer,
Vita e Pensiero, Milano 2014

103.5 See also


Critical Theory
Frankfurt School

103.6 Notes

Coltman, Robert. The Language of Hermeneutics:


Gadamer and Heidegger in Dialogue. Albany: State
University Press, 1998

[1] Grondin 2003, p. 12.

Grondin, Jean. The Philosophy of Gadamer. trans.


Kathryn Plant. New York: McGill-Queens University Press, 2002.

[3] Grondin 2003, p. 21.

Grondin, Jean. Hans-Georg Gadamer: A Biography


trans Joel Weinsheimer. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004.
Lawn, Chris. Gadamer : a guide for the perplexed.
(Guides for the perplexed) London: Continuum,
c2006. ISBN 978-0-8264-8461-1
Malpas,
Je,
and
Santiago
Zabala
(eds),Consequences of Hermeneutics: Fifty Years
after Truth and Method, (Northwestern University
Press, 2010).
Malpas, Je, Ulrich Arnswald and Jens Kertscher
(eds.). Gadamer's Century: Essays in Honour of
Hans-Georg Gadamer. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT
Press, 2002.

[2] Grondin 2003, pp. 26, 33.

[4] Grondin 2003, p. 45.


[5] Grondin 2003, p. 46.
[6] Grondin 2003, p. 37.
[7] Cesare 2007, p. 57.
[8] Cesare 2007, p. 78.
[9] Ideologische Mchte im deutschen Faschismus Band
5: Heidegger im Kontext: Gesamtberblick zum NSEngagement der Universittsphilosophen, George Leaman, Rainer Alisch, Thomas Laugstien, Verlag: Argument Hamburg, 1993, p. 105, ISBN 3886192059
[10] De Cesare, Donatella (2013). Gadamer: A Philosophical Portrait. Indiana University Press. p. 17. ISBN
0253007631.
[11] Dostal, Robert (2002). The Cambridge Companion to
Gadamer. Cambridge University Press. p. 20. ISBN
0521000416.

Risser, James. Hermeneutics and the Voice of


the other: Re-reading Gadamer's Philosophical [12] Leaman, Georg / Simon, Gerd: Deutsche Philosophen aus
der Sicht des Sicherheitsdienstes des Reichsfhrers SS.
Hermeneutics. Albany: SUNY Press, 1997.
Warnke, Georgia. Gadamer: Hermeneutics, Tradition and Reason. Stanford: Stanford University
Press, 1987.
Weinsheimer, Joel. Gadamer's Hermeneutics: A
Reading ofTruth and Method. New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1985.
Wierciski, Andrzej. Gadamers Hermeneutics and
the Art of Conversation Germany, Mnster: LIT
Verlag, 2011.
Wright, Kathleen ed. Festivals of Interpretation: Essays on Hans-Georg Gadamer's Work. Albany, NY:
SUNY Press, 1990.

Jahrbuch fr Soziologie-Geschichte 1992, pages 261-292

[13] Orozco 1995.


[14] Grondin 2003, p. 165.
[15] Cesare 2007, p. 30.
[16] Grondin 2003, pp. 153154.
[17] Cesare 2007, pp. 1415.
[18] Hans-Georg Gadamer Dies; Noted German Philosopher. Washington Post. March 16, 2002. Retrieved
March 25, 2011.
[19] Roberts, Julian (March 18, 2002).
Hans-Georg
Gadamer. The Guardian. Retrieved March 25, 2011.

103.8. EXTERNAL LINKS

[20] Hans-Georg Gadamer. The Independent. March 26,


2002. Retrieved March 25, 2011.
[21] http://classics.dal.ca/Journals/Dionysius/Editorial_
Board.php
[22] Tomonobu Imamichi, In Search of Wisdom. One Philosopher's Journey, Tokyo, International House of Japan,
2004 (quoted by Anne Fagot-Largeault in her {dead link}
course (Le Devenir Impensable) at the Collge de France
on 7 December 2006).
[23] Richard J. Bernstein (2002). Hermeneutics, Critical
Theory and Deconstruction. The Cambridge Companion to Gadamer. Cambridge University Press. ISBN
0521801931.
[24] Gadamer, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
[25] Cesare 2007, p. 27.
[26] Cesare 2007, pp. 2728.
[27] NNDB, http://www.nndb.com/people/964/000093685/
Hans-Georg Gadamer
[28] Nielsen,
http://percaritatem.com/2006/12/21/
gadamer%E2%80%99s-positive-view-of-%E2%80%
9Cprejudices%E2%80%9D/#sthash.DXyXWbON.dpbs
Gadamers Positive View of Prejudices
[29] Gadamer, H.-G. (2004). Truth and method. (J. Weinsheimer & D. G. Marshall, Trans.) (2. ed., p. 601).
Chicago: Continuum, p. 273.
[30] Communication Ethics Literacy: Dialogue and Dierence
Arnett, Harden Fritz & Bell, Los Angeles 2009
[31] Truth and Method 2nd ed. Sheed and Ward, London 1989
XXVIII
[32] Communication Ethics Literacy: Dialogue and Dierence
Arnett, Harden Fritz & Bell, Los Angeles 2009
[33] Robert J. Dostal (2002). Introduction. The Cambridge Companion to Gadamer. Cambridge University
Press. ISBN 0521801931.
[34] Donatella Di Cesare. Gadamer: A Philosophical Portrait.
Niall Keane (trans.). Indiana University Press. p. 1. ISBN
9780253007636.
[35] http://classics.dal.ca/Journals/Dionysius/Index_to_
Volumes_I-X.php

103.7 References
Grondin, Jean (2003). Hans-Georg Gadamer: A Biography.
Cesare, Donatella Di (2007). Gadamer: A Philosophical Portrait. Niall Keane (trans.). Indiana University Press. ISBN 9780253007636.
Orozco, Teresa (1995).
Platonische Gewalt:
Gadamers politische Hermeneutik der NS-Zeit.

329

103.8 External links


Works by or about Hans-Georg Gadamer at Internet
Archive (search optimized for the non-Beta site)
Hans-Georg Gadamer at Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy
Chronology (in German)
Works by Gadamer
Hans-Georg Gadamer: Plato as portratist
Miguel ngel Quintana Paz: On Hermeneutical
Ethics and Education, a paper on the relevance of
Gadamer's Hermeneutics for our understanding of
music, ethics and education in both.
Larisa Cercel, Auf den Spuren einer verschtteten
Evidenz: bersetzung und Hermeneutik, in: Larisa
Cercel (ed.), bersetzung und Hermeneutik / Traduction et hermneutique, Bucharest, Zeta Books,
2009, ISBN 978-973-199-706-3 (paperback), 978973-1997-07-0 (ebook).

Chapter 104

David W. Hamlyn
David Walter Hamlyn (1 October 1924 - 15 July
2012)* [1] was Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck College, London (1964-1988), and editor of Mind (19721984). His major interests were in Aristotle (whose de
Anima, II and III and parts of I, he translated with a
commentary, 1968) and in Ludwig Wittgenstein, both
of whom inuenced Hamlyn's approach to questions in
epistemology and philosophy of psychology. His central thesis, developed in Experience and the Growth of
Understanding (1978), Perception, Learning and the Self
(1983), and In and Out of the Black Box (1990), was that
in order to be a knower a being must be active and seek
to regulate its beliefs in accord with a norm of truth: this
requires membership of a community, interaction with
which involves emotional responses. In short, knowers
are social, aective agents. The other main area of Hamlyn's writing was the history of philosophy.* [2]

104.1 See also


The Oxford Companion to Philosophy

104.2 Notes
[1] Who's Who 1974, London : A. & C. Black, 1974, p. 1399;
http://www.bpa.ac.uk/news
[2] Haldane 2005. p. 358.

104.3 References
Haldane, John (2005). Honderich, Ted, ed. The
Oxford Companion to Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford
University Press. ISBN 0-19-926479-1.

330

Chapter 105

Ammonius Hermiae
Ammonius Hermiae (/monis/; Greek:
; c. 440 c. 520 AD) was a Greek philosopher,
and the son of the Neoplatonist philosophers Hermias and
Aedesia. He was a pupil of Proclus in Athens, and taught
at Alexandria for most of his life, writing commentaries
on Plato, Aristotle, and other philosophers.

105.1 Life
Ammonius' father, Hermias, died when he was a child,
and his mother, Aedesia, raised him and his brother,
Heliodorus, in Alexandria. When they reached adulthood, Aedesia accompanied her sons to Athens where
they studied under Proclus. Eventually, they returned to
Alexandria, where Ammonius, as head of the Neoplatonist school in Alexandria, lectured on Plato and Aristotle
for the rest of his life. According to Damascius, during
the persecution of the pagans at Alexandria in the late
480's, Ammonius made concessions to the Christian authorities so that he could continue his lectures.* [1] Damascius, who scolds Ammonius for the agreement that he
made, does not say what the concessions were, but it may
have involved limitations on the doctrines he could teach
or promote. He was still teaching in 515; Olympiodorus
heard him lecture on Plato's Gorgias in that year.* [2]
He also taught Asclepius of Tralles, John Philoponus,
Damascius and Simplicius. He was also an accomplished
astronomer; he lectured on Ptolemy and is known to have
written a treatise on the astrolabe.

First page of the rst edition of the Isagoge commentary, Venice


1500

the activity of the knower concerning the known.* [3]


In addition, there are some notes of Ammonius' lectures
written by various students which also survive:

105.2 Writings

On Aristotle's Categories (anonymous writer)

Of his reputedly numerous writings, only his commentary on Aristotle's De Interpretatione survives intact. A
commentary on Porphyry's Isagoge may also be his, but
it is somewhat corrupt and contains later interpolations.
In De Interpretatione, Ammonius contends that divine
foreknowledge makes void the contingent. Like Bothius
in his second Commentary and The Consolation of Philosophy, this argument maintains the eectiveness of prayer.
Ammonius cites Iamblichus who said knowledge is intermediate between the knower and the known, since it is
331

On Aristotle's Prior Analytics I (anonymous writer)


On Aristotle's Metaphysics 17 (written by
Asclepius)
On Nicomachus' Introduction to Arithmetic (written
by Asclepius)
On Aristotle's Prior Analytics (written by John
Philoponus)
On Aristotle's Posterior Analytics (written by John
Philoponus)

332
On Aristotle's On Generation and Corruption (written by John Philoponus)
On Aristotle's On the Soul (written by John Philoponus)
There is Greek-language work called Life of Aristotle,
which is usually ascribed to Ammonius, but is more
probable that it is the work of Joannes Philoponus, the
pupil of Ammonius, to whom it is ascribed in some
MSS.* [4]

105.3 English translations


Ammonius: On Aristotle Categories, translated by S.
M. Cohen and G. B. Matthews. London and Ithaca
1992.
Ammonius: On Aristotle's On Interpretation 18,
translated by D. Blank. London and Ithaca 1996.
Ammonius: On Aristotle's On Interpretation 9, with
Boethius: On Aristotle's On Interpretation 9, translated by D. Blank (Ammonius) and N. Kretzmann
(Boethius). London and Ithaca 1998
John Philoponus: On Aristotle On Coming-to-be and
Perishing 1.15, translated by C. J. F. Williams.
London and Ithaca 1999
John Philoponus: On Aristotle On Coming-to-be and
Perishing 1.62.4, translated by C. J. F. Williams.
London and Ithaca 1999.
John Philoponus: On Aristotle On the Soul 2.16,
translated by W. Charlton. London and Ithaca 2005
John Philoponus: On Aristotle On the Soul 2.712,
translated by W. Charlton. London and Ithaca 2005
John Philoponus: On Aristotle On the Soul 3.18,
translated by W. Charlton. London and Ithaca 2000
John Philoponus: On Aristotle On the Intellect (de
Anima 3.48), translated by W. Charlton. London
and Ithaca 1991.

105.4 Notes
[1] Damascius, Philosophos Historia, 118B, Athanassiadi
[2] Olympiodorus, in Gorgias, 199, 810
[3] Medieval Philosophy and the Classical Tradition, Curzon
Press, John Inglis, 2002, pg. 128.
[4] Society for the Diusion of Useful Knowledge, The biographical dictionary of the Society for the diusion of
useful knowledge, Volume 2, Part 2, Longman, Brown,
Green, and Longmans, 1843, p. 487.

CHAPTER 105. AMMONIUS HERMIAE

105.5 References
Andron, Cosmin.Ammonios of Alexandria,The
Routledge Encyclopedia of Ancient Natural Scientists, eds. Georgia Irby-Massie and Paul Keyser,
New York: Routledge, 2008.
Jones, A., Martindale, J., Morris, J. The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992, pages 7172.
Karamanolis, George E. Plato and Aristotle in agreement? : Platonists on Aristotle from Antiochus to Porphyry, New York : Oxford University Press, 2006.
Merlan, Phillip (1970). Ammonius, Son of Hermias. Dictionary of Scientic Biography 1. New
York: CharlesScribner's Sons. p. 137. ISBN 0684-10114-9.
Seel, Gerhard (ed.), Ammonius and the Seabattle.
Texts, Commentary, and Essays, in collaboration
with Jean-Pierre Schneider and Daniel Schulthess ;
Ammonius on Aristotle: De interpretatione 9 (and
7, 1-17) Greek text established by A. Busse, philosophical commentary by Gerhard Seel; essays by
Mario Mignucci and Gerhard Seel, Berlin: Walter
de Gruyter, 2001.
Sorabji, Richard. The Philosophy of the Commentators, 200600 AD. A Sourcebook, Ithaca: Cornell
University Press, 2005.
Verrycken, Koenraad. The Metaphysics of Ammonius son of Hermias, in Richard Sorabji (ed.), Aristotle Transformed. The Ancient Commentators and
their Inuence, Ithaca: Cornell University Press,
1990, p. 199-231.
This article incorporates text from a publication now
in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911).
Encyclopdia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge
University Press.

105.6 External links


Ammonius entry by David Blank in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca, Vol. 4 parts
26, Akademie der Wissenschaften, Berlin, Edita
consilio et auctoritate Academiae litterarum regiae
borussicae (1882).

Chapter 106

Mulla Muzaar Hussain Kashani


Mulla Muzaar Husayn Kashani was an Iranian
philosopher and poet who lived around 1700 AD. His life
and works were studied by Aqa Bozorg Tehrani.

106.1 Life and works


Kashani wrote works on Plato, Aristotle, and Mulla
Sadra.

106.2 References
Aqa Bozorg Tehrai, Azzariah about Shiite writing, vol: 9.
p. 1061

333

Chapter 107

Al-Kindi
Alkindusredirects here. For the insect (bug), see
Alkindus (genus).
For the surname, see Al-Kindi (surname).
Abu Ysuf Yaqb ibn Isq a-abb al-Kind
(Arabic: , Latin: Alkindus) (c. 801873 CE), known as the Philosopher
of the Arabs, was an Iraqi Muslim Arab philosopher,
polymath, mathematician, physician and musician. AlKindi was the rst of the Muslim peripatetic philosophers, and is unanimously hailed as the father of
Islamic or Arabic philosophy"* [2]* [3]* [4] for his synthesis, adaptation and promotion of Greek and Hellenistic
philosophy in the Muslim world.* [5]
Al-Kindi was a descendant of the Kinda tribe. He was
born and educated in Basra,* [6] before going to pursue
further studies in Baghdad. Al-Kindi became a prominent gure in the House of Wisdom, and a number of
Abbasid Caliphs appointed him to oversee the translation of Greek scientic and philosophical texts into the
Arabic language. This contact with the philosophy of
the ancients(as Greek philosophy was often referred to
by Muslim scholars) had a profound eect on his intellectual development, and led him to write hundreds of
original treatises of his own on a range of subjects ranging from metaphysics, ethics, logic and psychology, to
medicine, pharmacology,* [7] mathematics, astronomy,
astrology and optics, and further aeld to more practical
topics like perfumes, swords, jewels, glass, dyes, zoology,
tides, mirrors, meteorology and earthquakes.* [8]* [9]

spite the important role he played in making philosophy


accessible to Muslim intellectuals, his own philosophical
output was largely overshadowed by that of al-Farabi and
very few of his texts are available for modern scholars to
examine.

107.1 Life
Al-Kindi was born in Kufa to an aristocratic family of
the Kinda tribe. His father was the governor of Kufa,
and al-Kindi received his preliminary education there.
He later went to complete his studies in Baghdad, where
he was patronized by the Abbasid Caliphs al-Ma'mun
and al-Mu'tasim. On account of his learning and aptitude for study, al-Ma'mun appointed him to House of
Wisdom, a recently established centre for the translation of Greek philosophical and scientic texts, in Baghdad. He was also well known for his beautiful calligraphy,
and at one point was employed as a calligrapher by alMutawakkil.* [14]

When al-Ma'mun died, his brother, al-Mu'tasim became


Caliph. Al-Kindi's position would be enhanced under
al-Mu'tasim, who appointed him as a tutor to his son.
But on the accession of al-Wathiq, and especially of alMutawakkil, al-Kindi's star waned. There are various
theories concerning this: some attribute al-Kindi's downfall to scholarly rivalries at the House of Wisdom; others refer to al-Mutawakkils often violent persecution
of unorthodox Muslims (as well as of non-Muslims); at
In the eld of mathematics, al-Kindi played an im- one point al-Kindi was beaten and his library temporarily
portant role in introducing Indian numerals to the Is- conscated. Henry Corbin, an authority on Islamic studman, in
lamic and Christian world.* [10] He was a pioneer in ies, says that in 873, al-Kindi died a lonely
*
Al-Mu'tamid.
[14]
Baghdad
during
the
reign
of
cryptanalysis and devised several new methods of breaking ciphers.* [11] Using his mathematical and medical ex- After his death, al-Kindi's philosophical works quickly
pertise, he was able to develop a scale that would allow fell into obscurity and many of them were lost even to
doctors to quantify the potency of their medication.* [12] later Islamic scholars and historians. Felix Klein-Franke
The central theme underpinning al-Kindi's philosophi- suggests a number of reasons for this: aside from the milcal writings is the compatibility between philosophy and itant orthodoxy of al-Mutawakkil, the Mongols also deotherorthodoxIslamic sciences, particularly theology. stroyed countless libraries during their invasion. HowAnd many of his works deal with subjects that theology ever, he says the most probable cause of this was that
had an immediate interest in. These include the nature his writings never found popularity amongst subsequent
and Avicenna,
of God, the soul and prophetic knowledge.* [13] But de- inuential philosophers such as al-Farabi
who ultimately overshadowed him.* [15]
334

107.2. ACCOMPLISHMENTS

107.2 Accomplishments
Al-Kindi was a master of many dierent areas of thought.
And although he would eventually be eclipsed by names
such as al-Farabi and Avicenna, he was held to be one of
the greatest Islamic philosophers of his time.
The Italian Renaissance scholar Geralomo Cardano
(15011575) considered him one of the twelve greatest minds of the Middle Ages.* [16] According to Ibn
al-Nadim, al-Kindi wrote at least two hundred and
sixty books, contributing heavily to geometry (thirtytwo books), medicine and philosophy (twenty-two
books each), logic (nine books), and physics (twelve
books).* [17] His inuence in the elds of physics, mathematics, medicine, philosophy and music were farreaching and lasted for several centuries. Although most
of his books have been lost over the centuries, a few have
survived in the form of Latin translations by Gerard of
Cremona, and others have been rediscovered in Arabic
manuscripts; most importantly, twenty-four of his lost
works were located in the mid-twentieth century in a
Turkish library.* [18]

107.2.1

Philosophy

335

107.2.2 Astronomy
Al-Kindi took his view of the solar system from Ptolemy,
who placed the Earth at the centre of a series of concentric spheres, in which the known heavenly bodies (the
Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and the
stars) are embedded. In one of his treatises on the subject,
he says that these bodies are rational entities, whose circular motion is in obedience to and worship of God. Their
role, al-Kindi believes, is to act as instruments for divine
providence. He furnishes empirical evidence as proof for
this assertion; dierent seasons are marked by particular arrangements of the planets and stars (most notably
the sun); the appearance and manner of people varies according to the arrangement of heavenly bodies situated
above their homeland.* [21]
However, he is ambiguous when it comes to the actual
process by which the heavenly bodies aect the material
world. One theory he posits in his works is from Aristotle,
who conceived that the movement of these bodies causes
friction in the sub-lunar region, which stirs up the primary
elements of earth, re, air and water, and these combine
to produce everything in the material world. An alternative view found his treatise On Rays is that the planets exercise their inuence in straight lines. In each of
these, he presents two fundamentally dierent views of
physical interaction; action by contact and action at a distance. This dichotomy is duplicated in his writings on
optics.* [22]

Some of the notable astrological works by al-Kindi in*


His greatest contribution to the development of Islamic clude: [23]
philosophy was his eorts to make Greek thought both
The Book of the Judgement of the Stars, including
accessible and acceptable to a Muslim audience. AlThe Forty Chapters, on questions and elections.
Kindi carried out this mission from the House of Wisdom
(Bayt al-Hikma), an institute of translation and learning
On the Stellar Rays.
patronized by the Abbasid Caliphs, in Baghdad.* [14] As
well as translating many important texts, much of what
Several epistles on weather and meteorology, includwas to become standard Arabic philosophical vocabulary
ing De mutatione temporum, (On the Changing of
originated with al-Kindi; indeed, if it had not been for
the Weather).
him, the work of philosophers like Al-Farabi, Avicenna,
Treatise on the Judgement of Eclipses.
and al-Ghazali might not have been possible.* [19]
Treatise on the Dominion of the Arabs and its DuIn his writings, one of al-Kindi's central concerns was
ration (used to predict the end of Arab rule).
to demonstrate the compatibility between philosophy
and natural theology on the one hand, and revealed or
The Choices of Days (on elections).
speculative theology on the other (though in fact he rejected speculative theology). Despite this, he did make
On the Revolutions of the Years (on mundane astrolclear that he believed revelation was a superior source
ogy and natal revolutions).
of knowledge to reason because it guaranteed matters
De Signis Astronomiae Applicitis as Mediciam On
of faith that reason could not uncover. And while his
the Signs of Astronomy as applied to Medicine
philosophical approach was not always original, and was
even considered clumsy by later thinkers (mainly because
Treatise on the Spirituality of the Planets.
he was the rst philosopher writing in the Arabic language), he successfully incorporated Aristotelian and (especially) neo-Platonist thought into an Islamic philosoph- 107.2.3 Optics
ical framework. This was an important factor in the introduction and popularization of Greek philosophy in the Two major theories of optics appear in the writings of alKindi; Aristotelian and Euclidian. Aristotle had believed
Muslim intellectual world.* [20]

336

CHAPTER 107. AL-KINDI

that in order for the eye to perceive an object, both the


eye and the object must be in contact with a transparent medium (such as air) that is lled with light. When
these criteria are met, the sensible formof the object is transmitted through the medium to the eye. On
the other hand, Euclid proposed that vision occurred in
straight lines when raysfrom the eye reached an illuminated object and were reected back. As with his
theories on Astrology, the dichotomy of contact and distance is present in al-Kindi's writings on this subject as
well.
The factor which al-Kindi relied upon to determine which
of these theories was most correct was how adequately
each one explained the experience of seeing. For example, Aristotle's theory was unable to account for why the
angle at which an individual sees an object aects his
perception of it. For example, why a circle viewed from
the side will appear as a line. According to Aristotle, the
complete sensible form of a circle should be transmitted
to the eye and it should appear as a circle. On the other
hand, Euclidian optics provided a geometric model that
was able to account for this, as well as the length of shadows and reections in mirrors, because Euclid believed
that the visual rayscould only travel in straight lines
(something which is commonly accepted in modern science). For this reason, al-Kindi considered the latter preponderant.* [24]

107.2.6 Mathematics
Al-Kindi authored works on a number of important mathematical subjects, including arithmetic, geometry, the Indian numbers, the harmony of numbers, lines and multiplication with numbers, relative quantities, measuring
proportion and time, and numerical procedures and cancellation.* [10] He also wrote four volumes, On the Use of
the Indian Numerals (Ketab Isti'mal al-'Adad al-Hindi)
which contributed greatly to diusion of the Indian system of numeration in the Middle-East and the West. In
geometry, among other works, he wrote on the theory of
parallels. Also related to geometry were two works on
optics. One of the ways in which he made use of mathematics as a philosopher was to attempt to disprove the
eternity of the world by demonstrating that actual innity
is a mathematical and logical absurdity.* [28]

Through the Latin version of the De Aspectibus, AlKindi partly inuenced the optical investigations of
Robert Grosseteste.* [25]

107.2.4

Medicine

There are more than thirty treatises attributed to al-Kindi


in the eld of medicine, in which he was chiey inuenced
by the ideas of Galen.* [26] His most important work in
this eld is probably De Gradibus, in which he demonstrates the application of mathematics to medicine, particularly in the eld of pharmacology. For example, he
developed a mathematical scale to quantify the strength
of drug and a system, based the phases of the moon, that
would allow a doctor to determine in advance the most
critical days of a patient's illness.* [12]

107.2.5

Chemistry

As an advanced chemist, he was also an opponent of


alchemy; he debunked the myth that simple, base metals
could be transformed into precious metals such as gold or
silver.* [27] He is sometimes credited as one of the rst
distillers of alcohol.

The rst page of al-Kindi's manuscript On Deciphering Cryptographic Messages, containing the oldest known description of
cryptanalysis by frequency analysis.

107.2.7 Cryptography
Al-Kindi is credited with developing a method whereby
variations in the frequency of the occurrence of letters
could be analyzed and exploited to break ciphers (i.e.
cryptanalysis by frequency analysis).* [11]

107.2.8 Music theory

Al-Kindi was the rst great theoretician of music in the


Arab-Islamic world. He is known to have written fteen
treatises on music theory, but only ve have survived. He
added a fth string to the 'ud.* [29] His works included
discussions on the therapeutic value of music* [30] and
Alkindi also studies more about Isters that concern term what he regarded ascosmological connectionsof muof organic in chemistry.
sic.* [31]

107.3. PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT

107.3 Philosophical thought


107.3.1

Inuences

337
ary agencies are contingent upon Him.* [37] The key idea
here is that God actsthrough created intermediaries,
which in turn acton one another through a chain of
cause and eect to produce the desired result. In reality, these intermediary agents do not actat all, they
are merely a conduit for God's own action.* [34] This is
especially signicant in the development of Islamic philosophy, as it portrayed therst causeandunmoved
moverof Aristotelian philosophy as compatible with the
concept of God according to Islamic revelation.* [38]

While Muslim intellectuals were already acquainted with


Greek philosophy (especially logic), al-Kindi is credited
with being the rst real Muslim philosopher.* [32] His
own thought was largely inuenced by the Neo-Platonic
philosophy of Proclus, Plotinus and John Philoponus,
amongst others, although he does appear to have borrowed ideas from other Hellenistic schools as well.* [33]
He makes many references to Aristotle in his writings, 107.3.3
but these are often unwittingly re-interpreted in a NeoPlatonic framework. This trend is most obvious in areas
such as metaphysics and the nature of God as a causal
entity.* [34] Earlier experts had suggested that he was inuenced by the Mutazilite school of theology, because of
the mutual concern both he and they demonstrated for
maintaining the singularity (tawhid) of God. However,
such agreements are now considered incidental, as further study has shown that they disagreed on a number of
equally important topics.* [35]

107.3.2

Epistemology

Metaphysics

According to al-Kindi, the goal of metaphysics is the


knowledge of God. For this reason, he does not make
a clear distinction between philosophy and theology, because he believes they are both concerned with the same
subject. Later philosophers, particularly al-Farabi and
Avicenna, would strongly disagree with him on this issue,
by saying that metaphysics is actually concerned with being qua being, and as such, the nature of God is purely
incidental.* [13]
Central to al-Kindi's understanding of metaphysics is
God's absolute oneness, which he considers an attribute
uniquely associated with God (and therefore not shared
with anything else). By this he means that while we may
think of any existent thing as being one, it is in fact
bothoneand many. For example, he says that while
a body is one, it is also composed of many dierent parts.
A person might say I see an elephant, by which he
meansI see one elephant, but the term 'elephant' refers
to a species of animal that contains many. Therefore, only
God is absolutely one, both in being and in concept, lacking any multiplicity whatsoever. Some feel this understanding entails a very rigorous negative theology because
it implies that any description which can be predicated to
anything else, cannot be said about God.* [35]* [36]

Al-Kindi theorized that there was a separate, incorporeal and universal intellect (known as the First Intellect). It was the rst of God's creation and the intermediary through which all other things came into creation.
Aside from its obvious metaphysical importance, it was
also crucial to al-Kindi's epistemology, which was inuenced by Platonic realism.* [39]

In addition to absolute oneness, al-Kindi also described


God as the Creator. This means that He acts as both a nal and ecient cause. Unlike later Muslim Neo-Platonic
philosophers (who asserted that the universe existed as a
result of God's existenceoverowing, which is a passive act), al-Kindi conceived of God as an active agent.
In fact, of God as the agent, because all other intermedi-

According to Plato, everything that exists in the material


world corresponds to certain universal forms in the heavenly realm. These forms are really abstract concepts such
as a species, quality or relation, which apply to all physical objects and beings. For example, a red apple has the
quality of rednessderived from the appropriate universal. However, al-Kindi says that human intellects are

Ancient Greek philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle would


become highly revered in the medieval Islamic world.

338

CHAPTER 107. AL-KINDI

only potentially able to comprehend these. This potential is actualized by the First Intellect, which is perpetually thinking about all of the universals. He argues that
the external agency of this intellect is necessary by saying
that human beings cannot arrive at a universal concept
merely through perception. In other words, an intellect
cannot understand the species of a thing simply by examining one or more of its instances. According to him, this
will only yield an inferior sensible form, and not the
universal form which we desire. The universal form can
only be attained through contemplation and actualization
by the First Intellect.* [40]
The analogy he provides to explain his theory is that of
wood and re. Wood, he argues, is potentially hot (just
as a human is potentially thinking about a universal), and
therefore requires something else which is already hot
(such as re) to actualize this. This means that for the
human intellect to think about something, the First Intellect must already be thinking about it. Therefore he
says that the First Intellect must always be thinking about
everything. Once the human intellect comprehends a universal by this process, it becomes part of the individual's
acquired intellectand can be thought about whenever
he or she wishes.* [41]

107.3.4

The soul and the afterlife

Al-Kindi says that the soul is a simple, immaterial substance, which is related to the material world only because of its faculties which operate through the physical
body. To explain the nature of our worldly existence, he
(borrowing from Epictetus) compares it to a ship which
has, during the course of its ocean voyage, temporarily
anchored itself at an island and allowed its passengers to
disembark. The implicit warning is that those passengers
who linger too long on the island may be left behind when
the ship sets sail again. Here, al-Kindi displays a stoic
concept, that we must not become attached to material
things (represented by the island), as they will invariably
be taken away from us (when the ship sets sail again). He
then connects this with a Neo-Platonist idea, by saying
that our soul can be directed towards the pursuit of desire
or the pursuit of intellect; the former will tie it to the body,
so that when the body dies, it will also die, but the latter
will free it from the body and allow it to survive in the
light of the Creatorin a realm of pure intelligence.* [42]

107.3.5

the truth by his own devices (and with great diculty),


whereas the prophet has the truth revealed to him by God.
Thirdly, the understanding of the prophet being divinely
revealed is clearer and more comprehensive than that of
the philosopher. Fourthly, the way in which the prophet is
able to express this understanding to the ordinary people
is superior. Therefore al-Kindi says the prophet is superior in two elds: the ease and certainty with which he
receives the truth, and the way in which he presents it.
However, the crucial implication is that the content of the
prophet's and the philosopher's knowledge is the same.
This, says Adamson, demonstrates how limited the superiority al-Kindi aorded to prophecy was.* [43]* [44]
In addition to this, al-Kindi adopted a naturalistic view
of prophetic visions. He argued that, through the faculty
ofimaginationas conceived of in Aristotelian philosophy, certainpureand well-prepared souls, were able
to receive information about future events. Signicantly,
he does not attribute such visions or dreams to revelation
from God, but instead explains that imagination enables
human beings to receive theformof something without
needing to perceive the physical entity to which it refers.
Therefore, it would seem to imply that anyone who has
puried themselves would be able to receive such visions.
It is precisely this idea, amongst other naturalistic explanations of prophetic miracles that al-Ghazali attacks in
his Incoherence of the Philosophers.* [45]

107.3.6 Critics and patrons


While al-Kindi appreciated the usefulness of philosophy
in answering questions of a religious nature, there would
be many Islamic thinkers who were not as enthusiastic
about its potential. But it would be incorrect to assume
that they opposed philosophy simply because it was a
foreign science. Oliver Leaman, an expert on Islamic
philosophy, points out that the objections of notable theologians are rarely directed at philosophy itself, but rather
at the conclusions the philosophers arrived at. Even alGhazali, who is famous for his critique of the philosophers, was himself an expert in philosophy and logic.
And his criticism was that they arrived at theologically erroneous conclusions. The three most serious of these, in
his view, were believing in the co-eternity of the universe
with God, denying the bodily resurrection, and asserting
that God only has knowledge of abstract universals, not of
particular things (not all philosophers subscribed to these
same views).* [46]

The relationship between revela- During his life, al-Kindi was fortunate enough to enjoy
tion and philosophy
the patronage of the pro-Mutazilite Caliphs al-Ma'mun

In the view of al-Kindi, prophecy and philosophy were


two dierent routes to arrive at the truth. He contrasts
the two positions in four ways. Firstly, while a person
must undergo a long period of training and study to become a philosopher, prophecy is bestowed upon someone by God. Secondly, the philosopher must arrive at

and al-Mu'tasim, which meant he could carry out his


philosophical speculations with relative ease. In his own
time, al-Kindi would be criticized for extolling the intellectas being the most immanent creation in proximity to God, which was commonly held to be the position of the angels.* [47] He also engaged in disputations
with the Mutazilites, whom he attacked for their belief

107.4. REFERENCES

339

in atoms.* [48] But the real role of al-Kindi in the con- [23] Dykes, B., (2011) The Forty Chapters. Minnesota: Cazimi Press, 2011; pp.56
ict between philosophers and theologians would be to
prepare the ground for debate. His works, says Deborah
Black, contained all the seeds of future controversy that [24] Adamson, p45
would be fully realized in al-Ghazali's Incoherence of the
[25] Hendrix, John Shannon; Carman, Charles H., eds.
Philosophers.* [49]
(2010). Renaissance Theories of Vision. Visual Culture
in Early Modernity. Ashgate. p. 13. ISBN 1409400247.

107.4 References

[26] P. Prioreschi. Al-Kindi, A Precursor of the Scientic


Revolution

[1] Adamson, pp.1213

[27] Klein-Franke, p174

[2] Nasr, Seyyed Hossein (2006). Islamic philosophy from its


origin to the present : philosophy in the land of prophecy.
State Univ. of New York Press. pp. 137138. ISBN
0-7914-6799-6.

[28] Al-Allaf, M. Al-Kindi's Mathematical Metaphysics


(PDF). Archived from the original on 7 January 2007. Retrieved 2007-01-12.

[3] Abboud, Tony (2006). Al-Kindi : the father of Arab philosophy. Rosen Pub. Group. ISBN 1-4042-0511-X.
[4] Greenberg, Yudit Kornberg (2008). Encyclopedia of love
in world religions 1. ABC-CLIO. p. 405. ISBN 1-85109980-8.
[5] Klein-Frank, F. Al-Kindi. In Leaman, O & Nasr, H
(2001). History of Islamic Philosophy. London: Routledge. p 165
[6] http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/al-kindi/
[7] Corbin, Henry (1993). History of Islamic philosophy.
Kegan Paul International. p. 155. ISBN 0-7103-04161.
[8] Adamson, Peter (2006). Al-Kind and the reception of
Greek philosophy. In Adamson, Peter; Taylor, R. The
Cambridge companion to Arabic philosophy. Cambridge
University Press. p. 33. ISBN 978-0-521-52069-0.
[9] Adamson, p7
[10] Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Ishaq al-Sabbah Al-Kindi. Retrieved 2007-01-12.
[11] Simon Singh, The Code Book, pgs. 1420. New York
City: Anchor Books, 2000. ISBN 9780385495325

[29] Andrea L. Stanton, Peter J. Seybolt, Edward Ramsamy,


Carolyn M. Elliott, ed. (2012). Cultural Sociology of the
Middle East, Asia, and Africa: An Encyclopedia. SAGE
Publications. p. 87. ISBN 141298176X.
[30] Shehadi, Fadlou (1995). Philosophies of Music in Medieval Islam. Leiden: Brill. p. 35. ISBN 9004101284.
[31] Turner, Howard R. (1997). Science in Medieval Islam: An
Illustrated Introduction (3rd pbk. print. ed.). University
of Texas Press. p. 49. ISBN 0292781490.
[32] Klein-Frank, p 165
[33] Adamson, p37
[34] Adamson, p36
[35] Corbin, p155
[36] Adamson, p35
[37] Klein-Frank, p167
[38] Adamson, p39
[39] Klein-Frank, p168
[40] Adamson, p40-41

[12] Klein-Franke, p172


[13] Adamson, p34
[14] Corbin, p154

[41] Adamson, p40


[42] Adamson, p41-42

[15] Klein-Franke, p166

[43] Adamson, p46-47

[16] George Satron. Introduction to the History of Science.

[44] Corbin, p156

[17] Corbin, p154-155

[45] Adamson, p47

[18] Klein-Franke, p172-173

[46] Leaman, O. (1999). A Brief Introduction to Islamic Philosophy Polity Press. p21. ISBN 0-7456-1961-4

[19] Adamson, p32-33


[20] Klein-Franke, p166-167

[47] Black, p168

[21] Adamson, p42

[48] Black, p169

[22] Adamson, p43

[49] Black, p171

340

CHAPTER 107. AL-KINDI

107.5 References
Robert L. Arrington (2001) [ed.] A Companion to
the Philosophers. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-63122967-1
Peter J. King (2004) One Hundred Philosophers.
New York: Barron's. ISBN 0-7641-2791-8
Adamson, Peter; Taylor, Richard C. (10 January
2005). The Cambridge companion to Arabic philosophy. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521-81743-1. Retrieved 22 May 2011.
Adamson, Peter (2007). Al-Kind . Oxford University Press US. ISBN 978-0-19-518142-5. Retrieved
22 May 2011.
Felix Klein-Frank (2001) Al-Kindi. In Oliver Leaman & Hossein Nasr. History of Islamic Philosophy.
London: Routledge.
Henry Corbin (1993). History of Islamic Philosophy. London: Keagan Paul International.

107.6 External links


Cooper, Glen M. (2007). Kind: Ab Ysuf
Yaqb ibn Isq alKind". In Thomas Hockey et
al. The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers.
New York: Springer. pp. 6356. ISBN 978-0-38731022-0. (PDF version)
Alkindus (Bibliotheca Augustana)
O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F.,
Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Ishaq al-Sabbah AlKindi, MacTutor History of Mathematics archive,
University of St Andrews.
Al-Kindi Famous Muslims
Al-Kindi's website Islamic Philosophy Online
Al-Kindi entry by Peter Adamson in the Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Dr. Mashhad Al-Allaf
DOC Three texts by Al
Kindi in the Islamic Philosophy section
Benjamnin N. Dyke's translation of Al-Kindi's Forty
Chapters with PDF extracts from the Introduction
and main text
Texts on Wikisource:
"al-Kindi, Abu Yusuf Ya'ub ibn Isak". New
International Encyclopedia. 1905.
"Kind". Encyclopdia Britannica (11th ed.).
1911.
"Kindi, Abu Yusuf Ya'kub Ibn Ishak Al-".
Encyclopedia Americana. 1920.

Chapter 108

Ignacio Lpez de Ayala


Ignacio Lpez de Ayala (1745 or 1750 in Cdiz - 24
April 1789 in Tarifa) was a writer, astronomer and historian.
He was a professor of poetry at the Reales Estudios de
San Isidro en Madrid in Madrid.* [1] He authored a neoclassical tragedy, Numancia ( 1775 ), his works mainly
heroic romance. He was also a respected historian, authoring history books on Frederick the Great (Historia
de Federico el Grande, rey de Prusia) (1782), the History of Gibraltar (Historia de Gibraltar) (1782)* [2] and
the Council of Trent (El sacrosanto y ecumnico concilio
de Trento) (1787). These works gained him membership
of the Royal Academy of History. In his later years he
also wrote on astronomy, Disertaciones astronmicas and
Filosofa moral de Aristteles, astronomical dissertations
and the moral philosophy of Aristotle. He was a member
of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando.
He died on 24 April 1789 in Tarifa.* [1]

108.1 References
[1] Daz, Gonzalo Daz (1991). Hombres y Documentos de la
Filosoa Espaola (in Spanish). CSIC-Dpto. de Publicaciones. p. 764. ISBN 978-84-00-07198-1. Retrieved 12
September 2012.
[2] Ignacio Lpez de Ayala (1782). Historia de Gibraltar.

341

Chapter 109

Theodore Metochites
Theodore Metochites (Greek: , monastic name Theoleptos.
12701332) was a Byzantine statesman, author, gentleman philosopher, and patron of the arts. From c. 1305 to
1328 he held the position of personal adviser (mesazn) 109.2 Works
to emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos.
Metochitesextant uvre comprises 20 Poems in
dactylic hexameter, 18 orations (Logoi), Commentaries
on Aristotles writings on natural philosophy, an intro109.1 Life
duction to the study of Ptolemaic astronomy (StoicheioMetochites was born in Constantinople as the son of the sis astronomike), and 120 essays on various subjects,
archdeacon George Metochites, a fervent supporter of the the Semeioseis gnomikai. Many of these works are still
union of the Orthodox and Catholic Churches. After unedited.
the Second Council of Blachernae, his father was con- Editions with English translations:
demned and exiled, and Metochites seems to have spent
Featherstone, J. M. 2000. Theodore Metochitess
his adolescence in the monastic milieux of Bithynia in
PoemsTo Himself. Introduction, Text, and TransAsia Minor. He devoted himself to studies of both seclation. Vienna. ISBN 3-7001-2853-3
ular and religious authors. When Andronicus II visited
Nicaea in 1290/1291, Metochites made such an impression on him that he was immediately called to the court Reviewed by Lazaris, S. 2002. Jerey Michael Feathand made Logothete of the Herds. Little more than a erstone (Introduction, Text and Translation), Theodore
year later, he was appointed a Senator. Besides carrying Metochitess poems to Himself[Byzantina vinout his political duties (embassies to Cilicia in 1295 and dobonensia, XXIII], Wien : Verlag der sterreichischen
to Serbia in 1299), Metochites continued to study and to Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2000, Scriptorium 56,
write. In 1312/1313, he started learning astronomy from p. 328*330*()
Manuel Bryennios; later he himself became the teacher of
Hult, K. 2002. Theodore Metochites on Ancient AuNicephorus Gregoras. He was married with ve sons and
thors and Philosophy: Semeioseis gnomikai 126 &
one daughter, Irene (spouse of John Komnenos Palaiolo71. A Critical Edition with Introduction, Translagos).
tion, Notes, and Indexes. With a Contribution by B.
Metochitespolitical career culminated in 1321, when
Bydn. Studia Graeca et Latina Gothoburgensia 65.
he was invested as Grand Logothete. He was then at the
Gteborg. ISBN 91-7346-434-1
summit of his power, and also one of the richest men
of his age. Some of the money was spent on restor- Editions without translation:
ing and decorating the church of the Chora monastery
in the northwest of Constantinople, where Metochites Bydn, B. 2003. Theodore Metochites' Stoicheiosis
donor portrait can still be seen in a famous mosaic in the
astronomike and the study of natural philosophy and
narthex, above the entrance to the nave.
mathematics in early Palaiologan Byzantium. 2nd
rev. ed. Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis. StuMetochitesfortunes were, however, linked with his emdia Graeca et Latina Gothoburgensia 66. Gteborg.
perors. After a few years of intermittent civil war, AnISBN 91-7346-459-7
dronicus II was overthrown in 1328 by his own grandson, Andronicus III Palaeologus. Metochites went down
with him. He was deprived of his possessions and forced
into exile in Didymoteichon. In 1330, he was allowed to
return to Constantinople. He then withdrew to Chora,
where he died on 13 March 1332, having adopted the

109.3 See also

342

Gregory Palamas

109.5. EXTERNAL LINKS

109.4 References
[1] K. Staikos, The History of the Library in Western Civilization: From Constantine the Great to Cardinal Bessarion,
Oak Knoll Press, 2007, p. 427

Beck, H.-G. 1952. Theodoros Metochites: Die Krise


des byzantinischen Weltbildes im 14. Jahrhundert.
Munich.
evenko, I. 1962. La vie intellectuelle et politique
Byzance sous les premiers Palologues: tudes sur
la polmique entre Thodore Mtochite et Nicphore
Choumnos. Corpus Bruxellense Historiae Byzantinae. Subsidia 3. Brussels.
evenko, I. 1975. Theodore Metochites, the
Chora, and the Intellectual Trends of His Time. In
Underwood, P. A., ed., The Kariye Djami, vol. 4,
Studies in the Art of the Kariye Djami and Its Intellectual Background, London (ISBN 0-691-99778X, OCLC 577356), 1791. (See also OCLC
24220728.)
de Vries-van der Velden, E. 1987. Thodore Mtochite: Une rvaluation. Amsterdam. ISBN 9070265-58-3
Bydn, B. 2003. Theodore Metochites' Stoicheiosis
astronomike and the study of natural philosophy and
mathematics in early Palaiologan Byzantium. 2nd
rev. ed. Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis. Studia Graeca et Latina Gothoburgensia 66. Gteborg.
ISBN 91-7346-459-7

109.5 External links


Haramundanis, Katherine (2007). Metochites
[Metoxites], Theodore [Theodoros, Theoleptos]".
In Thomas Hockey et al. The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. New York: Springer. p.
776. ISBN 978-0-387-31022-0. (PDF version)

343

Chapter 110

Michael of Ephesus
On Generation of Animals: CAG XIV.3

Michael of Ephesus or Michael Ephesius (Greek: ; . early or mid-12th century AD) wrote
important commentaries on Aristotle, including the rst
full commentary on the Sophistical Refutations, which established the regular study of that text.* [1]

On Nicomachean Ethics, books 9-10: CAG XX


On Parva Naturalia: CAG XXII.1
On Parts of Animals, Movement of Animals,
Progression of Animals: CAG XXII.2

110.1 Life

On Nicomachean Ethics, book 5: CAG XXII.3

Little is known about Michael's life. He worked in the


Michael's commentary on the pseudo-Aristotelian
philosophy college, of the University of Constantinople.
On Colors remains unedited, and his commentary on
Together with Eustratius of Nicaea, he was part of a circle
Politics survives only in part.* [5]
organized by Anna Comnena.* [2] As Michael suggests at
the end of his Parva Naturalia commentary, his goal was
to provide coverage of texts in the Corpus Aristotelicum 110.2.2 Latin translations
that had been neglected by earlier commentators;* [3] this
was part of a cooperative scholarly undertaking conJames of Venice may have collected texts from Michael's
ceived and guided by Anna Comnena.* [4]
workshop for translation into Latin.* [2] The composThe fanciful suggestion that the Aristotelian commentator ite collection of commentaries including Michael's comwas none other than Michael VII Doukas, making good mentaries on the Nicomachean Ethics was translated into
on his tuition under Michael Psellos (who was apparently Latin by Robert Grosseteste, and again by Giovanni
not Michael of Ephesus' teacher) and turning after his ab- Bernardo Feliciano (Venice 1541).* [6]
dication to scholarship as the archbishop of Ephesus, is no
longer taken seriously.

110.2.3 English translations


Aristotle and Michael of Ephesus on the Movement
and Progression of Animals, trans. Anthony Preus,
Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1981

110.2 Work
Michael's breadth is remarkable, and his interpretive
method has been compared to that of Alexander of
Aphrodisias; the commentary on Metaphysics Books 7-14
attributed to Alexander is considered to be his work.* [5]
Michael's commentaries draw on Neoplatonist ideas and
on the exegetical tradition of Stephen of Alexandria. At
times they allude to contemporary Byzantine matters and
include criticism of the emperor and of the current state
of education.

110.2.1

Aspasius, Anonymous, Michael of Ephesus, On


Aristotle: Nicomachean Ethics 8 and 9, trans. David
Konstan, Duckworth, 2001

110.3 Notes

The commentaries: Greek texts

On Sophistical Refutations: Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca II.3


344

[1] A.C. Lloyd, review of S. Ebbesen, Commentators and


commentaries on Aristotle's Sophistici elenchi (Leiden:
Brill, 1981), Journal of Hellenic Studies 106 (1986), pp.
231-233
[2] Richard Sorabji, Aristotle Commentators, Routledge
Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 1998, 2002

110.3. NOTES

[3] CAG XXII.1 p. 149, cited by Hans B. Gottschalk, The


Earliest Aristotelian Commentators,in Sorabji (ed.),
Aristotle Transformed (Ithaca: Cornell University Press,
1990), p. 68 n. 67
[4] R. Browning,An Unpublished Funeral Oration on Anna
Comnena,Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society n.s. 8 (1962)
[5] Katerina Ierodiakonou and Brje Bydn,Byzantine Philosophy, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2008
[6] H.P.F. Mercken, The Greek Commentators on Aristotle's Ethics,in Sorabji (ed.), Aristotle Transformed, pp.
407-410

345

Chapter 111

Nicolaus of Damascus
Nicolaus of Damascus (Greek: , Nikolos Damasknos) was a Greek* [1] historian
and philosopher who lived during the Augustan age of
the Roman Empire. His name is derived from that of his
birthplace, Damascus. He was born around 64 BC.* [2]
He was an intimate friend of Herod the Great, whom he
survived by a number of years. He was also the tutor of
the children of Antony and Cleopatra (born in 40 BC), according to Sophronius.* [3] He went to Rome with Herod
Archelaus.* [4]

work has with justication been denounced


by both Assyriologists and classicists as a totally unreliable guide to Mesopotamian history.* [10]

111.2 Life of Augustus

We have considerable remains of two works of his old


His output was vast, but is nearly all lost. His chief work
age; a life of Augustus, and his own life.
was a universal history in 144 books. He also wrote an
autobiography, a life of Augustus, a life of Herod, some He wrote a Life of Augustus (Bios Kaisaros), which seems
to have been completed after the death of the emperor in
philosophical works, and some tragedies and comedies.
AD 14, when Nicolaus was 78. Two long chunks remain,
There is an article on him in the Suda.* [5]
the rst concerning Octavius' youth, the second Caesar's
assassination.* [9]

111.1 History
Towards the end of his life he composed a universal his- 111.3 Autobiography
tory in 144 books,* [6] although the Suda mentions only
80 books. But references to books 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, (8),
96, 103, 104, 107, 108, 110, 114, 123 and 124 are He also wrote an autobiography, the date of which is uncertain. It mentions that he wanted to retire, in 4 BC, but
known.* [7]
was persuaded to travel with Herod Archelaus to Rome.
Extensive fragments of the rst seven books are preserved
in quotation in the Excerpta compiled at the order of The fragments that remain deal mainly with Jewish hisConstantine Porphyrogenitus.* [8] These cover the history tory.* [9]
of the Assyrians, Medes, Greeks, Lydians, and Persians,
and are important also for Biblical history.
Josephus probably used this work for his history of Herod
(Ant. 15-17) because where Nicolaus stops, in the reign
of Archelaus, the account of Josephus suddenly becomes
more cursory.* [9]
For portions dealing with Greek myth and oriental history
he was dependent on other, now lost works, of variable
quality. Where he relied on Ctesias, the value of his work
is slim. Robert Drews has written:
Classical scholars are agreed that Nicolaus's
history of the East, and especially his story of
Cyrus, was taken from Ctesias's Persica, a work
written early in the fourth century B.C. This

111.4 Compendium on Aristotle


He composed commentaries on Aristotle. A compendium of excerpts from these is extant in a Syriac
manuscript discovered in Cambridge in 1901, (shelfmark
Gg. 2. 14). This dates later than 1400, was acquired
by Cambridge in 1632, and is very tatty and disarranged.
The majority of the manuscript is a work by Dionysius
Bar Salibi.* [11] The work was probably written in Rome
ca. 1 AD, when he attracted criticism for being too involved in philosophy to court the wealthy and powerful.* [12]

346

111.8. REFERENCES

111.5 On plants
Main article: On Plants
An Arabic text of his work De Plantis, once attributed
to Aristotle, was discovered in Istanbul in 1923. It also
exists in a Syriac manuscript at Cambridge.

111.6 Other works


He composed some tragedies and comedies, which are
now lost.* [8]

111.7 The Embassy of an Indian


King to Augustus

347
This is the practice with persons in distress,
who seek escape from existing calamities, and
with others in prosperous circumstances, as
was the case with this man. For as everything
hitherto had succeeded with him, he thought
it necessary to depart, lest some unexpected
calamity should happen to him by continuing to
live; with a smile, therefore, naked, anointed,
and with the girdle round his waist, he leaped
upon the pyre. On his tomb was this inscription:
Zarmanochegas, AN INDIAN,
A NATIVE OF BARGOSA,
HAVING
IMMORTALIZED
HIMSELF ACCORDING TO
THE CUSTOM OF HIS COUNTRY, HERE LIES.* [15]

This accounts suggests that it may not have been impossible to encounter an Indian religious man in the Levant
One of the most famous passages is his account of
during the time of Jesus.
an embassy sent by an Indian king named Pandion
(Pandyan kingdom) or, according to others, Porus" to The Jewish historian Josephus references the fourth book
Augustus around AD 13. He met with the embassy at of Nicolaus' history concerning Abram (Abraham).* [16]
Antioch. The embassy was bearing a diplomatic letter in
Greek, and one of its members was a sramana who burnt
himself alive in Athens to demonstrate his faith. The 111.8 References
event made a sensation and was quoted by Strabo* [13]
and Dio Cassius.* [14] A tomb was made to the sramana, [1] Burns, Ross. Damascus: A History, p. 59.
still visible in the time of Plutarch, which bore the mention " " [2] Nicolaus, Autobiography, Fr.136.8
(The sramana master from Barygaza in India"):
[3] Patrologia Graeca, Vol. 87, 3. col. 3622D; F.Jacoby,
FGrH.90.T2.

To these accounts may be added that of Nicolaus Damascenus. This writer states that at
Antioch, near Daphne, he met with ambassadors from the Indians, who were sent to
Augustus Caesar. It appeared from the letter that several persons were mentioned in it,
but three only survived, whom he says he saw.
The rest had died chiey in consequence of
the length of the journey. The letter was written in Greek upon a skin; the import of it
was, that Porus was the writer, that although he
was sovereign of six hundred kings, yet that he
highly esteemed the friendship of Csar; that
he was willing to allow him a passage through
his country, in whatever part he pleased, and
to assist him in any undertaking that was just.
Eight naked servants, with girdles round their
waists, and fragrant with perfumes, presented
the gifts which were brought. The presents
were a Hermes (i. e. a man) born without
arms, whom I have seen, large snakes, a serpent
ten cubits in length, a river tortoise of three cubits in length, and a partridge larger than a vulture. They were accompanied by the person, it
is said, who burnt himself to death at Athens.

[4] Nicolaus, Autobiography, Fr.136.8-11


[5] Suda, N.393.
[6] Athenaeus, vi. 249.
[7] K. Mller, et al., Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum,
Vol. 3, p. 345.
[8] Lulofs, H. J. Drossart. On the Philosophy of Aristotle, by
Nicolaus Damascenus. Brill, 1969, p. 1f.
[9] Jewish Encyclopedia Article
[10] Drews, Robert, Sargon, Cyrus and Mesopotamian Folk
HistoryJournal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 33, No. 4,
(Oct., 1974), pp. 387-393.
[11] Lulofs, H. J. Drossart. On the Philosophy of Aristotle, by
Nicolaus Damascenus. Brill, 1969, p. 46.
[12] Lulofs, H. J. Drossart. On the Philosophy of Aristotle, by
Nicolaus Damascenus. Brill, 1969, p. 5.
[13] Strabo, xv, 1, on the immolation of the Sramana in Athens
(Paragraph 73).
[14] Dio Cassius, liv, 9.
[15] Strabo, xv, 1.73.
[16] Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, i.158 (ch.7)

348

111.9 Sources
Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, Harper
and Brothers, New York, 1898: Nicolaus
Lightfoot, J. B. 1875. On Some Points Connected
with the Essenes: II."Origin and Anity of the Essenes, Note
Wacholder, B. Z. 1962. Nicolaus of Damascus.
University of California Studies in History 75.
Yarrow, L. M. 2006. Historiography at the End of
the Republic. Oxford University Press, pp. 6777.

111.10 External links


Life of Augustus
Excerpts from the Autobiography of Nicolaus
Ludwig August Dindorf's edition of Nicolaus' fragments in his 1870 Historici Graeci minores

CHAPTER 111. NICOLAUS OF DAMASCUS

Chapter 112

Olympiodorus the Younger


Olympiodorus the Younger (Greek: - works are:
; c. 495 570) was a Neoplatonist
philosopher, astrologer and teacher who lived in the early
Commentary on Plato's Alcibiades (
years of the Byzantine Empire, after Justinian's Decree
)
of 529 AD which closed Plato's Academy in Athens and
other pagan schools. Olympiodorus was the last pagan
Commentary on Plato's Gorgias (
to maintain the Platonist tradition in Alexandria (see
)
Alexandrian School); after his death the School passed
into the hands of Christian Aristotelians, and was even Commentary on Plato's Phaedo (
tually moved to Constantinople.
)
Life of Plato ( )

112.1 Life

Introduction (Prolegomena) to Aristotle's logic (


)

Olympiodorus was the disciple of Ammonius Hermiae at


the philosophy school in Alexandria, and succeeded him
Commentary on Aristotle's Meteorology (
as its leader when Ammonius died c. 520. He was still

teaching and writing in 565, because in his commentary
)
on Aristotle's Meteorology, he mentions a comet that appeared that year. Olympiodorus himself was able to sur Commentary on Aristotle's Categories (
vive the persecution experienced by many of his peers
)
(see, for example, Hierocles of Alexandria), possibly because the Alexandrian School was less involved in poli Commentary on Aristotle's On Interpretation
tics (for example, the attempts by the Emperor Julian to
( )
re-establish Mithraic cults) and also possibly because it
was more scholastic and less religious than the Athenian
In addition, a Commentary by Olympiodorus is extant
Academy.
on Paulus Alexandrinus' Introduction to astrology (which
He is called Olympiodorus the Younger or The Younger was written in 378 AD). Although the manuscript of
Olympiodorus in contemporary references because there the Commentary is credited in two later versions to a
was an earlier (5th century) Peripatetic philosopher also Heliodorus, L. G. Westerink argues that it is actually the
called Olympiodorus (Olympiodorus the Elder) who also outline of a series of lectures given by Olympiodorus in
taught in Alexandria. This man was most well known for Alexandria between May and July 564 AD. The Combeing among the students of Proclus.
mentary is an informative expatiation of Paulus' tersely
written text, elaborating on practices and sources. The
Commentary also illuminates the developments in astrological theory in the 200 years after Paulus.

112.2 Writings

Among the extant writings of Olympiodorus the Younger


are a biography of Plato, commentaries on several di- 112.3 Spurious works
alogues of Plato and on Aristotle, and an introduction to Aristotelian philosophy. Olympiodorus also pro- In addition there are two works ascribed to Olympivides information on the work of the earlier Neoplatonist odorus, but which are now believed to be by other auIamblichus which is not found elsewhere. The surviving thors:
349

350
An alchemical treatise concerning Zosimus' On the
Action, called On the Book Katenergeian (On the
action or According to the action) by Zosimus and on
the Sayings of Hermes and the Philosophers (
' ,
)
On the Divine and Sacred Art of the Philosophical
Stone (
; Latin: De arte sacra lapidis philosophorum)
A commentary on Plato's Philebus now thought to
be the work of Damascius

112.4 References
Late Classical Astrology: Paulus Alexandrinus and
Olympiodorus (with the Scholia of later Latin Commentators). [Translated by Dorian Gieseler Greenbaum.] ARHAT , 2001.
Olympiodorus The Younger.Encyclopdia
Britannica from Encyclopdia Britannica Premium Service. <http://www.britannica.com/eb/
article-9057064> [Accessed January 4, 2006].
L.G. Westerink,Ein astrologisches Kolleg aus dem
Jahre 564,in Byzantinische Zeitschrift, 64, 1971,
pp. 621.
Bruce M. Metzger, Ancient Astrological Geography and Acts 2:9-11,W. Ward Gasque & Ralph
P. Martin, eds., Apostolic History and the Gospel.
Biblical and Historical Essays Presented to F.F.
Bruce. Exeter: The Paternoster Press, 1970. Hbk.
ISBN 0-85364-098-X. pp. 123133.
Harold Tarrant, Olympiodorus and history,
in Idem, From the Old Academy to Later NeoPlatonism: Studies in the History of Platonic Thought
(Aldershot, Ashgate, 2010) (Variorum Collected
Studies Series: CS964).
Harold Tarrant, Politike Eudaimonia: Olympiodorus on Plato's Republic,in Idem, From the Old
Academy to Later Neo-Platonism: Studies in the History of Platonic Thought (Aldershot, Ashgate, 2010)
(Variorum Collected Studies Series: CS964).
Harold Tarrant,Restoring Olympiodorus' syllogistic,in Idem, From the Old Academy to Later NeoPlatonism: Studies in the History of Platonic Thought
(Aldershot, Ashgate, 2010) (Variorum Collected
Studies Series: CS964).
Robert Schmidt, Project Hindsight
Sebastian R. P. Gertz, Death and Immortality in Late
Neoplatonism: Studies on the Ancient Commentaries
on Plato's Phaedo, Brill: Leiden, 2011.

CHAPTER 112. OLYMPIODORUS THE YOUNGER

112.5 External links


Olympiodorus entry by Christian Wildberg in the
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
The Neoplatonist Family Tree
Olympiodorus of Alexandria - Encyclopedia.com

Chapter 113

Lorraine Smith Pangle


Lorraine Smith Pangle is an American philosopher and
professor of philosophy in the Department of Government at the University of Texas at Austin. Her interests
are ancient, early modern, and American political philosophy, ethics, the philosophy of education, and problems
of justice and moral responsibility.* [1]* [2]* [3]* [4] Pangle received her PhD from University of Chicago in 1999.
She is married to Thomas Pangle.* [5]

113.1 Books

[3] A review of The Political Philosophy of Benjamin


Franklin by Lorraine Smith Pangle. Claremont.org. Retrieved 25 October 2014.
[4] The Learning of Liberty: The Educational Ideas of
the American Founders reviewed by Ralph Lerner. Jstor.org. Retrieved 25 October 2014.
[5]Ross M. Lence Master Teacher Residency: 2009 Events
. Uh.edu. 17 October 2013. Retrieved 25 October 2014.

113.4 External links

Virtue Is Knowledge: The Moral Foundations of Socratic Political Philosophy, University of Chicago
Press, 2014
The Political Philosophy of Benjamin Franklin (The
Political Philosophy of the American Founders),
Johns Hopkins, 2007
Aristotle and the Philosophy of Friendship, Cambridge, 2003
The Learning of Liberty: The Educational Ideas of
the American Founders (with Thomas Pangle). University Press of Kansas, 1993

113.2 See also


Benjamin Franklin
Aristotelian ethics
Moral intellectualism

113.3 References
[1] ""Aristotle and the Philosophy of Friendshipreviewed
by Gabriel Richardson Lear. Ndpr.nd.edu. Retrieved
25 October 2014.
[2] American Freedom Alliance. Americanfreedomalliance.org. Retrieved 25 October 2014.

351

Pangle at University of Texas

Chapter 114

John Philoponus
John Philoponus (/flpns/; Ancient Greek: ; Arabic: al-Naw Yay; c. 490
c. 570) also known as John the Grammarian or John
of Alexandria, was a Christian and Aristotelian commentator and the author of a considerable number of
philosophical treatises and theological works. A rigorous,
sometimes polemical writer and an original thinker who
was controversial in his own time, John Philoponus broke
from the AristotelianNeoplatonic tradition, questioning
methodology and eventually leading to empiricism in the
natural sciences.

But this [view of Aristotle] is completely


erroneous, and our view may be completely
corroborated by actual observation more eectively than by any sort of verbal argument. For
if you let fall from the same height two weights,
one many times heavier than the other you will
see that the ratio of the times required for the
motion does not depend [solely] on the weights,
but that the dierence in time is very small.
... John Philoponus' refutation of the Aristotelian claim that the elapsed time for a falling
body is inversely proportional to its weight* [4]

He was posthumously condemned as a heretic by the


Orthodox Church in 68081 because of what was perceived of as a tritheistic interpretation of the Trinity.
In 529 Philoponus wrote his critique Against Proclus in
His works were widely printed in Latin translations in Eu- which he systematically defeats every argument put forrope from the 15th century onwards. His critique of Aris- ward for the eternity of the world, a theory which formed
totle in the Physics commentary was a major inuence on the basis of pagan attack of the Christian doctrine of
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola and Galileo Galilei, who Creation. The intellectual battle against eternalism became one of Philoponusmajor preoccupations and domcited Philoponus substantially in his works.* [1]
inated several of his publications (some now lost) over the
following decade.

114.1 Life
Possibly born into a Christian family, nothing is known
of his early life. Philoponus studied at the school of
Alexandria and began publishing from about 510. He
was a pupil and sometime amanuensis to the Neoplatonic philosopher Ammonius Hermiae, who had studied
at Athens under Proclus.* [2]
Philoponusearly writings are based on lectures given
by Ammonius, but gradually he established his own independent thinking in his commentaries and critiques of
Aristotles On the Soul and Physics. In the latter work
Philoponus became one of the earliest thinkers to reject
Aristotles dynamics and propose thetheory of impetus:* [3] i.e., an object moves and continues to move because of an energy imparted in it by the mover, and ceases
movement when that energy is exhausted. In this erroneous but insightful theory can be found the rst step towards the concept of inertia in modern physics, although
Philoponustheory was largely ignored at the time because he was too radical in his rejection of Aristotle.

He introduced a new period of scientic thought based


heavily on three premises: (1) The universe is a product of one single God, (2) the heavens and the earth have
the same physical properties, (3) and the stars are not
divine.* [5] With these principles Philoponus went after
his rival, Simplicius of Cilicia, by questioning Aristotle's'
view of dynamics and cosmology.* [5] He argued that motion can occur in a void and that the velocity of a falling
object is not based on its weight.* [5] He also held that
God created all matter with its physical properties and
with natural laws that would allow matter to progress from
a state of chaos to an organized state forming the present
universe.* [5] What remains of his writings indicate that
he used the same didactic methods of reasoning that modern science uses and that he performed genuine experiments.* [5]
The style of his commentaries and his conclusions made
Philoponus unpopular with his colleagues and fellow
philosophers, and he appears to have ceased his study of
philosophy around 530, devoting himself to theology instead. Around 550 he wrote a theological work On the
Creation of the World as a commentary on the Bibles
story of creation using the insights of Greek philosophers

352

114.2. WRITINGS

353

and Basil the Great. In this work he transfers his theory


of impetus to the motion of the planets, whereas Aristotle had proposed dierent explanations for the motion of
heavenly bodies and for earthly projectiles. Thus Philoponustheological work is recognized in the history of
science as the rst attempt at a unied theory of dynamics. Another of his major theological concerns was to
argue that all material objects were brought into being by
God (Arbiter, 52AB).

On the Eternity of the World against Aristotle (De aeternitate mundi contra Aristotelem)* [18] A refutation of Aristotle's doctrines of the fth element and
the eternity of motion and time, consisting of at least
eight books.

Around 553 Philoponus made some theological contributions to the Council of Constantinople concerning
Christology. His doctrine on Christs duality, according
to which in Christ remain two united substances, united
but divided, is analogous to the union of the soul and
body in human beings and coincides with the miaphysite
school of thought. He also produced writings on the Trinity around this time.

On the Use and Construction of the Astrolabe* [22]


The oldest extant Greek treatise on the astrolabe.

After his death, John Philoponus was declared to have


held heretical views of the Trinity and was made anathema in 680-1. This limited the spread of his ideas in
the following centuries, but in his own time and afterwards he was translated into Syriac and Arabic, and many
of his works continued to persevere and be studied by
the Arabs. Some of his works continued to circulate
in Europe in Greek or Latin versions, and inuenced
Bonaventure. The theory of impetus was taken up by
Buridan in the 14th century.

Commentary on Aristotle's Meteorology* [19]


On the Contingency of the World (De contingentia
mundi)* [20]* [21]

Commentary on Nicomachus' Introduction to Arithmetic* [23]


On the Creation of the World (De opicio
mundi)* [24] A theological-philosophical commentary on the Creation story in the Book of
Genesis.
Arbiter ( [Diaitts])* [25]* [26] A
philosophical justication of monophysitism. Not
extant in Greek; Syriac text with Latin trans.
On the Trinity (De trinitate)* [27] The main source
for a reconstruction of Philoponus' trinitarian doctrine.

114.2.1 Philosophical commentaries

114.2 Writings

The commentaries of the late antiquity and early Middle


Ages aimed to teach audience. In that regard, the repeticommentaries demonstrates his
John Philoponus wrote at least 40 works on a wide ar- tive nature of Philoponus
ray of subjects including grammar, mathematics, physics, pedagogical awareness. Although in the abstract manner,
Philoponus is chiey focused on the concept in question.
chemistry, and theology.
Most of Philoponusearly philosophical works strive to
dene the distinction between matter, extension, place
and various kinds of change. For example, the commentary Against Aristotle on the Eternity of the World represents a standardized description of Aristotelian natural philosophy.* [28] Both Aristotle and Philoponus argue
Commentary on Aristotle'sOn Generation and Cor- that in kinds of change there are dierences, in their form
ruption* [7]
and matter.
On words with dierent meanings in virtue of a
dierence of accent (De vocabulis quae diversum
signicatum exhibent secundum dierentiam accentus)* [6]

Commentary on Aristotle's De Anima* [8]


Commentary on Aristotle's Categories* [9]
Commentary on Aristotle's Prior Analytics* [10]
Commentary on Aristotle's Posterior Analytics* [11]
Commentary
on
Aristotle's
Physics* [12]* [13]* [14]* [15]* [16] Philoponus'
most important commentary, in which he challenges
Aristotle on time, space, void, matter and dynamics.
On the Eternity of the World against Proclus (De aeternitate mundi contra Proclum)* [17]

In Physics, Aristotle operates with the idea of places, but


dismisses the existence of space. The idea that came from
Plato and was developed by Aristotle has been evolved
by Philoponus. Philoponus attempts to combine the idea
of homogeneous space with the Aristotelian system.* [29]
The argument made by Philoponus is that substances by
themselves require some determinate quantity for their
being. Similarly to Aristotle, who rejected the immaterial things,and in contrast to Plato whose metaphysics
accepted immaterial substances, Philoponusconcept of
substance refers to the material objects.
Concerning the discussion of space, Philoponusclaim
that from every point in space is possible to draw identical
gures, made him be perceived as an innovative thinker

354

CHAPTER 114. JOHN PHILOPONUS

who inuenced later Renaissance scholars, for instance, ground.


Gianfranceso Pico della Mirandola and Galileo Galilei. Inuence on later history writing
Thus, Philoponus' idea of perspective signies the concept of space as immaterial three-dimensional medium Philoponusview of space as homogeneity is inuenced
by the Hellenic teaching of Aristotle. However, Philoin which objects are located.* [29]
ponus and his contemporaries, Simplicius of Cilicia and
In the third book of De Anima, entitled De Intellectu, Strato developed this concept further.* [29] This concept
Philoponus analyzes the doctrine of the intellect. The auguided the Renaissance theory of perspective, particuthor (Philoponus or pseudo-Philoponus?) sets the theory larly the one highlighted by Leon Battista Alberti, and
on the role and functioning of the active intellect.* [30] On other architectural masters.
one hand, there is the active intellect, and on the other, the
idea of perception awareness or how we are aware that we
are perceiving. In other words, in this reective philosophy, there is a rationalist conclusion which emphasizes a 114.4 Bibliography
relation between self and truth which leads to the discussion of the nature of knowledge.
114.4.1 Works
According to this view, the knowledge is identical to
its object, since the self-awareness of perception is divorced from the irrational soul.Therefore, the understanding arises through the identication of the intellect
and its object. More specically, perception deals only
with material things.* [31]
Philoponus has raised the central question of the scientic
and philosophical Aristotles work on chemistry. The
work called On Generation and Corruption examines the
question of how is the mixture (chemical combination)
possible? Philoponuscontribution to the topic is in his
new denition of potential, the third of the seven elements
criteria. There are various interpretations of the theory
of mixture, but it seems that Philoponus is rather rening
Aristotle
s approach than rejecting it. One of interpreters
of Philophonuswork on the theory of mixture, De Haas,
implies that no element can possess a quality essential
to it except to a superlative extent.* [32]* [33]

114.2.2

Theological treaties

Philoponusmajor Christological work is Arbiter. The


work was written shortly before the Second Council of
Constantinople of 553.* [34] It became famous in regard
to its doctrine on resurrection. Similarly to ideas presented in Physics, Philoponus in the work titled Arbiter
states that our corrupted bodies (material things) will
be eventually brought into being (matter and form) by
God.* [35]

114.3 Historiographical contribution


Relation to contemporaries
John PhiloponusChristologicalopus magnumstands
in the line with St. Cyril of Alexandria and Severus
of Antioch.* [35] Philoponus asserted the understanding of Christ as a divine and a human, in opposition
to Chalcedonian authors who strove to reach a middle

On words with dierent meanings in virtue of a difference of accent (De vocabulis quae diversum signicatum exhibent secundum dierentiam accentus), ed. L.W. Daly, American Philosophical Society Memoirs 151, Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1983.
Commentary on Aristotle's On Generation and
Corruption, ed. H. Vitelli, Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca (henceforward CAG) XIV 2, Berlin:
Reimer, 1897.
Commentary on Aristotle's De Animaed. M.
Hayduck, CAG XV, Berlin: Reimer, 1897.
Commentary on Aristotle's Categories, ed. A.
Busse, CAG XIII 1, Berlin: Reimer, 1898.
Commentary on Aristotle's Prior Analytics, ed.
M. Wallies, CAG XIII 2, Berlin: Reimer, 1905.
Commentary on Aristotle'sPosterior Analytics,
ed. M. Wallies, CAG XIII 3, Berlin: Reimer, 1909.
Commentary on Aristotle'sPhysics
, ed. H. Vitelli,
CAG XVI-XVII, Berlin: Reimer, 188788.
Commentary on Aristotle'sMeteorology, ed. M.
Hayduck, CAG XIV 1, Berlin: Reimer, 1901.
Commentary on Nicomachus' Introduction to Arithmetic, ed. R. Hoche, Part I/II Wesel: A. Bagel,
1864/65, Part III Berlin: Calvary, 1867.
On the Eternity of the World against Proclus (De
aeternitate mundi contra Proclum), ed. H. Rabe,
Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 1899; repr. Hildesheim:
Olms, 1984.
On the Eternity of the World against Aristotle (De
aeternitate mundi contra Aristotelem), not extant;
fragments reconstr. and trans. C. Wildberg
On the Creation of the World (De opicio mundi),
ed. W. Reichardt, Leipzig: Teubner, 1897.

114.6. REFERENCES
Arbiter (Diaitts text with Latin trans. A. Sanda,
Opuscula monophysitica Ioannis Philoponi, Beirut:
Typographia Catholica PP.Soc.Jesu., 1930.

114.4.2

Translations

On Aristotle's Physics 2, trans. A. R. Lacey, London: Duckworth, 1993.


On Aristotle's Physics 3, trans. M. Edwards, London: Duckworth, 1994.

355

[7] Ed. H. Vitelli, Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca XIV,


Berlin, Reimer, 1897
[8] Ed. M. Hayduck, Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca XV,
Berlin, Reimer, 1897
[9] Ed. A. Busse, Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca, XIII,
Berlin, Reimer, 1898
[10] Ed. M. Wallies, Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca XIII,
Berlin, Reimer, 1905
[11] Ed. M. Wallies, Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca, XIII,
Berlin, Reimer, 1909

Corollaries on Place and Void, trans. D. Furley,


London: Duckworth, 1991.

[12] Ed. H. Vitelli Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca XVI


XVII, Berlin, Reimer, 1887

Against Aristotle on the Eternity of the World, London: Duckworth, 1987.

[13] A. R. Lacey, Philoponus On Aristotle's Physics, London,


Duckworth, 1993

More translations are listed here.

114.5 See also


Byzantine science

114.6 References
[1] Branko Mitrovi, Leon Battista Alberti and the Homogeneity of Space, The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, vol. 63, No. 4 (2004), pp. 424439.
[2] Chisholm 1911.
[3] Philoponusterm for impetus is
incorporeal motive enrgeia"; see CAG XVII,
Ioannis Philoponi in Aristotelis Physicorum Libros Quinque
Posteriores Commentaria, Walter de Gruyter, 1888, p.
642: "
[I say
that impetus (incorporeal motive energy) is transferred
from the thrower to the thrown].
[4] Morris R. Cohen and I. E. Drabkin (eds. 1958), A Source
Book in Greek Science (p. 220), with several changes.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, as referenced
by David C. Lindberg (1992), The Beginnings of Western
Science: The European Scientic Tradition in Philosophical, Religious, and Institutional Context, 600 B.C. to A.D.
1450, University of Chicago Press, p. 305, ISBN 0-22648231-6
Note the inuence of Philoponus' statement on
Galileo's Two New Sciences (1638)
[5] David C. Lindberg (15 March 1980), Science in the Middle
Ages, University of Chicago Press, p. 11, ISBN 978-0226-48233-0, retrieved 12 January 2013
[6] Ed. L.W. Daly, American Philosophical Society Memoirs
151, Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society 1983

[14] M. Edwards, Philoponus, On Aristotle's Physics, London,


Duckworth 1994
[15] P. Lettinck, Philoponus, On Aristotle's Physics, London,
Duckworth, 1993
[16] D. Furley, Philoponus, Corollaries on Place and Void,
London Duckworth, 1991
[17] Ed. H. Rabe, Leipzig: B. G. Teubner 1899 repr.
Hildesheim: Olms, 1984.
[18] C. Wildberg Philoponus, Against Aristotle on the Eternity
of the World London: Duckworth, 1987.
[19] Ed. M. Hayduck, Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca
XIV, Berlin, Reimer, 1901
[20] S. Pines, An Arabic summary of a lost work of John Philoponus, Israel Oriental Studies 2, 1972, pp. 32052
[21] Excerpts in Simplicius D. Furley, C. Wildberg, Philoponus, Corollaries on Place and Void with Simplicius,
Against Philoponus on the Eternity of the World London:
Duckworth, 1991, pp. 95141.
[22] Trans. into English H.W. Green in R.T. Gunther The Astrolabes of the World Oxford, 1932, repr. London: Holland Press, 1976, pp. 6181.
[23] Ed. R. Hoche, Part I/II Wesel: A. Bagel, 1864/65, Part
III Berlin: Calvary, 1867.
[24] Ed. W. Reichardt, Leipzig: Teubner, 1897
[25] A. Sanda, Opuscula monophysitica Ioannis Philoponi
Beirut: Typographia Catholica PP.Soc.Jesu., 1930
[26] W. Bhm Johannes Philoponos, Grammatikos von Alexandrien Mnchen, Paderborn, Wien Schningh, 1967, pp.
41429.
[27] A. Van Roey, Les fragments trithites de Jean Philopon,
Orientalia Lovaniensia Periodica 11, 1980, pp. 13563.
[28] Pearson, C. , John Philoponus, On Aristotles One Coming to Be and Perishing 1.1-5 and 1.6-2.4. (book review).
Early Science and Medicine vol. 4 (2004),p. 424-439

356

[29] Mitrovic, B. Leon Batista Alberti and the Homogeneity of


Space. The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, vol. 63, Number 4 (2004), pp. 424439
[30] Lautner, Peter (1992). Philoponus, in De Anima III:
Quest for an Author. The Classical Quarterly. New Series 42 (2): 510522. doi:10.1017/s0009838800016116.
ISSN 0009-8388. JSTOR 639426.
[31] Hubler, N. The Perils of Self-Perception: Explanations
of Appreciation in the Greek Commentaries on Aristotle.
The Review of Metaphysics, vol. 59, Number 2, pp. 287
311
[32] De Haas, in Wood & Weisberg, 2004
[33] Wood, R. & Weisberg, M. Interpreting Aristotle on mixture: problems about elemental composition from Philoponus to Cooper. Studies in History and Philosophy of
Science, vol. 35 (2004), pp. 681706
[34] Translated and edited by A. Sandra in 1930
[35] Lang, U. M. (1997). Nicetas Choniates, a Neglected
Witness to the Greek Text of John Philoponus' Arbiter
. The Journal of Theological Studies 48 (2): 540548.
doi:10.1093/jts/48.2.540. ISSN 0022-5185.

Attribution
Chisholm, Hugh, ed.
(1911).
"Philoponus,
Joannes". Encyclopdia Britannica (11th ed.).
Cambridge University Press.

114.7 Further reading


Gleede, Benjamin, Platon und Aristoteles in der Kosmologie des Proklos. Ein Kommentar zu den 18 Argumenten fr die Ewigkeit der Welt bei Johannes
Philoponos (Tbingen, Mohr Siebeck, 2009) (Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum / Studies
and Texts in Antiquity and Christianity, 54).
Grant, E. Much Ado about Nothing: theories of space
and vacuum from the Middle Ages to the scientic
revolution (Cambridge, 1981).
Grant, E. A History of Natural Philosophy: from the
ancient world to the nineteenth century (Cambridge,
2007).
Jammer, M. Concepts of Space: The History of Theories of Space in Physics (Mineola, NY, 1993), 53
94.
Jammer, Max (1993). The Emancipation of the
Space concept from Aristotelianism. Concepts of
Space: The History of Theories of Space in Physics.
Courier Dover Publications. pp. 5394. ISBN 0486-27119-6.

CHAPTER 114. JOHN PHILOPONUS


Lang, Uwe Michael (2001). John Philoponus and
the Controversies Over Chalcedon in the Sixth Century: A Study and Translation of the Arbiter. Spicilegium Sacrum Lovaniense 47, Peeters.
MacCoull, Leslie S. B., Aristophanes in Philoponus: Did he get the joke?" Jahrbuch der sterreichischen Byzantinistik, 57, 2007,
Scholten, Clemens,Welche Seele hat der Embryo?
Johannes Philoponos und die Antike Embryologie,
Vigiliae Christianae, 59,4 (2005), 377411.
Sorabji, Richard (1993). Philoponus and the Rejection of Aristotelian Science. Cornell University
Press.

114.8 External links


Biography in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Chapter 115

Porphyry (philosopher)
Porphyry of Tyre (/prfri/; Greek: , Porphyrios; c. 234 c. 305 AD) was a Neoplatonic philosopher who was born in Tyre.* [1] He edited and published
the Enneads, the only collection of the work of his teacher
Plotinus. He also wrote many works himself on a wide
variety of topics.* [2] His Isagoge, or Introduction, is an
introduction to logic and philosophy,* [3] and in Latin
translation it was the standard textbook on logic throughout the Middle Ages.* [4] In addition, through several
of his works, most notably Philosophy from Oracles and
Against the Christians, he was involved in a controversy
with a number of early Christians,* [5] and his commentary on Euclid's Elements was used as a source by Pappus
of Alexandria.* [6]

115.2 Introduction (Isagoge)

Imaginary debate between Averroes (11261198 AD) and Porphyry (234c. 305 AD). Monfredo de Monte Imperiali Liber de
herbis, 14th century.* [9]

115.1 Biographical information


Porphyry's parents were Phoenician, and he was born in
Tyre. His parents named him Malchus (king)* [7]
but his teacher in Athens, Cassius Longinus, gave him
the name Porphyrius (clad in purple), possibly a reference to his Phoenician heritage, or a punning allusion
to his name and the color of royal robes. Under Longinus he studied grammar and rhetoric. In 262 he went to
Rome, attracted by the reputation of Plotinus, and for six
years devoted himself to the practice of Neoplatonism,
during which time he severely modied his diet. At one
point he became suicidal.* [8] On the advice of Plotinus
he went to live in Sicily for ve years to recover his mental
health. On returning to Rome, he lectured on philosophy
and completed an edition of the writings of Plotinus (who
had died in the meantime) together with a biography of
his teacher. Iamblichus is mentioned in ancient Neoplatonic writings as his pupil, but this most likely means only
that he was the dominant gure in the next generation of
philosophers. The two men diered publicly on the issue of theurgy. In his later years, he married Marcella, a
widow with seven children and an enthusiastic student of
philosophy. Little more is known of his life, and the date
of his death is uncertain.

Porphyry is best known for his contributions to philosophy. Apart from writing the Aids to the Study of the Intelligibles ( ; Sententiae Ad Intelligibilia Ducentes), a basic summary of Neoplatonism,
he is especially appreciated for his Introduction to Categories (Introductio in Praedicamenta or Isagoge et in Aristotelis Categorias commentarium), a very short work often
considered to be a commentary on Aristotle's Categories,
hence the title.* [10] According to Barnes (2003), however, the correct title is simply Introduction (
Isagoge), and the book is an introduction not to the Categories in particular, but to logic in general, comprising as
it does the theories of predication, denition, and proof.
The Introduction describes how qualities attributed to
things may be classied, famously breaking down the
philosophical concept of substance into the ve components genus, species, dierence, property, accident.
As Porphyry's most inuential contribution to philosophy, the Introduction to Categories incorporated Aristotle's logic into Neoplatonism, in particular the doctrine
of the categories of being interpreted in terms of entities
(in later philosophy, "universal"). Boethius' Isagoge, a
Latin translation of Porphyry'sIntroduction, became a
standard medieval textbook in European schools and universities, which set the stage for medieval philosophicaltheological developments of logic and the problem of uni-

357

358

CHAPTER 115. PORPHYRY (PHILOSOPHER)

versals. In medieval textbooks, the all-important Arbor


porphyriana (Porphyrian Tree) illustrates his logical
classication of substance. To this day, taxonomy benets from concepts in Porphyry's Tree, in classifying living
organisms (see cladistics).

448.* [14]* [15]* [16]

Porphyry became one of the most able pagan adversaries of Christianity of his day. His aim was not to
disprove the substance of Christianitys teachings but
rather the records within which the teachings are comThe Introduction was translated into Arabic by Abd-Allh municated.* [17]
Ibn al-Muqaa from a Syriac version. With the AraHis criticisms may have targeted Christians more than
bicized name Isghj ( )it long remained the Christ; he is reported to have said in another work (the
standard introductory logic text in the Muslim world and Philosophy from Oracles): The gods have proclaimed
inuenced the study of theology, philosophy, grammar, Christ to have been most pious, but the Christians are a
and jurisprudence. Besides the adaptations and epitomes confused and vicious sect.
of this work, many independent works on logic by Muslim philosophers have been entitled Isghj. Porphyry's According to Jerome, Porphyry especially attacked the
discussion of accident sparked a long-running debate on prophecy of Daniel because Jews and Christians pointed
to the historical fulllment of its prophecies as a decithe application of accident and essence.* [11]
sive argument. But these prophesies, he maintained, were
written not by Daniel but by some Jew who in the time of
Epiphanes (d. 164 B.C.) gathered up the tra115.3 Philosophy from Oracles (De Antiochus
ditions of Daniel's life and wrote a history of recent past
Philosophia ex Oraculis Hau- events but in the future tense, falsely dating them back to
Daniel's time.

rienda)

Daniel did not predict so much future events


Porphyry is also known as an opponent of Christianity
as he narrated past ones. Finally what he had
and defender of Paganism; his precise contribution to
told up to Antiochus contained true history; if
the philosophical approach to traditional religion may be
anything was guessed beyond that point it was
discovered in the fragments of Philosophy from Oracles
false, for he had not known the future.(quoted
( ; De Philosophia ex
by Jerome)
Oraculis Haurienda), which was originally three books in
length. There is debate as to whether it was written in his
youth (as Eunapius reports) or closer in time to the persecutions of Christians under Diocletian and Galerius.* [12] The rst part of Daniel, with the exception of the dream
in Daniel 2, is historic, not prophetic. Porphyry, attackWhether or not Porphyry was the pagan philosopher op- ing only the prophetic portion, declares it to be merely
ponent in Lactantius' Divine Institutes, written at the time a late anonymous narrative of past events, purporting to
of the persecutions, has long been discussed. The frag- have been predicted long before by Daniel. Thus Porments of the Philosophy from Oracles are only quoted phyry's scheme was based on the supposed spuriousness
by Christians, especially Eusebius, Theodoret, Augustine, of Daniel's prophecies.* [18]
and John Philoponus. The fragments contain oracles
identifying proper sacricial procedure, the nature of as- Porphyry devised his own interpretation where the third
trological fate, and other topics relevant for Greek and prophetic kingdomwas Alexander, and assigned the
Roman religion in the third century. Whether this work Macedonian Ptolemies and Seleucids to the fourth kingcontradicts his treatise defending vegetarianism, which dom. From among these he chose ten kings, making the
also warned the philosopher to avoid animal sacrice, is eleventh to be Antiochus Epiphanes. In this way he threw
his main strength against the book of Daniel, recognizing
disputed among scholars.* [13]
that if this pillar of faith be shaken, the whole structure
of prophecy must tremble. If the writer was not Daniel,
then he lied on a frightful scale, ascribing to God prophe115.4 Against the Christians (Adver- cies which were never uttered, and making claim of miracles that were never wrought. And if Daniel's authorship
sus Christianos)
could be shown to be false, then Christ Himself would
to bear witness to an imposter. (Matt. 24:
During his retirement in Sicily, Porphyry wrote Against be proved
*
[19]
Porphyry's
thesis was adopted by Edward Gib15.)
the Christians ( ; Adversus Christianos)
the
English
deist
Anthony Collins, and most modern
bon,
which consisted of fteen books. Some thirty Chris*
scholars.
[20]
tian apologists, such as Methodius, Eusebius, Apollinaris,
Jerome, etc., responded to his challenge. In fact, everything known about Porphyrys arguments is found in
these refutations, largely because Theodosius II burned
every copy he could nd in A.D. 435 and again in

Augustine and the 5th-century ecclesiastical historian


Socrates of Constantinople, assert that Porphyry was once
a Christian.* [21] Porphyry acknowledged Jesus Christ
only as an outstanding philosopher.

115.7. TRANSLATIONS

359

115.5 Other subjects

De Philosophia ex oraculis haurienda G. Wolf, ed.


(Berlin: 1956).

Porphyry was opposed to the theurgy of his disciple


Iamblichus. Much of Iamblichus' mysteries is dedicated to the defense of mystic theurgic divine possession
against the critiques of Porphyry. French philosopher
Pierre Hadot maintains that for Porphyry, spiritual exercises are an essential part of spiritual development.* [22]

Epistula ad Anebonem A. R. Sodano ed. (Naples:


L'arte Tipograa, 1958).

Porphyry was, like Pythagoras, an advocate of


vegetarianism on spiritual and ethical grounds. These two
philosophers are perhaps the most famous vegetarians
of classical antiquity. He wrote the On Abstinence from
Animal Food ( ; De Abstinentia
ab Esu Animalium), advocating against the consumption
of animals, and he is cited with approval in vegetarian
literature up to the present day.
Porphyry also wrote widely on astrology, religion, philosophy, and musical theory. He produced a History of
Philosophy (Philosophos historia) with vitae of philosophers that included a life of his teacher, Plotinus. His
life of Plato from book iv exists only in quotes by Cyril
of Alexandria.* [23] His book Vita Pythagorae on the life
of Pythagoras is not to be confused with the book of the
same name by Iamblichus. His commentary on Ptolemy's
Harmonics* [24] (Eis ta Harmonika Ptolemaiou hypomnma) is an important source for the history of ancient
harmonic theory.

115.6 Works by Porphyry


Ad Gaurum (of uncertain attribution)* [25] ed.
K. Kalbeisch. Abhandlungen der Preussischen
Akadamie der Wissenschaft. phil.-hist. kl. (1895):
33-62.
Contra Christianos ed.: Adolf von Harnack, Porphyrius, Gegen die Christen,"15 Bcher: Zeugnisse, Fragmente und Referate. Abhandlungen
der kniglich prssischen Akademie der Wissenschaften: Jahrgang 1916: philosoph.-hist.
Klasse: Nr. 1 (Berlin: 1916).
Contra los Cristianos: Recopilacin de Fragmentos,
Traduccin, Introduccin y Notas E. A. Ramos
Jurado, J. Ritor Ponce, A. Carmona Vzquez, I.
Rodrguez Moreno, J. Ortol Salas, J. M. Zamora
Calvo (Cdiz: Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Cdiz 2006).
Corpus dei Papiri Filosoci Greci e Latini III: Commentarii (Florence: Leo S. Olschki, 1995). <# 6
and #9 may or may not be by Porphyry>
De abstinentia ab esu animalium Jean Bouartigue, M. Patillon, and Alain-Philippe Segonds,
edd., 3 vols., Bud (Paris, 19791995).

Fragmenta Andrew Smith, ed. (Stvtgardiae et Lipsiae: B. G. Tevbneri, 1993).


The Homeric Questions: a Bilingual Edition
Lang Classical Studies 2, R. R. Schlunk, trans.
(Frankfurt-am-Main: Lang, 1993).
Isagoge, Stefan Weinstock, ed., in Catalogus Codicum astrologorum Graecorum, Franz Cumont, ed.
(Brussels, 1940): V.4, 187-228. (This is an introduction to the Tetrabiblos of Ptolemy, not to be confused with the more famous Isagoge on logic.)
Kommentar zur Harmonielehre des Ptolemaios Ingemar Duuring. ed. (Gteborg: Elanders, 1932).
Opuscula selecta Augusts Nauck, ed. (Lipsiae: B. G.
Tevbneri, 1886) (online at archive.org).
Porphyrii in Platonis Timaeum commentarium fragmenta A. R. Sodano, ed. (Napoli: 1964).
Porphyry, the Philosopher, to Marcella: Text and
Translation with Introduction and Notes Kathleen
ObBien Wicker, trans., Text and Translations
28; Graeco-Roman Religion Series 10 (Atlanata:
Schoalrs Press, 1987).
Pros Markellan Griechiser Text, herausgegeben,
bersetzt, eingeleitet und erklrt von W. Ptscher
(Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1969).
Sententiae ad Intelligibilia Ducentes E. Lamberz,
ed. (Leipzig: Teubner, 1975).
Vie de Pythagore, Lettre Marcella E. des Places,
ed. and trans. (Paris: Les Belles Lettre, 1982).
La Vie de Plotin Luc Brisson, ed. Historie
de l'antiquit classique 6 & 16 (Paris: Libraire
Philosophique J. Vrin: 19861992), 2 vols.
Vita Plotini in Plotinus, Armstrong, ed. LCL
(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press,
1968), 2-84.
To Marcella text and translation with Introduction
and Notes by Kathleen O'Biren Wicker (Atlanta:
Scholars Press, 1987).

115.7 Translations
Isagoge Mediaeval Sources in Translation 16, E.
Warren, trans. (Toronto: Pontical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1975).

360
Porphyry's Introduction. Translation of the 'Isagoge'
with a Commentary by J. Barnes (Oxford, 2003).
Porphyry. On Aristotle's Categories. Translated by
Steven K. Strange (Ithaca, New York, 1992).
The Organon or Logical Treatises of Aristotle with
the Introduction of Porphyry Bohn's Classical Library 1112, Octavius Freire Owen, trans. (London: G. Bell, 19081910), 2 vols.
Five Texts on the Mediaeval Problem of Universals:
Porphyry, Boethius, Abelard, Duns Scotus, Ockham
Paul Vincent Spade, trans. (Indianapolis: Hackett,
1994).
Select Works of Porphyry. Translated by T. Taylor
(Guildford, 1994). Contains Abstinence from Eating Animal Food, the Sententiae and the Cave of the
Nymphs.
Launching-Points to the Realm of Mind. Translation of the 'Sententiae' by K. Guthrie (Grand Rapids,
Michigan, 1988).

CHAPTER 115. PORPHYRY (PHILOSOPHER)

115.8 See also


Macarius Magnes his work Apocriticus contains a
series of excerpts from Porphyry's Against the Christians

115.9 Notes
[1] For Porphyry's dates, place of birth and philosophical
school, see Barker 2003. Sarton 1936, pp. 429-430, identies Transjordania as Porphyry's place of birth.
[2] Topics range from music to Homer to vegetarianism. For
a comprehensive list see Beutler (18941980).
[3] Barnes 2003, p. xv claries that the Isagoge "[was] not an
Introduction to the Categories, rather "[since it was] an introduction to the study of logic, [it] was... an introduction
to philosophy--and hence accidentally an introduction to
the Categories.

Neoplatonic Saints: The Lives of Plotinus and Proclus. Translated Texts for Historians 35 (Liverpool:
Liverpool University Press, 2000).

[4] See Barnes 2003, p. ix.

On Abstinence from Killing Animals Gilliam Clark,


trans. (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2000).

[6] See O'Connor and Robertson, Porphyry Malchus.

The Cave of the Nymphs in the Odyssey A revised


text with translation by Seminar Classics 609, State
University of New York at Bualo, Arethusa Monograph 1 (Bualo: Dept. of Classics, State University
of New York at Bualo, 1969).
On the Cave of the Nymphs Robert Lamberton,
trans. (Barrytown, N. Y.: Station Hill Press, 1983).

[5] See Digeser 1998.

[7] For connotations of West Semitic M-L-K, see Moloch;


compare theophoric names like Abimelech.
[8] Eunapius, Lives of the Philosophers
[9]Inventions et decouvertes au Moyen-Age, Samuel
Sadaune, p.112
[10] Barnes 2003, p. xiv outlines the history of the opinion that
Porphyry meant for his Isagoge to be an introductory work
to the Categories.

Porphyry Against the Christians R. M. Berchman,


trans., Ancient Mediterranean and Medieval Texts
[11] Encyclopedia Iranica, Araz(accident)
and Contexts 1 (Leiden: Brill, 2005).
Porphyrys Against the Christians: The Literary
Remains R. Joseph Homann, trans. (Amherst:
Prometheus Books, 1994).
The Homeric Questions edited and translated by R.
Schlunk (New York, 1993).
Porphyry's Letter to His Wife Marcella Concerning the Life of Philosophy and the Ascent to the
Gods. Translated by Alice Zimmern (Grand Rapids,
Michigan, 1989).
Porphyry the Philosopher, Introduction to the Tetrabiblos and Serapio of Alexandria, Astrological Definitions Translated by James Herschel Holden
(Tempe, Az.: A.F.A., Inc., 2009).

[12] The Christian apologist Eusebius states that some


Greekmight sayHow can these people be thought worthy of forbearance? They have not only turned away from
those who from earliest time have been thought of as divine among all Greeks and barbarians... but by emperors,
law-givers and philosophersall of a given mind... And to
what sort of penalties might they not be subjected who...
are fugitives from the things of their Fathers?" This material, once thought to be part of Against the Christians, but
reassigned by Wilken 1979 to Philosophy from Oracles, is
quoted in Digeser 1998, p. 129. However, it may not have
been by Porphyry at all. See Aaron Johnson, Rethinking the Authenticity of Porphyry, c.Christ. fr. 1,Studia
Patristica 46 (2010): 53-58.
[13] Aaron Johnson, Religion and Identity in Porphyry of Tyre,
Cambridge, 2013.

Translations of several fragments are contained in


Appendix 1 of Religion and Identity in Porphyry of [14]Constantine and other emperors banned and burned Porphyry's work(Digeser 1998:130).
Tyre by Aaron Johnson (Cambridge, 2013).

115.11. EXTERNAL LINKS

[15] Letter of Constantine proscribing the works of Porphyry


and Arius, To the Bishops and People, in Socrates Scholasticus, Historia Ecclesiastica, i.9.30-31; Gelasius, Historia
Ecclesiastica, II.36; translated in Stevenson, J., (Editor;
Revised with additional documents by W. H. C. Frend),
A New Eusebius, Documents illustrating the history of the
Church to AD 337 (SPCK, 1987).
[16] Froom 1950, p. 326.
[17] Froom 1950, p. 327.
[18] Froom 1950, p. 328.
[19] Froom 1950, p. 329.
[20] Froom 1950, p. 330.
[21] Historia Ecclesiastica III.23.
[22] Hadot, P.: Philosophy as a Way of Life (Oxford: Blackwells, 1995), p. 100.
[23] James A. Notopoulos, Porphyry's Life of PlatoClassical Philology 35.3 (July 1940), pp. 284-293, attempted
a reconstruction from Apuleius' use of it.
[24] " -
- ".
[25] Jonathan Barnes, Method and metaphysics: essays in ancient philosophy, Oxford University Press, 2001, pag. 109,
n. 22.

115.10 References
Iamblichus: De mysteriis. Translated with an Introduction and Notes by Emma C. Clarke, John M.
Dillon and Jackson P. Hershbell (Society of Biblical Literature; 2003) ISBN 1-58983-058-X.
Barker, A. (2003). Porphyry,in S. Hornblower
and A. Spawforth, eds., Oxford Classical Dictionary,
revised 3rd edition, pp. 12261227.
Barnes, J. (2003). Introduction to Introduction, by
Porphyry. Clarendon Press.
Beutler, R. (18941980). Porphyrios (21)" in A.
Pauly, G. Wissowa, W. Kroll, K. Witte, K. Mittelhaus and K. Ziegler, eds., Paulys Realencyclopdie
der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, vol. 22.1.
Bidez, J. (1913). Vie de Porphyre. Ghent.
Clark, Gillian,Porphyry of Tyre on the New Barbarians,in R. Miles (ed), Constructing Identities
in Late Antiquity (London: Routledge, 1999), 112
132; = in Eadem, Body and Gender, Soul and Reason in Late Antiquity (Farnham; Burlington, VT,
Ashgate, 2011) (Variorum collected studies series,
CS978), art. XIV.

361
Clark, Gillian, Philosophic Lives and the philosophic life: Porphyry and Iamblichus,in T. Hgg
and P. Rousseau (eds), Greek Biography and Panegyric in Late Antiquity (Berkeley and Los Angeles, University of California Press, 2000), 2951;
= in Eadem, Body and Gender, Soul and Reason in
Late Antiquity (Farnham; Burlington, VT, Ashgate,
2011) (Variorum collected studies series, CS978),
art. XV.
Clark, Gillian, Fattening the soul: Christian asceticism and Porphyry On Abstinence,Studia Patristica, 35, 2001, 41-51; = in Eadem, Body and
Gender, Soul and Reason in Late Antiquity (Farnham; Burlington, VT, Ashgate, 2011) (Variorum
collected studies series, CS978), art. XVI.
Digeser, E. D. (1998). Lactantius, Porphyry, and
the Debate over Religious Toleration,The Journal
of Roman Studies 88, pp. 129146.
Emilsson, E., Porphyry. Retrieved April 19,
2009.
Froom, LeRoy (1950). The Prophetic Faith of our
Fathers (DjVu and PDF) 1.
Girgenti, G. (1987) Porrio negli ultimi cinquant'anni: bibliograa sistematica e ragionata della
letteratura primaria e secondaria riguardante il pensiero porriano e i suoi inussi storici Milan.
O'Connor, J. and E. Robertson, Porphyry
Malchus. Retrieved April 14, 2009.
Sarton, G. (1936). The Unity and Diversity of the
Mediterranean World,Osiris 2, pp. 406463. (In
JSTOR.)
Smith, Andrew (1987) Porphyrian Studies since
1913, in W. Haase, ed., Aufstieg und Niedergang
der Rmischen Welt II.36.2, pp. 717773.
Smith, Andrew (1974) Porphyry's Place in the Neoplatonic Tradition. A Study in post-Plotinian Neoplatonism, The Hague, Nijho.
Wilken, R. (1979). Pagan Criticism of Christianity: Greek Religion and Christian Faith,in W.
Schoedel and R. Wilken, eds., Early Christian Literature and the Classical Intellectual Tradition, pp.
117134.
Zuiddam, B. A. Old Critics and Modern Theology,Dutch Reformed Theological Journal (South
Africa), xxxvi, 1995, 2.

115.11 External links


Media related to Porphyry (philosopher) at Wikimedia Commons

362
Works written by or about Porphyry at Wikisource
Greek Wikisource has original text related to this
article:
Porphyry Malchus (mathematician) - entry in MacTutor History of Maths Archives.
Porphyry entry by Eyjlfur Emilsson in the Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
(The
Cave of the Nymphs in the Odyssey), original Greek
text.

(Introduction to Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos),
original Greek text.
Porphyry, On Abstinence from Animal Food, Book
I, translated by Thomas Taylor.
Porphyry, On Abstinence from Animal Food, Book
II, translated by Thomas Taylor.
Porphyry, On Abstinence from Animal Food, Book
III, translated by Thomas Taylor.
Porphyry, On Abstinence from Animal Food, Book
IV, translated by Thomas Taylor.
Porphyry, On the Cave of Nymphs, translated by
Thomas Taylor.
Porphyry, Auxiliaries to the Perception of Intelligible
Natures, translated by Thomas Taylor.
Porphyry, Isagoge, translated by Octavius Freire
Owen.
The Isagoge, or Introduction of Porphyry, translated
by Thomas Taylor with an extensive preface by the
translator.
Porphyry, On the Life of Plotinus
Porphyry, Comments on the Book of Daniel.
Additional texts, edited by Roger Pearse

CHAPTER 115. PORPHYRY (PHILOSOPHER)

Chapter 116

Simplicius of Cilicia
Simplicius (/smplis/; Greek: ; c. 490
c. 560* [1]) of Cilicia,* [2] was a disciple of Ammonius
Hermiae and Damascius, and was one of the last of the
Neoplatonists. He was among the pagan philosophers
persecuted by Justinian in the early 6th century, and was
forced for a time to seek refuge in the Persian court, before being allowed back into the empire. He wrote extensively on the works of Aristotle. Although his writings are
all commentaries on Aristotle and other authors, rather
than original compositions, his intelligent and prodigious
learning makes him the last great philosopher of pagan
antiquity. His works have preserved much information
about earlier philosophers which would have otherwise
been lost.

116.1 Life
Simplicius was a disciple of Ammonius Hermiae,* [3]
and Damascius,* [4] and was consequently one of the last
members of the Neoplatonist school. The school had
its headquarters in Athens. It became the centre of the
last eorts to maintain Hellenistic religion against the encroachments of Christianity. Imperial edicts enacted in
the 5th century against paganism gave legal protection
to pagans against personal maltreatment.* [5] In the year
528 the emperor Justinian ordered that pagans should be
removed from government posts. Some were robbed of
their property, some put to death. The order specied
that if they did not within three months convert to Christianity, they were to be banished from the Empire. In
addition, it was forbidden any longer to teach philosophy and jurisprudence in Athens.* [6] Probably also the
property of the Platonist school, which in the time of
Proclus was valued at more than 1000 gold pieces,* [7]
was conscated; at least, Justinian deprived the physicians
and teachers of the liberal arts of the provision-money
which had been assigned to them by previous emperors,
and conscated funds which the citizens had provided for
spectacles and other civic purposes.* [8]

Persian king Chosroes, who had succeeded to the throne


in 531. But they were disappointed in their hopes. Chosroes, in a peace treaty concluded with Justinian c. 533
stipulated that the philosophers should be allowed to return without risk and to practise their rites, after which
they returned.* [9] Of the subsequent fortunes of the
seven philosophers we learn nothing.
We know little about where Simplicius lived and taught.
That he not only wrote, but taught, is proved by the address to his hearers in the commentary on the Physica
Auscultatio of Aristotle,* [10] as well as by the title of his
commentary on the Categories. He had received his training partly in Alexandria, under Ammonius,* [11] partly
in Athens, as a disciple of Damascius; and it was probably in one of these two cities that he subsequently took
up his abode; for, with the exception of these cities and
Constantinople, it would have been dicult to nd a town
which possessed the collections of books he needed, and
he is unlikely to have gone to Constantinople. As to his
personal history, especially his migration to Persia, no
denite allusions are to be found in the writings of Simplicius. Only at the end of his explanation of the treatise of Epictetus, Simplicius mentions, with gratitude, the
consolation which he had found under tyrannical oppression in such ethical contemplations; which might suggest
that it was composed during, or immediately after, the
above-mentioned persecutions.

116.2 Writings

The works which have survived are his commentaries


upon Aristotle's de Caelo, Physica Auscultatio, and
Categories, as well as a commentary upon the Enchiridion
of Epictetus. There is also a commentary on Aristotle's de
Anima under his name, but it is stylistically inferior and
lacks the breadth of historical information usually used
by Simplicius. It has been suggested that it was written
by Priscian of Lydia,* [12] but other scholars see it as au*
Seven philosophers, among whom were Simplicius, thentic. [13]
Eulamius, Priscian, and others, with Damascius, the last The commentary on de Caelo was written before that on
president of the Platonist school in Athens at their head, the Physica Auscultatio, and probably not in Alexandria,
resolved to seek protection at the court of the famous since he mentions in it an astronomical observation made
363

364

CHAPTER 116. SIMPLICIUS OF CILICIA

est in their contents of any that have come down to us


concerning Aristotle. But for them, we should be without the most important fragments of the writings of the
Eleatics, of Empedocles, Anaxagoras, Diogenes of Apollonia, and others, which were at that time already very
scarce,* [17] as well as without many extracts from the
lost books of Aristotle, Theophrastus and Eudemus: but
for them we should hardly be able to unriddle the doctrine of the Categories, so important for the system of
the Stoics. It is true he himself complains that in his
time both the school and the writings of the followers of
Zeno had perished.* [18] But where he cannot draw immediately from the original sources, he looks round for
guides whom he can depend upon, who had made use of
those sources. In addition, we have to thank him for such
copious quotations from the Greek commentaries from
the time of Andronicus of Rhodes down to Ammonius
and Damascius, that, for the Categories and the Physics,
the outlines of a history of the interpretation and criticism of those books may be composed. With a correct
idea of their importance, Simplicius made the most diligent use of the commentaries of Alexander of Aphrodisias and Porphyry; and although he often enough combats the views of the former, he knew how to value, as
it deserved, his (in the main) sound critical sense. He
has also preserved for us intelligence of several more ancient readings, which now, in part, have vanished from the
Commentary on Aristotle's De Caelo by Simplicius. This 14th- manuscripts without leaving any trace, and in the paracentury manuscript is signed by a former owner, Basilios Bessar- phrastic sections of his interpretations furnishes us with
ion.
valuable contributions for correcting or settling the text
of Aristotle. Not less valuable are the contributions towards a knowledge of the ancient astronomical systems
during his stay in that city by Ammonius.* [14] Simplicius for which we have to thank him in his commentary on
wrote his commentary on the Physica Auscultatio after the the books de Caelo. We even nd in his writings some
*
death of Damascius, and therefore after his return from traces of a disposition for the observation of nature. [19]
*
Persia. [15] When it was that he wrote his explanations Although averse to Christianity he abstains from assailof the Categories, whether before or after those on the ing Christian doctrines, even when he combats expressly
above-mentioned Aristotelian treatises, it is impossible the work of his contemporary, John Philoponus, directed
to ascertain. Besides these commentaries of Simplicius against the Aristotelian doctrine of the eternity of the
which have been preserved, the de Anima commentary universe.* [20] In Ethics he seems to have abandoned the
mentions explanations on the metaphysical books, and an mystical pantheistic purication-theory of the Neoplatonepitome of the Physica of Theophrastus.* [16]
ists, and to have found full satisfaction in the ethical sysSimplicius, as a Neoplatonist, endeavoured to show that
Aristotle agrees with Plato even on those points which he
controverts, so that he may lead the way to their deeper,
hidden meaning. In his view not only Plotinus, but also
Syrianus, Proclus, and Ammonius, are great philosophers, who have penetrated into the depths of the wisdom of Plato. Many of the more ancient Greek philosophers he also brings into a connection with Platonism. He
is, however distinguished from his predecessors, whom
he so admires, in making less frequent application of
Orphic, Hermetic, Chaldean, and other Theologumena of
the East; partly in proceeding carefully and modestly in
the explanation and criticism of particular points, and in
striving with diligence to draw from the original sources a
thorough knowledge of the older Greek philosophy. His
commentaries can, therefore, be regarded as the rich-

tem of the later Stoics, however little he was disposed


towards their logical and physical doctrines.
While some sources attribute to Simplicius the coining of
the phrase (panta rhei), meaningeverything
ows/is in a state of ux, to characterize the concept in
the philosophy of Heraclitus,* [21] the essential phrasing
everything changes* [22] and variations on it, in contexts where Heraclitus's thought is being alluded to, was
current in both Plato and Aristotle's writings.* [23]* [24]

116.3 Notes
[1] Donald J. Zeyl, Daniel Devereux, Phillip Mitsis, (1997),
Encyclopedia of classical philosophy. Greenwood Press

116.5. ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS

[2] Agathias, ii. 30; Suda, Presbeis; it is inaccurately that the


Suda (Damascius) calls him a countryman of Eulamius the
Phrygian.

365

116.5 English translations


116.5.1 On Aristotle's Categories

[3] Simplicius, in Phys. Ausc. f. 42, 43, etc.


[4] Simplicius, in Phys. Ausc. f. 150, a. b., 183, b., 186, etc.
[5] Cod. Theod. 16. tit. 10.
[6] 529 AD; Malalas, xviii.; comp. Theophanes, i. 276.
[7] Damascius ap. Photius.
[8] Procopius, Arcan. c. 26.
[9] Agathias, ii. 30.
[10] Simplicius, in Arist. Phys. Ausc. f. 173.
[11] see especially Simplicius in ll. de Caelo, f. 113.
[12] Steel C., in Priscian, On Theophrastus on Sense-Perception
and Simplicius' On Aristotle's On the Soul 2.5-12., Cornell
University Press, 1997. See Bryn Mawr Classical Review
1999.10.18
[13] Hadot, I., Simplicius or Pricianus? On the Author of the
Commentary on Aristotle's De Anima. Mnemosyne, Volume 55, Number 2, 2002, pp. 159-199.
[14] Simplicius, de Caelo, f. 113.
[15] Simplicius, in Arist. Phys. Ausc. f. 184, etc.
[16] Simplicius, in Arist. de Anima, 38.
[17] Simplicius, in Phys. Ausc. f. 31.
[18] Simplicius, in Arist. de Caelo, 79, b.
[19] Simplicius, Comm. in Phys. Ausc. 173, 176; de Anima,
35, b. 36.
[20] Simplicius, in Arist. de Caelo, 6, b, etc., 72; in Phys. Ausc.
257, 262, etc., 312, etc., 320.
[21] Barnes page 65, and also Peters, Francis E. (1967). Greek
Philosophical Terms: A Historical Lexicon. NYU Press.
p. 178. ISBN 0814765521. Simplicius' commentary on
Aristotle's physica 1313.11.
[22] Plato, Cratylus, 401d and 402a
[23] Daniel W. Graham,Explaining the Cosmos: The Ionian
Tradition of Scientic Philosophy, Princeton University
Press, 2009, p. 118 n. 5
[24] Peters (2009), p. 178.

116.4 References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed.
(1870). Simplicius. Dictionary of Greek and
Roman Biography and Mythology.

Barnes, Jonathan (1982). The Presocratic Philosophers [Revised Edition]. London & New York:
Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. ISBN 0-41505079-0.

Simplicius: On Aristotle, Categories 1-4, translated


by Michael Chase (2003). Cornell University Press:
ISBN 0-8014-4101-3, and Duckworth, London:
ISBN 0-7156-3197-7
Simplicius: On Aristotle, Categories 5-6, translated
by Frans A.J. de Haas and Barrie Fleet (2001). Cornell University Press: ISBN 0-8014-3838-1, and
Duckworth, London: ISBN 0-7156-3037-7
Simplicius: On Aristotle, Categories 7-8, translated
by Barrie Fleet (2002). Cornell University Press:
ISBN 0-8014-3839-X, and Duckworth, London:
ISBN 0-7156-3038-5
Simplicius: On Aristotle, Categories 9-15, translated by Richard Gaskin (2000). Cornell University
Press: ISBN 0-8014-3691-5, and Duckworth, London: ISBN 0-7156-2900-X

116.5.2 On Aristotle's On the Heavens


Simplicius: On Aristotle, On the Heavens 1.1-4, translated by Robert J. Hankinson (2001). Cornell University Press: ISBN 0-8014-3907-8, and Duckworth, London: ISBN 0-7156-3070-9
Simplicius: On Aristotle, On the Heavens 1.3-4, translated by Ian Mueller (2011). Duckworth, London:
ISBN 0-7156-4063-1
Simplicius: On Aristotle, On the Heavens 1.5-9, translated by Robert J. Hankinson (2004). Cornell University Press: ISBN 0-8014-4212-5, and Duckworth, London: ISBN 0-7156-3231-0
Simplicius: On Aristotle, On the Heavens 1.10-12,
translated by Robert J. Hankinson (2006). Cornell
University Press: ISBN 0-8014-4216-8, and Duckworth, London: ISBN 0-7156-3232-9
Simplicius: On Aristotle, On the Heavens 2.1-9, translated by Ian Mueller (2004). Cornell University
Press: ISBN 0-8014-4102-1, and Duckworth, London: ISBN 0-7156-3200-0
Simplicius: On Aristotle, On the Heavens 2.10-14,
translated by Ian Mueller (2005). Cornell University Press: ISBN 0-8014-4415-2, and Duckworth,
London: ISBN 0-7156-3342-2
Simplicius: On Aristotle, On the Heavens 3.1-7, translated by Ian Mueller (2009). Duckworth, London:
ISBN 0-7156-3843-2
Simplicius: On Aristotle, On the Heavens 3.7-4.6,
translated by Ian Mueller (2009). Duckworth, London: ISBN 0-7156-3844-0

366

116.5.3

CHAPTER 116. SIMPLICIUS OF CILICIA

On Aristotle's Physics

Simplicius: On Aristotle, Physics 1.3-4, translated


by Pamela M. Huby and C. C. W. Taylor (2011).
Duckworth, London: ISBN 0-7156-3921-8
Simplicius: On Aristotle, Physics 1.5-9, translated by
Han Baltussen (2011). Duckworth, London: ISBN
0-7156-3857-2
Simplicius: On Aristotle, Physics 2, translated by Barrie Fleet (1997). Cornell University Press: ISBN
0-8014-3283-9, and Duckworth, London: ISBN 07156-2732-5
Simplicius: On Aristotle, Physics 3, translated by
James O. Urmson (2002). Cornell University Press:
ISBN 0-8014-3903-5, and Duckworth, London:
ISBN 0-7156-3067-9
Simplicius: On Aristotle, Physics 4.1-5, 10-14, translated by James O. Urmson (1992). Cornell University Press: ISBN 0-8014-2817-3, and Duckworth,
London: ISBN 0-7156-2434-2
Simplicius: On Aristotle, Physics 5, translated by
James O. Urmson (1997). Cornell University Press:
ISBN 0-8014-3407-6, and Duckworth, London:
ISBN 0-7156-2765-1
Simplicius: On Aristotle, Physics 6, translated by
David Konstan (1989). Cornell University Press:
ISBN 0-8014-2238-8, and Duckworth, London:
ISBN 0-7156-2217-X
Simplicius: On Aristotle, Physics 7, translated by
Charles Hagen (1994). Cornell University Press:
ISBN 0-8014-2992-7, and Duckworth, London:
ISBN 0-7156-2485-7
Simplicius: On Aristotle, Physics 8.6-10, translated
by Richard McKirahan (2001). Cornell University
Press: ISBN 0-8014-3787-3, and Duckworth, London: ISBN 0-7156-3039-3

116.5.4

On Aristotle's On the Soul

Simplicius: On Aristotle, On the Soul 1.1-2.4, translated by James O. Urmson (1995). Cornell University Press: ISBN 0-8014-3160-3, and Duckworth,
London: ISBN 0-7156-2614-0
Priscian: On Theophrastus on Sense-Perception, with
Simplicius": On Aristotle, On the Soul 2.5-12, translated by Carlos Steel (1997). Cornell University
Press: ISBN 0-8014-3282-0, and Duckworth, London: ISBN 0-7156-2752-X
Simplicius": On Aristotle, On the Soul 3.1-5, translated by Henry J. Blumenthal (2000). Cornell University Press: ISBN 0-8014-3687-7, and Duckworth, London: ISBN 0-7156-2896-8

116.5.5 On Epictetus' Handbook


Simplicius: On Epictetus, Handbook 1-26, translated
by Tad Brennan and Charles Brittain (2002). Cornell University Press: ISBN 0-8014-3904-3, and
Duckworth, London: ISBN 0-7156-3068-7
Simplicius: On Epictetus, Handbook 27-53, translated by Tad Brennan and Charles Brittain (2002).
Cornell University Press: ISBN 0-8014-3905-1, and
Duckworth, London: ISBN 0-7156-3069-5

116.5.6 Other works


Simplicius: Corollaries on Place and Time, translated
by James O. Urmson (1992). Cornell University
Press: ISBN 0-8014-2713-4, and Duckworth, London: ISBN 0-7156-2252-8
Philoponus: Corollaries on Place and Void, with
Simplicius: Against Philoponus On the Eternity of
the World, translated by David Furley and Christian
Wildberg (1991). Cornell University Press: ISBN
0-8014-2634-0, and Duckworth, London: ISBN 07156-2250-1
Philoponus: On Aristotle, Physics 5-8, with Simplicius: On Aristotle on the Void, translated by Paul Lettinck and J. O. Urmson (1994). Cornell University
Press: ISBN 0-8014-3005-4, and Duckworth, London: ISBN 0-7156-2493-8

116.6 Further reading


Ilsetraut Hadot (ed.), Simplicius, sa vie, son uvre, sa
survie. Actes du Colloque international de Paris (28
septembre - 1 octobre 1985) / organised by the Centre
de recherche sur les uvres et la pense de Simplicius
(RCP 739-CNRS), Berlin & New York, Walter de
Gruyter, 1987, X-406 p. ISBN 3-11-010924-7
Ilsetraut Hadot: The life and work of Simplicius in
Greek and Arabic sources. In: Richard Sorabji (Ed.):
Aristotle Transformed. Duckworth, London 1990,
pp. 275303. ISBN 0-7156-2254-4
Han Baltussen: Philosophy and Exegesis in Simplicius. The methodology of a commentator. Duckworth, London 2008, 292 p. ISBN 978-0-71563500-1

116.7 External links


Simplicius, Commentary on the Enchiridion of
Epictetus, translated by George Stanhope, 1722

116.7. EXTERNAL LINKS


Commentators on Aristotle entry by Andrea Falcon
in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Extract from Taylor's translation of Aristotle's
Physics with Simplicius' Commentary

367

Chapter 117

Sophonias (commentator)
Sophonias (Greek: ; 13th14th century) was a
Byzantine monk who wrote commentaries or paraphrases
of the works of Aristotle including De Anima, Sophistici
Elenchi, Prior Analytics, and the Parva Naturalia,* [1]
which are still extant.

117.2 External links

Little is known about Sophonias, except that he was probably the monk sent by Michael IX Palaiologos on an
abortive mission to arrange a marriage between Michael
and a western princess around 1295.* [2]* [3]
In his works Sophonias has interwoven the statements of
Aristotle with the scholia of Michael of Ephesus. Some
later manuscripts of the Parva Naturalia commentary ascribe the work to Themistius, but Sophonias' authorship,
rst proposed by Valentin Rose, may be regarded as certain, and the method of composition does not resemble
Themistius' at all.* [4] Sophonias wrote paraphrases of
Aristotle's Categories, Prior Analytics, Sophistici Elenchi,
De Anima, De Memoria and De Somno.* [5] He considered innovative his practice of writing a running explanatory account of every passage in Aristotle, incorporating
amplications of Aristotle's paraphrasers or those critical
remarks of the commentators that he thought necessary
to understand the text.* [6] The value of the works of Sophonias is that they contain excerpts from the best of the
earlier commentators.* [5]

117.1 Notes
[1] Byzantine Philosophy entry by Katerina Ierodiakonou in
the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
[2] Sten Ebbesen, 1981, Commentators and Commentaries on
Aristotle's Sophistici Elenchi, page 333. BRILL
[3] Edmund Fryde, 2000, The Early Palaeologan Renaissance
(1261c. 1360), pages 1989. BRILL
[4] Paul Wendland,Praefatio,Commentaria in Aristotelem
Graeca, vol. VI, part VI (Berlin 1903), pp. vx.
[5] John Edwin Sandys, 1903, A history of classical scholarship from the sixth century B.C. to the end of the Middle
Ages, page 421. Cambridge University Press
[6] Nicholas J. Moutafakis, 2003, Byzantine Philosophy, page
203

368

Greek texts: In parva naturalia, In libros de anima


paraphrasis

Chapter 118

Stephen of Alexandria
Stephen of Alexandria (Stephanus Alexandrinus, (On how to make gold) is extant in two manuscripts,
Stephanos of Alexandria) was a 7th-century Byzantine Venice Cod. Marcianus 299 and Paris BNF 2327.
philosopher, astronomer and teacher. He was a public Editions:
lecturer in the court of Heraclius (610-641 AD). In the
manuscripts he is called the Universal Philosopher.
De magna et sacra arte, Ed. Julius Ludwig Ideler
He taught on Plato and Aristotle, and on Geometry,
in Physici et medici Graeci minores II, Berlin 1842
Arithmetic, Alchemy, Astronomy and Music.
(Reprinted Hakkert, Amsterdam 1963) p. 199-253.
(Ideler used a faulty copy of the Marcianus)

118.1 Works

F. Sherwood Taylor, The alchemical works of S. of


Al., in: Ambix, the Journal of the Society for the study
of alchemy and early chemistry 1, London 1937,
116-139; 2, 1938, 38-49 (Taylor compared Ideler
with the Marcianus and edited lessons 1-3 only; with
English translation and commentary).

1. A commentary on Aristotle. Editions:


Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca ed. consilio et
auctoritate Academiae litt. reg. Boruss., Berlin, Bd.
XV
Ioannes Philoponus de anima, ed. Michael Hayduck, 1897 p. 446-607 (see praef. p. V); Vol.
XVIII/3
Stephanus de interpretatione, ed. M. Hayduck, 1885
(Vol. XXI/2: Stephanus in artem rhetoricam is by a
Byzantine Rhetor Stephanos of the 12th century).
2. A commentary on the Isagogue of Porphyry. Editions:

5. Astrological works. These also are apocryphal.


Opusculum apotelesmaticum, Ed. Usener in De
Stephano Al. p. 17-32 (= Kl. Schrr. III, 266-289).
6. Other apocrypha include a 'Weissagungsbuch', a
prophecy of Mohammed and the rise of Islam, and probably date from around 775 AD.

Anton Baumstark, Aristot. b. den Syrern v. 5.8.


118.2
Jh., Vol. 1: Syr.-arab. Biographien des Aristot.,
syr. Kommentare z. Eisag.des Porph., Leipzig 1900,
181-210 (with a translation of the fragments of the Texts:
commentary of Stephanos).
3. Astronomical and chronological works. Editions:
Explanatio per propria exempla commentarii Theonis
in tabulas manuales, Ed. Usener, De Stephano Al. p.
38-54 (= Kl. Schriften. III, 295-319).

Bibliography

Julius Ludwig Ideler, Physici et medici Graeci minores II, Berlin 1842 (Reprinted by Hakkert, Amsterdam 1963) p. 199-253. Greek text (only) in full
online at Google books here
F. Sherwood Taylor, The Alchemical Works of
Stephanos of Alexandria, in Ambix(1937).
Vol. 1, pp. 11639; Vol 2, pp. 3949. Greek text
and facing English translation of 3 of the 9 lectures
of the work.

4. Alchemical works. Scholars are divided as to whether


or not these are authentic works of the same Stephen of
Alexandria due to the style of writing. The translator, F.
Sherwood Taylor accepts them as his.* [1] A compendium
of alchemical texts including the poem De Chrysopoeia Dictionaries:
369

370
Albert Ehrhard Krumbacher, Geschichte der byzantinischen Litteratur von Justinian bis zum Ende des
Ostrmischen Reiches, 2nd Ed. (1897). Vol. 2 at
google books in full, pp. 480f, 614, 621 *, 625, 633.
(Vol.1 here).
Articles and studies:
Hermann Usener, De Stephano Alexandrino Bonn
(1880)
Alb. Jahn, Chemica graeca ex codicibus Monacensi 112 et Bernensi 579, Revue de Philologie
15 (1891) 101-115. Short intro to his alchemical
works.
F. Sherwood Taylor, The Origins of Greek
Alchemy, Ambix, I, May 1937, pp. 3047.
Maria Papathanassiou, (1992), Stephanos von
Alexandreia und sein alchemistisches Werk, Ph.
D. Thesis, Humboldt Universitt zur Berlin, Berln.
Maria Papathanassiou, (19901991)Stephanus of
Alexandria: Pharmaceutical notions and cosmology
in his alchemical work, Ambix, n 37, pp.
121133; n 38, p. 112 [addenda].
R. Werner Soukup, (1992), Natur, du himmlische! Die alchemistischen Traktate des Stephanos
von Alexandria. Eine Studie zur Alchemie des
7. Jahrhunderts, Mitteilungen der sterreichischen Gesellschaft fr Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften 12, 1992, 1-93
Maria Papathanassiou, (1996), Stephanus of
Alexandria: On the structure and date of his alchemical work, in Medicina nei Secoli 8, 2, pp.
247266.
Wanda Wolska-Conus, Stphanos d'Athnes et
Stphanos d'Alexandrie. Essai d'identitication et
de biographie,Revue des tudes Byzantines 47
(1989), p. 5-89.

118.3 Notes
[1] Linden, Stanton J. (2003). The Alchemy Reader: from
Hermes Trismegistus to Isaac Newton. Cambridge University Press. p. 54.

118.4 External links


Adolf Lumpe (1995). Stephen of Alexandria.
In Bautz, Traugott. Biographisch-Bibliographisches
Kirchenlexikon (BBKL) (in German) 10. Herzberg:
Bautz. cols. 14061409. ISBN 3-88309-062-X.

CHAPTER 118. STEPHEN OF ALEXANDRIA

Chapter 119

Syrianus
Syrianus (Ancient Greek: , Syrianos; died c.
437) was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, and head
of Plato's Academy in Athens, succeeding his teacher
Plutarch of Athens in 431/432. He is important as the
teacher of Proclus, and, like Plutarch and Proclus, as a
commentator on Plato and Aristotle. His best-known extant work is a commentary on the Metaphysics of Aristotle. He is said to have written also on the De Caelo and the
De Interpretatione of Aristotle and on Plato's Timaeus.

and Plato with the Oracles. Theodorus Meliteniota, in his


Prooemium in Astronomiam, mentions commentaries on
the Magna Syntaxis of Ptolemy by the philosopher Syrianus. The Suda attributes several works to Syrianus, but
which are in fact the works of Proclus.* [1]

119.3 Philosophy

119.1 Life
He was a native of Alexandria, and the son of Philoxenus. We know little of his personal history, but that
he came to Athens, and studied with great zeal under
Plutarch of Athens, the head of the Neoplatonist school,
who regarded him with great admiration and aection,
and appointed him as his successor. He is important as
the teacher of Proclus and Hermias. Proclus regarded
him with the greatest veneration, and gave directions that
at his death he should be buried in the same tomb with
Themistius.

Syrianus' philosophical signicance lies in the eld of


metaphysics and the exegesis of Plato. He is important
in expanding the details of the Neoplatonist metaphysical
system begun by Iamblichus and most completely delineated by Proclus.* [2]

The most valuable remains that we possess are the commentaries on the Metaphysics of Aristotle. In explaining
the propositions of Aristotle, he appends the views held
by the Neoplatonist school on the subject in hand, and endeavours to establish the latter against the former. In his
Metaphysics commentary Syrianus explains his view of
the Monad and the Dyad in a number of places. The One
is immediately followed by a supreme monad and dyad.
119.2 Writings
Syrianus describes the monad as masculine and the dyad
Only a little remains of the writings of Syrianus, the sur- as feminine. He employs the doctrine of the two cosmic
principles to explain the origin of evil. He denies that
viving works are:
there are Platonic forms of things which are evil or base.
The dyad is indirectly responsible for evil. Syrianus at A Commentary on Aristotle's Metaphysics.
tributes the existence of evil to otherness and plurality,
Commentaries on two rhetorical works by which* he believes the dyad is directly responsible for creating. [2]
Hermogenes.
One of his fundamental principles is that it is a propopreserved by sition of general applicability that the same cannot be
both armed and denied at the same time of the same
thing; but that in any sense involving the truth of either
Among the lost works, Syrianus wrote commentaries on the armation or the denial of a proposition, it applies
Aristotle's De Caelo and De Interpretatione. We learn only to existing things, but not to that which transcends
from the commentary of Proclus on the Timaeus of Plato speech and knowledge, for this admits neither of armathat Syrianus also wrote a commentary on the same tion nor of denial, since every assertion respecting it must
book. Syrianus also wrote works on The Theology of be false.* [3] On the whole, the doctrines laid down in this
Orpheus, and On the Harmony of Orpheus, Pythagoras work are those of the Neoplatonist school.
Lectures on Plato's Phaedrus,
Hermias.

371

372

CHAPTER 119. SYRIANUS

119.4 Editions
J. Dillon, D. O'Meara, (2006), Syrianus: On Aristotle Metaphysics 13-14. Duckworth.
D. O'Meara, J. Dillon, (2008), Syrianus: On Aristotle Metaphysics 3-4. Duckworth.

119.5 Notes
[1] Suda, Proklos.
[2] Monad And Dyad As Cosmic Principles In Syrianus, Soul
And The Structure Of Being In Late Neoplatonism, H.J.
Blumenthal and A.C. Lloyd, Liverpool University Press,
1982, pp. 1 - 10.
[3] Syrianus, In Met. ii. fol. 13, b.

119.6 Sources
Angela Longo (ed.), Syrianus et la mtaphysique
de l'antiquit tardive: actes du colloque international, Universit de Gneve, 29 septembre-1er octobre 2006. (Napoli, Bibliopolis, 2009) (Elenchos,
51).
Sarah Klitenic Wear, The Teachings of Syrianus on
Plato's Timaeus and Parmenides. Ancient Mediterranean and Medieval Texts and Contexts (Leiden;
Boston: Brill, 2011) (Studies in Platonism, Neoplatonism and the Platonic tradition, 10).

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William,
ed. (1870). "* article name needed". Dictionary of
Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

119.7 External links


Syrianus entry by Christian Wildberg in the Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Raw Greek OCR of Rabe's Teubner edition of Syrianus' Commentaria in Hermogenem at the Lace
project of Mount Allison University: vol. 1

Chapter 120

Themistius
Themistius (Greek: , Themistios; 317,
Paphlagonia c. 390 AD, Constantinople), named
(eloquent),* [1] was a statesman, rhetorician,
and philosopher.
He ourished in the reigns of
Constantius II, Julian, Jovian, Valens, Gratian, and
Theodosius I; and he enjoyed the favour of all those emperors, notwithstanding their many dierences, and the
fact that he himself was not a Christian. He was admitted
to the senate by Constantius in 355, and he was prefect
of Constantinople in 384 on the nomination of Theodosius. Of his many works, thirty-three orations of his have
come down to us, as well as various commentaries and
epitomes of the works of Aristotle.

120.1 Life
He was born in Paphlagonia and taught at Phasis.* [2]
Apart from a short sojourn in Rome, he resided in
Constantinople during the rest of his life. He was the son
of Eugenius, who was also a distinguished philosopher,
and who is more than once mentioned in the orations
of Themistius. Themistius was instructed by his father
in philosophy, and devoted himself chiey to Aristotle,
though he also studied Pythagoreanism and Platonism.
While still a youth he wrote commentaries on Aristotle, which were made public without his consent, and obtained for him a high reputation. He passed his youth
in Asia Minor and Syria. He rst met with Constantius
II when the emperor visited Ancyra in Galatia in the
eleventh year of his reign, 347, on which occasion
Themistius delivered the rst of his extant orations, Peri
Philanthropias. It was not long after that he moved to
Constantinople, where he taught philosophy for twenty
years. In 355 he was made a senator; and the letter is still
extant, in which Constantius recommends him to the senate, and speaks in the highest terms both of Themistius
himself and of his father. We also possess the oration
of thanks which Themistius addressed to the senate of
Constantinople early in 356, in reply to the emperor's letter.* [3] In 357 he recited in the senate of Constantinople two orations in honour of Constantius, which were
intended to have been delivered before the emperor himself, who was then at Rome.* [4] As a reward, Constantius conferred upon him the honour of a bronze statue;

and, in 361, he was appointed to the praetorian rank by


a decree still extant.* [5] In 358359, Themistius served
as proconsul of Constantinople in 358; he was the last to
hold that oce, before the position was elevated to the
status of urban prefect.* [6]
Constantius died in 361; but Themistius, as a philosopher and non-Christian, naturally retained the favour of
Julian, who spoke of him as the worthy senator of the
whole world, and as the rst philosopher of his age.* [7]
The Suda states that Julian made Themistius prefect of
Constantinople; but this is disproved by the speech delivered by Themistius, when he was really appointed to that
oce under Theodosius. Shortly before the death of Julian in 363, Themistius delivered an oration in honour of
him, which is no longer extant, but which is referred to
at some length by Libanius, in a letter to Themistius.* [8]
In 364 he went, as one of the deputies from the senate,
to meet Jovian at Dadastana, on the border of Galatia
and Bithynia, and to confer the consulate upon him; and
on this occasion he delivered an oration, which he afterwards repeated at Constantinople, in which he claims
full liberty of conscience to practice any religion.* [9] In
the same year he delivered an oration at Constantinople,
in honour of the accession of Valentinian I and Valens,
in the presence of the latter. His next oration is addressed to Valens, congratulating him on his victory over
Procopius in June 366, and interceding for some of the
rebels; it was delivered in 367.* [10] In the next year he
accompanied Valens to the Danube in the second campaign of the Gothic war, and delivered before the emperor, at Marcianopolis, a congratulatory oration upon
his Quinquennalia, 368.* [11] His next orations are to the
young Valentinian II upon his consulship, 369,* [12] and
to the senate of Constantinople, in the presence of Valens,
in honour of the peace granted to the Goths, 370.* [13]
On March 28, 373, he addressed to Valens, who was then
in Syria, a congratulatory address upon the emperor's entrance on the tenth year of his reign.* [14] It was also while
Valens was in Syria, that Themistius addressed to him an
oration by which he persuaded him to cease from his persecution of the Catholic party.* [15] In addition to these
orations, which prove that the orator was in high favour
with the emperor, we have the testimony of Themistius
himself to his inuence with Valens.* [16]

373

374
In 377 we nd him at Rome, where he appears to have
gone on an embassy to Gratian, to whom he there delivered his oration entitled Erotikos.* [17] On the association
of Theodosius I in the empire by Gratian, at Sirmium, in
379, Themistius delivered an elegant oration, congratulating the new emperor on his elevation.* [18] Of his remaining orations some are public and some private; but
few of them demand special notice as connected with the
events of his life. In 384, (about the rst of September), he was made prefect of Constantinople,* [19] an ofce which had been oered to him, but declined, several times before.* [20] He only held the prefecture a few
months, as we learn from an oration delivered after he
had laid down the oce,* [21] in which he mentions, as
he had done even six years earlier,* [18] and more than
once in the interval,* [22] his old age and ill-health. From
the thirty-fourth oration we also learn that he had previously held the oces of princeps senatus and praefectus
annonae, besides his embassy to Rome; in another oration he mentions ten embassies on which he had been
sent before his prefecture;* [23] and in another, composed probably about 387, he says that he has been engaged for nearly forty years in public business and in embassies.* [24] So great was the condence placed in him
by Theodosius, that, though Themistius was not a Christian, the emperor, when departing for the West to oppose Magnus Maximus, entrusted his son Arcadius to the
tutorship of the philosopher, 387-388.* [25] Nothing is
known about Themistius after this time; and he may have
died around 390. Besides the emperors, he numbered
among his friends the chief orators and philosophers of
the age, Christian and non-Christian. Not only Libanius,
but Gregory of Nazianzus also was his friend and correspondent, and the latter, in an epistle still extant, calls him
the king of arguments.* [26]

CHAPTER 120. THEMISTIUS


stracts of the Posterior Analytics, the books On the Soul,
and the Physics, and that there were works of his on Plato;
and, in a word, he is a lover and eager student of philosophy.* [27] The Suda mentions his epitome of the Physics
of Aristotle, in eight books; of the Prior Analytics, in two
books; of the Posterior Analytics, in two books; of the
treatise On the Soul, in seven books; and of the Categories
in one book.
The epitomes which survive are:* [29]
On the Posterior Analytics
On the Physics
On On the Soul
On On the Heavens, in a Hebrew translation only
On the Metaphysics 12, in a Hebrew translation only
In addition to these works, two surviving anonymous
paraphrases were mistakenly attributed to him in the
Byzantine era, and are now assigned to a PseudoThemistius:* [29]
On the Prior Analytics
On the Parva naturalia
His paraphrases of Aristotle's Posterior Analytics, Physics
and On the Soul are valuable; but the orations in which
he panegyrizes successive emperors, comparing them to
Plato's true philosopher, and even to the idea itself, are intended to atter. Bothius describes him as, disertissimus
(or diligentissimus* [30]) scriptor ac lucidus, et omnia ad
facilitatem intelligentiae revocans.

In philosophy Themistius was an eclectic. He held that


Plato and Aristotle were in substantial agreement, that
120.2 Works
God has made men free to adopt the mode of worship
they prefer, and that Christianity and Hellenism were
The orations of Themistius, extant in the time of Photius merely two forms of the one universal religion.
(9th century), were thirty-six in number.* [27] Of these,
thirty-three have come down to us in Greek.* [28] Two of
them, however, (Orations 23 and 33, and perhaps Oration 120.3 Notes
28) are not fully preserved, and one (Oration 25) is a brief
statement, not a full oration.* [28] Modern editions of the [1] Simplicius, in Cael., C.A.G. vol. 7, p. 72, in Cat. v. 8
Orations have thirty-four pieces, because a Latin address
p. 1, in Phys. v. 9, p. 42 and v. 10, p. 968; Sophonias,
to Valens has been included as Oration 12.* [28] It is now
Paraphr. in...de Anima, C.A.G. v. 23, p. 1.
believed though that this Latin address is a 16th-century
creation.* [28] The nal oration (Oration 34) was discov- [2] Themistius and the imperial court by John Vanderspoel, p.
37
ered as recently as 1816 by Angelo Mai in the Ambrosian
Library at Milan. There are, in addition, a few other frag- [3] Themistius, Orat. ii.
ments which may come from lost Orations, as well as an
additional work which survives in Syriac and another pre- [4] Themistius, Orat. iii. iv.
served in Arabic.* [28]
[5] Cod. Theodos. vi. tit. 4. s. 12; comp. Orat. xxxi.
The philosophical works of Themistius must have been
very voluminous; for Photius tells us that he wrote commentaries on all the books of Aristotle, besides useful ab-

[6] Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Vol. 1, p. 890


[7] Themist. Orat. xxxi.

120.5. FURTHER READING

[8] Libanius, Ep. 1061


[9] Themistius, Orat. v.; Socrat. Hist. Ev. iii. 26.
[10] Themistius, Orat. vii.
[11] Themistius, Orat. viii.
[12] Themistius, Orat. ix.
[13] Themistius, Orat. x.
[14] Themistius, Orat. xi.

375

120.5 Further reading


W. Dindorf edition of the orations (Leipzig, 1832):
Themistii Orationes, ex codice Mediolanensi emendatae, a Guilielmo Dindoro, Lipsiae: C. Cnobloch
1832.
Themistii paraphrases Aristotelis librorum quae supersunt, ed. Leonhard von Spengel (Leipzig, 1866),
Teubner series (reprinted 1998)

120.5.1 Translations

[15] Socrat. Hist. Ev. iv. 32; Sozom. Hist. Ev. vi. 36
[16] Themistius, Orat. xxxi.
[17] Themistius, Orat. xiii.
[18] Themistius, Orat. xiv.
[19] Themistius, Orat. xvii,
[20] Themistius, Orat. xxxiv. 13
[21] Themistius, Orat. xxxiv.
[22] Themistius, Orat. xv. xvi.
[23] Themistius, Orat. xvii.
[24] Themistius, Orat. xxi.
[25] Socrat. Hist. Ev. iv. 32; Sozom. Hist. Ev. vi. 36; Niceph.
Hist. Ev. xi. 46.
[26] Greg. Naz. Epist. 140
[27] Photius, Bibl. Cod. 74
[28] Robert J. Penella, 2000, The private orations of
Themistius, page 5. University of California Press
[29] Paul Oskar Kristeller, Virginia Brown, James Hankins,
(2003), Catalogus translationum et commentariorum: Mediaeval and Renaissance Latin translations and commentaries, page 59. CUA Press.
[30] Boethius, De dierentiis topicis, Patrologia Latina edition

120.4 References

This article incorporates text from a publication


now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed.
(1911). Themistius. Encyclopdia Britannica
(11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William,
ed. (1870). "* article name needed". Dictionary of
Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

Commentaire sur le trait de lme dAristote, traduction de Guillaume de Moerbeke (Latin). Louvain,
1957
Themistius on Aristotle On the Soul, trans. Robert B.
Todd. London and Ithaca, 1996 (Ancient Commentators on Aristotle)
Themistius on Aristotle Physics 1-3, trans. Robert B.
Todd. London and Ithaca, 2011 (Ancient Commentators on Aristotle)
Themistius on Aristotle's Physics 4, trans. Robert B.
Todd. London and Ithaca, 2003 (Ancient Commentators on Aristotle)
Themistius on Aristotle Physics 5-8, trans. Robert
B. Todd. London, 2008 (Ancient Commentators on
Aristotle)
The Private Orations of Themistius, trans.
Penella. Berkeley, 2000

R.

120.5.2 Secondary literature and selections


Todd, Robert B. (2003)Themistius, in: Catalogus
Translationum et Commentariorum; vol. 8
Heather, Peter & Moncur, David, trans. (2001) Politics, Philosophy, and Empire in the Fourth Century:
selected orations of Themistius, with an introduction.
Liverpool U. P. ISBN 0-85323-106-0
Swain, Simon. (2014) Themistius, Julian, and Greek
Political Theory under Rome: Texts, Translations,
and Studies of Four Key Works, Cambridge University Press ISBN 9781107026575

Chapter 121

Gaetano da Thiene (philosopher)


Gaetano da Thiene (13871465) was a Renaissance
philosopher and physician who was born and lived in
Padua.* [1] A student of Paul of Venice, Gaetano, like
his teacher, held an Averroist interpretation of Aristotle's
teachings. He worked towards a compromise between
that position and Christian doctrines on the personal immortality of the soul, and in later life he abandoned Averroism entirely.* [2]
He was one of Paul of Venice's successors as professor
of natural philosophy at the University of Padua;* [2] and
in turn, Nicoletto Vernia, who succeeded to the same
position on Gaetano's death, was one of his pupils.* [3]
Among his pupils was also Pietro Roccabonella, a well
known professor of medicine in Padua.

121.1 References
[1] s.v. 'Gaetano da Thiene' in Wilmott, Michael J.; Schmitt,
Charles B. (1990). Biobibliographies. In Charles B.
Schmitt, Quentin Skinner (eds.). The Cambridge History
of Renaissance Philosophy. Cambridge University Press.
pp. 818819. ISBN 978-0-521-39748-3.
[2] Kessler, Eckhard (1990). The Intellective Soul. In
Charles B. Schmitt, Quentin Skinner (ed.). The Cambridge History of Renaissance Philosophy. Cambridge
University Press. pp. 490492. ISBN 978-0-521-397483.
[3] s.v. 'Vernia, Nicoletto' in Wilmott, Michael J.; Schmitt,
Charles B. (1990). Biobibliographies. In Charles B.
Schmitt, Quentin Skinner (eds.). The Cambridge History
of Renaissance Philosophy. Cambridge University Press.
p. 839. ISBN 978-0-521-39748-3.

376

Chapter 122

Diego Mateo Zapata

Crisis mdica sobre el antimonio (1701).


Zapata in chains by Francisco de Goya

Prlogoa la traduccin de Flix Palacios de


Nicols Lemery, Curso de qumica (1721).

Diego Mateo Zapata (1664-1745) was a Spanish physician and philosopher. In 1724, he and Juan Muoz y Peralta were both denounced to the Spanish Inquisition as
judaisers.* [1]

Disertacin mdico-teolgica, que consagra a la


serensima seora princesa del Brasil (Madrid,
1733).
Ocaso de las formas aristotlicas (1745).

122.1 Selected works


Verdadera apologa de la Medicina racional losca, y debida respuesta a los entusiasmos mdicos
que public en esta corte D. Jos Gazola Veronense,
archisopln de las estrellas (Madrid, 1690).

122.2 References

Crisis mdica sobre el antimonio (1701).


Censuraa Alejandro de Avendao, Dilogos
loscos en defensa del atomismo (1716).
377

[1] Prez, Joseph. (2006) The Spanish Inquisition: A history.


Translated by Janet Lloyd. London: Prole Books, p. 40.
ISBN 1861976224

Chapter 123

Albert of Saxony (philosopher)


Albert of Saxony (Latin: Albertus de Saxonia) (c. 1320
8 July 1390) was a German philosopher known for his
contributions to logic and physics. He was bishop of Halberstadt from 1366 until his death.

cumstances that are not naturally possible but imaginable


given Gods absolute power. Albert refused to extend
the reference of a physical term to supernatural, purely
imaginary possibilities. Later regarded as one of the principal adherents of nominalism, along with his near contemporaries at Paris, John Buridan and Marsilius of Inghen, whose works are often so similar as to be confused
123.1 Life
with each other. The subsequent wide circulation of Alberts work made him a better-known gure in some arAlbert was born at Rickensdorf near Helmstedt, the son
eas than more talented contemporaries like Buridan and
of a farmer in a small village; but because of his talent,
Nicole Oresme.
he was sent to study at the University of Prague and the
Albert's work in logic also shows strong inuence by
University of Paris.
William of Ockham, whose commentaries on the logica
At Paris, he became a master of arts (a professor), and
vetus (on Porphyry, and Aristotle's Categoriae and De inheld this post from 1351 until 1362. He also studied theterpretatione) were made the subject of a series of works
ology at the Sorbonne, although without receiving a decalled Quaestiones by Albert.
gree. In 1353, he was rector of the University of Paris.
After 1362, Albert went to the court of Pope Urban V in
Avignon as an envoy of Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, in order to negotiate the founding of the University of Vienna.
The negotiations were successful, and Albert became the
rst rector of this University in 1365.

In 1366, Albert was elected bishop of Halberstadt


(counted as Albert III), Halberstadt being the diocese
in which he was born. As Bishop of Halberstadt, he allied himself with Magnus with the Necklace, Duke of
Brunswick-Lneburg, against Gebhard of Berg, Bishop
of Hildesheim, and was taken prisoner by Gebhard in the
battle of Dinckler in 1367.

He died at Halberstadt in 1390.

123.2 Philosophy
Albert was a pupil of Jean Buridan and was very much inuenced by Buridan's teachings on physics and logic. As
a natural philosopher, he worked in the tradition of John
Buridan and contributed to the spread of Parisian natural
philosophy throughout Italy and central Europe. Similar to Buridan, Albert combined critical analysis of language with epistemological realism. Albert distinguishes,
as Buridan did, between what is absolutely impossible or
contradictory and what is impossible in the common
course of natureand considers hypotheses under cir-

D
Three stage Theory of impetus according to Albert von Sachsen

Albert of Saxony's teachings on logic and metaphysics


were extremely inuential. The Theory of impetus* [1]
introduced a third stage to the two stage theory of
Avicenna.

378

123.3. WORKS

379

1. Initial stage. Motion is in a straight line in direc- is true and that it is false.
tion of impetus which is dominant while gravity is Albert also authored commentaries on Ars Vetus
insignicant
[ca.1356], a set of twenty-ve Quaestiones logicales [ca.
2. Intermediate stage. Path begins to deviate down- 1356] that involved semantical problems and the status
wards from straight line as part of a great circle as of logic, and Quaestiones on the Posterior Analytics. Alair resistance slows projectile and gravity recovers. bert explored in a series of disputed questions the status
of logic and semantics, as well as the theory of reference
3. Last stage. Gravity alone draws projectile down- and truth. Albert was inuenced by English logicians and
was inuential in the diusion of terminist logic in cenwards vertically as all impetus is spent.
tral Europe. Albert is considered a major contributor in
This theory was a precursor to the modern theory of his theory of consequences, found in his Perutilis Logica.
Albert took a major step forward in the medieval theory
inertia.
of logical deduction.
Although Buridan remained the predominant gure in
logic, Albert's Perutilis logica[ca. 1360] was destined to But it was his commentary on Aristotle's Physics that was
serve as a popular text because of its systematic nature especially widely read. Many manuscripts of it can be
and also because it takes up and develops essential aspects found in France and Italy, in Erfurt and Prague. Alof the Ockhamist position. Albert accepted Ockhams bert's Physics basically guaranteed the transmission of the
conception of the nature of a sign. Albert believed that Parisian tradition in Italy, where it was authoritative along
signication rests on a referential relation of the sign to with the works of Heytesbury and John Dumbleton. His
the individual thing, and that the spoken sign depends for commentary on Aristotle's De caelo was also inuential,
its signication on the conceptual sign. Albert followed eventually eclipsing Buridan's commentary on this text.
Ockham in his conception of universals and in his theory Blasius of Parma read it in Bologna between 1379 and
of supposition. Specically, Albert preserved Ockham 1382. A little later, it enjoyed a wide audience at Vis notion of simple supposition: the direct reference of a enna. His Treatise on Proportions was often quoted in
term to the concept on which it depends when it signies Italy where, in addition to the texts of Bradwardine and
an extra-mental thing. Albert followed Ockham in his Oresme, it inuenced the application of the theory of protheory of categories and contrary to Buridan, refused to portions to motion.
treat quantity as a feature of reality in its own right, but Alberts commentaries on the Nicomachean Ethics and
rather reduced it to a disposition of substance and quality. the Economics also survive (both unedited), as well as sevAlbert established signication through a referential rela- eral short mathematical texts, most notably Tractatus protion to a singular thing dening the relation of the spoken portionum [ca. 1353]. Although Albert studied theology
to conceptual signs as a relation of subordination. Albert in Paris, no theological writing survived.
s treatment of relation was highly original. Although, like
Albert played an essential role in the diusion throughout
Ockham, he refused to make relations into things distinct
Italy and central Europe of Parisian ideas which bore the
from absolute entities, he clearly ascribed them to an act
mark of Buridan's teachings, but which were also clearly
of the soul by which absolute entities are compared and
shaped by Albert's own grasp of English innovations. At
placed in relation to each other. He therefore completely
the same time, Albert was not merely a compiler of the
rejected certain propositions Ockham had admitted reawork of others. He knew how to construct proofs of unsonable, even if he did not construe them in the same way.
deniable originality on many topics in logic and physics.
Alberts voluminous collection of Sophismata [ca. 1359]
examined various sentences that raise diculties of interpretation due to the presence of syncategorematic words- 123.3 Works
terms such as quantiers and certain prepositions, which,
according to medieval logicians, do not have a proper and
Perutilis Logica Magistri Alberti de Saxonia (Very
determinate signication but rather modify the signicaUseful Logic), Venice 1522 and Hildesheim 1974
tion of the other terms in the propositions in which they
(reproduction)
occur. In his Sophismata, he followed William Heytesbury. In his analysis of epistemic verbs or of innity, Al Albert of Saxony's twenty-ve disputed questions on
bert admitted that a proposition has its own signication,
logic. A critical edition of his Quaestiones circa logiwhich is not that of its terms: just like a syncategorematic
cam / by Michael J. Fitzgerald, Leiden: Brill, 2002
word, a proposition signies amode of a thing.Albert
Quaestiones in artem veterem critical edition by Anmade use of the idea of the distinguishable signication
gel Muoz Garcia, Maracaibo, Venezuela: Univerof the proposition in dening truth and in dealing with
sidad del Zulia,1988
insolublesor paradoxes of self-reference. In this work
he shows that since every proposition, by its very form,
Quaestiones on the Posterior Analytics
signies that it is true, an insoluble proposition will turn
Quaestiones logicales (Logical Questions)
out to be false because it will signify at once both that it

380
De consequentiis (On Consequences) - attributed
De locis dialecticis (On Dialectical Topics) - attributed
Sophismata et Insolubilia et Obligationes, Paris 1489
and Hildesheim 1975 (reproduction)
Expositio et quaestiones in Aristotelis Physicam ad
Albertum de Saxonia attributae critical edition by
Benoit Patar, Leuven, Peeters Publishers, 1999
Questiones subtilissime in libros Aristotelis de caelo et
mundo, Venetiis, 1492. Questiones subtilissime super
libros posteriorum, Venetiis 1497 Hildesheim 1986
(reproduction)
Alberti de Saxonia Qustiones in Aristotelis De clo
critical edition by Benoit Patar, Leuven, Peeters
Publishers, 2008
De latudinibus, Padua 1505
De latitudinibus formarum

CHAPTER 123. ALBERT OF SAXONY (PHILOSOPHER)


Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz (1975). Albert von
Sachsen (eigentlich: Albert von Rickmersdorf;
auch: Albert von Helmstedt; Albertus de Saxonia)". In Bautz, Friedrich Wilhelm. BiographischBibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL) (in German) 1. Hamm: Bautz. cols. 8384. ISBN 388309-013-1.
Grant, Edward, (2003) A Companion to Philosophy
in the Middle Ages, In Gracia, J., J., E. & Noone,
T. B. (Eds.), Blackwell Companions to Philosophy
(Malden, MA: Blackwell).
Pasnau, Robert. The Cambridge History of Medieval Philosophy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010).
Zedlers Universal-Lexicon, vol. 1, p. 542
Rochus von Liliencron (1875), "Albert von Sachsen", Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB) (in
German) 1, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 182
183

De maximo et minimo
De quadratura circuli - Question on the Squaring of
the Circle
Tractatus proportionum, Venice 1496 and Vienna
1971: editor Hubertus L. Busard

123.4 English translations


Albert of Saxony, Quaestiones circa Logicam:
Twenty-Five Disputed Questions on Logic, trans.
Michael J. Fitzgerald, Dallas Medieval Texts and
Translations 9 (Louvain and Paris: Peeters, 2010)

123.5 See also


List of Roman Catholic scientist-clerics
All men are donkeys or men and donkeys are donkeys

123.6 References
[1] Michael McCloskey: Impetustheorie und Intuition in der
Physik.. In: Spektrum der Wissenschaft: Newtons Universum, Heidelberg 1990, ISBN 3-89330-750-8, S.18

Albert of Saxony entry by Jol Biard in the Stanford


Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2008-04-29
O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., Albert of Saxony (philosopher)", MacTutor History of
Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews.

123.7 Further reading


Joel Biard (ed.), Itinraires dAlbert de Saxe. Paris
Vienne au XIVe sicle Paris, Vrin, 1991.
Moody, Ernest A. (1970). Albert of Saxony
. Dictionary of Scientic Biography 1. New York:
Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 9395. ISBN 0-68410114-9.
Thijssen, Johannes M. M. H. (2007). Albert of
Saxony. New Dictionary of Scientic Biography
1. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 3436.
ISBN 978-0-684-31320-7.

Chapter 124

Albertus Magnus
Albertusredirects here. For others with the same Albert became master of theology under Gueric of
given name, see Albertus (given name). For the typeface, Saint-Quentin, the rst German Dominican to achieve
see Albertus (typeface).
this distinction. Following this turn of events, Albert
was able to teach theology at the University of Paris as
a full-time professor, holding the seat of the Chair of
Albertus Magnus, O.P. (before 1200 November 15,
*
*
1280), also known as Albert the Great and Albert of Theology at the College of St. James. [6] [7] During *this
time Thomas Aquinas began to study under Albertus. [3]
Cologne, is a Catholic saint. He was a German Dominican friar and a Catholic bishop. He was known during his lifetime as doctor universalis and doctor expertus and, late in his life, the term magnus was appended
to his name.* [1] Scholars such as James A. Weisheipl
and Joachim R. Sder have referred to him as the greatest German philosopher and theologian of the Middle
Ages.* [2] The Catholic Church honours him as a Doctor
of the Church, one of only 35 so honoured.

124.1 Biography
Albert was eldest son of the Count of Bollstdt.* [3] It
seems likely that Albert was born sometime before 1200,
given well-attested evidence that he was aged over 80 on
his death in 1280; more than one source says that Albert
was 87 on his death, which has led 1193 to be commonly
given as the date of Albert's birth.* [4] Albert was probably born in Lauingen in Bavaria, since he called himself
'Albert of Lauingen', but this might simply be a family
name.* [4]

Bust of Albertus Magnus by Vincenzo Onofri, c. 1493

Albert was the rst to comment on virtually all of the writings of Aristotle, thus making them accessible to wider
academic debate. The study of Aristotle brought him
to study and comment on the teachings of Muslim academics, notably Avicenna and Averroes, and this would
Albert was probably educated principally at the bring him into the heart of academic debate.
University of Padua, where he received instruction
Albert was made provincial of the Dominican
in Aristotle's writings. A late account by Rudolph In 1254
*
Order,
[3]
and fullled the duties of the oce with great
de Novamagia refers to Albertus' encounter with the
care
and
eciency.
During his tenure he publicly deBlessed Virgin Mary, who convinced him to enter Holy
fended
the
Dominicans
against attacks by the secular and
*
Orders. In 1223 (or 1229) [5] he became a member
regular
faculty
of
the
University
of Paris, commented on
of the Dominican Order, against the wishes of his
St.
John,
and
answered
what
he
perceived
as errors of the
family, and studied theology at Bologna and elsewhere.
Islamic
philosopher
Averroes.
Selected to ll the position of lecturer at Cologne,
Germany, where the Dominicans had a house, he taught In 1259 Albert took part in the General Chapter of
for several years there, and at Regensburg, Freiburg, the Dominicans at Valenciennes together with Thomas
Strasbourg, and Hildesheim. During his rst tenure as Aquinas, masters Bonushomo Britto,* [8] Florentius,* [9]
lecturer at Cologne, Albert wrote his Summa de bono and Peter (later Pope Innocent V) establishing a ratio stuafter discussion with Philip the Chancellor concerning diorum or program of studies for the Dominicans* [10]
the transcendental properties of being.* [6] In 1245, that featured the study of philosophy as an innovation for
381

382
those not suciently trained to study theology. This innovation initiated the tradition of Dominican scholastic philosophy put into practice, for example, in 1265 at the Order's studium provinciale at the convent of Santa Sabina
in Rome, out of which would develop the Pontical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, theAngelicum* [11]

CHAPTER 124. ALBERTUS MAGNUS

124.2 Writings

In 1260 Pope Alexander IV made him bishop of Regensburg, an oce from which he resigned after three years.
During the exercise of his duties he enhanced his reputation for humility by refusing to ride a horse, in accord with the dictates of the Order, instead traversing
his huge diocese on foot. This earned him the aectionate sobriquet boots the bishopfrom his parishioners. In 1263 Pope Urban IV relieved him of the duties of bishop and asked him to preached the eighth Crusade in German-speaking countries.* [12] After this, he
was especially known for acting as a mediator between
conicting parties. In Cologne he is not only known for
being the founder of Germany's oldest university there,
but also for the big verdict(der Groe Schied) of
1258, which brought an end to the conict between the
citizens of Cologne and the archbishop. Among the last
of his labors was the defense of the orthodoxy of his former pupil, Thomas Aquinas, whose death in 1274 grieved
Albert (the story that he travelled to Paris in person to defend the teachings of Aquinas can not be conrmed).
Albertus Magnus monument at the University of Cologne.

Roman sarcophagus containing the relics of Albertus Magnus in


the crypt of St. Andrew's Church, Cologne, Germany

After suering a collapse of health in 1278, he died


on November 15, 1280, in the Dominican convent in
Cologne, Germany. Since November 15, 1954, his relics
are in a Roman sarcophagus in the crypt of the Dominican St. Andreas Church in Cologne.* [13] Although his
body was discovered to be incorrupt at the rst exhumation three years after his death, at the exhumation in 1483
only a skeleton remained.* [14]

De animalibus (1450-1500 ca., cod. esolano 67, Biblioteca


Medicea Laurenziana)

Albert's writings collected in 1899 went to thirty-eight


volumes. These displayed his prolic habits and encyclopedic knowledge of topics such as logic, theology, botany,
geography, astronomy, astrology, mineralogy, alchemy,
zoology, physiology, phrenology, justice, law, friendship,
and love. He digested, interpreted, and systematized the
whole of Aristotle's works, gleaned from the Latin translations and notes of the Arabian commentators, in accorof
Albert was beatied in 1622. He was canonized and pro- dance with Church doctrine. Most modern knowledge
*
[3]
Aristotle
was
preserved
and
presented
by
Albert.
claimed a Doctor of the Church on December 16, 1931,
by Pope Pius XI* [12] and the patron saint of natural sci- His principal theological works are a commentary in
entists in 1941. St. Albert's feast day is November 15.
three volumes on the Books of the Sentences of Peter

124.4. ASTROLOGY

383

Lombard (Magister Sententiarum), and the Summa Theologiae in two volumes. The latter is in substance a more
didactic repetition of the former.
Albert's activity, however, was more philosophical than
theological (see Scholasticism).
The philosophical
works, occupying the rst six and the last of the 21 volumes, are generally divided according to the Aristotelian
scheme of the sciences, and consist of interpretations and
condensations of Aristotle's relative works, with supplementary discussions upon contemporary topics, and occasional divergences from the opinions of the master. Albert believed that Aristotle's approach to natural philosAlbertus Magnus, Chimistes Celebres, Liebig's Extract of Meat
ophy did not pose any obstacle to the development of a
Company Trading Card, 1929
*
Christian philosophical view of the natural order. [12]
Albert's knowledge of physical science was considerable
and for the age remarkably accurate. His industry in every department was great, and though we nd in his system many gaps which are characteristic of scholastic philosophy, his protracted study of Aristotle gave him a great
power of systematic thought and exposition. An exception to this general tendency is his Latin treatiseDe falconibus(later inserted in the larger work, De Animalibus,
as book 23, chapter 40), in which he displays impressive
actual knowledge of a) the dierences between the birds
of prey and the other kinds of birds; b) the dierent kinds
of falcons; c) the way of preparing them for the hunt; and
d) the cures for sick and wounded falcons.* [15] His scholarly legacy justies his contemporaries' bestowing upon
him the honourable surname Doctor Universalis.

through association.* [16] On the subject of alchemy and


chemistry, many treatises relating to alchemy have been
attributed to him, though in his authentic writings he had
little to say on the subject, and then mostly through commentary on Aristotle. For example, in his commentary,
De mineralibus, he refers to the power of stones, but does
not elaborate on what these powers might be.* [17] A wide
range of Pseudo-Albertine works dealing with alchemy
exist, though, showing the belief developed in the generations following Albert's death that he had mastered
alchemy, one of the fundamental sciences of the Middle Ages. These include Metals and Materials; the Secrets
of Chemistry; the Origin of Metals; the Origins of Compounds, and a Concordance which is a collection of Observations on the philosopher's stone; and other alchemychemistry topics, collected under the name of Theatrum
Chemicum.* [18] He is credited with the discovery of the
element arsenic* [19] and experimented with photosensitive chemicals, including silver nitrate.* [20]* [21] He did
believe that stones had occult properties, as he related in
his work De mineralibus. However, there is scant evidence that he personally performed alchemical experiments.

In De Mineralibus Albert claims, The aim of natural


philosophy (science) is not to simply to accept the statements of others, but to investigate the causes that are at
work in nature.Aristotelianism greatly inuences Albert's view on nature and philosophy.* [3] Another example of his reason to formally search for the causes is
in his treatises on plants, he begins with the principle,
experiment is the only safe guide in such investigations.
His studies of Aristotle and theology show their colors in
According to legend, Albert is said to have discovered
nearly all of his works and volumes.
the philosopher's stone and passed it to his pupil Thomas
Albert placed emphasis on experiment as well as investiAquinas, shortly before his death. Albert does not congation, but he respected authority and tradition so much
rm he discovered the stone in his writings, but he did
that many of his investigations or experiments were unrecord that he witnessed the creation of gold bytransmupublished. Albert would often keep silent about many istation.* [22] Given that Thomas Aquinas died six years
sues such as astronomy, physics and such because he felt
before Albert's death, this legend as stated is unlikely.
that his theories were too advanced for the time in which
In his Little Book of Alchemy Albert said that alchemic
he was living.* [3]
gold and iron lack the properties of natural gold and iron,
alchemical iron not being magnetic and alchemical gold
turning to powder after several ignitions.

124.3 Alchemy

In the centuries since his death, many stories arose about


Albert as an alchemist and magician.Much of the mod- 124.4 Astrology
ern confusion results from the fact that later works, particularly the alchemical work known as the Secreta Alberti Albert was deeply interested in astrology, as has been
or the Experimenta Alberti, were falsely attributed to Al- articulated by scholars such as Paola Zambelli.* [23]
bertus by their authors to increase the prestige of the text Throughout the Middle Ages and well into the early

384

CHAPTER 124. ALBERTUS MAGNUS

124.5 Matter and form


Albert believed that all natural things were composed of
composition of matter and form, he referred to it as quod
est and quo est. Albert also believed that God alone is the
absolute ruling entity. Albert's version of hylomorphism
is very similar to the Aristotelian doctrine, but he also
took some concepts from Avicenna.* [24]

124.6 Music
Albert is known for his commentary on the musical practice of his times. Most of his written musical observations are found in his commentary on Aristotle's Poetics.
He rejected the idea of "music of the spheres" as ridiculous: movement of astronomical bodies, he supposed, is
incapable of generating sound. He wrote extensively on
proportions in music, and on the three dierent subjective levels on which plainchant could work on the human
soul: purging of the impure; illumination leading to contemplation; and nourishing perfection through contemplation. Of particular interest to 20th-century music theorists is the attention he paid to silence as an integral part
of music.

124.7 Metaphysics of morals


Painting by Joos (Justus) van Gent, Urbino, ~ 1475

modern period astrology was widely accepted by scientists and intellectuals who held the view that life on
earth is eectively a microcosm within the macrocosm
(the latter being the cosmos itself). It was believed that
correspondence therefore exists between the two and thus
the celestial bodies follow patterns and cycles analogous
to those on earth. With this worldview, it seemed reasonable to assert that astrology could be used to predict
the probable future of a human being. Albert made this
a central component of his philosophical system, arguing that an understanding of the celestial inuences affecting us could help us to live our lives more in accord
with Christian precepts. The most comprehensive statement of his astrological beliefs is to be found in a work
he authored around 1260, now known as the Speculum astronomiae. However, details of these beliefs can be found
in almost everything he wrote, from his early Summa de
bono to his last work, the Summa theologiae.

Both of his early treaties, De natura boni and De bono,


start with a metaphysical investigation into the concepts
of the good in general and the physical good. Albert
refers to the physical good as bonum naturae. Albert
does this before directly dealing with the moral concepts
of metaphysics. In Albert's later works, he says in order
to understand human or moral goodness, the individual
must rst recognize what it means to be good and do good
deeds. This procedure reects Albert's preoccupations
with neo-Platonic theories of good as well as the doctrines
of Pseudo-Dionysius.* [25] Albert's view was highly valued by the Catholic Church and his peers.

124.8 Natural law


Albert devoted the last tractatus of De Bono to a theory of
justice and natural law. Albert places God as the pinnacle
of justice and natural law. God legislates and divine authority is supreme. Up until his time, it was the only work
specically devoted to natural law written by a theologian
or philosopher.* [26]

124.11. INFLUENCE AND TRIBUTE

385

124.9 Friendship

tioned, along with Agrippa and Paracelsus, in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, in which his writings inuence a young
Albert mentions friendship in his work, De bono, as well Victor Frankenstein.
as presenting his ideals and morals of friendship in the In The Concept of Anxiety, Sren Kierkegaard wrote
very beginning of Tractatus II. Later in his life he pub- that Albert, arrogantly boasted of his speculation belishes Super Ethica.* [27] With his development of friend- fore the deity and suddenly became stupid.Kierkegaard
ship throughout his work this is evident that friendship cites Gotthard Oswald Marbach whom he quotes as sayideals and morals took relevance as his life went on. Al- ing "Albertus repente ex asino factus philosophus et ex
bert comments on Aristotle's view of friendship with a philosopho asinus" [Albert was suddenly transformed
quote from Cicero, who writes, friendship is nothing from an ass into a philosopher and from a philosopher
other than the harmony between things divine and human, into an ass].* [32]
with goodwill and love. Albert agrees with this commenIn Walter M. Miller, Jr.'s post-apocalyptic novel A Cantary but he also adds in harmony or agreement.* [28] Alticle for Leibowitz there is an order of monks devoted
bert calls this harmony, consensiom, itself a certain kind
to saving knowledge named the Albertian Order of Leiof movement within the human spirit. Albert fully agrees
bowitz in reference to Albert.
with Aristotle in the sense that friendship is a virtue. Albert relates the inherent metaphysical contentedness between friendship and moral goodness. Albert describes
several levels of goodness; the useful (utile), the pleasur- 124.11 Inuence and tribute
able (delectabile) and the authentic or unqualied good
(honestum). Then in turn there are three levels of friend- A number of schools have been named after Albert,
ship based on each of those levels. Friendship based on including Albertus Magnus High School in Bardonia,
usefulness (amicitia utilis), friendship based on pleasure New York;* [33] Albertus Magnus Lyceum in River
(amicitia delectabilis), and friendship rooted in unqual- Forest, Illinois; and Albertus Magnus College in New
ied goodness (amicitia honesti; amicitia quae fundatur Haven, Connecticut.* [34] The main science building
super honestum).* [29]
at Providence College is named in honor of Albert.

124.10 Cultural references

The main science building at Aquinas College in Grand


Rapids, Michigan, is also named after Albert.
The central square at the campus of the University of
Cologne features a statue of Albert and is named after
him.
The Academy for Science and Design in New Hampshire
honored Albert by naming one of its four houses Magnus
House.
As a tribute to the scholar's contributions to the law, the
University of Houston Law Center displays a statue of
Albert. It is located on the campus of the University of
Houston.
The Albertus-Magnus-Gymnasium is found in Regensburg, Germany.

The tympanum and archivolts of Strasbourg Cathedral, with


iconography inspired by Albertus Magnus

In Managua, Nicaragua, the Albertus Magnus International Institute, a business and economic development research center, was founded in 2004.

In The Philippines, the Albertus Magnus Building at the


University of Santo Tomas that houses the Conservatory
of Music, College of Tourism and Hospitality Management, College of Education, and UST Education High
School is named in his honor. The Saint Albert the Great
Science Academy in San Carlos City, Pangasinan, which
oers preschool, elementary and high school education,
Albert is frequently mentioned by Dante, who made his takes pride in having St. Albert as their patron saint. Its
doctrine of free will the basis of his ethical system. In main building was named Albertus Magnus Hall in 2008.
his Divine Comedy, Dante places Albertus with his pupil Due to his contributions to natural philosophy, the plant
Thomas Aquinas among the great lovers of wisdom (Spir- species Alberta magna and the asteroid 20006 Albertus
iti Sapienti) in the Heaven of the Sun. Albert is also men- Magnus were named after him.
The iconography of the tympanum and archivolts of the
late 13th-century portal of Strasbourg Cathedral was inspired by the Albert's writings of.* [30] Albert is recorded
as having made a mechanical automaton in the form of a
brass head that would answer questions put to it. Such a
feat was also attributed to Roger Bacon.* [31]

386

CHAPTER 124. ALBERTUS MAGNUS

Numerous Catholic elementary and secondary schools [12] Fhrer, Markus, Albert the Great, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2014 Edition), Edward
are named for him, including schools in Toronto; CalN. Zalta (ed.),
gary; Cologne; and Dayton, Ohio.
The Albertus typeface is named after him.

[13] Zeittafel. Gemeinden.erzbistum-koeln.de. Retrieved


2013-08-09.

124.12 See also

[14] Carroll Cruz, Joan (1977). The Incorruptibles: A Study of


the Incorruption of the Bodies of Various Catholic Saints
and Beati. Charlotte, NC: TAN Books. ISBN 0-89555066-0.

Brazen Head
Christian mysticism
Incorruptibles
List of Catholic saints
List of Roman Catholic scientist-clerics
River Forest Thomism
Science in the Middle Ages

124.13 References
[1] Weisheipl, James A. (1980), The Life and Works of
St. Albert the Great, in Weisheipl, James A., Albertus
Magnus and the Sciences: Commemorative Essays, Studies
and texts 49, Toronto: Pontical Institute of Mediaeval
Studies, p. 46, ISBN 0-88844-049-9
[2] Joachim R. Sder, Albert der Grosse ein staunen- erregendes Wunder,Wort und Antwort 41 (2000): 145;
J.A. Weisheipl, Albertus Magnus,Joseph Strayer ed.,
Dictionary of the Middle Ages 1 (New York: Scribner,
1982) 129.
[3] Kennedy, Daniel. St. Albertus Magnus.The Catholic
Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 10 Sept. 2014
[4] Tugwell, Simon. Albert and Thomas, New York Paulist
Press, 1988, p. 3, 967
[5] Tugwell, p. 4-5.
[6] Kovach, Francs, and Rober Shahan. Albert the Great:
Commemorative Essays . Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1980, p.X
[7] Hampden, The Life, p. 33.
[8] Histoire literaire de la France: XIIIe sicle 19. p. 103.
Retrieved October 27, 2012.
[9] Probably Florentius de Hidinio, a.k.a. Florentius Gallicus,
Histoire literaire de la France: XIIIe sicle, Volume 19, p.
104, Accessed October 27, 2012
[10] Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, Volume 10, p. 701.
Accessed 9 June 2011
[11] Weisheipl O.P., J. A., The Place of Study In the Ideal
of St. Dominic, 1960. Accessed 19 March 2013

[15] An Smets, Le rception en langue vulgaire du De


falconibusd'Albert le Grand,in: Medieval Forms of
Argument: Disputation and Debate, ed. Georgiana Donavin, Carol Poster, and Richard Utz (Eugene, OR: Wipf
& Stock, 2002), pp. 18999.
[16] Katz, David A., An Illustrated History of Alchemy and
Early Chemistry, 1978
[17] Georg Wieland, Albert der Grosse. Der Entwurf einer
eigenstndigen Philosophie,Philosophen des Mittelalters
(Darmstadt: Primus, 2000) 124-39.
[18] Walsh, John, The Thirteenth, Greatest of Centuries.
1907:46.Available online.
[19] Emsley, John (2001). Nature's Building Blocks: An A-Z
Guide to the Elements. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
pp. 43,513,529. ISBN 0-19-850341-5.
[20] Davidson, Michael W.; National High Magnetic Field
Laboratory at The Florida State University (2003-08-01).
Molecular Expressions: Science, Optics and You
Timeline Albertus Magnus. The Florida State University. Retrieved 2009-11-28.
[21] Szabadvry, Ferenc (1992). History of analytical chemistry. Taylor & Francis. p. 17. ISBN 2-88124-569-2.
[22] Julian Franklyn and Frederick E. Budd. A Survey of the
Occult. Electric Book Company. 2001. p. 28-30. ISBN
1-84327-087-0.
[23] Paola Zambelli, The Speculum Astronomiae and its
EnigmaDordrecht.
[24] Kovach, Francs, and Rober Shahan. Albert the Great:
Commemorative Essays . Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1980, p. 133-135
[25] Cunningham, Stanley. Reclaiming Moral Agency: The
Moral Philosophy of Albert the Great. Washington, D.C.:
The Catholic University Of America Press, 2008 p. 93
[26] Cunningham, Stanley. Reclaiming Moral Agency: The
Moral Philosophy of Albert the Great. Washington, D.C.:
The Catholic University Of America Press, 2008 p.207
[27] Cunningham, Stanley. Reclaiming Moral Agency: The
Moral Philosophy of Albert the Great. Washington, D.C.:
The Catholic University Of America Press, 2008 p.242
[28] Cunningham, Stanley. Reclaiming Moral Agency: The
Moral Philosophy of Albert the Great. Washington, D.C.:
The Catholic University Of America Press, 2008 p.243

124.16. FURTHER READING

[29] Cunningham, Stanley. Reclaiming Moral Agency: The


Moral Philosophy of Albert the Great. Washington, D.C.:
The Catholic University Of America Press, 2008 p.244
[30] France: A Phaidon Cultural Guide, Phaidon Press, 1985,
ISBN 0-7148-2353-8, p. 705
[31] Chambers, Ephraim (1728). Androides Cyclopaedia,
or Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences. Digicoll.library.wisc.edu.
[32] The Concept of Anxiety, Princeton University Press, 1980,
ISBN 0-691-02011-6, pp. 150151
[33] Albertus Magnus High School. Albertusmagnus.net.
Retrieved 2013-08-09.
[34] Albertus Magnus College. Albertus.edu. Retrieved
2013-08-09.

124.14 Sources
Tugwell, Simon. Albert and Thomas, Paulist Press,
New York, 1988

This article incorporates text from a publication


now in the public domain: Chambers, Ephraim, ed.
(1728). "* article name needed". Cyclopdia, or an
Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (rst ed.).
James and John Knapton, et al.

124.15 Translations
On the causes of the properties of the elements, translated by Irven M. Resnick, (Milwaukee: Marquette
University Press, 2010) [translation of Liber de causis proprietatum elementorum]
Questions concerning Aristotle's on animals, translated by Irven M Resnick and Kenneth F Kitchell,
Jr, (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2008) [translation of Quaestiones super De
animalibus]
The cardinal virtues: Aquinas, Albert, and Philip
the Chancellor, translated by RE Houser, (Toronto:
Pontical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 2004)
[contains translations of Parisian summa, part six:
On the good and Commentary on the Sentences of
Peter Lombard, book 3, dist. 33 & 36]
The commentary of Albertus Magnus on book 1 of
Euclid's Elements of geometry, edited by Anthony Lo
Bello, (Boston: Brill Academic Publishers, 2003)
[translation of Priumus Euclidis cum commento Alberti]
On animals: a medieval summa zoologica, translated by Kenneth F Kitchell, Jr. and Irven Michael
Resnick, (Baltimore; London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999) [translation of De animalibus]

387
Paola Zambelli, The Speculum astronomiae and its
enigma: astrology, theology, and science in Albertus Magnus and his contemporaries, (Dordrecht;
Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1992) [includes Latin text and English translation of Speculum astronomiae]
Albert & Thomas: selected writings, translated by
Simon Tugwell, Classics of Western Spirituality,
(New York: Paulist Press, (1988) [contains translation of Super Dionysii Mysticam theologiam]
On union with God, translated by a Benedictine
of Princethorpe Priory, (London: Burns Oates &
Washbourne, 1911) [reprinted as (Felinfach: Llanerch Enterprises, 1991) and (London: Continuum,
2000)] [translation of De adherendo Deo]

124.16 Further reading


Collins, David J. Albertus, Magnus or Magus?:
Magic, Natural Philosophy, and Religious Reform
in the Late Middle Ages.Renaissance Quarterly 63,
no. 1 (2010): 144.
Honnefelder, Ludger (ed.) Albertus Magnus and the
Beginnings of the Medieval Reception of Aristotle in
the Latin West. From Richardus Rufus to Franciscus
de Mayronis, (collection of essays in German and
English), Mnster : Aschendor, 2005.
Kovach,Francis J. & Shahan,Robert W. Albert the
Great. Commemorative Essays, Norman: University
of Oklahoma Press, 1980.
Miteva, Evelina. The Soul between Body and Immortality: The 13th Century Debate on the Denition of the Human Rational Soul as Form and Substance, in: Philosophia: E-Journal of Philosophy
and Culture, 1/2012. ISSN: 1314-5606.
Resnick, Irven (ed.), A Companion to Albert the
Great: Theology, Philosophy, and the Sciences, Leiden, Brill, 2013.
Wallace, William A. (1970). Albertus Magnus,
Saint. In Gillispie, Charles. Dictionary of Scientic Biography 1. New York: Scribner & American
Council of Learned Societies. pp. 99103. ISBN
978-0-684-10114-9..

124.17 External links


Works by Albertus Magnus at Project Gutenberg
Works by or about Albertus Magnus at Internet
Archive (search optimized for the non-Beta site)

388

CHAPTER 124. ALBERTUS MAGNUS

Works by or about Albert the Great at Internet


Archive (search optimized for the non-Beta site)
Works by Albertus Magnus at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
Works by Albertus Magnus at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
Albert the Great entry by Markus Fhrer in the
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Kennedy, D.J. (1913). "St. Albertus Magnus".
Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
Alberti Magni Works in Latin Online
Albertus Magnus on Astrology & Magic
Albertus Magnus & Prognostication by the Stars
Albertus Magnus:Secrets of the Virtues of Herbs,
Stones and Certain Beasts London, 1604, full online version.
Albertus Magnus De Adhaerendo Deo On Cleaving to God
Online Galleries, History of Science Collections,
University of Oklahoma Libraries High resolution
images of works by Albertus Magnus in .jpg and .ti
format.
Albertus Magnus works at SOMNI in the collection
of the Duke of Calabria.
Alberti Magni De laudibus beate Mariae Virginis, Italian digitized codex of 1476 with a
completed transcription of his workLiber de
laudibus gloriosissime Dei genitricis Marie
Albertus Magnus De mirabili scientia Dei,
Italian digitized codex of 1484 with a transcription of the rst part of his Summa Theologicae.

Chapter 125

Robert Balfour (philosopher)


Robert Balfour (c. 15531621; known also as Balforeus) was a Scottish philosopher.
He was educated at the University of St Andrews and the
University of Paris. He was for many years principal of
the College of Guienne at Bordeaux.

125.1 Works
His great work is his Commentarii in Organum Logicum
Aristotelis (Bordeaux, 1618); the copy in the British Museum contains a number of highly eulogistic poems in
honour of Balfour, who is described as Graium aemulus
acer. Balfour was one of the scholars who contributed
to spread over Europe the fame of the praefervidum ingenium Scotorum. His contemporary, Thomas Dempster,
called him the phoenix of his age, a philosopher profoundly skilled in the Greek and Latin languages, and a
mathematician worthy of being compared with the ancients.
His Cleomedis meteora, with notes and Latin translation,
was reprinted at Leiden as late as 1820.

125.2 References
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Balfour, Robert".
Encyclopdia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge
University Press. which in turn cites:
Dempster, Historia Ecclesiastica Gent. Scotorum.
Irving, Lives of the Scottish Writers.
Anderson, Scottish Nation, i. 217.
Andrew Pyle (editor), Dictionary of Seventeenth
Century British Philosophers (2000), article pp. 54
5.

389

Chapter 126

Domingo Bez
Domingo Bez* [1] (29 February 1528, Valladolid
22 October 1604, Medina del Campo) was a Spanish
Dominican and Scholastic theologian. The qualifying
Mondragonensis sometimes attached to his name seems
to refer to the birthplace of his father, Juan Bez, at
Mondragn in Guipzcoa.

126.1 Life
126.1.1

tion to the chief professorship. He occupied this position


from 1577 to 1580. After Medina's death (30 December
1580) he appeared again as competitor for the rst chair
of the university. The outcome was an academic triumph
for Bez and he was duly installed in his new position
amid the acclamations of professors and students. There
he laboured for nearly twenty years. His name acquired
extraordinary authority, and the leading schools of orthodox Spain referred to him as the proeclarissimum jubar-the brightest lightof their country.* [2]

Education and teaching

Bez was born at Medina del Campo, in the province of


Valladolid.
At fteen he began to study philosophy at the University
of Salamanca. Three years later he took the Dominican
habit at the Convent of St. Stephen, Salamanca, and made
his profession 3 May 1547. During a year's review of the
liberal arts and later, he had the afterwards distinguished
Bartolom Medina as a fellow student. Under such professors as Melchior Cano (154851), Diego de Chaves
(1551), and Pedro Sotomayor (155051) he studied theology, laying the foundations of the erudition and acquiring the acumen which later made him eminent as a theologian and an exponent and defender of Thomistic doctrine. Bez next began teaching, and under Domingo
Soto, as prior and regent, he held various professorships
for ten years. He was made master of students, explaining the Summa to the younger brethren for ve years,
and incidentally taking the place, with marked success,
of professors who were sick, or who for other reasons
were absent from their chairs at the university. In the customary, sometimes competitive, examinations before advancement he is said easily to have carried o all honours.
Bez taught at the Dominican University of Avila from
1561 to 1566. About 1567 he was assigned to a chair of
theology at Alcal, the ancient Complutum. It appears
that he was at Salamanca again in 1572 and 1573, but
during the four scholastic years 1573-71 he was regent of
St. Gregory's Dominican College al Valladolid, a house
of higher studies where the best students of the Castilian
province were prepared for a scholastic career. Elected
Prior of Toro, he went instead to Salamanca to compete
for the chair of Durandus, left vacant by Medina's promo-

126.1.2 Controversy over free will


Bez in his prime was director and confessor of St.
Teresa.
The great controversy, with whose beginnings his name
is prominently associated, goes back to a public disputation held early in 1582. Francisco Zumel, of the Order
of Mercy, was moderator. Prudentius Montemayor, a
Jesuit, argued that Christ did not die freely, and consequently suered death without merit, if the Father had
given him a command to die. Bez asked what the consequences would have been if the Father had given command not only as to the substance of the act of death,
but also as to its circumstances. Prudentius responded
that in that case there remained neither liberty nor merit.
Luis de Len, an Augustinian, sided with Prudentius and
presently the discussion was taken up by the masters in
attendance and carried to the kindred subjects of predestination and justication. Other formal disputations ensued, and strong feeling was manifested. Juan de Santa e
Cruz, a Hieronymite, felt constrained to refer the matter
to the Spanish Inquisition (5 February), and to his deposition he appended sixteen propositions covering the
doctrines in controversy. Leon declared that he had
only defended the theses for the sake of argument. His
chief thought was to prevent them from being qualied
as heretical. Notwithstanding these and further admissions, he was forbidden to teach, publicly or privately, the
sixteen propositions as reviewed and proscribed.* [3]
In 1588, Luis Molina, a Jesuit brought out, at Lisbon,
his Concordia liberi arbitrii cum grati donis, bearing the
censura, or sanction, of a Dominican, Bartolomeu Fer-

390

126.2. WORKS

391

reiro, and dedicated to the Inquisitor General of Portuthe same subject-matter, always holding, howgal, Cardinal Albert of Austria; but a sentiment against
ever, to sound Catholic doctrine.* [5]
its appearance in Spain was aroused on the ground of
its favouring some of the interdicted propositions. The This pronouncement practically ended whatever personal
cardinal, advised of this, stopped its sale, and requested participation Bez had in the famous controversy.* [6]
Bez and probably some others to examine it. Three
months later, Bez gave his opinion that six of the 11
forbidden propositions appeared in the Concordia.* [4]

126.2 Works

Molina was asked to defend himself, and his answers to


the objections and to some other observations were added
as an appendix, with which, sanctioned anew (25 and 30
August 1589), the work was permitted to circulate. It was
regarded as an epoch-making study, and many Fathers
of the Society of Jesus rallied to its defense. From Valladolid where the Jesuit and Dominican schools in 1594
held alternate public disputations for and against its teaching on grace, the contention spread over all Spain. The intervention of the Inquisition was again sought, and by the
authority of this high tribunal the litigants were required
to present their respective positions and claims, and a
number of universities, prelates, and theologians were
consulted as to the merits of the strife. The matter was referred however, by the papal nuncio to Rome, 15 August
1594, and all dispute was to cease until a decision was
rendered. In the meantime, to oset his Dominican and
other critics, Molina brought counter accusations against
Bez and Zumel. The latter submitted his defense in
three parts, all fully endorsed by Bez, 7 July 1595. The
Dominican position was set forth about the same time
by Bez and seven of his brethren, each of whom presented a separate answer to the charges. But the presiding ocer of the Inquisition desired these eight books
to be reduced to one, and Bez, together with Pedro
Herrera and Didacus Alvarez was instructed to do the
work. About four months later Alvarez presented their
joint product under the titleApologetica fratrum prdicatorum in provinci Hispani sacr theologi professorum, adversus novas quasdam assertiones cujusdam doctoris Ludovici Molin nuncupati, published at Madrid,
20 November 1595. [...] Nearly two years later, 28 October 1597, Bez resumed the case in a new summary
and petitioned the pope to permit the Dominican schools
to take up their teaching again on the disputed questions.
This was the Libellus supplex Clementi VIII oblatus pro impetrand immunitate a lege silentii utrique litigantium parti
imposit, published at Salamanca. An answer to theLibelluswas conveyed in a letter of Cardinal Madruzzi,
25 February 1598, written in the name of the pope, to
the nuncio in Spain:
Inform the Fathers of the Order of Preachers
that His Holiness, moderating the prohibition
that was made, grants them the faculty freely
to teach and discuss, as they did in the past, the
subject-matter de auxiliis divinae gratia, et eorum ecaci, conformably to the doctrine of
St. Thomas; and likewise the Fathers of the
Society, that they also may teach and discuss

It has been contended that Bez was at least virtually


the founder of present-day Thomism, especially in so far
as it includes the theories of physical promotion, the intrinsic ecacy of grace, and predestination irrespective of
foreseen merit. To any reader of Baez It is evident that
he would have met such a declaration with a strenuous
denial. Fidelity to St. Thomas was his strongest characteristic. [...] He singles out for special animadversion the
views in which his professors and associates dissent even
lightly from the opinions of the Angelic Doctor.* [7]
Bez's zeal for the integrity of Thomistic teaching
could brook no doctrinal novelty, particularly if it claimed
the sanction of St. Thomas's name. In the voluminous
literature of the De Auxiliis and related controversies,
the cardinal tenets of Thomism are ascribed by its opponents to a varied origin: Gerhard Schneeman,* [8] the
Rev. Father De Regnon, S. J.* [9] and the Rev. Father
Gaudier, S. J.* [10] are probably the foremost modern
writers who designate the Thomists as Bannesians. But
against them appears a formidable list of Jesuits of repute who were either Thomists themselves or authorities for other opinions. Surez, for instance,* [11] credits Medina with the rst intimations of physical premotion and elsewhere* [12] admits that St. Thomas himself once taught it. Toletus* [13] and Pererius* [14] considered as Thomistic the Catechism of the Council of
Trent, which was the work (1566) of three Dominican
theologians.* [15] The Rev. Victor Frins S. J., gives it
as his opinion* [16] that whilst Medina and Pedro Soto
(1551) taught physical predetermination, the originator
of the theory was Francis Victoria, O.P. (d. 1546).
The Dominicans Ferrariensis (1576), Cajetan (1507),
and Giovanni Capreolus (d. 1436) are also accredited
Thomists in the estimation of such authorities as the
Jesuits Martin Becanus* [17] and Azorius,* [18] and the
theologians of Coimbra.* [19] Molina, strangely enough,
cites the doctrine of acertain disciple of St. Thomas
supposedly Bezas diering only in words from the
teaching of Duns Scotus, instead of agreeing with that of
Aquinas.* [20] These striking divergences of opinion of
which only a few have been cited would seem to indicate
that the attempt to father the Thomistic system on Bez
has failed.* [21]"* [22]
The development of Thomistic terminology in the Dominican school was mainly due to the exigencies not
only of the stand taken against Molina and the forbidden propositions already mentioned, but of the more important defense against the attacks and aberrations of the

392
Reformers. The predeterminationand predenitionof Bez and his contemporaries, who included
others besides Dominicans, emphasized, on the part of
God's knowledge and providence, a priority to, and independence of future free acts, which, in the CatharinoMolinistic theories, seemed to them less clearly to fall under God's causal action. These terms, however, are used
by St. Thomas himself.* [23] The words physical premotionwere meant to exclude, rst a merely moral impulse and, secondly, a concurrence of the Divine causality
and free will, without the latter's subordination to the First
Cause. That such terms, far from doing violence to the
teachings of their great leader, are their true expression,
has, of course, been an unvaried tenet of the Thomistic
school. One of the presiding ocers of the Congregatio
de Auxiliis, Cardinal Madruzzi, speaking of Bez in this
connection, said: 'His teaching seems to be deduced from
the principles of St. Thomas and to ow wholly from St.
Thomas's doctrine, although he diers somewhat in his
mode of speaking.'* [24]"* [25]

126.3 References
[1] Originally and more properly Vez and sometimes, but
erroneously, Ibez.
[2] http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02247a.htm
[3] http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02247a.htm
[4] http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02247a.htm
[5] Serry, Hist. Cong. de Aux., I, XXVI.
[6] http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02247a.htm
[7] http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02247a.htm
[8] Controversiarum de divin grati liberique arbitrii Concordi initiae progressus, Freiburg im Br., 1881.
[9] Baez et Molina, Paris, 1883.
[10] In the Revue des Sciences Ecclsiastiques, Amiens, 1887,
p. 153.
[11] Op. omn., XI, ed Vives, Paris, 1886, Opusc., I, Lib. III,
De Auxiliis vii.
[12] Op. omn., XI, 50; Opusc. I, Lib. I, De Conc.-Dei, xi, n
6.
[13] Comment. in 8 Lib. Aristotelis, Venice, 1573, Lib. II, c.
iii, q.8.
[14] Pref. to Disquisit. Magicarum Lib. VI, I Ed.
[15] For Delrio see Goudin, Philosophia (Civita Vecchia,
1860), IV pt. IV, 392, Disp. 2, q. 3, 2.
[16] S. Thom Aq. O.P. doctrina de Cooperatione Dei cum
omni natur creat prsertim liber, Responsio ad R.P.
Dummermuth O.P., Paris, 1893.

CHAPTER 126. DOMINGO BEZ

[17] Summa Theol. Schol. (Mainz, 1612), De Deo, xviii, no


14.
[18] Institut. Moral. (Rome, 160-11), Lib. I, xxi, 7.
[19] Comment. in 8 libros Phys., Lib. II, q. 13, a. 1.
[20] Concordia (Paris 1876), q. 14, a. 13, Disp. 50.
[21] Cf. Defensio Doctrin S. Thom, A.M. Dummermuth
O.P., Louvain and Paris, 1895, also Card. Zigliara,
Summa Phil. (Paris, 1898), II, 525.
[22] http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02247a.htm
[23] Comment. de divinis nominibus, Lect. iii.
[24] Serry, Hist. Cong. de Aux. appendix, col. 89.
[25] http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02247a.htm

126.4 External Links


Volz, John. Domingo Baez. The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 17 Dec. 2014.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in
the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913).
"Domingo Baez". Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.

Chapter 127

Bartholomaeus of Bruges
Bartholomaeus of Bruges (Barthlemy de Bruges)
(died 1356) was a Flemish physician and natural philosopher.

Maier. Ed. di Storia e Letteratura. p. 418. GGKEY:


L405NCPNGP7. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
[3] Luis Garcia-Ballester; Roger French; Jon Arrizabalaga;
Andrew Cunningham (16 December 1993). Practical
Medicine from Salerno to the Black Death. Cambridge
University Press. p. 50. ISBN 978-0-521-43101-9. Retrieved 3 August 2012.

127.1 Life
He graduated M.A. at the University of Paris in 1307,
and became a master of medicine. He came under the
inuence of Radulphus Brito.* [1]

[4] Thomas F. Glick; Steven J. Livesey; Faith Wallis (29


September 2005). Medieval Science, Technology, and
Medicine: An Encyclopedia. Psychology Press. p. 76.
ISBN 978-0-415-96930-7. Retrieved 3 August 2012.

Bartholomaeus served as physician to Guy I, Count of


Blois until the count died.* [2] He was a reforming medical teacher, replacing the older curriculum based on the
Articella by a new Galenism.* [3]

[5] colorado.edu/philosophy/provisionalia, Bartholomew of


Bruges.
[6] Donnalee Dox (5 August 2004). The Idea of the Theater in
Latin Christian Thought: Augustine to the Fourteenth Century. University of Michigan Press. pp. 1167. ISBN
978-0-472-11423-8. Retrieved 3 August 2012.

127.2 Works
*

[7] Perrine Galand-Hallyn; Fernand Hallyn; Terence Cave


(2001). Potiques de la Renaissance (in French). Librairie
Droz. pp. 49. ISBN 978-2-600-00474-9. Retrieved 3
August 2012.

Bartholomaeus wrote commentaries on Aristotle. [4] [5]


His work on the Poetics is noted for its sympathy with
mimesis as a poetical function, and so an opening towards classical drama* [6] (the original work of Aristotle not being available at the time in Western Europe, the
basis was a Latin translation by Hermannus Alemannus
from Averroes, the Commentaria Media).* [7] He engaged
in controversy with John of Jandun on the sensus agens,
an active perceptive faculty of the soul.* [8] The reply of
John of Jandun has been dated to 1310.* [9]
At the University of Montpellier he wrote also on the Ars
Medicine.* [10] Some of the medical works that were attributed to him are considered to be by Bartholomew of
Salerno instead.* [11] In 1348, at the time of the Black
Death, he wrote on the plague.* [4]

[8] Simo Knuuttila; Pekka Krkkinen (20 March 2008).


Theories of Perception in Medieval and Early Modern Philosophy. Springer. p. 215. ISBN 978-1-4020-6124-0.
Retrieved 3 August 2012.
[9] A. Pattin (1 January 1988). Pour l'histoire du sens agent:
La controverse entre Barthlemy de Bruges et Jean de Jandun. Ses antcdents et son volution. Etudes de textes indits. Leuven University Press. p. 32. ISBN 978-906186-263-5. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
[10] Cornelius O'Boyle (1998). The Art of Medicine: Medical
Teaching at the University of Paris, 1250-1400. BRILL.
p. 200. ISBN 978-90-04-11124-0. Retrieved 3 August
2012.
[11] Ernest Wickersheimer; Danielle Jacquart (1979).
Dictionnaire biographique des mdecins en France au
Moyen ge (in French). Librairie Droz. p. 38. ISBN
978-2-600-03384-8. Retrieved 3 August 2012.

127.3 Notes
[1] Benot Patar (2006). Dictionnaire des Philosophes Mdivaux (in French). Les Editions Fides. pp. 956. ISBN
978-2-7621-2741-6. Retrieved 3 August 2012.

127.4 External links

[2] Alfonso Maier; Alfonso Maier - Agostino Paravicini


Bagliani. Studi sul XIV secolo in memoria di Anneliese

393

WorldCat page

Chapter 128

Boethius
For other people of the same name, see Boethius pher Ammonius Hermiae. However, Moorhead observes
(disambiguation).
that the evidence supporting Boethius having studied in
Alexandria is not as strong as it may appear, and
Anicius Manlius Severinus Bothius,* [1]* [2] com- concludes Perhaps Boethius was able* to acquire his
monly called Boethius* [3] (/boiis/; also Boetius formidable learning without travelling. [9]
/bois/; c. 480524 AD), was a philosopher of the
early 6th century. He was born in Rome to the ancient
and prominent Anicia family, which included emperors
Petronius Maximus and Olybrius and many consuls.* [2]
His father, Flavius Manlius Boethius, was consul in
487 after Odoacer deposed the last Roman Emperor.
Boethius himself entered public life at a young age and
was already a senator by the age of 25.* [4] He was consul in 510 in the kingdom of the Ostrogoths. In 522
he saw his two sons become consuls.* [5] Boethius was
imprisoned and eventually executed by King Theodoric
the Great,* [6] who suspected him of conspiring with the
Byzantine Empire. While jailed, Boethius composed his
Consolation of Philosophy, a philosophical treatise on fortune, death, and other issues. The Consolation became
one of the most popular and inuential works of the Middle Ages.

128.1 Early life and rise to power

Due to his erudition, Boethius entered the service of


Theodoric the Great. His earliest documented acts on
behalf of the Ostrogothic ruler were to investigate allegations that the paymaster of Theodoric's Bodyguards had
debased the coins of their pay, to produce a waterclock
which Theodoric intended to give to king Gundobad of
the Burgunds, and to recruit a lyre-player to perform for
king Clovis of the Franks.* [10]
Boethius married his foster-father's daughter Rusticiana,
and their children included two boys, Symmachus and
Boethius. He held many important oces during
Theodoric's reign, including being appointed consul for
the year 510, but Boethius confesses in his De consolatione philosophiae that his greatest achievement was to
have both his sons made co-consuls for the same year
(522) one representing the east and the other the west,
and nding himself sittingbetween the two consuls and
as if it were a military triumph let your largess fulll the
wildest expectations of the people packed in their seats
around you.* [11]

In 522, the same year his two sons were appointed joint
Boethius was born around 480 AD, [7] but his ex- consuls, Boethius accepted the appointment to the posithe head of all the governact birth date is unknown.* [2] Boethius was born to a tion of magister ociorum,
*
ment
and
court
services.
[12]
patrician family; his father Manlius Boethius was appointed consul in 487. However, his father died when
Boethius was young, and he was adopted by another
patrician, Quintus Aurelius Memmius Symmachus.* [8] 128.2 Fall and death
Memmius Symmachus raised him and instilled in him a
love for literature and philosophy. Both Memmius Symmachus and Boethius were uent in Greek, an increas- In 520, Boethius was working to revitalize the relationingly rare skill at the time in the Western Empire, which ship between the Roman See and the Constantinopalian
has led some scholars to think that Boethius was edu- See; though still both a part of the same Church, sericated in the East. According to John Moorhead, the tra- ous disagreements had begun to emerge between them.
ditional view is that Boethius studied in Athens based This may have set in place* a course of events that would
on Cassiodorus's rhetoric describing Boethius' learning in lead to loss of royal favour. [12] Five-hundred years later,
one of his letters, but this appears to be a misreading and this led to the East-West Schism, in which the Roman
his studying in Athens is more likely a legend.* [7] The Catholic Church separated itself from the Eastern OrthoFrench scholar Pierre Courcelle has argued that Boethius dox Church.
studied at Alexandria with the Neo-Platonist philoso- In 523 Boethius fell from power. After a period of
*

394

128.3. WORKS

395
had become king of the Vandals and had put Theodoric's
sister Amalafrida to death,* [19] and Arian Christians in
the East were being persecuted.* [20] Then there was the
matter that with his previous ties to Theodahad, Boethius
apparently found himself on the wrong side in the succession dispute following the untimely death of Eutharic,
Theodoric's announced heir.
The method of Boethius' execution varies in the sources.
Perhaps he was killed with an axe or a sword, or, possibly,
he was clubbed to death. According to another version a
rope was attached round his head and tightened till his
eyes bulged out; then his skull was cracked. In any case,
his remains were entombed in the church of San Pietro
in Ciel d'Oro in Pavia. In Dante's Paradise of The Divine Comedy, the spirit of Boethius is pointed out by Saint
Thomas Aquinas:
Now if thy mental eye conducted be

Boethius imprisoned (from 1385 manuscript of the Consolation).

From light to light as I resound their frame,


The eighth well worth attention thou wilt see.

imprisonment in Pavia for what was deemed a treasonable oense, he was executed in 524.* [7]* [13] The primary sources are in general agreement over the facts
of what happened. At a meeting of the Royal Council in Verona, the referandarius Cyprianus accused the
ex-consul Caecina Decius Faustus Albinus of treasonous
correspondence with Justin I. Boethius leapt to his defense, crying, The charge of Cyprianus is false, but if
Albinus did that, so also have I and the whole senate with
one accord done it; it is false, my Lord King.* [14] Cyprianus then also accused Boethius of the same crime, and
produced three men who claimed they had witnessed the
crime. Boethius and Basilius were arrested. First the pair
were detained in the baptistery of a church, then Boethius
was exiled to the Ager Calventianus, a distant country estate, where he was put to death. Not long afterwards
Theodoric had Boethius' father-in-law Symmachus put to
death, according to Procopius, on the grounds that he and
Boethius together were planning a revolution, and conscated their property.* [15]
The basic facts in the case are not in dispute,writes
Jerey Richards. What is disputed about this sequence of events is the interpretation that should be put on
them.* [16] Boethius claims his crime was seekingthe
safety of the Senate.He describes the three witnesses
against him as dishonorable: Basilius had been dismissed
from Royal service for his debts, while Venantius Opilio
and Gaudentius had been exiled for fraud.* [17] However, other sources depict these men in far more positive
light. For example, Cassiodorus describes Cyprianus and
Opilio asutterly scrupulous, just and loyaland mentions
they are brothers and grandsons of the consul Opilio;* [18]
Theodoric was feeling threatened by international events.
The Acacian Schism had been resolved, and the Catholic
Christian aristocrats of his kingdom were seeking to renew their ties with Constantinople. The Catholic Hilderic

The soul who pointed out the world's dark ways,


To all who listen, its deceits unfolding.
Beneath in Cieldauro lies the frame
Whence it was driven; from woe and exile to
This fair abode of peace and bliss it came.* [21]
Past Classical and Medieval historians have had a hard
time accepting a sincere Christian who was also a serious Hellenist.* [22] Momigliano argues that many people have turned to Christianity for consolation. Boethius
turned to paganism. His Christianity collapsedit collapsed so thoroughly that perhaps he did not even notice
its disappearance.However, this view does not reect
the majority of current scholarship on the matter.* [23]
The community that he was part of valued both classical
culture and Christian belief.* [7]

128.3 Works
128.3.1

De consolatione philosophiae

Boethius's best known work is the Consolation of Philosophy (De consolatione philosophiae), which he wrote
most likely while in exile under house arrest or in prison
while awaiting his execution.* [24] This work represented
an imaginary dialogue between himself and philosophy,
with philosophy personied as a woman.* [24] The book
argues that despite the apparent inequality of the world,
there is, in Platonic fashion, a higher power and everything else is secondary to that divine Providence.* [6] Several manuscripts survived and these were widely edited,
translated and printed throughout the late 15th century
and later in Europe.* [24] Beyond Consolation of Philosophy, his lifelong project was a deliberate attempt to

396

CHAPTER 128. BOETHIUS


He asserts that there are three types of arguments: those
of necessity, of ready believability, and sophistry.* [31]
He follows Aristotle in dening one sort of Topic as the
maximal proposition, a proposition which is somehow
shown to be universal or readily believable.* [32] The
other sort of Topic, the dierentiae, are Topics that
contain and include the maximal propositions"; means
of categorizing the Topics which Boethius credits to Cicero.* [33] Book II covers two kinds of topics: those from
related things and those from extrinsic topics. Book III
discusses the relationship between things studied through
Topics, Topics themselves, and the nature of denition.
Book IV analyzes partition, designation and relationships
between things (such as pairing, numbering, genus, and
species, etc.) After a review of his terms, Boethius spends
Book V discussing Stoic logic and Aristotelian causation.
Book VI relates the nature of the Topic to causes.

Lady Philosophy and Boethius from the Consolation, (Ghent,


1485)

preserve ancient classical knowledge, particularly philosophy. Boethius intended to translate all the works
of Aristotle and Plato from the original Greek into
Latin.* [25]* [26]* [27]

128.3.2 De topicis dierentiis


His completed translations of Aristotle's works on logic
were the only signicant portions of Aristotle available in
Latin Christendom from the sixth century until the 12th
century. However, some of his translations (such as his
treatment of the topoi in The Topics) were mixed with his
own commentary, which reected both Aristotelian and
Platonic concepts.* [24]
Unfortunately, the commentaries themselves have been
lost.* [28] In addition to his commentary on the Topics,
Boethius composed two treatises on Topical argumentation, In Ciceronis Topica and De topicis dierentiis. The
rst work has six books, and is largely a response to Cicero's Topica.* [29] The rst book of In Ciceronis Topica
begins with a dedication to Patricius. It includes distinctions and assertions important to Boethius's overall philosophy, such as his view of the role of philosophy toestablish our judgment concerning the governing of life,
*
[30] and denitions of logic from Plato, Aristotle and
Cicero. He breaks logic into three parts: that which denes, that which divides, and that which deduces.* [30]

In Topicis Dierentiis has four books; Book I discusses


the nature of rhetorical and dialectical Topics together,
Boethius's overall purpose beingto show what the Topics are, what their dierentiae are, and which are suited
for what syllogisms.* [34] He distinguishes between argument (that which constitutes belief) and argumentation (that which demonstrates belief). Propositions are
divided into three parts: those that are universal, those
that are particular, and those that are somewhere in between.* [35] These distinctions, and others, are applicable
to both types of Topical argument, rhetorical and dialectical. Books II and III are primarily focused on Topics
of dialectic (syllogisms), while Book IV concentrates on
the unit of the rhetorical Topic, the enthymeme. Topical
argumentation is at the core of Boethiuss conception of
dialectic, whichhave categorical rather than conditional
conclusions, and he conceives of the discovery of an argument as the discovery of a middle term capable of linking
the two terms of the desired conclusion.* [36] Not only
are these texts of paramount importance to the study of
Boethius, they are also crucial to the history of topical
lore. It is largely due to Boethius that the Topics of Aristotle and Cicero were revived, and the Boethian tradition
of topical argumentation spans its inuence throughout
the Middle Ages and into the early Renaissance: In the
works of Ockham, Buridan, Albert of Saxony, and the
Pseudo-Scotus, for instance, many of the rules of consequence bear a strong resemblance to or are simply identical with certain Boethian Topics...Boethiuss inuence,
direct and indirect, on this tradition is enormous.* [37]
It was also in De Topicis Dierentiis that Boethius made
a unique contribution to the discourse on dialectic and
rhetoric. Topical argumentation for Boethius is dependent upon a new category for the topics discussed by Aristotle and Cicero, and "[u]nlike Aristotle, Boethius recognizes two dierent types of Topics. First, he says, a Topic
is a maximal proposition (maxima propositio), or principle; but there is a second kind of Topic, which he calls the
dierentia of a maximal proposition...* [38] Maximal
propositions are propositions [that are] known per se,

128.3. WORKS
and no proof can be found for these.* [39] This is the basis for the idea that demonstration (or the construction of
arguments) is dependent ultimately upon ideas or proofs
that are known so well and are so fundamental to human
understanding of logic that no other proofs come before
it. They must hold true in and of themselves. According
to Stump,the role of maximal propositions in argumentation is to ensure the truth of a conclusion by ensuring the
truth of its premises either directly or indirectly.* [40]
These propositions would be used in constructing arguments through the Dierentia, which is the second part
of Boethius' theory. This is the genus of the intermediate in the argument.* [41] So maximal propositions
allow room for an argument to be founded in some sense
of logic while dierentia are critical for the demonstration and construction of arguments.

397

128.3.3

De arithmetica

Boethius intended to pass on the great Greco-Roman culture to future generations by writing manuals on music
and astronomy, geometry, and arithmetic.* [4]
Several of Boethius' writings, which were largely inuential during the Middle Ages, drew from the thinking of Porphyry and Iamblichus.* [47] Boethius wrote
a commentary on the Isagoge by Porphyry,* [48] which
highlighted the existence of the problem of universals: whether these concepts are subsistent entities which
would exist whether anyone thought of them, or whether
they only exist as ideas. This topic concerning the
ontological nature of universal ideas was one of the most
vocal controversies in medieval philosophy.

Besides these advanced philosophical works, Boethius is


Boethius
denition ofdierentiaeis that they arethe also reported to have translated important Greek texts
Topics of arguments...The Topics which are the Dier- for the topics of the quadrivium * [46] His loose transentiae of [maximal] propositions are more universal than lation of Nicomachus's treatise on arithmetic (De instituthose propositions, just as rationality is more universal tione arithmetica libri duo) and his textbook on music (De
than man.* [42] This is the second part of Boethius institutione musica libri quinque, unnished) contributed
unique contribution to the eld of rhetoric. Dierentia to medieval education.* [48] De arithmetica begins with
operate under maximal propositions tobe of use in nd- modular arithmetic, such as even and odd, evenly-even,
ing maximal propositions as well as intermediate terms, evenly-odd, and oddly-even. He then turns to unpreor the premises that follow maximal propositions.* [43]
dicted complexity by categorizing numbers and parts of
Though Boethius is drawing from Aristotles Topics,
Dierentiae are not the same as Topics in some ways.
Boethius arranges dierentiae through statements, instead of generalized groups as Aristotle does. Stump articulates the dierence. They are expressed as words
or phrases whose expansion into appropriate propositions
is neither intended nor readily conceivable,unlike Aristotles clearly dened four groups of Topics. Aristotle
had hundreds of topics organized into those four groups,
whereas Boethius has twenty-eight Topicsthat are
highly ordered among themselves.* [44] This distinction is necessary to understand Boethius as separate from
past rhetorical theories.

numbers.* [49] His translations of Euclid on geometry


and Ptolemy on astronomy,* [50] if they were completed,
no longer survive. Boethius made Latin translations of
Aristotle's De interpretatione and Categories with commentaries. These were widely used during the Middle
Ages.* [12]

128.3.4

De institutione musica

Boethius' De institutione musica was one of the rst musical works to be printed in Venice between the years of
1491 and 1492. It was written toward the beginning of
the sixth century and helped medieval authors during the
ninth century understand Greek music.* [51]

Maximal propositions and Dierentiae belong not only to


rhetoric, but also to dialectic. Boethius denes dialectic
through an analysis ofthesisand hypothetical proposi- InDe Musica,Boethius introduced the threefold clas*
tions. He claims that "[t]here are two kinds of questions. sication of music: [52]
One is that called,thesisby the [Greek] dialecticians.
This is the kind of question which asks about and dis Musica mundana music of the spheres/world
cusses things stripped of relation to other circumstances;
Musica humana harmony of human body and
it is the sort of question dialecticians most frequently disspiritual harmony
pute aboutfor example,Is pleasure the greatest good?
[or]Should one marry?
.* [45] Dialectic hasdialecti Musica instrumentalis instrumental music
cal topicsas well asdialectical-rhetorical topics,all of
*
which are still discussed in De Topicis Dierentiis. [38]
Dialectic, especially in Book I, comprises a major com- In one of his works within De institutione musica, was to
say that music is so naturally united with us that we
ponent of Boethiusdiscussion on Topics.
cannot be free from it even if we so desired.* [53]
Boethius planned to completely translate Plato's Dialogues, but there is no known surviving translation, if it During the Middle Ages, Boethius was connected to several texts that were used to teach liberal arts. Although he
was actually ever begun.* [46]
did not address the subject of trivium, he did write many
treatises explaining the principles of rhetoric, grammar,

398

CHAPTER 128. BOETHIUS

and logic. During the Middle Ages, his works of these from misfortune.* [58] Parts of the work are reminisdisciplines were commonly used when studying the three cent of the Socratic method of Plato's dialogues, as the
elementary arts.<ref name="a"/
spirit of philosophy questions Boethius and challenges his
An 1872 German translation of De Musicawas the emotional reactions to adversity. The work was translated into Old English by King Alfred, although Alfred's
magnum opus of Oscar Paul.* [54]
authorship of this Old English translation has recently
been questioned, and into later English by Chaucer and
Queen Elizabeth;* [55] many manuscripts survive and it
128.3.5 Opuscula sacra
was extensively edited, translated and printed throughout
*
Boethius also wrote Christian theological treatises, which Europe from the 14th century onwards. [59] Many comsupported Catholicism and condemned Arianism and mentaries on it were compiled and it has been one of the
most inuential books in European culture. No complete
other heterodox forms of Christianity.* [55]
bibliography has ever been assembled but it would run
Five theological works are known:* [7]
into thousands of items.* [58] The Boethian Wheelis
a model for Boethius' belief that history is a wheel,* [60]
De Trinitate -The Trinity, where he defends the that Boethius uses frequently in the Consolation; it reCouncil of Chalcedon Trinitarian position, that God mained very popular throughout the Middle Ages, and
is in three persons who have no dierences in nature. is still often seen today. As the wheel turns those that
He argues against the Arian view of the nature of have power and wealth will turn to dust; men may rise
God, which put him at odds with the faith of Arian from poverty and hunger to greatness, while those who
King of Italy.
are great may fall with the turn of the wheel. It was represented in the Middle Ages in many relics of art depicting
Utrum Pater et lius et Spiritus Sanctus de divinitale the rise and fall of man. Descriptions of The Boethian
substantialiter praedicentur -Whether Father, Son Wheelcan be found in the literature of the Middle Ages
and Holy Spirit are Substantially Predicated of the from the Romance of the Rose to Chaucer.* [61]
Divinity,A short work where he uses reason and
Aristotelian epistemology to argue that the Catholic
faiths' views of the nature of God are correct.* [56]
Quomodo substantiae
De de catholica - On the Catholic Faith

128.5 Veneration

Contra Eutychen et Nestorium - Against Eutyches


and Nestorius,from around 513, which dates it
as the earliest of his theological works. Eutyches
and Nestorius were contemporaries from the early
to mid 5th century who held divergent Christological theologies, Boethius argues for a middle ground
in conformity with Roman Catholic faith.
His theological works played an important part during
the Middle Ages on philosophical thought, including the
elds of logic, ontology, and metaphysics.* [57]

128.4 History of reception


Lorenzo Valla described Boethius as the last of the Romans and the rst of the scholastic philosophers.* [5] Despite the use of his mathematical texts in the early universities, it is his nal work, the Consolation of Philosophy, that assured his legacy in the Middle Ages and beyond. This work is cast as a dialogue between Boethius
himself, at rst bitter and despairing over his imprisonment, and the spirit of philosophy, depicted as a woman
of wisdom and compassion. Alternately composed
in prose and verse,* [47] the Consolation teaches acceptance of hardship in a spirit of philosophical detachment

Tomb of Boethius in San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro, Pavia.

Boethius is recognized as a martyr for the Catholic faith


by the Roman Martyrology. His cult is held in Pavia and
in the Church of Santa Maria in Portico in Rome. His
feast day is October 23.* [62] He was declared a saint
by the Sacred Congregation of Rites in 1883, and Pope
Benedict XVI explains the relevance of Boethius to modern day Christians by linking his teachings to an understanding of Providence.* [63]* [64]

128.6. NOTES

128.6 Notes
[1] The name Anicius demonstrated his connection with a noble family of the Lower Empire, while Manlius claims
lineage from the Manlii Torquati of the Republic. The
name Severinus was given to him in honour of Severinus
of Noricum.
[2] Hodgkin, Thomas. Italy and Her Invaders. London:
Adamant Media Corporation, 2001.
[3]Boethiushas four syllables in English, /boii.s/, the
o and e are pronounced separately. It is hence traditionally
written with a diresis, viz.Bothius, a spelling which
has been disappearing due to the limitations of typewriters.
[4] General Audience of Pope Benedict XVI, Boethius
and Cassiodorus.
Internet.
Available from http:
//www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/
2008/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20080312_en.html;
accessed November 4, 2009.
[5] Boethius, Anicius Manlius Severinus. The Theological
Tractates and The Consolation of Philosophy. Translated
by H. F. Steward and E. K. Rand. Cambridge: The Project
Gutenberg, 2004.
[6] The Online Library of Liberty, Boethius. Internet. Available from http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.phpoption=
com_content&task=view&id=215&Itemid=269;
accessed November 3, 2009.

399

[15] History of the Wars, 5.1.34. Text and translation in H. B.


Dewing, Procopius (London: Heinemann, 1968), vol. 3 p.
12f
[16] Richards, The Popes and the Papacy in the Early Middle
Ages (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1979), p. 114
[17] De consolatione I.4.3; translated by V. E. Watts, Boethius:
The consolation of philosophy (Harmondsworth: Penguin,
1969), p. 42
[18] Cassiodorus, Variae, V.40, 41
[19] Bury, J. B., History of the Later Roman Empire, p.158,
Macmillan & Co., Ltd. 1923
[20] Richards, Popes and the Papacy, p. 119
[21] Boethius. Consolation of Philosophy. Translation
[22] David C. Lindberg (15 March 1980), Science in the Middle
Ages, University of Chicago Press, pp. 10, ISBN 978-0226-48233-0, retrieved 12 January 2013
[23] P. G. Walsh, in the introduction to Boethius' The Consolation of Philosophy (Oxford: Oxford U. Press, 2000) xxvii
[24] Boethius, Anicius Manlius Severinus. Consolation of Philosophy. Translated by Joel Relihan. Norton: Hackett
Publishing Company, 2001.
[25] http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/medieval-philosophy/
#Boethius

[7] Noel Harold Kaylor; Philip Edward Phillips (3 May


2012), A Companion to Boethius in the Middle Ages,
BRILL, pp. 1, ISBN 978-90-04-18354-4, retrieved 19
January 2013

[26] Saint Thomas (Aquinas); Frederick Christian Bauerschmidt (1 July 2005). Holy Teaching: Introducing the
Summa Theologiae of St. Thomas Aquinas. Brazos Press.
pp. 14. ISBN 978-1-58743-035-0. Retrieved 22 March
2013.

[8] De consolatione philosophiae, 2.3; translated by V.E.


Watts, Boethius: The Consolation of Philosophy (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1969), p. 59

[27] Richard E. Rubenstein (20 September 2004). Aristotle's


Children. Houghton Miin Harcourt. pp. 62. ISBN
978-0-547-35097-4. Retrieved 22 March 2013.

[9] Moorhead, Boethius' life and the world of late antique


philosophy, in The Cambridge Companion to Boethius,
edited by John Marenbon (Cambridge: University Press,
2009), p. 29

[28] Stump, Eleanor (1988). In Ciceronis Topicis. Introduction: Cornell University Press. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-80148933-4.

[10] Cassiodorus, Variae I.10, I.45, II.40; translated by S. J.


B. Barnish, Cassiodorus: Variae (Liverpool: University
Press, 1992), pp. 12-14, 20-23, 38-43
[11] De consolatione philosophiae, 2.3; translated by Watts, p.
60
[12] MacTutor History of Mathematicas archive, Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius; accessed November 4, 2009.
[13] Boethius (30 January 2007), The Theological Tractates
and The Consolation of Philosophy, Digireads.com Publishing, pp. 5, ISBN 978-1-4209-2975-1, retrieved 22
January 2013
[14] Anonymous Valesianus, 14.85; text and English translation of this document is in J. C. Rolfe (trans.), Ammianus Marcellinus (Cambridge: Harvard University Press,
1972), vol. 3 pp. 562f

[29] Boethius, Anicius (1988). In Ciceronis Topica. Cornell


University Press. p. 22. ISBN 978-0-8014-8933-4.
[30] Boethius (1988). In Ciceronis Topica. Cornell University.
p. 25.
[31] Boethius (1988). In Ciceronis Topica. Cornell University
Press. p. 26.
[32] Boethius. In Ciceronis Topica. 34
[33] Boethius. In Ciceronis Topica. 35
[34] Boethius (1978). De topicis dierentiis. Cornell University
Press. p. 29.
[35] Boethius (1978). De topicis dierentiis. Cornell University
Press. p. 31.
[36] Eleanor, Stump (1978). In Ciceronis Topica. Introduction. p. 6.

400

[37] Stump, Eleanor (1978). In Ciceronis Topica. Introduction: Cornell University Press. pp. 7, 9=8.
[38] Boethius (1978). De topicis dierentiis. Cornell University
Press. p. 180.
[39] Boethius (1978). De topicis dierentiis. Cornell University
Press. p. 33.
[40] Boethius (1978). De topicis dierentiis. Cornell University
Press. p. 181.
[41] Boethius (1978). De topicis dierentiis. Cornell University
Press. p. 198.
[42] Boethius (1978). De topicis dierentiis. Cornell University
Press. p. 48.
[43] Boethius (1978). De topicis dierentiis. Cornell University
Press. p. 204.
[44] Boethius (1978). De topicis dierentiis. Cornell University
Press. p. 205.
[45] Boethius (1978). De topicis dierentiis. Cornell University
Press. p. 35.

CHAPTER 128. BOETHIUS

[57] Bradshaw, David (2009).


The
sacra: Boethius and theology.
pp.
doi:10.1017/CCOL9780521872669.006.

Opuscula
105128.

[58] Boethius, Anicius Manlius Severinus. Consolation of Philosophy. Translated by H. R. James. Adelaide: The University of Adelaide, 2007.
[59] Richard A. Dwyer, Boethian Fictions, Narratives in the
Medieval French Versions of the Consolatio Philosophiae,
Medieval Academy of America, 1976.
[60] Boethius, Consolation of Philosophy, trans. Victor Watts
(rev. ed.), Penguin, 1999, p.24 n.1.
[61] The Middle Ages, The Wheel of Fortunes. Internet.
Available from http://www.themiddleages.net/wheel_of_
fortune.html; accessed November 4, 2009.
[62] Roman Martyrology
[63] General Audience of Pope Benedict XVI, 12 March 2008
[64] Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine's Abbey, The Book
of Saints, 6th ed., 1989, p. 507

[46] Variae, I.45.4; translated by Barnish, S. J. B. Liverpool:


University Press, 1992.
[47] Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Anicius Manlius SeverinusBoethius. Internet. Availablefrom http:
//plato.stanford.edu/entries/boethius/; accessed November 7, 2009.
[48] "Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913.
[49] Schrader, Dorothy V. De Arithmetica, Book I, of
Boethius.Mathematics Teacher 61 (1968):615-28.
[50] Masi, Michael. The Liberal Arts and Gerardus RuffusCommentary on the Boethian De Arithmetica.The
Sixteenth Century Journal 10 (Summer 1979): 24.
[51] Boethius, Anicius Manlius Severinus. Fundamentals of
Music. Translated, with Introduction and Notes by Calvin
M. Bower. Edited by Claude V. Palisca. New Haven:
Yale University Press, 1989.
[52] Thomas Christensen (25 April 2002), The Cambridge
History of Western Music Theory, Cambridge University
Press, pp. 146, ISBN 978-0-521-62371-1, retrieved 17
January 2013
[53] O'Donnell, Laurence. Music and the Brain. Music
Power. Retrieved 8 June 2011.
[54] 5 Bcher ber die Musik (Bothius, Anicius Manlius Severinus)

128.7 References
128.7.1 Works available online
James, H. R. (translator) [1897] (2007), The Consolation of Philosophy of Boethius, The University of
Adelaide: eBooks @ Adelaide.
Boethius, Anicius Manlius Severinus (1867).
Boetii De institutione arithmetica libri duo. In
Gottfried Friedlein. Anicii Manlii Torquati Severini
Boetii De institutione arithmetica libri duo: De institutione musica libri quinque. Accedit geometria quae
fertur Boetii (in Latin). in aedibus B.G. Teubneri.
pp. 1173. Retrieved 2008-08-03.
Boethius, Anicius Manlius Severinus (1867).
Boetii De institutione musica libri quinque. In
Gottfried Friedlein. Anicii Manlii Torquati Severini
Boetii De institutione arithmetica libri duo: De institutione musica libri quinque. Accedit geometria quae
fertur Boetii (in Latin). in aedibus B.G. Teubneri.
pp. 177371. Retrieved 2008-08-03.

128.7.2 Bibliography

[55] Boethius, Anicius Manlius Severinus. Consolation of Philosophy, translated by W. V. Cooper. London: J.M. Dent
and Company, 1902.

Attwater, Donald; Catherine Rachel John (1995).


The Penguin Dictionary of Saints. London: Penguin
Books. ISBN 0-14-051312-4. OCLC 34361179.

[56] Kent Emery; Russell Friedman; Andreas Speer (5 March


2011), Philosophy and Theology in the Long Middle Ages:
A Tribute to Stephen F. Brown, BRILL, pp. 95, ISBN
978-90-04-16942-5, retrieved 19 January 2013

Baird, Forrest E.; Walter Kaufmann (2008). From


Plato to Derrida. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey:
Pearson Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-158591-6.

128.10. EXTERNAL LINKS


Chadwick, Henry (1981). Boethius, the Consolations of Music, Logic, Theology, and Philosophy.
Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-826549-2.
OCLC 8533668.
Colish, Marcia L. (2002). Medieval Foundations of
the Western Intellectual Tradition, 400-1400. New
Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-078528. OCLC 185694056.
Magee, John (1989). Boethius on Signication and
Mind. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 9-0040-9096-7.
Marenbon, John (2004). Boethius. Oxford: Oxford
University Press. ISBN 0-19-513407-9. OCLC
186379876.
Marenbon, John (2009). The Cambridge Companion to Boethius. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press. ISBN 0-52-187266-9.
Westfall, Joseph (2008). Boethius: Kierkegaard
and The Consolation". In Stewart, Jon. Kierkegaard
and the Patristic and Medieval Traditions. Ashgate.
pp. 207222. ISBN 9780754663911.

401
A 10th century manuscript of Institutio Arithmetica
is available online from Lund University, Sweden
The Georey Freudlin 1885 edition of the Arithmetica, from the Cornell Library Historical Mathematics Monographs
Online Galleries, History of Science Collections,
University of Oklahoma Libraries High resolution
images of works by Boethius in .jpg and .ti format.

128.10.2 On Boethius' life and works


Blessed Severinus Boethius at Patron Saints Index
Blackwood, Stephen.The Meters of Boethius: Rhythmic Therapy in the Consolation of Philosophy.
O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F.,
Boethius, MacTutor History of Mathematics
archive, University of St Andrews.
Phillips, Philip Edward. Boethius: A Selected Bibliography for Students
Boethius at The Online Library of Liberty

128.8 Further reading

On Boethius and Cassiodorus Pope Benedict XVI

Papahagi, Adrian, Boethiana Mediaevalia A Col- 128.10.3 On Boethius' logic and philosolection of Studies on the Early Medieval Fortune of
phy
BoethiusConsolation of Philosophy, Zeta Books,
2010, ISBN 978-973-199-779-7.
Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius entry by John
Marenbon in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

128.9 Discography

Carlo Forlivesi, Boethius (2008) for biwa. The piece


is included in the CD album Silenziosa Luna (ALCD
76).

128.10 External links


128.10.1

Works

Works by Boethius at Project Gutenberg


Works by or about Boethius at Internet Archive
(search optimized for the non-Beta site)

Works by Boethius at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)


{en} De Trinitate (On the Holy Trinity) Boethius,
Erik Kenyon (trans.)
{en} Theological Tractates; Christian Classics Ethereal Library

The Contribution of Boethius to the Development


of Medieval Logic

Chapter 129

Boetius of Dacia
Boetius (or Boethius) of Dacia OP (latinization forBo
of Denmark(as Dacia was often used as the Latin term
for Denmark)) was a 13th-century philosopher.

129.1 Works and translations

Boetius was born in the rst half of the 13th century. Not
much is known of his early life, and the attempt to connect him to known persons from Denmark or Sweden has
not been successful.* [1] All that is known is that he went
to teach philosophy at the University of Paris. There he
associated with Siger of Brabant, and with Siger (together
with such gures as Roger Bacon and Jean Buridan)
shared the unusual career path of continuing to teach for
some time as arts masters rather than quickly moving on
to study in the theology faculty or nding non-academic
employment. He was condemned by Stephen Tempier in
1277 as being a leading member of the Averroist movement. Boetius ed Paris with Siger, and appealed to Pope
Nicholas III. He was detained at the pontical curia at
Orvieto, and went on to join the Dominicans in Dacia.
Boetius was a follower of Aristotle and Averroes, and
wrote on logic, natural philosophy, metaphysics, and
ethics, though some of his works have not survived. His
central position was that philosophy had to follow the arguments where they led, regardless of their conict with
religious faith. For him, philosophy was the supreme human activity, and in this world only philosophers attained
wisdom; in his book On the Highest Good, or On the Life
of the Philosopher he oers a fervently Aristotelian description of man's highest good as the rational contemplation of truth and virtue. Among the controversial conclusions that he reached are the impossibility of creation
ex nihilo, the eternity of the world and of the human race,
and that there could be no resurrection of the dead.
Despite his radical views, Boetius remained a Christian,
and attempted to reconcile his religious beliefs with his
philosophical position by assigning the investigation of
the world and of human nature to philosophy, while to
religion he assigned supernatural revelation and divine
miracles. He was condemned for holding the doctrine of
double truth, though he was careful to avoid calling philosophical conclusions that ran contrary to religion true simpliciter; in each branch of knowledge, one must be careful to qualify one's conclusions. The conclusions that the
philosopher reaches are trueaccording to natural causes
and principles(De Aeternitate Mundi, p. 351).
402

Boethii Daci Opera:


Modi signicandi sive quaestiones super
Priscianum maiorem, edited by John Pinborg
& Henry Roos with the collaboration of
Severino Skovgaard Jensen, Hauniae (Copenhague), G. E. C. Gad, Corpus Philosophorum
Danicorum Medii Aevi, 4, 1969.
Quaestiones de generatione et corruptione -Quaestiones super libros physicorum, edited by
Gza Saj, Hauniae (Copenhague), G. E. C.
Gad, Corpus Philosophorum Danicorum Medii
Aevi, 5, 1976.
Topica - Opuscola, Pars 1. Quaestiones super
Librum Topicorum, edited by Nicolas George
Green-Pedersen and John Pinborg; Pars 2.
Opuscula: De aeternitate mundi. De summo
bono. De somniis, edited by Nicolas George
Green-Pedersen, Hauniae (Copenhague), G.
E. C. Gad, Corpus Philosophorum Danicorum
Medii Aevi, 6, 1976.
Quaestiones super IV Meteorologicorum,
edited by Gianfranco Fioravanti, Hauniae (Copenhague), G. E. C. Gad, Corpus
Philosophorum Danicorum Medii Aevi, 8,
1979.
Boethius of Dacia, On the Supreme Good; on the
Eternity of the World; on Dreams. Edited by John F.
Wippel, Mediaeval Sources in Translation. Toronto,
Ont. Canada: Pontical Institute of Mediaeval
Studies, 1987.
Boetius of Dacia, The Sophisma 'Every Man Is
of Necessity an Animal'", in Norman Kretzmann
and Eleonore Stump [edd & trans.] The Cambridge
Translations of Medieval Philosophical texts. Volume One: Logic and the Philosophy of Language
(1988, Cambridge University Press; ISBN 0-52128063-X)

129.3. FOOTNOTES

129.2 Bibliography
Bursill-Hall, G. L., Speculative Grammars of the
Middle Ages: The Doctrine of the partes orationis of
the Modistae, Mouton: The Hague, 1971.
John Marenbon, Later Medieval Philosophy (11501350), New York: Routledge, 1991 ISBN 0-41506807-X.
Armand A. Maurer,Boetius of Dacia, in The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ed. Paul Edwards, Collier
Macmillan, 1967.

129.3 Footnotes
[1] Boethius de Dacia, Verdens evighed, Det lille forlag, 2001,
p. 8 (in Danish)

403

Chapter 130

Adam de Buckeld
Adam de Buckeld* [1] (b. ca. 1220 d. before
1294)* [2] was an English Franciscan philosopher, who
taught at the University of Oxford in the early 1240s.* [3]
He was an early commentator on a number of Aristotle's
works, in particular those dealing with natural philosophy.

soul. His attempt to clarify this was inspired by Philip


the Chancellor. However Adam's is a more believable
argument concerning this matter than is Philip's Summa.
Philip the Chancellor insisted that the body and soul were
united by a particular medium.* [3]

130.3 Notes

130.1 Teacher of Aristotle


Adam of Buckeld and the theologian Richard Fishacre
were two Oxford masters of the mid-13th century. Buckeld introduced the New Aristotle at the English university at a time when it was prohibited from being taught
in Paris, France because of ecclesiastical restrictions. It
is probable that Adam of Buckeld received a degree in
theology and penned his Aristotelian commentaries during his regency in arts which began by 1243. His explanation of Aristotle's meaning drew heavily on the writing
of Averroes.

[1] Adam or Adamus de Bocfeld, Bocfeldius, Buckfeldio,


Bucfeldus, Buckfeldius.
[2] ; date of death sometimes given as 1285.
[3] Adam of Buckeld, The Problem Of The Rational Soul In
The Thirteenth Century, Richard C. Dales, E.J. Brill, 1995,
pp. 47 - 52.

130.4 External links


Commentarium in De somno et vigilia, online text
"Adam of Buckeld". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 18851900.

130.2 Nature of the soul


His particular interest was in whether the agent intellect
was within the soul or a power of the soul. Averroes' believed in the latter interpretation while many theologians
were inclined to arm the former. Adam of Buckeld
doubted that the agent and possible intellect are of the
same substance. He wondered if the substance of the possible intellect is within the soul while that of the agent intellect is outside of it. Like his Oxford colleagues he was
curious about the unity of the soul. He felt that Aristotle
merely refuted the idea of Plato. The latter believed the
various functions of the soul (understanding, opinion, desire, etc.) reected diverse parts of the soul, which were
located in dierent organs. To answer the question left
unanswered by Aristotle, Adam of Buckeld commented
that each of the properties reside in the soul as a whole.
He elaborated by saying that each individual being can
have only one perfection. So it follows that man's perfection must be in one substance. He thought that according to Aristotelian principles, the vegetative and sensitive souls were of dierent substance than the intellective
404

"Bocfeld, Adam". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 18851900.

Chapter 131

Jean Buridan
131.1 Career
Born, most probably, in Bthune, France, Buridan studied and later taught at the University of Paris. Unusually,
he spent his academic life in the faculty of arts, rather
than obtaining the doctorate in Theology that typically
prepared the way for a career in Philosophy. He further
maintained his intellectual independence by remaining a
secular cleric, rather than joining a religious Order. By
1340, his condence had grown suciently for him to
launch an attack on his predecessor, William of Ockham.
Buridan also wrote on solutions to paradoxes such as the
liar paradox. An ordinance of Louis XI., in 1473, directed against the nominalists, prohibited the reading of
his works.
The bishop Albert of Saxony, himself renowned as a
logician, was among the most notable of his students.

131.2 Impetus theory


Main article: Theory of impetus
The concept of inertia was alien to the physics of
Aristotle. Aristotle, and his peripatetic followers, held
that a body was only maintained in motion by the action
Expositio et quaestionesin Aristoteles De Anima by Johannes of a continuous external force. Thus, in the Aristotelian
view, a projectile moving through the air would owe its
Buridanus, 1362?.
continuing motion to eddies or vibrations in the surrounding medium, a phenomenon known as antiperistasis. In
the absence of a proximate force, the body would come
to rest almost immediately.

Jean Buridan (French: [byid ]; Latin Johannes Buridanus; c. 1300 after 1358) was a French priest who
sowed the seeds of the Copernican revolution in Europe.* [1] He developed the concept of impetus, the rst
step toward the modern concept of inertia, and an important development in the history of medieval science.
His name is most familiar through the thought experiment
known as Buridan's ass (a thought experiment which does
not appear in his extant writings).

Jean Buridan, following in the footsteps of John Philoponus and Avicenna, proposed that motion was maintained by some property of the body, imparted when
it was set in motion. Buridan named the motionmaintaining property impetus. Moreover, he rejected the
view that the impetus dissipated spontaneously (this is the
big dierence between Buridan's theory of impetus and
his predecessors), asserting that a body would be arrested
by the forces of air resistance and gravity which might be
opposing its impetus. Buridan further held that the impetus of a body increased with the speed with which it was

405

406

CHAPTER 131. JEAN BURIDAN

set in motion, and with its quantity of matter. Clearly,


Buridan's impetus is closely related to the modern concept of momentum. Buridan saw impetus as causing the
motion of the object. Buridan anticipated Isaac Newton
when he wrote:
...after leaving the arm of the thrower, the projectile would be moved by an impetus given to it
by the thrower and would continue to be moved
as long as the impetus remained stronger than
the resistance, and would be of innite duration
were it not diminished and corrupted by a contrary force resisting it or by something inclining
it to a contrary motion (Questions on Aristotle's
Metaphysics XII.9).* [2]
Buridan used the theory of impetus to give an accurate
qualitative account of the motion of projectiles but he ultimately saw his theory as a correction to Aristotle, maintaining core peripatetic beliefs including a fundamental
qualitative dierence between motion and rest.
The theory of impetus was also adapted to explain
celestial phenomena in terms of circular impetus.

131.3 Apocryphal stories and anecdotes about personal life


Apocryphal stories abound about his reputed amorous affairs and adventures which are enough to show that he enjoyed a reputation as a glamorous and mysterious gure
in Paris life. In particular, a rumour held that he was sentenced to be thrown in a sack into the River Seine, but
was ultimately saved through the ingenuity of a student.
Franois Villon alludes to this in his famous poem Ballade
des Dames du Temps Jadis. Buridan also seems to have
had an unusual facility for attracting academic funding
which suggests that he was indeed a charismatic gure.

131.4 Selected works in English


translation
Hughes, G.E. (1982). John Buridan on SelfReference: Chapter Eight of Buridan's Sophismata. An edition and translation with an introduction, and philosophical commentary. Cambridge/London/New York: Cambridge University
Press, ISBN 0-521-28864-9.
King, Peter (1985). John Buridan's Logic: The
Treatise on Supposition; The Treatise on Consequences. Translation from the Latin with a Philosophical Introduction, Dordrecht: Reidel.
Zupko, John Alexander, ed. and tr. (1989).
John Buridan's Philosophy of Mind: An Edition and

Translation of Book III of His Questions on Aristotle's De Anima (Third Redaction), with Commentary
and Critical and Interpretative Essays. Doctoral dissertation, Cornell University.
Klima, Gyula, tr. (2001). John Buridan: 'Summulae de Dialectica'. Yale Library of Medieval Philosophy. New Haven, Conn./London: Yale University
Press.
John Buridan (2014). Treatise on Consequences,
translated, with an Introduction by Stephen Read.
New York: Fordham University Press.

131.5 See also


List of Roman Catholic scientist-clerics
Buridan's bridge

131.6 Notes
[1] Kuhn, T. The Copernican Revolution, 1957, pp. 119123.
[2] T. F. Glick, S. J. Livesay, F. Wallis, Medieval Science,
Technology and Medicine:an Encyclopedia, 2005, p. 107.

131.7 Further reading


Michael, Bernd (1985). Johannes Buridan: Studien
zu seinem Leben, seinen Werken und zu Rezeption
seiner Theorien im Europa des spten Mittelalters
[Jean Buridan: His life, his works and the reaction
to his theories in the Europe of the late Middle Ages].
2 Vols. Doctoral dissertation. University of Berlin.
Klima, Gyula (2008). John Buridan. New York:
Oxford University Press.
Landi, Marcello (2007).Un contributo allo studio
della scienza nel Medio Evo. Il trattato Il cielo e il
mondo di Giovanni Buridano e un confronto con alcune posizioni di Tommaso d'Aquino[A contribution to the study of science in the Middle Ages. The
sky and the world of Jean Buridan and a comparison
with some positions of St. Thomas Aquinas]. Divus
Thomas 110 (2): 151185.
Thijssen, J. M. M. H., and Jack Zupko (ed.) (2001).
The Metaphysics and Natural Philosophy of John
Buridan Leiden: Brill.
Zupko, Jack (2003). John Buridan. Portrait of a
Fourteenth-Century Arts Master. Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press.

131.8. EXTERNAL LINKS

131.8 External links


John Buridan entry by Jack Zupko in the Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Bibliography by Fabienne Pironet (up to 2001)
Buridan's Logic and Metaphysics: an annotated bibliography (updates the bibliography of Fabienne
Pironet to 2014)
Buridan's Logical Works. I. An Overview of the
Summulae de dialectica a detailed summary of the
nine treatises of the Summulae de dialectica
Buridan's Logical Works. II. The Treatise on Consequences and other writings a summary of the other
logical writings
Buridan: Editions, Translations and Studies on the
Manuscript Tradition Complete bibliography of the
logical and metaphysical works

407

Chapter 132

Walter Burley
For other people of the same name, see Walter Burleigh of possibly heretical statements (by 1326 there was a list
(disambiguation).
of 51 charges against him).
Walter Burley (or Burleigh) (c. 12751344/5) was
a medieval English scholastic philosopher and logician
with at least 50 works attributed to him. He received
his Master of Arts degree in 1301, and was a fellow of
Merton College Oxford until about 1310. He then spent
sixteen years in Paris, becoming a fellow of the Sorbonne
by 1324, before spending 17 years as a clerical courtier
in England and Avignon. Burley disagreed with William
of Ockham on a number of points concerning logic and
natural philosophy. He died in about 1344.

132.1 Early life


Burley was born in 1274 or 1275, possibly in Burleyin-Wharfedale, Yorkshire, or in Burley near Leeds.* [1]
Little is known of his early life. He was made rector of
Welbury in Yorkshire in 1309, probably through the inuence of Sir John de Lisle, a friend of William Greeneld.* [2] As throughout his career, he did not act as rector, employing a substitute and using the income from the
living to nance his study in Paris, where he completed
his lectures on Peter Lombard's Sentences, and probably
encountered the work of his contemporary William of
Ockham. Burley's commentary on the Sentences has not
survived.* [3]

Burley's associates were all closely involved in these attempts at canonisation (none of which was successful).
One was Richard de Bury, a bibliophile and patron of
the arts and sciences, who became Burley's patron and at
whose request Bury translated some works of Aristotle
into English.* [4]

132.3 Ecclesiastical career


Burley had become a master of theology by 1324. In May
1327 he became canon of Chichester by the provision of
the pope, but exchanged the position in 1332 to become
canon at Wells, where de Bury was dean. Bury had been
involved in the coup d'etat of 1330 that resulted in the
execution of Mortimer, and the de facto accession of Edward III to the throne. In 1333 de Bury was consecrated
Bishop of Durham by the king, over-ruling the choice of
the monks, who had elected and actually installed their
sub-prior, Robert de Graynes.* [5] In February 1334 de
Bury was made Lord Treasurer, an appointment he exchanged later in the year for that of Lord Chancellor.
He gathered together a group of intellectuals including
Thomas Fitzralph, Richard de Kilvington, Robert Holcott, Thomas Bradwardine and Burley himself.

132.4 Works
132.2 Political career
Burley became a courtier during the political events that
followed the deposition of Edward II of England in 1327.
His rst assignment was to try and obtain the canonisation
of Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster, who had been one
of the leaders of the baronial opposition to Edward II;
Thomas had become venerated as a martyr within a few
months of his death. Burley was sent to the papal court at
Avignon to appeal directly to Pope John XXII. By coincidence, William of Ockham was also staying at Avignon,
having been summoned there in 1324 to answer charges

Burley was one of the rst logicians to recognise the priority of the propositional calculus over the predicate calculus, despite the fact that the latter had been the main focus
of logicians until then. Burley also seems to have been the
only 14th-century logician to have taken the position that,
in line with modern views on the material conditional, the
principle that from the impossible anything follows
("ex impossibili sequitur quidlibet") is both a necessary
and sucient condition for explaining the logical relationship between antecedent and consequent.* [6] He was
also known for his commentaries on Aristotle's Physics,
which include the quodlibet De Primo et ultimo instanti

408

132.6. BIBLIOGRAPHY
(around 1320) and the longer work Expositio in libros octo
de physico auditu.* [7] Burley wrote 39 Commentaries on
Aristotle and 32 Treatises and Questions (many unedited)
*
[8]
De Puritate Artis Logicae, in two versions:
Tractatus brevior (before 1324)
Tractatus longior (1325-28)
This is Burley's main work, in which he covers such topics as the truth conditions for complex sentences, both
truth-functional and modal, as well as providing rules of
inferences for dierent types of inferences. This book is
known to have been written after Ockham's Summa Logicae (c. 1323), possibly partly in response to it.* [9] Other
works include:* [lower-alpha 1]

409

[5] Fryde Handbook of British Chronology p. 242


[6] Jacobi (1993), p. 162.
[7] Sylla, Edith (2001), Walter Burley's Physics
Commentaries and the Mathematics of Alteration
, Early Science and Medicine 6 (3): 149184,
doi:10.1163/157338201x00118, JSTOR 4130080
[8] Marta Vittorini, Appendix: A Complete List of Burley's
Works, in A. D. Conti (ed.), A Companion to Walter Burley, Leiden: Brill, 2013, pp.46-47.
[9] Bhner (1952), p. 44.

132.6 Bibliography
Primary sources

In Aristotelis Perihermenias (Questions on Aristotle's


Perihermenias, 1301)
De consequentiis (1302)
De exclusivis (1302)
De exceptivis (1302)
De Suppositions (1302)
De ente (ca. 1310)
De qualitatibus (ca. 1310)
Expositio super libros De Anima (after 1310)
Tractatus de formis (1324-1326)
Tractatus de universalibus (after 1337)

132.5 References
Notes
[1] The Liber de vita et moribus philosophorum, once attributed to Burley, is by an anonymous author.

Citations
[1] Sommers, M. C. (2004), Burley, Walter (b. 1274/5, d.
in or after 1344, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.), Oxford University Press, retrieved 13
April 2013 (subscription or UK public library membership required)
[2] Ottman & Wood (1999), p. 9.
[3] Ottman & Wood (1999), p. 10.
[4] Denholm-Young, N. (1937), Richard de Bury (1287
1345)", Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 20
(Fourth series): 135168, JSTOR 3678596

De Puritate Artis Logicae Tractatus Longior, with


a revised edition of the Tractatus Brevior, ed. P.
Boehner, New York: 1955.
On the Purity of the Art of Logic. The Shorter and
Longer Treatises, trans. & ed. P.V. Spade, New
Haven & London: Yale University Press, 2000.
De Formis, ed. Frederick J. Down Scott, Munich: Verlag der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1970 ISBN 3-7696-9004-4.
Quaestiones super librum Posteriorum, ed. Mary
Catherine Sommers, Toronto: Pontical Institute of
Mediaeval Studies, 2000.
Questions on the De anima of Aristotle, by Adam
Burley and Walter Burley, ed. Edward A. Synan,
Leiden & New York: Brill, 1997.
In physicam Aristotelis expositio et quaestiones,
Hildesheim & New York: Georg Olms, 1972.
Super artem veterem, [Porphiry and Aristotle],
Venice, 1497 (anastatic reprint): Frankfurt a/M.:
Minerva, 1967.
Robert Grosseteste, In Aristotelis Posteriorum analyticorum libros, Walter Burleigh, Super libros Posteriorum analyticorum Aristotelis, Venice, 1514,
(anastatic reprint): Frankfurt a/M.: Minerva, 1966.
Commentarium in Aristotelis De Anima L.III,
Manuscripts facsimiles: MS. Vaticano lat. 2151,
f.1-88 , MS. Lambeth 143, f.76-138 , MS. Lambeth
74, f.33-109 , MS. Oxford Balliol College 92,
f.9-200 , interactive paleography transcription by
Mario Tonelotto, 2014.
Secondary sources

410
Bhner, Philotheus (1952), Medieval Logic: An
Outline of Its Development from 1250 to C. 1400,
Manchester University Press
Broadie, Alexander. Introduction to Medieval Logic
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2nd Edition 1993).
Conti, Alessandro (ed.). A Companion to Walter
Burley, Leiden: Brill 2013.
Gracia, J. G. and Noone, T. B. A Companion to Philosophy in the Middle Ages, London 2003.
Jacobi, Klaus (1993), Argumentationstheorie:
Scholastische Forschungen Zu Den Logischen Und
Semantischen Regeln Korrekten Folgerns, BRILL,
ISBN 978-90-04-09822-0
Ottman, J.; Wood, R. (1999), Walter of Burley
his Life and Works, Vivarium: An International
Journal for the Philosophy and Intellectual Life of
the Middle Ages and Renaissance 37, Brill
Bibliographical resources
Wood, Rega, Studies on Walter Burley 1968-1988,
Bulletin de la Philosophie Mdivale, 30, 1989, pp.
233-250.
Krieger, Gerhard, Studies on Walter Burley, 1989
1997, Vivarium, 37, 1999, pp. 94100.

132.7 External links


Walter Burley entry by Alessandro Conti in the
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Walter Burley, Commentarium in Aristotelis De
Anima L.III Critical Edition and Palaeography transcription by Mario Tonelotto

CHAPTER 132. WALTER BURLEY

Chapter 133

Niccol Cabeo
Niccol Cabeo (February 26, 1586 June 30, 1650), ideas.
also known as Nicolaus Cabeus, was an Italian Jesuit Cabeo's second publication was a commentary on
philosopher, theologian, engineer and mathematician.
Aristotle's Meteorology. In this work, he carefully examined a number of ideas proposed by Galileo Galilei, including the motion of the earth and the law of falling bodies. Cabeo was opposed to Galileo's theories. Cabeo also
133.1 Biography
discussed the theory of water ow proposed by Galileo's
He was born in Ferrara in 1586, and was educated at the student, Benedetto Castelli. He and Castelli were inJesuit college in Parma beginning in 1602. He passed volved over a dispute in northern Italy about the reroutthe next two years in Padua and spent 160607 study- ing of the Reno River. The people of Ferrara were on one
ing in Piacenza before completing three years (160710) side of the dispute and Cabeo was their advocate. Castelli
of study in philosophy at Parma. He spent another four favored the other side of the dispute and was acting as an
years (16121616) studying theology in Parma and an- agent of the Pope, Urban VIII. Cabeo also discussed some
other years apprenticeship at Mantua. He then taught ideas about alchemy in this book.
theology and mathematics in Parma, then in 1622 he be- The crater Cabeus on the Moon is named after him. The
came a preacher. For a time he received patronage of the LCROSS project discovered evidence of water in Cabeus
Dukes of Mantua and the Este in Ferrara. During this crater in October 2009.
time he was involved in hydraulics projects. He would
later return to teach mathematics again in Genoa, the city
where he would die in 1650.
133.2 See also
He is noted for his contributions to physics experiments and observations. He observed the experiments of
Giovanni Battista Baliani regarding falling objects, and
he wrote about these experiments noting that two different objects fall in the same amount of time regardless of the medium. He also performed experiments with
pendulums and observed that an electrically charged body
can attract non-electried objects. He also noted that two
charged objects repelled each other.

History of geomagnetism
List of Roman Catholic scientist-clerics

133.3 References

His observations were published in the works,


Philosophia magnetica (1629) and In quatuor libros
meteorologicorum Aristotelis commentaria (1646). The
rst of these works examined the cause of the Earth's
magnetism and was devoted to a study of the work of
William Gilbert. Cabeo thought the Earth immobile, and
so did not accept its motion as the cause of the magnetic
eld. Cabeo described electrical attraction in terms of
electrical euvia, released by rubbing certain materials
together. These euvia pushed into the surrounding
air displacing it. When the air returned to its original
location, it carried light bodies along with it making them
move towards the attractive material. Both Accademia
del Cimento and Robert Boyle performed experiments
with vacuums in attempts to conrm or refute Cabeo's
411

Heilbron, J.L., Electricity in the 17th and 18th Centuries. Los Angeles: University of California Press,
1979.
Maoli, Cesare, Out of Galileo, The Science of Waters 16281718. Rotterdam: Erasmus Publishing,
1994.
Sommervogel (ed), Bibliothque de la Compagnie de
Jesus. Brussels: 1960.
Gillispie, Charles Coulston (ed), Dictionary of Scientic Biography Vol. 3. New York: Scribners,
1973
Borgato, Maria Teresa, Niccol Cabeo tra teoria ed
esperimenti: le leggi del moto, in G.P. Brizzi and R.

412

CHAPTER 133. NICCOL CABEO


Greci (ed), Gesuiti e Universit in Europa, Bologna:
Clueb, 2002, pp. 361385.

Dear, Peter. Discipline and Experience: The Mathematical Way in the Scientic Revolution. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1995.

Chapter 134

John Case (Aristotelian writer)


John Case (or Johannes Casus) (died 1600) was an English writer on Aristotle.

134.1 Life
Case was born between 1539 and 1546 at Woodstock,
Oxfordshire, and was a chorister at New College and
Christ Church, Oxford. He was elected to a scholarship
at St. John's in 1564. He was B.A. in 1568, M.A. in
1572, and became a fellow of his college. He had a high
reputation as a disputant. Being "popishly aected,says
Anthony Wood, he left his fellowship and marriedin
1574. His wife was Elizabeth Dobson, the widow of John
Dobson, the keeper of Bocardo prison. Case's stepdaughter Anne Dobson married Regius Professor of Medicine
(Oxford) Bartholomew Warner.
Case obtained leave from the university to read logic and
philosophy to young men, chiey Roman Catholics, in his
own house in Oxford; it became a largely attended philosophical school due to Case's reputation as a logician and
dialectician. Among his pupils was Edward Weston.* [1]
He wrote various handbooks for his students' use, which
were published and for a time popular, though they had
fallen into disrepute in Wood's day. He is described asa Title page of John Case's Sphaera Civitatis (1588)
man of an innocent, meek, religious and studious life,an
agreeable conversationalist, an enthusiastic teacher, and a
great favorite with his pupils. He was in addition an au- a large circulation during his time, and were frequently
thority on music and a distinguished physician, becoming reprinted.
M.D. in 1589.
His works include Summa veterum interpretum in uniCase made money in the practice of medicine and left versam dialecticam Aristotelis (1584, on the Organon)
various sums to St. John's College, New College, and the and Speculum moralium quaestionium in universam ethipoor of Woodstock. In 1589 he became Canon of Sarum. cen Aristotelis (1585, a commentary on the Nicomachean
He died on 23 January 1599 1600 and was buried in Ethics; verses prexed by Laurence Humphrey), which
the chapel of St. John's College. His portrait is in the was the rst book printed at the press presented to Oxford
Bodleian Library.
by their chancellor, Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester,
and which had been reprinted eight times in Frankfurt by
1625.

134.2 Works

Sphaera Civitatis (1588, a commentary on Aristotle's Politics), like other books by Case, was reprinted abroad, and
Most of Case's works were commentaries on various trea- Barnes, the printer, obtained an order from the university
tises of Aristotle (Organon, Nicomachean Ethics, Politics, in 1590 that every bachelor should take one copy ondeEconomics, Physics) under curious titles; they enjoyed termining.
413

414
Case's later works were Reexus Speculi Moralis (1596, a
commentary on the Magna Moralia), Thesaurus Oeconomiae (1597, a commentary on the pseudo-Aristotelian
Economics), Lapis philosophicus seu commentarius in VIII
libros Physicorum Arisotelis in quo arcana physiologiae
examinantur (1599, a commentary on Aristotle's Physics;
despite the title it bears no relation to alchemy) and Ancilla Philosophiae (1599, an epitome of the Physics).
He also wrote an Apologia Musices, tam vocalis quam instrumentalis et mixtae (1588), of which there is a copy in
the Lambeth Library. The Praise of Musicke; wherein...is
described the sober and lawful use of the same in the Congregation and Church of God (1586) is also attributed to
him. This is dedicated to Sir Walter Raleigh by the printer
Barnes, who calls itan orphan of one of Lady Musicke's
children.A contemporary, Thomas Watson, wrote some
verses, now in the Rawlinson manuscripts, to Case on the
publication called A Gratication unto Mr. John Case
for his learned book lately made on the Praizes of Musick.
There are three letters from Case in the Harleian MS
6995. He prexed a letter to Nicholas Breton's Pilgrimage to Paradise.

134.3 References
"Case, John (d.1600)". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 18851900.
This article incorporates text from a publication now
in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911).
"Case, John". Encyclopdia Britannica (11th ed.).
Cambridge University Press.

134.4 Notes
[1] "Weston, Edward (1566-1635)". Dictionary of National
Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 18851900.

134.5 External links


Works in Latin and English translation (hypertext
critical editions, with introductions, by Dana F. Sutton): Speculum Moralium Quaestionum, Sphaera
Civitatis, Apologia Musices tam Vocalis Quam Instrumentalis et Mixtae

134.6 Further reading


J.W. Binns, John Case: An Oxford Philosopher,Intellectual Culture in Elizabethan and Jacobean England, Leeds: Francis Cairns, 1990, pp.
366377.

CHAPTER 134. JOHN CASE (ARISTOTELIAN WRITER)


Sarah Hutton,John Case,British Rhetoricians and
Logicians, 15001660, Second Series, DLB 281,
Detroit: Gale, 2003, pp. 2635.
Robert S. Knapp, "'Is It Appropriate for a Man to
Fear His Wife?': John Case on Marriage,English
Literary Renaissance, vol. 28, 1998, 387-415.
Ellen E. Knight, "The Praise of Musicke: John Case,
Thomas Watson, and William Byrd,Current Musicology, vol. 30, 1980, pp. 3751.
Charles B. Schmitt, John Case and Aristotelianism in
Renaissance England, Kingston, Ontario: McGillQueen's University Press, 1983.

Chapter 135

Conimbricenses
Conimbricenses or Collegium Conimbricenses is the
name by which Jesuits of the University of Coimbra in
Coimbra, Portugal were known. The Conimbricenses
were Jesuits who, from the end of 16th century took over
the intellectual leadership of the Roman Catholic world
from the Dominicans. Among those Jesuits were Luis de
Molina (15351600) and Francisco Surez (15481617).
In their stricter sense the Coimbra Commentaries, also
known simply as Conimbricenses, are mainly a group of
eleven books on Aristotle (of which only eight are really
commentaries). On the register of the college at various
times appeared the names of 200 Jesuits including professors and students. Toward the end of the 16th century
and the beginning of the 17th, voluminous commentaries
on the philosophical writings of Aristotle went forth from
the university. These commentaries were dictations to
the students by the professors and as such were not intended for publication. Still they were actually published,
but fraudulently. In order to interpret and disown incorrect and unauthorized editions, Father Claudius Acquaviva, the General of the Society of Jesus, assigned Father
Peter Fonseca, the provincial of the Portuguese province,
the task of supervising the revision of these commentaries
for publication. Father Fonseca was widely known as the
Aristotle of Portugal. The treatises appeared in the following order:

quibus prcipua quaedam Ethic disciplin capita


continentur (Coimbra, 1595);
6. Commentarii Collegii Conimbricensis Societatis Jesu
in duos libros Aristotelis De generatione et corruptione (Coimbra, 1595, reprint Hildesheim, Georg
Olms, 2003);
7. Commentarii Collegii Conimbricensis Societatis Jesu
in tres libros Aristotelis De Anima (Coimbra, 1592
reprint Hildesheim, Georg Olms, 2006). This treatise was published after the death of Father Emmanuel Golz (whom Father Fonseca had commissioned to publish the earlier volumes) by Father Comas Maggalliano (Magalhaens). To it he added a
treatise of Father Balthazaar Alvarez De Anima Separata and his own work Tractatio aliquot problematum ad quinque Sensus Spectantium;
8. Commentarii Collegii Conimbricensis Societatis Jesu
In universam dialecticam nunc primum (ed. Venice,
1606, reprint Hildesheim, Georg Olms, 1976) The
works commented are: In Isagogem Porphyrii, In libros Categoriarium Aristotelis, In libros Aristotelis
de Interpretatione, In libros Aristotelis Stagiritae
de Priori Resolutione, In primum librum Posteriorum Aristotelis, In librum primum Topicorum Aristotelis and In duos libros Elenchorum Aristotelis.

1. Commentarii Collegii Conimbricensis Societatis Jesu


in octo libros Physicorum Aristotelis Stagyrit To this last treatise was prexed a forward disowning any
(Coimbra, 1591, reprint Hildesheim, Georg Olms, connection whatever with the work published at Frank1984);
furt in 1604 and claiming to be the Commentarii Conimbricenses. The portion of the preface referred to is
2. Commentarii Collegii Conimbricensis Societatis Jesu
substantially the following: Before we could nish the
in quattuor libros Physicorum Aristotelis de Clo
task entrusted to us of editing our Logic, to which we
(Coimbra, 1592);
were bound by many promises, certain German publish3. Commentarii Collegii Conimbricensis Societatis Jesu ers fraudulently brought out a work professing to be from
in libros Meteororum Aristotelis Stagyrit (Coimbra, us, abounding in errors and inaccuracies which were really their own. They also substituted for our commen1592);
taries certain glosses gotten furtively. It is true these
4. Commentarii Collegii Conimbricensis Societatis Jesu writings thirty years previously were the work of one of
in libros Aristotelis qui Parva naturalia appelantur our professors not indeed intended for publication. They
(Coimbra, 1592);
were the fruit of his zeal and he never dreamed they would
5. Commentarii Collegii Conimbricensis Societatis Jesu appear in print.
in libros Ethicorum Aristotelis ad Nichomachum The last treatise was prepared for printing by Father Sealiquot Cursus Conimbricensis disputationes in bastian Couto. The entire eight parts formed ve quarto
415

416
volumes, enjoyed a wide circulation, and appeared in
many editions, the best known being those of Lyon,
Lisbon, and Cologne. The Commentaries are in owing
Latin and are supplemented by reliable explanations of
the text and exhaustive discussion of the system of Aristotle. Karl Werner said that the Jesuits of Coimbra gave
the world a masterpiece, whose equal is yet to be seen and
which has received the admiration it deserves. Father de
Backer gives an exact list of all the editions. The later
ones have added the Greek text of Aristotle.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in
the public domain: Cassidy, John (1908). Conimbricenses. In Herbermann, Charles. Catholic Encyclopedia
4. Robert Appleton Company.

135.1 See also


Pedro da Fonseca (philosopher)
School of Salamanca

135.2 Original Text


In libro de generatione et corruptione, In octo libros
physicorum, In libros meteorum, In libro de anima in
PDF or JPEG format at University of Coimbras
site.

135.3 Translations
The Conimbricenses. Some Questions on Signs, Milwaukee: Marquette University Press 2001 (Translation with introduction and notes by John P. Doyle of
the commentary to the rst chapter of Aristotle's De
Interpretatione).

135.4 External links


The Latin texts of the Commentaries (PDF)
Introductory note to the Commentaires by Antnio
Manuel Martins
Bibliography by Mrio Santiago de Carvalho

CHAPTER 135. CONIMBRICENSES

Chapter 136

Cesare Cremonini (philosopher)


Cesare Cremonini, sometimes Cesare Cremonino (22
December 1550* [1] 19 July 1631) was an Italian
professor of natural philosophy, working rationalism
(against revelation) and Aristotelian materialism (against
the dualist immortality of the soul) inside scholasticism.
He signed his Latin texts Csar Cremoninus* [2]* [3]
(and its genitive form Csaris Cremonini at the start
of some titles), or Csar Cremonius.* [4]* [5]

a remote writer such as Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac mentioned him asle grand Cremonin(the great Cremonin)
in his Lettres.* [11]

136.1.1 Metaphysical views

Following up on the controversy opened in 1516 by Pietro


Pomponazzi and continued by Jacopo Zabarella (his predecessors in the chair), Cremonini too taught that reason alone cannot demonstrate the immortality of the soul
his blind adherence to Aristotle implying that he believed in the mortality of the soul. After a paper he wrote
about the Jesuits, and public statements he made in favor of laic teachers, the Jesuits in Venice accused him of
materialism, then relayed their grievances to Rome. He
was prosecuted in 1604 by the Inquisition for atheism and
the Averroist heresy of double truth, and ordered to
136.1 Biography
refute his claims: as was his manner, Cremonini gently
refused to retract himself, sheltering himself behind ArisCesare Cremonini was born in Cento in the then Papal
totle's authority. Because Padua was then under tolerant
States. He was a professor of natural philosophy for about
Venetian rule, he was kept out of reach of a full trial.
60 years:
As for the accusations, and beyond Cremonini's teach From 1573 to 1590 at the University of Ferrara. ings: indeed his personal motto wasIntus ut libet, foris
*
Starting at a very young age and considered a great ut moris est [12] (Latin forIn private think what you
talent, he obtained the patronage of Alfonso II wish, in public behave as is the custom), which was
d'Este, Duke of Ferrara* [6] (to whom he would ded- taken by humanists as meaning that a scientic thinker
icate his rst major book in 1596). The jealousies could hold one set of opinions as a philosopher, and ancaused by this protection helped him to eventually other set as a Christian; it was also adopted by European
Libertines (brought back to France by his student and
accept a position outside his native province.
condant Gabriel Naud). After his death, Cremonini
From 1591* [7] until his death* [8] at the University had his tombstone engraved with Csar Cremoninus
of Padua in Padua, then under Republic of Venice hic totus jacet(Latin for Here lies all of Cremonini
rule (succeeding to Jacopo Zabarella), in a chair of ), implying that no soul survived.
natural philosophy and a chair of medicine.
His student Naud (who had been his condant for three
months) qualied most of his Italian teachers as AtheHe taught the doctrines of Aristotle, especially as inter- ists* [13] and especially Cremonini as adniais" one
(
preted by Alexander of Aphrodisias and Averroes.
who has been wised up, unfoolish, devirginized, the
He was so popular in his time that most kings and Libertines' word for unbelievers); he added to his friends,
princes had his portrait* [9] and corresponded with him, translated, The Cremonin, Professor of Philosophy in
sometimes consulting him about private and public af- Padua, confessed to a few choice Friends of his that he befairs.* [10] At Padua, his salary was twice that of Galileo. lieved neither in God, nor in Devil, nor in the immortality
He was especially popular among the French intellectu- of the soul: yet he was careful that his manservant was a
als who called himle Cremonin(the Cremonin); even good Catholic, for fear he said, should he believe in nothConsidered one of the greatest philosophers in his time,
patronized by Alfonso II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, corresponding with kings and princes who had his portrait,
paid twice the salary of Galileo Galilei, he is now more
remembered as an infamous side actor of the Galileo affair, being one of the two scholars who refused to look
through Galileo's telescope.

417

418

CHAPTER 136. CESARE CREMONINI (PHILOSOPHER)

ing, that he may one morning cut my throat in my bed


.* [14] Later, Pierre Bayle pointed out that Cremonini did
not believe in the immortality of the soul (in the Crmoninarticle of his Historical and Critical Dictionary).
Gottfried Leibniz, in his 1710 Theodicy, dealing with the
Averroists, who declared that man's soul is, according
to philosophy, mortal, while they protested their acquiescence in Christian theology, which declares the soul's
immortality, saysthat very sect of the Averroists survived as a school. It is thought that Caesar Cremoninus, a
philosopher famous in his time, was one of its mainstays
.* [15] Pierre Larousse, in his opinionated Grand dictionnaire universel du XIXe sicle, stated Cremonini was not
a Christian.

Gabriel Naud, in 162527, a French scholar and


Cardinal Mazarin's librarian
Guy Patin, a French doctor, headmaster of the
School of Medicine in Paris
Antonio Rocco, an Italian philosophy teacher and
libertine writer
Cortz Ulfeldt, in 162829, a famous Danish statesman and traitor
Flemming Ulfeldt, also in 162829, a Danish statesman and military leader, younger brother of Cortz

He was buried in the Benedictine monastery of St. Justina


of Padua (to which he also willed his possessions). His
136.1.2 Cremonini and Galileo
name has been given to several streets (via Cesare CreAt Padua Cremonini was both a rival and a friend of his moniniin Cento, via Cesare Cremoninoin Padua)
colleague Galileo. When Galileo announced that he had and an institute (Istituto Magistrale Cesare Cremonini
discovered mountains on the Moon in 1610, he oered in Cento).
Cremonini the chance to observe the evidence through
a telescope. Cremonini, by then aware of the Inquisition's power, refused even to look through the telescope 136.2 Bibliography
and insisted that Aristotle had denitely proved the Moon
could only be a perfect sphere. When Galileo decided to
move to Tuscany that year, Cremonini warned him that it 136.2.1 Concise bibliography
would bring him under the Inquisition's jurisdiction. Indeed, the next year the Inquisition reviewed Cremonini's Below are his main books (many of them including sepacase for evidence against Galileo.* [16] Years later, in his rate treatises), listing only their most usual abridged titles:
book Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems,
Galileo would include the character Simplicio, a dog 1596: Explanatio promii librorum Aristotelis De
matic Aristotelian philosopher who was partly based on
physico auditu
Cremonini.
1605: De formis elementorum

136.1.3

Death and legacy

When Cremonini died in 1631 during the Paduan outbreak of the Italian Plague of 1629-1631, more than 400
students were working with him. His previous students
included, alphabetically:
Theophilos Corydalleus, graduated 1613, a Greek
philosopher, had a tremendous inuence in the
Greek-speaking world during the 17th and 18th centuries
William Harvey, graduated 1602, an English doctor
who was the rst to correctly describe the circulation
of the blood
Joachim Jung, graduated 1619, a German mathematician and naturalist popularized by John Ray
Ioannis Kottounios, an eminent Greek scholar and
his successor to the chair of philosophy at Padua
Justus Lipsius, an Italian philosopher

1611: De Anima (student transcript of a Cremonini


lecture)
1613: Disputatio de clo
1616: De quinta cli substantia (second series of De
clo)
1626: De calido innato (reprinted in 1634)
1627: De origine et principatu membrorum
163?: De semine (printed or reprinted in 1634)
--- Posthumous:
1634: De calido innato et semine (expanding 1626
with 163?)
1644: De sensibus et facultate appetitiva
1663: Dialectica
(Not included are poems and other personal texts.)

136.2. BIBLIOGRAPHY

136.2.2

Extended bibliography

Below are his main books (with usual short titles, original
full titles, and indication of some variants or misspellings
commonly found in literature). As was the practice of
the time, many of them are made of opuscules, separate
treatises grouped in a single binding. (Please note that
Latin title spelling can vary depending on their grammatical position in a sentence, such as atractatusbecoming
atractatumin the accusative case when inside a longer
title.)
1596: Explanatio promii librorum Aristotelis De
physico auditu [1+20+22+43+1 folios* [17]] (Explanatio promii librorum Aristotelis De physico
auditu cum introductione ad naturalem Aristotelis
philosophiam, continente tractatum de pdia,
descriptionemque univers naturalis Aristoteli
philosophi, quibus adjuncta est prfatio in libros
De physico auditu. Ad serenissimum principem
Alphonsum II Estensem Ferrari ducem augustissimum) also (Explanatio promii librorum Aristotelis De physico auditu, et in eosdem Prfatio,
una cum Tractatu de Pdia, seu, Introductione
ad philosophiam naturalem Aristotelis.* [18]) (ed.
Melchiorre Novello as Melchiorem Novellum)
Padua: Novellum
Tractatus de pdiaalias De pdia Aristotelisor sometimes De pdia Aristotelis(also as Descriptio univers naturalis Aristoteli philosophi", or erroneously
Diatyposis univers naturalis aristotelic
philosophi")
Introductio ad naturalem Aristotelis
philosophiam(sometimes
Introductio ad naturalem Aristotelis philosophiam
)
Explanatio promii librorum Aristotelis De
physico auditu(sometimes Explanatio
promii librorum De physico auditu)
1605: De formis elementorum (Disputatio De
formis quatuor corporum simplicium qu vocantur
elementa) Venice
1611: De Anima (De Anima lectiones 31, opiniones
antiquorum de anima lect. 17) student transcript
of a Cremonini lecture
1613: Disputatio de clo (Disputatio de clo : in
tres partes divisa, de natura cli, de motu cli, de
motoribus cli abstractis. Adjecta est Apologia dictorum Aristotelis, de via lactea, et de facie in orbe
lun) Venice: Thomam Balionum
De clo
De natura cli
De motu cli

419
De motoribus cli abstractis
De via lactea
De facie in orbe lun"
1616: De quinta cli substantia (Apologia dictorum Aristotelis, de quinta cli substantia adversus Xenarcum, Joannem Grammaticum, et alios)
Venice: Meiettum (second series of De clo)
1626: De calido innato (Apologia dictorum Aristotelis De calido innato adversus Galenum)
Venice: Deuchiniana (reprinted in 1634)
1627: De origine et principatu membrorum
(Apologia dictorum Aristotelis De origine et Principatu membrorum adversus Galenum) Venice: Hieronymum Piutum
De origine
De principatu membrorum
163?: De semine (Expositio in digressionem
Averrhois de semine contra Galenum pro Aristotele)* [19] (printed or reprinted in 1634)
--- Posthumous:
1634: De calido innato et semine (Tractatus de
calido innato, et semine, pro Aristotele adversus
Galenum) Leiden: Elzevir (Lugduni-Batavorum)
(expanding 1626 with 163?)
De calido innato
De semine(Apologia dictorum Aristotelis
De Semine)
1644: De sensibus et facultate appetitiva (Tractatus tres : primus est de sensibus externis, secundus
de sensibus internis, tertius de facultate appetitiva.
Opuscula haec revidit Troylus Lancetta auctoris discipulus, et adnotatiotes confecit in margine) also
(Tractatus III : de sensibus externis, de sensibus internis, de facultate appetitiva) (ed. Troilo Lancetta,
as Troilus Lancettaor Troilo de Lancettis),
Venice: Guerilios
De sensibus externis
De sensibus internis
De facultate appetitiva
1663: Dialectica (Dialectica, Logica sive dialectica) (ed. Troilo Lancetta, asTroilus Lancettaor
Troilo de Lancettis) (sometimes Dialecticum
opus posthumum) Venice: Guerilios
(Not included are poems and other personal texts.)

420

CHAPTER 136. CESARE CREMONINI (PHILOSOPHER)

136.3 Sources

J.-Roger Charbonnel: La pense italienne au XVIe


sicle et le courant libertin, Paris: Champion, 1919

Dictionaries and encyclopedias

David Wootton: Unbelief in Early Modern Europe, History Workshop Journal, No. 20, 1985,
pages 83101 : Averroes, Pomponazzi, Cremonini

Pierre Bayle: Dictionaire historique et critique, volume 2, 1697, reprinted Amsterdam: 1740, pp. 224
225, article Cremonin, Csar(in French) online
John Gorton: A General Biographical Dictionary,
London: Henry G. Bohn, 1828, new edition 1851,
page 146, article Cremonini, Csaronline
Adolphe Franck:
Dictionnaire des sciences
philosophiques, volume 1, Paris:
Hachette,
1844, pp. 598599, article Crmonini, Csar
(in French) online
Ferdinand Hoefer : Nouvelle biographie gnrale,
volume XII, Paris: Firmin-Didot, 1855, second edition 1857, pp. 416419, articleCremonini, Csar
(in French) online
Pierre Larousse: Grand dictionnaire universel du
XIXe sicle, volume 5, Paris: 1869, page 489, article
Crmonini, Csar(in French) online (PDF or
TIFF plugin required)
Marie-Nicolas Bouillet, Alexis Chassang (ed.): Dictionnaire universel d'histoire et de gographie, 26th
edition, Paris: Hachette, 1878, page 474, article
Cremonini, Csar(in French) online (PDF or
TIFF plugin required)
Werner Ziegenfuss: Philosophen-lexikon: Handwrterbuch der Philosophie nach Personen, Walter
de Gruyter, 1950, ISBN 3-11-002896-4, page 208,
article Cremoninus, Caesar (Cesare Cremonini)"
Various: Encyclopdia Universalis, CD-ROM edition: 1996, article Cremonini, C.(in French)
Herbert Jaumann: Handbuch Gelehrtenkultur der
Frhen Neuzeit, Walter de Gruyter, 2004, ISBN 311-016069-2, page 203, article Cremonini, Cesare
Filosoco.net: Indice alfabetico dei diloso, article
Cesare Cremonino(in Italian) online : picture and
prole
Philosophy Institute at the University of Dsseldorf: Philosophengalerie, article Caesar Cremoninus (Cesare Cremonini)" (in German) online : another picture, bibliography, literature
Philosophy
Lopold Mabilleau: tude historique sur la philosophie de la Renaissance en Italie, Paris: Hachette,
1881

Cremonini and Galileo


Evan R. Soul, Jr.:The Energy Machine of Joseph
Newman", Discover Magazine, May 1987, online
version : telescope incident account
Thomas Lessl:The Galileo Legend, New Oxford
Review, June 2000, pp. 2733, online at CatholicEducation.org : telescope incident note
Paul Newall:The Galileo Aair, 2005, online at
Galilean-Library.org : telescope incident note (with
typo Cremoni)
W.R. Laird: Venetischer Aristotelismus im
Ende der aristotelischen Welt: Aspekte der Welt
und des Denkens des Cesare Cremonini (1550
1631)(Review)" in Renaissance Quarterly, 1999,
online excerpt at Amazon.com or excerpt at FindArticles.com
Stephen Mason: Galileo's Scientic Discoveries,
Cosmological Confrontations, and the Aftermath,
in History of Science, volume 40, December 2002,
pp. 382383 (article pp. 67), PDF version online
: salary, advices to Galileo
Galileo Galilei, Andrea Frova, Mariapiera Marenzana: Thus Spoke Galileo, Oxford University Press,
2006 (translated from a 1998 book), ISBN 0-19856625-5, page 9 : Inquisition

136.4 References
[1] Birth in 1550 is by far the most common date, but sometimes 1552 is found (inferred by some from the assertion
that he started teaching at age 21 in 1573, see Pierre Bayle
or ). Thus, some sources will sayca. 1550, or1550
or 1552.
[2] Csar Cremoninus, ancient illustration
[3] Caesar Cremoninus, International Catalogue of Mediaeval Scientic Manuscripts, Munich University
[4] Csar Cremonius, ancient illustration
[5] Csar Cremonius, Manuscripts Catalogue of Italian
litterati, British Library
[6] Short bio of Cremonini on the Cento site
[7] Some sources say 1590, possibly a wrong inference from
his tenure ending in 1590 at Ferrara.

136.5. EXTERNAL LINKS

[8] Some sources say until 1629, possibly because the Italian
Plague of 16291631 perturbed or stopped lessons, but
it's not been sourced.
[9] Pierre Bayle, page 224
[10] Encyclopdia Universalis
[11] Pierre Bayle, page 224, note C
[12] John Addington Symonds: Renaissance in Italy, Volume
1, 1887, footnote 11, online version
[13] Michel Jeanneret:L'Italie, ferment de libert", in Atti dei
convegni lincei, La Cultura letteraria italiana e l'identit
europea (2001), Roma: Accad. Nazionale dei Lincei,
2002, pp.183193 (in French) online quoting Ren Pintard quoting Gabriel Naud
[14] Sophie Houdard: De l'ennemi public aux amitis particulires. Quelques hypothses sur le rle du Diable (15e17e sicles)", in Raisons politiques n 5, Paris: Presses de
Sciences Po, 2002/1, ISBN 2-7246-2932-9, pp. 927 (in
French) online quoting Ren Pintard quoting Naud
[15] Gottfried Leibniz: Theodicy , 1710, Open Court Publishing Company, Peru, Illinois: 1951 translation by E.M.
Huggard, ISBN 0-87548-437-9, page 81 online
[16] May 1611 entry in the online Galileo Timeline
[17] The table of content of this volume is disputed. Some see
it as two treatises, others as three with divergences about
which is the middle one. The breakdown from Lopold
Mabilleau is used here.
[18] British Museum Dept. of Printed Books, Henry Ellis, Henry Hervey Baber: Librorum impressorum qui in
Museo britannico adservantur catalogus, II. pars I. C,
1814, article Cremoninus, Csaronline
[19] According to Lopold Mabilleau, page 70 and note page
76 (reused identically in J.-Roger Charbonnel) who conates the Digressionem paper and the text added to the
1634 reprint. Mabilleau says 1624but it looks like a
typo for the 1634 edition.

136.5 External links


Cesare Cremonino site (in Italian) including detailed
biography, bibliography, literature.
Heinrich C. Kuhn: Cesare Cremonini: volti e
maschere di un losofo scomodo per tre secoli e
mezzo (in Italian) 1999 conference aboutthe masks
of Cremonini: Blind Man, Libertine Atheist, Rational Rigorist, and more
Texts of Cremonini
Csar Cremoninus Disputatio de clo (1613), online scans (Javascript required)

421

Chapter 137

Duns Scotus
Not to be confused with Johannes Scotus Eriugena.

Pavilion Lodge, near the North Lodge of Duns Castle,


is now marked by a cairn which was erected in 1966 by
John Duns, O.F.M., commonly called Scotus or Duns the Franciscan friars of the United Kingdom to mark the
700th anniversary of his birth. Duns Scotus received the
Scotus (/dnzskotsskts/; c. 1266 8 November
1308), is generally considered to be one of the three most religious habit of the Friars Minor* at Dumfries, where his
uncle, Elias Duns, was guardian. [2]
important philosopher-theologians of the High Middle
Ages.* [1] Scotus has had considerable inuence on both Duns Scotus' age is based on the rst certain date for his
Catholic and secular thought. The doctrines for which he life, that of his ordination to the Catholic priesthood at
is best known are the "univocity of being,that existence the Church of Saint Andrew in Northampton, England,
is the most abstract concept we have, applicable to every- on 17 March 1291. The minimum canonical age for
thing that exists; the formal distinction, a way of distin- ordination to the Catholic priesthood is 25 and it is generguishing between dierent aspects of the same thing; and ally assumed that he would have been ordained as soon as
the idea of haecceity, the property supposed to be in each it was permitted.* [3]* [4] That his contemporaries called
individual thing that makes it an individual. Scotus also him Johannes Duns, after the medieval practice of calling
developed a complex argument for the existence of God, people by their Christian name followed by their place of
origin, suggests that he came from Duns, in Berwickshire,
and argued for the Immaculate Conception of Mary.
*
Duns Scotus was given the medieval accolade Doctor Sub- Scotland. [5]
tilis (Subtle Doctor) for his penetrating and subtle manner According to tradition, Duns Scotus was educated at the
of thought. He was beatied by Pope John Paul II in 1993. Franciscan studium at Oxford, a house behind St Ebbe's
Church, in a triangular area enclosed by Pennyfarthing
Street and running from St Aldate's to the Castle, the
Baley and the old wall,* [6] where the Friars Minor had
137.1 Life
moved when the University of Paris was dispersed in
122930. At that time there would have been about 270
persons living there, of whom about 80 would have been
friars.* [7]

Plaque commemorating Duns Scotus in the University Church,


Oxford

Duns Scotus appears to have been in Oxford by 1300, as


he is listed among a group of friars for whom the Minister
Provincial of the English Province (which included Scotland) requested faculties from the Bishop of Lincoln for
the hearing of confessions.<ref name=CE /* [8] He took
part in a disputation under the regent master, Philip of
Bridlington. He began lecturing on Peter Lombard's
Sentences at the prestigious University of Paris towards
the end of 1302. Later in that academic year, however,
he was expelled from the University of Paris for siding
with Pope Boniface VIII in his feud with King Philip IV
of France over the taxation of church property.

Duns Scotus was back in Paris before the end of 1304,


probably returning in May. He continued lecturing there
Little is known of Duns Scotus apart from his work. His until, for reasons that are still mysterious, he was disdate of birth is thought to have been between 23 Decem- patched to the Franciscan studium at Cologne, probably
ber 1265 and 17 March 1266, born into a leading fam- in October 1307. According to the 15th-century writer
ily of the region. The site of his birth, in front of the
422

137.2. WORK
William Vorilong, his departure was sudden and unexpected. He was relaxing or talking with students in the
Prato clericorum or Pre-aux-Clercs an open area of the
Left Bank used by scholars for recreation when orders
arrived from the Franciscan Minister General; Scotus left
immediately, taking few or no personal belongings.* [9]
Duns Scotus died unexpectedly in Cologne in November 1308; the date of his death is traditionally given as
8 November. He is buried in the Church of the Friars
Minor there. His sarcophagus bears the Latin inscription:

423
Lombard's original text was used as a starting point for
highly original discussions on topics of theological or
philosophical interest.* [14] For example, Book II Distinction 2, about the location of angels, is a starting point
for a complex discussion about continuous motion, and
whether the same thing can be in two dierent places at
the same time (bilocation). In the same book, Distinction 3, he uses the question of how angels can be dierent
from one another, given that they have no material bodies, to investigate the dicult question of individuation
in general.

Scotia me genuit. Anglia me suscepit. Gallia


me docuit. Colonia me tenet.
(Scotland brought me forth. England sustained
me. France taught me. Cologne holds me.)
The story about Duns Scotus being buried alive, in the
absence of his servant who alone knew of his susceptibility to coma, is probably a myth.* [10] It was reported by
Sir Francis Bacon in his Historia vitae et mortis.* [11]
The colophon of Codex 66 of Merton College, Oxford
says that Scotus was also at Cambridge, but we do not
know for certain if this is true, or if it was, when he was
there.* [12]

137.2 Work
Scotusgreat work is his commentary on the Sentences
of Peter Lombard, which contains nearly all the philosophical views and arguments for which he is well known,
including the univocity of being, the formal distinction,
less-than-numerical unity, individual nature or thisness' (haecceity), his critique of illuminationism and his
renowned argument for the existence of God. His commentary exists in several versions. The standard version
is the Ordinatio (also known as the Opus oxoniense), a revised version of lectures he gave as a bachelor at Oxford.
The initial revision was probably begun in the summer
of 1300 see the remarks in the Prologue, question 2,
alluding to the Third Battle of Homs in 1299, news of
which probably reached Oxford in the summer of 1300.
It was still incomplete when Scotus left for Paris in 1302.
The original lectures were also transcribed and recently
published as the Lectura.
The two other versions of the work are Scotus' notes for
the Oxford lectures, recently published as the Lectura, the
rst book of which was probably written in Oxford in the
late 1290s,* [13] and the Reportatio parisiensis (or Opus
parisiense), consisting of transcriptions of the lectures on
the Sentences given by Scotus when he was in Paris. A reportatio is a student report or transcription of the original
lecture of a master. A version that has been checked by
the master himself is known as a reportatio examinata.
By the time of Scotus, these 'commentaries' on the Sentences were no longer literal commentaries. Instead, Peter

Colophon from the edition of Scotus' Sentences commentary


edited by Thomas Penketh (died 1487) and Bartolomeo Bellati
(died 1479), printed by Johannes de Colonia and Johannes Manthen, Venice in 1477. It reads Explicit Scriptum super Primum
Sententiarum: editum a fratre Johanne Duns: ordinis fratrum
minorum Printed versions of scholastic manuscripts became popular in the late fteenth century.

Scotus wrote purely philosophical and logical works at


an early stage of his career, consisting of commentaries on Aristotle's Organon. These are the Questions
on Porphyry's Isagoge and Aristotle's Categories, Peri
hermeneias, and De sophisticis elenchis, probably dating to around 1295.* [15] His commentary on Aristotle's
Metaphysics was probably written in stages, the rst version having started around 1297,* [13] with signicant additions and amendments possibly after the completion of
the main body of the Ordinatio.* [16] His Expositio on the
Metaphysics was lost for centuries but was recently rediscovered and edited by Giorgio Pini.* [17]
In addition, there are 46 short disputations called Collationes, probably dating from 13001305; a work in natural theology (De primo principio), and his Quaestiones
Quodlibetales, probably dating to Advent 1306 or Lent
1307.
A number of works once believed to have been written by
Scotus are now known to have been misattributed. There
were already concerns about this within two centuries
of his death, when the 16th-century logician Jacobus
Naveros noted inconsistencies between these texts and
his commentary on the Sentences, leading him to doubt
whether he had written any logical works at all.* [18] The
Questions on the Prior Analytics (In Librum Priorum Analyticorum Aristotelis Quaestiones) were also discovered
to be mistakenly attributed.* [19] In 1922, Grabmann
showed that the logical work De modis signicandi was
actually by Thomas of Erfurt, a 14th-century logician of
the modist school. Thus the claim that Martin Heidegger
wrote his Habilitationsschrift on Scotus* [20] is only half
true, as the second part is actually based on the work by
Erfurt.

424

CHAPTER 137. DUNS SCOTUS

137.3 Metaphysics

iom stating that only the individual exists is a dominating


principle of the understanding of reality. For the apprehension of individuals, an intuitive cognition is required,
137.3.1 Realism
which gives us the present existence or the non-existence
of an individual, as opposed to abstract cognition. Thus
Scotus is generally considered to be a realist (as opposed
the human soul, in its separated state from the body, will
to a nominalist) in that he treated universals as real. He atbe capable of knowing the spiritual intuitively.
tacks a position close to that later defended by Ockham,
arguing that things have a common nature for example the humanity common to both Socrates, Plato, and
137.3.4 Formal distinction
Plutarch.

137.3.2

Univocity of being

He followed Aristotle in asserting that the subject matter of metaphysics is being qua being(ens inquantum ens). Being in general (ens in communi), as a univocal notion, was for him the rst object of the intellect.
Metaphysics includes the study of the transcendentals, so
called because they transcend the division of being into
nite and innite and the further division of nite being
into the ten Aristotelian categories. Being itself is a transcendental, and so are theattributesof being"one,
true,and goodwhich are coextensive with being,
but which each add something to it.
The doctrine of the univocity of being implies the denial of any real distinction between essence and existence.
Aquinas had argued that in all nite being (i.e. all except
God), the essence of a thing is distinct from its existence.
Scotus rejected the distinction. Scotus argued that we
cannot conceive of what it is to be something, without
conceiving it as existing. We should not make any distinction between whether a thing exists (si est) and what
it is (quid est), for we never know whether something exists, unless we have some concept of what we know to
exist.* [21]

Like other realist philosophers of the period (such as


Aquinas and Henry of Ghent) Scotus recognised the need
for an intermediate distinction that was not merely conceptual, but not fully real or mind-dependent either. Scotus argued for a formal distinction (distinctio formalis a
parte rei), which holds between entities which are inseparable and indistinct in reality, but whose denitions are
not identical. For example, the personal properties of
the Trinity are formally distinct from the Divine essence.
Similarly, the distinction between the 'thisness' or haecceity of a thing is intermediate between a real and a conceptual distinction.* [22] There is also a formal distinction
between the divine attributes and the powers of the soul.

137.4 Theology
137.4.1 Voluntarism

Scotus was an Augustinian theologian. He is usually associated with voluntarism, the tendency to emphasize God's
will and human freedom in all philosophical issues. The
main dierence between Aquinas' rational theology and
that of Scotus' is that Scotus believed certain predicates
may be applied univocally with exactly the same meaning to God and creatures, whereas Aquinas insisted that
this is impossible, and that only analogical predication
137.3.3 Individuation
can be employed, in which a word as applied to God has a
meaning dierent from, although related to, the meaning
Scotus elaborates a distinct view on hylomorphism, with of that same word as applied to creatures. Duns strugthree important strong theses that dierentiate him. He gled throughout his works in demonstrating his univocity
held: 1) that there exists matter that has no form whatso- theory against Aquinas' analogy doctrine.
ever, or prime matter, as the stu underlying all change,
against Aquinas (cf. his Quaestiones in Metaphysicam 7,
q. 5; Lectura 2, d. 12, q. un.), 2) that not all created sub- 137.4.2 Existence of God
stances are composites of form and matter (cf. Lectura
2, d. 12, q. un., n. 55), that is, that purely spiritual sub- The existence of God can be proven only a posteriori,
stances do exist, and 3) that one and the same substance through its eects. The Causal Argument he gives for
can have more than one substantial formfor instance, the existence of God says that an innity of things that are
humans have at least two substantial forms, the soul and essentially ordered is impossible, as the totality of caused
the form of the body (forma corporeitas) (cf. Ordinatio things that are essentially caused is itself caused, and so
4, d. 11, q. 3, n. 54). He argued for an original prin- it is caused by some cause which is not a part of the totalciple of individuation (cf. Ordinatio 2, d. 3, pars 1, qq. ity, for then it would be the cause of itself; for the whole
16), the "haecceity" as the ultimate unity of a unique totality of dependent things is cause, and not on anything
individual (haecceitas, an entity's 'thisness'), as opposed belonging to that totality. The argument is relevant for
to the common nature (natura communis), feature exist- Scotus' conception of metaphysical inquiry into being by
ing in any number of individuals. For Scotus, the ax- searching the ways into which beings relate to each other.

137.5. VENERATION

137.4.3

425

Illuminationism

free from the stain of original sin, in view of the merits


of Jesus Christ.* [25] Scotus' position was hailed asa
Scotus argued against the version of illuminationism that correct expression of the faith of the Apostles.* [25]
had been defended earlier in the century by Henry of
Another of Scotus' positions also gained ocial approval
Ghent. In his Ordinatio (I.3.1.4) he argued against the
of the Roman Catholic Church: his doctrine on the unisceptical consequences that Henry claimed would follow
versal primacy of Christ became the underlying rationale
from abandoning divine illumination. Scotus argued that
for the feast of Christ the King instituted in 1925.* [25]
if our thinking were fallible in the way Henry had believed, such illumination could not, even in principle, en- During his ponticate, Pope John XXIII recommended
the reading of Duns Scotus' theology to modern theology
sure certain and pure knowledge.* [23]
students.
When one of those that come together is incompatible with certainty, then certainty cannot be achieved. For just as from one premise
that is necessary and one that is contingent
nothing follows but a contingent conclusion,
so from something certain and something uncertain, coming together in some cognition,
no cognition that is certain follows (Ordinatio
I.3.1.4 n.221).

137.4.4

Immaculate Conception

Perhaps the most inuential point of Duns Scotus' theology was his defense of the Immaculate Conception of
Mary (i.e., that Mary herself was conceived without sin).
At the time, there was a great deal of argument about
the subject. The general opinion was that it was appropriately deferential to the Mother of God, but it could not
be seen how to resolve the problem that only with Christ's
death would the stain of original sin be removed. The
great philosophers and theologians of the West were divided on the subject (indeed, it appears that even Thomas
Aquinas sided with those who denied the doctrine, though
some Thomists dispute this). The feast day had existed
in the East (though in the East, the feast is just of the
Conception of Mary) since the seventh century and had
been introduced in several dioceses in the West as well,
even though the philosophical basis was lacking. Citing
Anselm of Canterbury's principle, "potuit, decuit, ergo
fecit" (He [i.e., God] could do it, it was appropriate, therefore He did it), Duns Scotus devised the following argument: Mary was in need of redemption like all other human beings, but through the merits of Jesus' crucixion,
given in advance, she was conceived without the stain of
original sin. God could have brought it about (1) that
she was never in original sin, (2) she was in sin only for
an instant, (3) she was in sin for a period of time, being purged at the last instant. Whichever of these options was most excellent should probably be attributed to
Mary.* [24] This apparently careful statement provoked a
storm of opposition at Paris, and suggested the line 'red
France for Mary without spot' in the famous poemDuns
Scotus's Oxford,by Gerard Manley Hopkins.

137.5 Veneration
Long honored as a Blessed by the Order of Friars Minor,
as well as in the Archdioceses of Edinburgh and Cologne,
in the 19th-century the process was started seeking his
recognition as such by the Holy See, on the basis of a
cultus immemorabilis, i.e., one of ancient standing.* [26]
He was declared Venerable by Pope John Paul II in 1991,
who ocially recognized his liturgical cult, eectively
beatifying him on 20 March 1993.* [27]

137.6 Later reputation and inuence


137.6.1 Later medieval period
Owing to Scotus' early and unexpected death, he left behind a large body of work in an unnished or unedited
condition. His students and disciples extensively edited
his papers, often confusing them with works by other
writers, in many cases leading to misattribution and confused transmission. Most thirteenth-century Franciscans
followed Bonaventura, but the inuence of Scotus (as well
as that of his arch-rival William of Ockham) spread in
the fourteenth century. Franciscan theologians in the late
Middle Ages were thus divided between so-called Scotists and Ockhamists.* [28] Fourteenth century followers included Francis of Mayrone (died 1325), Antonius
Andreas (died 1320), William of Alnwick (died 1333),
and John of Bassolis (died 1347), supposedly Scotus'
favourite student.* [29]

137.6.2 Sixteenth to nineteenth centuries

His reputation suered during the English reformation,


probably due to its association with the Franciscans. In
a letter to Thomas Cromwell about his visit to Oxford in
1535, Richard Layton described how he saw the court of
Scotus' argument appears in Pope Pius IX's 1854 decla- New College full of pages from Scotus's workthe wind
ration of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, at blowing them into every corner.* [30] John Leland dethe rst moment of Her conception, Mary was preserved scribed the Oxford Greyfriar's library in 1538 (just prior

426

CHAPTER 137. DUNS SCOTUS

to its dissolution) as an accumulation of 'cobwebs, moths ment.* [33] During the 1990s, various scholars extended
and bookworms'.* [31]
this argument to locate Scotus as the rst thinker who
Despite this, Scotism grew in Catholic Europe. Sco- succumbed to what Heidegger termed 'onto-theology'. In
tus' works were collected into many editions, particularly recent years, this criticism of Scotus has become disin the late fteenth century with the advent of printing. seminated in particular through the writings of the 'RadiHis school was probably at the height of its popularity cal Orthodox' group of theologians, centred around John
at the beginning of the seventeenth century; during the Milbank and Catherine Pickstock.
sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries there were even
special Scotist chairs, e.g. at Paris, Rome, Coimbra, Salamanca, Alcal, Padua, and Pavia. It ourished well into 137.7 Bibliography
the seventeenth century, and its inuence can be seen in
such writers as Descartes and Bramhall. Interest dwin- Works in rough chronological order
dled in the eighteenth century, and the revival of scholastic philosophy, known as Neo-Scholasticism, was essen Before 1295:
tially a revival of Thomistic thinking.
Parva logicalia

137.6.3

Twentieth century

The twentieth century saw a resurgence of interest in Scotus, with a range of assessments of his thought.
On the one hand, Scotus has received interest from secular philosophers such as Peter King, Gyula Klima, Paul
Vincent Spade and others.
For some today, Scotus is one of the most important
Franciscan theologians and the founder of Scotism, a
special form of Scholasticism. He came out of the Old
Franciscan School, to which Haymo of Faversham (died
1244), Alexander of Hales (died 1245), John of Rupella (died 1245), William of Melitona (died 1260), St.
Bonaventure (died 1274), Cardinal Matthew of Aquasparta (died 1289), John Peckham, Archbishop of Canterbury (died 1292), Richard of Middletown (died c. 1300),
etc., belonged. He was known as Doctor Subtilisbecause of the subtle distinctions and nuances of his thinking. Later philosophers in the sixteenth century were
less complimentary about his work, and accused him of
sophistry. This led to his name, "dunce" (which developed from the name Dunsegiven to his followers in
the 1500s) to become synonymous for somebody who
is incapable of scholarship".

Quaestiones super Porphyrii Isagogem


Quaestiones in librum Praedicamentorum
Quaestiones in I et II librum Perihermeneias
Octo quaestiones in duos libros Perihermeneias
Quaestiones in libros Elenchorum
Quaestiones super libros De anima (12951298?)
Quaestiones super libros Metaphysicorum Aristotelis
(12981300?; revised later)
Notabilia Scoti super Metaphysicam (a set of notes
concerning books II-X and XII of Aristotles Metaphysics, discovered only in 1996* [34])
Lectura (Early Oxford Lectures on the four books of
the Sentences of Peter Lombard)
Books 1 and 2 (13001301)
Book 3 (probably written in Paris, 130304)
Book 4 (not extant)
Ordinatio or Opus Oxoniense (Oxford Lectures: a revision of the lectures given at Oxford, books 1 and
2 summer 1300-1302, books 3 and 4 13031304)

An important question since the 1960s has revolved over


whether Scotus' thought heralded a change in thinking on
Collationes oxonienses (130304 or 130508)
the nature of 'being', a change which marked a shift from
Aquinas and other previous thinkers; this question has
Collationes parisienses (130207)
been particularly signicant in recent years because it has
Reportatio parisiensis (Paris Lectures, 130207)
come to be seen as a debate over the origins of 'modernity'. This line of argument rst emerged in the 1960s
Quaestiones Quodlibetales (edited by Felix Alluntis
among popular French philosophers who, in passing, sinin Obras del Doctor Sutil, Juan Duns Escoto
gled out Duns Scotus as the gure whose theory of uni, Madrid, Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos, 1963)
vocal being changed an earlier approach which Aquinas
had shared with his predecessors.* [32] Then, in 1990, the
Tractatus de Primo Principio (Treatise on the First
historian of philosophy Jean-Francois Courtine argued
Principle) English Translation
that, between the time of Aquinas in the mid-thirteenth
Theoremata (uncertain date)
century and Francisco Surez at the turn of the seventeenth, a fundamentally new approach to being was developed, with Scotus taking a major part in its develop- Dubious works

137.7. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Theoremata
Spurious works
De Rerum Principio (Of the Beginning of Things)
An inauthentic work once attributed to Scotus.
Latin editions
OPERA OMNIA. (Wadding Edition, so-called after its editor Luke Wadding) Lyon, 1639; reprinted
Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlagsbuchhandlung,
1968. [Despite the title, this edition does not represent all the works of Scotus. Certain works printed
in it are no longer attributed to Scotus; certain works
by Scotus are omitted (including his early Lecturaon the Sentences of Peter Lombard); what
the book presents as Book I of Scotus's lateReportatiois in fact an entirely separate work whose
authenticity and authority are vigorously disputed.]
OPERA OMNIA. ('Vatican Edition= VE) Civitas
Vaticana: Typis Polyglottis Vaticanis, 1950.

ORDINATIO (complete critical edition)


I, De Ordinatione Ioannis Duns Scoti disquisitio historico critica. Prologus totius operis,
1950.
II, Ordinatio. Liber Primus. Distinctiones 12, 1950.
III, Ordinatio. Liber Primus. Distinctio 3,
1954.
IV, Ordinatio. Liber Primus. Distinctiones 410, 1956.
V, Ordinatio. Liber Primus. Distinctiones 1125, 1959.
VI, Ordinatio. Liber Primus. Distinctiones
26-48, 1963.
VII, Ordinatio. Liber Secundus. Distinctiones
1-3, 1973.
VIII, Ordinatio. Liber Secundus. Distinctiones 4-44, 2001.
IX, Ordinatio. Liber Tertius. Distinctiones 117, 2006.
X, Ordinatio. Liber Tertius. Distinctiones 2640, 2007.
XI, Ordinatio. Liber Quartus. Distinctiones
1-7, 2008.
XII, Ordinatio. Liber Quartus. Distinctiones
8-13, 2010.
XIII, Ordinatio. Liber Quartus, Distinctiones
14-42, 2011.
XIV, Ordinatio. Liber Quartus, Distinctiones
43-49, 2013.

427

LECTURA
XVI, Lectura in Librum Primum Sententiarum. Prologus et Distinctiones 1-7, 1960.
XVII, Lectura in Librum Primum Sententiarum. Distinctiones 8-45, 1966.
XVIII, Lectura in Librum Secundum Sententiarum. Distinctiones 1-6, 1982.
XIX, Lectura in Librum Secundum Sententiarum. Distinctiones 7-44, 1993.
XX, Lectura in Librum Tertium Sententiarum.
Distinctiones 1-17, 2003.
XXI, Lectura in Librum Tertium Sententiarum. Distinctiones 18-40, 2004.

OPERA PHILOSOPHICA (= OP). St. Bonaventure, NY: The Franciscan Institute:, 19972006:
Vol. I: Quaestiones super Porphyrius Isagoge
et Aristoteles Categoriae, Franciscan Institute
Publications, 1999. ISBN 978-1-57659-1215
Vol. II: Quaestiones super Peri hermeneias et
Sophistici Elenchis (along with) Theoremata,
Franciscan Institute Publications, 2004, ISBN
978-1-57659-122-2.
Vol. III-IV: Quaestiones super libros Metaphysicorum Aristotelis Franciscan Institute
Publications, 2004. ISBN 978-1-57659-1246.
Vol. V: Quaestiones super Secundum et Tertium de Anima. Franciscan Institute Publications, 2006. ISBN 978-0-8132-1422-1.
The Examined Report of the Paris Lecture, Reportatio I-A, Volume 1, edited and translated by Allan
B. Wolter, OFM and Oleg Bychkov. Franciscan Institute Publications, 2004 ISBN 978-1-57659-1932
The Examined Report of the Paris Lecture, Reportatio I-A, Volume 2, edited and translated by Allan
B. Wolter, OFM and Oleg Bychkov. Franciscan Institute Publications, 2008. ISBN 978-1-57659-1505
English translations
John Duns Scotus, A Treatise on God as First Principle. Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press 1982. A
Latin text and English translation of the De Primo
Principio. Second edition, revised, with a commentary by Allan Wolter, (First edition 1966).
John Duns Scotus, God and Creatures. The Quodlibetal Questions, Translated by Wolter, Allan B.,
OFM, and Felix Alluntis, Washington, D.C.: The
Catholic University of America Press, 1975.

428
Duns Scotus on the Will and Morality, Translated
by Wolter, Allan B., OFM, Washington, DC: The
Catholic University of America Press, 1986.
Duns Scotus: Philosophical Writings, Translated by
Wolter, Allan B., OFM, Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1987.
Duns Scotus
Parisian Proof for the Existence of God,
edited By Allan B. Wolter and Marilyn McCord
Adams, Franciscan Studies 42, 1982, pp. 248321.
[Latin text and English translation).
John Duns Scotus, Contingency and Freedom. Lectura I 39, translation, commentary and introduction by A. Vos Jaczn, H. Veldhuis, A.H.
Looman-Graaskamp, E. Dekker and N.W. den Bok.
The New Synthese Historical Library 4. Dordrecht/Boston/London: Kluwer, 1994.
Questions on the Metaphysics of Aristotle by John
Duns Scotus, Translated by Etzkorn, Girard J., and
Allan B. Wolter, OFM, St. Bonaventure, NY: The
Franciscan Institute, 19971998.
John Duns Scotus. Four Questions on Mary, Introduction with Latin text and English translation and
notes by Allan B. Wolter, OFM, Franciscan Institute
Publications, 2000.

CHAPTER 137. DUNS SCOTUS

137.8 See also


Oxford Franciscan school
Anna Metterza early depictions of the Immaculate
Conception in three generations

137.9 Notes
[1] Together with Thomas Aquinas and William of Ockham.
See e.g. the Plato.Stanford.edu articles Duns Scotus
and William of Ockham
[2] People of Note: John Duns Scotus. Duns, Scotland.
[3] Williams 2002, p. 2
[4] Brampton, C. K. (1964).Duns Scotus at Oxford, 1288
1301. Franciscan Studies 24 (Annual II): 520.
[5] Although Vos (2006, p. 23) has objected that 'Duns' was
actually his family name, as someone from Duns would
have been known as 'de Duns'.
[6] Vos 2006 p. 27. See also Roest, Bert (2000). A history of
Franciscan education (c. 12101517). Brill. pp. 2124.
ISBN 978-90-04-11739-6.
[7] Vos 2006 p. 27
[8] John Duns Scotus. Catholic Encyclopedia.

John Duns Scotus. A Treatise on Potency and Act.


Questions on the Metaphysics of Aristotle Book IX,
Introduction with Latin text and English translation
and notes by Allan B. Wolter, OFM, Franciscan Institute Publications, 2000.

[9] Narratur de Doctori Subtili qui in Prato clericorum, visa


Generalis Ministri obedentia, dum actu Regens esse in scholis Parisiensibus, aut pauca aut nulla de rebus habita dispositione, Parisis exivit ut Coloniam iret, secundum ministri
sententiam. William Vorilong, Opus super IV libros Sententiarum II, d. 44, q. 1 f. 161va.

John Duns Scotus. Political and Economic Philosophy, Introduction with Latin text and English translation and notes by Allan B. Wolter, OFM, Franciscan Institute Publications, 2001.

[10] Butler, Alban (1866). St. Bonaventure, Cardinal,


Bishop, and Doctor of the Church. The Lives of the
Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints VII. Dublin:
James Duy. note 15. Archived from the original on
2010. Retrieved 29 May 2014.

Duns Scotus on Divine Love: Texts and Commentary


on Goodness and Freedom, God and Humans, translated by A. Vos, H. Veldhuis, E. Dekker, N.W. den
Bok and A.J. Beck (ed.). Aldershot: Ashgate 2003.

[11] Bacon, Francis (1638). Historia Vitae et Mortis.


[12] Latin text: "Haec de ordinatione ven. Fratris J. duns de
ordine fratrum Minorum, qui oruit Cant Oxon et Parisius
et obiit in Colonia. quoted in Little 1932, p. 571, citing
Callebaut 1928.

John Duns Scotus. Early Oxford Lecture on Individuation, Introduction with Latin text and English
translation and notes by Allan B. Wolter, OFM, [13] Pini, Giorgio (2005).Univocity in Scotuss Quaestiones
super Metaphysicam: The Solution to a Riddle (PDF).
Franciscan Institute Publications, 2005.
Medioevo 30: 69110.

John Duns Scotus. Questions on Aristotle's Cate- [14] See e.g. Wolter 1995, p. 76 and passim
gories, Translated by Lloyd A. Newton, Washington,
[15] See the introduction to the critical edition: Duns Scoti
DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2014.
Duns Scotus on Time and Existence: The Questions
on Aristotle's 'De interpretatione' , Translated with
Introduction and Commentary by Edward Buckner
and Jack Zupko, Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2014.

Quaestiones in librum Porphyrii Isagoge et Quaestiones


super Praedicamenta Aristotelis (Opera philosophica, I),
xxixxxxiv, xlixlii.

[16] Pini, Giorgio (2005).Univocity in Scotus


s Quaestiones
super Metaphysicam: The Solution to a Riddle (PDF).
Medioevo 30: 69110., although this is speculative

137.10. REFERENCES

[17] Thomas Williams (2009).John Duns Scotus, Stanford


Encyclopedia of Philosophy (online).
[18] Ashworth 1987
[19] R.P.E. Longpre
[20] Die Kategorien- und Bedeutungslehre des Duns Scotus (
Duns Scotus' Theory of the Categories and of Meaning
, 1915)
[21] Opus Oxoniense I iii 12, quoted in Grenz 2005, p. 55
[22] Honderich p. 209
[23] Pasnau, Robert (2011).Divine Illumination. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
[24] Ordinatio III, d.3, q.1
[25] The Life of Blessed John Duns Scotus. EWTN.
[26]
[27] Ceremonia de Reconocimiento del Culto Litrgico a
Duns Escoto y Beaticacin de Dina Blanger. Vatican News Service. 20 March 1993.(Spanish)
[28] Janz
[29] Courtenay, William (January 2012). Early Scotists at
Paris: A Reconsideration. Franciscan Studies 69 (1):
175229. doi:10.1353/frc.2012.0009.
[30] R.W. Dixon, History of the Church of England from the
Abolition of the Roman Jurisdiction, 1:303
[31] Catto, Jeremy, Franciscan Learning in England, 1450
1540, in The Religious Orders in Pre-Reformation England, ed. Clarke 2002
[32] J Derrida, L'criture et la dirence, (Paris, 1967), p216;
G Deleuze, Dirence et rptition, (Paris, 1968), pp. 52
8, cited in John Marenbon,Aquinas, Radical Orthodoxy,
and the importance of truth, in Wayne J Hankey and
Douglas Hedley, eds, Deconstructing radical orthodoxy:
postmodern theology, rhetoric and truth, (Ashgate, 2005),
p. 56.
[33] John Marenbon, Aquinas, Radical Orthodoxy, and the
importance of truth, in Wayne J Hankey and Douglas
Hedley, eds, Deconstructing radical orthodoxy: postmodern theology, rhetoric and truth, (Ashgate, 2005), p. 56.
[34] Giorgio Pini,Duns Scotus' Literal Commentary on the
Metaphysics and the Notabilia Scoti super Metaphysicam (Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, C 62 Sup, .51r98r)
, Bulletin de philosophie mdivale, 38 (1996) 141142.

137.10 References
Bos, Egbert P. (1998). John Duns Scotus: Renewal
of Philosophy. Acts of the Third Symposium organized by the Dutch Society for Medieval Philosophy
Medium Aevum. Amsterdam: Rodopi. ISBN 97890-420-0081-0.

429
Cross, Richard (ed.), The Opera Theologica of John
Duns Scotus. Proceedings of The Quadruple
Congresson John Duns Scotus, Part 2. Archa Verbi.
Subsidia 4, Franciscan Institute Publications, 2012,
ISBN ISBN 978-3-402-10214-5.
Cross, Richard (2014). Duns Scotus's Theory of
Cognition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN
978-0-19-968488-5.
Frank, William A.; Wolter, Allan B. (1995). Duns
Scotus, Metaphysician. West Lafayette: Purdue University Press. ISBN 978-1-55753-072-1.
Gracia, Jorge J. E.; Noone, Timothy B. (2003). A
Companion to Philosophy in the Middle Ages. Cambridge: Blackwell Pub. ISBN 978-0-631-21672-8.
Grenz, Stanley (2005). The Named God And The
Question Of Being: A Trinitarian Theo-ontology.
Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN
978-0-664-22204-8.
Honderich, Ted (1995). Duns Scotus. The
Oxford Companion to Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford
University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-866132-0.
Honnefelder Ludger, Mhle Hannes, Speer
Andreas, Kobusch Theo, Bullido del Barrio
Susana (eds.), Johannes Duns Scotus 13082008: Die philosophischen Perspektiven seines
Werkes/Investigations into his Philosophy. Proceedings of The Quadruple Congresson John
Duns Scotus, Part 3. Archa Verbi. Subsidia 5,
Franciscan Institute Publications, 2011,ISBN
978-3-402-10215-2.
Ingham, Mary Beth CSJ, and Bychkof, OLef (eds.),
John Duns Scotus, Philosopher. Proceedings ofThe
Quadruple Congresson John Duns Scotus, Part 1.
Archa Verbi. Subsidia 3, Franciscan Institute Publications, 2010, ISBN 978-3-402-10213-8.
Ingham, Mary Beth CSJ, Scotus for Dunces: An Introduction to the Subtle Doctor, Franciscan Institute
Publications, 2003.
Ingham, Mary Beth CSJ, The Harmony of Goodness: Mutuality and Moral Living According to
John Duns Scotus, Franciscan Institute Publications,
1997.
Kretzmann, Norman; Kenny, Anthony; Pinborg,
Jan; Stump, Eleonore (1982). The Cambridge History of Later Medieval Philosophy. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-52136933-6.
Shannon, Thomas The Ethical Theory of John Duns
Scotus, Franciscan Institute Publications, 1995.

430
Vos, Antonie (2006). The Philosophy of John Duns
Scotus. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
ISBN 978-0-7486-2462-1.
Williams, Thomas (2002). The Cambridge Companion to Duns Scotus. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-63563-9.
Wolter, Allan B. OFM and O'Neil, Blane OFM,
John Duns Scotus: Mary's Architect, Franciscan Institute Publications, 1993.
Wolter, Allan B. OFM, The Philosophical Theology
of John Duns Scotus, IUthaca, Cornell University
Press, 1990.
Wolter, Allan B. OFM, Scotus and Ockham. Selected Essays, Franciscan Institute Publications,
2003.

137.11 External links


Site of the International Scotistic Commission
(Rome, Italy)
John Duns Scotus entry by Thomas Williams in the
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
John Duns Scotus (12661308) entry by Jerey
Hause in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Bibliography on Duns Scotus from 1950 by Tobias
Homann
Catholic Encyclopedia article on John Duns Scotus
Site about Duns Scotus of the Research Group John
Duns Scotus (Utrecht, NL)
Thomas Williams' pages on Scotus
The Realist Ontology of John Duns Scotus with an
annotated bibliography
Article by Parthenius Minges on Scotists and Scotism at the Jacques Maritain Center
Local history site of Blessed John Duns Scotus'
birthplace, Duns, Berwickshire, Scotland
Online Galleries, History of Science Collections,
University of Oklahoma Libraries High resolution
images of works by Duns Scotus in .jpg and .ti format.

CHAPTER 137. DUNS SCOTUS

Chapter 138

Philip Faber
Philip Faber (Fabri) (1564, Spinata di Brisighella,
Faenza Padua, 28 August 1630) was an Italian
Franciscan theologian, philosopher and noted commentator on Duns Scotus.

138.3 External links


Catholic Encyclopedia article
This article incorporates text from a publication now in
the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913).
Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.

138.1 Life
In 1582 he entered the Order of St.
Francis
(Conventuals), at Cremona. After completing his studies, he taught in various monastic schools till he was appointed professor of philosophy in 1603, and in 1606 professor of theology, at the University of Padua, where he
was highly successful as a lecturer.
In 1625 he was elected provincial of the order, and he
again took up his work as professor, expounding the
teachings of Duns Scotus, abandoning the superlative
style of other commentators.

138.2 Works
His most important works are:
Philosophia naturalis Scoti in theoremata distributa(Parma, 1601, revised at Venice, 1606,
1616, 1622, and at Paris, 1622).
Commentaria in quatuor libros sententiarum Duns
Scoti(Venice, 1613; 3rd ed. Paris, 1622);
De Praedestinatione(Venice, 1623), a complement to the rst book of the Sentences;
De restitutione, et extrem unctione(Venice,
1624), an addition to the fourth book of the Sentences;
A treatise 'de Sacramento Ordinis, poenis et censuris ecclesiasticis'" (Venice, 1628).
His work, De Primatu Petri et Romani Ponticisand
hisCommentaries on the Metaphysics of Aristotlewere
published, after Faber's death, by his friend Matthew Ferchius, who prefaced the Commentaries, with a biography of the author.
431

Chapter 139

Pedro da Fonseca (philosopher)


For the Portuguese cardinal of the same name, see Pedro
da Fonseca (cardinal).
Pedro da Fonseca (Proena a Nova, 1528 Lisbon, 4
November 1599) was a Portuguese Jesuit philosopher and
theologian. His work on logic and metaphysics made him
known in his time as the Portuguese Aristotle; he projected the 'Cursus Conimbricenses' realized by Manuel
Gis and others.

139.1 Works
Institutionum Dialecticarum. Lisbon: 1564.
Commentariorum in Libros Metaphysicorum Aristotelis. Rome: 1577.
Isagoge Philosophica. Lisbon: 1591.

139.2 See also


Conimbricenses

139.3 External links


Pedro da Fonsecas Isagoge Philosophica and the
Predicables from Boethius to the Lovanienses Joo
Madeira
The Birth of Ontology. A selection of Ontologists
from 1560 to 1770
Page on Instituto Cames (pt)
Entry on Catholic Encyclopedia
(French) Scholasticon, by Jacob Schmutz

432

Chapter 140

Sebastin Fox Morcillo


Sebastian Fox Morcillo (1526?1559?), a Spanish
scholar and philosopher, was born in Seville between
1526 and 1528. Around 1548 he studied in Leuven.
Following the example of the Spanish Jew Judas Abarbanel, he published commentaries on Plato and Aristotle,
in which he endeavoured to reconcile their teachings. In
1559 he was appointed tutor to Don Carlos, son of Philip
II, but he was lost at sea on his way to Spain to take up
the post.* [1]* [2]
His best-known work is De imitatione, seu de informandi
styli ratione libri II (1554), a dialogue between the author and his brother under the pseudonyms of Gaspar and
Francisco Enuesia. Fox Morcillo's other publications include:
In Topica Ciceronis paraphrasis et scholia (r 550)
In Platonis Timaeum coinmentarii (1554)
Compendium ethices philosophiae ex Platone, Aristotele, aliisque philosophis collectum
De historiae institutione dialogus (1557) (Antonio
Cortijo Ocaa, Teora de la historia y teora poltica
en el siglo XVI. Alcal de Henares: UP, 2000)
De naturae philosophic

140.1 References
[1] Truman, Ronald W. Spanish Treatises on Government, Society, and Religion in the Time of Philip II. pp. 3968.
[2] http://www.jstor.org/pss/338655

This article incorporates text from a publication now


in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911).
Encyclopdia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

433

Chapter 141

Gilbert de la Porre
Gilbert de la Porre (c. 1075 September 4, 1154), also the school of Chartres}--where Gilbert was chancellor at
known as Gilbert of Poitiers, Gilbertus Porretanus or that momentbacked Abelard. Pope Eugene III presided
Pictaviensis, was a scholastic logician and theologian.
over the trial. During the trial, Gilbert and Bernard were
asked to recite and speak of specic biblical scriptures.
Bernard, being nowhere near as well versed as Gilbert,
was not able to condemn him. It was decided however
141.1 Life
that in order to make the church happy, Gilbert had to
change parts of his book that were not in accordance with
He was born in Poitiers, and completed his rst studies the ocial position on faith. Gilbert died in 1154.
there. He was then educated at Chartres under Bernard
of Chartres, where he learned the dierences between
Aristotle and Plato and later at Laon under Anselm of 141.2 Works
Laon and Ralph of Laon, where he studied biblical scriptures. After his education, he returned to Poitiers, where
its believed he taught. He then returned to Chartres to Gilbert is almost the only logician of the 12th century who
teach logic and theology and took over Chancellor after is quoted by the greater scholastics of the succeeding age.
Bernard from 1126-1140. It is in Paris where we also His chief logical work, the treatise De sex principiis, was
know he gave lectures. From a passage from the text, regarded with a reverence almost equal to that paid to
Dialogue with Ratius and Everard, by the Cistercian Ev- Aristotle, and furnished matter for numerous commentaerardus, we learn that Gilbert was more popular in Paris tors, amongst them Albertus Magnus. Owing to the fame
then in Chartres. Everardus writes that he was fourth to of this work, he is mentioned by Dante as the Magister
attend Gilberts lectures in Chartres and three hundredth sex principiorum. The treatise itself is a discussion of the
to attend in Paris. In Paris, John of Salisbury attended Aristotelian categories, specially of the six subordinate
Gilbert's lectures in 1141 and was greatly inuenced by modes.
them. John of Salisbury would later become chancellor Gilbert distinguishes in the ten categories two classes, one
of Chartres and also wrote over Gilbert saying: He taught essential, the other derivative. Essential or inhering (forgrammar and theology, would whip a student who made mae inhaerentes) in the objects themselves are only suba grammatical error, if he believed a student was wasting stance, quantity, quality and relation in the stricter sense
time in class he would suggest they take up bread making, of that term. The remaining six, when, where, action,
and last when he lectured he used philosophers, orators passion, position and habit, are relative and subordinate
and as well as poets to help interpret.
(formae assistantes). This suggestion has some interest,
Sometime in the 1140s, Gilbert published his Commen- but is of no great value, either in logic or in the theory of
tary on Boethius's, Opuscala Sacra. Although intended knowledge. More important in the history of scholastias an explanation of what Boethius meant, it interpreted cism are the theological consequences to which Gilbert's
the Holy Trinity in such a way that it went against the realism led him.
teachings of the church. In 1142, Gilbert became Bishop
of Poitiers and within the same year two archdeacons,
Arnaud and Calon, denounced Gilbert for his ideas on
the trinity. It was also in 1142 when Gilbert's teaching
position was taken over in Chartres. By 1147, in Paris,
Peter Lombard attacked Gilbert for his trinitarian beliefs. In 1148, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, known as the
great detector of heresies, brought Gilbert to trial. Saint
Bernard had previous reasons to believe Gilbert was a
heretic because when Abelard was tried and condemned,

In the commentary on the treatise De Trinitate of


Boethius he proceeds from the metaphysical notion that
pure or abstract being is prior in nature to that which is.
This pure being is God, and must be distinguished from
the triune God as known to us. God is incomprehensible, and the categories cannot be applied to determine
his existence. In God there is no distinction or dierence,
whereas in all substances or things there is duality, arising from the element of matter. Between pure being and
substances stand the ideas or forms, which subsist, though

434

141.4. EXTERNAL LINKS


they are not substances. These forms, when materialized,
are called formae substantiales or formae nativae; they
are the essences of things, and in themselves have no relation to the accidents of things. Things are temporal,
the ideas perpetual, God eternal. The pure form of existence, that by which God is God, must be distinguished
from the three persons who are God by participation in
this form. The form or essence is one, the persons or
substances three. This distinction clearly goes against the
churches tenant of divine simplicity. It was this distinction between Deitas or Divinitas and Deus that led to the
condemnation of Gilbert's doctrine.

141.3 References
De sex principiis and commentary on the De Trinitate in Migne, Patrologia Latina, lxiv. 1255 and
clxxxviii. 1257
Abb Berthaud, Gilbert de la Porre (Poitiers, 1892)
B. Haurau, De la philosophie scolastique, pp. 294
318
John MarenbonGilbert of Poitiers,Gracia, Jorge
J.E. and Timothy B. Noone (eds.) A companion
to Philosophy in the Middle Ages. (Malden MA:
Blackwell, 2003).
R. Schmid's articleGilbert Porretanusin HerzogHauck, Realencyk. f. protest. Theol. (vol. 6, 1899)
Karl von Prantl, Geschichte d. Logik, ii. 215
Joseph Bach, Dogmengeschichte des Mittelalters, ii.
133.
T. Gross-Diaz, The Psalms Commentary of Gilbert
of Poitiers (Leiden, 1995).
F.C. Copleston, A History of Medieval Philosophy
(New York: Harper and Row, 1972).
John Marenbon, Early Medieval Philosophy (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1983).
Edouard Jeauneau, Rethinking The School of
Chartres (Toronto: University of Toronto Press,
2009).
Arthur Hyman & James J. Walsh, Philosophy in
the Middle Ages (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing
Company, 1974).
This article incorporates text from a publication now
in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911).
Encyclopdia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge
University Press.

435

141.4 External links


Latin Text of his Apocalypse prologue

Chapter 142

Giles of Rome
Giles of Rome (Latin gidius Romanus, or in Italian
Egidio Colonna; c. 1243, Rome 22 December
1316, Avignon), was an archbishop of Bourges who was
famed for his logician commentary on the Organon by
Aristotle. Giles was styled Doctor Fundatissimus (
Best-Grounded Teacher) by Pope Benedict XIV. He
was Prior General of the Augustinian order, and also authored two other important works, De Ecclesiastica Potestate, a major text of early 14th century papalism, and De
Regimine Principum, a guide book for princes.

suggesting he might have been in Paris during this period


before going back to Rome.
Philip III of France entrusted to him the education of his
son, who later, in 1285, ascended the throne as Philip
IV. When the new king, after his coronation at Reims,
entered Paris, Giles gave the address of welcome in the
name of the university, insisting on justice as the most
important virtue of a king. (For the text, see Ossinger, in
work cited below.)

In 1285 Giles' work was again called into question, but


Writers in 14th and 15th century England such as John by 1287 he was allowed to continue teaching. Eight years
Trevisa and Thomas Hoccleve translated or adapted him later in 1295 Giles was appointed as the archbishop of
into English.
Bourges, which he wrote about in his work De renunciatione.

142.1 Early life


Very little in known about his early life, although Jordan
of Saxony claimed in his late 14th century work Liber Vitasfratrum that Giles belonged to the Colonna family of
Rome. But Jordan of Saxony was not a contemporary of
Giles, and many scholars remain skeptical of his account
of Giles' early life. Having entered the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine at Rome, he was sent to Paris for his
philosophical and theological studies, and became there
the disciple of Thomas Aquinas. He was the rst Augustinian appointed to teach in the University of Paris.
It is likely that Giles was a student of Thomas Aquinas
during the period between 1269 and 1272. He began
many of his commentaries on the works of Aristotle during the 1270s. Giles was in Paris doing theology until Bishop tienne Tempier condemned the Aristotelian
school of thought, including those who wrote commentaries on Aristotle's work, in the Condemnation of 1277.
Giles, whose work had been condemned, disappeared
from the Paris academic scene. There is no information
on Giles between the period of 1277 and 1281, when he
returned to Italy. However, in 1281, at the Thirty-sixth
Council of Paris, in which several dierences between
bishops and mendicant orders were arranged, he sided
with the bishops against the regulars. Referring to this,
a contemporary philosopher, Godfrey of Fontaines mentioned him as the most renowned theologian of the whole
city (qui modo melior de tot vill in omnibus reputatur),

142.2 Controversy
Giles was involved in the condemnation of 1277 promulgated by tienne Tempier. Several of his opinions had
been found reprehensible by Archbishop Tempier, and in
1285 Pope Honorius IV asked him for a public retraction.
This, however, was far from lessening his reputation, for
in 1287 a decree of the general chapter of the Augustinians held in Florence, after remarking that Giles's doctrine
shines throughout the whole world(venerabilis magistri
nostri gidii doctrina mundum universum illustrat), commanded all members of the order to accept and defend
all his opinions, written or to be written.
After lling several important positions in his order
he was elected superior-general in 1292. Three years
later Pope Boniface VIII appointed him Archbishop of
Bourges, France, although Jean de Savigny had already
been designated for this see by Pope Celestine V. The
French nobility protested on the ground that Colonna was
an Italian, but his appointment was maintained and approved by the king.
He was present at the Council of Vienne (13111312) in
which the Order of Knights Templars was suppressed.

436

142.4. THE AEGIDIAN SCHOOL

437
VIII and King Philip IV was long believed to have been
favourable to the king. But it has been proved that he
is the author of the treatise De potestate ecclesiastic, in
which the rights of the pope are vindicated. The similarity between this treatise and the bull Unam Sanctam
seems to support the view taken by some writers that he
was the author of the bull.
He had already taken an active part in ending the discussions and controversies concerning the validity of Boniface's election to the papacy. In his treatise De renunciatione Pap sive Apologia pro Bonifacio VIII he shows the
legitimacy of Celestine's resignation and consequently of
Boniface's election. In philosophy and theology he generally follows the opinions of his master, St. Thomas,
whose works he quotes as scripta communia.
The Defensorium seu Correctorium corruptorii librorum
Sancti Thom Acquinatis against the Franciscan William
de la Mare of Oxford is by some attributed to him; but this
remains uncertain. Nevertheless, on many points he holds
independent views and abandons the Thomistic doctrine
to follow the opinions of St. Augustine and of the Franciscan School. He even errs in asserting that, before the
Fall, grace had not been given to Adam, an opinion which
he wrongly attributes to St. Augustine.

In secundum librum sententiarum quaestiones, 1581

Giles wrote a commentary on Guido Cavalcanti's philosophical love canzone Donna me prega(see Enrico
Fenzi, La canzone d'amore di Guido Cavalcanti e i suoi
antichi commenti, Melangolo, 1999).

142.3 Works
142.4 The Aegidian school

His writings cover the elds of philosophy and theology.


There is no complete edition of his works, but several
After the decree of the general chapter of 1287, mentreatises have been published separately.
tioned above, his opinions were generally accepted in the
In Holy Scripture and theology he wrote commentaries on Augustinian Order. He thus became the founder of the
the Hexaemeron, the Canticle of Canticles, and the Epistle gidian School. Among the most prominent representato the Romans; several Opuscula and Quodlibeta, various tives of this school must be mentioned Giacomo Capoctreatises, and especially commentaries on Peter the Lom- cio of Viterbo (d. 1307) and Augustinus Triumphus (d.
bard's Four Books of Sentences.
1328), both of them his contemporaries, and also stuIn philosophy, besides commentaries on almost all the dents and professors in the University of Paris: Prosper
works of Aristotle, he wrote several special treatises. But of Reggio, Albert of Padua, Gerard of Siena, Henry of
his main work is the treatise De regimine principum, writ- Frimar, Thomas of Strasburg all in the rst half of the
ten for, and dedicated to, his pupil, Philip IV. It passed fourteenth century.
through many editions (the rst, Augsburg, 1473) and was For some time after this other opinions prevailed in the
translated into several languages. The Roman edition of Augustinian Order. But as late as the seventeenth cen1607 contains a life of Egidio. The work is divided into tury should be mentioned Raaello Bonherba (d. 1681)
three books: the rst treats of the individual conduct of who wrote Disputationes totius philosophi in quibus
the king, the nature of his true happiness, the choice and omnes philosophic inter D. Thomam et Scotum controacquisition of virtues, and the ruling of passions; the sec- versi principaliter cum doctrin nostri gidii Column
ond deals with family life and the relations with wife, chil- illustrantur (Palermo, 1645, 1671); and Augustino Arpe
dren, and servants; the third considers the State, its origin, (d. 1704) who wrote Summa totius theologi gidii
and the proper mode of governing in times of peace and Column (Bologna, 1701, and Genoa, 1704).
war.
Federico Nicol Gavardi (d. 1715), the most important
His pedagogical writings have been published in German interpreter of Colonna, composed Theologia exantiquata
by Kaufmann (Freiburg, 1904).
iuxta orthodoxam S. P. Augustini doctrinam ab gidio
His attitude in the diculties between Pope Boniface Column doctor fundatissimo expositam (6 vols. fol.,

438
Naples and Rome, 16831696); this work was abridged
by Anselm Hrmannseder in his Hecatombe theologica (Presburg, 1737). Benignus Sichrowsky (d. 1737)
wrote also Philosophia vindicata ad erroribus philosophorum gentilium iuxta doctrinam S. Augustini et B. gidii
Column (Nuremberg, 1701).

142.5 Translations
On ecclesiastical power: A Medieval Theory of
World Government, edited and translated by RW
Dyson, (New York: Columbia University Press,
2004)
Commentary on the Song of Songs and other writings,
translated by J Rotelle, (Villanova, PA: Augustinian
Press, 1998)
On ecclesiastical power / by Giles of Rome = De ecclesiastica potestate / by Aegidius of Rome, translated
by Arthur P. Monahan, (Lewiston, NY: E Mellen
Press, 1990)
Giles of Rome on ecclesiastical power: the De ecclesiastica potestate of Aegidius Romanus,translated by
R.W. Dyson, (Woodbridge: Boydell, 1986)
Theorems on existence and essence, translated by
Michael V Murray, (Milwaukee, WI: Marquette
University Press, 1952)
Errores philosophorum, translated by John O Riedl,
(Milwaukee, WI: Marquette University Press, 1944)

142.6 References
Johannes Felix Ossinger, Bibliotheca augustiniana
(Ingolstadt and Vienna, 1768)
Henry Denie and Emile Chatelain, Chartularium
Universitatis Parisiensis (Paris, 1889), I, II, see Index
FRRET, La facult de thol. de Paris et ses doct.
les plus clbres au moyen ge (Paris, 1896), III,
459-475
Hugo von Hurter, Nomenclator (3d ed., Innsbruck,
1906), II, 481-486 and passim for gidian School
LAZARD, Gilles de Rome in Hist. litt. de la France
(Paris, 1888), XXX, 423-566
MATTIOLO, Studio critico sopra Egidio Romano
Colonna in Antologia Agostiniana (Rome, 1896), I
SCHOLZ, gidius von Rom (Stuttgart, 1902)
WERNER, Die Scholastik des spt. M. A., III, Der
Augustinismus des spt. M. A. (Vienna, 1863)

CHAPTER 142. GILES OF ROME


Scheeben in Kirchenlexikon, s. v.
CHEVALIER, Rp. des sources hist. (2d ed., Paris,
1905), s. v. Gilles.

142.7 External links


Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry
"Egidio Colonna". Catholic Encyclopedia. New
York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913.
Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz (1975). "gidius von
Rom. In Bautz, Friedrich Wilhelm. BiographischBibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL) (in German) 1. Hamm: Bautz. col. 43. ISBN 3-88309013-1.

Chapter 143

John Hennon
John (Johannes) Hennon (died after 1484) was a
medieval philosopher in the late Scholastic tradition.
He was from Nijmegen, and studied at the University
of Paris, where he received his magister artium and
baccalaureus formatus in sacra pagina (1463).
As a student of Paris, Hennon was heavily inuenced by
William of Ockham and Roger Bacon. He wrote a Latin
commentary on the Physics of Aristotle, the Commentarii
in Aristotelis libros Physicorum, which was completed on
1 October 1473 if a seventeenth-century source is to be
believed.* [1] Examining the state of science in the late
Middle Ages, physicist, historian, and philosopher Pierre
Duhem, in Le systme du monde, isolates Hennon's account of the vacuum and a plurality of worlds.

143.1 Sources
Duhem, Pierre; Roger Ariew, ed. and trans. 1985.
Medieval Cosmology: Theories of Innity, Place,
Time, Void, and the Plurality of Worlds. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-16922-7.

143.2 Further reading


Bakker, Paul J. J. M. 2005. Natural Philosophy
and Metaphysics in Late Fifteenth-Century Paris. I:
The Commentaries on Aristotle by Johannes Hennon.Bulletin de Philosophie Mdivale, 47:125
155.

Hennon believed that nature abhors a vacuum and therefore no natural void was possible, though God could create one. A void, however, is not dened by a positive
distance between surfaces in which there is nothing, but
rather as the capacity (potentialitas) for a body to be interposed between the two surfaces equal to that which is
there when it is full. Hennon arms that ice is denser
than liquid water, and that a sealed vase of water will
break upon freezing because nature abhors a vacuum.
He believes further that two smooth plates could not be
separated (again, because nature abhors a vacuum) unless there were some air still between them, which with
enough force may become rareed, allowing the plates to
be separated.
Hennon is less original on a plurality of worlds, where he
borrows text verbatim from Albert of Saxony's Quaestiones in libros de Caelo et Mundo. He follows Albert and
John Buridan in asserting that a multiplicity of worlds is
not contradictory and therefore possible through divien
omnipotence. In fact, God could create an innite multitude of beings, since Hennon nds no contradiction between innity and magnitude. Duhem in his analysis of
Hennon's chapter De Caelo et Mundo, argues that Hennon
relied on the Condemnations of 1277 by Stephen Tempier
to attack Aristotelian physics, and thus the position that
the earth cannot move.* [2]

Pluta, Olaf. 2003.John Hennon's Question Utrum


anima rationalis sit immortalis.Ratio et superstitio: Essays in Honor of Graziella Federici Vescovini.
Giancarlo Marchetti, Orsola Rignani, and Valeria
Sorge, edd. Textes et tudes du Moyen ge, 24.
Louvain-la-Neuve: Fdration Internationale des
Instituts dtudes Mdivales, 197219.
Pluta, Olaf. 2007. How Matter Becomes Mind:
Late Medieval Theories of Emergence. Forming
the Mind: Essays on the Internal Senses and the
Mind/Body Problem from Avicenna to the Medical
Enlightenment. Henrik Lagerlund, ed. Studies in the
History of Philosophy of Mind, 5. Springer Netherlands, ISBN 978-1-4020-6084-7, 149167.

143.3 Notes
[1] The manuscript is preserved in the Bibliothque nationale
de France, fonds latin, no. 6529. The commentaries begin on folio 4r, where in the seventeenth century somebody wrote: Magistri Johannis Hennon Commentarii in
Aristotelis libros Physicorum, parva naturalis et metaphysicam, completi die prima octobris anno 1473, ut habetur in
ultima pagina hujus libri.
[2] Hennon refers to the specic article of condemnation
Quod Deus non posset movere Caelum motus recto, error:
That God could not move the heavens with rectilinear
motion, an error.

439

Chapter 144

List of medieval Latin commentators on


Aristotle
This is a list of commentators on the works of Aristotle
who wrote in Latin, from the Late Antique to the last
years of the European Middle Ages. The names are given
in their Latin forms.
Sources: Taken from Charles H. Lohr, Commentateurs
d'Aristote au Moyen-ge Latin (1988).

Henricus de Gandavo
Henricus Heinbuche de Langenstein
Henricus Totting de Oyta
Hermannus Alemannus
Jacobus Capocci de Viterbio

Aegidius Romanus

Jacobus Veneticus

Albertus Magnus

Johannes Argyropulus

Albertus de Saxonia
Andreas de Biliis: Commentaries on Metaphysics
and On the Heavens book 4.* [1]

Johannes Buridanus
Johannes Duns Scotus

Bartholomaeus de Brugis

Johannes de Glogovia

Blasius Pelacanus de Parma

Johannes de Janduno

Boethius

Johannes Pecham

Boethius de Dacia

Johannes Saresburiensis

Bonaventura

Johannes Versoris

Caietanus de Thienis

Johannes Wyclif

Christophorus Landinus

Laurentius Vallensis

Franciscus de Mayronis de Digna

Leonardus Bruni Aretinus

Franciscus Rubeus de Marchia

Marsilius de Inghen

Georgius Trapezuntius

Marsilius Mainardinus

Godefridus de Fontibus

Michael Scotus

Gualterus de Burley

Nicolaus Oresme

Guillelmus de Conchis

Nicolettus Vernias Theatinus

Guillelmus de Heytesbury

Paulus Nicolettus Venetus

Guillelmus de Ockham

Petrus Abaelardus

Guillelmus de Shirwode

Petrus de Abano

Heimericus de Campo

Petrus de Alliaco
440

144.2. NOTES
Petrus de Alvernia
Petrus Hispanus
Petrus Martinez de Osma
Radulphus Reginaldi Britonis
Remigius de Florentia
Richardus de Lavenham commentaries on the
Physics and Ethics* [2]
Robertus Grosseteste
Robertus de Kilwardby
Rogerus Bacon
Sigerus de Brabantia
Simon de Faversham
Stephanus Tempier
Theodoricus Brito
Thomas de Aquino
Thomas Bradwardinus
Thomas de Erfordia
Thomas de Sutton

144.1 See also


List of Renaissance commentators on Aristotle

144.2 Notes
[1] Paul F. Grendler (29 September 2004). The Universities
of the Italian Renaissance. JHU Press. p. 321. ISBN
978-0-8018-8055-1. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
[2] Norman Kretzmann; Anthony Kenny; Jan Pinborg;
Eleonore Stump (29 July 1988). The Cambridge History
of Later Medieval Philosophy: From the Rediscovery of
Aristotle to the Disintegration of Scholasticism, 1100-1600.
Cambridge University Press. pp. 882. ISBN 978-0-52136933-6. Retrieved 2 August 2012.

441

Chapter 145

John Major (philosopher)


John Mairredirects here; for the English academic, see John Mair; for the New Zealand architect, see John Thomas Mair.

parts of his logical writings.

145.1 Life
145.1.1 School

John Major (or Mair) (also known in Latin as Joannes


Majoris and Haddingtonus Scotus) (14671550) was a
Scottish philosopher, much admired in his day and an acknowledged inuence on all the great thinkers of the time.
He was a very renowned teacher and his works much
collected and frequently republished across Europe. His
sane conservatismand his sceptical, logical approach to
the study of texts such as Aristotle or the Bible, were less
prized in the subsequent age of humanism where a more
committed, and linguistic/literary, approach prevailed.
His inuence in logic (especially the analysis of terms),
science (impetus and innitesimals), politics (placing the
people over kings), Church (councils over Popes), and
international law (establishing the human rights ofsavagesconquered by the Spanish) can be traced across the
centuries and appear decidedly modern, and it is only in
the modern age that he is not routinely dismissed as a
scholastic. His Latin style did not help he thought that
it is of more moment to understand aright, and clearly to
lay down the truth of any matter than to use eloquent language. Nevertheless, it is to his writings, including their
dedications, that we owe much of our knowledge of the
everyday facts of Major's life for example his shortness of stature. He was an extremely curious and very
observant man, and used his experiences of earthquakes
in Paisley, thunder in Glasgow, storms at sea, eating oatcakes in northern England to illustrate the more abstract

John Major (or 'Mair') was born about 1467 in


Gleghornie, near North Berwick where he received his
early education. It was at nearby Haddington, East Lothian, Scotland, where he attended grammar school. He
was probably taught by the town schoolmaster George
Litsar, who was, according to Major although a circumspect man in other ways, more severe than was just
in beating boys. If it had not been for the inuence
of his mother, Major says he would have left, but he and
his brother stayed on and were successful. According to
him, Haddington was the town which fostered the beginning of my studies, and in whose kindly embrace I was
nourished as a novice with the sweetest milk of the art
of grammar. He says he stayed in Haddington to
a pretty advanced ageand he remembers the sound of
the King James III's bombardment of the nearby castle
of Dunbar, which was in 1479. He also remembers the
comet which was supposed to have foretold the King's defeat at Sauchieburn which was in 1488. However, it was
in 1490, he reports, that herst left the paternal hearth
. In 1490, probably under the inuence of Robert Cockburn, another Haddington man, destined to be an inuential bishop (of Ross and later of Dunkeld), he decided
to go to Paris to study among the great numbers of Scots
there at the time.

145.1.2 University
It is not known whether he attended university in Scotland
as a student there are no matriculation records of him
and he claimed never to have seen the university town of
St Andrews, Fife as a young man (though he did complain
later of its bad beer). He seems to have decided to prepare
for Paris at Cambridge in England. He says that in 1492
he attendedGods House, which later became Christ's
College.* [1] He remembers the bells on great feast

442

145.1. LIFE

443

days, I spent half the night listening to them but was ophy...
obviously well-prepared, as he left for Paris after three In 1518 he returned to Scotland to become Principal of
terms.
the University of Glasgow (and also canon of the catheIn 1493 he matriculated in the University of Paris, dral, vicar of Dunlop and Treasurer of the Chapel Royal).
France, then the foremost University in Europe. He stud- He returned to Paris several times by sea one time, getied at the Collge Sainte-Barbe and took his Bachelor ting delayed in Dieppe for three weeks by a storm; and by
of Arts degree there in 1495 followed by his Master's land another time, having dinner en route through Engdegree in 1496. There were many currents of thought land with his friend, Cardinal Wolsey. He oered Main Paris but he was heavily inuenced, as were fellow jor a post, which he declined, in his new college at the
Scots such as Lawrence of Lindores by the nominalist and University of Oxford, to be called Cardinal's College,
empiricist approach of John Buridan. (The latter's inu- (later Christ Church, Oxford). In 1528, King Francis I
ence on Copernicus and Galileo can be traced through of France issued Major with a patent of naturalisation,
Majors published works). He became a student mas- making him a naturalised subject of France.
ter ('regent') in Arts in the Collge de Montaigu in1496 In 1533 he was made Provost of St Salvator's College in
and began the study of theology under the formidable Jan the University of St Andrews to which thronged many
Standonck. He consorted with scholars of later renown, of the most signicant men in Scotland, including John
some from his hometown, Robert Walterston, and his Knox and George Buchanan. He missed Paris When
home country (David Cranston of Glasgow, who died I was in Scotland, I often thought how I would go back to
in 1512), but mostly they were the luminaries of the Paris and give lectures as I used to and hear disputations
age, including Erasmus, whose reforming enthusiasms he . He died in 1550 (perhaps on 1 May), his works read
shared, Rabelais and Reginald Pole. In the winter of 1497 throughout Europe, his name honoured everywhere, just
he had a serious illness, from which he never completely as the storms of the Reformation were about to sweep
recovered. He had never had dreams before, but ever af- away, at least in his own country, any respect for his
terwards he was troubled by dreams, migraine, colic and centuries-old methodology.
excessive sleepiness(he was always hard to awaken).
In 1499, he moved to the College of Navarre. In 1501, he
received his degree of Bachelor of Sacred Theology and
in 1505 his logical writings were collected and published 145.1.4 Some publications by John Major
for the rst time. In 1506 he was licensed to teach the Heinrich Totting von Oytha's abbreviation of Adam
ology and was awarded the degree of Doctor of Sacred
de Wodeham's Oxford Lectures, edited by Major,
Theology on 11 November that year (coming 3rd in the
Paris 1512.
listings). He taught at the Collge de Montaigu (where he
was, temporarily joint Director) and also the prestigious
Lectures in logic (Lyons 1516)
Sorbonne, where he served on many commissions.

145.1.3

Later career

In 1510 he discussed the moral and legal questions arising


from the Spanish discovery of America. He claimed that
the natives had political and property rights that could not
be invaded, at least not without compensation. He also
uses the new discoveries to argue for the possibility of
innovation in all knowledge saying Has not Amerigo
Vespucci discovered lands unknown to Ptolemy, Pliny
and other geographers up to the present? Why cannot
the same happen in other spheres?" At the same time, he
was impatient of humanist criticism of the logical analyis
of texts (including the Bible). "...these questions which
the humanists think futile, are like a ladder for the intelligence to rise towards the Bible(which he elsewhere,
perhaps unwisely calledthe easier parts of theology).
Nevertheless, in 1512, like a good humanist, he learned
Greek from Girolamo Aleandro (who re-introduced the
study of Greek to Paris) who wrote Many scholastics
are to be found in France who are keen students in different kinds of knowledge and several of these are among
my faithful hearers, such as John Mair, Doctor of Philos-

Reportia Parisiensia by Duns Scotus co-edited by


Major, Paris 151718
Commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard (In
Libros Sententiarum primum et secundum commentarium) Paris 1519
History of Greater Britain (Historia majoris Britanniae, tam Angliae quam Scotiae) Paris 1521
De Gestis Scotorum Paris 1521
Commentary on Aristotle's physical and ethical writings Paris 1526
Quaestiones logicales Paris 1528
Commentary on the Four Gospels Paris 1528
Disputationes de Potestate Papae et Concilii (Paris)
Commentary on Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics (his
last book)

444

CHAPTER 145. JOHN MAJOR (PHILOSOPHER)

145.2 Inuence
145.2.1

Historians

His De Gestis Scotorum (Paris, 1521) was partly a patriotic attempt to raise the prole of his native country, but
was also an attempt to clear away myth and fable, basing
his history on evidence. In this, he was following in the
footsteps of his predecessor, the Chronicler Andrew of
Wyntoun, though writing in Latin for a European audience as opposed to the Scots Andrew wrote for his aristocratic Scots patrons. Although the documentary evidence available to Major was limited, his scholarly approach was adopted and improved by later historians of
Scotland, including his pupil Hector Boece and John Lesley.

145.2.2

soaked in Mairian enthusiasms.

Calvin and Loyola

In 1506 he was awarded a doctorate in theology by Paris


where he began to teach and progress through the hierarchy, becoming for a brief period Rector. (Some 18
of his fellow Scots had held or were to hold this prestigious position). He was a renowned logician and philosopher. He is reported to have been a very clear and forceful lecturer, attracting students from all over Europe. In
contrast, he had a rather dry, some said 'barbaric', written Latin style. He was referred to by Pierre Bayle as
writing "in stylo Sorbonico", not meaning this as a compliment. His interests ranged across the burning issues
of the day. His approach largely followed Nominalism
which was in tune with the growing emphasis on the absolutely unconstrained nature of God, which in turn emphasised his grace and the importance of individual belief and submission. His humanist approach was in tune
with the return to the texts in the original languages of the
Scriptures and classical authors. He emphasised that authority lay with the whole church and not with the Pope.
Similarly, he asserted that authority in a kingdom lay not
with the king but with the people, who could retake their
power from a delinquent king (a striking echo of the ringing Declaration of Arbroath 1320 conrming to the Pope
the independence of the Scottish crown from that of England). It is not surprising that he emphasised the natural
freedom of human beings.
His inuence extended through enthusiastic pupils to the
leading thinkers of the day but most obviously to a group
of Spanish thinkers, including Antonio Coronel, who
taught John Calvin and very probably Ignatius of Loyola.
In 1522, at Salamanca, Domingo de San Juan referred
to him as "the revered master, John Mair, a man celebrated the world over". The Salamanca school of
(largely Thomist) philosophers was a brilliant owering
of thought until the early parts of the seventeenth century.
It included Francisco de Vitoria, Cano, de Domingo
de Soto and Bartolom de Medina, each one thorough

145.2.3 Knox
Major wrote in his Commentary on the Sentences of Peter
Lombard Our native soil attracts us with a secret and
inexpressible sweetness and does not permit us to forget
it. He returned to Scotland in 1518. Given his success and experience in Paris, it is no surprise that he became the Principal of the University of Glasgow. In 1523
left for the University of St Andrews where he was assessor to the Dean of Arts. In 1525 he went again to
Paris from where he returned in 1531 eventually to become Provost of St Salvator's College, St Andrews until his death in 1550, aged about eighty three. One of
his most notable students was John Knox (coincidentally,
another native of Haddington) who said of Major that he
was such as "whose work was then held as an oracle on
the matters of religion" If this is not exactly a ringing endorsement, it is not hard to see in Knox's preaching an
intense version of Major's enthusiasms the utter freedom of God, the importance of the Bible, scepticism of
earthly authority. It might be more surprising that Major preferred to follow his friend Erasmus's example and
remain within the Roman Catholic Church (though he
did envisage a national church for Scotland). Major also
enthused other Scottish Reformers including the Protestant martyr Patrick Hamilton and the Latin stylist George
Buchanan, whose enthusiasm for witty Latinisms had him
waspishly suggesting that the only thing major about his
ex-teacher was his surname typical Renaissance disdain
for the Schoolmen.

145.2.4 Empiricism
Major and his circle were interested in the structures of
language spoken, written and 'mental'. This latter was
the language which underlies the thoughts that are expressed in natural languages, like Scots, English or Latin.
He attacks a whole range of questions from a generally
'nominalist' perspective a form of philosophical discourse whose tradition derives from the high Middle Ages
and was to continue into that of the Scottish and other
European empiricists. According to Alexander Broadie,
Major's inuence on this latter tradition reached as far
as the 18th and 19th century Scottish School of Common Sense initiated by Thomas Reid. The highly logical
and technical approach of Medieval philosophy perhaps added to by Major's poor written style as well as
his adherence to the Catholic party at the time of the
Reformation explain in some part why this inuence
is still somewhat occluded.

145.6. FURTHER READING

145.2.5

Human rights

More obviously inuential was his moral philosophy, not


primarily because of his casuistry an approach acknowledging the complexity of individual cases. This was later
so strong in Jesuit teaching, possibly related to the Major's renown in Spain mentioned above. His legal views
were also inuential. His Commentaries on the Sentences
of Peter Lombard was most certainly studied and quoted
in the debates at Burgos in 1512, by Fry Anton Montesino, a graduate of Salamanca. This "debate unique in
the history of empires", as Hugh Thomas calls it, resulted
in the recognition in Spanish law of the indigenous populations of America as being free human beings with all
the rights (to liberty and property, for example) attached
to them. This pronouncement was hedged in with many
subtle qualications, and the Spanish crown was never efcient at enforcing it, but it can be regarded as the fount
of human rights law.* [2]

145.3 See also


Adam de Wodeham
Empiricism
Henry of Oyta
Scottish School of Common Sense

445
Renaudet, Augustin, Prrforme et Humanisme
Paris pendant les premires guerres d'Italie (1494
1516) Bibliotque del l'Institut Franais de Florence (Universit de Grenobles 1st series Volume VI)'
douard Champion Paris 1916
Thomas, H Rivers of Gold: the rise of the Spanish Empire London 2003 Weidenfeld and Nicolson
ISBN 0-297-64563-3

145.6 Further reading


Wallace, W A Prelude to Galileo essays on medieval and sixteenth-century sources of Galileo's
thought. (Page 64 et seq) Springer Science and Business Dordrecht, Holland 1981
Alexander Broadie, John Mair,The Dictionary
of Literary Biography, Volume 281: British Rhetoricians and Logicians, 15001660, Second Series, Detroit: Gale, 2003, pp. 178187.
John Durkan,John Major: After 400 Years,Innes
Review, vol. 1, 1950, pp. 131139.
Ricardo Garca Villoslada, Un teologo olvidado:
Juan Mair, Estudios eclesisticos 15 (1936), 83
118;

Thomas Reid

Ricardo Garca Villoslada, La Universidad de Pars


durante los estudios de Francisco de Vitoria (1507
1522) (Roma, 1938), 127164;

145.4 Notes

J.H. Burns, New Light on John Major, Innes


Review 5 (1954), 83100;

[1] Major, John (MJR492J)". A Cambridge Alumni


Database. University of Cambridge.
[2] Mauricio Beuchot; El primer planteamiento teologicopolitico-juridico sobre la conquista de Amrica: John
Mair, La ciencia tomista 103 (1976), 213230;

145.5 References
Broadie, A The Circle of John Mair: Logic and Logicians in Pre-Reformation Scotland, Oxford 1985
Broadie, A The Tradition of Scottish Philosophy Edinburgh 1990 Polygon ISBN 0-7486-6029-1
Durkan, J New light on John Mair Innes Review Vol
IV Edinburgh 1954
Major, John A history of Greater Britain, as well
England as Scotland; translated from the original
Latin and edited with notes by Archibald Constable,
to which is prexed a life of the author by Aeneas
J.G. Mackay. Edinburgh University Press for the
Scottish History Society, (1892).

T.F. Torrance, La philosophie et la thologie de


Jean Mair ou Major, de Haddington (14691550)",
Archives de philosophie 32 (1969), 531576;
Mauricio Beuchot, El primer planteamiento
teologico-politico-juridico sobre la conquista de
Amrica: John Mair, La ciencia tomista 103
(1976), 213230;
Jol Biard, La logique de l'inni chez Jean Mair
, Les Etudes philosophiques 1986, 329348; & Jol
Biard,La toute-puissance divine dans le Commentaire des Sentences de Jean Mair, in Potentia Dei.
L'onnipotenza divina nel pensiero dei secoli XVI e
XVII, ed. Guido Canziani / Miguel A. Granada /
Yves Charles Zarka (Milano, 2000), 2541.

145.7 External links


A site on John Mair with an extensive bibliography
of primary and secondary sources
Signicant Scots John Mair

446
"John Mayor". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York:
Robert Appleton Company. 1913.
Major, John scolasticon.fr a database on Medieval scholars

CHAPTER 145. JOHN MAJOR (PHILOSOPHER)

Chapter 146

Lambertus de Monte
Lambertus de Monte (Domini), also called Lambert of Cologne or, in Dutch, Lambertus van 'sHeerenbergh (1430/51499), was a Dutch scholastic
and Thomist. He went to the University of Cologne in
1450, where he was taught by his uncle Gerhardus de
Monte, and received his Master of Arts in 1454, holding
an arts professorship there from 1455 until 1473, when he
became a doctor of theology. He then taught in the faculty of theology until his death. He was the third doctor
of the bursa Montana.

146.2 References

He wrote several Thomist commentaries on Aristotle, including the Physics, De anima, and the logica nova, most
of which were printed in Cologne during his lifetime or
shortly thereafter. He was a defender of the Thomistic interpretation of Aristotle against that of Albert the Great
and his followers. He was a member of the Schola
Coloniensis of Thomists. Notably, he argued for Aristotle's salvation against the scholarly consensus that Aristotle was in Hell. He also wrote copulata on Peter of
Spain. Besides Thomas and Gerhardus, he was inuenced
by Henry of Gorkum, Gerhardus' teacher.

146.1 Works
Copulata totius novae logicae Aristotelis
Copulata super libros De anima Aristotelis (Expositio ... circa tres libros De anima Aristotelis), rst
published 1485, 1492
Compilatio commentaria ... in octo libros Aristotelis
De physico (Prohemium Phisicorum), rst published 1493, 1498
Copulata omnium tractatuum Petri Hispani etiam
(syncategorematum et) parvorum logicalium ac
trium modernorum secundum doctrinam Thomae
Aquinatis cum textu
De salvatione Arestotelis, rst published c. 1498
447

Chroust, Anton-Hermann. 1945. Contribution to


the Medieval Discussion: Utrum Aristoteles Sit Salvatus. Journal of the History of Ideas, 6(2), 231
238.
Duhem, Pierre; Roger Ariew, ed. and trans. 1985.
Medieval Cosmology: Theories of Innity, Place,
Time, Void, and the Plurality of Worlds. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-16922-7.
Lagerlund, Henrik. 2000. Modal Syllogistics in the
Middle Ages. BRILL, ISBN 90-04-11626-5.
Michael, Emily. 2003. Renaissance Theories of
Body, Soul, and Mind. Psyche and Soma: Physicians
and Metaphysicians on the Mind-Body Problem from
Antiquity to Enlightenment. John P. Wright and Paul
Potter, edd. Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN
0-19-925674-8.

Chapter 147

William of Ockham
was never made regent master.* [3] Because of this, he
acquired the honoric title Venerabilis Inceptor, orVenerable Beginner(an inceptor was a student formally admitted to the ranks of teachers by the university authorities* [4]).
His work in this period became the subject of controversy, and Ockham was summoned before the Papal court
of Avignon in 1324 under charges of heresy. During
the Middle Ages, theologian Peter Lombard's Sentences
(1150) had become a standard work of theology, and
many ambitious theological scholars wrote commentaries
on it.* [5] William of Ockham was among these scholarly
commentators. However, Ockham's commentary was not
well received by his colleagues, or by the Church authorities. In 1324, his commentary was condemned as
unorthodox by a synod of bishops, and he was ordered
to Avignon, France, to defend himself before a papal
court.* [5] For two years, he was conned to a Franciscan house, until he was condemned as a heretic in 1326.

William of Ockham Sketch labelled frater Occham iste,


from a manuscript of Ockham's Summa Logicae, 1341

William of Ockham (/km/; also Occam; c. 1287


1347) was an English Franciscan friar and scholastic
philosopher and theologian, who is believed to have been
born in Ockham, a small village in Surrey.* [1] He is
considered to be one of the major gures of medieval
thought and was at the centre of the major intellectual and
political controversies of the fourteenth century. He is
commonly known for Occam's razor, the methodological
principle that bears his name, and also produced signicant works on logic, physics, and theology. In the Church
of England, his day of commemoration is 10 April.* [2]

147.1 Life
William of Ockham joined the Franciscan order at an
early age. It is believed that he studied theology at the
University of Oxford from 1309 to 1321, but while he
completed all the requirements for a master's degree in
theology (the 14th century equivalent of a doctorate ) he

An alternative understanding, recently proposed by


George Knysh, suggests that he was initially appointed in
Avignon as a professor of philosophy in the Franciscan
school, and that his disciplinary diculties did not begin
until 1327.* [6] It is generally believed that these charges
were levied by Oxford chancellor John Lutterell.* [7] The
Franciscan Minister General, Michael of Cesena, had
been summoned to Avignon, to answer charges of heresy.
A theological commission had been asked to review his
Commentary on the Sentences, and it was during this that
Ockham found himself involved in a dierent debate.
Michael of Cesena had asked Ockham to review arguments surrounding Apostolic poverty. The Franciscans
believed that Jesus and his apostles owned no property
either individually or in common, and The Rule of Saint
Francis commanded members of the order to follow this
practice.* [8] This brought them into conict with Pope
John XXII.
Because of the pope's attack on the Rule of Saint Francis,
Ockham, Michael of Cesena and other leading Franciscans ed Avignon on 26 May 1328, and eventually took
refuge in the court of the Holy Roman Emperor Louis IV
of Bavaria, who was also engaged in dispute with the papacy, and became Ockham's patron.* [5] After studying
the works of John XXII and previous papal statements,

448

147.3. PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT


Ockham agreed with the Minister General. In return for
protection and patronage Ockham wrote treatises that argued for emperor Louis to have supreme control over
church and state in the Holy Roman Empire.* [5] On
June 6, 1328, Ockham was ocially excommunicated for
leaving Avignon without permission,* [3] and Ockham
argued that John XXII was a heretic for attacking the doctrine of Apostolic poverty and the Rule of Saint Francis,
which had been endorsed by previous popes.* [3] Ockham's philosophy was never ocially condemned.* [3]
He spent much of the remainder of his life writing about
political issues, including the relative authority and rights
of the spiritual and temporal powers. After Michael of
Cesena's death in 1342, William became the leader of
the small band of Franciscan dissidents living in exile
with Louis IV. Ockham died (prior to the outbreak of
the plague, or Black Death) on 9 April 1347.* [9] He was
ocially rehabilitated by Innocent VI in 1359.

147.2 Faith and reason


William of Ockham believed only faith gives us access
to theological truths. The ways of God are not open to
reason, for God has freely chosen to create a world and
establish a way of salvation within it apart from any necessary laws that human logic or rationality can uncover.
*
[10] Ockham's theism was based solely on private revelation and faith (deism). He believed that only science was a matter of discovery and saw God as the only
ontological necessity.* [11]

147.3 Philosophical thought


In scholasticism, Ockham advocated a reform both in
method and in content, the aim of which was simplication. Ockham incorporated much of the work of some
previous theologians, especially John Duns Scotus. From
Scotus, Ockham derived his view of divine omnipotence,
his view of grace and justication, much of his epistemology and ethical convictions. However, he also reacted to and against Scotus in the areas of predestination,
penance, his understanding of universals, his formal distinction ex parte rei (that is,as applied to created things
), and his view of parsimony which became known as
Occam's Razor.

147.3.1

Nominalism

Ockham was a pioneer of nominalism, and some consider him the father of modern epistemology, because
of his strongly argued position that only individuals exist, rather than supra-individual universals, essences, or
forms, and that universals are the products of abstraction

449
from individuals by the human mind and have no extramental existence.* [12] He denied the real existence of
metaphysical universals and advocated the reduction of
ontology. Ockham is sometimes considered an advocate
of conceptualism rather than nominalism, for whereas
nominalists held that universals were merely names, i.e.
words rather than existing realities, conceptualists held
that they were mental concepts, i.e. the names were
names of concepts, which do exist, although only in the
mind. Therefore, the universal concept has for its object,
not a reality existing in the world outside us, but an internal representation which is a product of the understanding itself and whichsupposesin the mind the things to
which the mind attributes it; that is, it holds, for the time
being, the place of the things which it represents. It is the
term of the reective act of the mind. Hence the universal is not a mere word, as Roscelin taught, nor a sermo,
as Abelard held, namely the word as used in the sentence,
but the mental substitute for real things, and the term of
the reective process. For this reason Ockham has sometimes also been called a terminist, to distinguish him
from a nominalist or a conceptualist.* [13]
Ockham was a theological voluntarist who believed that
if God had wanted to, he could have become incarnate as
a donkey or an ox, or even as both a donkey and a man
at the same time. He was criticized for this belief by his
fellow theologians and philosophers.* [14]

147.3.2 Ecient reasoning


One important contribution that he made to modern science and modern intellectual culture was ecient reasoning with the principle of parsimony in explanation
and theory building that came to be known as Occam's
Razor. This maxim, as interpreted by Bertrand Russell,* [15] states that if one can explain a phenomenon
without assuming this or that hypothetical entity, there is
no ground for assuming it, i.e. that one should always opt
for an explanation in terms of the fewest possible causes,
factors, or variables. He turned this into a concern for
ontological parsimony; the principle says that one should
not multiply entities beyond necessity Entia non sunt
multiplicanda sine necessitate although this well-known
formulation of the principle is not to be found in any of
Ockham's extant writings.* [16] He formulates it as:For
nothing ought to be posited without a reason given, unless it is self-evident (literally, known through itself) or
known by experience or proved by the authority of Sacred Scripture.* [17] For Ockham, the only truly necessary entity is God; everything else is contingent. He thus
does not accept the principle of sucient reason, rejects
the distinction between essence and existence, and advocates against the Thomistic doctrine of active and passive
intellect. His scepticism to which his ontological parsimony request leads appears in his doctrine that human
reason can prove neither the immortality of the soul nor
the existence, unity, and innity of God. These truths, he

450

CHAPTER 147. WILLIAM OF OCKHAM

teaches, are known to us by revelation alone.

Ockham said that the Franciscans avoided both private


and common ownership by using commodities, including
food and clothes, without any rights, with mere usus facti,
the ownership still belonging to the donor of the item or
147.3.3 Natural philosophy
to the pope. Their opponents such as pope John XXII
wrote
that use without any ownership cannot be justied:
Ockham wrote a great deal on natural philosophy, includ"It
is
impossible
that an external deed could be just if the
ing a long commentary on Aristotle's Physics. According
person
has
no
right
to do it." * [19]
to the principle of ontological parsimony, he holds that
we do not need to allow entities in all ten of Aristotle's Thus the disputes on the heresy of Franciscans lead Ockcategories; we thus do not need the category of quantity, ham and others formulate some fundamentals of ecoas the mathematical entities are notreal. Mathematics nomic theory and the theory of ownership. * [19]
must be applied to other categories, such as the categories
of substance or qualities, thus anticipating modern scientic renaissance while violating Aristotelian prohibition
147.3.6 Logic
of metabasis.

147.3.4

Theory of knowledge

In the theory of knowledge, Ockham rejected the


scholastic theory of species, as unnecessary and not supported by experience, in favour of a theory of abstraction. This was an important development in late medieval
epistemology. He also distinguished between intuitive
and abstract cognition; intuitive cognition depends on the
existence or non existence of the object, whereas abstractive cognition abstractsthe object from the existence
predicate. Interpreters are, as yet, undecided about the
roles of these two types of cognitive activities.

147.3.5

Political theory

Ockham is also increasingly being recognized as an important contributor to the development of Western constitutional ideas, especially those of government with limited responsibility. He was one of the rst medieval authors to advocate a form of church/state separation, and
was important for the early development of the notion of
property rights. His political ideas are regarded asnaturalorsecular, holding for a secular absolutism. The
views on monarchical accountability espoused in his Dialogus (written between 1332 and 1347)* [18] greatly inuenced the Conciliar movement and assisted in the emergence of liberal democratic ideologies.

In logic, Ockham wrote down in words the formulae


that would later be called De Morgan's Laws,* [20] and
he pondered ternary logic, that is, a logical system with
three truth values; a concept that would be taken up
again in the mathematical logic of the 19th and 20th centuries. His contributions to semantics, especially to the
maturing theory of supposition, are still studied by logicians.* [21]* [22] Ockham was probably the rst logician
to treat empty terms in Aristotelian syllogistic eectively;
he devised an empty term semantics that exactly t the
syllogistic. Specically, an argument is valid according
to Ockham's semantics if and only if it is valid according
to Prior Analytics.* [23]

147.4 Literary
hamism/nominalism

Ock-

Ockham and his works have been discussed as a possible inuence on several late medieval literary gures and
works, especially Georey Chaucer, but also Jean Molinet, the Gawain poet, Franois Rabelais, John Skelton,
Julian of Norwich, the York and Townely Plays, and Renaissance romances. Only in very few of these cases is
it possible to demonstrate direct links to Ockham or his
texts. Correspondences between Ockhamist and Nominalist philosophy/theology and literary texts from medieval to postmodern times have been discussed within
the scholarly paradigm of literary nominalism.* [24] ErasOckham was for complete separation of spiritual rule and mus criticized him together with Duns Scot as fuelling
earthly rule. He thought that the pope and churchmen unnessary controversies inside the Church in his Praise
have no right or grounds at all for secular rule like having of Folly.
property, citing 2 Tim. 2:4. That belongs solely to earthly
rulers, who may also accuse the pope of crimes, if need
be. * [19]
After the Fall the God had given men, also nonChristians, two powers: private ownership and the right to
set their rulers, who should serve the interest of the people, not some special interests. Thus he preceded Thomas
Hobbes in formulating social contract theory along with
earlier scholars. * [19]

147.5 Works

The standard edition of the philosophical and theological


works is: William of Ockham: Opera philosophica et theologica, Gedeon Gl, et al., eds. 17 vols. St. Bonaventure,
N. Y.: The Franciscan Institute, 196788.

147.6. SEE ALSO


The seventh volume of the Opera Philosophica contains
the doubtful and spurious works.

451
Books IIIV (Reportatio) 1317-18 (transcription of the lectures; OT 5-7).

The political works, all but the Dialogus, have been edited
in H. S. Oer, et al., eds. Guilelmi de Ockham Opera Politica, 4 vols., 194097, Manchester: Manchester University Press [vols. 13]; Oxford: Oxford University Press
[vol. 4].

Quaestione variae (OT 8).

Abbreviations: OT = Opera Theologica voll. 1-10; OP =


Opera Philosophica voll. 1-7.

Tractatus de corpore Christi (132324, OT 10).

Quodlibeta septem (before 1327), (OT 9).


Tractatus de quantitate (132324. OT 10).

147.5.3 Political writings


147.5.1

Philosophical writings

Summa logicae (Sum of Logic) (c. 1323, OP 1).


Expositionis in Libros artis logicae prooemium,
1321-24, OP 2).
Expositio in librum Porphyrii de Praedicabilibus,
1321-24, OP 2).

Opus nonaginta dierum (133234).


Epistola ad fratres minores (1334).
Dialogus (before 1335).
Tractatus contra Johannem [XXII] (1335).
Tractatus contra benedictum [XII] (133738).

Expositio in librum Praedicamentorum Aristotelis,


1321-24, OP 2).

Octo quaestiones de potestate papae (134041).

Expositio in librum in librum Perihermenias Aristotelis, 1321-24, OP 2).

Breviloquium (134142).

Tractatus de praedestinatione et de prescientia dei


respectu futurorum contingentium (Treatise on Predestination and Gods Foreknowledge with respect
to Future Contingents, 1322-24, OP 2).
Expositio super libros Elenchorum (Exposition of
Aristotles Sophistic refutations, 1322-24, OP 3).
Expositio in libros Physicorum Aristotelis. Prologus et Libri I-III (Exposition of Aristoles Physics)
(132224, OP 4).

Consultatio de causa matrimoniali (134142).

De imperatorum et pontifcum potestate [also known


as 'Defensorium'] (134647).

147.5.4 Doubtful writings


Tractatus minor logicae (Lesser Treatise on logic)
(134047?, OP 7).
Elementarium logicae (Primer of logic) (134047?,
OP 7).

Expositio in libros Physicorum Aristotelis. Prologus


et Libri IV-VIII (Exposition of Aristoles Physics) 147.5.5 Spurious writings
(132224, OP 5).
Tractatus de praedicamentis (OP 7).
Brevis summa libri Physicorum (Brief Summa of
Quaestio de relatione (OP 7).
the Physics, 1322-23, OP 6).
Centiloquium (OP 7).
Summula philosophiae naturalis (Little Summa of
Natural Philosophy, 1319-21, OP 6).
Tractatus de principiis theologiae (OP 7).
Quaestiones in libros Physicorum Aristotelis (Questions on Aristotles Books of the Physics, before
1324, OP 6).

147.5.2

Theological writings

In libros Sententiarum (Commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard).


Book I (Ordinatio) completed shortly after
July 1318 (OT 1-4).

147.6 See also


Gabriel Biel
Philotheus Boehner
History of science in the Middle Ages
List of Roman Catholic scientist-clerics
List of scholastic philosophers

452
Ernest Addison Moody
Occam programming language
Ockham algebra
Oxford Franciscan school
Rule according to higher law
Terminism
Voluntarism (theology)
Adam de Wodeham

147.7 Notes

CHAPTER 147. WILLIAM OF OCKHAM

[13] William Turner (1913). "William of Ockham". Catholic


Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
[14] Stanley J. Grenz. The Named God and the Question Of
Being: A Trinitarian Theo-Ontology.
[15] Russell, Bertrand (2000). History of Western Philosophy.
Allen & Unwin. pp. 462463. ISBN 0-415-22854-9.
[16] W. M. Thorburn (1918).
The Myth of Occam's Razor.
Mind 27 (107):
345353.
doi:10.1093/mind/XXVII.3.345.
Retrieved 200610-25.
[17] Spade, Paul Vincent. The Cambridge Companion to Ockham. Cambridge University Press, 1999: 104.
[18] Cf. the online British Academy edition at http://www.
britac.ac.uk/pubs/dialogus/ockdial.html

[1] There are claims also that he was born in Ockham, Yorkshire but it is now accepted that his birth place was in Surrey. See Wood, Rega (1997). Ockham on the Virtues.
Purdue University Press. pp. 3, 67n1. ISBN 978-155753-097-4.

[19] Virpi Mkinen, Keskiajan aatehistoria, Atena Kustannus Oy, Jyvskyl, 2003, ISBN 9517963106,
9789517963107.
Pages 160, 167-168, 202, 204,
207-209.

[2] Holy Days. Liturgical Calendar. Church of England.


Retrieved 12 May 2013.

[20] In his Summa Logicae, part II, sections 32 and 33.Translated on page 80 of Philosophical Writings, tr. P. Boehner,
rev. S. Brown, (Indianapolis, IN, 1990)

[3] Spade, Paul Vincent. William of Ockham. Stanford


Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford University. Retrieved 2006-10-22.

[21] Graham Priest; Read, S. (1977). The Formalization


of Ockham's Theory of Supposition. Mind. LXXXVI
(341): 109113. doi:10.1093/mind/LXXXVI.341.109.

[4] Brundage, James (2008).Canon Law in the Law schools


, in The history of medieval canon law in the classical [22] John Corcoran and John Swiniarski. 1978. Logical Structures of Ockham's Theory of Supposition, Franciscan
period. Catholic University of America Press (Wilfried
Studies 38, 16183.
Hartmann & Kenneth Pennington, eds.). p. 115. ISBN
0813214912.
[23] John Corcoran .1981.Ockham's Syllogistic Semantics,
[5] Roger Olson. The Story of Christian Theology, p. 350.
Journal of Symbolic Logic, 46 (1981) 197198.
ISBN 0-8308-1505-8
[24] William H. Watts and Richard J. Utz, Nominalist In[6] Knysh, George, Biographical rectications concerning
uence on Chaucer's Poetry: A Bibliographical Essay,
Ockham's Avignon period. Franciscan Studies 46, 1986,
Medievalia & Humanistica 20 n.s. (1993), 14773; Helen
pp.6191.
Ruth Andretta, Chaucer's 'Troilus and Criseyde.' A Poet's
Response to Ockhamism (New York: Lang, 1997).
[7] Hundersmarck, Lawrence (1992). Great Thinkers of the
Western World. Harper Collins. pp. 123128. ISBN 006-270026-X.
[8] McGrade, Arthur (1974). The Political Thought of
William of Ockham: Personal and Institutional Principles.
Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-20284-1.
[9] Gl, Gedeon, 1982. William of Ockham Died Impenitent
in April 1347. Franciscan Studies 42, pp. 9095
[10] Dale T. Irvin and Scott W. Sunquist. History of World
Christian Movement Volume I: Earliest Christianity to
1453, p. 434. ISBN 9781570753961
[11] Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy on William Ockham
[12] Baird, Forrest E.; Walter Kaufmann (2008). From Plato to
Derrida. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-158591-6.

147.8 References

This article incorporates text from a publication now


in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed.
(1913). "William of Ockham". Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.

147.9 Translations
Philosophical works
Philosophical Writings, tr. P Boehner, rev. S Brown,
(Indianapolis, IN, 1990)

147.10. FURTHER READING


Ockham's Theory of Terms: Part I of the Summa logicae, translated by Michael J. Loux, (Notre Dame;
London: University of Notre Dame Press, 1974)
[translation of Summa logicae, part 1]
Ockham's Theory of Propositions: Part II of the
Summa logicae, translated by Alfred J. Freddoso
and Henry Schuurman, (Notre Dame: University
of Notre Dame Press, 1980) [translation of Summa
logicae, part 2]
Demonstration and Scientic Knowledge in William
of Ockham: a Translation of Summa logicae III-II,
De syllogismo demonstrativo, and Selections from the
Prologue to the Ordinatio, translated by John Lee
Longeway, (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre
Dame, 2007)
Ockham on Aristotle's Physics: A Translation of Ockham's Brevis Summa Libri Physicorum, translated by
Julian Davies, (St. Bonaventure, NY: The Franciscan Institute, 1989)
Kluge, Eike-Henner W., William of Ockham's Commentary on Porphyry: Introduction and English
Translation, Franciscan Studies 33, pp. 171254,
and 34, pp. 30682, (1973-4)
Predestination, God's Foreknowledge, and Future
Contingents, translated by Marilyn McCord Adams
and Norman Kretzmann, (New York: AppletonCentury-Crofts, 1969) [translation of Tractatus de
praedestinatione et de praescientia Dei et de futuris
contigentibus]
Quodlibetal Questions, translated by Alfred J Freddoso and Francis E Kelley, 2 vols, (New Haven;
London: Yale University Press, 1991) (translation
of Quodlibeta septem)
Paul Spade, Five Texts on the Mediaeval Problem
of Universals: Porphyry, Boethius, Abelard, Duns
Scotus, Ockham, (Indianapolis, IN: Hackett, 1994)
[Five questions on Universals from His Ordinatio d.
2 qq. 4-8]
Theological works
An princeps pro suo uccursu, scilicet guerrae, possit
recipere bona ecclesiarum, etiam invito papa, translated in Political thought in early fourteenth-century
England: treatises by Walter of Milemete, William of
Pagula, and William of Ockham, translated by Cary
J. Nederman, (Tempe, AZ: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2002)
A translation of William of Ockham's Work of
Ninety Days, translated by John Kilcullen and John
Scott, (Lewiston, NY: E. Mellen Press, 2001)
[translation of Opus nonaginta dierum]

453
Tractatus de principiis theologiae, translated in A
compendium of Ockham's teachings: a translation
of the Tractatus de principiis theologiae, translated
by Julian Davies, (St. Bonaventure, NY: Franciscan
Institute, St. Bonaventure University, 1998)
On the Power of Emperors and Popes, translated by
Annabel S. Brett, (Bristol, 1998)
Rega Wood, Ockham on the Virtues, (West
Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 1997) [includes translation of On the Connection of the
Virtues]
A Letter to the Friars Minor, and Other Writings,
translated by John Kilcullen, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995) [includes translation
of Epistola ad Fratres Minores]
A Short Discourse on the Tyrannical Government,
translated by John Kilcullen, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992) [translation of Breviloquium de principatu tyrannico]
The De sacramento altaris of William of Ockham, translated by T Bruce Birch, (Burlington,
Iowa: Lutheran Literary Board, 1930) [translation
of Treatise on Quantity and On the Body of Christ]
William of Ockham, [Question One of] Eight
Questions on the Power of the Pope, translated
by Jonathan Robinson, available online: http://
individual.utoronto.ca/jwrobinson/#Translations

147.10 Further reading


Adams, Marilyn (1987). William Ockham. Notre
Dame: University of Notre Dame Press. ISBN 0268-01940-1.
Beckmann, Jan (1992). Ockham-Bibliographie,
19001990. Hamburg: F. Meiner Verlag. ISBN
978-3-7873-1103-3.
Freppert, Lucan (1988). The Basis of Morality
According to William Ockham. Franciscan Herald
Press. ISBN 978-0-8199-0918-3.
Keele, Rondo (2010), Ockham Explained: From
Razor to Rebellion, Chicago and La Salle, Illinois:
Open Court, ISBN 978-08126-965-09, retrieved 19
November 2012
Knysh, George (1996). Political Ockhamism. Winnipeg: WCU Council of Learned Societies. ISBN
978-1-896637-00-6.
Panaccio, Claude (2004). Ockham on Concepts.
Aldershot: Ashgate. ISBN 978-0-7546-3228-3.

454
Pelletier, Jenny (2012). William Ockham on Metaphysics. The Science of Being and God. Leiden:
Brill. ISBN 978-9-0042-3015-6.
Robinson, Jonathan (2012). William of Ockham's
Early Theory of Property Rights in Context. Leiden:
Brill. ISBN 978-9-0042-4346-0.
McGrade, Arthur Stephen (2002). The Political
Thought of William Ockham. Cambridge University
Press. ISBN 978-0-521-52224-3.
Schierbaum, Sonja (2014). Ockham's Assumption of
Mental Speech: Thinking in a World of Particulars.
Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-9-0042-7734-2.
Spade, Paul (1999). The Cambridge Companion to
Ockham. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
ISBN 0-521-58244-X.
Wood, Rega (1997). Ockham on the Virtues. Purdue University Press. ISBN 978-1-55753-097-4.

147.11 External links


Mediaeval Logic and Philosophy, maintained by
Paul Vincent Spade
William of Ockham entry by Paul Vincent Spade
and Claude Panaccio in the Stanford Encyclopedia
of Philosophy
William of Ockham at the Internet Encyclopedia of
Philosophy
William of Ockham biography at University of St
Andrews, Scotland
Dialogus, text translation and studies at British
Academy, UK
The Nominalist Ontology of William of Ockham,
with an annotated bibliography
William Turner (1913). "William of Ockham".
Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
Richard Utz and Terry Barakat, Medieval Nominalism and the Literary Questions: Selected Studies.Perspicuitas
The Myth of Occam's Razor by William M. Thorburn (1918)
BBC Radio 4 'In Our Time' programme on Ockham
Download and listen

CHAPTER 147. WILLIAM OF OCKHAM

Chapter 148

Gerardus Odonis
Gerardus Odonis,* [1] (born probably at Chteauroux,
in the present department of Indre, France, date unknown; died at Catania, Sicily in 1349) was a French
theologian and Minister General of the Franciscan Order.* [2]

of monks. These regulations were conrmed, 28 November 1336, by Pope Benedict XII(133442); consequently
Gerardus was able at the chapter held at Cahors, 7 June
1337, to obtain, in spite of strong opposition, the enactment of the so-called Constitutiones Benedictinae.
Nevertheless, he was in danger of being removed from his
position, nor did the statutes remain in force longer that
the lifetime of Benedict XII and the period during which
148.1 Life
Gerardus was general. The general chapter of Assisi abrogated, 1 June 1343, theConstitutiones Benedictinae
Whether he was the son of Count Andr de Chauvigny and re-enacted, with some additions, the constitutions of
is very doubtful. After he had entered the Order of St. Narbonne (1260).
Francis, most probably at Chteauroux, and consequently
had belonged to the Touraine province of the order, he Gerardus Odonis both resembled and imitated Elias of
became a member of the Aquitanian province and still be- Cortona, the minister general second in succession from
longed to this latter (without, however, being provincial St. Francis of Assisi. In union with the pope, he zealously
minister) when he was elected minister general of the or- promoted Franciscan missions, constantly sending fresh
der, 10 June 1329, at the general chapter. The presiding missionaries to Persia, Georgia, Armenia (1329); Malocer of this chapter was Cardinal de la Tour, a Francis- abar (1330), China and Tatary (1331); Bosnia (1340).
can, whom Pope John XXII had appointed vicar-general In 1329 John XXII sent him to King Charles Robert of
of the order. The previous minister general, Michael of Hungary and to Ban Stephen of Bosnia for the purpose of
Cesena, had been deposed by John XXII on 6 June 1328. bringing about the extermination of the heretics, largely
Gerardus Odonis was inclined to give up poverty, the Patarenes, in these countries. On 5 September 1333, Gerprinciple of the order, on account of which Michael of ardus and the Dominican Arnauld de Saint-Michel (ArCesena had come into conict with the pope. The general nauldus de S. Michaele) were appointed papal legates to
chapter held at Paris (1329) took a position, in the name make peace between the Kings of England and Scotland.
of the entire order, on the side of the pope and formally The procurator of the Scottish king in Paris having reexpelled the small party made up of Michael of Cesena's ported, however, that his master was not to be found in
Scotland, John recalled the commission of the legates, 31
adherents.
October 1333.
Gerardus Odonis openly showed his readiness to abandon
the rule of poverty at the general chapter of Perpignan Gerardus remained in Paris and defended before a large
(1331), where he won over to his side fourteen provincial number of professors of the university, on 18 Decemministers. In reference to this question they presented ber 1333, the opinion of John XXII concerning the
a petition to John XXII which the pope rejected in the Visio beatica, namely, that the saints do not enjoy
consistory of 1 August 1331. Owing to his views con- the complete Beatic Vision until after the Last Judgcerning poverty Gerardus also became entangled in a dis- ment. The University of Paris was greatly agitated by
pute with King Robert and Queen Sanzia of Naples and the controversy, and the next day, 19 December, Philip
Sicily. These rulers were protectors of the rigid adher- VI of France called together twenty-nine professors at
ents to the rule of poverty as well as of the followers of Vincennes to discuss the question. This assembly disMichael of Cesena and of the Fraticelli. Notwithstand- sented from the opinion of the pope, as did also a second
ing the papal letters of admonition and the fact that John assembly which met 2 Jan., 1334. John XXII withdrew
XXII sent Gerardus Odonis as his representative to the his opinion, 3 December 1334.
Court of Naples in 1331 and the following year, Gerar- Gerardus Odonis was also one of the commission of
dus had new statutes drawn up with the view of changing sixteen masters of theology which met by command of
the form of the Franciscan Order to that of the old orders
455

456
Benedict XII from 4 July to 4 Sept., 1334, at PontSorgues near Avignon, to discuss, under the pope's presidency, the question of the Visio beatica. On 27 Nov.,
1342, Benedict XII appointed him Patriarch of Antioch
and at the same time Bishop of Catania* [3] in Sicily.

148.2 Black Death


In October 1347 the Black Death arrived in the nearby
Sicilian port of Messina. The Messinese asked Gerardus Odonis for the relics of St Agatha to be moved from
Catania to Messina. He agreed to this, but the citizens of
Catania did not. As a compromise Gerardus dipped the
relics in water and personally took the water to Messina.
After his return from Messina Gerardus himself died of
the black death. He was buried in the cathedral at Catania.* [4]

148.3 Works
Apart from the Constitutiones Benedictinaeand the
Ocium de stigmatibus S. Francisci, still recited in he
Franciscan Order and commonly attributed to Gerardus,
the best known of his writings is hisCommentarius [Expositio] in Aristotelis Ethicam(Brescia, 1482, Venice,
1500). This work brought him the honour later of being
called Doctor Moralis. He also wrote on logic and a treatise entitledPhilosophia Naturalis, in which he is said
to have apparently taught Atomism; another work was a
Commentarius in IV libros Sententiarum. Among his
exegetical works are: De guris Bibliorum, and treatises on the Psalter, the First Epistle to the Corinthians,
and the Epistle to the Galatians, besidesSermones. In
addition to taking severe measures against the adherents
of the deposed Michael of Cesena, Gerardus addressed
to the latter the writing Quid niteris, to which, however, Cesena soon made a rejoinder beginning Teste
Salomone.

148.4 Notes
[1] Geraldus Othonis, or Ottonis
[2] "Gerardus Odonis". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York:
Robert Appleton Company. 1913.
[3] Gerard of Odo.
[4] Ziegler, Philip (1969). The Black Death. Collins. pp.
4043.

148.5 References
Giraldus Odonis O. F. M.: Opera Philosophica, Critical edition from the manuscripts by L. M. De Rijk,

CHAPTER 148. GERARDUS ODONIS


Leiden, Brill, 1997-: 1. Logica, 2. De Intentionibus.
Gerald Odonis, Doctor Moralis and Franciscan Minister General. Studies in Honour of L.M. de Rijk.
Edited by William Duba and Chris Schabel (Vivarium, 47, 2-3, 2009).
This article incorporates text from a publication now
in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed.
(1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton
Company.

Chapter 149

Peter of Auvergne
For the troubadour of the same name, see Peire
d'Alvernhe.

149.2 Notes
[1] Gallia Christiana, II, 283

Peter of Auvergne (died 1304) was a French philosopher


and theologian.
He was a canon of Paris; some biographers have thought
that he was Bishop of Clermont,* [1] because a Bull of
Boniface VIII of the year 1296 names as canon of Paris
a certain Peter of Croc (Cros), already canon of Clermont;* [2] but it is more likely that they are distinct. Peter of Auvergne was in Paris in 1301,* [3] and, according
to several accounts, was a pupil of Thomas Aquinas. In
1279, while the various nations of the University of Paris
were quarrelling about the rectorship, Simon de Brion,
papal legate, appointed Peter of Auvergne, to that oce;
in 1296 he was elected to it.

[2] Thomas, in Mlanges d'arch. et d'hist., Paris, 1882,


II, 117-20
[3] Script. Prdicat., I, 489

149.3 References
Du Boulay, Hist. Univ. de Paris, III (Paris, 1666),
709; Hist. ant. eccl. XIV (Paris, 1701), 214
Denie, Cart. Univ. Paris, I (Paris, 1889), 930; II,
69, 90

149.1 Works

Fabricius, Johann Albert, Bibl. med aet., V (Paris,


1736), 711

His published works are:

Fret, La Facult de thologie de Paris, III (Paris,


1896), 221-7.

Supplementum Commentarii S. Thom in tertium


et quartum librum de clo etmundo(in Opera
S. Thom", II, ad nem)
commentaries on Aristotle's Meteororum, De Juventute et senectute, De longitudine et brevitate vitae, De
motu animalium.
He has been credited with a supplement to Aquinas'
Summa Theologica.
Peter also left numerous treatises which are either at the
Bibliothque nationale de France, or at l'Arsenal de Paris:
Sex quodlibetalong discussions after the manner of St.
Thomas;Sophisma Determinatum";Qustiones super
totam logicam veterem Arist."; Qustiones super Perphyrium"; In Arist. Metaphysicam"; In libros Politicorum"; De somno et vigilia"; De veget. et plantis";
De anima.
457

Lajard in Hist. litt. de France, XXV (Paris, 1869),


93, 114
Quaestiones super Praedicamentis, ed. Robert Andrews.
Casimir Oudin, Comm. de script. eccl., III (Paris,
1722), 927
Fontes ad vitam Petri spectantes, Opera quae exstant
omnia, Bibliographia, Index codicum manuscriptorum
Qutif-chard, Script. Prd., I (Paris, 1719), 489
Hans-Walter Stork (1994). Petrus de Alvernia.
In Bautz, Traugott. Biographisch-Bibliographisches
Kirchenlexikon (BBKL) (in German) 7. Herzberg:
Bautz. cols. 328330. ISBN 3-88309-048-4.
Luke Wadding, Script. Minor. (1690), 279

458

149.4 Translations
Questions on Aristotle's De caelo , ed. G Galle, (Leuven, 2003)
Commentary on Aristotle's On Length and Shortness
of Life , ed. M Dunne, Archives d'histoire doctrinale
et litteraire du moyen age 69, (2002), 153-200
Robert Andrews (1988) Peter of Auvergne's commentary on Aristotle's 'Categories': Edition, translation, and analysis. (Volumes I and II) UMI Dissertation Express (Ref. n 8804534)
Questions on Books I and II of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, ed. A Celano, Mediaeval Studies
48, (1986), 1-110
The Commentary of Peter of Auvergne on Aristotle's
Politics, ed. GM Grech, (Rome, 1967)
Questiones in Metaphysicam, ed. A Monahan, in
JR O'Donnell, ed, Nine Mediaeval Thinkers: A Collection of Hitherto Unedited Texts, (Toronto, 1955),
145-181
This article incorporates text from a publication now in
the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913).
"Peter of Auvergne". Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.

CHAPTER 149. PETER OF AUVERGNE

Chapter 150

Pietro Pomponazzi
Pietro Pomponazzi (16 September 1462 18 May study Aristotle for himself, and devoted himself to the
1525) was an Italian philosopher. He is sometimes known De anima with the view of showing that Thomas Aquinas
by his Latin name, Petrus Pomponatius.
had entirely misconceived the Aristotelian theory of the
active and the passive intellect.

150.1 Biography
Pomponazzi was born in Mantua and began his education
there. He completed his studies at Padua, where he became a medical doctor in 1487. In 1488 he was elected
extraordinary professor of philosophy at Padua, where he
was a colleague of Alessandro Achillini, the Averroist.
From about 1495 to 1509 he occupied the chair of natural philosophy until the closing of the schools of Padua,
when he took a professorship at Ferrara where he lectured
on the Aristotle's De anima (the soul). In 1512 he was invited to Bologna where he remained until his death and
where he produced all his important works.
The predominance of medical science at Padua had
cramped his energies, but at Ferrara, and even more at
Bologna, the study of psychology and theological speculation were more important. In 1516 he produced his
great work De immortalitate animae (On the Immortality
of the Soul), which gave rise to a storm of controversy
between the orthodox Thomists of the Catholic Church,
the Averroists headed by Agostino Nifo, and the so-called
Alexandrist School. The treatise was burned at Venice,
and Pomponazzi himself ran serious risk of death at the
hands of the Catholics. Two pamphlets followed, the
Apologia and the Defensorium, wherein he explained his
paradoxical position as Catholic and philosophic materialist. His last two treatises, the De incantationibus and the
De fato, were posthumously published in an edition of his
works printed at Basel.

In On the Immortality of the Soul Pomponazzi argued


specically that Aquinas and Aristotle clash over the
question of the immortality of the soul. While Pomponazzi himself does not follow Aristotle in this respect, he
argues that Aristotle very clearly argues for the absolute
mortality of the soul, with only limited features of immortality. He was not the rst to make this claim, and
appears to have been inuenced by the Greek commentator on Aristotle, Alexander of Aphrodisias. He further
claims that the immortality of the soul cannot be determined through reason, and thus must be left to the powers
of God. Since the scriptures reveal that God has made the
soul immortal, argued Pomponazzi, we too can accept as
true the immortality of the soul and thereby go beyond
the limits of reason. (This debate inuenced his 15911631 successor in the chair Cesare Cremonini, whose adherence to Aristotle led to the opposite conclusion of the
mortality of the soul.)

Pomponazzi declared his adherence to the Catholic


faith,* [2] and despite the controversy over his initial
work, it was not condemned by the Church. Again it was
established that the principle that religion and philosophy,
faith and knowledge, may be diametrically opposed and
yet coexist for the same thinker. This curious paradox
he exemplies in the De incantatione, where he sums up
against the existence of demons and spirits on the basis of
the Aristotelian theory of the cosmos, and, as a believing
Christian, asserts his faith in their existence. In this work
he insists emphatically upon the orderly sequence of nature, cause and eect. They grow to maturity and then
decay; so religions have their day and succumb. Even
Christianity, he added (with the proviso that he is speakPomponazzi is profoundly interesting as the herald of the
ing as a philosopher) was showing indications of decline.
Renaissance. He was born in the period of transition
when scholastic formalism was losing its hold over men Pomponazzi died in Bologna.
both in the Church and outside. Hitherto the dogma of
the Church had been based on Aristotle as interpreted by
Thomas Aquinas. So close was this identication that any
attack on Aristotle, or even an attempt to reopen the old 150.2 References
discussions on the Aristotelian problems, was regarded
as a dangerous heresy. Pomponazzi claimed the right to [1] Pietro Pomponazzi at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
459

460

[2] "Pietro Pomponazzi". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York:


Robert Appleton Company. 1913.

150.3 Further reading


Stefano Perfetti,Pietro Pomponazzi, in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2008 Edition),
ed. by Edward N. Zalta.
Marco Sgarbi, Pietro Pomponazzi. Tra tradizione e
dissenso, Firenze, Leo S. Olschki, 2010
Elisa Cuttini, Unit e pluralit nella tradizione europea della losoa pratica di Aristotele. Girolamo
Savonarola, Pietro Pomponazzi e Filippo Melantone, Rubbettino 2005
Pasquale Vitale,Potentia dei absolutae libert in
Pietro Pomponazzi, DialegesthaiRivista telematica di losoa, 12/2010.
This article incorporates text from a publication now
in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911).
Encyclopdia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

150.4 External links


Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Pietro Pomponazzi

CHAPTER 150. PIETRO POMPONAZZI

Chapter 151

Francesco Robortello
Francesco Robortello (Latin: Franciscus Robortellus;
15161567) was a Renaissance humanist, nicknamed Canis grammaticus (the grammatical dog) for his confrontational and demanding manner.

at Lucca, Pisa, Venice, Padua, and Bologna before nally


returning to Padua in 1560.
Robortello's scientic approach to textual emendations
laid the groundwork for modern Hermeneutics. His commentary on Aristotle's Poetics formed the basis for Renaissance and 17th century theories of comedy, inuential in writing for the theatre everywhere save in England.
At the same time he was the conservative Aristotelian
philosopher who urged woman to submit her will to that
of her husband on the basis of her moral weakness, in
his libro politicos: Aristotelis disputatio (Venice, 1552, p.
175, quoted Comensoli 1989).
He followed his In librum Aristotelis de arte poetica explicationes (1548), in which he emended the Latin version of
Alessandro dePazzi (published 1536) with a paraphrase
of Horace's Ars poetica and with explications of genres
missing in the surviving text of Aristotle: De Satyra, De
Epigrammate, De Comoedia, De Salibus, De Elegia.
In the elds of philology and history he sustained controversies in print with Carolus Sigonius and Vincenzo
Maggi in the form of essay-like orations, correcting the
editions published in Venice by Aldus Manutius, and even
philological missteps of Erasmus. These brief essays
were collected and published at intervals.* [1]* [2] A convention of surveys of Italian liguistics (Gensini 1993) is
to start with Robortello.
Robortello died at Padua, where, in the 1550s, one of his
pupils was Giacomo Zabarella. Another pupil was Jan
Kochanowski, a poet who wrote both in Polish and Latin
and introduced the ideas, forms and spirit of the Renaissance into Polish literature.

151.2 Main works


Francesco Robortello.

De historica facultate disputatio (alternatively as


De arte historica), 1548; 1567. An incunable of
historiography.

151.1 As scholar
Robortello, who was born in Udine, was an editor of rediscovered works of Antiquity, who taught philosophy
and rhetoric, as well as ethics (following Aristotle), and
Latin and Greek, roving from Padua through universities
461

De rhetorica facultate, 1548


In Aristotelis poeticam explicationes, Florence 1548,
2nd edition 1555. Reinterpreting Aristotle's Poetics
for the humanist.

462
Dionysi Longini rhetoris praestantissimi liber de
grandi sive sublimiorationis genere ... cum adnotationibus, Basel 1554. Recovering the lost literary
criticism of Longinus, On the Sublime.
Thesaurus criticus, 1557, second edition, 1604
De arte, sive ratione corrigendi antiquorum libros disputatio, Florence 1548;* [3] 2nd edition 1562 This
Lecture on the art and method of correcting the
books of the old writerswas one of the rst critical
discussions of the methodologies to apply in correcting texts of Antiquity.
De articio dicendi 1567. A textbook of rhetoric.

151.3 Notes
[1]
[2] Biblioteca comunale di Empoli - Catalogo delle edizioni
del Cinquecento -Scheda 319. Comune.empoli..it. Retrieved 2012-11-07.
[3] Firenze, Lorenzo Torrentino, 1548

151.4 References
Ryan, E. E. Robortello and Maggi on Aristotle's
Theory of Catharsis. in Rinascimento XXII (1982)
pp 263273.

151.5 External links


Franciscus Robortellus (Francesco Robortello)
(German)
Italica: RinascimentoFrancesco Robortello (Italian)
Viviana Comensoli, Gender and Eloquence in
Dekker's The Honest Whore, Part II, note.
Theaterbase: Barret H. Clark, Italian Dramatic Criticism of the Renaissance. Context of Robortello's
works.

151.6 Further reading


Mara Jos Vega, La formacin de la teora de la
comedia: Francesco Robortello.
Edward John Kenney, 1974 The Classical Text: Aspects of Editing in the Age of the Printed Book (University of California), 1974), especially pp 2936.

CHAPTER 151. FRANCESCO ROBORTELLO

Chapter 152

Jakob Schegk
Jakob Schegk (also known as Jakob Degen, Johann Jacob Brucker Schegk, Jakob Schegk the elder, Schegkius,
and Scheckius) (June 6, 1511 May 9, 1587) was a
polymath German Aristotelian philosopher and academic
physician.

ian Aristotelian philosopher Simone Simoni. A committed Aristotelian, he resolutely opposed the philosophical innovations of Petrus Ramus.* [3] He likewise was
involved in a dialogue with Thomas Erastus concerning
the ubiquity of Christ's physical body in the Lord's Supper.* [4]

Prominent students included Nicolaus Taurellus and


Andreas Planer, and Schegk exercised a more distant
inuence on the French Paracelsian Joseph Duchesne
Quercetanus. Recent studies have demonstrated his long
Born Jakob Degen in Schorndorf, son of the citizen
lasting impact on early modern medical theory.* [5] Hans
Bernhard Degen, he adopted the name Schegk/Schegkius
Weber dubbed himthe father and pioneer of Protestant
which he used his entire adult life. A prodigy in classical
Scholasticism.* [6]
languages, having studied with Johann Reuchlins student Johann Thomas in Schorndorf, Schegk made rapid
progress upon enrolling at the University of Tbingen in
1527, taking his M.A. in 1529. He was received by the 152.3 Works
university senate and began lectures in philosophy and
classics while only twenty. He remained in Tbingen for
Antisimonius, quo refelluntur supra trecentos errores
his entire career.* [1]
Simonii ... Eivsdem Iacobi Schegkii Apologeticus, oppositus calumniae G. Genebrardi, Parisiensis Theologi. Tbingen: Georg Gruppenbach, 1573 (VD
16 S 2464).

152.1 Origins and education

152.2 Academic career

He took over the administration of the Tbinger Stift giving him the opportunity to develop a competence in theology. He likewise studied law prior to turning his attention to medicine in the 1530s. He took a doctorate
in medicine in 1539 after studying with Leonhard Fuchs
and Michael Rucker. He remained on the arts faculty until joining the medical faculty in 1553. Nevertheless, his
philosophical expertise was too great to go untapped, and
the university gave him the unusual dual commission to
hold lectures in both medicine and Aristotle from 1564
onwards. His poor eyesight hampered his mobility, and
he became totally blind by 1577. He nevertheless continued his academic career. In philosophy, he was a leading
German Lutheran Aristotelian and was regarded as one
of the greatest philosophical authorities of his age.* [2]
He died at Tbingen.
While somewhat neglected by modern scholarship, his
numerous commentaries upon the Aristotelian corpus are
highly regarded, especially his De demonstratione libri
XV. He engaged a long running dispute against the Ital463

Antilogia Jacobi Schegkii Schorndorensis, qua


refellit XXVII Propositiones Servetianae Haereseos
Tbingen: Ulrich Morhart, 1568 (VD16 S 2463).
De demonstratione libri XV Basel: Johannes Oporinus et al., 1564 (VD 16 S 2475).
De Vna Persona & duabus Naturis Christi: Sententia Iacobi Schegkij D. Medici Et Philosophi Clarissimi, Professoris Scholae Tubingensis ex fundamentis quidem Scripturae Sacrae, analysi autem Philosophica, & pi & erudit explicata. Frankfurt: Peter
Braubach, 1565 (VD16 S 2493).
Hyperaspistes Responsi, ad quatuor Epistolas Petri
Rami contra se aeditas Tbingen: Ulrich Morhart,
1570 (VD16 S 2478).
Organi Aristotelei Pars prima eaq[ue] analytica.
Basel: Eusebius Episcopius, 1577 (VD16 S 2483).
Tractationum physicarum et medicarum tomus unus.
Frankfurt: Johann Wechel, 1585 (VD16 S 2492).

464

152.4 Notes
[1] Arthur Richter, Degen, Jakobin Allgemeine Deutsche
Biographie, herausgegeben von der Historischen Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften,
Band 5 (1877), pp. 2122, Digitale Volltext-Ausgabe in
Wikisource, URL: (Version vom 6. April 2011, 02:41
Uhr UTC)
[2] Arthur Richter, Degen, Jakobin Allgemeine Deutsche
Biographie,
[3] Howard Hotson, Commonplace Learning: Ramism and its
German Ramications, 15431630 (2007) pp. 22, 102.
[4] Charles D. Gunnoe, Thomas Erastus and the Palatinate: A
Renaissance Physician in the Second Reformation (Leiden:
Brill, 2011), pp. 155-158
[5] Hiro Hirai, The Invisible Hand of God in Seeds: Jacob
Schegks Theory of Plastic Faculty,Early Science and
Medicine 12 (2007) 377-404
[6] Quoted in James Hinz, Jacob Schegk,Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation (Oxford, 1996), vol 4, p. 2

152.5 References
Gnter Frank, Die Vernunft des Gottesgedankens:
Religionsphilosophische Studien zur frhen Neuzeit.
Stuttgart, Bad Cannstatt, 2003 (Quaestiones ; 13).
[Johann Jacob Brucker Schegk]
James Hinz,Jacob Schegk,Oxford Encyclopedia
of the Reformation (Oxford, 1996), vol. 4, p. 2.
ISBN 0-19-506493-3
Hiro Hirai, The Invisible Hand of God in Seeds:
Jacob Schegks Theory of Plastic Faculty,Early
Science and Medicine 12 (2007): 377-404.
Hiro Hirai, Jacob Schegk on the Plastic Faculty
and the Origins of Soulsin Medical humanism and
natural philosophy: Renaissance debates on matter,
life, and the soul (Leiden: Brill, 2011), 81-103.
Sachiko Kusukawa, Lutheran uses of Aristotle:
a comparison between Jacob Schegk and Philip
Melanchthon.In Philosophy in the Sixteenth and
Seventeenth Centuries (Aldershot: Ashgate, 1999),
pp. 169205.
Albert Moll, Jakob Degen und Oswald
Gabelkover,in Medicinisches Correspondenzblatt
des Wrttembergischen rztlichen Veriens 26
(1856): 81-85, 89-92, 97-103
Arthur Richter (1877), "Degen, Jakob (Philosoph)",
Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB) (in German)
5, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 2122

CHAPTER 152. JAKOB SCHEGK


Christoph Sigwart, Jakob Schegk. Ein Bild aus
der Geschichte der Universitt Tbingen im 16.
Jahrhundert. In Staatsanzeiger, Beilage 1883, pp.
6579
Christoph Sigwart, Jacob Schegk, Professor der
Philosophie und Medizin. In Kleine Schriften, I,
256-291 (Freiburg, 1889).

152.6 External links


Biography in Melchior Adam's Vitae Germanorum
Medicorum
Schegk biography at the Galileo Project
Woodcut portrait of Schegk

Chapter 153

Domingo de Soto
Roman Emperor Charles V and the emperor's representative at the Council of Trent.
In the 20th century, Pierre Duhem credited him with important achievements in dynamics* [2] and also viewed
him as a forerunner of modern mechanics.* [3]

153.1 Works
Summulae, 1529.
De ratione tegendi et detegendi secretum, 1541
In dialecticam Aristotelis commentarii, 1544
In VIII libros physicorum, 1545
Deliberacion en la causa de los pobres, 1545
De natura et gratia libri III, 1547
Comment. in Ep. ad Romanos, 1550
De justitia et jure, 1553.
In IV sent. libros comment. 1555-6.
De justitia et jure libri X, 1556

153.2 Notes

Libri decem de iustitia & iure

[1] "Dominic Soto". Catholic Encyclopedia.


Robert Appleton Company. 1913.

Domingo de Soto (1494 November 15, 1560) was


a Dominican priest and Scholastic theologian born in
Segovia, Spain, and died in Salamanca at the age of 66.
He is best known as one of the major gures of the philosophical movement known as the School of Salamanca,
together with Francisco de Vitoria.
Trained in Alcal, Spain, and Paris, France, before being
made professor of Philosophy at Alcal in 1520,* [1] he
left academia to join the Dominicans and returned to take
the chair of theology at Salamanca University in 1532. He
is best known in economic theory and theological circles
for his writings defending the price dierential in usury
as compatible with just pricefrom the perspective of
the Thomists.

New York:

[2] Duhem, Pierre (1913). Etudes sur Lonard de Vinci (in


French) 3. Hermann. OCLC 612509355.
[3] Wallace, William A. (2004). Domingo de Soto and the
Early Galileo. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 086078-964-0.

153.3 References

He held powerful positions including Confessor of Holy


465

Walter Senner (1995). Domingo de Soto.


In Bautz, Traugott. Biographisch-Bibliographisches
Kirchenlexikon (BBKL) (in German) 10. Herzberg:
Bautz. cols. 831836. ISBN 3-88309-062-X.

466
History of Economic ThoughtSalamanca School

CHAPTER 153. DOMINGO DE SOTO

Chapter 154

Guido Terrena
Guido Terrena (c.1270, Perpignan1342), also known Nicomachean Ethics, Metaphysics, and Physics.
as Guido Terreni and Guy de Perpignan, was a Catalan Other works include the Errores Sarracenorum against
Carmelite canon lawyer and scholastic philosopher.
Islam,* [19] a Summa de haresibus and a Decretum commentary.* [2]

154.1 Life
154.3 Burial place

He was a student of Godfrey of Fontaines, and teacher of


John Baconthorpe.* [1] He became prior-general of the
Carmelites in 1318,* [2] bishop of Mallorca, and bishop Guido* was buried in the Carmelite church in Aviof Elna.* [3]* [4] As bishop of Elna he opposed Adhmar gnon. [20]
IV de Mosset.* [5]
A strong proponent of Aristotle, he taught at Avignon.* [6]

154.4 References
Guiu Terreni, Confutatio errorum quorundam magistrorum, ed. Alexander Fidora, Almudena Blasco
and Celia Lpez Alcalde, Barcelona: Obrador edndum, 2014.

154.2 Works
He was an early infallibilist;* [7] the concept of papal infallibility is thought to occur rst in a work he wrote concerning the conict of Pope John XXII (131634) and
the Franciscan Spirituals.* [8] It is said that he adapted
this doctrine to papal needs, rather than originating it,* [9]
and before 1328.* [10]
He was a leading member of a small group of infallibilists at the court of Pope John XXII.* [11] His position
on papal infallibility so closely anticipated the doctrine
of Vatican I that in the judgment of B.M. Xiberta, the
Carmelite scholar who edited [Terreni's] work, 'if he had
written it after Vatican I he would have to add or change
hardly a single word.'"* [12] He wrote:We are not asking
whether a pope can be a heretic in himself but whether he
can err in dening anything in the church and obliging the
faithful to believe, so that his error does not concern the
person of the pope alone but concerns all the faithful and
the whole church of Christ. For an error concerning his
person can inhere in the pope, but not an error concerning
the whole church.* [13]

B.-M. Xiberta, Guiu Terrena, Carmelita de Perpiny, (Barcelona 1932)


Jorge J.E. Gracia, The Convertibility of Unum and
Ens According to Guido Terrena, Franciscan Studies,
33, 1973, pp. 143-170
T. Shogimen, William of Ockham and Guido Terreni, History of Political Thought, 19, 4, 1998, pp.
517530
C. Schabel, Early Carmelites between Giants. Questions on Future Contingents by Gerard of Bologna
and Guy Terrena. Recherches de Thologie et
Philosophie Mdivales 70 (2003) 139-205.

154.5 Notes

He was one of those opposing the views of Arnold of Villanova on the Antichrist;* [14]* [15] and he rst dubbed
Joachim of Fiore a heretic.* [16] He was asked, with
Pierre de la Palud, to report on Peter John Olivi's apocalyptic writing.* [17]* [18]
He wrote commentaries on Aristotle's De anima,
467

[1] Jorge J. E. Gracia, Timothy B. Noone (editors), A Companion to Philosophy in the Middle Ages (2003), p. 291.
[2] http://faculty.cua.edu/pennington/1298c-g.htm
[3] Daniel Williman, The Right of Spoil of the Popes of Avignon, 1316-1415 (1988), p. 121.

468

[4] http://symploke.trujaman.org/index.php?title=Guido_
de_Terrena, in Spanish, http://web.archive.org/web/
20091026220045/http://www.geocities.com/Athens/
Atlantis/2572/ObispadoElna.htm
[5] http://pagesperso-orange.fr/jean.pares/seigneur/mosset/
21mosset.htm, in French.
[6] Andrew Jotischky, The Carmelites and Antiquity: Mendicants and Their Pasts in the Middle Ages (2002), p. 26.
[7] Jaroslav Pelikan, The Christian Tradition: A History of the
Development of Doctrine (1989), p. 107.
[8] Philippe Levillain,The Papacy: An Encyclopedia (2002),
p. 776.
[9] Paul Misner, Papacy and Development: Newman and the
Primacy of the Pope (1976), note p. 176.
[10] Brian Gogan, The Common Corps of Christendom (1982),
note p. 32.
[11] Thomas Turley, Infallibilists in the Curia of Pope John
XXII(Journal of Medieval History (April 1975), 1 (1),
pp. 71-101 (Abstract)
[12] Mark E. Powell, Papal Infallibility: A Protestant Evaluation of an Ecumenical Issue (Eerdmans 2009 ISBN 9780-8028-6284-6), p. 34
[13] Brian Tierney, Origins of papal infallibility, 1150-1350
(Brill 1972), p. 249
[14] Marjorie Reeves, The Inuence of Prophecy in the Later
Middle Ages: A Study in Joachimism (1969), p. 315.
[15] John Anthony Burrow, Ian P. Wei, Medieval Futures: Attitudes to the Future in the Middle Ages (2000), p. 34.
[16] Reeves, p. 69.
[17] From black magic to heresy: a doctrinal leap in the
ponticate of John XXII. Industry & Business Article Research, News, Information, Contacts, Divisions, Subsidiaries, Business Associations
[18] Gordon Le, Heresy in the Later Middle Ages, p. 211.
[19] Joseph Puig, p. 2560 in Andreas Speer, Wissen ber Grenzen: Arabisches wissen und lateinisches Mittelalter (2006).
[20] Sebastiano Fantoni Castrucci, Istoria della Citt
d'Avignone e del Contado Venesino (Venice 1678), vol. 1,
p. 59

154.6 External links


List of Works at Liste lateinischer Autoren und
anonymer Werke des 13. Jahrhunderts (ca. 11701320)

CHAPTER 154. GUIDO TERRENA

Chapter 155

Thomas Aquinas
Aquinasredirects here. For other uses, see Aquinas acquired new luster when the Church declared the teach(disambiguation).
ing of Thomas to be her own and that Doctor, honored
For the ship that sank in 2013, see MV St. Thomas with the special praises of the Pontis, the master and
Aquinas.
patron of Catholic schools.* [10]
Thomas Aquinas, OP (/kwans/; 1225 7 March
1274), also Thomas of Aquin or Aquino, was an Italian* [3]* [4] Dominican friar and Catholic priest and an
immensely inuential philosopher and theologian in the
tradition of scholasticism, within which he is also known
as the "Doctor Angelicus" and "Doctor Communis".* [5]
Aquinasis from the county of Aquino, an area where his
family held land until 1137. He was born in Roccasecca,
Italy.
He was the foremost classical proponent of natural theology, and the father of Thomism. His inuence on Western thought is considerable, and much of modern philosophy was conceived in development or opposition of
his ideas, particularly in the areas of ethics, natural law,
metaphysics, and political theory. Unlike many currents
in the Church of the time,* [6] Thomas embraced several ideas put forward by Aristotle whom he referred
to as the Philosopherand attempted to synthesize
Aristotelian philosophy with the principles of Christianity.* [7] The works for which he is best known are the
Summa Theologica and the Summa contra Gentiles. His
commentaries on Sacred Scripture and on Aristotle are
an important part of his body of work. Furthermore,
Thomas is distinguished for his eucharistic hymns, which
form a part of the Church's liturgy.* [8]
Thomas is honored as a saint by the Catholic Church
and is held to be the model teacher for those studying
for the priesthood, and indeed the highest expression of
both natural reason and speculative theology. In modern times, under papal directives, the study of his works
was long used as a core of the required program of study
for those seeking ordination as priests or deacons, as well
as for those in religious formation and for other students
of the sacred disciplines (philosophy, Catholic theology,
church history, liturgy, canon law).* [9]

155.1 Biography
155.1.1 Early life (12251244)
Thomas was born in Roccasecca, in the Aquino county of
the Kingdom of Sicily (present-day Lazio region, Italy),
c.1225. According to some authors, he was born in the
castle of his father, Landulf of Aquino. Thomas's father did not belong to the most powerful branch of the
family and simply held the title miles, while Thomas's
mother, Theodora, belonged to the Rossi branch of
the Neapolitan Caracciolo family.* [11] Landulf's brother
Sinibald was abbot of the rst Benedictine monastery
at Monte Cassino. While the rest of the family's sons
pursued military careers,* [12] the family intended for
Thomas to follow his uncle into the abbacy;* [13] this
would have been a normal career path for a younger son
of southern Italian nobility.* [14]
At the age of ve Thomas began his early education at
Monte Cassino but after the military conict between
the Emperor Frederick II and Pope Gregory IX spilled
into the abbey in early 1239, Landulf and Theodora had
Thomas enrolled at the studium generale (university) recently established by Frederick in Naples.* [15] It was
here that Thomas was probably introduced to Aristotle,
Averroes and Maimonides, all of whom would inuence
his theological philosophy.* [16] It was also during his
study at Naples that Thomas came under the inuence
of John of St. Julian, a Dominican preacher in Naples,
who was part of the active eort by the Dominican order to recruit devout followers.* [17] There his teacher in
arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music was Petrus
de Ibernia.* [18]

Also honored as a Doctor of the Church, Thomas is con- At the age of nineteen Thomas resolved to join the reThomas's change of
sidered the Church's greatest theologian and philosopher. cently founded Dominican Order.
*
[19]
In an attempt to preheart
did
not
please
his
family.
Pope Benedict XV declared:This (Dominican) Order ...
vent Theodora's interference in Thomas's choice, the Do469

470

CHAPTER 155. THOMAS AQUINAS

The Castle of Monte San Giovanni Campano

minicans arranged to move Thomas to Rome, and from


Rome, to Paris.* [20] However, while on his journey to
Rome, per Theodora's instructions, his brothers seized
him as he was drinking from a spring and took him back
to his parents at the castle of Monte San Giovanni CamDiego Velzquez, Aquinas is girded by angels with a mystical belt
pano.* [20]
Thomas was held prisoner for about one year in the family castles at Monte San Giovanni and Roccasecca in an
attempt to prevent him from assuming the Dominican
habit and to push him into renouncing his new aspiration.* [16] Political concerns prevented the Pope from ordering Thomas's release, which had the eect of extending Thomas's detention.* [21] Thomas passed this time of
trial tutoring his sisters and communicating with members of the Dominican Order.* [16] Family members became desperate to dissuade Thomas, who remained determined to join the Dominicans. At one point, two of
his brothers resorted to the measure of hiring a prostitute
to seduce him. According to legend Thomas drove her
away wielding a re iron. That night two angels appeared
to him as he slept and strengthened his determination to
remain celibate.* [22]
By 1244, seeing that all of her attempts to dissuade
Thomas had failed, Theodora sought to save the family's
dignity, arranging for Thomas to escape at night through
his window. In her mind, a secret escape from detention
was less damaging than an open surrender to the Dominicans. Thomas was sent rst to Naples and then to Rome
to meet Johannes von Wildeshausen, the Master General
of the Dominican Order.* [23]

155.1.2

Paris, Cologne, Albert Magnus,


and rst Paris regency (1245
1259)

In 1245 Thomas was sent to study at the Faculty of the


Arts at the University of Paris, where he most likely met
Dominican scholar Albertus Magnus,* [24] then the Chair
of Theology at the College of St. James in Paris.* [25]

of purity after his proof of chastity

When Albertus was sent by his superiors to teach at the


new studium generale at Cologne in 1248,* [24] Thomas
followed him, declining Pope Innocent IV's oer to appoint him abbot of Monte Cassino as a Dominican.* [13]
Albertus then appointed the reluctant Thomas magister
studentium.* [14] Because Thomas was quiet and didn't
speak much, some of his fellow students thought he was
slow. But Albertus prophetically exclaimed: You call
him the dumb ox, but in his teaching he will one day produce such a bellowing that it will be heard throughout the
world.* [13]
Thomas taught in Cologne as an apprentice professor
(baccalaureus biblicus), instructing students on the books
of the Old Testament and writing Expositio super Isaiam
ad litteram (Literal Commentary on Isaiah), Postilla super Ieremiam (Commentary on Jeremiah) and Postilla super Threnos (Commentary on Lamentations).* [26] Then
in 1252 he returned to Paris to study for the master's degree in theology. He lectured on the Bible as an apprentice professor, and upon becoming a baccalaureus Sententiarum (bachelor of the Sentences)* [27] devoted his nal
three years of study to commenting on Peter Lombard's
Sentences. In the rst of his four theological syntheses,
Thomas composed a massive commentary on the Sentences entitled Scriptum super libros Sententiarium (Commentary on the Sentences). Aside from his masters writings, he wrote De ente et essentia (On Being and Essence)
for his fellow Dominicans in Paris.* [13]
In the spring of 1256 Thomas was appointed regent master in theology at Paris and one of his rst works upon assuming this oce was Contra impugnantes Dei cultum et
religionem (Against Those Who Assail the Worship of God

155.1. BIOGRAPHY

471

began his most famous work the Summa theologiae,* [33]


which he conceived of specically as suited to beginning
students: Because a doctor of Catholic truth ought not
only to teach the procient, but to him pertains also to
instruct beginners. As the Apostle says in 1 Corinthians
3: 1-2, as to infants in Christ, I gave you milk to drink,
not meat, our proposed intention in this work is to convey those things that pertain to the Christian religion in a
way that is tting to the instruction of beginners.* [38]
While there he also wrote a variety of other works like his
unnished Compendium Theologiae and Responsio ad fr.
Ioannem Vercellensem de articulis 108 sumptis ex opere
Petri de Tarentasia (Reply to Brother John of Vercelli Regarding 108 Articles Drawn from the Work of Peter of
Tarentaise).* [31] In his position as head of the studium
Aquinas conducted a series of important disputations on
the power of God, which he compiled into his De potentia.* [39] Nicholas Brunacci [1240-1322] was among
Aquinas's students at the Santa Sabina studium provinciale and later at the Paris studium generale. In November
155.1.3 Naples, Orvieto, Rome (1259 1268 he was with Aquinas and his associate and secretary
Reginald of Piperno, as they left Viterbo on their way to
1268)
Paris to begin the academic year.* [40] Another student
of Aquinas's at the Santa Sabina studium provinciale was
In 1259 Thomas completed his rst regency at the Blessed Tommasello da Perugia.* [41]
studium generale and left Paris so that others in his order could gain this teaching experience. He returned to Aquinas remained at the studium at Santa Sabina from
back to Paris in 1268 for a secNaples where he was appointed as general preacher by the 1265 until he was called
*
ond
teaching
regency.
[39]
With his departure for Paris
provincial chapter of 29 September 1260. In September
in
1268
and
the
passage
of
time
the pedagogical activities
1261 he was called to Orvieto as conventual lector reof
the
studium
provinciale
at
Santa
Sabina were divided
sponsible for the pastoral formation of the friars unable to
between
two
campuses.
A
new
convent
of the Order at
attend a studium generale. In Orvieto Thomas completed
the
Church
of
Santa
Maria
sopra
Minerva
had a modhis Summa contra Gentiles, wrote the Catena aurea, (The
*
est
beginning
in
1255
as
a
community
for
women
conGolden Chain), [33] and produced works for Pope Urban
verts,
but
grew
rapidly
in
size
and
importance
after
beIV such as the liturgy for the newly created feast of Cor*
ing
given
over
to
the
Dominicans
friars
in
1275.
[42]
In
pus Christi and the Contra errores graecorum (Against the
*
1288
the
theology
component
of
the
provincial
curricuErrors of the Greeks). [32]
lum for the education of the friars was relocated from
In February 1265 the newly elected Pope Clement IV the Santa Sabina studium provinciale to the studium consummoned Aquinas to Rome to serve as papal theologian. ventuale at Santa Maria sopra Minerva, which was reThis same year he was ordered by the Dominican Chap- designated as a studium particularis theologiae.* [43] This
ter of Agnani* [34] to teach at the studium conventuale at studium was transformed in the 16th century into the Colthe Roman convent of Santa Sabina, founded some years lege of Saint Thomas (Latin: Collegium Divi om). In
before, in 1222.* [35] The studium at Santa Sabina now the 20th century the college was relocated to the convent
became an experiment for the Dominicans, the Order's of Saints Dominic and Sixtus and was transformed into
rst studium provinciale, an intermediate school between the Pontical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Anthe studium conventuale and the studium generale.Prior gelicum.
to this time the Roman Province had oered no specialized education of any sort, no arts, no philosophy; only
simple convent schools, with their basic courses in theol- 155.1.4 Quarrelsome second Paris regency
ogy for resident friars, were functioning in Tuscany and
(12691272)
the meridionale during the rst several decades of the order's life. But the new studium at Santa Sabina was to be In 1268 the Dominican order assigned Thomas to be rea school for the province, a studium provinciale.* [36] gent master at the University of Paris for a second time, a
Tolomeo da Lucca, an associate and early biographer of position he held until the spring of 1272. Part of the reaAquinas, tells us that at the Santa Sabina studium Aquinas son for this sudden reassignment appears to have arisen
taught the full range of philosophical subjects, both moral from the rise of "Averroism" orradical Aristotelianism"
and natural.* [37]
in the universities. In response to these perceived evils,

and Religion), defending the mendicant orders, which


had come under attack by William of Saint-Amour.* [28]
During his tenure from 1256 to 1259, Thomas wrote numerous works, including: Questiones disputatae de veritate (Disputed Questions on Truth), a collection of twentynine disputed questions on aspects of faith and the human condition* [29] prepared for the public university debates he presided over on Lent and Advent;* [30] Quaestiones quodlibetales (Quodlibetal Questions), a collection
of his responses to questions posed to him by the academic audience;* [29] and both Expositio super librum
Boethii De trinitate (Commentary on Boethius's De trinitate) and Expositio super librum Boethii De hebdomadibus
(Commentary on Boethius's De hebdomadibus), commentaries on the works of 6th-century Roman philosopher
Boethius.* [31] By the end of his regency, Thomas was
working on one of his most famous works, Summa contra
Gentiles.* [32]

While at the Santa Sabina studium provinciale Thomas Thomas wrote two works, one of them being De unitate

472

CHAPTER 155. THOMAS AQUINAS


Averroists, calling him the blind leader of the blind.
Thomas called these individuals the murmurantes (Grumblers).* [45] In reality, Thomas was deeply disturbed by
the spread of Averroism and was angered when he discovered Siger of Brabant teaching Averroistic interpretations
of Aristotle to Parisian students.* [46] On 10 December
1270, the Bishop of Paris, Etienne Tempier, issued an
edict condemning thirteen Aristotlelian and Averroistic
propositions as heretical and excommunicating anyone
who continued to support them.* [47] Many in the ecclesiastical community, the so-called Augustinians, were
fearful that this introduction of Aristotelianism and the
more extreme Averroism might somehow contaminate
the purity of the Christian faith. In what appears to be
an attempt to counteract the growing fear of Aristotelian
thought, Thomas conducted a series of disputations between 1270 and 1272: De virtutibus in communi (On
Virtues in General), De virtutibus cardinalibus (On Cardinal Virtues), De spe (On Hope).* [48]

155.1.5 Final days and straw(12721274)

Triumph of St Thomas Aquinas,Doctor Communis, between


Plato and Aristotle, Benozzo Gozzoli,1471. Louvre, Paris

intellectus, contra Averroistas (On the Unity of Intellect,


against the Averroists) in which he blasts Averroism as incompatible with Christian doctrine.* [44] During his second regency, he nished the second part of the Summa
and wrote De virtutibus and De aeternitate mundi,* [39]
the latter of which dealt with controversial Averroist and
Aristotelian beginninglessness of the world.* [45]
Disputes with some important Franciscans such as
Bonaventure and John Peckham conspired to make his
second regency much more dicult and troubled than
the rst. A year before Thomas re-assumed the regency at the 126667 Paris disputations, Franciscan master William of Baglione accused Thomas of encouraging

Triumph of St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor Angelicus, with


saints and angels, Andrea di Bonaiuto, 1366. Basilica of Santa
Maria Novella, fresco

In 1272 Thomas took leave from the University of Paris


when the Dominicans from his home province called
upon him to establish a studium generale wherever he
liked and sta it as he pleased. He chose to establish
the institution in Naples, and moved there to take his
post as regent master.* [39] He took his time at Naples
to work on the third part of the Summa while giving lectures on various religious topics. On 6 December 1273
at the Dominican convent of Naples in the Chapel of
Saint Nicholas after Matins Thomas lingered and was
seen by the sacristan Domenic of Caserta to be levitating in prayer with tears before an icon of the crucied

155.1. BIOGRAPHY
Christ. Christ said to Thomas, You have written well
of me, Thomas. What reward would you have for your
labor?" Thomas responded, Nothing but you, Lord.
*
[49]* [50] After this exchange something happened, but
Thomas never spoke of it or wrote it down. Because of
what he saw, he abandoned his routine and refused to dictate to his socius Reginald of Piperno. When Reginald
begged him to get back to work, Thomas replied:Reginald, I cannot, because all that I have written seems like
straw to me* [51] (mihi videtur ut palea).* [52] What exactly triggered Thomas's change in behavior is believed by
Catholics to have been some kind of supernatural experience of God.* [53] After taking to his bed, he did recover
some strength.* [54]

473
demnation was to clarify that God's absolute power transcended any principles of logic that Aristotle or Averroes
might place on it.* [61] More specically, it contained a
list of 219 propositions that the bishop had determined
to violate the omnipotence of God, and included in this
list were twenty Thomistic propositions. Their inclusion
badly damaged Thomas's reputation for many years.* [62]

In the Divine Comedy, Dante sees the gloried soul of


Thomas in the Heaven of the Sun with the other great
exemplars of religious wisdom.* [63] Dante asserts that
Thomas died by poisoning, on the order of Charles of
Anjou;* [64] Villani (ix. 218) cites this belief, and the
Anonimo Fiorentino describes the crime and its motive.
But the historian Ludovico Antonio Muratori reproduces
In 1054 the Great Schism had occurred between the Latin the account made by one of Thomas's friends, and this
church following the Pope (later known as the Roman version of the story gives no hint of foul play.* [65]
Catholic Church) in the West, and the other four patri- Thomas's theology had begun its rise to prestige. Two
archates in the East (known as the Orthodox Church). centuries later, in 1567, Pope Pius V proclaimed St.
Looking to nd a way to reunite the Eastern Orthodox Thomas Aquinas a Doctor of the Church and ranked his
Church and the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Gregory feast with those of the four great Latin fathers: Ambrose,
X convened the Second Council of Lyon to be held on Augustine of Hippo, Jerome and Gregory. However, in
1 May 1274 and summoned Thomas to attend.* [55] At the same period the Council of Trent still turned to Duns
the meeting, Thomas's work for Pope Urban IV concern- Scotus before Thomas as a source of arguments in deing the Greeks, Contra errores graecorum, was to be pre- fence of the Church. Even though Duns Scotus was more
sented.* [56] On his way to the Council, riding on a don- consulted at the Council of Trent, Thomas had the honor
key along the Appian Way,* [55] he struck his head on of having his Summa theologiae placed on the altar alongthe branch of a fallen tree and became seriously ill again. side the Bible and the Decretals.* [62]* [66]
He was then quickly escorted to Monte Cassino to convalesce.* [54] After resting for a while, he set out again, In his encyclical of 4 August 1879, Pope Leo XIII stated
but stopped at the Cistercian Fossanova Abbey after again that Thomas's theology was a denitive exposition of
falling ill.* [57] The monks nursed him for several days, Catholic doctrine. Thus, he directed the clergy to take
and as he received his last rites he prayed: I receive the teachings of Thomas as the basis of their theological
Thee, ransom of my soul. For love of Thee have I stud- positions. Leo XIII also decreed that all Catholic semied and kept vigil, toiled, preached and taught....* [58] inaries and universities must teach Thomas's doctrines,
He died on 7 March 1274* [57] while giving commentary and where Thomas did not speak on a topic, the teachers were urged to teach conclusions that were reconcilon the Song of Songs.* [59]
able with his thinking.In 1880, Saint Thomas Aquinas
was declared patron of all Catholic educational establishments.
155.1.6 Claims of levitation
See also: Saints and levitation

155.1.8 Canonization
For centuries, there have been recurring claims that
Aquinas had the ability to levitate. For example, G. K.
Chesterton wrote that, His experiences included wellattested cases of levitation in ecstasy; and the Blessed Virgin appeared to him, comforting him with the welcome
news that he would never be a Bishop.* [60]

155.1.7

Condemnation of 1277

When the devil's advocate at his canonization process


objected that there were no miracles, one of the cardinals answered, "Tot miraculis, quot articulis" "there
are as many miracles (in his life) as articles (in his
Summa)", viz., thousands.* [66] Fifty years after the death
of Thomas, on 18 July 1323, Pope John XXII, seated in
Avignon, pronounced Thomas a saint.* [67]

A monastery at Naples, near the cathedral of St. Januarius, shows a cell in which he supposedly lived to visitors.
See also: Condemnations of 12101277
His remains were placed in the Church of the Jacobins in
Toulouse on 28 January 1369. Between 1789 and 1974,
In 1277 tienne Tempier, the same bishop of Paris who they were held in the Basilique de Saint-Sernin, Toulouse.
had issued the condemnation of 1270, issued another In 1974, they were returned to the Church of the Jamore extensive condemnation. One aim of this con- cobins, where they have remained ever since.

474

CHAPTER 155. THOMAS AQUINAS

Thomas believed that for the knowledge of any truth


whatsoever man needs divine help, that the intellect may
be moved by God to its act.* [74] However, he believed that human beings have the natural capacity to
know many things without special divine revelation, even
though such revelation occurs from time to time, espe*
Thomas is honored with a feast day in the liturgical year cially in regard to such (truths) as pertain to faith. [75]
of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America But this is the light that is given to man by God according
to man's nature: Now every form bestowed on created
on 28 January.
things by God has power for a determined act[uality],
which it can bring about in proportion to its own proper
endowment; and beyond which it is powerless, except by
155.2 Philosophy
a superadded form, as water can only heat when heated
by the re. And thus the human understanding has a
form, viz. intelligible light, which of itself is sucient
Main article: Thomism
for knowing certain intelligible things, viz. those we can
come to know through the senses.* [75]
Thomas was a theologian and a Scholastic philosopher.* [70] However, he never considered himself a
philosopher, and criticized philosophers, whom he saw
as pagans, for always falling short of the true and 155.2.3 Ethics
proper wisdom to be found in Christian revelation.
*
[71] With this in mind, Thomas did have respect for See also: Christian ethics
Aristotle, so much so that in the Summa, he often
cites Aristotle simply as the Philosopher.Much of Thomas's ethics are based on the concept ofrst princihis work bears upon philosophical topics, and in this ples of action.* [76] In his Summa theologiae, he wrote:
sense may be characterized as philosophical. Thomas's
philosophical thought has exerted enormous inuence
Virtue denotes a certain perfection of a
on subsequent Christian theology, especially that of the
power.
Now a thing's perfection is considered
Catholic Church, extending to Western philosophy in
chiey
in
regard to its end. But the end of
general. Thomas stands as a vehicle and modier of
power
is
act.
Wherefore power is said to be
Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism. In fact, Thomas modperfect,
according
as it is determinate to its
ied both Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism by way of
*
act.
[77]
heavy reliance on the Pseudo-Dionysius, which was an
apologetical concoction of an earlier era. This source has
arguably been assessed not as a communicator of tradi- Aquinas emphasized thatSynderesis is said to be the law
tion, but as a polemicist, who tried to alter Neo-Platonic of our mind, because it is a habit containing the precepts
tradition in a novel way for the Christian world that would of the natural law, which are the rst principles of human
make notions of complicated Divine Hierarchies more actions.* [78]* [79]
of an emphasis than notions of direct relationship with
According to Aquinas "all acts of virtue are prescribed
the gure of Christ as Mediator.* [72] Indeed a number
by the natural law: since each one's reason naturally dicof Catholic sources contend that Thomas was inuenced
tates to him to act virtuously. But if we speak of virtumore by this concoction than any other source, including
ous acts, considered in themselves, i.e., in their proper
*
Aristotle. [73]
species, thus not all virtuous acts are prescribed by the
natural law: for many things are done virtuously, to which
nature does not incline at rst; but that, through the in155.2.1 Commentaries on Aristotle
quiry of reason, have been found by men to be conductive
to well living.Therefore, we must determine if we are
Thomas wrote several important commentaries on
speaking of virtuous acts as under the aspect of virtuous
Aristotle's works, including On the Soul, Nicomachean
or as an act in its species.* [80]
Ethics and Metaphysics. His work is associated with
William of Moerbeke's translations of Aristotle from Thomas dened the four cardinal virtues as prudence,
temperance, justice, and fortitude. The cardinal virtues
Greek into Latin.
are natural and revealed in nature, and they are binding on everyone. There are, however, three theological
155.2.2 Epistemology
virtues: faith, hope, and charity. Aquinas also describes
the virtues as imperfect (incomplete) and perfect (comSee also: Double truth
plete) virtues. A perfect virtue is any virtue with charity, charity completes a cardinal virtue. A non-Christian
When he was canonized, his feast day was inserted in
the General Roman Calendar for celebration on 7 March,
the day of his death. Since this date commonly falls
within Lent, the 1969 revision of the calendar moved his
memorial to 28 January, the date of the translation of his
relics to Toulouse.* [68]* [69]

155.2. PHILOSOPHY
can display courage, but it would be courage with temperance. A Christian would display courage with charity.
These are somewhat supernatural and are distinct from
other virtues in their object, namely, God:

475
certain matters. These particular determinations, devised
by human reason, are called human laws, provided the
other essential conditions of law be observed....Human
law is positive law: the natural law applied by governments to societies.* [88]

Now the object of the theological virtues


is God Himself, Who is the last end of all, as
surpassing the knowledge of our reason. On
the other hand, the object of the intellectual
and moral virtues is something comprehensible
to human reason. Wherefore the theological
virtues are specically distinct from the moral
and intellectual virtues.* [81]

Natural and human law is not adequate alone. The need


for human behavior to be directed made it necessary to
have Divine law. Divine law is the specially revealed law
in the scriptures. Aquinas quotes, The Apostle says
(Hebrews 7.12): The priesthood being translated, it is
necessary that a translation also be made of the law. But
the priesthood is twofold, as stated in the same passage,
viz, the levitical priesthood, and the priesthood of Christ.
Therefore the Divine law is twofold, namely, the Old Law
*
Thomas Aquinas wroteGreed is a sin against God, just and the New Law. [89]
as all mortal sins, in as much as man condemns things Thomas also greatly inuenced Catholic understandings
eternal for the sake of temporal things..
of mortal and venial sins.
Furthermore, Thomas distinguished four kinds of law: Thomas Aquinas, refers to animals as dumb and that the
eternal, natural, human, and divine. Eternal law is the natural order has declared animals for mans use. Thomas
decree of God that governs all creation. It is,That Law denied that human beings have any duty of charity to anwhich is the Supreme Reason cannot be understood to be imals because they are not persons. Otherwise, it would
otherwise than unchangeable and eternal.* [82] Natural be unlawful to use them for food. But this does not give
law is the humanparticipationin the eternal law and is humans the license to be cruel to them, forcruel habits
discovered by reason.* [83] Natural law is based on "rst might carry over into our treatment of human beings.
*
principles":
[90]* [91]
. . . this is the rst precept of the law, that
good is to be done and promoted, and evil is to
be avoided. All other precepts of the natural
law are based on this . . .* [84]
Whether the natural law contains several precepts, or one
only is explained by Aquinas, All the inclinations of
any parts whatsoever of human nature, e.g., of the concupiscible and irascible parts, in so far as they are ruled
by reason, belong to the natural law, and are reduced to
one rst precept, as stated above: so that the precepts of
the natural law are many in themselves, but are based on
one common foundation.* [85]
The desires to live and to procreate are counted by
Thomas among those basic (natural) human values on
which all human values are based. According to Thomas,
all human tendencies are geared towards real human
goods. In this case, the human nature in question is marriage, the total gift of oneself to another that ensures a
family for children and a future for mankind.* [86] To
clarify for Christian believers, Thomas dened love asto
will the good of another.* [87]

Thomas contributed to economic thought as an aspect of


ethics and justice. He dealt with the concept of a just
price, normally its market price or a regulated price sucient to cover seller costs of production. He argued it was
immoral for sellers to raise their prices simply because
buyers were in pressing need for a product.* [92]* [93]

155.2.4 Political order


Aquinas's theory of political order became highly inuential. He sees man as a social being that lives in a community and interacts with its other members. That leads,
among other things, to the division of labour.

Thomas thinks that monarchy is the best form of government, because a monarch does not have to form compromises with other persons. Moreover, according to
Thomas, oligarchy degenerates more easily into tyranny
than monarchy. To prevent a king from becoming a
tyrant, his political powers must be curbed. Unless an
agreement of all persons involved can be reached, a
tyrant must be tolerated, as otherwise the political situation could deteriorate into anarchy, which would be even
Concerning the Human Law, Aquinas concludes, "...that worse than tyranny.
just as, in the speculative reason, from naturally known The kings are God's representatives in their territories.
indemonstrable principles, we draw the conclusions of the But the church, represented by the popes, is above the
various sciences, the knowledge of which is not imparted kings in matters of doctrine and morality. As a conseto us by nature, but acquired by the eorts of reason, so quence, the kings and other worldly rulers are obliged to
too it is from the precepts of the natural law, as from gen- adapt their laws to the Catholic church's doctrines and
eral and indemonstrable principles, that the human reason ethics. For example, the worldly authorities have to exneeds to proceed to the more particular determination of ecute persons whom the church has sentenced to death

476

CHAPTER 155. THOMAS AQUINAS

for heresy and they have to ght and subdue groups of of the species to which it belongs, and substantial form is
heretics such as the Albigenses and Waldensians to re- also the structure or conguration that provides the obstore the unity of the church.
ject with the abilities that make the object what it is. For
Following Aristotle's concept of slavery, Thomas justies humans, those abilities are those of the rational animal.
this institution on the grounds of natural law.* [94]

155.2.5

Psychology

Aquinas maintains that a human is a single material substance. He understands the soul as the form of the body,
which makes a human being the composite of the two.
Thus, only living, form-matter composites can truly be
called human; dead bodies are humanonly analogously. One actually existing substance comes from body
and soul. A human is a single material substance, but still
should be understood as having an immaterial soul, which
continues after bodily death.
Ultimately, humans are animals; the animal genus is
body; body is material substance. When embodied, a human person is an individual substance in the category
rational animal.* [95] The body belongs to the essence of
a human being. In his Summa theologiae Aquinas clearly
states his position on the nature of the soul; dening it
as the rst principle of life.* [96] The soul is not corporeal, or a body; it is the act of a body. Because the
intellect is incorporeal, it does not use the bodily organs,
as the operation of anything follows the mode of its
being.* [97]

These distinctions can be better understood in the


light of Aquinas's understanding of matter and form,
a hylomorphic (matter/form) theory derived from
Aristotle. In any given substance, matter and form are
necessarily united, and each is a necessary aspect of that
substance. However, they are conceptually separable.
Matter represents what is changeable about the substance
what is potentially something else. For example, bronze
matter is potentially a statue, or also potentially a cymbal. Matter must be understood as the matter of something. In contrast, form is what determines some particular chunk of matter to be a specic substance and no
other. When Aquinas says that the human body is only
partly composed of matter, he means the material body
is only potentially a human being. The soul is what actualizes that potential into an existing human being. Consequently, the fact that a human body is live human tissue
entails that a human soul is wholly present in each part of
the human.
Walter Freeman proposes that Thomism is the philosophical system explaining cognition that is most compatible
with neurodynamics, in a 2008 article in the journal Mind
and Matter entitled Nonlinear Brain Dynamics and Intention According to Aquinas.* [99]

The human soul is perfected in the body, but does not


155.3 Theology
depend on the body, because part of its nature is spiritual.
In this way, the soul diers from other forms, which are
only found in matter, and thus depend on matter. The See also: Works by Thomas Aquinas
soul, as form of the body, does not depend on matter in Thomas viewed theology, or the sacred doctrine, as a
science,* [53] the raw material data of which consists
this way.
of written scripture and the tradition of the Catholic
The soul is not matter, not even incorporeal or spiritual
Church. These sources of data were produced by the
matter. If it were, it would not be able to understand uniself-revelation of God to individuals and groups of people
versals, which are immaterial. A receiver receives things
throughout history. Faith and reason, while distinct but
according to the receiver's own nature, so for soul (rerelated, are the two primary tools for processing the data
ceiver) to understand (receive) universals, it must have
of theology. Thomas believed both were necessary or,
the same nature as universals. Yet, any substance that
rather, that the conuence of both was necessary for
understands universals may not be a matter-form comone to obtain true knowledge of God. Thomas blended
posite. So, humans have rational souls, which are abstract
Greek philosophy and Christian doctrine by suggesting
forms independent of the body. But a human being is one
that rational thinking and the study of nature, like reveexisting, single material substance that comes from body
lation, were valid ways to understand truths pertaining to
and soul: that is what Thomas means when he writes that
God. According to Thomas, God reveals himself through
something one in nature can be formed from an intellecnature, so to study nature is to study God. The ultimate
tual substance and a body, and a thing one in nature
goals of theology, in Thomas's mind, are to use reason
does not result from two permanent entities unless one has
to grasp the truth about God and to experience salvation
the character of substantial form and the other of matter.
through that truth.
*
[98]
The soul is a "substantial form"; it is a part of a substance, but it is not a substance by itself. Nevertheless, 155.3.1 Revelation
the soul exists separately from the body, and continues,
after death, in many of the capacities we think of as hu- Thomas believed that truth is known through reason (natman. Substantial form is what makes a thing a member ural revelation) and faith (supernatural revelation). Su-

155.3. THEOLOGY

477
2).
Faith and reason complement rather than contradict each
other, each giving dierent views of the same truth.

155.3.2 Creation
As a Catholic Thomas believed that God is the maker
of heaven and earth, of all that is visible and invisible.Like Aristotle, Thomas posited that life could form
from non-living material or plant life, a theory of ongoing
abiogenesis known as spontaneous generation:
Since the generation of one thing is the
corruption of another, it was not incompatible
with the rst formation of things, that from the
corruption of the less perfect the more perfect
should be generated. Hence animals generated
from the corruption of inanimate things, or of
plants, may have been generated then.* [101]
Additionally Thomas considered Empedocles's theory
that various mutated species emerged at the dawn of Cre17th century sculpture of Thomas Aquinas
ation. Thomas reasoned that these species were generated
through mutations in animal sperm, and argued that they
were not unintended by nature; rather, such species were
pernatural revelation has its origin in the inspiration of simply not intended for perpetual existence. That discusthe Holy Spirit and is made available through the teaching sion is found in his commentary on Aristotle's Physics:
of the prophets, summed up in Holy Scripture, and transmitted by the Magisterium, the sum of which is called
The same thing is true of those substances
Tradition. Natural revelation is the truth available to
Empedocles said were produced at the beginall people through their human nature and powers of reaning of the world, such as the ox-progeny,
son. For example, he felt this applied to rational ways to
i.e., half ox and half man. For if such things
know the existence of God.
were not able to arrive at some end and nal
Though one may deduce the existence of God and his
Attributes (Unity, Truth, Goodness, Power, Knowledge)
through reason, certain specics may be known only
through the special revelation of God in Jesus Christ. The
major theological components of Christianity, such as the
Trinity and the Incarnation, are revealed in the teachings
of the Church and the Scriptures and may not otherwise
be deduced.* [100]

Preserving nature within grace


Revealed knowledge does not negate the truth and the
completeness of human science as human, it further establishes them. First, it grants that the same things can be
treated from two dierent perspectives without one canceling the other; thus there can be two sciences of God.
Second, it provides the basis for the two sciences: one
functions through the power of the light of natural reason,
the other through the light of divine revelation. Moreover, they can, at least to some extent, keep out of each
other's way because they dier according to genus.
Sacred doctrine is a fundamentally dierent kind of thing
from theology, which is part of philosophy (ST I. 1.1 ad

state of nature so that they would be preserved


in existence, this was not because nature did
not intend this [a nal state], but because they
were not capable of being preserved. For they
were not generated according to nature, but
by the corruption of some natural principle, as
it now also happens that some monstrous ospring are generated because of the corruption
of seed.* [102]

155.3.3 Just war


See also: Just War
Augustine of Hippo agreed strongly with the conventional
wisdom of his time, that Christians should be pacists
philosophically, but that they should use defense as a
means of preserving peace in the long run. For example,
he routinely argued that pacism did not prevent the defence of innocents. In essence, the pursuit of peace might
require ghting to preserve it in the long-term.* [103]
Such a war must not be preemptive, but defensive, to restore peace.* [104]

478
Clearly, some special characteristics sets apart war
from schism, brawling, and sedition.While
it would be contradictory to speak of a just schism,
a just brawlingor a just sedition(the three terms
denote sin and sin only) waralone permits sub classication into good and bad kinds. Curiously, however,
Aquinas does not work up a terminological contrast betweenjustandunjustwar. * [105] Thomas Aquinas,
centuries later, used the authority of Augustine's arguments in an attempt to dene the conditions under which
a war could be just.* [106] He laid these out in his historic
work, Summa Theologica:

CHAPTER 155. THOMAS AQUINAS


The belligerents must exhaust all options for dialogue and negotiation before undertaking a war; war
is only legitimate as a last resort.
Under this doctrine, expansionist wars, wars of pillage,
wars to convert indels or pagans, and wars for glory are
all inherently unjust.

155.3.4 Nature of God

Thomas believed that the existence of God is self-evident


in itself, but not to us.Therefore I say that this proposition,God exists, of itself is self-evident, for the pred First, war must occur for a good and just purpose icate is the same as the subject.... Now because we do
rather than the pursuit of wealth or power.
not know the essence of God, the proposition is not self Second, just war must be waged by a properly insti- evident to us; but needs to be demonstrated by things that
are more known to us, though less known in their nature
tuted authority such as the state.
namely, by eects.* [108]
Third, peace must be a central motive even in the
Thomas believed that the existence of God can be demonmidst of violence.* [107]
strated. Briey in the Summa theologiae and more extensively in the Summa contra Gentiles, he considered
in great detail ve arguments for the existence of God,
School of Salamanca
widely known as the quinque viae (Five Ways).
The School of Salamanca expanded Aquinas's under- For detailed analysis of the ve proofs, see Existence of
standing of natural law and just war. Given that war is God
one of the worst evils suered by mankind, the adher- For the original text of the ve proofs, see quinque viae
ents of the School reasoned that it ought to be resorted
to only when it was necessary to prevent an even greater
evil. A diplomatic agreement is preferable, even for the
1. Motion: Some things undoubtedly move, though
more powerful party, before a war is started. Examples
cannot cause their own motion. Since, as Thomas
of "just war" are:
believed, there can be no innite chain of causes of
motion, there must be a First Mover not moved by
anything else, and this is what everyone understands
In self-defense, as long as there is a reasonable possiby God.
bility of success. If failure is a foregone conclusion,
then it is just a wasteful spilling of blood.
2.
Preventive war against a tyrant who is about to at3. Causation: As in the case of motion, nothing can
tack.
cause itself, and an innite chain of causation is impossible, so there must be a First Cause, called God.

War to punish a guilty enemy.


4.
A war is not legitimate or illegitimate simply based on
its original motivation: it must comply with a series of
additional requirements:
The response must be commensurate to the evil;
more violence than is strictly necessary would be unjust.
Governing authorities declare war, but their decision
is not sucient cause to begin a war. If the people
oppose a war, then it is illegitimate. The people have
a right to depose a government that is waging, or is
about to wage, an unjust war.
Once war has begun, there remain moral limits to
action. For example, one may not attack innocents
or kill hostages.

5. Existence of necessary and the unnecessary: Our


experience includes things certainly existing but apparently unnecessary. Not everything can be unnecessary, for then once there was nothing and there
would still be nothing. Therefore, we are compelled
to suppose something that exists necessarily, having
this necessity only from itself; in fact itself the cause
for other things to exist.
6.
7. Gradation: If we can notice a gradation in things
in the sense that some things are more hot, good,
etc., there must be a superlative that is the truest and
noblest thing, and so most fully existing. This then,
we call God -->note Thomas does not ascribe actual
qualities to God Himself.

155.3. THEOLOGY
8.

479

155.3.5 Nature of the Trinity

Thomas argued that God, while perfectly united, also is


perfectly described by Three Interrelated Persons. These
three persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) are constituted by their relations within the essence of God.
Thomas wrote that the termTrinity
does not mean the
relations themselves of the Persons, but rather the number
of persons related to each other; and hence it is that the
word in itself does not express regard to another.* [118]
Concerning the nature of God, Thomas felt the best ap- The Father generates the Son (or the Word) by the relaproach, commonly called the via negativa, is to consider tion of self-awareness. This eternal generation then prowhat God is not. This led him to propose ve statements duces an eternal Spirit who enjoys the divine nature as
the Love of God, the Love of the Father for the Word.
about the divine qualities:
9. Ordered tendencies of nature: A direction of actions
to an end is noticed in all bodies following natural
laws. Anything without awareness tends to a goal
under the guidance of one who is aware. This we
call God --> Note that even when we guide objects,
in Thomas's view the source of all our knowledge
comes from God as well.* [109]

This Trinity exists independently from the world. It transcends the created world, but the Trinity also decided to
1. God is simple, without composition of parts, such as
give grace to human beings. This takes place through the
*
body and soul, or matter and form. [110]
Incarnation of the Word in the person of Jesus Christ and
through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within those who
2. God is perfect, lacking nothing. That is, God is dishave experienced salvation by God; according to Aidan
tinguished from other beings on account of God's
*
Nichols.
[119]
complete actuality.* [111] Thomas dened God as
the Ipse Actus Essendi subsistens,subsisting act
of being.* [112]
155.3.6 Prima causa rst cause
3. God is innite. That is, God is not nite in the ways
that created beings are physically, intellectually, and
emotionally limited. This innity is to be distinguished from innity of size and innity of number.* [113]

Thomas's ve proofs for the existence of God take some


of Aristotle's assertions concerning principles of being.
For God as prima causa (rst cause) comes from
Aristotle's concept of the unmoved mover and asserts that
God is the ultimate cause of all things.* [120]

4. God is immutable, incapable of change on the levels


of God's essence and character.* [114]
155.3.7
5. God is one, without diversication within God's self.
The unity of God is such that God's essence is the
same as God's existence. In Thomas's words, in
itself the proposition 'God exists' is necessarily true,
for in it subject and predicate are the same.* [115]
Following St. Augustine of Hippo, Thomas denes sin
as a word, deed, or desire, contrary to the eternal law.
*
[116] It is important to note the analogous nature of law
in Thomas's legal philosophy. Natural law is an instance
or instantiation of eternal law. Because natural law is
what human beings determine according to their own nature (as rational beings), disobeying reason is disobeying
natural law and eternal law. Thus eternal law is logically
prior to reception of eithernatural law(that determined
by reason) or divine law(that found in the Old and
New Testaments). In other words, God's will extends to
both reason and revelation. Sin is abrogating either one's
own reason, on the one hand, or revelation on the other,
and is synonymous with evil(privation of good, or
privatio boni* [117]). Thomas, like all Scholastics, generally argued that the ndings of reason and data of revelation cannot conict, so both are a guide to God's will for
human beings.

Nature of Jesus Christ

In the Summa Theologica Thomas begins his discussion of Jesus Christ by recounting the biblical story of
Adam and Eve and by describing the negative eects of
original sin. The purpose of Christ's Incarnation was to
restore human nature by removing the contamination of
sin, which humans cannot do by themselves. Divine
Wisdom judged it tting that God should become man,
so that thus one and the same person would be able both
to restore man and to oer satisfaction.* [121] Thomas
argued in favor of the satisfaction view of atonement; that
is, that Jesus Christ died to satisfy for the whole human race, which was sentenced to die on account of sin.
*
[122]
Thomas argued against several specic contemporary and
historical theologians who held diering views about
Christ. In response to Photinus, Thomas stated that Jesus
was truly divine and not simply a human being. Against
Nestorius, who suggested that Son of God was merely
conjoined to the man Christ, Thomas argued that the
fullness of God was an integral part of Christ's existence. However, countering Apollinaris' views, Thomas
held that Christ had a truly human (rational) soul, as well.
This produced a duality of natures in Christ. Thomas
argued against Eutyches that this duality persisted af-

480

CHAPTER 155. THOMAS AQUINAS

ter the Incarnation. Thomas stated that these two na- by means of the Albigensian Crusade. In the Summa thetures existed simultaneously yet distinguishably in one ologiae, he wrote:
real human body, unlike the teachings of Manichaeus and
Valentinus.* [123]
With regard to heretics two points must be
In short Christ had a real body of the same nature of
ours, a true rational soul, and, together with these, perfect
Deity.Thus, there is both unity (in his one hypostasis)
and composition (in his two natures, human and Divine)
in Christ.* [124]
I answer that, The Person or hypostasis of
Christ may be viewed in two ways. First as it is
in itself, and thus it is altogether simple, even
as the Nature of the Word. Secondly, in the
aspect of person or hypostasis to which it belongs to subsist in a nature; and thus the Person
of Christ subsists in two natures. Hence though
there is one subsisting being in Him, yet there
are dierent aspects of subsistence, and hence
He is said to be a composite person, insomuch
as one being subsists in two.* [125]
Echoing Athanasius of Alexandria, he said that The
only begotten Son of God...assumed our nature, so that
he, made man, might make men gods.* [126]

155.3.8

Goal of human life

observed: one, on their own side; the other,


on the side of the Church. On their own side
there is the sin, whereby they deserve not only
to be separated from the Church by excommunication, but also to be severed from the
world by death. For it is a much graver matter to corrupt the faith that quickens the soul,
than to forge money, which supports temporal
life. Wherefore if forgers of money and other
evil-doers are forthwith condemned to death
by the secular authority, much more reason is
there for heretics, as soon as they are convicted
of heresy, to be not only excommunicated but
even put to death. On the part of the Church,
however, there is mercy, which looks to the
conversion of the wanderer, wherefore she condemns not at once, butafter the rst and second admonition, as the Apostle directs: after that, if he is yet stubborn, the Church no
longer hoping for his conversion, looks to the
salvation of others, by excommunicating him
and separating him from the Church, and furthermore delivers him to the secular tribunal
to be exterminated thereby from the world by
death.(Summa, IIII, Q.11, art.3.)

Thomas identied the goal of human existence as union


and eternal fellowship with God. This goal is achieved
through the beatic vision, in which a person experiences perfect, unending happiness by seeing the essence
of God. The vision occurs after death as a gift from God
to those who in life experienced salvation and redemption
through Christ.

Heresy was a capital oense against the secular law of


most European countries of the 13th century, which had
a limited prison capacity. Kings and emperors, even
those at war with the papacy, listed heresy rst among
the crimes against the state. Kings claimed power from
God according to the Christian faith. Often enough, especially in that age of papal claims to universal worldly
The goal of union with God has implications for the indi- power, the rulers' power was tangibly and visibly legitividual's life on earth. Thomas stated that an individual's mated directly through coronation by the pope. Heresy
will must be ordered toward right things, such as charity, directly undercut kingly power.
peace, and holiness. He saw this orientation as also the
way to happiness. Indeed, Thomas ordered his treatment Simple theft, forgery, fraud, and other such crimes were
of the moral life around the idea of happiness. The re- also capital oenses; Thomas's point seems to be that the
lationship between will and goal is antecedent in nature gravity of this oense, which touches not only the matebecause rectitude of the will consists in being duly or- rial goods but also the spiritual goods of others, is at least
dered to the last end [that is, the beatic vision].Those the same as forgery. Thomas's suggestion specically dewho truly seek to understand and see God will necessar- mands that heretics be handed to a secular tribunal
ily love what God loves. Such love requires morality and rather than magisterial authority. That Thomas specically says that heretics deserve... deathis related to
bears fruit in everyday human choices.* [127]
his theology, according to which all sinners have no intrinsic right to life (For the wages of sin is death; but
the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord
155.3.9 Treatment of heretics
*
[128]). Nevertheless, his point is clear: heretics should
be
executed by the state. He elaborates on his opinion
Thomas Aquinas belonged to the Dominican Order (forregarding
heresy in the next article, when he says:
mally Ordo Praedicatorum, the Order of Preachers) who
began as an order dedicated to the conversion of the
Albigensians and other heterodox factions, at rst by
peaceful means; later the Albigensians were dealt with

In God's tribunal, those who return are always received, because God is a searcher of

155.4. MODERN INFLUENCE


hearts, and knows those who return in sincerity. But the Church cannot imitate God in this,
for she presumes that those who relapse after
being once received, are not sincere in their return; hence she does not debar them from the
way of salvation, but neither does she protect
them from the sentence of death. (Summa, op.
cit., art.4.)

481
after life.* [132] For Aquinas, the rewards and punishment of the afterlife are not only spiritual. Because of
this, resurrection is an important part of his philosophy
on the soul. The human is fullled and complete in the
body, so the hereafter must take place with souls enmattered in resurrected bodies. In addition to spiritual reward, humans can expect to enjoy material and physical
blessings. Because Aquinas's soul requires a body for its
actions, during the afterlife, the soul will also be punished
or rewarded in corporeal existence.

Aquinas's position on heresy and heretics provided the


doctrinal basis of the Inquisition. For Jews and Muslims, Aquinas states clearly his stance on resurrection, and uses
Aquinas argues for toleration, not only of their persons it to back up his philosophy of justice; that is, the promise
of resurrection compensates Christians who suered in
but also of their public rites.* [129]
this world through a heavenly union with the divine. He
says, If there is no resurrection of the dead, it follows
that there is no good for human beings other than in this
155.3.10 Afterlife and resurrection
life.* [133] Resurrection provides the impetus for peoA grasp of Aquinas' psychology is essential for under- ple on earth to give up pleasures in this life. Thomas
standing his beliefs around the afterlife and resurrection. believes the human who has prepared for the afterlife
Thomas, following Church doctrine, accepts that the soul both morally and intellectually will be rewarded more
continues to exist after the death of the body. Because greatly; however, all reward is through the grace of God.
he accepts that the soul is the form of the body, then he Aquinas insists beatitude will be conferred according to
also must believe that the human being, like all material merit, and will render the person better able to conceive
things, is form-matter composite. Substantial form (the the divine. Aquinas accordingly believes punishment is
human soul) congures prime matter (the physical body) directly related to earthly, living preparation and activity
and is the form by which a material composite belongs as well. Aquinas's account of the soul focuses on episteto that species it does; in the case of human beings, that mology and metaphysics, and because of this he believes
species is rational animal.* [130] So, a human being is a it gives a clear account of the immaterial nature of the
matter-form composite that is organized to be a rational soul. Aquinas conservatively guards Christian doctrine,
animal. Matter cannot exist without being congured by and thus maintains physical and spiritual reward and punform, but form can exist without matterwhich allows ishment after death. By accepting the essentiality of both
for the separation of soul from body. Aquinas says that body and soul, he allows for a heaven and hell described
the soul shares in the material and spiritual worlds, and in scripture and church dogma.
so has some features of matter and other, immaterial,
features (such as access to universals). The human soul
is dierent from other material and spiritual things; it is
created by God, but also only comes into existence in the
material body.
Human beings are material, but the human person can
survive the death of the body through continued existence
of the soul, which persists. The human soul straddles the
spiritual and material worlds, and is both a congured
subsistent form as well as a congurer of matter into that
of a living, bodily human.* [131] Because it is spiritual,
the human soul does not depend on matter and may exist separately. Because the human being is a soul-matter
composite, the body has a part in what it is to be human.
Perfected human nature consists in the human dual nature, embodied and intellecting.

155.4 Modern inuence


Many modern ethicists both within and outside the
Catholic Church (notably Philippa Foot and Alasdair
MacIntyre) have recently commented on the possible use of Thomas's virtue ethics as a way of avoiding utilitarianism or Kantian sense of duty(called
deontology). Through the work of twentieth-century
philosophers such as Elizabeth Anscombe (especially in
her book Intention), Thomas's principle of double eect
specically and his theory of intentional activity generally have been inuential.
In recent years the cognitive neuroscientist Walter Freeman proposes that Thomism is the philosophical system explaining cognition that is most compatible with
neurodynamics, in a 2008 article in the journal Mind and
Matter entitledNonlinear Brain Dynamics and Intention
According to Aquinas.

Resurrection appears to require dualism, which Thomas


rejects. Yet, Aquinas believes the soul persists after the
death and corruption of the body, and is capable of existence, separated from the body between the time of death
and the resurrection. Aquinas believes in a dierent sort
of dualism, one guided by Christian scripture. Aquinas Thomas's aesthetic theories, especially the concept of
knows that human beings are essentially physical, but that claritas, deeply inuenced the literary practice of modthat physicality has a spirit capable of returning to God ernist writer James Joyce, who used to extol Thomas as

482

CHAPTER 155. THOMAS AQUINAS

being second only to Aristotle among Western philosophers. Joyce refers to Aquinas's doctrines in Elementa
philosophiae ad mentem D. Thomae Aquinatis doctoris
angelici (1898) of Girolamo Maria Mancini, professor of
theology at the Collegium Divi Thomae de Urbe.* [134]
For example, Mancini's Elementa is referred to in Joyce's
early masterpiece Portrait of the Artist as a Young
Man.* [135]
The inuence of Thomas's aesthetics also can be found in
the works of the Italian semiotician Umberto Eco, who
wrote an essay on aesthetic ideas in Thomas (published
in 1956 and republished in 1988 in a revised edition).

is no such impossibility; the series of negative integers


ending with minus one is an instance to the contrary.
*
[137] Moreover, according to Russell, statements regarding God's essence and existence that are reached
within the Aristotelian logic are based onsome kind of
syntactical confusion, without which much of the argumentation about God would lose its plausibility.* [137]

155.6 See also


Adoro te devote
Aquinas Institute

155.5 Criticism of Aquinas as


philosopher
Bertrand Russell criticized Aquinas's philosophy on the
ground that

Aquinas School in San Juan City, Philippines


Aquinas University in Legazpi City, Philippines
Bartholomew of Lucca, Thomas's friend and confessor
Christian mysticism

He does not, like the Platonic Socrates,


set out to follow wherever the argument may
lead. He is not engaged in an inquiry, the result of which it is impossible to know in advance. Before he begins to philosophize, he
already knows the truth; it is declared in the
Catholic faith. If he can nd apparently rational arguments for some parts of the faith, so
much the better; if he cannot, he need only fall
back on revelation. The nding of arguments
for a conclusion given in advance is not philosophy, but special pleading. I cannot, therefore,
feel that he deserves to be put on a level with the
best philosophers either of Greece or of modern times.* [136]

High Middle Ages


International Council of Universities of Saint
Thomas Aquinas
Lauda Sion
List of institutions named after Thomas Aquinas
Medieval university
Pange Lingua Gloriosi Corporis Mysterium
Pontical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas
Pontical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum)

Sacris solemniis
This critique is illustrated on the following examples: Ac St. Thomas Aquinas College
cording to Russell, Aquinas advocates the indissolubility
of marriage on the ground that the father is useful in
School of Salamanca, 16th-century Spanish
the education of the children, (a) because he is more raThomists
tional than the mother, (b) because, being stronger, he is
*
better able to inict physical punishment. [137] Even
Thomas Aquinas and the Sacraments
though modern approaches to education do not support
Thought of Thomas Aquinas
these views, No follower of Saint Thomas would, on
that account, cease to believe in lifelong monogamy, be University of Santo Tomas
cause the real grounds of belief are not those which are
alleged.* [137] It may be countered that the treatment
University of St. Thomas (Minnesota)
of matrimony in the Summa Theologica is in the Supple Verbum Supernum Prodiens
ments volume, which was not written by Aquinas.* [138]
*
Moreover, as noted above, [139] Aquinas's introduction
of arguments and concepts from the pagan Aristotle and Thomists
Muslim Averroes was controversial within the Catholic
Church of his day.
Alasdair MacIntyre
Aquinas's views of God as rst cause, cf. quinque viae,
depend upon the supposed impossibility of a series having no rst term. Every mathematician knows that there

tienne Gilson
G. E. M. Anscombe

155.7. NOTES

483

Brian Davies

[16] Davies, Aquinas: An Introduction, p. 2

Jacques Maritain

[17] Hampden, The Life, pp. 2122.

Jay Budziszewski

[18] Grabmann, Martin. Virgil Michel, trans. Thomas


Aquinas: His Personality and Thought. (Kessinger Publishing, 2006), pp. 2.

James V. Schall
Josef Pieper
Ralph McInerny
Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange

[19] Collison, Diane, and Kathryn Plant. Fifty Major Philosophers. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge, 2006.
[20] Hampden, The Life, p. 23.
[21] Hampden, The Life, p. 24.

155.7 Notes

[22] Hampden, The Life, p. 25.


[23] Hampden, The Life, pp. 2728.

[1] Gilby, Thomas (1951). St. Thomas Aquinas Philosophical


Texts. Oxford Univ. Press.

[24] Healy, Theologian, p. 2.

[2] http://saints.sqpn.com/saint-thomas-aquinas/

[25] Hampden, The Life, p. 33.

[3] Conway, John Placid, O.P., Father (1911). Saint Thomas


Aquinas. London.

[26] Stump, Aquinas, p. xvi.

[4] Rev. Vaughan, Roger Bede (1871). The Life and Labours
of St. Thomas of Aquin: Vol.I. London.
[5] See Pius XI, Studiorum Ducem 11 (29 June 1923), AAS,
XV (non modo Angelicum, sed etiam Communem seu
Universalem Ecclesiae Doctorem). The title Doctor
Communis dates to the fourteenth century; the title Doctor
Angelicus dates to the fteenth century, see Walz, Xenia
Thomistica, III, p. 164 n. 4. Tolomeo da Lucca writes
in Historia Ecclesiastica (1317): This man is supreme
among modern teachers of philosophy and theology, and
indeed in every subject. And such is the common view
and opinion, so that nowadays in the University of Paris
they call him the Doctor Communis because of the outstanding clarity of his teaching.Historia Eccles. xxiii, c.
9.
[6] http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aquinas/
[7] http://www.dartmouthapologia.org/articles/show/125
[8] http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/31211/
Saint-Thomas-Aquinas
[9] Code of Canon Law, Can. 252, 3
[10] Benedict XV Encyclical Fausto appetente die 29 June
1921, AAS 13 (1921), 332; Pius XI Encyclical Studiorum Ducem 11, 29 June 1923, AAS 15 (1923), cf. AAS
17 (1925) 574; Paul VI, 7 March 1964 AAS 56 (1964),
302 (Bouscaren, vol. VI, pp. 78688).
[11] Jean-Pierre Torrell, Saint Thomas Aquinas: The Person
And His Work, CUA press, 2005, p. 3. Google Book
[12] Hampden, The Life, p. 14.
[13] Stump, Aquinas, p. 3.
[14] Scha, Philip (1953). Thomas Aquinas, pp. 422423.
[15] Davies, Aquinas: An Introduction, pp. 12

[27] Davies, The Thought, p. 5.


[28] Aquinas, Thomas; Richard J. Regan; Brian Davies (2003).
On Evil. Oxford University Press US. p. 5. ISBN 0-19509183-3.
[29] Stump, Aquinas, p. 4.
[30] Davies, Aquinas: An Introduction, pp. 34.
[31] Stump, Aquinas, p. xvii.
[32] Davies, Aquinas: An Introduction, p. 4.
[33] Healy, Theologian, p. 4.
[34] Fr. Thome de Aquino iniungimus in remissionem peccatorum quod teneat studium Rome, et volumus quod fratribus
qui stant secum ad studendum provideatur in necessariis
vestimentis a conventibus de quorum predicatione traxerunt
originem. Si autem illi studentes inventi fuerint negligentes
in studio, damus potestatem fr. Thome quod ad conventus suos possit eos remittere (Acta Capitulorum Provincialium, Provinciae Romanae Ordinis Praedicatorum, 1265,
n. 12)http://www.corpusthomisticum.org/a65.html
[35] Compendium Historiae Ordinis Praedicatorum, A.M.
Walz, Herder 1930, 214: Conventus S. Sabinae
de Urbe prae ceteris gloriam singularem ex praesentia fundatoris ordinis et primitivorum fratrum necnon
ex residentia Romana magistrorum generalium, si de
ea sermo esse potest, habet. In documentis quidem
eius nonnisi anno 1222 nomen t, ait certe iam antea nostris concreditus est. Florebant ibi etiam studia
sacra.http://www.archive.org/stream/MN5081ucmf_3/
MN5081ucmf_3_djvu.txt Accessed 4-9-2011.
[36] Marian Michle Mulchahey, First the bow is bent
in study": Dominican education before 1350, 1998,
p.
278-279.
http://books.google.com/books?id=
bK9axCYcbFIC&pg=PA279#v=onepage&q&f=false
Accessed 6-30-2011

484

[37]Tenuit studium Rome, quasi totam Philosophiam,


sive Moralem, sive Naturalem exposuit.Ptolomaei
Lucensis historia ecclesiastica nova, xxii, c.
24,
in In Gregorovius's History of the City of Rome
In the Middle Ages, Vol V, part II, 617, note 2.
http://www.third-millennium-library.com/PDF/
Authors/Gregorovius/history-of-rome-city_5_2.pdf
Accessed 6-5-2011.
[38] Summa theologiae, I, 1, prooemium:"Quia Catholicae veritatis doctor non solum provectos debet instruere, sed ad
eum pertinet etiam incipientes erudire, secundum illud
apostoli I ad Corinth. III, tanquam parvulis in Christo, lac
vobis potum dedi, non escam; propositum nostrae intentionis in hoc opere est, ea quae ad Christianam religionem
pertinent, eo modo tradere, secundum quod congruit ad
eruditionem incipientium.
[39] Davies, Aquinas: An Introduction, p. 5.
[40] http://aquinatis.blogspot.com/2008/05/
vida-de-santo-toms-de-aquino.html
Accessed
22
June 2011: A mediados de noviembre abandon Santo
Toms la ciudad de Viterbo en compaa de fray Reginaldo de Piperno y su discpulo fray Nicols Brunacci.
http://www.brunacci.it/s--tommaso.html Accessed 22
June 2011.
http://www.brunacci.it/s--tommaso.html
Accessed 22 June 2011: Per l'acutezza del suo ingegno,
dopo aver studiato nella sua provincia, ebbe l'alto onore
di accompagnare S. Tommaso a Parigi nel novembre del
1268. Rimase in quello studio no al 1272 e di l pass a
Colonia sotto la disciplina di Alberto Magno.
[41] http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/92060 Accessed 29
June 2011
[42] Compendium Historiae Ordinis Praedicatorum, A.M.
Walz, Herder 1930, 214: Romanus conventus S. Mariae
supra Minervam anno 1255 ex conditionibus parvis crevit.
Tunc enim paenitentibus feminis in communi regulariter
ibi 1252/53 viventibus ad S. Pancratium migratis fratres
Praedicatores domum illam relictam a Summo Pontifice habendam petierunt et impetranint. Qua demum
feliciter obtenda capellam hospitio circa annum 1255
adiecerunt. Huc evangelizandi causa fratres e conventu S.
Sabinae descendebant. http://www.archive.org/stream/
MN5081ucmf_3/MN5081ucmf_3_djvu.txt Accessed 517-2011
[43] Marian Michle Mulchahey, First the bow is bent in
study": Dominican education before 1350, 1998, p. 323.
http://books.google.com/books?id=bK9axCYcbFIC&
pg=PA323 Accessed 5-26-2011
[44] Stump, Aquinas, pp. 1011.
[45] Stump, Aquinas, p. 11.
[46] Aquinas, Reader, pp. 911.
[47] McInerney, Against the Averroists, p. 10.
[48] Aquinas, Reader, p. 11.
[49] Guilelmus de Tocco, Ystoria sancti Thome de Aquino de
Guillaume de Tocco (1323), Pontical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1996, p. 162.

CHAPTER 155. THOMAS AQUINAS

[50] Catholic Encyclopedia


[51] Davies, The Thought, p. 9.
[52] McBride, William Leon (1997). The Development and
Meaning of Twentieth-century Existentialism. Taylor and
Francis. p. 131. ISBN 0-8153-2491-X.
[53] McInerny, Ralph and John O'Callaghan, "Saint Thomas
Aquinas", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall
2008 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.)
[54] Healy, Theologian, p. 7.
[55] Nichols, Discovering Aquinas, p. 18.
[56] Hampden, The Life, p. 46.
[57] Healy, Theologian, p. 8.
[58] Aquinas, Reader, p. 12.
[59] Hampden, The Life, p. 47.
[60] G. K. Chesterton wrote an Essay on St. Thomas Aquinas,
which appeared in The Spectator 27 Feb. 1932.
[61] Grant, Edward (1996). The Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages: Their Religious, Institutional, and
Intellectual Contexts. Cambridge University Press. pp.
8182. ISBN 0-521-56762-9.
[62] Kung, Christian Thinkers , pp. 112114.
[63] "Parad. x. 99. Divinecomedy.org. Retrieved 2010-0117.
[64] "Purg. xx. 69. Divinecomedy.org. Retrieved 2010-0117.
[65]Aquinas, Thomas, Encyclopdia Britannica (1911), pg.
250.
[66] Brian Mullady, O.P. (2006). The Angelic Doctor
Thomas Aquinas. Retrieved 2011-06-11.
[67] Hampden, The Life, p. 54.
[68] Calendarium Romanum Libreria Editrice Vaticana 1969,
p. 86
[69] Liturgy of the Hours Volume III, Proper of Saints, 28 January.
[70] Some would not describe Thomas as a philosopher. See,
e.g., Mark D. Jordan, Philosophy in a Summa of Theology", in Rewritten Theology: Aquinas after his Readers
(Oxford: Blackwell, 2006) pp. 154170.
[71] Davies, Brian (2004). Aquinas. Continuum International
Publishing Group. p. 14.
[72]One might ask why it is necessary [in the PseudoDionysian Corpus] to have an ordered hierarchy of angels at all in the Christian tradition, considering that the
Bible has no concept of celestial hierarchy....That it was
found necessary to invent a system of this nature [in the
Pseudo-Dionysisn Corpus] after 500 years is tantamount
to denying the ecacy of Christ as mediator altogether.

155.7. NOTES

485

Rosemarie A. ArthurThe Pseudo Dionysius as Polemicist: The Development and Purpose of the Angelic Hierarchy in Sixth Century SyriaLondon: Ashgate, 2011,
pp. 63-64.
[73] The Catholic source that shows Thomas' having been inuenced by this concoction more than any other source
is discussed in Peter Paul Fuchs Medieval Confabulations, The Mendicant Controversy, and the Real TemplarMasonic PhilosophyThe Association of Masonic Arts
http://www.masonicarts.org/309666939
[74] Blog Archive
Saints.SQPN.com.
2010-01-17.

"

Saint Thomas
22 October 1974.

Aquinas.
Retrieved

[75] "Summa, I-II, Q109a1. Ccel.org. Retrieved 2012-0325.


[76] Geisler, p. 727.
[77] "Summa, Q55a1. Ccel.org. Retrieved 2012-02-02.

[95] Stump, Eleanore (2006).Resurrection, Reassembly, and


Reconstitution: Aquinas on the Soul. In Bruno Niederberger and Edmund Runggaldier. Die menschliche Seele:
Brauchen wir den Dualismus? The Human Soul: Do We
Need Dualism?. Frankfurt-London: Ontos Verlag.
[96] Aquinas, Thomas (1920). Question 75, Article 1. In
Literally Translated by the Fathers of the English Dominican Province. Summa Theologiae of St. Thomas Aquinas.
Second and Revised Edition.
[97] Aquinas, Thomas (1920). Question 75, Article 3. In
Literally Translated by the Fathers of the English Dominican Province. Summa Theologiae of St. Thomas Aquinas.
Second and Revised Edition.
[98] Aquinas, Thomas (1975). 5 volumes.. In Translated
by Anton C. Pegis et al. Summa Contra Gentiles. Notre
Dame, Ind.: U. of Notre Dame Press.
[99] http://philpapers.org/rec/FRENBD

[100] Hankey, Wayne (2013). The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Religion (Second ed.). CSU East Bay: Routledge. pp. 134135. ISBN 978-0-415-78295-1.
Summa Theologica, First Part of the Second Part, Question 94 Reply Obj. 2
[101] Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, On the Work
of the Sixth Day, Reply to Objection 5, Fathers of the EnSumma Question 94, A.3
glish Dominican Province
"Summa, Q62a2. Ccel.org. Retrieved 2012-02-02.
[102] Saint Thomas Aquinas, Physica, Book 2, Lecture 14, FaAquinas Summa Theologica q91 a1
thers of the English Dominican Province

[78] 3. Aquinas
[79]
[80]
[81]
[82]

[83] Pojman, Louis (1995). Ethics: Discovering Right and [103] St. Augustine of Hippo, Crusades-Encyclopedia
Wrong. Belmont, California: Wadsworth Publishing
Company. ISBN 0-534-56138-1.
[104] Saint Augustine and the Theory of Just War
[84] "Summa, Q94a2. Ccel.org. Retrieved 2012-02-02.

[105] Reichberg, Gregory (June 2010). Thomas Aquinas


between Just War and Pacicism. Journal of Reli[85] Summa Theologica, Question 94, Second Article Reply
gious Ethics, 38(2), 219-241. 23 38 (38): 219241.
Obj.2
doi:10.1111/j.1467-9795.2010.00427.x.
[86] Aquinas, Thomas. IV In Sententiae. d. 27 q. 1 a.1.
[106] The Just War
Summa. Retrieved 2011-09-21.
[107] Justo L. Gonzalez (1984).
[87] St. Thomas Aquinas, STh I-II, 26, 4, corp. art. NewadHarperSanFrancisco.
vent.org. Retrieved 2010-10-30.
[88] Summa,Q.94, A.3.
[89] Summa, Q.94, A.5

The Story of Christianity.

[108] http://www.newadvent.org/summa/1002.htm#article1
[109] Summa of Theology I, q.2, The Five Ways Philosophers
Have Proven God's Existence

[90] Honderich, Ted, ed. (1995). Animals: Peter Singer.


The Oxford Companion to Philosophy. Oxford. pp. 35 [110] Kreeft, pp. 7477.
36.
[111] Kreeft, pp. 8687.
[91] Summa Theologica, second Part of the Second Part,
[112] See Actus Essendi. See also Online Resources: Actus EsQuestion 64. Article 1.
sendi Electronic Journal.
[92] Thomas Aquinas. Summa Theologica. Of Cheating,
[113] Kreeft, pp. 9799.
Which Is Committed in Buying and Selling.Translated
by The Fathers of the English Dominican Province Re- [114] Kreeft, p. 105.
trieved 19 June 2012
[115] Kreeft, pp. 111112.
[93] Barry Gordon (1987). Aquinas, St Thomas (1225
[116] "Summa, III, Q.71, art.6. Newadvent.org. Retrieved
1274)", v. 1, p. 100
2010-01-17.
[94] Heinz-Dietrich Wendland (1962): Sklaverei und Christentum. In: Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart, Third [117] Summa, III, Q.75, art.1. For evil is the absence of the
good, which is natural and due to a thing.
Edition, Tbingen (Germany), Vol. VI, col. 103

486

[118] http://www.newadvent.org/summa/1031.htm#article3
[119] Nichols, Aidan (2002). Discovering Aquinas. Grand
Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans Publishing Company. pp.
173174.
[120] Nichols, Aidan (2002). Discovering Aquinas. Grand
Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans Publishing Company. pp.
8082.
[121] Aquinas, pp. 228229.
[122] "Summa, III, Q.50, art.1. Newadvent.org. Retrieved
2010-01-17.
[123] Aquinas, pp. 231239.
[124] Aquinas, pp. 241, 245249. Emphasis is the author's.
[125] http://www.newadvent.org/summa/4002.htm#article4
[126] Weigel, George (2001). The Truth of Catholicism. New
York City: Harper Collins. p. 9. ISBN 0-06-621330-4.
[127] Kreeft, p. 383.
[128] Romans 6:23, ASV. Biblegateway.com. Retrieved
2010-01-17.

CHAPTER 155. THOMAS AQUINAS

155.8 References
Aquinas, Thomas (2000). Mary T. Clark, ed. An
Aquinas Reader: Selections from the Writings of
Thomas Aquinas. Fordham University Press. ISBN
0-8232-2029-X.
(2002). Aquinas's Shorter Summa. Manchester, New Hampshire: Sophia Institute Press.
ISBN 1-928832-43-1.
Davies, Brian (1993). The Thought of Thomas
Aquinas. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19826753-3.
(2004). Aquinas: An Introduction. Continuum. ISBN 0-8264-7095-5.
Geisler, Norman, ed. (1999). Baker Encyclopedia
of Christian Apologetics. Grand Rapids, Michigan:
Baker Academic.

[129] http://www.firstthings.com/article/1995/12/
003-aquinas-and-the-heretics

Gordon, Barry (2009) [1987], Aquinas, St


Thomas, The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics 1.

[130] Stump, Eleanore (2003). Aquinas, (in the series The Arguments of the Philosophers). London and New York: Routledge. p. 194.

Hampden, Renn Dickson (1848). "Encyclopdia


Metropolitana". London: John J. Grin & Co.
|chapter= ignored (help)

[131] Stump, Eleanore (2003). Aquinas, (in the series The Arguments of the Philosophers). London and New York: Routledge. p. 200.

Healy, Nicholas M. (2003). Thomas Aquinas: Theologian of the Christian Life. Ashgate. ISBN 07546-1472-7.

[132] Stump, Eleanore (2003). Aquinas, (in the series The Arguments of the Philosophers). London and New York: Routledge. p. 192.

Kreeft, Peter (1990). Summa of the Summa. Ignatius Press. ISBN 0-89870-300-X.

[133] Stump, Eleanore (2003). Aquinas, (in the series The Arguments of the Philosophers). London and New York: Routledge. pp. 461, 473.

Kung, Hans (1994). Great Christian Thinkers. New


York: Continuum Books. ISBN 0-8264-0848-6.

[134] The Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Vol V, Year 32, No. 378,
June, 1899, p. 570, http://books.google.com/books?id=
fpYvAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA570#v=onepage&q&f=false
Accessed 3-7-2013

McInerny, Ralph M. (1993). Aquinas Against the


Averroists: On There Being Only One Intellect. Purdue University Press. ISBN 1-55753-029-7.

[135] A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James


Joyce, Wordsworth 1992 edition, Introduction and Notes
by Jacqueline Belanger, 2001, p. 136, note 309:
"Synopsis Philosophiae ad mentem D. Thomae This appears to be a reference to Elementa Philosophiae ad
mentem D. Thomae Aquinatis, a selection of Thomas
Aquinas's writings edited and published by G. M. Mancini
in 1898. (G)" http://books.google.com/books?id=C_
rPXanc_HAC&pg=PA221#v=onepage&q&f=false Accessed 3-6-2013
[136] (Russell 1967, p. 463) A History of Western Philosophy,
Ch. 34,St. Thomas Aquinas, Allen & Unwin, London;
Simon & Schuster, New York 1946, 484-.
[137] (Russell 1967, p. 462)

Nichols, Aidan (2003). Discovering Aquinas: An Introduction to His Life, Work, and Inuence. Wm. B.
Eerdmans. ISBN 0-8028-0514-0.
Russell, Bertrand (1967), A History of Western Philosophy, Simon & Schuster, ISBN 0-67120158-1
Scha, Philip (1953).
Thomas Aquinas
.
The New Scha-Herzog Encyclopedia of
Religious Knowledge 126 (3190).
Grand
Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House.
pp.
Bibcode:1930Natur.126..951G.
42223.
doi:10.1038/126951c0.
Stump, Eleonore (2003).
ISBN 0-415-02960-0.

[138] http://www.newadvent.org/summa/5.htm
[139] Thomas Aquinas#Condemnation of 1277

Attribution

Aquinas.

Routledge.

155.10. EXTERNAL LINKS

487

This article incorporates text from a publication 155.10 External links


now in the public domain: Seeburg, Reinhold
(1914). Thomas Aquinas. In Jackson, Samuel
155.10.1 Biographies
Macauley. New SchaHerzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge XI (third ed.). London and New
St. Thomas Aquinas (pdf) biography from Fr. AlYork: Funk and Wagnalls. pp. 42227.
ban Butler's Lives of the Saints
This article incorporates text from a publication now
in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911).
"Thomas Aquinas". Encyclopdia Britannica (11th
ed.). Cambridge University Press.

155.9 Further reading


Copleston, Frederick (1991). Aquinas: An Introduction to the Life and Work of the Great Medieval
Thinker. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-013674-6.

"St. Thomas Aquinas". Catholic Encyclopedia.


1913.

St. Thomas Aquinas article by Daniel Kennedy in


Catholic Encyclopedia (1912), at NewAdvent.org
St. Thomas Aquinas biography by Jacques Maritain
St. Thomas Aquinas biography by G. K. Chesterton
protected by copyright outside Australia
Vita D. Thomae Aquinatis a pictorial life of Aquinas
from a manuscript by Otto van Veen (1610)

Faitanin, Paulo (2008). A Sabedoria do Amor: iniciao losoa de Santo Toms de Aquino [Love's
philosophy: initiation to Saint Thomas Aquinasphi- 155.10.2 On his thought
losophy] (in Portuguese). Instituto Aquinate. ISSN
Actus Essendi: An Electronic Journal on Aquinas's
1982-8845.
Doctrine of the Act of Being.
(2008). O Ofcio do Sbio: o modo de estudar e ensinar segundo Santo Toms de Aquino [The
wise's profession: the way of studying & learning after Saint Thomas Aquinas] (in Portuguese). Instituto
Aquinate. ISSN 1982-8845.

Brown, Paterson. Innite Causal Regression,


Philosophical Review, 1966.

Paterson, Craig & Matthew S. Pugh (eds.), Analytical Thomism: Traditions in Dialogue. Ashgate,
2006. Introduction to Thomism

Instituto Teolgico So Toms de Aquino (Portuguese)

Schmitz, Kenneth (2007). St. Thomas Aquinas


(audiobook). Narrated by Charlton Heston. Ashland, Oregon; Boulder, Colorado: Knowledge Products; Blackstone Audiobooks; NetLibrary. ISBN 07861-6932-X. OCLC 78235338.

Aquinas on Intelligent Extra-Terrestrial Life

Strathern, Paul (1998). Thomas Aquinas in 90 Minutes. Chicago: I.R. Dee. 90 p. ISBN 1-56663-1947
Torrell, Jean-Pierre (2005). Saint Thomas Aquinas
(Rev. ed.). Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press. ISBN 978-0-8132-1423-8.
OCLC 456104266.
Wallace, William A (1970). Thomas Aquinas,
Saint. In Gillispie, Charles. Dictionary of Scientic Biography 1. New York: Scribner & American
Council of Learned Societies. pp. 196200. ISBN
978-0-684-10114-9.
Weisheipl, James (1974). Friar Thomas D'Aquino:
his life, thought, and work (1st ed.). Garden City,
New York: Doubleday. ISBN 978-0-385-01299-7.

Brown, Paterson. St. Thomas's Doctrine of Necessary Being, Philosophical Review, 1964.

On the legend of St. Albert's automaton

Poetry of St. Thomas Aquinas


Biography and ideas at SWIF/University of
Bari/Italy (Italian)
Postilla in Job From the Book and Special Collections Division at the Library of Congress
Aquinas's Moral, Political and Legal Philosophy
Thomas Aquinas entry in the Internet Encyclopedia
of Philosophy
Aquinas: Metaphysics entry in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Aquinas: Moral Philosophy entry in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Aquinas: Political Philosophy entry in the Internet
Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Aquinas: Theology entry in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

488

CHAPTER 155. THOMAS AQUINAS

Thomas Aquinas at Find a Grave


Thomistic Philosophy Inspired by the enduring
thought of Saint Thomas Aquinas
Article on Thomism by the Jacques Maritain Center
of Notre Dame University
Thomistica.net news and newsletter devoted to the
academic study of Aquinas
Aquinas the Scholar from The Thirteenth, the Greatest of Centuries, ch. XVII. by James Joseph Walsh
A discussion of Aquinas on BBC Radio 4's In Our
Time series 2009

155.10.3

By Thomas

Works by or about Thomas Aquinas in libraries


(WorldCat catalog)
Corpus Thomisticum his complete works in
(Latin)
De Rationibus Fidei/Reasons for the Faith against
Muslim Objections...
Documenta Catholica Omnia his complete works
in PDF les, in (Latin), (Italian), (English), (German), (Spanish), (French), (Portuguese)
Summa contra Gentiles
Summa Theologica
The Principles of Nature
On Being and Essence (De Ente et Essentia)
Catena Aurea (partial)
Works by Thomas Aquinas at Project Gutenberg
Bibliotheca Thomistica IntraText: texts, concordances and frequency lists
An Aquinas Bibliography
Thomas Aquinas in English
De Magistro (On the teacher q. 11, a.1 of de Veritate)
Online Galleries, History of Science Collections,
University of Oklahoma Libraries High resolution
images of works by Thomas Aquinas in .jpg and .ti
format.

Chapter 156

Francisco de Toledo (Jesuit)


(2) Theological:In Summam theologi S. Thom
Aquinatis enarratio(4 vols., Rome, 1869), published by Father Jos Para, S.J.; Summa casuum
sive instructio sacerdotum(Lyons, 1599), forty-six
editions (Spanish tr., Juan de Salas; Italian, Andreo
Verna; French, Goar; summaries in Latin, Spanish, French, and Italian).

Francisco de Toledo (4 October 1532 in Cordoba


(Spain) - 14 September 1596 in Rome) was a Spanish
Jesuit priest and theologian, Biblical exegete and professor at the Roman College. He is the rst Jesuit to have
been made a cardinal (in 1593).

156.1 Biography

(3) Exegetical: In sacrosanctum Joannis Evangelium commentarium(Rome, 1592), nine editions; In prima XII capita Sacrosancti Jesu
Christi D. N. Evangelium secundum Lucam
(Rome, 1600), printing supervised by Father Miguel
Vzquez, S.J.; In Epistolam B. Pauli Apostoli ad
Romanos(Rome, 1602), Aramaic tr., Father Luis
de Azevedo. Manuscripts: Emmendationes in
Sacra Biblia vulgata, corrected by direction of
Clement VIII; Regul hebraic pro lingua sancta
intelligenda. Sermons: Motivs y advertencias
de casas dignas de refomacin cerca del Breviario
.* [3]

After studying under Domingo Soto, Toledo became a


professor of philosophy at the University of Salamanca
from 1555 to 1559.* [1]
He was ordained priest at Salamanca in 1556 and two
years later, in 1558, entered the Jesuit order. After a brief
period of spiritual formation he was called to Rome by
the Superior General, Diego Laynez, where the budding
Roman College was in great need of professors. Toledo
successively (and successfully) taught Philosophy (15591562), Scholastic and Moral Theology (1562-1569), and
was prefect of studies of the fast-growing university.
In the 1570s he published a number of commentaries on
Aristotle's works.* [2]
He directed the work on the Clementine Vulgate, the revision of the Latin Vulgate that was published in 1598;
this built on the Sistine Vulgate (the 1590 text), approved
by Pope Sixtus V.

156.3 Notes
[1] http://www.lcms.org/ca/www/cyclopedia/02/display.
asp?t1=T&t2=o
[2] Roger Ariew, Ren Descartes and the Jesuits, p. 164, in
Mordechai Feingold (editor), Jesuit Science and the Republic of Letters (2002)

156.2 Works

[3] "Francisco Toledo". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York:


Robert Appleton Company. 1913.

His works may be divided into three classes:


(1) Philosophical:Introductio in dialecticam Aristotelis(Rome, 1561), thirteen editions, apparently
the rst work of a Jesuit to be printed in Mexico; Commentaria una cum qustionibus in universam Aristotelis logicam(Rome, 1572), seventeen editions; Commentaria de physica auscultatione(Venice, 1573), fteen editions; De generatione et corruptione(Venice, 1575), seven editions;De anima(Venice, 1574), twenty editions;
Opera omnia. Opera philosophica(Lyons, 1586
92), only one volume issued.

156.4 External links


Biography
This article incorporates text from a publication now in
the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913).
"Francisco Toledo". Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.

489

Chapter 157

Cuthbert Tunstall
Cuthbert Tunstall (otherwise spelt Tunstal or Tonstall;
1474 18 November 1559) was an English Scholastic,
church leader, diplomat, administrator and royal adviser.
He served as Prince-Bishop of Durham during the reigns
of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I.

157.2 Bishop of Durham under


Henry VIII and Edward VI

On 22 February 1530 again by papal provision Tunstall succeeded Cardinal Wolsey as Bishop of Durham.
This role involved the assumption of quasi-regal power
authority within the territory of the diocese. In
157.1 Childhood and early career and
1537 he was also made President of the new Council
of the North. Although he was often engaged in timeconsuming negotiations with the Scots, he took part in
Cuthbert Tunstall was born at Hackforth, Yorkshire in other public business, and attended parliament, where in
1474, an illegitimate son of Thomas Tunstall of Thurland 1539 he participated in the discussion on the Bill of Six
Castle, Lancashire. His legitimate half-brother, Brian Articles.
Tunstall, was killed at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. In the question of Henry's divorce, Tunstall acted as one
Cuthbert studied mathematics, theology, and law at of Queen Catherine's counselors. Unlike Bishop John
Oxford (Balliol College), Cambridge (Trinity College), Fisher and Sir Thomas More, during the troubled years
and Padua, where he graduated Doctor of Laws. He was that followed Tunstall adopted a policy of passive obediprocient in Greek and Hebrew.
ence and acquiescence in many matters regarding which
William Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury made Tun- he likely had little support. While Tunstall adhered rmly
stall his chancellor on 25 August 1511, and shortly af- to Roman Catholic doctrine and practices, after some
terward appointed him rector of Harrow on the Hill. hesitation he accepted Henry as head of the Church of
He eventually became a canon of Lincoln (1514) and England, and publicly defended this position thus acarchdeacon of Chester (1515). Soon thereafter he was cepting a schism with Rome.
employed on diplomatic business by King Henry VIII and Tunstall disliked the religious policy pursued by the adCardinal Wolsey. In 1515, Tunstall was sent to then- visers of King Edward VI, and voted against the rst Act
Flanders, Belgium with Sir Thomas More.* [1] was at of Uniformity in 1549. However, he continued to disBrussels that he would meet Erasmus as well, becoming charge his public duties without interruption, and hoped
the intimate friend of both scholars. In 1519 he was sent that the Earl of Warwick might be induced to reverse
to Cologne; a visit to Worms (152021) gave him a sense the anti-Catholic policy of the Duke of Somerset. This
of the signicance held by the Lutheran movement and hope failed, and after Somerset's fall, Tunstall was sumits literature.
moned to London in May 1551, and conned to his house
Tunstall was made Master of the Rolls in 1516, and Dean
of Salisbury in 1521. In 1522, he became Bishop of London by papal provision, and on 25 May 1523 he was made
Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal. In 1525, he negotiated
with the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V after the Battle
of Pavia, and helped to arrange the Peace of Cambrai in
1529.

there. During this captivity he composed a treatise on


the Eucharist, which was published at Paris in 1554. At
the end of 1551 he was imprisoned in the Tower of London, and a bill for his deprivation was introduced into the
House of Commons. When this failed, he was tried by
a commission on 45 October 1552, and deprived of his
bishopric.

490

157.5. NOTES

491

157.3 Bishop of Durham under 157.5 Notes


Mary I and Elizabeth I
On the ascension of Mary I to the throne in 1553, Tunstall was granted liberty. His bishopric, which had been
dissolved by Act of Parliament in March 1553, was
re-established by a further Act in April 1554. Tunstall, now an octogenarian, again assumed his oce as
Bishop of Durham. He maintained his earlier conciliatory approach, indulging in no systematic persecution of
Protestants. Through Mary's reign he ruled his diocese in
peace.
When Elizabeth I ascended to the throne, Tunstall refused
to take the Oath of Supremacy, and would not participate
in the consecration of the Protestant Matthew Parker as
Archbishop of Canterbury. He was arrested, deprived
of his diocese in September 1559, and held prisoner at
Lambeth Palace, where he died within a few weeks, aged
85. He was one of eleven Catholic bishops to die in custody during Elizabeth's reign.
The Anglican historian Albert F. Pollard wrote:

Tunstall's long career of eighty-ve years,


for thirty-seven of which he was a bishop, is one
of the most consistent and honourable in the sixteenth century. The extent of the religious revolution under Edward VI caused him to reverse
his views on the royal supremacy and he refused
to change them again under Elizabeth.

157.4 Further reading


1. De arte supputandi libri quattuor (1522)
Based on the Summa of Luca Pacioli, this was the rst printed work
published in England that was devoted exclusively to mathematics.
1. Confutatio cavillationum quibus SS. Eucharistiae
Sacramentum ab impiis Caphernaitis impeti solet
(Paris, 1552)
2. De veritate corporis et sanguinis domini nostri Jesu
Christi in eucharistia (Paris, 1554)
3. Compendium in decem libros ethicorum Aristotelis
(Paris, 1554)
4. Certaine godly and devout prayers made in Latin by
C. Tunstall and translated into Englishe by Thomas
Paynelle, Clerke (London, 1558).
5. Tunstall's correspondence as president of the Council of the North is in the British Library.

[1] More, Thomas (1991). Robert Adams, ed. Utopia: A


Revised Translation, Backgrounds, Criticism (2 ed.). New
York City: W. W. Norton & Company. p. 3. ISBN 0393-96145-1.

157.6 References
This article incorporates text from a publication now
in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911).
Tunstall, Cuthbert. Encyclopdia Britannica
(11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
This article incorporates text from the 1913 Catholic
Encyclopedia article "Cuthbert Tunstall" by Edwin
Burton, a publication now in the public domain.

157.7 External links


O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., Cuthbert Tunstall, MacTutor History of Mathematics
archive, University of St Andrews.

Chapter 158

Jacopo Zabarella
Giacomo (or Jacopo) Zabarella (5 September 1533
15 October 1589) was an Italian Aristotelian philosopher
and logician.

158.1 Life
Zabarella was born into a noble Paduan family. He received a humanist education and entered the University
of Padua, where he received a doctorate in 1553. His
teachers included Francesco Robortello in humanities,
Bernardino Tomitano in logic, Marcantonio Genua in
physics and metaphysics, and Pietro Catena in mathematics. In 1564 he succeeded Tomitano in a chair of logic.
In 1577 he was promoted to the rst extraordinary chair
of natural philosophy. He died in Padua at the age of 56
in 1589. His entire teaching career was spent at his native
university. His successor was Cesare Cremonini.

158.2 Work
Zabarella's work reects his teaching in the Aristotelian
tradition. His rst published work was Opera logica Title page of Opera logica (1578).
(Venice 1578), followed by Tabula logicae (1578). His
commentary on Aristotle's Posterior Analytics appeared
in 1582. His great work in natural philosophy was De re- 158.3 Writings
bus naturalibus, published posthumously in 1590. It constituted 30 treatises on Aristotelian natural philosophy,
Opera Logica, (rst edition Venise, 1578; second
the introduction to which was written only weeks before
Venise, 1586; third Francfort, 158687) contains:
his death. His two sons edited his incomplete commen 1. De natura logicae; 2. De quarta gura syltaries on Aristotle's texts, also published posthumously
logismorum; 3. De methodis; 4. De conver(the commentary on the Physics in 1601 and the com*
sione demonstrationi in denitionem; 5. De
mentary on On the Soul (1605). [1]
propositionibus necessariis; 6. De speciebus
Zabarella consulted newly recovered Greek commendemonstrationis; /. De regressu; 8. De tribus
tators such as Alexander of Aphrodisias, Philoponus,
praecognitis; 9. De medio demonstrationis.
Simplicius, and Themistius, as well as medieval commentators like Thomas Aquinas, Walter Burley, and Averroes.
Opera Logica, (fourth edition Kln, 1597) with the
Unlike some earlier scholastic philosophers, he was literaddition of:
ate in Greek, and was therefore able to use the Greek texts
10. In II libros Posteriores analyticos comof Aristotle. He devoted much eort to presenting what
mentarii (Venise, 1582); 11. De doctrinae orhe considered to be the true meaning of Aristotle's texts.
492

158.6. REFERENCES
dine apologia (Padova, 1585); 12. Tabulae
logicae (Venise, 1578).
Opera Logica, anastatic reprint of the Kln 1597
edition by Wilhelm Risse, Hildesheim: Georg Olms,
1966.
De rebus naturalibus libri XXX (Venise, 1590).
De mente agente. De rebus naturalibus liber XXIX.
Edited by J. M. Garca Valverde, Fragmentos de
Filosofa, 9(2011).
De sensu gente. De rebus naturalibus liber XXIV.
Edizione a cura di J.M. Garca Valverde, Rivista di
Storia della Filosoa, 2012.
De inventione aeterni motoris. De rebus naturalibus
liber IV. Edicin de J.M. Garca Valverde, Bruniana
& Campanelliana, 2012.

493
H. Mikkeli (1992): An Aristotelian Response to Renaissance Humanism. Jacopo Zabarella on the Nature of Arts and Sciences, Helsinki: The Finnish Historical Society.
Randall, J.H. (1961): The School of Padua and the
Emergence of Modern Science. Padova: Editrice Antenore.

158.6 References
[1] Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

158.7 External links


Giacomo Zabarella entry by Heikki Mikkeli in the
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

In libros Aristotelis Physicorum commentarii,


(Venise, 1601).

Biography at The Galileo Project

Commentarii in Meteora, In Commentarii in Aristotelis libros physicorum, item In libros De generatione et corruptione, item In Meteora, (Frankfurt,
1602).

Ulrich G. Leinsle (1998). Jacopo Zabarella.


In Bautz, Traugott. Biographisch-Bibliographisches
Kirchenlexikon (BBKL) (in German) 14. Herzberg:
Bautz. cols. 292295. ISBN 3-88309-073-5., biography of Jacopo Zabarella

Commentarii in III libros De anima, (Venise, 1605).

158.4 Editions and translations


Iacobus Zabarella, Tables de logique.
Sur
l'Introduction de Porphyre, les Catgories, le De
l'interprtation et les Premiers Analytiques d'Aristote:
Petite synopse introductive la logique aristotlicienne. Paris: L'Harmattan, 2003, translated by
Michel Bastit.
Jacques Zabarella, La nature de la logique, Paris:
Vrin 2009, translated by Dominique Bouillon.
Jacopo Zabarella, On Methods and On Regressus,
edited and translated by John P. McCaskey (I Tatti
Renaissance Library; Harvard University Press,
2014).
Volume 1, On Methods, Books III.
Volume 2, On Methods, Books IIIIV and On
Regressus.

158.5 Bibliography
Edwards, William F. (1960): The Logic of Iacopo
Zabarella (15331589). Unpublished Ph.D.thesis,
Columbia University.

Philosophy Institute of the Dsseldorf University:


Philosophengalerie, articleJacobus Zabarella (Giacomo Zabarella)" (in German) online : with picture
Texts of Zabarella
German translation of De ordine intelligendi, by
Rudolf Schicker
German translation of Zabarella's De natura, by
Rudolf Schicker
Opera Logica (PDF)

Chapter 159

Archestratus (music theorist)


Archestratus (Greek: Archestratos) was
a harmonic theorist in the Peripatetic tradition* [1] and
probably lived in the early 3rd century BC.* [2] Little
is known of his life and career. Athenaeus' reference
(XIV.634d) to an Archestratus who wrote On auletes
( ) in two books is perhaps to him; it is
a rather remotepossibility that he is identical with
Archestratus of Syracuse.* [3]

example, and <the thesis that> there are only


three places for it in the pyknon. For this is
conrmed through <the proposition that> a pyknon is not placed next to a pyknon either as
a whole or in part. The theorem as a whole,
however, is put together on the basis of reason
(logiks); for <the proposition that> the forms
of the notes are of these sorts is worked out
by reason, since they are specic orderings of
the relation between the notes. And what one
might call the conclusionof the theorem
since it is rather sophistic to speak only of the
form of a note and thus to leave it as something
purely intelligible (noton) is obviously based
wholly on reason. From this, then, let this approach, too, have been shown.

159.1 Harmonic theory


The most substantial evidence for Archestratus' ideas is in
a passage of Porphyry's commentary on Ptolemy's Harmonics, pp. 2627 Dring:* [4]
After supporting what he [Didymus] has
said with further evidence, which I shall use
more appropriately later, he adds: And there
are others who give a place to both perception
and reason, but who assign a certain priority to
reason; one of them is Archestratus.
It would be helpful to digress a little and
clarify this man's approach, to the extent that
it will assist in outlining things that are useful to us now. He declared that there are three
notes in all, the barypyknos, the oxypyknos and
the amphipyknos. He says that the barypyknos
is the one from which one can place a pyknon
on the lower side, the oxypyknos, conversely, is
that from which one can place a pyknon on the
upper side, and the amphipyknos is that which
takes the position between them. And each of
them is embraced in a single note, since it is
possible for it <to occupy> several pitches, and
to weave a melody among them while the pitch
continues to be of one form, as <it is possible>
for both <of the hypatai> and <the> parames
and all such notes to be oxypyknoi, or so he
says.
In this way it turns out that on the one
hand he uses sense-perception as a criterion
too, since without it the particular items that
he adopts would not be apparent, the note, for

The pyknon is a structure located within a tetrachord. Despite the forbiddingly technical and aridappearance
of the doctrines ascribed to Archestratus, Andrew Barker
has argued that in fact they engage with issues of real
signicance to musicians, and to anyone seeking to understand the resources and strategies of melodic composition.* [5]

159.2 Connections with philosophy


The nal section of the passage cited from Porphyry suggests that Archestratus was interested in philosophical
topics including denition, matter and form andthe relative importance of the faculties of sense-perception and
reason in musical analysis,a topic that had been debated
by Plato (Rep. 530c-531c) and Aristoxenus (with whom
Archestratus seems to have been in broad sympathy).* [6]
Archestratus' claim that his work had substantial connections with philosophyearned him a vicious attack
in Philodemus' De musica, since Diogenes of Babylon,
Philodemus' chief antagonist in that work, had used
Archestratus' ideas in support of his own.* [7] Philodemus' report is as follows (De musica, Book 4 col. 137.1327 in the Bud edition of D. Delattre = pp. 912
Kemke):* [8]
494

159.4. REFERENCES
Archestratus and his followers, who say
that the parts of musical studies concerned with
the nature of the voice, the note, the interval
and other such things are philosophical matters, are people who should not be tolerated,
not only because they have set out on utterly
irrelevant theorising, and have babbled about
these things childishly in a way that is useless to
the science, but also because they are the only
people to have declared that the study of these
matters is mousik.
Archestratus may have hoped to show that specialized
sciences such as harmonics were entitled to the serious
attention of philosophers in general, but the schools of
Hellenistic philosophy were largely immune to this suggestion.* [9]

159.3 Notes
[1] Barker 2009, p. 420
[2] Barker 2009, p. 391
[3] Barker 2009, p. 391 n. 3
[4] Barker 2009, pp. 395, 416-7
[5] Barker 2009, p. 391
[6] Barker 2009, p. 392
[7] Barker 2009, p. 391
[8] Barker 2009, p. 411
[9] Barker 2009, p. 420

159.4 References
Andrew Barker, Musical Theory and Philosophy:
The Case of Archestratus,Phronesis 54 (2009), pp.
390422

495

Chapter 160

Aristo of Ceos
Aristo of Ceos (/rsto/; Greek: ; .
c. 225 BC) was a Peripatetic philosopher and a native of
the island of Ceos, where his birthplace was the town of
Ioulis. He is not to be confused with Aristo of Chios, a
Stoic philosopher of the mid 3rd century BC.
He was a pupil of Lyco,* [1] who had succeeded Strato
as the head of the Peripatetic school from about 269 BC.
After the death of Lyco, (around 225 BC), Aristo probably succeeded him as the head of the school. Aristo, who
was, according to Cicero,* [2] a man of taste and elegance,
was yet decient in gravity and energy, which prevented
his writings acquiring that popularity which they otherwise deserved, and may have been one of the causes of
their neglect and loss to us. In his philosophical views, if
we may judge from the scanty extant fragments, he seems
to have followed his master pretty closely. Diogenes
Lartius,* [3] after enumerating the works of Aristo of
Chios, says, that Panaetius and Sosicrates attributed all
these works, except the letters, to Aristo of Ceos. How
far this opinion is correct, we cannot, of course, say; at
any rate, however, one of those works, Conversations
on Love, is repeatedly ascribed to Aristo of Ceos by
Athenaeus.* [4] One work of Aristo not mentioned by
Diogenes Lartius, was entitled Lyco,* [5] in gratitude to
his master. There are also two epigrams in the Greek Anthology,* [6] which are commonly attributed to Aristo of
Ceos, though there is no evidence for it.

tion now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed.


(1870). Ariston, literary. 3". Dictionary of Greek
and Roman Biography and Mythology. p. 310.

160.3 Further reading

160.1 Notes
[1] Diogenes Lartius, v. 70, 74
[2] Cicero, de Finibus, v. 5
[3] Diogenes Lartius, vii. 163
[4] Athenaeus, Deipnosophists, x. 419, xiii. 563, and xv. 674
[5] Plutarch, de Aud. poet. 1.
[6] Greek Anthology, vi. 303, and vii. 457

160.2 References

This article incorporates text from a publica496

Fortenbaugh, W., White, S., Aristo of Ceos: Text,


Translation, and Discussion. Transaction Publishers. (2006). ISBN 0-7658-0283-X

Chapter 161

Aristobulus of Paneas
Aristobulus of Paneas (Greek: ; c.
160 BC) was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher of the
Peripatetic school, though he also used Platonic and
Pythagorean concepts. Like his successor, Philo, he attempted to fuse ideas in the Hebrew Scriptures with those
in Greek thought.
He lived in the third or 2nd century BC. The period of
his life is doubtful, Anatolius of Laodicea (270 CE) placing him in the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus (3rd century BC), Alfred Gercke in the time of Ptolemy Lathyrus
(latter part of 2nd century BC); while more reliable testimony indicates that he was a contemporary of Ptolemy
Philometor (middle of 2nd century BC). He is the author
of a book the exact title of which is not certain, although
there is sucient evidence to prove that it was an exposition of the Law.

had acquired most of their wisdom from Jewish sages and


ancient Hebrew texts (Gfrorer i. p. 308, also ii. 111-118)
(Eusebius citing Aristobulus and Numenius Ev ix. 6, xi.
10).

161.1 References
Jewish Encyclopedia entry

161.2 Notes

He was among the earliest of the Jewish Alexandrian


philosophers whose aim was to reconcile and identify
Greek philosophical conceptions with the Jewish religion.
Only a few fragments of his work, apparently entitled
Commentaries on the Writings of Moses, are quoted by
Clement, Eusebius and other theological writers, but they
suce to show its object. Eusebius* [1] has preserved two
fair-sized fragments of it, in which are found all the quotations from Aristobulus made by Clement. In addition,
there is extant a small passage concerning the time of the
Passover festival, quoted by Anatolius.* [2]
He endeavoured to prove that early Greek philosophers
had from Linus, Orpheus, Musaeus and others, passages
which strongly resemble the Mosaic writings. It is suggested that the name Aristobulus was taken from 2 Macc.
i. 10. The hypothesis* [3] that it was from Aristobulus
that the philosophy of the Wisdom of Sirach was derived
is not generally accepted.
Aristobulus was among many philosophers of his day
who argued that the essentials of Greek philosophy and
metaphysics were derived from Jewish sources. Philosopher Numenius of Apamea (2nd century CE) echoes this
position in his well known statement What is Plato
but Moses speaking Attic Greek?" (1.150.4) Aristobulus
maintained, 150 years earlier than Philo, that not only the
oldest Grecian poets, Homer, Hesod, Orpheus, etc., but
also the most celebrated Greek thinkers, especially Plato,

497

[1] Praeparatio Evangelica viii. 10, xiii. 12.


[2] Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica, vii. 32, 17.
[3] Schlatter, Das Neugefundene Hebrische Stck des Sirach,
1897.

This article incorporates text from a publication now


in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911).
Encyclopdia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge
University Press.

Chapter 162

Aristoxenus
For the 1st century physician of Asia Minor, see sias).* [2] He learned music from his father, and havAristoxenus (physician).
ing then been instructed by Lamprus of Erythrae and
Aristoxenus of Tarentum (Greek: ; . Xenophilus the Pythagorean, he nally became a pupil
of Aristotle,* [3] whom he appears to have rivaled in the
variety of his studies. According to the Suda,* [4] he
heaped insults on Aristotle after his death, because Aristotle had designated Theophrastus as the next head of
the Peripatetic school, a position which Aristoxenus himself had coveted having achieved great distinction as a
pupil of Aristotle. This story is, however, contradicted
by Aristocles,* [5] who asserts that he never mentioned
Aristotle but with the greatest respect.

162.2 Overview of his works


His writings, said to have consisted of four hundred and
fty-three books,* [4] were in the style of Aristotle, and
dealt with philosophy, ethics and music. The only work
of his that has come down to us is the three books of
the Elements of Harmony, an incomplete musical treatise.
Aristoxenus' theory had an empirical tendency; in music
he held that the notes of the scale are to be judged, not
as the Pythagoreans held, by mathematical ratio, but by
the ear. Vitruvius in his De architectura* [6] paraphrases
the writings of Aristoxenus on music. His ideas were responded to and developed by some later theorists such
as Archestratus, and his place in the methodological debate between rationalists and empiricists was commented
upon by such writers as Ptolemais of Cyrene.

A modern imagining of the appearance of Aristoxenus.

335 BC) was a Greek Peripatetic philosopher, and a


pupil of Aristotle. Most of his writings, which dealt with
philosophy, ethics and music, have been lost, but one musical treatise, Elements of Harmony (Greek:
; Latin: Elementa harmonica), survives incomplete, as well as some fragments concerning rhythm and
meter. The Elements is the chief source of our knowledge
of ancient Greek music.* [1]

The theory that the soul is a harmonyof the four elements composing the body, and therefore mortal (nothing at all,in the words of Cicero* [7]), was ascribed to
Aristoxenus (fr. 118-121 Wehrli) and Dicaearchus. This
theory is comparable to the one oered by Simmias in
Plato's Phaedo.

162.3 Elementa harmonica


162.1 Life

In his Elements of Harmony (also Harmonics), Aristoxenus attempted a complete and systematic exposition of
Aristoxenus was born at Tarentum, and was the son of music. The rst book contains an explanation of the
a learned musician named Spintharus (otherwise Mne- genera of Greek music, and also of their species; this
498

162.5. OTHER WORKS

499

is followed by some general denitions of terms, particularly those of sound, interval, and system.* [8] In the
second book Aristoxenus divides music into seven parts,
which he takes to be: the genera, intervals, sounds, systems, tones or modes, mutations, and melopoeia.* [8] The
remainder of the work is taken up with a discussion of
the many parts of music according to the order which he
had himself prescribed.* [8]
Aristoxenus rejected the opinion of the Pythagoreans that
arithmetic rules were the ultimate judge of intervals and
that in every system there must be found a mathematical coincidence before such a system can be said to be
harmonic.* [8] In his second book he asserted that by
the hearing we judge of the magnitude of an interval, and
by the understanding we consider its many powers.* [8]
And further he wrote, that the nature of melody is best
discovered by the perception of sense, and is retained by
memory; and that there is no other way of arriving at the
knowledge of music;" and though, he wrote, others afrm that it is by the study of instruments that we attain
this knowledge;" this, he wrote, is talking wildly, for
just as it is not necessary for him who writes an Iambic to
attend to the arithmetical proportions of the feet of which
it is composed, so it is not necessary for him who writes a
Phrygian song to attend to the ratios of the sounds proper
thereto.* [8]
Thus the nature of Aristoxenus' scales and genera deviated sharply from his predecessors. Aristoxenus introduced a radically dierent model for creating scales. Instead of using discrete ratios to place intervals, he used
continuously variable quantities. Hence the structuring of
his tetrachords and the resulting scales have other qualities of consonance.* [9]

On Pythagoras and his pupils (


): fr. 14 Wehrli
On the Pythagorean life (
): fr. 31 Wehrli
Pythagorean maxims or Pythagorean negations
( ): fr. 34 Wehrli
Educational customs or Rules of education
( ): fr. 42-43 Wehrli
Political laws ( ): fr. 44-45 Wehrli
Mantinean character ( ): fr. 45, I,
lines 1-9 Wehrli
Praise of Mantineans ( ): fr.
45, I, lines 10-12 Wehrli
Life of Archytas ( ): fr. 47-50 Wehrli
Life of Socrates ( ): fr. 54 Wehrli
Life of Plato ( ): fr. 64 Wehrli
On tonoi ( ): a brief quotation in
Porphyry's commentary on Ptolemy's Harmonics, p.
78 Dring (not edited by Wehrli)
On music ( ): fr. 80, 82, 89 Wehrli
On listening to music or Lecture course on music
( ): fr. 90 Wehrli
On Praxidamas (): fr. 91 Wehrli
On melodic composition or On music in lyric poetry
( ): fr. 93 Wehrli
On musical instruments ( ): fr. 94-95,
102 Wehrli

162.4 On rhythmics and metrics


Part of the second book of a work on rhythmics and
metrics, Elementa rhythmica, is preserved in medieval
manuscript tradition.
Aristoxenus was also the author of a work On the Primary
Duration (chronos).
A ve-column fragment of a treatise on meter (P.
Oxy. 9/2687) was published in Grenfell and Hunt's
Oxyrhynchus Papyri, vol. 1 (1898) and is probably by
Aristoxenus.

On auloi ( ): fr. 96 Wehrli


On auletes ( ): fr. 100 Wehrli
On the boring of auloi ( ): fr.
101 Wehrli
On choruses ( ): fr. 103 Wehrli
On tragic dancing ( ): fr.
104-106 Wehrli
Comparisons of dances (): fr.
Wehrli

109

162.5 Other works

On tragic poets ( ): fr. 113


Wehrli

The edition of Wehrli presents the surviving evidence for


works with the following titles (not including several fragments of uncertain origin):

Life of Telestes ( ): fr. 117 Wehrli


(according to whom this Telestes is the dithyrambic
poet)

Life of Pythagoras ( ): fr.


Wehrli

11

Miscellaneous table talk or Sympotic miscellany


( ): fr. 124 Wehrli

500
Notes or Memorabilia (), Historical notes ( ), Brief notes
( ), Miscellaneous notes
( ), Random jottings (
): fr. 128-132, 139 Wehrli

CHAPTER 162. ARISTOXENUS

[7] Cicero, Tusculanae Quaestiones 1.22.51, cf. 1.11.24


[8] Sir John Hawkins, (1868), A general history of the science
and practice of music, Volume 1, pp. 66-7
[9] John Chalmers, (1993) Divisions of the Tetrachord, Chapter 3, pp. 1722. Frog Peak Music. ISBN 0-945996-047.

162.6 Editions and translations


Sources
Barker, Andrew (1989). Greek Musical Writings,
vol. 2: Harmonic and Acoustic Theory (Cambridge),
pp. 11989, English translation with introduction
and notes, ISBN 0-521-61697-2
Macran, Henry Stewart (1902). The Harmonics of
Aristoxenus (Oxford), Greek text with English translation and notes (archive.org, Google Books)
Marquard, Paul (1868). Die harmonischen Fragmente des Aristoxenus (Berlin), Greek text with
German translation and commentary (archive.org,
Google Books)
Pearson, Lionel (1990). Aristoxenus: Elementa
rhythmica. The fragment of Book II and the additional evidence for Aristoxenean rhythmic theory
(Oxford ), Greek texts with introduction, translation, and commentary, ISBN 0-19-814051-7
Wehrli, Fritz (1967). Die Schule des Aristoteles, vol.
2: Aristoxenos, 2nd. ed. (Basel/Stuttgart), Greek
text (excluding the harmonic fragments, rhythmic
fragments, On the Primary Duration, and On tonoi:
see p. 28) with commentary in German
Westphal, Rudolf (1883-1893). Aristoxenus von
Tarent: Melik und Rhythmik des classischen Hellenenthums, 2 vols. (Leipzig) (vol. 1, vol. 2)
Westphal, Rudolf (1861). Die Fragmente und die
Lehrstze der griechischen Rhythmiker (Leipzig), pp.
2641, Greek text of Elementa rhythmica and On the
Primary Duration (Google Books)

162.7 References and sources


References
[1]Aristoxenus of Tarentumin Chambers's Encyclopdia.
London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 1, p. 593.
[2] Suda, Aristoxenos; Aelian, H. A. ii. 11.
[3] Aulus Gellius, iv. 11; Cicero, Tusc. Disp. i. 18
[4] Suda, Aristoxenos
[5] Aristocles ap. Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelica xv. 2
[6] Vitruvius, Book V Chapter IV

This article incorporates text from a publication now


in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911).
Encyclopdia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge
University Press.

162.8 Further reading


Blis, Annie (1986). Aristoxne de Tarente et Aristote: le Trait d'harmonique. Paris, Klincksieck.
Barker, Andrew (1978). "Hoi Kaloumenoi harmonikoi: The Predecessors of Aristoxenus. Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society 24:
121. doi:10.1017/s0068673500003990.
Barker, Andrew (1978).Music and Perception: A
Study in Aristoxenus. Journal of Hellenic Studies
98: 916. doi:10.2307/630189.
Blis, Annie (2001). Aristoxenus. In Stanley
Sadie and John Tyrrell (eds.). The New Grove
Dictionary of Music and Musicians 1. London:
Macmillan Publishers. p. .
LaRue, Richard (1966). Aristoxenus and Greek
Mathematics. Aspects of Medieval and Renaissance Music. New York: W. W. Norton and Co.
|rst1= missing |last1= in Editors list (help)
Henderson, Isabel (1957). Ancient Greek Music
. In Wellesz, Egon. Ancient and Oriental Music. The
New Oxford History of Music 1. London: Oxford
University Press.
Human, Carl (2012). Aristoxenus of Tarentum:
Texts and Discussions. New Brunswick: Transactions Publications.
Levin, Flora (1972). Synesis in Aristoxenian
Theory. American Philological Transactions 103:
211234.
Lippman, Edward (1964). Musical Thought in Ancient Greece. New York: Columbia University
Press.
Rowell, Lewis (1979). Aristoxenus on Rhythm
. Journal of Music Theory 23 (Spring): 6379.
doi:10.2307/843694.

162.9. EXTERNAL LINKS


Winnington-Ingram, R. P. (1980). Aristoxenus
. In Stanley Sadie (ed.). The New Grove Dictionary
of Music and Musicians 1. London: Macmillan Publishers. p. .

162.9 External links


Works written by or about Aristoxenus at
Wikisource
Aristoxenus, archived article by Andrew Barker

501

Chapter 163

Calliphon
For the 6th-century BC Pythagorean, see Calliphon of
Croton.
Calliphon (or Callipho, Greek: ; 2nd century
BC) was a Greek philosopher, who probably belonged
to the Peripatetic school and lived in the 2nd century
BC.* [1] He is mentioned several times and condemned
by Cicero as making the chief good of man to consist in
a union of virtue (Latin: honestas) and bodily pleasure
(Greek: , Latin: voluptas), or, as Cicero says, in
the union of the human with the beast.* [2]

163.1 Notes
[1] Fortenbaugh, W., White S., (2002), Lyco of Troas and
Hieronymus of Rhodes, Page 119. Transaction Publishers
[2] Cicero, de Finibus, ii. 6, 11, iv. 18, v. 8, 25, de Ociis,
iii. 33, Tusculanae Quaestiones, v. 30, 31; Clement of
Alexandria, Stromata, 2. 127.

This article incorporates text from a publication now in


the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "* article
name needed". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

502

Chapter 164

Chamaeleon (philosopher)
Chamaeleon (or Chameleon; Greek: ; c.
350 c. 275 BC), was a Peripatetic philosopher of
Heraclea Pontica. He was one of the immediate disciples
of Aristotle. He wrote works on several of the ancient
Greek poets, namely:
- On Anacreon
- On Sappho
- On Simonides
- On Thespis
- On Aeschylus
- On Lasus
- On Pindar
- On Stesichorus
He also wrote on the Iliad, and on Comedy (
). In this last work he treated, among other
subjects, of the dances of comedy.* [1] This work is
quoted by Athenaeus* [2] by the title
, which is also the title of a work by the
Peripatetic philosopher Eumelus. It would seem also
that he wrote on Hesiod, for Diogenes Lartius says,
that Chamaeleon accused Heraclides Ponticus of having stolen from him his work concerning Homer and
Hesiod.* [3] The above works were probably both biographical and critical. He also wrote works entitled
, and , and some moral treatises,
(which was also ascribed to Theophrastus),
, and . Of all his works only a
few fragments are preserved by Athenaeus and other ancient writers.

164.1 Notes
[1] Athenaeus, xiv. 628
[2] Athenaeus, ix. 374
[3] Diogenes Lartius, v. 6. 92.

503

Chapter 165

Clearchus of Soli
(Gergithios); a treatise on attery

Clearchus of Soli (Greek: Ko, Klearkhos) was a


Greek philosopher of the 4th3rd century BCE, belonging to Aristotle's Peripatetic school. He was born in Soli
in Cyprus.

(Peri lis); on friendship


(Paroimiai); proverbs

He wrote extensively on eastern cultures, and is thought


to have traveled to the Bactrian city of Ai-Khanoum
(Alexandria on the Oxus) in modern Afghanistan.

(Peri griphn); on riddles


(Ertika); a probably historical collection
of love-stories with some very odd questions on the
subject

165.1 Writings

(Peri graphn); on paintings

Clearchus wrote extensively around 320 BCE on eastern cultures, from Persia to India, and several fragments
from him are known. His bookOf Education(Greek:
, Peri paideis) was preserved by Diogenes
Laertius.

(Perigraphai); ?
the reading in
Athenaeus is doubtful (XIV 648f)
(Peri narks); on the electric ray
(Peri tn enudrn); on wateranimals

Clearchus in particular expressed several theories on the


connection between western and eastern religions. In
Of Education, he wrote that the gymnosophists are
descendants of the Magi". In another text, quoted by
Josephus, Clearchus reported a dialogue with Aristotle,
where the philosopher states that the Hebrews were descendants of the Indian philosophers:
Jews are derived from the Indian philosophers; they are named by the Indians Calami,
and by the Syrians Judaei, and took their name
from the country they inhabit, which is called
Judea; but for the name of their city, it is a
very awkward one, for they call it Jerusalem.
Josephus, Contra Apionem, I, 22.* [1]

(Peri thnn); on sand-wastes


(Peri skeletn); an anatomical work
(Peri upnou); on sleep (genuineness
questionable)
There is some question as to whether the work on military
tactics cited by Aelianus Tacticus should be ascribed to
Clearchus of Soli or Clearchus of Heraclea.

165.2 Travels

His works included also:* [2]

In the Bactrian city of Ai-Khanoum, near the border with


(Bioi); a biographical work, of at least eight vol- India, Greek verses, brought to city by Clearchus from
Delphi, were dedicated to the founder of the city named
umes
Kineas. On a Heron (funerary monument), identied in
A commentary on Plato's Timaeus
Greek as the tomb of Kineas (also described as the oikistes
(founder) of the Greek settlement) and dated to 300-250
(Platnos enkmion); eulogy
BC, the inscription says:
to Plato
(Peri tn en t Platnos Poltei
mathmatiks eirmenn); on the mathematical
subjects in Plato's Republic
504

As children, learn good manners.


As young men, learn to control the passions.
In middle age, be just.

165.3. NOTES

The inscription with the Delphic precepts, at Ai-Khanoum.

In old age, give good advice.


Then die, without regret.
(Ai Khanoum inscription)
The precepts were placed by a Greek named Clearchus,
thought to be Clearchus of Soli, who had copied them
from Delphi:

Whence Klearchos, having copied them carefully, set them up, shining from afar, in the
sanctuary of Kineas
(Ai Khanoum inscription)
Clearchus of Soli was a contemporary and compatriot of
Stasanor (born in the same city of Soli, in Cyprus), who
was a general of Alexander the Great and later satrap of
Bactria and Sogdiana.

165.3 Notes
[1] Excerpt of Chapter I-22, Josephus, Contra Apionem:
For Clearchus, who was the scholar of Aristotle, and inferior to no one of the Peripatetics whomsoever, in his rst
book concerning sleep, says thatAristotle his master related what follows of a Jew,and sets down Aristotle's
own discourse with him. The account is this, as written
down by him: Now, for a great part of what this Jew
said, it would be too long to recite it; but what includes
in it both wonder and philosophy it may not be amiss to
discourse of. Now, that I may be plain with thee, Hyperochides, I shall herein seem to thee to relate wonders, and
what will resemble dreams themselves. Hereupon Hyperochides answered modestly, and said, For that very reason
it is that all of us are very desirous of hearing what thou art
going to say. Then replied Aristotle, for this cause it will
be the best way to imitate that rule of the Rhetoricians,
which requires us rst to give an account of the man, and
of what nation he was, that so we may not contradict our
master's directions. Then said Hyperochides, Go on, if it
so pleases thee. This man then, [answered Aristotle,] was
by birth a Jew, and came from Celesyria; these Jews are
derived from the Indian philosophers; they are named by
the Indians Calami, and by the Syrians Judaei, and took
their name from the country they inhabit, which is called
Judea; but for the name of their city, it is a very awkward
one, for they call it Jerusalem. Now this man, when he
was hospitably treated by a great many, came down from
the upper country to the places near the sea, and became
a Grecian, not only in his language, but in his soul also;
insomuch that when we ourselves happened to be in Asia
about the same places whither he came, he conversed with

505

us, and with other philosophical persons, and made a trial


of our skill in philosophy; and as he had lived with many
learned men, he communicated to us more information
than he received from us.This is Aristotle's account of
the matter, as given us by Clearchus; which Aristotle discoursed also particularly of the great and wonderful fortitude of this Jew in his diet, and continent way of living, as those that please may learn more about him from
Clearchus's book itself; for I avoid setting down any more
than is sucient for my purpose.Josephus, Contra Apionem, I
[2] Smith, William (editor); Dictionary of Greek and Roman
Biography and Mythology,Clearchus, Boston, (1867)

Chapter 166

Critolaus
For the general of the Achaean League, 147/6 BC, see c. 111 BC, he found Critolaus' pupil Diodorus of Tyre at
Critolaos of Megalopolis.
the head of the Peripatetic school.* [3]
Critolaus (/kratle.s/; Greek: Kritolaos;
c. 200-c. 118 BC* [1]) of Phaselis was a Greek philosopher of the Peripatetic school. He was one of three
philosophers sent to Rome in 155 BC (the other two being
Carneades and Diogenes of Babylon), where their doctrines fascinated the citizens, but scared the more conservative statesmen. None of his writings survive. He was
interested in rhetoric and ethics, and considered pleasure
to be an evil. He maintained the Aristotelian doctrine of
the eternity of the world, and of the human race in general, directing his arguments against the Stoics.

166.1 Life
He was born in Phaselis, a Greek colony in Lycia, c. 200
BC, and studied philosophy at Athens under Aristo of
Ceos, and became one of the leaders of the Peripatetic
school by his eminence as an orator, a scholar and a
moralist. There has been considerable discussion as to
whether he was the immediate successor of Aristo, but
the evidence is confused.
The great reputation which Critolaus enjoyed at Athens,
as a philosopher, an orator, and a statesman, induced the
Athenians to send him to Rome in 155 BC, together with
Carneades and Diogenes the Stoic, to obtain a remission
of the ne of 500 talents which the Romans had imposed
upon Athens for the destruction of Oropus. They were
successful in the object for which they came; and the embassy excited the greatest interest at Rome. Not only the
Roman youth, but the most illustrious men in the state,
such as Scipio Africanus, Laelius, Furius, and others,
came to listen to their discourses. The novelty of their
doctrines seemed to the Romans of the old school to be
fraught with such danger to the morals of the citizens, that
Cato induced the senate to send them away from Rome as
quickly as possible.* [2] Gellius describes his arguments
as elegant and polished(Latin: scita et teretia). We
have no further information respecting the life of Critolaus. He lived upwards of eighty-two years, but died c.
118 BC. By the time Licinius Crassus arrived at Athens

166.2 Philosophy
Critolaus seems to have paid particular attention to
Rhetoric, though he considered it, like Aristotle, not as
an art, but rather as a matter of practice. Cicero speaks in
high terms of his eloquence.* [4] Next to Rhetoric, Critolaus seems to have given his chief attention to the study
of moral philosophy, and to have made some additions
to Aristotle's system.* [5] In general, he deviated very little from the philosophy of the founder of the Peripatetic
school,* [6] though in some respects he went beyond his
predecessors. For example, he held that pleasure is an
evil,* [7] and denitely maintained that the soul consists
of aether. The end of existence was to him the general
perfection of the natural life, including the goods of the
soul and the body, and also external goods. Cicero says in
the Tusculanae Quaestiones that the goods of the soul entirely outweighed for him the other goods (Latin: tantum
propendere illam bonorum animi lancem).
Further, he defended against the Stoics the Peripatetic
doctrine of the eternity of the world and the indestructibility of the human race. There is no observed change
in the natural order of things; humankind recreates itself
in the same manner according to the capacity given by
Nature, and the various ills to which it is heir, though fatal to individuals, do not avail to modify the whole. Just
as it is absurd to suppose that humans are merely earthborn, so the possibility of their ultimate destruction is inconceivable. The world, as the manifestation of eternal
order, must itself be immortal.
A Critolaus is mentioned by Plutarch* [8] as the author
of a work on Epirus, and of another entitled Phenomena;
and Aulus Gellius* [9] also speaks of an historical writer
of this name. Whether the historian is the same as the
Peripatetic philosopher, cannot be determined. A grammarian Critolaus is mentioned in the Etymologicum Magnum.

506

166.3. NOTES

166.3 Notes
[1] Tiziano Dorandi, Chapter 2: Chronology, in Algra et al.
(1999) The Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy,
page 50. Cambridge.
[2] Plutarch, Cato Maj. 22; Aulus Gellius, vii. 14; Macrobius
Saturnalia i. 5 ; Cicero, de Orat. ii. 37, 38.
[3] Lucian, Macrobii 20; Cicero, De Oratore, i. 11.
[4] Quintillian, ii. 15. 23, 17. 15; Sextus Empiricus, adv.
Mathem. ii. 12; Cicero, De Finibus, v. 5.
[5] comp. Cicero, Tusculanae Quaestiones v. 17; Clement of
Alexandria, Stromata, ii.
[6] cf. Cicero, De Finibus, v. 5 C. imitari antiquos voluit
.
[7] Aulus Gellius, ix. 5. 6.
[8] Plutarch, Parall. min. cc. 6, 9.
[9] Aulus Gellius, xi. 9.

This article incorporates text from a publication now


in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911).
Encyclopdia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

507

Chapter 167

Demetrius of Phalerum
167.1 Life

Statue of Demetrius at the entrance of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina

Demetrius was born in Phalerum, c. 350 BC. He was the


son of Phanostratus, a man without rank or property.* [2]
He was educated, together with the poet Menander, in
the school of Theophrastus.* [3] He began his public career about 325 BC, at the time of the disputes concerning
Harpalus, and soon acquired a great reputation by the talent he displayed in public speaking. He belonged to the
pro-oligarchic party of Phocion; and he acted in the spirit
of that statesman. When Xenocrates was unable to pay
the new tax on metics (foreign residents) c. 322 BC, and
the Athenians threatened him with slavery, he was only
saved (according to one story) when Demetrius purchased
his debt and paid his tax.* [4] After the death of Phocion
in 317 BC, Cassander placed Demetrius at the head of
the administration of Athens. He lled this oce for ten
years, instituting extensive legal reforms. The Athenians
conferred upon him the most extraordinary distinctions
(almost all of which were revoked after his later expulsion
from Athens), and no less than 360 statues were erected
to him.* [5] However, Demetrius was unpopular with the
lower classes of Athenians and with pro-democratic political factions, who resented the limitations he placed on
the democratic franchise and viewed him as little more
than a pro-Macedonian puppet ruler.* [6]
According to Stephen V. Tracy, the story about the statues was not historical; also he argues that Demetrius later
played a big role in the foundation of the Library of
Alexandria.* [7]

Demetrius of Phalerum (also Demetrius of Phaleron


or Demetrius Phalereus; Greek: ; c. 350 c. 280 BC* [1]) was an Athenian orator originally from Phalerum, a student of Theophrastus,
and perhaps of Aristotle, himself, and one of the rst
Peripatetics. Demetrius was a distinguished statesman
who was appointed by the Macedonian king, Cassander,
to govern Athens, where he ruled as sole ruler for ten
years, introducing important reforms of the legal system while maintaining pro-Cassander oligarchic rule. He
was exiled by his enemies in 307 BC, and he went
rst to Thebes, and then, after 297 BC, to the court
of Alexandria. He wrote extensively on the subjects of
history, rhetoric, and literary criticism.

He remained in power until 307 BC when Cassander's


enemy, Demetrius Poliorcetes captured Athens, and
Demetrius was obliged to take to ight.* [8] It was claimed
that during the latter period of his administration he had
abandoned himself to every kind of excess,* [9] and we
are told he squandered 1200 talents a year on dinners,
parties, and love aairs. Carystius of Pergamum mentions that he had a lover by the name of Diognis, of whom
all the Athenian boys were jealous.* [10] After his exile, his enemies contrived to induce the people of Athens
to pass the death sentence upon him, in consequence of
which his friend Menander nearly fell a victim. All his
statues, with the exception of one, were demolished.
Demetrius rst went to Thebes,* [11] and then (after Cas-

508

167.3. REFERENCES TO DEMETRIUS

509

sander's death in 297 BC) to the court of Ptolemy I Soter 167.3 References to Demetrius
at Alexandria, with whom he lived for many years on the
best terms, and who is even said to have entrusted to him
167.3.1 Diogenes Lartius
the revision of the laws of his kingdom.* [12] During his
stay at Alexandria, he devoted himself mainly to literary
Diogenes Lartius devotes a section of his The Lives
pursuits, ever cherishing the recollection of his own counand
Opinions of Eminent Philosophers to Demetrius
try.* [13]
Phalereus.* [26]
On the accession of Ptolemy Philadelphus, Demetrius fell
into disfavour (he apparently supported the wrong candidate, Ptolemy Keraunos),* [14] and was sent into exile to 167.3.2 Hegel
Upper Egypt, where he is said to have died of the bite of
a snake.* [15] His death appears to have taken place soon Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, in the Lectures on the
History of Philosophy, says of Demetrius Phalereus that
after the year 283 BC.
Demetrius Phalereus and others were thus soon after [Alexander] honoured and worshipped in Athens as
God.* [27] What the exact source was for Hegel's claim
167.2 Works and legacy
is unclear. Diogenes Lartius does not mention this.* [28]

167.2.1

Literary works

Demetrius was the last among the Attic orators worthy


of the name,* [16] after which the activity went into a
decline. His orations were characterised as being soft,
graceful, and elegant,* [17] rather than sublime like those
of Demosthenes. His numerous writings, the greater
part of which he probably composed during his residence
in Egypt,* [18] embraced a wide range of subjects, and
the list of them given by Diogenes Lartius* [19] shows
that he was a man of the most extensive acquirements.
These works, which were partly historical, partly political, partly philosophical (e.g. Aisopeia, a collection of
Aesopic Fables), and partly poetical, have all perished.
The work On Style ( ) which has come
down under his name, is the work of a later writer, c.
2nd century AD.

Apparently Hegel's error comes from a misreading of


Plutarch's Life of Demetrius which is about Demetrius Poliorcetes and not Demetrius of Phalereus. But, Plutarch
describes in the work how Demetrius Poliorcetes conquered Demetrius Phalereus at Athens. Then, in chapter 12 of the work, Plutarch describes how Demetrius
Poliorcetes was given honors due to the god Dionysus.
Somehow this account by Plutarch was confusing not only
for Hegel, but for others as well.* [29]

167.4 References
[1] Tiziano Dorandi, Chapter 2: Chronology, in Algra et al.
(1999) The Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy,
pages 49-50. Cambridge.
[2] Diogenes Lartius, v. 75; Aelian, Varia Historia, xii. 43
[3] Strabo, 9.1.13

167.2.2

Education and arts

[4] Diogenes Lartius, iv. 14.

The performance of tragedy had fallen into disuse in


Athens, on account of the great expense involved.* [20]
In order to aord the people less costly and yet intellectual amusement, he caused the Homeric and other poems
to be recited on the stage by rhapsodists.* [21]

[5] Diogenes Lartius, v. 75; Diodorus Siculus, xix. 78; Cornelius Nepos, Miltiades, 6.

According to Strabo,* [22] Demetrius inspired the creation of the Mouseion, the location of the Library of
Alexandria, which was modeled after the arrangement of
Aristotle's school. The Mouseion contained a peripatos
(covered walkway), a syssition (room for communal dining) and a categorized organization of scrolls.

[7] Stephen V. Tracy, Demetrius of Phalerum: Who was He


and Who was He Not?, inDemetrius of Phalerum, Rutgers University Studies in Classical Humanities IX (New
Brunswick, NJ, 2000), pp. 331-345.

[6] Alexander to Actium, by Peter Green. University of California Press, 1990.

[8] Plutarch, Demetrius 8; Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Dinarchus 3.

According to the earliest source of information, the [9] Athenaeus, vi., xii.; Aelian, Varia Historia, ix. 9; Polybius,
pseudepigraphic Letter of Aristeas composed between
xii. 13.
c180 and 145 BC,* [23] the library was initially organized by Demetrius of Phaleron,* [24] under the reign of [10] Athenaeus, xii.
Ptolemy I Soter (c.367 BCc.283 BC). Other sources [11] Plutarch, Demetrius 9; Diodorus Siculus, xx. 45
claim it was instead created under the reign of his son
Ptolemy II (283246 BC).* [25]
[12] Aelian, Varia Historia, iii. 17.

510

CHAPTER 167. DEMETRIUS OF PHALERUM

[13] Plutarch, De Exilio

167.7 External links

[14] Roger S. Bagnall, Alexandria: Library of Dreams.


(PDF) Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society
146.4 (December 2002:348-362) p. 348

Media related to Demetrius Phalereus at Wikimedia


Commons

[15] Diogenes Lartius, v. 78; Cicero, Pro Rabirio Postumo 9.

Diogenes Lartius, Life of Demetrius, translated by


Robert Drew Hicks (1925).

[16] Cicero, Brutus 8; Quintillian, x. 1. 80


[17] Cicero, Brutus 9, 82, De Oratore ii. 23, Orator 27; Quintillian, x. 1. 33

The Peripatos after Aristotle: Origin of the Corpus


Aristotelicum on the role of Demetrius in the constitution of the Corpus Aristotelicum

[18] Cicero, de Finibus, v. 19

Demetrius, On Style at the Internet Archive

[19] Diogenes Lartius, v. 80, etc.


[20] See Liturgy for background information.
[21] Athenaeus, xiv; Eustathius of Thessalonica, Ad Homeri
[22] Strabo, 13.608, 17.793-4
[23] David C. Lindberg (15 March 1980). Science in the Middle Ages. University of Chicago Press. pp. 5. ISBN
978-0-226-48233-0. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
[24] Letter of Aristeas, 912.
[25] Phillips, Heather (2010). The Great Library of Alexandria?". Library Philosophy and Practice. University of
NebraskaLincoln. Archived from the original on 26 July
2012. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
[26] Diogenes Lartius, Book V.
[27] Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Lectures on the History
of Philosophy, volume 2, Plato and the Platonists, p. 125,
translated by E. S. Haldane and Frances H. Simson, Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1995.
[28] Diogenes Lartius, Book V.
[29] Kenneth Scott, The Deication of Demetrius Poliorcetes: Part I, The American Journal of Philology,
49:2 (1928), pp. 137 - 166. See, in particular, p. 148.

167.5 Sources

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William,
ed. (1870). "* article name needed". Dictionary of
Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

167.6 Further reading


Fortenbaugh, W., Schtrumpf, E., (1999, 2000),
Demetrius of Phalerum: Text Translation and Discussion. Rutgers University Studies in Classical Humanities IX. Transaction Publishers, New
Brunswick, NJ. ISBN 0-7658-0017-9

Chapter 168

Dicaearchus
For the pirate, see Dicaearchus of Aetolia.

Among his geographical works may be mentioned:

Dicaearchus of Messana (/dsirksvmsn/;


Greek: Dikaiarkhos; c. 350 c. 285
BC), also written Dicearchus or Dicearch (/dsirk/),
was a Greek philosopher, cartographer, geographer,
mathematician and author. Dicaearchus was Aristotle's
student in the Lyceum. Very little of his work remains
extant. He wrote on the history and geography of
Greece, of which his most important work was his Life
of Greece. He made important contributions to the
eld of cartography, where he was among the rst to
use geographical coordinates. He also wrote books on
philosophy and politics.

168.1 Life
He was the son of one Pheidias, and born at Messana
in Sicily, though he passed the greater part of his life in
Greece, and especially in Peloponnesus. He was a disciple of Aristotle,* [1] and a friend of Theophrastus, to
whom he dedicated some of his writings. He died about
285 BC.

168.2 Writings
Dicaearchus was highly esteemed by the ancients as a
philosopher and as a man of most extensive information
upon a great variety of things.* [2] His work is known
only from the many fragmentary quotations of later writers. His works were geographical, political or historical, philosophical, and mathematical; but it is dicult to
draw up an accurate list of them, since many which are
quoted as distinct works appear to have been only sections of greater ones. The fragments extant, moreover, do
not always enable us to form a clear notion of the works
to which they once belonged. The geographical works
of Dicaearchus were, according to Strabo,* [3] criticised
in many respects by Polybius; and Strabo himself* [4] is
dissatised with his descriptions of western and northern
Europe, where Dicaearchus had never visited.
511

Life of Greece ( ) The Bios Hellados, in three books* [5] is Dicaearchusmost famous work. In the mid 1st century BC it inspired
Jason of Nysas Bios Hellados and Varro's De Vita
Populi Romani. It exists in only 24 fragments,* [6]
but he apparently attempted to write a biography
of the Greek nation from earliest times to the reign
of Philip II. The most famous passages are those
cited by Varro* [7] and Porphyry* [8] which suggest
a dualistic view of progress. For example, the invention of agriculture alleviates hunger through the
creation of surplus, but surplus in turn proves to
be an incitement to greed which leads to war. Every human advance solves one problem but also
engenders another. Passages which detailed human institutions and their history suggest he thought
these could arrest decline. For example, his denition of country (), family (), and
tribe (), is about the right ordering of human
relations within the polis.* [9] Dicaearchus apparently explained the saying, sharing stops choking, as a reference to how humans learned to distribute surplus fairly.* [10] Many fragments are interested in the origins of the music and culture of
Greece.* [11] This is in contrast to the debased symposiastic Greek culture of which he complains in
some of his other works.* [12] His interest in dening Greek culture in its heyday is thus partly polemical: he wishes to attack current fashions in music
by reminding his readership of their original forms.
The link between political decline and cultural debasement (as they saw it) was also made by his fellow
Peripatetic and friend Aristoxenus.* [13] In a celebrated passage, he compared the introduction of the
New Music
into Greek theatres to the barbarization
of the Poseidoniates in the Bay of Naples.* [14]
Circuit of the Earth ( )* [15] This
work was probably the text written in explanation of
the geographical maps which Dicaearchus had constructed and given to Theophrastus, and which seem
to have comprised the whole world, as far as it was
then known.* [16]

512

CHAPTER 168. DICAEARCHUS

Description of Greece ( )
This is a fragment of a work dedicated to
Theophrastus, and consisting of 150 iambic lines.
It was formerly attributed to Dicaearchus, but the
initial letters of the rst twenty-three lines show that
it was really the work of one Dionysius, son of
Calliphon.* [17]

Dicaearchus, viz. On Alcaeus ( ),* [30]


and Summaries of the plots of Euripides and Sophocles ( ),* [31] but may have been the works of Dicaearchus,
a grammarian of Lacedaemon, who, according to the
Suda, was a disciple of Aristarchus, and seems to be alluded to in Apollonius.* [32]

On the heights of mountains* [18] A work which


may have been part of his Circuit of the Earth. It was
the earliest known attempt to measure the heights of
various mountains by triangulation.

168.3 References

Descent into (the Cave of) Trophonius ( ) A work which consisted of


several books, and, as we may infer from the fragments quoted from it, contained an account of the
degenerate and licentious proceedings of the priests
in the cave of Trophonius.* [19]
Some other works, such as Spartan Constitution ( ),* [20] Olympic Dialogue ( ),* [21] Panathenaic Dialogue (),* [22] and several others, seem to have
been merely chapters of the Life of Greece.
Of a political nature was:
Three-city Dialogue ( Tripolitikos)* [23] A work which has been the subject of
much dispute. It was probably a study of comparative government. Following Aristotle, Dicaearchus
divided all governments into three categories: the
democratic, aristocratic, and monarchical,* [24]
He advocated a mixedgovernment, echoing
the Spartan system, in which elements of all three
categories play a part. This may have been an
inspiration for Cicero's De Republica.
Among his philosophical works may be mentioned:

[1] Cicero, de Legibus, iii. 6.


[2] Cicero, Tusculanae Quaestiones, i. 18, de Ociis, ii. 5;
Varro, de Re Rust. i. 2.
[3] Strabo, ii.
[4] Strabo, iii.
[5] Mirhady 1.7a
[6] Mirhady 53-77
[7] Mirhady 55
[8] Mirhady 56A
[9] Mirhady 64
[10] Mirhady 57
[11] e.g. Mirhady 72-74
[12] e.g. Mirhady 91, 96, 105-108
[13] Mirhady 3
[14] Wehrli fr. 124
[15] Lydus, de Mensibus.
[16] Cicero, ad Atticum, vi. 2; comp. Diogenes Lartius v.
[17] P. E. Easterling, Bernard MacGregor Walker Knox,
(1985), Greek literature, page 825. Cambridge University
Press

Lesbian Books () In three books, which


derived its name from the fact that the scene of [18] Pliny, H. N. ii. 65; Geminus, Elem. Astron. 14.
the philosophical dialogue was laid at Mytilene in
Lesbos. In it Dicaearchus endeavoured to prove that [19] Cicero, ad Atticum, vi. 2, xiii. 31; Athenaeus, xiii., xiv.
the soul was mortal.* [25] Cicero* [26] when speak- [20] Suda.
ing of a work On the Soul, probably means this work.
Corinthian Dialogue () In three
books, was a sort of supplement to the Lesbiakoi.* [27] It is probably the same work as the one
which Cicero, in another passage,* [28] calls On Human Destruction (Latin: de Interitu Hominum).

[21] Athenaeus, xiv.


[22] Scholion ad Aristophanis Vespis 564.
[23] Athenenaeus, iv.; Cicero, ad Atticum, xiii. 32
[24] Photius, Bibl. Cod. 37.

A work On the Sacrice at Illium ( - [25] Cicero, Tusculanae Quaestiones, i. 31.


)* [29] seems to have referred to the sacrice which [26] Cicero, ad Atticum, xiii. 12
Alexander the Great performed at Illium.
[27] Cicero, Tusculanae Quaestiones, i. 10.

There are lastly some other works which are of a


grammatical nature, and may be the productions of [28] Cicero, de Ociis, ii. 5.

168.5. FURTHER READING

[29] Athenenaeus, xiii.


[30] Athenaeus, xi., xv.
[31] Sextus Empiricus, adv. Geometr.
[32] Apollonius Dyscolus, De Pronom..

168.4 Sources
David C. Mirhady, Dicaearchus of Messana: The
Sources, Texts and Translations,in Fortenbaugh,
W., Schtrumpf, E., (editors) Dicaearchus of Messana: Text, Translation, and Discussion. Transaction Publishers. (2001). ISBN 0-7658-0093-4

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William,
ed. (1870). "* article name needed". Dictionary of
Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

168.5 Further reading


Editions
Fortenbaugh, W., Schtrumpf, E., (editors) Dicaearchus of Messana: Text, Translation, and Discussion. Transaction Publishers. (2001). ISBN 07658-0093-4
Wehrli, F., Dikaiarchos. Die Schule des Aristoteles.
Texte und Kommentar, Hft. 1. Schwabe. 2nd edition
(1967)
Studies
Alonso-Nez, J.M., 'Approaches to world history
in the Hellenistic period: Dicaearchus and Agatharchides' Athenaeum 85 (1997) 53-67
Bodei Giglioni, G., 'Dicearco e la riessione sul passato' Rivista Storica Italiana 98 (1986) 629-652
Cooper, C., 'Aristoxenus, and Peripatetic biography' Mouseion 2(3) (2002) 307-339
Purcell, N., 'The way we used to eat: diet, community, and history at Rome' American Journal of
Philology 124 (2003) 329-358

513

Chapter 169

Echecratides
Echecratides was an Ancient Greek Peripatetic philosopher who is mentioned among the disciples of Aristotle.
He is spoken of only by Stephanus of Byzantium, from
whom we learn that he was a native of Methymna in
Lesbos.
Several other persons of this name, concerning whom
nothing is known beyond what is contained in the passages where they occur, are mentioned by Thucydides (i.
Ill), Pausanias (x. 16. 4), Aelian (V. H. i. 25), Lucian
(Timon, 7), and by Anyte in the Greek Anthology (vi.
123.).

169.1 References
This article incorporates text from a publication now
in the public domain: Leonhard Schmitz (1870).
Echecrates. In Smith, William. Dictionary of Greek
and Roman Biography and Mythology 2. p. 2.

514

Chapter 170

Erymneus
Erymneus (Greek: ; . c. 110 BC) was a
Peripatetic philosopher in Ancient Greece.
Erymneus succeeded Diodorus of Tyre as scholarch
(leader) of the Lyceum. Very little is known about
him, and he known only because he is mentioned by
Athenaeus.* [1] He instructed Athenion, whose identity
is obscure, in philosophy.* [2] He led the school while
Apellicon of Teos was a member. The school had a renewed vitality under Erymneus.* [3]

170.1 References
[1] Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae, v. 211e
[2] Canfora & Ryle, The Vanished Library (University of California Press, 1990), p. 52.
[3] Lynch, J. P., Aristotle's School (University of California
Press, 1972), p. 202.

515

Chapter 171

Eudemus of Rhodes
Eudemus of Rhodes (Greek: ) was an ancient
Greek philosopher, and rst historian of science who
lived from c. 370 BC until c. 300 BC. He was one of
Aristotle's most important pupils, editing his teacher's
work and making it more easily accessible. Eudemus'
nephew, Pasicles, was also credited with editing Aristotle's works.

later authors, their value is immense. It is only because


later authors used Eudemus's writings that we still are informed about the early history and development of Greek
science. In his historical writings Eudemus showed how
the purely practically oriented knowledge and skills that
earlier peoples such as the Egyptians and the Babylonians
had known, were by the Greeks given a theoretical basis,
and built into a coherent and comprehensive philosophical building.

171.1 Life
Eudemus was born on the isle of Rhodes, but spent a large
part of his life in Athens, where he studied philosophy
at Aristotle's Peripatetic School. Eudemus's collaboration with Aristotle was long-lasting and close, and he was
generally considered to be one of Aristotle's most brilliant pupils: he and Theophrastus of Lesbos were regularly called not Aristotle's disciples, but his companions().
It seems that Theophrastus was the greater genius of
the two, continuing Aristotle's studies in a wide range
of areas. Although Eudemus too conducted original research, his forte lay in systematizing Aristotle's philosophical legacy, and in a clever didactical presentation of
his teacher's ideas. Later authors who wrote commentaries on Aristotle often made good use of Eudemus's
preliminary work. It is for this reason that, though Eudemus's writings themselves are not extant, we know many
citations and testimonia regarding his work, and are thus
able to build up a picture of him and his work.
Aristotle, shortly before his death in 322 BC, designated
Theophrastus to be his successor as head of the Peripatetic School. Eudemus then returned to Rhodes, where
he founded his own philosophical school, continued his
own philosophical research, and went on editing Aristotle's work.

171.2 Historian of science


At the insistence of Aristotle, Eudemus wrote histories
of Greek mathematics and astronomy. Though only fragments of these have survived, included in the works of
516

As regards his History of Arithmetics (


) we only have the tiniest bit of information:
there is only one testimonium, saying that Eudemus
mentions the discovery by the Pythagoreans that it
is possible to connect musical intervals with integer
numbers.
Eudemus's History of Geometry (
) is mentioned by many more writers,
including Proclus, Simplicius, and Pappus of
Alexandria. From them we know that the book
treated the work by, among others, Thales of
Miletus, the Pythagoreans, Oenopides of Chios,
and Hippocrates of Chios. Among the topics
Eudemus discussed were the discovery of geometrical theorems and constructions (systematized in
Eudemus's days by Euclid in his Elements), and the
classical problems of Greek geometry, such as the
quadrature of the circle and the duplication of the
cube.
We know quite a lot too about Eudemus's History of
Astronomy ( ), from sources
such as Theon of Smyrna, Simplicius, Diogenes
Lartius, Clement of Alexandria, and others. Building upon those data we can reconstruct with some
accuracy the astronomical discoveries that were
made in Greece between 600 and 350 BC, as well
as the theories that were developed in that period regarding the earth, solar and lunar eclipses, the movements of the heavenly bodies, etcetera. Philosophers and astronomers treated by Eudemus include Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Oenopides, Eudoxus, and others.

171.5. EXTERNAL LINKS


Two other historical works are attributed to Eudemus, but
here his authorship is not certain. First, he is said to have
written a History of Theology, that discussed the Babylonian, Egyptian, and Greek ideas regarding the origins of
the universe. Secondly, he is said to have been the author
of a History of Lindos (Lindos is a port on Rhodes).
To Eudemus is also ascribed a book with miraculous stories about animals and their humanlike properties (exemplary braveness, ethical sensitivity, and the like). However, as the character of this work does not at all t in
with the serious scientic approach that is apparent from
Eudemus's other works, it is generally held that Eudemus
of Rhodes cannot have been the author of this book (it
may have been another EudemusEudemus was a fairly
common name in ancient Greece).

171.3 Editor of Aristotle's work


Eudemus, Theophrastus, and other pupils of Aristotle
took care that the intellectual heritage of their master
after his death would remain accessible in a reliable
form, by recording it in a long series of publications.
These were based on Aristotle's writings, their own lecture notes, personal recollections, etcetera.
Thus one of Aristotle's writings is still called the
Eudemian Ethics, probably because it was Eudemus who
edited (though very lightly) this text. More important,
Eudemus wrote a number of inuential books that claried Aristotle's works:
Eudemus's Physics () was a compact, and
more didactical version of Aristotle's homonymous
work.
Eudemus wrote two or three books dealing with
logics (Analytics and Categories (possibly the same
book), and On discourse ( )), which
probably expounded Aristotle's ideas.
Finally, a geometrical work, On the angle (
).
A comparison between the Eudemus fragments and their
corresponding parts in the works of Aristotle shows that
Eudemus was a gifted teacher: he systematizes subject
matter, leaves out digressions that distract from the main
theme, adds specic examples to illustrate abstract statements, formulates in catching phrases, and occasionally
inserts a joke to keep the reader attentive.

171.4 References
Fritz Wehrli (ed.) Die Schule des Aristoteles. Eudemus von Rhodos. Texte und Kommentar Basel,
Schwabe & Co., 1969 (critical edition of the extant
fragments, with commentary in German)

517
F[ritz] Wehrli, 'Eudemos von Rhodos', in: Paulys
Realencyclopdie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft, G. Wissowa, ed. (51 Volumes;
1894-1980) Vol. Suppl. XI (1968) col. 652-658.
Istvan Bodnar, William W. Fortenbaugh (eds.), Eudemus of Rhodes, New Brunswick, Transactions
Publishers, 2002
Ivor Bulmer-Thomas, 'Eudemus of Rhodes', in:
Dictionary of Scientic Biography, Charles Coulston
Gillispie, ed. (18 Volumes, New York 1970-1990)
Volume IV (1971) pp. 460465.
Leonid Zhmud, The Origin of the History of Science
in Classical Antiquity. Berlin, Walter de Gruyter,
2006 (Trans. from Russian by A Chernoglazov)
Leonid Zhmud, 'EudemusHistory of Mathematics', In the Rutgers University Series in the Classical
Humanities. V. 11. Ed. by I. Bodnar, W. W. Fortenbaugh. New Brunswick 2002, 263306

171.5 External links


O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F.,Eudemus of Rhodes, MacTutor History of Mathematics
archive, University of St Andrews.
Peripatetic Logic: The Work of Eudemus of Rhodes
and Theophrastus of Eresus

Chapter 172

Hermippus of Smyrna
Hermippus of Smyrna (Greek: ), a
Peripatetic philosopher, surnamed by the ancient writers
the Callimachian (Greek: ), from which
it may be inferred that he was a disciple of Callimachus
about the middle of the 3rd century BC, while the fact
of his having written the life of Chrysippus proves that
he lived to about the end of the century. His writings seem to have been of very great importance and
value.* [1] They are repeatedly referred to by the ancient
writers, under many titles, of which, however, most, if
not all, seem to have been chapters of his great biographical work, which is often quoted under the title of Lives
(Bioi). The work contained the biographies of a great
many ancient gures, including orators, poets, historians, and philosophers. It contained the earliest known
biography of Aristotle, as well as philosophers such as
Pythagoras, Empedocles, Heraclitus, Democritus, Zeno,
Socrates, Plato, Antisthenes, Diogenes, Stilpo, Epicurus,
Theophrastus, Heraclides, Demetrius Phalereus, and
Chrysippus. The work has been lost, but many later Lives
extensively quote it.

172.1 Notes
[1] Josephus, Contra Apionem i. 22; Jerome, De Viris Illustribus Praef.

172.2 References
Hermippos of Smyrna Critical edition and English
translation of the extant fragments by J. Bollanse,
Leiden, Brill, 1999.
Fritz Wehrli, Hermippos des Kallimacheer, Basel
Stuttgart: Schwabe & Co., 1974 (editions of fragments, superseded by Bollanse 1999).
Jan Bollanse, Hermippos of Smyrna and his biographical writings. A reappraisal, Leuven, Peeters,
1999.

518

Chapter 173

Hieronymus of Rhodes
Hieronymus of Rhodes (Greek: ; c. 290
c. 230 BC* [1]) was a Peripatetic philosopher, and an opponent of Arcesilaus and Lyco of Troas. Only a few fragments of his works survive, preserved in the quotations of
later writers.

[7] Runus, de Compositione et Metris Oratorum

173.4 References

173.1 Life
Hieronymus belonged to the Peripatetic school, though
Cicero questions his right to the title. He appears to have
lived down to the time of Ptolemy II Philadelphus. His
philosophical opponents included not only the Academic
philosopher Arcesilaus,* [2] but also the Peripatetic Lyco
of Troas who was hostile towards him.* [3]

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William,
ed. (1870). "* article name needed". Dictionary of
Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

173.5 Further reading

173.2 Works
Hieronymus is frequently mentioned by Cicero, who tells
us that he held the highest good to consist in freedom
from pain and trouble, and denied that pleasure was to
be sought for its own sake. There are quotations from his
writings, and from his letters. Diogenes Lartius mentions two works: On Suspense of Judgement * [4] and Scattered Notes.* [5] It would seem from Cicero,* [6] compared with Runus,* [7] that he was the same as the Hieronymus who wrote on numbers and feet. He may also
have been the author of a work on poets, and a commentary on the Aspis of Hesiod.

173.3 Notes
[1] Brad Inwood, Lloyd P. Gerson, (1997), Hellenistic philosophy: introductory readings, page 408.
[2] Diogenes Lartius, iv. 41
[3] Diogenes Lartius, v. 68
[4] Diogenes Lartius, ii. 105
[5] Diogenes Lartius, i. 26; ii. 14
[6] Cicero, Oration, 56

519

Fortenbaugh, W., White, S., (2004), Lyco of Troas


and Hieronymus of Rhodes: Text, Translation and
Discussion. Transaction Publishers. ISBN 0-76580253-8

Chapter 174

Lyco of Troas
table student in the Peripatetic school was Aristo of Ceos
who may have succeeded him as head of the school.

174.2 Writings
Among the writings of Lyco was probably a work On
Characters (similar to the work of Theophrastus), a fragment of which is preserved by Rutilius Lupus,* [6] though
the title of the book is not mentioned by any ancient
writer. It appears from Cicero* [7] and Clement of
Alexandria,* [8] that he wrote on the boundaries of good
and evil (Latin: De Finibus). Apuleius suggests that he
wrote a work on the nature of animals.* [9]

174.3 Further reading


Fortenbaugh, W., White, S., Lyco of Troas and Hieronymus of Rhodes: Text, Translation and Discussion. Transaction Publishers. (2004). ISBN 07658-0253-8

Lyco of Troas, depicted as a medieval scholar in the Nuremberg


Chronicle

Lyco of Troas (/lako/; Greek: Lykon, gen.:


; c. 299 c. 225 BC* [1]), son of Astyanax,
was a Peripatetic philosopher and the disciple of Strato,
whom he succeeded as the head of the Peripatetic school,
c. 269 BC;* [1] he held that post for more than forty-four
years.

174.4 References
[1] Tiziano Dorandi, Chapter 2: Chronology, in Algra et al.
(1999) The Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy,
page 53. Cambridge
[2] Diogenes Lartius, v. 67

174.1 Life

[3] Diogenes Lartius, v. 66

He resided at Pergamon, under the patronage of Eumenes


I and Attalus I, from whom Antiochus in vain sought to
entice him.* [2] On several occasions his counsel was of
great service to the Athenians.* [3] He was celebrated for
his eloquence,* [4] and for his skill in educating boys. He
paid great attention to the body as well as to the mind,
and, constantly practising athletic exercises, was exceedingly healthy and robust. Nevertheless, he died of gout
at the age of 74. He was a bitter rival of the Peripatetic
philosopher Hieronymus of Rhodes.* [5] Lyco's most no520

[4] comp. Cicero, de Finibus, v. 5


[5] Diogenes Lartius, v. 68
[6] Rutilius Lupus, de Figuris, ii. 7
[7] Cicero, Tusculanae Quaestiones, iii. 32
[8] Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, ii.
[9] Apuleius, Apologia, 36

174.6. EXTERNAL LINKS

174.5 Sources

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William,
ed. (1870). "* article name needed". Dictionary of
Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

174.6 External links


Diogenes Lartius, Life of Lyco, translated by
Robert Drew Hicks (1925).

521

Chapter 175

Nicomachus (son of Aristotle)


Nicomachus (Greek: ; . c. 325 BC), was
the son of Aristotle.

175.1 Biographical details


The Suda a massive 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world states that
Nicomachus was from Stageira, was a philosopher, a
pupil of Theophrastus,* [1] and, according to Aristippus,
his lover.* [2] He may have written a commentary on
his father's lectures in physics.* [3] Nicomachus was born
to the slave Herpyllis, and his father's will commended
his care as a boy to several tutors, then to his adopted
son, Nicanor. Historians think the Nicomachean Ethics,
a compilation of Aristotle's lecture notes, was probably
named after or dedicated to Aristotle's son. Several ancient authorities may have conated Aristotle's ethical
works with the commentaries that Nicomachus wrote on
them.* [4] Ancient sources indicate that Nicomachus died
in battle while still a lad.* [5]
Aristotle's father was also called Nicomachus.

175.2 References
[1] Diogenes Lartius. Life of Theophrastus VII
[2] ap. Diogenes Laertius, v. 38, and repeated by the Suda,
Nicomachus
[3] Suda, nu,398.
[4] William Maxwell Gunn. NicomachusDictionary of
Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. William
Smith, editor. p 1194. 1867.
[5] Jonathan Barnes,Roman Aristotle, in Gregory Nagy,
Greek Literature, Routledge 2001, vol. 8, p. 176 n. 249.

522

Chapter 176

Phaenias of Eresus
Phaenias of Eresus (Ancient Greek: , Phainias; also Phanias) was a Greek philosopher
from Lesbos, important as an immediate follower of and
commentator on Aristotle. He came to Athens about 332
BCE, and joined his compatriot, Theophrastus, in the
Peripatetic school. His writings on logic and science appear to have been commentaries or supplements to the
works of Aristotle and Theophrastus. He also wrote extensively on history. None of his works have survived.

176.2.2 Natural history


A work On Plants is repeatedly quoted by Athenaeus, and
frequently in connection with the work of Theophrastus
on the same subject, to which, therefore, it may have been
a supplement.* [6] The fragments quoted by Athenaeus
are sucient to give us some notion of the contents of
the work and the style of the writer. He seems to have
paid special attention to plants used in gardens and otherwise closely connected with humans; and in his style we
trace the exactness and the care about denitions which
characterize the Peripatetic school.

176.1 Life
176.2.3 History
Phaenias was born in Eresos in Lesbos. He was the
friend and fellow-citizen of Theophrastus, a letter of
whose to Phaenias is mentioned by Diogenes Lartius.* [1] He came to Athens around 332 BCE,* [2] and
joined Theophrastus in the Peripatetic school. He was the
most distinguished disciple of Aristotle, after Theophrastus. He wrote upon every department of philosophy, as it
was studied by the Peripatetics, especially logic, botany,
history, and literature.

176.2 Philosophy
176.2.1

Phaenias is spoken of by Plutarch, who quotes him as an


authority,* [7] as a philosopher well read in history.
He wrote a sort of chronicle called Prytaneis Eresioi, the
second book of which is quoted by Athenaeus.* [8] It was
either a history of his native place or a general history
of Greece arranged according to the period of the Eresian magistracy. He also concerned himself with the history of the tyrants, upon which he wrote several works.
One of these was called On the Tyrants in Sicily.* [9]
Another was entitled On Killing Tyrants for Revenge, in
which he appears to have discussed further the question
touched upon by Aristotle in his Politics.* [10] We have
several quotations from this work, and among them the
story of Antileon and Hipparinus who killed the tyrant of
Herakleia.* [11]

Logic

We have little information concerning his works on


Logic. He seems to have written commentaries and supplements to the works of Aristotle, which eventually became eclipsed by the writings of the master himself. In
a passage of Ammonius* [3] we are told that Eudemus,
Phaenias, and Theophrastus wrote, in emulation of their
master, Categories and De Interpretatione and Analytics.
There is also an important passage respecting ideas, preserved by Alexander of Aphrodisias, from a work of
Phaenias, Against Diodorus,* [4] which may possibly be
the same as the work Against the Sophists, from which
Athenaeus cites a criticism on certain musicians.* [5]

176.2.4 Literature
Concerning literary history two works of Phaenias
are mentioned. In On Poets, which is quoted by
Athenaeus,* [12] he seems to have paid particular attention to the Athenian musicians and comedians. On the Socratic philosophers, is twice referred to by Diogenes Lartius.* [13]
Phaenias of Eresus was also among the rst to make systematic collections towards a Greek musical history. His
treatise and others, now lost, were key sources for compilers in Imperial times, such as Athenaeus and pseudo-

523

524

CHAPTER 176. PHAENIAS OF ERESUS

Plutarch, and ultimately supplied much material for the


late lexicons. Such compilations reect the Greek cosmopolitanism, with its more generalized forms of language, literature, art and music, which was the hallmark
of the Hellenistic age.* [14]

176.3 Notes
[1] Diogenes Lartius, v. 37; Schol. in Apollon. i. 972;
Strabo, xiii.
[2] Suda s.v. Phanias, comp. Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, i.
[3] Ammonius Hermiae, ad Categ. p. 13; Schol. Arist. p.
28, a. 40, ed. Brandis
[4] Schol. Arist. p. 566, a. ed. Brandis
[5] Athenaeus, xiv.
[6] Athenaeus, ii., ix.
[7] Plutarch, Themistocles, 13
[8] Athenaeus, viii.; comp. Eustathius, p. 35, 18; Clement of
Alexandria, Stromata, i.; Plutarch, Solon, 14, 32, Themistocles, 1, 7, 73; Suda, Phaenias; Athenaeus, ii.
[9] Athenaeus, i., vi.
[10] Aristotle, Politics, v. 8, 9, etc.
[11] Athenaeus, iii., x.; Parthenius, Erotica Pathemata, 7.
[12] Athenaeus, viii.
[13] Diogenes Lartius, ii. 65, vi. 8
[14] Franklin 2001

176.4 References
John Curtis Franklin, Dictionaries of music 2001

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William,
ed. (1870). "* article name needed". Dictionary of
Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

Chapter 177

Praxiphanes
Praxiphanes (Greek: ) a Peripatetic
philosopher, was a native of Mytilene, who lived a
long time in Rhodes. * [1] He lived in the time of
Demetrius Poliorcetes and Ptolemy I Soter, and was a
pupil of Theophrastus, about 322 BC.* [2] He subsequently opened a school himself, in which Epicurus is
said to have been one of his pupils.* [3] Praxiphanes paid
special attention to grammatical studies, and is hence
named along with Aristotle as the founder and creator
of the science of grammar.* [4] Of the writings of Praxiphanes, which appear to have been numerous, two are
especially mentioned, a Dialogue * [5] in which
Plato and Isocrates were the speakers, and an historical
work cited by Marcellinus in his Life of Thucydides* [6]
under the title of .

177.1 Notes
[1] Algra, K., The Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy. Page 36. Cambridge University Press. (1999). Cf.
Clement of Alexandria, i.; Strabo, xiv.
[2] Proclus, i. in Timaeum; John Tzetzes, ad Hesiod. Op. et
Dies, 1.
[3] Diogenes Lartius, x. 13
[4] Clement of Alexandria, i.
[5] Diogenes Lartius, iii. 8
[6] Marcellinus, Thucydides, 29

177.2 References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William,
ed. (1870). "* article name needed". Dictionary of
Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

525

Chapter 178

Ptolemy-el-Garib
Ptolemy-el-Garib (Arabic, more correctly al-gharb,
Ptolemy the foreigner,explained as meaningPtolemy
the unknown) was a Hellenistic pinacographer, probably of the Peripatetic school, who wrote a Life of Aristotle notable for its catalog of Aristotle's works. This work
survives in an Arabic manuscript in Istanbul.* [1] The excerpts known prior to this discovery were collected in Ingemar Dring's Aristotle in the Ancient Biographical Tradition (Gteborg 1957), pp. 221-231; Marian Plezia has
cast doubt on the idea that Ptolemy-el-Garib's Life was an
important source of later Neoplatonic lives of Aristotle.

Schmitt Charles Bernard. London: Warburg Institute. University of London 1986. pp. 1536 (Reprinted as Chapter VI in D. Gutas, Greek
philosophers in the Arabic tradition, Aldershot, Ashgate, 2000).
Marian Plezia,De Ptolemaeo pinacographo,Eos
63 (1975), pp. 37-42.
, De Ptolemaei Vita Aristotelis,in Aristoteles: Werk und Wirkung, vol. 1 (Aristoteles und seine
Schule), ed. Jrgen Wiesner (Berlin: de Gruyter,
1985), pp. 1-11.

178.1 Notes
[1] Gottschalk 1990 reported that an edition was in preparation by Marian Plezia and Jzef Bielawski. Plezia died
in 1996, Bielawski in 1997. A transcription of the Ms.
Ayasoa 4833 fol. 10b-11a, 14b-18a (with the Catalogue
of Aristotle's works) is now available in: Christel Hein,
Denition und Einteilung der Philosophie. Von der sptantiken Einleitungsliteratur zur arabischen Enzyklopdie,
New York: Peter Lang, 1985, pp. 415-439).

178.4 External links

178.2 References
Hans Gottschalk, The Earliest Aristotelian Commentators,in Aristotle Transformed (ed. Richard
Sorabji, 1990), pp. 56f. n. 5.

178.3 Further readings


Ingemar Dring, Ptolemy's Vita Aristotelis rediscovered,in Philomathes: studies and essays in the
humanities in memory of Philip Merlan, ed. Robert
B. Palmer and Robert Hamerton-Kelly (The Hague:
Nijho, 1971), pp. 264-269 - includes an English
translation of Ptolemy's preface.
Dimitri Gutas, The spurious and the authentic in
the Arabic Lives of Aristotle,in Pseudo-Aristotle
in the Middle Ages: the Theology and other texts.
Edited by Ryan William Francis, Kraye Jill, and
526

The Ancient Catalogues of Aristotle's Writings:


Hesychius and Ptolemy al-Garib. A Survey of Current Research
Bibliography on the Ancient Catalogues of Aristotle's Writings contains a list of studies on Ptolemyel-Garib

Chapter 179

Satyrus the Peripatetic


Satyrus (Greek: ) of Callatis was a distinguished peripatetic philosopher and historian, whose biographies (Lives) of famous people are frequently referred to by Diogenes Lartius and Athenaeus. He came
from Callatis Pontica, as we learn from a Herculaneum
papyrus.* [1] He lived earlier than the reign of Ptolemy
VI Philometor (181146 BC) when his Lives were
epitomized by Heraclides Lembus, probably during the
3rd century BC.* [2] Athenaeus frequently refers to him
as a Peripatetic,* [3] but his connection to the Peripatetic
school is otherwise unknown. His biographies dealt
with many eminent people including kings (Dionysius
the Younger, Philip), statesmen (Alcibiades), orators
(Demosthenes), poets (Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides),
and philosophers (Bias of Priene, Chilon of Sparta,
Pythagoras, Empedocles, Zeno of Elea, Anaxagoras,
Socrates, Diogenes, Anaxarchus, Stilpo). He also wrote
on the population of Alexandria, and a work On Characters ( ). Fragments of his biography of
the Athenian dramatist Euripides were found at the end
of a papyrus scroll discovered at Oxyrhynchus in the early
twentieth century.* [4]

179.1 Notes
[1] PHerc. 558
[2] OCD, q.v. Satyrus
[3] Athenaeus, vi. 248; xii. 541; xiii. 556
[4] A. S. Hunt, Oxyrhynchi Papyri, vol. 9 (1912), no. 1176,
pp. 124182

527

Chapter 180

Strato of Lampsacus
Strato of Lampsacus (/streto/; Greek:
Straton, gen.: ; c. 335 c. 269 BC) was a
Peripatetic philosopher, and the third director (scholarch)
of the Lyceum after the death of Theophrastus. He
devoted himself especially to the study of natural science, and increased the naturalistic elements in Aristotle's
thought to such an extent, that he denied the need for an
active god to construct the universe, preferring to place
the government of the universe in the unconscious force
of nature alone.

180.1 Life
Strato, son of Arcesilaus or Arcesius, was born at
Lampsacus between 340 and 330 BC.* [1] He might have
known Epicurus during his period of teaching in Lampsacus between 310 and 306.* [1] He attended Aristotle's
school in Athens, after which he went to Egypt as tutor
to Ptolemy, where he also taught Aristarchus of Samos. Aristotle, Theophrastus, and Strato. Part of a fresco in the
He returned to Athens after the death of Theophrastus National University of Athens.
(c. 287 BC), succeeding him as head of the Lyceum. He
died sometime between 270 and 268 BC,.* [1]
Whereas Aristotle dened time as the numbered aspect
Strato devoted himself especially to the study of natu- of motion,* [5] Strato argued that because motion and
ral science, whence he obtained, or, as it appears from time are continuous whereas number is discrete, time has
Cicero, assumed the name of Physicus (Greek: - an existence independent of motion.* [6] He was criti). Cicero, while speaking highly of his talents, blames cal of Aristotle's concept of place as a surrounding surhim for neglecting the most important part of philosophy, face,* [7] preferring to see it as the space which a thing
that which concerns virtue and morals, and giving himself occupies.* [8] He also rejected the existence of Aristotle's
up to the investigation of nature.* [2] In the long list of his fth element.* [9]
works, given by Diogenes Lartius, several of the titles
He emphasized the role of pneuma, ('breath' or 'spirit') in
are upon subjects of moral philosophy, but the great mathe functioning of the soul; soul-activities were explained
jority belong to the department of physical science. None
by pneuma extending throughout the body from the 'rulof his writings survive, his views are known only from the
ing part' located in the head.* [10] All sensation is felt in
fragmentary reports preserved by later writers.
the ruling-part of the soul, rather than in the extremities
of the body; all sensation involves thought, and there is
no thought not derived from sensation.* [11] He denied
that the soul was immortal, and attacked the 'proofs' put
180.2 Philosophy
forward by Plato in his Phaedo.* [3]
Strato emphasized the need for exact research,* [3] and,
as an example of this, he made use of the observation
of how water pouring from a spout breaks into separate
droplets as evidence that falling bodies accelerate.* [4]

Strato believed all matter consisted of tiny particles,


but he rejected Democritus' theory of empty space. In
Strato's view, void does exist, but only in the empty
spaces between imperfectly tting particles; Space is al-

528

180.3. GEOLOGY

529

ways lled with some kind of matter.* [12] Such a theory 180.3 Geology
permitted phenomena such as compression, and allowed
the penetration of light and heat through apparently solid As quoted from Charles Lyell's Principles of Geology:
bodies.* [7]
He seems to have denied the existence of any god outside of the material universe, and to have held that every
particle of matter has a plastic and seminal power, but
without sensation or intelligence; and that life, sensation,
and intellect, are but forms, accidents, and aections of
matter. Cicero took exception to this:
Nor does his pupil Strato, who is called
the natural philosopher, deserve to be listened
to; he holds that all divine force is resident
in nature, which contains, he says, the principles of birth, increase, and decay, but which
lacks, as we could remind him, all sensation
and form.* [13]
Like the atomists (Leucippus and Democritus) before
him, Strato of Lampsacus was a materialist and believed
that everything in the universe was composed of matter
and energy. Strato was one of the rst philosophers to
formulate a secular worldview, in which God is merely
the unconscious force of nature.
You deny that without God there can be
anything: but here you yourself seem to go contrary to Strato of Lampsacus, who concedes to
God a pardon from a great task. If the priests
of God were on vacation, it is much more just
that the Gods would also be on vacation; in
fact he denies the need to appreciate the work
of the Gods in order to construct the world.
All the things that exist he teaches have been
produced by nature; not hence, as he says, according to that philosophy which claims these
things are made of rough and smooth corpuscles, indented and hooked, the void interfering;
these, he upholds, are dreams of Democritus
which are not to be taught but dreamt. Strato,
in fact, investigating the individual parts of the
world, teaches that all that which is or is produced, is or has been produced, by weight and
motion. Thus he liberates God from a big job
and me from fear.* [14]
Strato endeavoured to replace the Aristotelian teleology
by a purely physical explanation of phenomena, the underlying elements of which he found in heat and cold,
with especially heat as the active principle.* [3] Although
Strato's view of the universe can be seen as secular,
he may have accepted the existence of gods within the
universe, in the context of ancient Greek religion; it
is unlikely that he would have regarded himself as an
atheist.* [15]

Strabo passes on to the hypothesis of


Strato, the natural philosopher, who had observed that the quantity of mud brought down
by rivers into the Euxine was so great, that
its bed must be gradually raised, while the
rivers still continued to pour in an undiminished quantity of water. He therefore conceived that, originally, when the Euxine was
an inland sea, its level had by this means become so much elevated that it burst its barrier
near Byzantium, and formed a communication
with the Propontis, and this partial drainage
had already, he supposed, converted the left
side into marshy ground, and that, at last, the
whole would be choked up with soil. So, it was
argued, the Mediterranean had once opened a
passage for itself by the Columns of Hercules
into the Atlantic, and perhaps the abundance of
sea-shells in Africa, near the Temple of Jupiter
Ammon, might also be the deposit of some former inland sea, which had at length forced a
passage and escaped.* [16]

180.4 Modern era


Strato's name meant little in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, however, in the 17th century his name suddenly became famous because of the supposed similarities between his system and the pantheistic views of
Spinoza.* [17] Ralph Cudworth, in choosing to attack
atheism in 1678, chose Strato's system as one of four
types of atheism, and in doing so, coined the term
hylozoism to describe any system where primitive matter is endowed with a life-force.* [18] These ideas reached
Pierre Bayle, who adopted Strato and 'Stratonism' as key
components of his own philosophy.* [19] In his Continuation des Pensees diverses, published in 1705, Stratonism had become the most important ancient equivalent of
Spinozism.* [20] For Bayle, Strato had made everything
follow a xed order of necessity, with no innate good or
bad in the universe; the universe is not a living thing with
intelligence or intent, and there is no other divine power
but nature.* [21]

180.5 Notes
[1] Dorandi 2005, p. 36
[2] Cicero, Acad. Quaest. i. 9; de Finibus, v. 5.
[3] Zeller, Nestle & Palmer 2000, p. 204

530

[4]This experiment goes back to a passage in Simplicius'


Commentary on the Physics, where it is said that Strato of
Lampsacus, had oered thisexperimentof pouring water from a spout as evidence of the fact that falling bodies
are accelerated.Grant 1974, p. 227
[5] Aristotle, Physics, 4.11 219b5
[6] Furley 2003, p. 156
[7] Furley 2005, p. 416

CHAPTER 180. STRATO OF LAMPSACUS


Israel, Jonathan Irvine (2006), Enlightenment Contested: Philosophy, Modernity, and the Emancipation
of Man, Oxford University Press
Reale, Giovanni; Catan, John R. (1985), A History
of Ancient Philosophy, Vol 3, SUNY Press
Zeller, Eduard; Nestle, Wilhelm; Palmer, Leonard
(2000), Outlines of the history of Greek philosophy,
Routledge

[8] Furley 2003, p. 157


[9] Furley 2005, p. 417
[10] Furley 2003, p. 162
[11] Furley 2003, p. 163
[12] Algra 1995, p. 58
[13] Cicero, De Natura Deorum, i. 13.
[14] Cicero, Lucullus, 121. quoted in Reale & Catan 1985, p.
103
[15] Israel 2006, p. 454
[16] Charles Lyell, Principles of Geology, 1832, p.20-21
[17] Israel 2006, p. 445
[18] Erdmann 2002, p. 101
[19] Israel 2006, p. 447
[20] Israel 2006, p. 450
[21] Israel 2006, p. 451

180.6 References
Algra, Keimpe (1995), Concepts of Space in Greek
Thought, BRILL
Dorandi, Tiziano (2005), Chronology, in Algra, Keimpe; Barnes, Jonathon; Mansfeld, Jaap et
al., The Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy,
Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-61670-0
Erdmann, Johann Eduard (2002), A History of Philosophy, Anmol Publications
Furley, David (2003), From Aristotle to Augustine:
Routledge History of Philosophy, Volume 2, Routledge
Furley, David (2005), Cosmology, in Algra,
Keimpe; Barnes, Jonathon; Mansfeld, Jaap et al.,
The Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy,
Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-61670-0
Grant, Edward (1974), A Source Book in Medieval
Science, Harvard University Press

180.7 External links


Media related to Strato of Lampsacus at Wikimedia
Commons
Diogenes Lartius, Life of Strato, translated by
Robert Drew Hicks (1925).

Chapter 181

Theophrastus
Theophrastus (/ifrsts/; Greek: ; c.
371 c. 287 BC* [1]), a Greek native of Eresos in Lesbos,
was the successor to Aristotle in the Peripatetic school.
He came to Athens at a young age and initially studied in Plato's school. After Plato's death, he attached
himself to Aristotle. Aristotle bequeathed to Theophrastus his writings and designated him as his successor at
the Lyceum. Theophrastus presided over the Peripatetic
school for thirty-six years, during which time the school
ourished greatly. He is often considered the father
of botany" for his works on plants. After his death, the
Athenians honoured him with a public funeral. His successor as head of the school was Strato of Lampsacus.
The interests of Theophrastus were wide ranging, extending from biology and physics to ethics and metaphysics.
His two surviving botanical works, Enquiry into Plants
and On the Causes of Plants, were an important inuence on Renaissance science. There are also surviving
works On Moral Characters, On Sensation, On Stones, and
fragments on Physics and Metaphysics. In philosophy, he
studied grammar and language and continued Aristotle's
work on logic. He also regarded space as the mere arrangement and position of bodies, time as an accident of
motion, and motion as a necessary consequence of all activity. In ethics, he regarded happiness as depending on
external inuences as well as on virtue and famously said
that life is ruled by fortune, not wisdom.

181.1 Life
Most of the biographical information we have of
Theophrastus was provided by Diogenes Lartius' Lives
and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, written more than
four hundred years after Theophrastus' time.* [2] He was
a native of Eresos in Lesbos.* [3] His given name was Tyrtamus (), but he later became known by the
nickname Theophrastus,given to him, it is said, by
Aristotle to indicate the grace of his conversation (from
Ancient Greek godand to phrase
, i.e. divine expression).* [4]

Aristotle, Theophrastus, and Strato of Lampsacus. Part of a


fresco in the portico of the University of Athens painted by Carl
Rahl, c. 1888.

have studied under Plato.* [5] He became friends with


Aristotle, and when Plato died (348/7 BC) Theophrastus may have joined Aristotle in his self-imposed exile
from Athens. When Aristotle moved to Mytilene on Lesbos in 345/4, it is very likely that he did so at the urging of Theophrastus.* [6] It seems that it was on Lesbos that Aristotle and Theophrastus began their research
into natural science, with Aristotle studying animals and
Theophrastus studying plants.* [7] Theophrastus probably accompanied Aristotle to Macedonia when Aristotle
was appointed tutor to Alexander the Great in 343/2.* [6]
Around 335 BC, Theophrastus moved with Aristotle to
Athens where Aristotle began teaching in the Lyceum.
When, after the death of Alexander, anti-Macedonian
feeling forced Aristotle to leave Athens, Theophrastus
remained behind as head (scholarch) of the Peripatetic
school,* [6] a position he continued to hold after Aristotle's death in 322/1.

After receiving instruction in philosophy in Lesbos from Aristotle in his will made him guardian of his children,
one Alcippus, he moved to Athens, where he may including Nicomachus with whom he was close.* [8] Aris531

532

CHAPTER 181. THEOPHRASTUS

totle likewise bequeathed to him his library and the originals of his works,* [9] and designated him as his successor
at the Lyceum.* [10] Eudemus of Rhodes also had some
claims to this position, and Aristoxenus is said to have
resented Aristotle's choice.* [11]
Theophrastus presided over the Peripatetic school for
thirty-ve years,* [12] and died at the age of eighty-ve
according to Diogenes.* [13] He is said to have remarked
we die just when we are beginning to live.* [14]
Under his guidance the school ourished greatly there
were at one period more than 2000 students, Diogenes
arms,* [15] and at his death, according to the terms of
his will preserved by Diogenes, he bequeathed to it his
garden with house and colonnades as a permanent seat
of instruction. The comic poet Menander was among his
pupils.* [15] His popularity was shown in the regard paid
to him by Philip, Cassander, and Ptolemy, and by the
complete failure of a charge of impiety brought against
him.* [16] He was honored with a public funeral, andthe
whole population of Athens, honouring him greatly, followed him to the grave.* [17] He was succeeded as head
of the Lyceum by Strato of Lampsacus.

181.2 Writings
From the lists of Diogenes Lartius, giving 227 titles, it appears that the activity of Theophrastus extended over the whole eld of contemporary knowledge.* [11] His writing probably diered little from Aristotle's treatment of the same themes, though supplementary in details. Like Aristotle, most of his writings
are lost works.* [11] Thus Theophrastus, like Aristotle,
had composed a rst and second Analytic (
and ).* [18] He had also
written books on Topics ( ,
and );* [19] on the Analysis of
Syllogisms ( and
), on Sophisms () and
On Armation and Denial (
)* [20] as well as on the Natural Philosophy ( , , and
others), on Heaven ( ), and on Meteorological Phenomena ( and
).* [21]
In addition, Theophrastus wrote on the Warm and
the Cold ( ),* [22] on Water ( ), Fire ( ),* [23] the Sea
( ),* [23] on Coagulation and Melting
( ), on various phenomena
of organic and spiritual life,* [23] and on the Soul
( ), On Experience ( ) and On
Sense Perception (also known as On the Senses;
).* [24] Likewise, we nd mention of monographs of Theophrastus on the early Greek philosophers
Anaximenes, Anaxagoras, Empedocles, Archelaus,* [25]

Frontispiece to the illustrated 1644 edition of the Enquiry into


Plants (Historia Plantarum)

Diogenes of Apollonia, Democritus,* [26] which were


made use of by Simplicius; and also on Xenocrates,* [27]
against the Academics,* [28] and a sketch of the political
doctrine of Plato.* [26]
He studied general history, as we know from Plutarch's
lives of Lycurgus, Solon, Aristides, Pericles, Nicias,
Alcibiades, Lysander, Agesilaus, and Demosthenes,
which were probably borrowed from the work on Lives
( ).* [18] But his main eorts were to continue
the labours of Aristotle in natural history. This is testied to not only by a number of treatises on individual
subjects of zoology, of which, besides the titles, only fragments remain, but also by his books on Stones, his Enquiry into Plants, and On the Causes of Plants (see below),
which have come down to us entire. In politics, also, he
seems to have trodden in the footsteps of Aristotle. Besides his books on the State ( and ),
we nd quoted various treatises on Education (
and ),* [29] on Royalty ( , and
),* [30] on the Best
State ( ), on Political Morals
( ), and particularly his works on the
Laws ( , and
), one of which, containing a recapitulation
of the laws of various barbarian as well as Greek states,
was intended to be a companion to Aristotle's outline of

181.2. WRITINGS
Politics, and must have been similar to it.* [31] He also
wrote on oratory and poetry.* [32] Theophrastus, without doubt, departed further from Aristotle in his ethical
writings,* [33] as also in his metaphysical investigations
of motion, the soul, and God.* [34]
Besides these writings, Theophrastus wrote several
collections of problems, out of which some things at
least have passed into the Problems that have come down
to us under the name of Aristotle,* [35] and commentaries,* [36] partly dialogues,* [37] to which probably
belonged the Erotikos (),* [38] Megacles
(),* [27] Callisthenes (),* [39]
and Megarikos (),* [22] and letters,* [40]
partly books on mathematical sciences and their
history.* [41]

533
which nine survive. The work is arranged into a system
whereby plants are classied according to their modes of
generation, their localities, their sizes, and according to
their practical uses such as foods, juices, herbs, etc.* [43]
The rst book deals with the parts of plants; the second
book with the reproduction of plants and the times and
manner of sowing; the third, fourth, and fth books are
devoted to trees, their types, their locations, and their
practical applications; the sixth book deals with shrubs
and spiny plants; the seventh book deals with herbs; the
eighth book deals with plants that produce edible seeds;
and the ninth book deals with plants that produce useful
juices, gums, resins, etc.* [43]

Many of his surviving works exist only in fragmentary


form. The style of these works, as of the botanical
books, suggests that, as in the case of Aristotle, what we
possess consists of notes for lectures or notes taken of lectures,his translator Arthur F. Hort remarks.* [2]There
is no literary charm; the sentences are mostly compressed
and highly elliptical, to the point sometimes of obscurity
.* [2] The text of these fragments and extracts is often
so corrupt that there is a certain plausibility to the wellknown story that the works of Aristotle and Theophrastus
were allowed to languish in the cellar of Neleus of Scepsis
and his descendents.* [42]

181.2.1

On Plants

Cinnamomum verum, from Khler's Medicinal Plants, (1887)

Frankincense trees in Dhufar

Main article: Historia Plantarum (Theophrastus)


The most important of his books are two large botanical treatises, Enquiry into Plants ( ),
and On the Causes of Plants ( ), which
constitute the most important contribution to botanical
science during antiquity and the Middle Ages,* [11] the
rst systemization of the botanical world; on the strength
of these works some, following Linnaeus, call him the
father of botany.* [7]
The Enquiry into Plants was originally ten books, of

On the Causes of Plants was originally eight books, of


which six survive. It concerns the growth of plants; the inuences on their fecundity; the proper times they should
be sown and reaped; the methods of preparing the soil,
manuring it, and the use of tools; and of the smells, tastes,
and properties of many types of plants.* [43] The work
deals mainly with the economical uses of plants rather
than their medicinal uses, although the latter is sometimes
mentioned.* [43]
Although these works contain many absurd and fabulous statements, they include valuable observations concerning the functions and properties of plants.* [43]
Theophrastus detected the process of germination and realized the importance of climate and soil to plants. Much
of the information on the Greek plants may have come
from his own observations, as he is known to have travelled throughout Greece, and to have had a botanical garden of his own; but the works also prot from the reports
on plants of Asia brought back from those who followed
Alexander the Great:

534

CHAPTER 181. THEOPHRASTUS


to the reports of Alexander's followers he
owed his accounts of such plants as the cottonplant, banyan, pepper, cinnamon, myrrh, and
frankincense.* [2]

Theophrastus' Enquiry into Plants was rst published


in a Latin translation by Theodore Gaza, at Treviso,
1483;* [44] in its original Greek it rst appeared from
the press of Aldus Manutius at Venice, 149598, from
a third-rate manuscript, which, like the majority of the
manuscripts that were sent to printers' workshops in the
fteenth and sixteenth century, has disappeared.* [45]
Wimmer identied two manuscripts of rst quality, the
Codex Urbinas in the Vatican Library, which was not
made known to J. G. Schneider, who made the rst modern critical edition, 181821, and the excerpts in the
Codex Parisiensis in the Bibliothque nationale de France.

181.2.4 Physics
We also possess in fragments a History of Physics (
). To this class of work belong the
still extant sections on Fire, on the Winds, and on the
signs of Waters, Winds, and Storms.* [47] Various smaller
scientic fragments have been collected in the editions
of Johann Gottlob Schneider (181821) and Friedrich
Wimmer (184262) and in Hermann Usener's Analecta
Theophrastea.

181.2.5 Metaphysics

The
Metaphysics
(anachronistic
Greek
title:
),* [48] in nine
chapters (also known as On First Principles), was considered a fragment of a larger work by Usener in his edition
(Theophrastos, Metaphysica, Bonn, 1890), but according
to Ross and Fobes in their edition (Theophrastus, Metaphysica, Oxford, 1929), the treatise is complete (p. X)
and this opinion is now widely accepted. There is no rea181.2.2 Characters
son for assigning this work to some other author because
it is not noticed in Hermippus and Andronicus, especially
His book Characters ( ), if it is in- as Nicolaus of Damascus had already mentioned it.* [42]
deed his, deserves a separate mention. The work contains
thirty brief, vigorous, and trenchant outlines of moral
types, which form a most valuable picture of the life of his
181.2.6 On Stones
time, and in fact of human nature in general.* [11] They
are the rst recorded attempt at systematic character writing. The book has been regarded by some as an independent work; others incline to the view that the sketches
were written from time to time by Theophrastus, and collected and edited after his death; others, again, regard
the Characters as part of a larger systematic work, but
the style of the book is against this.* [11] Theophrastus
has found many imitators in this kind of writing, notably Joseph Hall (1608), Sir Thomas Overbury (1614
16), Bishop Earle (1628), and Jean de La Bruyre
(1688), who also translated the Characters.* [11] George
Eliot also took inspiration from Theophrastus' Characters, most notably in her book of caricatures, Impressions Cut emeralds
of Theophrastus Such. Writing the "character sketch" as
a scholastic exercise also originated in Theophrastus's ty- In his treatise On Stones ( ), which was to
pology.
be used as a source for other lapidaries until at least
the Renaissance,* [49] Theophrastus classied rocks and
gems based on their behavior when heated, further grouping minerals by common properties, such as amber
and magnetite, which both have the power of attrac181.2.3 On Sensation
tion.* [50]* [51]* [52] He also comments on the eect of
A treatise On Sense Perception ( ) and its heat on minerals and their dierent hardnesses.
objects is important for a knowledge of the doctrines of
the more ancient Greek philosophers regarding the subject. A paraphrase and commentary on this work was
written by Priscian of Lydia in the sixth century.* [43]
With this type of work we may connect the fragments on
Smells, on Fatigue, on Dizziness, on Sweat, on Swooning,
on Palsy, and on Honey.* [42]

Theophrastus describes dierent marbles; mentions coal,


which he says is used for heating by metal-workers; describes the various metal ores; and knew that pumicestones had a volcanic origin. He also deals with precious
stones, emeralds, amethysts, onyx, jasper, etc., and describes a variety of sapphirethat was blue with veins
of gold, and thus was presumably lapis-lazuli.* [50]

181.3. PHILOSOPHY

535

He knew that pearls came from shell-sh, that coral came


from India, and speaks of the fossilized remains of organic life.* [50] Theophrastus made the rst known reference to the phenomenon of pyroelectricity, noting that the
mineral tourmaline becomes charged when heated. He
also considers the practical uses of various stones, such as
the minerals necessary for the manufacture of glass; for
the production of various pigments of paint such as ochre;
and for the manufacture of plaster.* [50] He discusses the
use of the touchstone for assaying gold and gold alloys,
an important property which would require the genius of
Archimedes to resolve in quantitative detail when he was
asked to investigate the suspected debasement of a crown
a few years later.
Many of the rarer minerals were found in mines, and he
mentions the famous copper mines of Cyprus and the
even more famous silver mines, presumably of Laurium
near Athens, and upon which the wealth of the city was
based, as well as referring to gold mines. The Laurium
silver mines, which were the property of the state, were
usually leased for a xed sum and a percentage on the
working. Towards the end of the fth century the output
fell, partly owing to the Spartan occupation of Decelea.
But the mines continued to be worked, though Strabo
records that in his time the tailings were being worked
over, and Pausanias speaks of the mines as a thing of the
past. The ancient workings, consisting of shafts and galleries for excavating the ore, and washing tables for extracting the metal, may still be seen. Theophrastus wrote
a separate work On Mining,* [22] which like most of his
writings is a lost work.
Pliny the Elder makes clear references to his use of On
Stones in his Naturalis Historia of 77 AD, while updating
and making much new information available on minerals
himself. Although Pliny's treatment of the subject is
more extensive, Theophrastus is more systematic and his
work is comparatively free from fable and magic,* [53]
although he did describe lyngurium, a gemstone supposedly formed of the solidied urine of the lynx (the best
ones coming from wild males), which was included in
many lapidiaries until it gradually disappeared from view
in the 17th century.* [54] From both of these early texts
was to emerge the science of mineralogy, and ultimately
geology. Pliny is especially observant on crystal habit and
mineral hardness, for example.

181.3 Philosophy
The extent to which Theophrastus followed Aristotle's
doctrines, or dened them more accurately, or conceived
them in a dierent form, and what additional structures
of thought he placed upon them, can only be partially
determined because of the loss of so many of his writings.* [42] Many of his opinions have to be reconstructed
from the works of later writers such as Alexander of
Aphrodisias and Simplicius.

Theophrastus, depicted as a medieval scholar in the Nuremberg


Chronicle

181.3.1 Logic
Theophrastus seems to have carried out still further the
grammatical foundation of logic and rhetoric, since in
his book on the elements of speech, he distinguished the
main parts of speech from the subordinate parts, and
also direct expressions ( kuria lexis) from
metaphorical expressions, and dealt with the emotions
( pathe) of speech.* [55] He further distinguished
a twofold reference of speech ( schisis) to things
( pragmata) and to the hearers, and referred
poetry and rhetoric to the latter.* [56]
He wrote at length on the unity of judgment,* [57] on the
dierent kinds of negation,* [58] and on the dierence
between unconditional and conditional necessity.* [59] In
his doctrine of syllogisms he brought forward the proof
for the conversion of universal armative judgments,
diered from Aristotle here and there in the laying down
and arranging the modi of the syllogisms,* [60] partly in
the proof of them,* [61] partly in the doctrine of mixture,
i.e. of the inuence of the modality of the premises upon
the modality of the conclusion.* [62] Then, in two separate works, he dealt with the reduction of arguments to
the syllogistic form and on the resolution of them;* [63]
and further, with hypothetical conclusions.* [64] For the
doctrine of proof, Galen quotes the second Analytic
of Theophrastus, in conjunction with that of Aristotle,
as the best treatises on that doctrine.* [65] In dierent
monographs he seems to have tried to expand it into a general theory of science. To this, too, may have belonged

536
the proposition quoted from his Topics, that the principles
of opposites are themselves opposed, and cannot be deduced from one and the same higher genus.* [66] For the
rest, some minor deviations from the Aristotelian denitions are quoted from the Topica of Theophrastus.* [67]
Closely connected with this treatise was that upon ambiguous words or ideas,* [68] which, without doubt, corresponded to book of Aristotle's Metaphysics.* [42]

CHAPTER 181. THEOPHRASTUS


and he regarded it as something proper both to nature in
general and the celestial system in particular:
Theophrastus, Metaphysics, 10a.16-29

He recognised no activity without motion,* [77] and so


referred all activities of the soul to motion: the desires and emotions to corporeal motion, judgment (kriseis) and contemplation to spiritual motion.* [78] The idea
of a spirit entirely independent of organic activity, must
therefore have appeared to him very doubtful; yet he
181.3.2 Physics and metaphysics
appears to have contented himself with developing his
doubts and diculties on the point, without positively
Theophrastus introduced his Physics with the proof that rejecting it.* [79] Other Peripatetics, like Dicaearchus,
all natural existence, being corporeal and composite, re- Aristoxenus, and especially Strato, developed further this
quires principles,* [69] and rst and foremost, motion, as naturalism in Aristotelian doctrine.
the basis of all change.* [70] Denying the substance of
Theophrastus seems, generally speaking, where the invesspace, he seems to have regarded it, in opposition to Aristigation overstepped the limits of experience, to have pretotle, as the mere arrangement and position (taxis and theferred to develop the diculties rather than solve them,
*
sis) of bodies. [71] Time he called an accident of motion,
as is especially apparent in his Metaphysics.* [42] He was
without, it seems, viewing it, with Aristotle, as the numerdoubtful of Aristotle's teleology and recommended that
ical determinant of motion.* [72] He attacked the doctrine
such ideas be used with caution:
of the four classical elements and challenged whether re
could be called a primary element when it appears to be - Theophrastus, Metaphysics, 10a.2224, 11a.13
compound, requiring, as it does, another material for its He did not follow the incessant attempts by Aristotle to
own nutriment.* [73]
refer phenomena to their ultimate foundations, or his attempts to unfold the internal connections between the latter, and between them and phenomena.* [42] In antiquity,
it was a subject of complaint that Theophrastus had not
expressed himself with precision and consistency respecting God, and had understood it at one time as Heaven, at
another an (enlivening) breath (pneuma).* [81]

181.3.3 Ethics
Theophrastus did not allow a happiness resting merely
upon virtue,* [82] or, consequently, to hold fast by the unconditional value of morality. He subordinated moral requirements to the advantage at least of a friend,* [83] and
had allowed in prosperity the existence of an inuence injurious to them. In later times, fault was found with his
expression in the Callisthenes, life is ruled by fortune,
not wisdom(vitam regit fortuna non sapientia).* [84]
That in the denition of pleasure, likewise, he did not coincide with Aristotle, seems to be indicated by the titles
of two of his writings, one of which dealt with pleasure
generally, the other with pleasure as Aristotle had dened
it.* [22] Although, like his teacher, he preferred contemAristotle
plative (theoretical), to active (practical) life,* [85] he preHe departed more widely from Aristotle in his doctrine ferred to set the latter free from the restraints of family
a manner of which Aristotle would not have
of motion, since on the one hand he extended it over all life, etc. in
*
[86]
approved.
categories, and did not limit it to those laid down by Aristotle.* [74] He viewed motion, with Aristotle, as an ac- Theophrastus was opposed to eating meat on the grounds
tivity, not carrying its own goal in itself (ateles), of that that it robbed animals of life and was therefore unjust.
which only potentially exists,* [75] but he opposed Aris- Non-human animals, he said, can reason, sense, and feel
totle's view that motion required a special explanation, just as human beings do.* [87]

181.5. IN POPULAR CULTURE

537

181.5 In popular culture


A world is named Theophrastus in the 2014 Firey
graphic novel Serenity: Leaves on the Wind. Perhaps alluding to his skill at botany, it appears to be a green and
pleasant world.

181.6 Notes
[1] Tiziano Dorandi, Chapter 2: Chronology, in Algra et al.
(1999), The Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy,
pp. 523. Cambridge.
[2] Theophrastus (1916).
Hort A. F. (transl.), ed.
Theophrastus: Enquiry into Plants. 1, Book IV.
New York: Loeb Classical Library/G.P. Putnam's Sons.
[3] Strabo, xiii.; Diogenes Lartius, v. 36, etc.
[4] Strabo, xiii.; Diogenes Lartius, v. 38
[5]Theophrastus is said to have studied rst at Eresus under
Alcippus, then at Athens under Plato. The latter report is
problematic.Theophrastusentry in the Encyclopedia
of classical philosophy (1997), page 552. Greenwood
[6]Theophrastusentry in the Encyclopedia of Classical Philosophy (1997), page 552. Greenwood
[7] Grene, Marjorie; Depew, David (2004). The philosophy
of biology: an episodic history. Cambridge University
Press. p. 11. ISBN 978-0-521-64380-1. Retrieved October 24, 2013.
The bust inscribed "
(Theophrastos Melanta Eresios)"

181.4 The portraitof Theophrastus

[8] Diogenes Lartius, v. 38: "Aristippus in the fourth book


of his treatise On Ancient Luxury asserts that he was enamoured of Aristotle's son Nicomachus- Robert Drew
Hicks translation. Cf. Suda, Nikomakhos, Theophrastos.
[9]It may we be that we owe to Theophrastus the publication
of some at least of his master's voluminous works.(Hort)
[10] Diogenes Lartius, v. 36; comp. Aulus Gellius, xiii. 5

The marble herm gure with the bearded head of philosopher type, bearing the explicit inscription, must be taken
as purely conventional. Unidentied portrait heads did
not nd a ready market in post-Renaissance Rome.* [88]
This bust was formerly in the collection of marchese
Pietro Massimi at Palazzo Massimi and belonged to
marchese L. Massimi at the time the engraving was made.
It is now in the Villa Albani, Rome (inv. 1034). The inscribed bust has often been illustrated in engravings* [89]
and photographs: a photograph of it forms the frontispiece to the Loeb Classical Library Theophrastus: Enquiry into Plants vol. I, 1916. Andr Thevet illustrated* [90] in his iconographic compendium, Les vraies
Pourtrats et vies des Hommes Illustres (Paris, 1584), an
alleged portrait plagiarized from the bust, supporting his
fraud with the invented tale that he had obtained it from
the library of a Greek in Cyprus and that he had seen a
conrming bust in the ruins of Antioch.* [91]

[11] One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text


from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm,
Hugh, ed. (1911). Theophrastus. Encyclopdia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
[12] Diogenes Lartius, v. 36, 58
[13] Diogenes Lartius, v. 40;He is made indeed to say in the
probably spurious Preface to the Characters that he is writing in his ninety-ninth year; while St. Jerome's Chronicle
asserts that he lived to the age of 107(Hort)
[14] Cicero, Tusculanae Quaestiones, iii. 28; Jerome, Letter to
Nepotian; Diogenes Lartius, v. 41.
[15] Diogenes Lartius, v. 36, 37.
[16] Diogenes Lartius, v. 37; comp. Aelian, Varia Historia,
iv. 19
[17] Diogenes Lartius, v. 41

538

CHAPTER 181. THEOPHRASTUS

[18] Diogenes Lartius, v. 42

[48] Dimitri Gutas (ed.), Theophrastus On First Principles:


known as His Metaphysics, Brill, 2010, p. 10.

[19] Diogenes Lartius, v. 42, 45, 50

[49] Walton, 359364

[20] Diogenes Lartius, v. 42, 45

[50] Georges Cuvier,Lecture Ninth - Theophrastusin Baron


Cuvier's Lectures on the Natural Sciences, Edinburgh new
philosophical journal, (1830), Volume 18, pp. 7683

[21] Diogenes Lartius, v. 46, 50, 43, 44


[22] Diogenes Lartius, v. 44

[25] Diogenes Lartius, v. 42, 43

[51] Theophrastus (1956, 315 BC). Theophrastus On Stones:


Introduction, Greek text, English translation, and Commentary. translated by John F. Richards, Earle Radclie Caley. Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State University. p. 238.
Check date values in: |date= (help)

[26] Diogenes Lartius, v. 43

[52] Googlebooks - Theophrastus On Stones

[27] Diogenes Lartius, v. 47

[53] John F. Healy, (1999) Pliny the Elder on Science and Technology, pp. 177. Oxford University Press

[23] Diogenes Lartius, v. 45


[24] Diogenes Lartius, v. 42, 46

[28] Diogenes Lartius, v. 49


[54] Walton, abstract & throughout
[29] Diogenes Lartius, v. 42, 50

[55] Simplicius, in Categ. 8

[30] Diogenes Lartius, v. 42, 47, 45

[56] Ammonius, de Interpr. 53; Schol. in Arist. p. 108, 27

[31] Cicero, de Finibus, v. 4.


[32] Cicero, de Invent. i. 35.
[33] Diogenes Lartius, v. 42, 43, 44, 45, 47, 49, 50

[57] Alexander of Aphrodisias, in Anal. Pr. f. 128, 124;


Schol. in Arist. p. 184. 24. 183, b. 2; Boethius, de
Interpr.

[34] Diogenes Lartius, v. 48

[58] Ammonius, in Arist. de Interpr. 128; Schol. in Arist. p.


121. 18

[35] Diogenes Lartius, v. 45, 47, 48; comp. Pliny, H.N.


xxviii. 6; Aristotle, Probl. xxxiii. 12

[59] Alexander of Aphrodisias, in Anal. Pr. f. 12. 6; Schol.


in Arist. p. 149. 44

[36] Diogenes Lartius, v. 48, 49; comp. 43

[60] Alexander of Aphrodisias, in Anal. Pr. 14, 72, 73, 82.


22, b, 35; Boethius, de Syll. categ. ii. 594. 5, f. 603, 615

[37] Basil. Magn. Epist. 167


[38] Diogenes Lartius, v. 43; Athenaeus, xii. 2, xiii. 2
[39] Diogenes Lartius, v. 44; Cicero, Tusculanae Quaestiones, iii. 10; Alexander of Aphrodisius, de Anima, ii.

[61] Alexander of Aphrodisias, in Anal. Pr. 39, b


[62] Alexander of Aphrodisias, in Anal. Pr. 39, b. etc. 40, 42,
56, b. 82, 64, b. 51; John Phil. xxxii, b. etc.
[63] Alexander of Aphrodisias, in Anal. Pr. 115

[40] Diogenes Lartius, v. 46, 50


[41] Diogenes Lartius, v. 42, 46, 48, 50
[42] This article incorporates text from a publication now in
the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "* article
name needed". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.
[43]Theophrastusentry in the Penny Cyclopaedia of the Society for the Diusion of Useful Knowledge, edited by
George Long, (1842), Volume 24, pp. 3324

[64] Alexander of Aphrodisias, in Arist. Anal. Pr. 109, b.


etc. 131, b.; John Phil. lx. etc. lxxv.; Boethius, de Syll.
hypoth.
[65] Galen, de Hippocr. et Plat. Dogm. ii. 2.
[66] Simplicius, in Categ. f. 5; Schol. p. 89. 15; comp.
Alexander of Aphrodisias, in Metaph. p. 342. 30
[67] Alexander of Aphrodisias, in Top. 5, 68, 72, 25, 31.
[68] Alexander of Aphrodisias, in Top. 83, 189

[44] Theodore Gaza, a refugee from Thessalonika, was working from a lost Greek manuscript that was dierent from
any others (Hort).

[69] Simplicius, in Phys. f. 1, 6

[45] It was carefully copied in a printing at Basel, 1541.

[71] Simplicius, in Phys. 149, b. 141

[46] Author Query for 'Theophr.'".


Names Index.

[72] Simplicius, in Phys. f. 87, b; John Phil. 213. 4.

International Plant

[47] Probably out of the fourth book of the Meteorology


(" ") of Theophrastus: see
Plutarch, Quaest. Gr. vii.

[70] Simplicius, in Phys. f. 5, 6

[73] Theophrastus, On Fire, 1


[74] Simplicius, in Categ.; comp. Simplicius, in Phys. 94, 201,
202, 1.

181.7. REFERENCES

[75] Simplicius, l. c. and f. 94, 1.

539

181.7 References

[76] The philosophy of Chrysippus (1970). The philosophy of


Chrysippus by Josiah Gould, p. 24 (Google Books). Retrieved May 31, 2013.

Theophrastusentry in the Penny cyclopaedia of the


Society for the Diusion of Useful Knowledge, edited
by George Long, (1842), Volume 24, pp. 3324

[77] Simplicius, in Categ.

Georges Cuvier,Lecture Ninth - Theophrastusin


Baron Cuvier's Lectures on the Natural Sciences, Edinburgh new philosophical journal, (1830), Volume
18, pp. 7683

[78] Simplicius, in Phys. 225


[79] Themistius, in Arist. de An. 89, b. 91, b.
[80] The Philosophy of Chrysippus - Two Traditional Characterizations (1970). The Philosophy of Chrysippus by Josiah
Gould, p. 25 (Google Books). Retrieved October 24,
2013. With regard to the view that all things are for the
sake of an end and nothing is in vain, the assignation of
ends is in general not easy, as it is usually stated to be ... we
must set certain limits to purposiveness and to the eort
after the best, and not assert it to exist in all cases without
qualication.

Walton, S. A., Theophrastus on Lyngurium: medieval and early modern lore from the classical
lapidary tradition, Annals of Science, Oct. 2001,
58(4):35779, PDF on Academia.edu
Attribution

This article incorporates text from a publication


now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed.
(1911). Theophrastus. Encyclopdia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William,
ed. (1870). "* article name needed". Dictionary of
Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

[81] Clement of Alexandria, Protrept.; Cicero, de Natura Deorum, i. 13


[82] Cicero, Academica, i. 10, Tusculanae Quaestiones, v. 9
[83] Aulus Gellius, i. 3. 23
[84] Cicero, Tusculanae Quaestiones, iii. 10; comp. Alexander
of Aphrodisias, de Anima, ii.
[85] Cicero, ad Atticus, ii. 16
[86] Jerome, Adversus Jovinianum, i, 189
[87] Taylor, Angus. Animals and Ethics. Broadview Press, p.
35.
[88]Since 'unknown portraits' were not valued highly, identifying inscriptions were often added to classical portraits
by antiquaries and collectors before modern scholarship
condemned the practice, notes Eugene Dwyer,Andr
Thevet and Fulvio Orsini: The Beginnings of the Modern Tradition of Classical Portrait Iconography, The Art
Bulletin 75.3 (September 1993: 467480) p 478 note 65..
[89] Dwyer notes Statius pl. xiii; Galle pl. 143; Bellori pl. 38;
Gronovius, vol. II p. 92; Visconti, 1803 pl. xxi, 12.
[90] Thevet, ch. 31; Eugene Dwyer (Andr Thevet and Fulvio Orsini: The Beginnings of the Modern Tradition of
Classical Portrait Iconography, The Art Bulletin 75.3
(September 1993: 467480) pp 476) notes that it had
been illustrated by Fulvio Orsini in his Imagines et elogia virorum illustrium (Rome, 1569), the rst critical
collection of ancient portraiture(p. 468).
[91] Noted by Eugene Dwyer, Andr Thevet and Fulvio
Orsini: The Beginnings of the Modern Tradition of
Classical Portrait Iconography, The Art Bulletin 75.3
(September 1993: 467480) pp. 476f and p. 478, gs
15 and 16.

181.8 Further reading


Theophrastus of Eresus (1992), Sources for His Life,
Writings, Thought and Inuence. Edited by William
W. Fortenbaugh et al. Leiden: Brill.
I. Life, Writings, Various Reports, Logic,
Physics, Metaphysics, Theology, Mathematics.
II. Psychology, Human Physiology, Living
Creatures, Botany, Ethics, Religion, Politics,
Rhetoric and Poetics, Music, Miscellanea.
Commentary, 9 volumes planned; published
volumes:
2. Logic, by Pamela Huby; with contributions on the Arabic material by Dimitri
Gutas.
3.1. Sources on Physics (Texts 137-223),
by R. W. Sharples.
4. Psychology (Texts 265-327), by Pamela
Huby; with contributions on the Arabic
material by Dimitri Gutas.
5. Sources on Biology (Human Physiology, Living Creatures, Botany: Texts 328435), by R. W. Sharples.
6.1. Sources on Ethics, by William W.
Fortenbaugh; with contributions on the
Arabic material by Dimitri Gutas.

540

CHAPTER 181. THEOPHRASTUS


8. Sources on Rhetoric and Poetics (Texts
666-713), by William W. Fortenbaugh.

Theophrastus (1993), Metaphysics. With an Introduction, Translation and Commentary by M. van


Raalte, Leiden: Brill
Theophrastus (1916), Enquiry into Plants: Books 15. Translated by A. F. Hort. Loeb Classical Library.
ISBN 0-674-99077-3
Theophrastus (1916), Enquiry into Plants: Books 69; Treatise on Odours; Concerning Weather Signs.
Translated by A. Hort. Loeb Classical Library.
ISBN 0-674-99088-9
Theophrastus (1989), De Causis Plantarum: Books
1-2. Translated by B. Einarson and G. Link. Loeb
Classical Library. ISBN 0-674-99519-8
Theophrastus (1990), De Causis Plantarum: Books
3-4. Translated by B. Einarson and G. Link. Loeb
Classical Library. ISBN 0-674-99523-6
Theophrastus (1990), De Causis Plantarum, Books
5-6. Translated by B. Einarson and G. Link. Loeb
Classical Library. ISBN 0-674-99524-4
Theophrastus (2003), Characters. Translated by
J. Rusten. Loeb Classical Library. ISBN 0-67499603-8
Theophrastus (2002), On Sweat, On Dizziness and
On Fatigue. Translated by W. Fortenbaugh, R.
Sharples, M. Sollenberger. Brill. ISBN 90-0412890-5
Theophrastus (2007), On Weather Signs. Edited by
Sider David and Brunschn Carl Wolfram. Leiden:
Brill 2007
Theophrastus (2009), Theophrastus of Eressos
Chromatology. Analyses, Identication, PhD Thesis,
University of the Aegean, edited by Thomas Katsaros with English abstract, Rhodes, 2009. ISBN
978-960-93-3517-1
Theophrastus (2010), On First Principles. Edited
and translated by Dimitri Gutas Leiden: Brill 2010.

181.9 External links


Enquiry into plants and minor works on odours and
weather signs, translated by Sir Arthur Hort, (1916),
Volume 1, Volume 2, at the Internet Archive.
Theophrastus work On Stones full text + annotation
Theophrastus of Eresus on winds and on weather
signs, (1894), by J. G. Wood, G. J. Symons, at the
Internet Archive.

Theophrastus and the Greek physiological psychology before Aristotle, by George Malcolm Stratton,
(1917), at the Internet Archive. Contains a translation of On the Senses by Theophrastus.
Theophrastus work The Characters, English
translation by R.C. Jebb (1870), on website eudaemonist.
The Characters of Theophrastus, Greek and English
text next to each other; translated by J. M. Edmonds,
(1929); at the Internet Archive.
Diogenes Lartius, Life of Theophrastus, translated
by Robert Drew Hicks (1925).
Peripatetic Logic: The Work of Eudemus of Rhodes
and Theophrastus of Eresus
Theophrastus On First Principles(known as his
Metaphysics)
Characters (original Ancient Greek text) (Greek)
Project Theophrastus (Greek)
Online Galleries, History of Science Collections,
University of Oklahoma Libraries (high resolution
images of works by Theophrastus in .jpg and .ti
format)

Chapter 182

Ammonius of Athens
Ammonius of Athens (Greek: ), sometimes
called Ammonius the Peripatetic, was a philosopher
who taught in Athens in the 1st century.
He was a teacher of Plutarch, who praises his great learning,* [1] and introduces him discoursing on religion and
sacred rites.* [2] Plutarch wrote a biography of him which
is no longer extant.
From the information supplied by Plutarch, Ammonius
was clearly an expert in the works of Aristotle, but he may
have nevertheless been a Platonist philosopher rather than
a Peripatetic.
He may be the Ammonius of Lamprae (in Attica) quoted
by Athenaeus* [3] as the author of a book on altars and
sacrices (Greek: ). Athenaeus
also mentions a work on Athenian courtesans (Greek:
) as written by an Ammonius.* [4]

182.1 References
[1] Plutarch, Symp., iii. 1.
[2] Plutarch, Symp., ix. 15.
[3] Athenaeus, Deipnosophists, xi.
[4] Athenaeus, Deipnosophists, xiii.

541

Chapter 183

Aristo of Alexandria
Aristo (or Ariston, Greek: ) of Alexandria,
was a Peripatetic philosopher, and a contemporary of
Strabo in the 1st century. He wrote a work on the
Nile.* [1] Eudorus, a contemporary of his, wrote a book
on the same subject, and the two works were so much
alike, that the authors charged each other with plagiarism.
Who was right is not said, though Strabo seems to be inclined to think that Eudorus was the guilty party.

183.1 Notes
[1] Diogenes Laertius, vii. 164; Strabo, xvii.

183.2 References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William,
ed. (1870). "* article name needed". Dictionary of
Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

542

Chapter 184

Aristocles of Messene
Aristocles (/rstkliz/; Greek: ) of
Messene in Sicily,* [1] was a Peripatetic philosopher, who
probably lived in the 1st century AD.* [2] He may have
been the teacher of Alexander of Aphrodisias.* [3]
According to the Suda* [1] and Eudokia, he wrote several
works:
Whether Homer or Plato is more Worthy.
- Arts of Rhetoric.
A work on the god Serapis.
A work on Ethics, in nine books.
A work on Philosophy, in ten books.
The last of these works appears to have been a history
of philosophy, in which he wrote about the philosophers,
their schools, and doctrines. Several fragments of it are
preserved in Eusebius.* [4]

184.1 Notes
[1] Suda, Aristokles
[2] Karamanolis, G., (2006), Plato and Aristotle in Agreement?: Platonists on Aristotle from Antiochus to Porphyry,
page 37. Oxford University Press.
[3] Cyrill. c. Jul. ii. The correct reading of this passage is in
doubt and may refer instead to Aristotle of Mytilene.
[4] Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelica, xiv, xv.

184.2 References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William,
ed. (1870). "* article name needed". Dictionary of
Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

543

Chapter 185

Aristotle of Mytilene
Aristotle of Mytilene (or Aristoteles, Greek: ; . 2nd century) was a distinguished Peripatetic
philosopher in the time of Galen. It has been argued that
he was a teacher of Alexander of Aphrodisias.
Galen (writing c. 190) referred to him as a leading gure in Peripatetic scholarship.* [1] According to Galen,
Aristotle of Mytilene never drank cold water because it
gave him spasms, but he was attacked with a disease in
which it was thought necessary for him to take it. He
drank the cold water and died.
It was argued by Paul Moraux in 1967 that Aristotle of
Mytilene was a teacher of Alexander of Aphrodisias.* [2]
Previous scholars had noted that ancient texts refer to an
Aristotleas a teacher of Alexander of Aphrodisias, and,
unaware of any 2nd-century philosophers by that name,
had emended the name to "Aristocles". If Moraux's theory is correct, and Aristotle of Mytilene was Alexander's
teacher, then his philosophical views are represented in a
passage of Alexander's On Intellect dealing with the doctrine of the external intellect.* [3]
This theory, however, was criticised by Pierre Thillet in 1984.* [4] Thillet argued that the text that refers
to Aristotle as Alexander's teacher might merely mean
that Alexander learned from the writings of the famous
Aristotle.

185.1 Notes
[1] Galen, De Consuetudinibus (Peri Ethon)
[2] P. Moraux, Aristoteles, der Lehrer Alexanders von
Aphrodisias, Archiv fr Geschichte der Philosophie 49
(1967) 169-182
[3] Robert B. Todd, (1976), Alexander of Aphrodisias on Stoic
Physics, pages 11-12. BRILL
[4] P. Thillet (ed.), Alexandre d'Aphrodise: Trait du Destin,
Paris 1984, xix-xxxi.

544

Chapter 186

Athenaeus Mechanicus
Athenaeus Mechanicus is the author of a book on
siegecraft, On Machines (Ancient Greek: ). He is identied by modern scholars with
Athenaeus of Seleucia, a member of the Peripatetic
school active in the mid-to-late 1st century BC, at Rome
and elsewhere.* [1]* [2]

186.2.1 Inuence
The tenth-century poliorketikon of Hero of Byzantium,
Parangelmata Poliorcetica, draws on Athenaeus as a
source.

186.1 Life
Strabo mentions a contemporary of his, Athenaeus of Seleucia, a Peripatetic philosopher.* [3] He was for some
time the leading demagogue in his native city, but afterwards came to Rome and became acquainted with
Lucius Licinius Varro Murena. On the discovery of the
plot which the latter, with Fannius Caepio, had entered
into against Augustus, Athenaeus accompanied him in
his ight. He was retaken, but pardoned by Augustus,
as there was no evidence of his having taken a more active part in the plot.* [4] He is perhaps the same person as
the writer mentioned by Diodorus, a historian who mentioned Semiramis.* [4]* [5]

186.2

Vitruvius, De architectura 10.13-16, a fact probably to be


explained by the two authors' shared reliance on a common source.* [6]

186.3 Editions
Carl(e) Wescher, Poliorctique des Grecs. Paris,
1867. (online: Google Books, archive.org)
Rudolf Schneider, Griechische Poliorketiker. Abhandlungen der kniglichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Gttingen: philologisch-historische
Klasse, neue Folge, 12:5. Berlin, 1912.
David Whitehead, P.H. Blyth, Athenaeus Mechanicus, On Machines. Historia-Einzelschrift, 182.
Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2004. ISBN 3-51508532-7

On Machines

The treatise is addressed to Marcus Claudius Marcellus, and thus will have been composed before Marcellus' death in 23 BC (and possibly at a time when its addressee was preparing to go out on campaign).* [1] It describes a number of siege engines. Among the earlier mechanicians cited as sources by Athenaeus are Agesistratus, Diades of Pella, and Philo of Byzantium. Whitehead
and Blyth analyze the treatise into a preface, a section on
good practice,a section on bad practice,a section
on Athenaeus' own innovations, and an epilogue emphasizing preparation for war as a deterrent, and defending Athenaeus' own record against unnamed critics.* [2]
The work is technical but not without signs of Athenaeus'
philosophical culture: He comes across as a philosopher, and he expounds about time and opportunity, but
also claims to be enough of a technical expert to devise
new machines, and to describe old ones accurately.* [1]
Much of Athenaeus' work (9.4-27.6) is closely parallel to

Maurizio Gatto (ed.), Il Peri mechanematon di Ateneo meccanico. Edizione critica, traduzione, commento e note. Aio 567. Roma: Aracne editrice,
2010. ISBN 978-88-548-3102-5

186.4 Notes

545

[1] Serana Cuomo, review of Gatto 2010, Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2010.11.35
[2] Duncan B. Campbell, review of Whitehead and Blyth
2004, Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2005.07.63
[3] Strabo 14.5.4
[4] William Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, p. 400.
[5] Diodorus Siculus, 2.20.3
[6] Whitehead and Blyth 2004, p. 14

Chapter 187

Gnaeus Claudius Severus


First marriage, by an unnamed noble Roman
woman, he had a son

Gnaeus Claudius Severus was a Roman senator and


philosopher who lived in the Roman Empire during the
2nd century.

Marcus Claudius Ummidius Quadratus. His


birth name is unknown and he is known by his
adoption name. Claudius was adopted by the
consul of 167, Marcus Ummidius Quadratus
Annianus who was the nephew of Marcus Aurelius. In 182, Severusrst son was involved
in a failed plot to kill the Roman Emperor
Commodus (180-192). When the plot was revealed, Commodus ordered his death and he
died.

Severus was the son of the Roman senator and philosopher Gnaeus Claudius Severus Arabianus by an unnamed
mother. Severus was of Pontian Greek descent. He was
born and raised in Pompeiopolis, a city in the Roman
province of Galatia. His paternal grandfather Gaius
Claudius Severus was a consul and the rst Roman governor of Arabia Petraea in the reign of the Emperor Trajan,
98-117.
Like his father, Severus was a follower of peripatetic
philosophy. Although Severus held no major political
inuence, he was considered as an inuential gure in
the intellectual and philosopher circles in Rome. Like
his father, Severus was a friend and had a great inuence on the Emperor Marcus Aurelius (161-180). It
was probably Severus that introduced Marcus Aurelius,
to the rhetorician Cornelianus and by his personal physician recommendation, introduced Marcus Aurelius to the
Greek physician Galen. Severus with his father accompanied Marcus Aurelius on a philosophical visit to Athens,
Greece in 176.
Severus served as an ordinary consul in 167 and 173. In
the year of his second consulship, Severus became a patron and was made an honorary citizen of Pompeiopolis.
In 173, an honoric inscription was dedicated to Severus
in his birth city. This honoric surviving inscription was
found on a statue base in the city:

Second marriage, after 159 he married the Roman


Princess Annia Aurelia Galeria Faustina, the rst
daughter and child born to Marcus Aurelius and
Faustina the Younger. She was the oldest sister to
Commodus, by whom he had a son called:
Tiberius Claudius Severus Proculus, he served
as an ordinary consul in 200 and married his
maternal second cousin Annia Faustina.

187.2 Sources

For the good fortune of Gnaeus Claudius


Severus who was consul twice, pontifex, sonin-law of the Emperor Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus, patron of the city,
the metropolis Pompeiopolis of the province of
Paphlagonia put this up in the 178th year of the
province through the work of Publius Domitius Augureinus Clodius Kalbeinus the chief
archon.

Marcus Aurelius, by Anthony Richard Birley, Routledge, 2000


Septimius Severus: the African emperor, by Anthony Richard Birley Edition: 2 - 1999
From Tiberius to the Antonines: a history of the Roman Empire AD 14-192, by Albino Garzetti, 1974
The Cambridge ancient history: The High Empire,
A.D. 70-192, By Alan K. Bowman, Peter Garnsey,
Dominic Rathbone Edition: 2 - Item notes: v. 11 2000

187.1 Marriages and Issues

The Cities and Bishoprics of Phyrgia: Being an Essay of the Local History of Phrygia from the Earliest
Times to the Turkish Conquest Volume One, Part
One - By William M. Ramsay 2004

Severus married twice and his wives were:

Articles Gnaeus Claudius Severus Arabianus &


Gnaeus Claudius Severus from German Wikipedia
546

187.2. SOURCES
http://www.livius.org/fa-fn/faustina/faustina_ii.
html
http://www.umich.edu/~{}classics/programs/class/
cc/372/sibyl/tutorial/dating/
http://thecorner.wordpress.com/2006/06/21/
chapter-two-septimius-and-the-cursus-honorum/
Marcus Aurelius - Meditations

547

Chapter 188

Cratippus of Pergamon
Cratippus of Pergamon (Greek: ), was a bodily inuence, and that divination is due to the direct
leading Peripatetic philosopher of the 1st century BC who action of the divine mind on that part of the human soul
taught at Mytilene and Athens. The only aspects of his which is not dependent on the body.
teachings which are known to us are what Cicero records
concerning divination.

188.3 References
188.1 Life

[1] Cicero, de Ociis, iii. 2


[2] Cicero, De Divinatione, i. 3.

Cratippus was a contemporary and friend of Cicero who


had a very high opinion of him, for he declared Cratip- [3] Plutarch, Pomp. 75; comp. Aelian, Varia Historia, vii.
21.
pus to be the most distinguished of the Peripatetics that
he had known,* [1] and thought him at least equal to [4] Cicero, Brut. 31, ad Fam. xii. 16, xvi. 21, de Ociis, i.
the greatest of his school.* [2] Cratippus lived for a time
1, ii. 2, 7.
at Mytilene, and accompanied Pompey in his ight after the Battle of Pharsalia, endeavouring to comfort and [5] Cicero, Ad Fam. xii. 16.
rouse him by philosophical arguments.* [3] Several emi[6] Plutarch, Cicero, 24.
nent Romans, such as M. Marcellus and Cicero himself,
were taught by him, and in 44 BC Cicero's son was his [7] Cicero, Tim. 1, cf. de Ociis, iii. 2
pupil at Athens, and was tenderly attached to him.* [4]
Young Cicero seems also to have visited Asia in his com- [8] H. B. Gottschalk, (1987), Aristotelian Philosophy in the
Roman World from the Time of Cicero to the End of the
pany.* [5] When Julius Caesar was at the head of the RoSecond Century AD, in W. Haase (ed.), ANRW: Geschichte
man republic, Cicero obtained from him Roman citizenund Kultur Roms im Spiegel der neueren Forschung, page
ship for Cratippus, and also induced the council of the
1096. Walter de Gruyter
Areopagus at Athens to invite the philosopher to remain
in the city and to continue his instructions in philoso- [9] Plutarch, Brutus, 24.
phy.* [6] Although Cicero speaks of him as the leading
[10] Cicero, De Divinatione, i. 3, 32, 50, 70, 71, ii. 48, 52;
philosopher of the Peripatetic school,* [7] it is not certain
Tertullian, de Anim. 46.
*
if he was the scholarch. [8] After the murder of Caesar,
Brutus, while staying at Athens, also attended the lectures
of Cratippus.* [9]

188.4 Sources

188.2 Teachings
Although Cicero had a high opinion of the knowledge
and talent of Cratippus, his philosophical opinions are unknown, apart from allusions to his opinions on divination,
on which he seems to have written a work. Cicero states
that Cratippus believed in dreams and supernatural inspiration (Latin: furor) but that he rejected all other kinds
of divination.* [10] He seems to have held that, while motion, sense and appetite cannot exist apart from the body,
thought reaches its greatest power when most free from
548

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William,
ed. (1870). "* article name needed". Dictionary of
Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

Chapter 189

Diodorus of Tyre
Diodorus of Tyre (Greek: ), was a Peripatetic
philosopher, and a disciple and follower of Critolaus,
whom he succeeded as the head of the Peripatetic school
at Athens c. 118 BC. He was still alive and active there in
110 BC, when Licinius Crassus, during his quaestorship
of Macedonia, visited Athens. Cicero denies that he was
a genuine Peripatetic, because it was one of his ethical maxims, that the greatest good consisted in a combination of virtue with the absence of pain, whereby a
reconciliation between the Stoics and Epicureans was attempted.* [1]

189.1 Notes
[1] Cicero, de Oratore, i. 11, Tusculanae Disputationes, v. 30,
De Finibus, ii. 6, 11, iv. 18, v. 5, 8, 25, Academica, ii.
42; Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, i., ii.

189.2 References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William,
ed. (1870). "* article name needed". Dictionary of
Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

549

Chapter 190

Herminus
Herminus (Greek: ; 2nd century) was a
Peripatetic philosopher. He lived in the rst half of the
2nd century.* [1] He appears to have written commentaries on most of the works of Aristotle. Simplicius* [2]
says he was the teacher of Alexander of Aphrodisias. We
learn from Alexander's commentary on the Prior Analytics that Herminus had worked on Aristotle's syllogistic
system, adding innovations which Alexander disapproved
of.* [3] His writings, of which nothing remains, are frequently referred to by Boethius, who mentions a treatise
by him, On Interpretation (Greek: ), as
also Analytics and Topics.
A Stoic philosopher called Herminus is mentioned by
Longinus in the preface to his book On Ends. This Herminus had been a teacher when Longinus was young (c.
230).* [4]

190.1 Notes
[1] Lucian, Demonax, 56.
[2] Simplicius, ad Arist. de Caelo, ii. 23
[3] Alan K. Bowman, Peter Garnsey, Dominic Rathbone,
(2000) The Cambridge ancient history: The High Empire,
A.D. 70-192, page 936. Cambridge University Press.
[4] Geert Roskam, (2005), On the path to virtue: the Stoic doctrine of moral progress and its Reception in (Middle-) Platonism, page 393. Leuven University Press

This article incorporates text from a publication now in


the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "* article
name needed". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

550

Chapter 191

Olympiodorus the Elder


Olympiodorus the Elder (Greek: ) was
a 5th-century neoplatonist who taught in Alexandria,
in the late years of the Western Roman Empire. He
is most famous for being the teacher of the important
Neoplatonist Proclus (412485), whom Olympiodorus
wanted his own daughter to marry.
Owing to the rapidity of his utterance and the diculty
of the subjects on which he treated, he was understood
by very few. When his lectures were concluded, Proclus
used to repeat the topics treated of in them for the benet
of those pupils who were slower in catching the meaning
of their master. Olympiodorus had the reputation for being an eloquent man and a profound thinker. Nothing of
his has come down to us in a written form.

191.1 References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William,
ed. (1870). "* article name needed". Dictionary of
Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

551

Chapter 192

Gnaeus Claudius Severus Arabianus


Gnaeus Claudius Severus Arabianus (113-after 176)
was a Roman Senator and philosopher who lived in the
Roman Empire.

192.1 Sources

Severus was the son of the consul and the rst Roman
Governor of Arabia Petraea, Gaius Claudius Severus by
an unnamed mother. Severus was of Pontian Greek descent. He was born and raised in Pompeiopolis, a city in
the Roman province of Galatia.
When Severus had come to Rome during the reign of
Roman Emperor Hadrian (117-138), he had become
a philosophical mentor and a teacher to Roman noble
students. Among his students was the future Roman
Emperor Marcus Aurelius, with whom he had become
friends. Severus was the philosophical mentor of Marcus
Aurelius.
In Rome, Severus assumed a reputation as a man of spirit
and as a great philosophical mentor. He was a follower
of Peripatetic philosophy and later served as an ordinary consul in 146 in the reign of the Roman Emperor
Antoninus Pius (138-161).
He married an unnamed woman, by whom he had a son
called Gnaeus Claudius Severus. Severus was evidently a
politician with a deep interest in political philosophy and
this is revealed, on Marcus Aureliusopinion of Severus
in Meditations (1.14n):

From Severus: love of family, love of truth,


love of justice; to have come by his help to
understand Thrasea, Helvidius, Cato, Dio Brutus; to have conceived the idea of a balanced
constitution, a commonwealth based on equality and freedom of speech, and of a monarchy
which values above all the liberty of the subject; from him, too, a constant and vigorous
respect for philosophy; benecence, unstinting
generosity, optimism; his condence in the affection of his friends, his frankness with those
who met with his censure, and open likes and
dislikes, so that his friends did not need to guess
at his wishes.
552

From Tiberius to the Antonines: a history of the Roman Empire AD 14-192, by Albino Garzetti, 1974
Marcus Aurelius, by Anthony Richard Birley, Routledge, 2000
The Cambridge Ancient History: the High Empire,
A.D. 70-192, by Alan K. Bowman, Peter Garnsey,
Dominic Rathbone Edition: 2 - Item notes: v. 11 2000
Articles - Gnaeus Claudius Severus Arabianus &
Gnaeus Claudius Severus articles from German
Wikipedia
Marcus Aurelius - Meditations

Chapter 193

Sosigenes the Peripatetic


Sosigenes the Peripatetic was a philosopher living at the
end of the 2nd century AD. He was the tutor of Alexander
of Aphrodisias and wrote a work On Revolving Spheres,
from which some important extracts have been preserved
in Simplicius's commentary on Aristotle's De Caelo.

193.2 References

He criticized both Aristotle and Eudoxus for their imperfect theory of celestial spheres and also the use of
epicycles, which he felt to be inconsistent with Aristotle's
philosophical postulates. He pointed out that the planets
varied markedly in brightness, and that eclipses of the sun
are sometimes total and sometimes annular, suggesting
that the distances between the sun, moon and earth were
not the same at dierent eclipses.
Sosigenes is perhaps calledthe Peripatetic" only because
of his connection with Alexander. Some ancient evidence
may be taken to suggest that he was, in fact, a Stoic. As
John Patrick Lynch has written:

The other two teachers of Alexander may


actually have been the philosophers whom ancient sources called Stoics; in both cases, Herminos/Sosigenesthe Stoichave been distinguished from Herminos/Sosigenes the Peripateticonly on the grounds that the two latter men were teachers of Alexander of Aphrodisias. But it is not improbable that Alexander
of Aphrodisias studied with two Stoic teachers and that these two pairs of homonymous
contemporaries are actually only two Stoic
philosophers.* [1]
He is often confused with the astronomer Sosigenes of
Alexandria, who advised Julius Caesar on the reform of
the Roman calendar.

193.1 Notes
[1] John Patrick Lynch, Aristotle's School: A Study of a Greek
Educational Institution, Berkeley: University of California
Press, 1972, p. 215.

553

Irby-Massie G., Keyser P., Greek Science of the Hellenistic Era: A Sourcebook, pages 8081. Routledge.
Zhmud L., Chernoglazov A., (translator), The Origin of the History of Science in Classical Antiquity,
page 231. Walter de Gruyter.
This article incorporates text from a publication now
in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911).
"Sosigenes". Encyclopdia Britannica (11th ed.).
Cambridge University Press.

Chapter 194

Xenarchus of Seleucia
[6] Alexander Aphrodisiensis, de Anim.

This article incorporates text from a publication now in


the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "* article
name needed". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

Xenarchus, depicted as a medieval scholar in the Nuremberg


Chronicle.* [1]

Xenarchus (Greek: ; 1st century BC) of


Seleucia in Cilicia, was a Greek Peripatetic philosopher
and grammarian. Xenarchus left home early, and devoted
himself to the profession of teaching, rst at Alexandria,
afterwards at Athens, and last at Rome, where he enjoyed
the friendship of Arius, and afterwards of Augustus; and
he was still living, in old age and honour, when Strabo
wrote.* [2] Xenarchus disagreed with Aristotle on many
issues. He denied the existence of the aether, composing
a treatise entitled Against the Fifth Element.* [3] He is also
mentioned by Simplicius,* [4] by Julian the Apostate,* [5]
and by Alexander of Aphrodisias.* [6]

194.1 Notes
[1] Die Schedelsche Weltchronik:097
[2] Strabo, 14.5.4.
[3] Giovanni Reale, 1990, A History of Ancient Philosophy:
The Schools of the Imperial Age, page 19. SUNY Press
[4] Simplicius, de Caelo, 1.
[5] Julian, Orations, V. 162 (On the Mother of the Gods.)

554

194.2. TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

555

194.2 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses


194.2.1

Text

Aristotle Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle?oldid=644446615 Contributors: Magnus Manske, Kpjas, General Wesc, Vicki
Rosenzweig, Mav, Wesley, Bryan Derksen, Berek, Tarquin, Stephen Gilbert, Koyaanis Qatsi, Malcolm Farmer, DanKeshet, RK, Andre Engels, Eclecticology, Danny, XJaM, Deb, SimonP, Shii, Ben-Zin, Glshadbolt, Camembert, Hirzel, Fonzy, Ezubaric, Hephaestos, Leandrod,
Stevertigo, Spi, Infrogmation, Pamplemousse, Michael Hardy, Llywrch, Fred Bauder, Owl, Aezram, BoNoMoJo (old), MartinHarper,
Ixfd64, Bcrowell, Sannse, TakuyaMurata, Shoaler, GTBacchus, Nine Tail Fox, Paul A, Looxix, Ellywa, Ahoerstemeier, Snoyes, Notheruser,
Jniemenmaa, Angela, Darkwind, , Cyan, Uri, BenKovitz, LouI, Poor Yorick, Kwekubo, Andres, Evercat, John K, Ghewgill,
Skyfaller, Schneelocke, Adam Conover, MichaelInskeep, Johs, Renamed user 4, Alex S, Charles Matthews, Adam Bishop, EALacey, RickK,
Jitse Niesen, Radgeek, Dandrake, The Anomebot, WhisperToMe, Wik, Dtgm, Zoicon5, Markhurd, Tpbradbury, Kaare, Hyacinth, Neiwai,
Morwen, Itai, Populus, Mir Harven, Omegatron, Buridan, Phoebe, Joy, Prisonblues, Dpbsmith, Wetman, Pakaran, Johnleemk, Banno,
Dimadick, Phil Boswell, Robbot, Jakohn, Fredrik, Alrasheedan, Goethean, Peak, Sam Spade, Lowellian, Mirv, Henrygb, Academic Challenger, Markewilliams, Flauto Dolce, Rursus, Paradox2, Rasmus Faber, Sunray, Rebrane, Hadal, Wikibot, Alba, Mushroom, Xanzzibar,
Dina, Alan Liefting, Marc Venot, Sobelk, Giftlite, MPF, Awolf002, Andries, Tom harrison, Meursault2004, Aphaia, MSGJ, Obli, Rj, Peruvianllama, Everyking, Anville, Zmaj, Carlo.Ierna, LarryGilbert, Beardo, Maarten van Vliet, Joshuapaquin, Node ue, Eequor, Rynelm, Solipsist, Matt Crypto, Chameleon, SWAdair, Deus Ex, Tagishsimon, Golbez, Gyrofrog, Utcursch, Gdr, Quadell, Antandrus, Williamb, Beland,
OverlordQ, Cevlakohn, Anthony Mohen, Jossi, EuropracBHIT, 1297, Phil Sandifer, Rdsmith4, APH, Mikko Paananen, JimWae, Dmaftei,
Tomruen, M.e, Pmanderson, Icairns, Tdombos, Kmweber, WpZurp, Joyous!, Herschelkrustofsky, Ukexpat, Trilobite, Adashiel, Trevor
MacInnis, ELApro, Lacrimosus, Esperant, Zro, Hbmartin, R, Simonides, Freakofnurture, Heegoop, Venu62, Poccil, Adambondy, Haiduc,
DanielCD, Lectiodicilior, EugeneZelenko, Arcataroger, Noisy, Discospinster, Rich Farmbrough, Guanabot, Brutannica, FranksValli, Supercoop, Liso, Amicuspublilius, Vsmith, Parishan, Narsil, Ericamick, Xezbeth, Mal, Number 0, Dbachmann, Pavel Vozenilek, TigerZukeX,
Paul August, MarkS, DcoetzeeBot, Lachatdelarue, Bender235, ESkog, PP Jewel, Ben Standeven, Brian0918, RJHall, Floorsheim, Livajo, Frankieist, El C, Chalst, Zenohockey, Mwanner, Kross, PhilHibbs, Shanes, AreJay, Art LaPella, Gershwinrb, Etz Haim, Spoon!,
Wareh, Jpgordon, Causa sui, Thuresson, Bobo192, NetBot, Whosyourjudas, Ruszewski, Smalljim, Func, Evolauxia, John Vandenberg,
BrokenSegue, Vortexrealm, Cohesion, Arcadian, Oop, Urthogie, Rajah, PeterisP, Thewayforward, MPerel, Crust, Nsaa, Batneil, Conny,
Knucmo2, ADM, Jumbuck, Storm Rider, Alansohn, Gary, Anthony Appleyard, Jic, Mackinaw, Miranche, ChristopherWillis, Ben davison,
Mr Adequate, Ricky81682, Verdlanco, Andrew Gray, D prime, Riana, Lectonar, SlimVirgin, WhiteC, Seans Potato Business, PAR, Eukesh, Mysdaao, Titanium Dragon, Jjhake, Snowolf, Pax, Dkikizas, Wtmitchell, Binabik80, Kanodin, Andrew Norman, Suruena, Docboat,
Evil Monkey, VivaEmilyDavies, RJFJR, RainbowOfLight, TenOfAllTrades, Sciurin, Sumergocognito, Pethr, LFaraone, Zereshk, HGB,
Michael Ward, Ceyockey, Markaci, Phi beta, Oleg Alexandrov, Megan1967, Saeed, Snowmanmelting, Philthecow, Joriki, Velho, Mel
Etitis, Woohookitty, FeanorStar7, TigerShark, Timo Laine, Etacar11, Daniel Case, Gruepig, DavidArthur, Benhocking, Deeahbz, Kzollman, Briangotts, Dodiad, Chochopk, MONGO, Schzmo, Wikiklrsc, KFan II, Prashanthns, G.W., Stefanomione, Palica, Tydaj, Dysepsion,
Tslocum, Dpaking, SqueakBox, Graham87, Magister Mathematicae, Cuchullain, BD2412, Galwhaa, FreplySpang, DePiep, Jclemens,
Porcher, Jorunn, Rjwilmsi, Mayumashu, Koavf, Vary, Tangotango, Sdornan, Salix alba, HandyAndy, ErikHaugen, SpNeo, Zizzybaluba,
Crazynas, Tstockma, Blueskyboris, Boccobrock, Afterwriting, Kazak, The wub, DoubleBlue, Reinis, Dar-Ape, MartinC, Sango123, Ev,
Yamamoto Ichiro, Hanshans23, Miskin, FlaBot, CDThieme, Ian Pitchford, RobertG, Doc glasgow, Crazycomputers, TheMidnighters,
Nivix, Andy85719, RexNL, Gurch, Wars, Str1977, TeaDrinker, Alphachimp, Langer, Tedder, Piniricc65, TheSun, Tofergregg, King of
Hearts, CiaPan, CJLL Wright, Chobot, DTOx, Finnegar, Citizen Premier, Aethralis, Gdrbot, Bgwhite, Gwernol, Uriah923, YurikBot,
Split, Deeptrivia, Jimp, Mukkakukaku, RussBot, Jtkiefer, ThomistGuy, RJC, Pigman, Eupator, Chris Capoccia, CanadianCaesar, Al Capwned, Zuben, Subsurd, Akamad, Stephenb, Robert Turner, Gaius Cornelius, Pseudomonas, KSchutte, Cunado19, Tyugar, NawlinWiki,
Matia.gr, Rick Norwood, Ben-T, Stephen Burnett, Wiki alf, Veledan, LaszloWalrus, Dumoren, Jaxl, Johann Wolfgang, Trovatore, Proyster, Cognition, SivaKumar, Milesbuckeridge, Eric Sellars, Shaun F, Ziel, BlackAndy, Yoninah, Ragesoss, Shinmawa, Brandon, Jpbowen,
Pkrembs, Darcrist, Aldux, Moe Epsilon, Misza13, Alex43223, Xgu, Dbrs, BOT-Superzerocool, Wangi, DeadEyeArrow, Darthkt, FestivalOfSouls, Dernhelm, Jpeob, Tomisti, User27091, Wknight94, Jkelly, FF2010, Womble, Phgao, Lt-wiki-bot, Andrew Lancaster, Nikkimaria, Theda, Closedmouth, Skenmy, Oscurotrophic, Fang Aili, Moogsi, E Wing, Abune, Jogers, LordJumper, Canley, Beaker342, Sean
Whitton, GraemeL, Rocketrye12, Kevin, Anjoe, Whobot, Mhenriday, Ethan Mitchell, Argos'Dad, Kungfuadam, Lowellplayer, Innity0,
Zernhelt, DVD R W, CIreland, David Wahler, robot, Sycthos, VinceyB, Sardanaphalus, Crystallina, Havocrazy, Otheus, SmackBot, FocalPoint, Imz, Smitz, Lestrade, Temptinglip, KnowledgeOfSelf, Notay, Lagalag, SilverFox, Nikanako, Kimon, Lawrencekhoo,
Jacek Kendysz, KocjoBot, Davewild, AndreasJS, Chairman S., Delldot, Blackpower, Agentbla, Rachel Pearce, Kintetsubualo, Edgar181,
Alsandro, Mary 23 mali, LonesomeDrifter, Sebesta, Xaosux, Yamaguchi , Vassyana, Aksi great, Gilliam, Portillo, ShalashaskaX,
Hmains, ERcheck, Exlibris, DarkElf109, David Ludwig, Amatulic, Izehar, Chris the speller, Bluebot, Keegan, TimBentley, Jcc1, Persian
Poet Gal, Ian13, Jordanhurley, Master of Puppets, Thumperward, Miquonranger03, MalafayaBot, Bethling, SchftyThree, Jennneal1313,
Interstate295revisited, KaptKos, Willardo, Viewnder, Nbarth, Kasyapa, Go for it!, DHN-bot, Tonica, Boman, AdamSmithee, John
Reaves, WikiPedant, Ain, Can't sleep, clown will eat me, Vanished user llkd8wtiuawfhiuweuhncu3tr, John Hyams, Gamahucheur, Kelvin
Case, Akhilleus, Onorem, Wisconjon, Yidisheryid, Matthew, EvelinaB, Jajhill, Clinkophonist, Addshore, Bardsandwarriors, Edivorce,
Celarnor, Stevenmitchell, Junius, WhereAmI, Iapetus, Downwards, Nibuod, Retinarow, Nakon, James McNally, RobinJ, Richard001,
Alexandra lb, RandomP, Mini-Geek, Aniras, LoveMonkey, Hgilbert, Jan.Kamenicek, Weregerbil, Only, Lacatosias, Das Baz, Jon Awbrey,
Illnab1024, Nathans, Jklin, Wybot, KeithB, Slotaa, Richard0612, ElizabethFong, Sadi Carnot, Vina-iwbot, Aviron, Ck lostsword, Bejnar,
Jwesalo, Kukini, Yevgeny Kats, Ohconfucius, Byelf2007, CIS, SashatoBot, Grommel, Yannismarou, Clown in black and yellow, Rory096,
Swatjester, Harryboyles, Rklawton, Giovanni33, Rthefunkeymonkey, Dbtfz, Kuru, John, Scientizzle, Kipala, Ocanter, Disavian, VirtualDave, Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, Shadowlynk, Merchbow, Hemmingsen, Mattbarton.exe, Mgiganteus1, Peterlewis, RedStar, RomanSpa, PseudoSudo, KatToni, Aarandir, Kaewing, Bmistler, Defyn, Slakr, Special-T, Bfjs123, Stwalkerster, Apcbg, NJMauthor, Noah
Salzman, Mr Stephen, Waggers, Funnybunny, Ryulong, Risingpower, Pitman6787, RichardF, Texas Dervish, Zapvet, Jose77, LaMenta3,
Ontoquantum, Inquisitus, Isokrates, Hectorian, Phuzion, Keitei, S t B, Hu12, Ginkgo100, BranStark, Azamat Abdoullaev, Mig77, OnBeyondZebrax, Aursani, Fan-1967, Iridescent, K, Stangoldsmith, WGee, Shoeofdeath, AntonM, J Di, Delta x, Gregtrueblood, MJO,
Cbrown1023, Wwallacee, Blehfu, Musicmonk, Marysunshine, Amhboro1, Az1568, Tawkerbot2, Dave Runger, Daniel5127, Will Pittenger,
Xcentaur, Cyrusc, JForget, Vaughan Pratt, CRGreathouse, Postmodern Beatnik, CmdrObot, Sir Vicious, Matthieu Houriet, Rigel1, Comrade42, CBM, KyraVixen, Ruslik0, N2e, OMGsplosion, Richaraj, MarsRover, Avillia, Casper2k3, Neelix, Andkore, Tim1988, Karenjc,
Chicheley, Lookingforgroup, Gregbard, Seejyb, Slazenger, Michfan2123, Cydebot, Fluence, Gtxfrance, Steel, Aristophanes68, DrunkenSmurf, Astrochemist, Gogo Dodo, Corpx, ST47, Mvoltron, A Softer Answer, Jlpriestley, Pascal.Tesson, Scott14, Joegasper, Tawkerbot4,
Dougweller, Rlz, Christian75, Codetiger, DumbBOT, Chrislk02, In Defense of the Artist, Sirmylesnagopaleentheda, Vyselink, ICom-

556

CHAPTER 194. XENARCHUS OF SELEUCIA

puterSaysNo, Viridae, Briantw, SpK, SteveMcCluskey, Ebyabe, Omicronpersei8, JodyB, Zalgo, Daniel Olsen, Dimo414, Grubbiv, Gimmetrow, Nishidani, Bhvilar, FrancoGG, Thijs!bot, SnaX, Epbr123, Wikid77, CSvBibra, Ziggman93, Mime, Ucanlookitup, Vidor, N5iln,
Andyjsmith, Headbomb, Victorlamp, John254, Tapir Terric, James086, Tellyaddict, BehnamFarid, Pavlo Moloshtan, Dfrg.msc, RichardVeryard, Philippe, CharlotteWebb, Deafchild, TangentCube, Klausness, WhaleyTim, SusanLesch, Natalie Erin, CTZMSC3, Northumbrian, Escarbot, Oreo Priest, Hmrox, AntiVandalBot, Ais523, RobotG, Chaleyer61, Majorly, Abu-Fool Danyal ibn Amir al-Makhiri,
Emeraldcityserendipity, Quintote, Prolog, Doc Tropics, DeanC, Sirol, Neoptolemos, Julia Rossi, Mal4mac, Dr who1975, Jj137, Editor
Emeritus, D. Webb, Modernist, Farosdaughter, Gdo01, MaXiMiUS, LonTheCleaner, David aukerman, Baskaransri, John Cho, JAnDbot,
Denidoc@gmail.com, WANAX, Leuko, Husond, Athkalani, Bobvila2, Smashman202, MER-C, Epeeeche, Mcorazao, Matthew Fennell,
Instinct, Janejellyroll, Tonyrocks922, Xeno, Hut 8.5, GurchBot, Chickyfuzz123, Tstrobaugh, Snowolfd4, Savant13, Beaumont, Cynwolfe,
Dmacw6, LittleOldMe, Acroterion, Meeples, , Bibi Saint-Pol, Nikolaos Bakalis, Magioladitis, Connormah, Bongwarrior, Xwangtang, VoABot II, P64, Ishikawa Minoru, AuburnPilot, JNW, SHCarter, Careless hx, ZooTVPopmart, Sunower at Dawn, Doug Coldwell, Avicennasis, Snowded, Bubba hotep, JaKoBay, Catgut, Ankitsingh83, Awwiki, Animum, Nposs, Ben Ram, MetsBot, User86654,
Oldimagineer, 28421u2232nfenfcenc, Boob, Allstarecho, Faded shado, SlamDiego, DerHexer, JaGa, Matt B., Megalodon99, CCS81,
Debashish, Johnbrownsbody, TimidGuy, Erik.w.davis, Murraypaul, Gwern, Kitler0005, Gjd001, FisherQueen, GustavoDuarte, Ratherhaveaheart, Neonblak, Magnus Bakken, Hdt83, MartinBot, Paoloster, Arjun01, Tekleni, Cadre99, CalendarWatcher, Kostisl, PGRandom,
R'n'B, AlexiusHoratius, Johnpacklambert, Zygiskr, Irish2455, Kjmarino, Fconaway, LittleOldMe old, Mifa17, WelshMatt, Whale plane,
Smokizzy, Jsmith86, Erkan Yilmaz, Artaxiad, RockMFR, Paranomia, J.delanoy, Captain panda, Pharaoh of the Wizards, Nev1, Rgoodermote, Atomic theorist, Ulyssesmsu, Silverxxx, Uncle Dick, Yonidebot, Jonpro, Ginsengbomb, StonedChipmunk, Zane2614, Fleiger,
Extransit, Pajfarmor, TheTwiz, Alsandair, TomS TDotO, Kimedoncius, Cpiral, Katalaveno, Nsigniacorp, LordAnubisBOT, Ignatzmice,
Keyblade12344, Janus Shadowsong, Ypetrachenko, Kelvin Knight, Silver7scythe7, Gabr-el, Stevenw988, Masmas7, Hm john morse,
Chiswick Chap, InspectorTiger, Richard D. LeCour, NewEnglandYankee, SJP, Cobi, Malerin, Phatius McBlu, Mufka, Tanaats, Rumpelstiltskin223, Nrobin9, Madhava 1947, Sean0987, 1stBrigade, Juliancolton, Evb-wiki, RB972, Kolja21, DorganBot, Subtilior, Doctoroxenbriery, Lucaswennerholm, Bite Jones, Inwind, Useight, Adam Zivner, CJTweedy, Izno, RjCan, Millton2, Lilguys, Idontkknow, Levydav,
The enemies of god, ThePointblank, RJASE1, Nailer123, Idarin, Jonas Mur, Mastrchf91, Taquam, Dirak, Tigger99, X!, Cantdj, Deor,
VolkovBot, TreasuryTag, Laurzor, Hersfold, Wrongkeyhole, Je G., Nburden, Kwsn, Al.locke, Ryan032, Aesopos, Barneca, Philip Trueman, Elephantini4, TXiKiBoT, Hunter.krauch, Kww, Envee11, Antoni Barau, FitzColinGerald, Karynhuntting, Z.E.R.O., Anonymous
Dissident, Ticketautomat, Auent Rider, Weikang526, Qxz, Someguy1221, Bdallen, HansMair, Rhrebs0913, Ocolon, Koranjem, Ontoraul, Melsaran, Corvus cornix, Xxdarkstar101xX, Soldarnal, Broadbot, Manbss, Abdullais4u, Jcollins07, LeaveSleaves, Drappel, Seb
az86556, Mmashark311, Domitius, Frogdoglogpog, Cremepu222, Actipolak, Ilyushka88, FrankSanMiguel, RadiantRay, Mwilso24, Eldredo, Ahmedoasis, Deneys, BobTheTomato, Tctwood, Mattmiller2, Graymornings, Falcon8765, Enviroboy, J Casanova, Floikas, Why
Not A Duck, Brianga, HeirloomGardener, Symane, Cowlinator, NHRHS2010, EmxBot, Deconstructhis, Thony C., Is Mise, Macdonaldross, Linguist1, SMC89, SieBot, Whiskey in the Jar, Tresiden, Fixer1234, Gprince007, Tiddly Tom, Nihil novi, Scarian, Euryalus, BotMultichill, Ghimboueils, ThePrince7, Adamoako221, Caltas, Crawfwil, Doesils13, Squelle, RJaguar3, Triwbe, Swaq, This, that and the
other, The way, the truth, and the light, Santas back3, JabbaTheBot, Drknow2000, Cagnettaican, GrooveDog, Srushe, Eumix, Chinesearabs, The Unknown Hitchhiker, Likebox, SpitFire3129, Tiptoety, Radon210, Ako221, Arbor to SJ, Tuomas Parsio, Ferret, Richardcraig,
JSpung, Shakko, Turtle123, Oxymoron83, Aelius28, Citador, Faradayplank, Linkpalmer, Steven Zhang, Phil Lu, Lightmouse, Poindexter
Propellerhead, Hjelmerus, Hobartimus, Svm1 63, Da noob1, Homelessman123123123, Pediainsight, Vojvodaen, Calatayudboy, Datus,
Vanished user ewsn2348tui2f8n2o2utjfeoi210r39jf, Anchor Link Bot, Jacob.jose, Wolfgang84, Superbeecat, Nic bor, GirlyPanache,
3rdAlcove, Kanonkas, Gr8opinionater, Invertzoo, Leranedo, Loren.wilton, De728631, ClueBot, LAX, Snigbrook, Jgeortsis, Hippo99,
Fyyer, The Thing That Should Not Be, Fadesga, DionysosProteus, EelkeSpaak, Taquito1, Herakles01, Arakunem, Steplin19, Cryptographic hash, J8079s, Migz Nexus, SuperHamster, Boing! said Zebedee, Poo9dle, Phahn7, CounterVandalismBot, Bryan.kromenacker,
Waterfall117, Colentava, Jordoboy, Madmanluc, Singinglemon, MrBosnia, Neverquick, Olivas ruben, Auntof6, DragonBot, Excirial,
Universityuser, -Midorihana-, Soccerpunkrocker, Garrettissupercool, Macedonius, Big m0ma123, Gtstricky, Jedimaster121493, Vivio
Testarossa, Lartoven, Alpha Ralpha Boulevard, Enochchan107067, Shadowrox, NuclearWarfare, Aristotle07, Jotterbot, Kcowluvr, Lilsaintdj, Afro Article, Zachmosher, Meardley, Hans Adler, Razorame, Dekisugi, Jonathan316, Kieranlee999, Dwiddows, Krypton34,
Askahrc, BOTarate, Thehelpfulone, Sprajah, Al-Andalusi, Aprock, Panos84, Catalographer, Thingg, Liquid Mercury, Aitias, BVBede,
Notanaccountname, Venera 7, Sunshinyness, Dana boomer, Akaszynski, MelonBot, Tsan2008, Bolchazy101, Apparition11, ImGladMyMomIsDead, Crazy Boris with a red beard, JKeck, Seneca22, Chronicler, XLinkBot, Jytdog, Rror, Gerhardvalentin, Onehundredbillion,
Saeed.Veradi, AndreNatas, SilvonenBot, Badgernet, TomPointTwo, ZooFari, Good Olfactory, Xp54321, Wran, Willking1979, Ucdclassicscarty, Dude its nick, Uruk2008, Landon1980, Ramanujanredux, Atethnekos, Angel Alice, DougsTech, LightSpectra, MartinezMD, Guy of
a place, Fieldday-sunday, CanadianLinuxUser, Leszek Jaczuk, Jpoelma13, Flame89, Cst17, Footiemeister, Mentisock, 0measam, Berkberk, Noobblack, CarsracBot, Moocow8696, Kurtcobain12345, LinkFA-Bot, Rtz-bot, Roman000, Austin pp, Meaty Weenies, Zqmdfg,
Numbo3-bot, Sylvania w, F Notebook, DubaiTerminator, Nefnef, Tide rolls, BOOLE1847, Lightbot, Verazzano, Gail, MuZemike, Jarble,
JEN9841, HerculeBot, Legobot, Rradulak, Ttasterul, Wcmead3, Luckas-bot, ZX81, Yobot, Ptbotgourou, Senator Palpatine, Kingkong77,
Legobot II, Cow turdy, PMLawrence, Pitchneed, THEN WHO WAS PHONE?, AmeliorationBot, ChugiBear, KamikazeBot, Marbleofplaster, TheThomas, Keeratura,
, Creektheleftcheeksneak, Jacobisawesome, Licor, AnomieBOT, Rubinbot, Makedonas the
Greek, Bomas Hawkins, Piano non troppo, AdjustShift, Bonre of vanities, Mr pope man, Shadowmorph, Ulric1313, Owllovesux, Whatsupwiththat, Materialscientist, RobertEves92, Wandering Courier, Citation bot, Allen234, Paulatim, ArthurBot, CABlankenship, Xqbot,
Timir2, Drilnoth, Sakaa, Br77rino, Koyos, GrouchoBot, Indeedous, Ute in DC, ProtectionTaggingBot, Omnipaedista, RibotBOT, PawtucketFacts, Amaury, Sabrebd, Aurola, Brayan Jaimes, Cyberstrike3000X, Shadowjams, Grinofwales, Green Cardamom, FrescoBot,
Dolly1313, T of Locri, Tobby72, VI, Aghniyya, Steve Quinn, Craig Pemberton, NewEconomist, Machine Elf 1735, DivineAlpha, Cannolis, Rhalah, Citation bot 1, Kennyfsp, Glryutd, Rbh00, Pinethicket, Suman-kayastha, Kiefer.Wolfowitz, JuliaBaxter51, Connor269,
MastiBot, SpaceFlight89, Cshaw100, Wikijos, Meaghan, Ava2083, RandomStringOfCharacters, Hiphive, Generalcommando, Gamewizard71, FoxBot, Lpt101095, Trappist the monk, Ooh2009, Pollinosisss, Standardfact, Xlxfjh, GregKaye, Dinamik-bot, 777sms, Ninjasaursus, FrozenPencil, Brian the Editor, Sora3020, Satdeep Gill, DARTH SIDIOUS 2, TjBot, Ripchip Bot, Saruha, Salvio giuliano, Nyxaus, DASHBot, Steve03Mills, EmausBot, Icannothearyou, WikitanvirBot, Gabby204, Ndkl, DuKu, S4city, Jake, Teiglykins123, Jean
Alameda, Hpvpp, TomlinsonX21, AbhijayM., Limbero, Djembayz, Slawekb, AvicBot, Kkm010, ZroBot, John Cline, Theirrulez, Imadjafar, Lateg, Resolver-Aphelion, Hazard-SJ, SporkBot, Christina Silverman, RaptureBot, Ventus55, Jsolorio14, OpenlibraryBot, L Kensington, Peace is contagious, Vistina101, Chrisdyer666, Bob duy, Maximilianklein, Spicemix, GaleCarrLV, Miradre, Helpsome, ClueBot
NG, Jean KemperNN, Jacksoncw, CocuBot, Macarenses, AerobicFox, Mccar408, Movses-bot, IfYouDoIfYouDon't, SilentResident, Two
Wrongs, Bazuz, Frietjes, Kevin Gorman, CaroleHenson, EauLibrarian, Raoulis, Helpful Pixie Bot, Hagoth, Technical 13, BG19bot, MKar,
Vagobot, Frog23, KateWishing, ElphiBot, Davidiad, Jordissim, Jahnavisatyan, Tyranitar Man, Brad7777, Aisteco, Vassto, Gundu1000,
Mango845, ChrisGualtieri, Melenc, Generation zee, Dexbot, Belisariusgroup, Mogism, Binilmathew, VIAFbot, Neosmyrnian, Frosty,

194.2. TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

557

Juc123, Slurpy121, Condorcraft110, SomeFreakOnTheInternet, Svnti fav, MarcelBrandon, JPaestpreornJeolhlna, Nonsenseferret, Geofq, Msundqvist, Maria M Lopes, Shrikarsan, New worl, Recordstraight83, , Sol1, Bronx Discount Liquor, Fredmond4, Aubreybardo, Liz, Ryderjalex, DraconiansUnleashed354, Meganesia, Sparlett, BillMoyers, AwesomeEvilGenius, Gts-tg, JMitchellUK, Uthorr,
Tyro13, Monkbot, Stenskjaer, Trackteur, Nimrainayat6290, MichelleSmith8, Akheller, I Love Adoption, SoSivr, Tetra quark and Anonymous: 2174
Nicomachus (father of Aristotle) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicomachus%20(father%20of%20Aristotle)?oldid=614540723
Contributors: Delirium, Jaraalbe, Tomisti, Stevenmitchell, Bjankuloski06en, Twas Now, Cydebot, Filipo, X!, The Thing That Should
Not Be, Singinglemon, Catalographer, Kbdankbot, Addbot, Yobot, Ptbotgourou, AnomieBOT, ArthurBot, Omnipaedista, DefaultsortBot,
Hmainsbot1 and Anonymous: 4
Platonic Academy Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platonic%20Academy?oldid=640068993 Contributors: XJaM, Andres, Reddi,
Jwrosenzweig, Robbot, Dbachmann, Paul August, El C, Arthureisele, Wareh, Alansohn, Gary, Muhgcee, Woohookitty, Hairy Dude, Eleassar, Tomisti, Magister, SmackBot, Herostratus, Flamarande, The monkeyhate, Akhilleus, Greenshed, Peterlewis, Isokrates, SteveMcCluskey, Thijs!bot, Oreo Priest, JAnDbot, RebelRobot, The Anomebot2, Animum, Gun Powder Ma, R'n'B, CommonsDelinker, Pharaoh
of the Wizards, Johnbod, Arms & Hearts, Spiesr, Idioma-bot, VolkovBot, Popperipopp, Philip Trueman, Rei-bot, Ontoraul, LeaveSleaves,
SieBot, France3470, Mimihitam, ClueBot, Ventusa, Niceguyedc, Singinglemon, Excirial, Sun Creator, Muro Bot, AgnosticPreachersKid, Addbot, Atethnekos, LightSpectra, Ronhjones, CanadianLinuxUser, NjardarBot, LaaknorBot, Omnipedian, SamatBot, Numbo3-bot,
Lightbot, QWerk, Luckas-bot, Rushmore cadet, Ptbotgourou, THEN WHO WAS PHONE?, AnomieBOT, Bob Burkhardt, Xqbot, Sionus,
Erud, Br77rino, Omnipaedista, Polargeo, Duy Bartek, Thehelpfulbot, FrescoBot, , Greco22, Pollinosisss, Askarmuk, WikitanvirBot,
Dewritech, Finn Bjrklid, Givegoo, Ioannis Karamitros, PBS-AWB, DelianDiver, ClueBot NG, MusikAnimal, AK456, Aubreybardo and
Anonymous: 55
Prior Analytics Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prior%20Analytics?oldid=637799374 Contributors: Toby Bartels, Paul Barlow,
Fredrik, Texture, Beland, Chalst, Wareh, Arcadian, Mdd, Grutness, Wikidea, BD2412, Qwertyus, Ground Zero, Nihiltres, Sardanaphalus,
Jon Awbrey, Bjankuloski06en, Neddyseagoon, Gregbard, Cydebot, Thijs!bot, Ontoraul, QuintusMaximus, BotMultichill, Martarius, Hasteur, JDPhD, Pgallert, Addbot, Download, Sighthndman, BOOLE1847, JEN9841, Yobot, Ptbotgourou, LilHelpa, GrouchoBot, Peter
Damian, Omnipaedista, FrescoBot, EmausBot, Hpvpp, GeoreyEdwards, Helpful Pixie Bot, Davidiad, Flosfa, Brad7777, Melenc, AthanasiusOfAlex, BoltonSM3, Aubreybardo, NABRASA, Murrerer and Anonymous: 14
Term logic Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Term%20logic?oldid=633994174 Contributors: Ed Poor, Enchanter, Michael Hardy,
AugPi, EdH, Renamed user 4, Charles Matthews, Timwi, Dysprosia, Wik, Markhurd, Maximus Rex, Hyacinth, Robbot, Fredrik, Stewartadcock, Ruakh, Filemon, Giftlite, Siroxo, Gubbubu, Beland, Pmanderson, Deelkar, Paul August, Elwikipedista, Chalst, Wood Thrush,
BrokenSegue, Nortexoid, PWilkinson, Amerindianarts, Mark Dingemanse, Ricky81682, George Hernandez, Linas, Oriondown, BD2412,
Grammarbot, Haya shiloh, Wavelength, Leuliett, SEWilcoBot, Cleared as led, Reyk, Tevildo, JoanneB, Bernd in Japan, GrinBot, Sardanaphalus, SmackBot, Jagged 85, The great kawa, Mhss, Oatmeal batman, Byelf2007, Anapraxic, CmdrObot, Gregbard, Cydebot, Gimmetrow, Barticus88, Bmorton3, DuncanHill, Gwern, Philcha, Jevansen, Djhmoore, Ontoraul, The Tetrast, Kumioko (renamed), Le vin
blanc, JustinBlank, Andrewmlang, The Thing That Should Not Be, ImperfectlyInformed, Excirial, CohesionBot, PixelBot, Wordwright,
MilesAgain, JDPhD, Palnot, Good Olfactory, Addbot, Markenrode, LightSpectra, BOOLE1847, Lightbot, Vasi, Yobot, Ordre Nativel,
AnomieBOT, LilHelpa, GrouchoBot, Peter Damian, Omnipaedista, Rb1205, Machine Elf 1735, Winterst, Dhanyavaada, Dude1818, Pollinosisss, Wikielwikingo, EmausBot, Moswento, Rememberway, ClueBot NG, JohnChrysostom, Hansen Sebastian, Hariket, Tyro13 and
Anonymous: 49
Non-Aristotelian logic Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-Aristotelian%20logic?oldid=642842794 Contributors: Dan, The
Anome, Ed Poor, Fubar Obfusco, JohnOwens, Evercat, Harry Potter, Silversh, Vasantha, Goethean, Wile E. Heresiarch, Filemon, Gzuckier, Beland, MakeRocketGoNow, Lucidish, Antaeus Feldspar, Fish-man, Mdd, WhiteC, Ombudsman, Stgimp, Marudubshinki, Midgley,
RussBot, EAderhold, SmackBot, Majora4, Gregbard, Peterdjones, Nicolesc, AntiVandalBot, Danny lost, Cpiral, Yobot, Omnipaedista,
FrescoBot, Carey McCarthy and Anonymous: 18
Organon Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organon?oldid=617753752 Contributors: Mav, Schewek, Pamplemousse, Renamed user
4, Charles Matthews, Optim, Robbot, Texture, Filemon, Herbee, Neilc, Gubbubu, Beland, Bodnotbod, Lucidish, Paul August, Shlomif,
Elwikipedista, Chalst, Wareh, Arcadian, Grutness, Ricky81682, SidP, Jheald, Kazvorpal, Woohookitty, Duncan.france, BD2412, Koavf,
KYPark, PhatRita, FlaBot, Ian Pitchford, Mathbot, Chobot, Bgwhite, YurikBot, Odysses, Rick Norwood, SEWilcoBot, Aldux, Gadget850,
Tomisti, TheMadBaron, Sardanaphalus, SmackBot, Nautilus II, Cowman109, MalafayaBot, Mladilozof, Suicidalhamster, Rogermw,
LoveMonkey, Grommel, Bjankuloski06en, Santa Sangre, Neddyseagoon, DabMachine, JoeBot, Civil Engineer III, Bairam, Gregbard,
Cydebot, Jayen466, Thijs!bot, Zickzack, Fireplace, D. Webb, Arch dude, Magioladitis, Vanished user ikjefknm34, Awwiki, Maurice
Carbonaro, VolkovBot, Djhmoore, A4bot, Anonymous Dissident, Ontoraul, Belastro, SieBot, StAnselm, M^A^L, Pumpmeup, Alexbot,
Appledelphy, JDPhD, SilvonenBot, Addbot, Logicist, Lightbot, Luckas-bot, Ciphers, JackieBot, LilHelpa, Xqbot, GrouchoBot, Omnipaedista, RibotBOT, Rhalah, RedBot, Yorke71, Pollinosisss, DixonDBot, 478jjjz, Hpvpp, ZroBot, Suslindisambiguator, Polisher of Cobwebs, Mjbmrbot, Jean KemperNN and Anonymous: 40
Physics (Aristotle) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physics%20(Aristotle)?oldid=637314068 Contributors: Michael Hardy, Rursus,
Tobias Bergemann, Oknazevad, MakeRocketGoNow, ELApro, FranksValli, Martpol, Bender235, Wareh, Viriditas, Arcadian, Giraedata,
Jheald, Stemonitis, Mandarax, BD2412, Koavf, Srleer, Chobot, DVdm, YurikBot, Wavelength, Zuben, RL0919, Tomisti, Sardanaphalus,
Bluebot, Suicidalhamster, Neddyseagoon, Isokrates, Chris55, Cydebot, Thijs!bot, AntiVandalBot, D. Webb, Tosayit, Ibis3, David Eppstein,
GoldenMeadows, TXiKiBoT, LeaveSleaves, Sapphic, Alcmaeonid, Chris7001, AlphaPyro, Likebox, Techman224, Le vin blanc, ClueBot,
Alexbot, JKeck, SilvonenBot, Addbot, Atethnekos, Download, CosmiCarl, Abiyoyo, JEN9841, Luckas-bot, Ptbotgourou, AnomieBOT, Eumolpo, C+C, GrouchoBot, Peter Damian, Omnipaedista, FrescoBot, Symbebekos, Machine Elf 1735, Pollinosisss, Miracle Pen, Onel5969,
ZroBot, ClueBot NG, Kevin Gorman, Helpful Pixie Bot, Davidiad, WithSelet, WilliamRV, Joanna of Naples, Aubreybardo and Anonymous: 61
Classical element Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical%20element?oldid=644701178 Contributors: Damian Yerrick, Peter
Winnberg, Derek Ross, Vicki Rosenzweig, Bryan Derksen, Tarquin, PierreAbbat, Ant, Slartibartfast, Heron, Ubiquity, Lorenzarius,
Michael Hardy, Nixdorf, Wapcaplet, Dcljr, Sannse, Paddu, Ahoerstemeier, Angela, DropDeadGorgias, AndreaPersephone, Emperorbma,
Alex S, Reddi, Wik, JimTheFrog, Xaven, GPHemsley, Owen, Robbot, Lowellian, Mirv, Merovingian, Rursus, Bkell, TPK, Xanzzibar, Wayland, Dina, Carnildo, Snobot, Art Carlson, Everyking, Kpalion, Eequor, Mooquackwooftweetmeow, RayTomes, Quadell, Kusunose, Glogger, Bumm13, Icairns, Sam Hocevar, Trevor MacInnis, Andylkl, Eep, Freakofnurture, Random contributor, Discospinster, FranksValli,
Dbachmann, Purplefeltangel, Danshil, Dustinasby, .:Ajvol:., Makawity, Zetawoof, Mdd, AndromedaRoach, Arthena, Keenan Pepper,

558

CHAPTER 194. XENARCHUS OF SELEUCIA

Benjah-bmm27, Orelstrigo, Snowolf, Kesh, Aaron Bruce, Sonicrazy, SteinbDJ, Ceyockey, Nuno Tavares, Linas, RHaworth, StradivariusTV, Uncle G, TomTheHand, JeremyA, Tabletop, Kakashi-sensei, Ashmoo, TAKASUGI Shinji, Rjwilmsi, Dimitrii, Kinu, Bill37212,
Voretus, Miserlou, Durin, Krash, Afterwriting, Ptdecker, CAPS LOCK, RachelBrown, Mongreilf, VolatileChemical, Murgatroyd, Tylerwillis, Samwaltz, EamonnPKeane, YurikBot, Borgx, Flameviper, RussBot, Icarus3, Pigman, Mythsearcher, Shell Kinney, Wimt, SEWilcoBot, Vhjh, Chichui, Zythe, CLW, Black Falcon, Kroevyn, Ali K, Andrew Lancaster, Diddims, Nalgas, Tadorne, SmackBot, HVulpes,
Olorin28, Jagged 85, Delldot, Kintetsubualo, Commander Keane bot, Cool3, Ohnoitsjamie, Hmains, Betacommand, Chris the speller,
Quinsareth, G.dallorto, Bazonka, Colonies Chris, Can't sleep, clown will eat me, OrphanBot, Kr5t, Rusty16, Jmlk17, Sspecter, T-borg,
Kevlar67, Richard001, TheWarlock, Vina-iwbot, JLogan, A. Parrot, Remigiu, Yms, Midnightblueowl, Ryulong, Freederick, Novangelis, Isokrates, Hu12, Iridescent, Maestlin, David Little, JCasto, Webbj74, GRB, Wolfdog, Dan0 00, Smiloid, Ibadibam, Gregbard, Vaquero100, Cydebot, Derek Balsam, Peripitus, Gogo Dodo, SeventyThreeBot, Eu.stefan, Christian75, Sp, Air man 12, SteveMcCluskey,
Thijs!bot, Epbr123, Bladechampion, Toroia, Bobblehead, Tirk, Straussian, PrescitedEntity, Escarbot, Igorwindsor, Reguly, AntiVandalBot, EarthPerson, DarkAudit, Larry Rosenfeld, Powerful0x0, Narssarssuaq, Roman clef, RubyQ, UtDicitur, RainbowCrane, Jkrjjrs,
VoABot II, AuburnPilot, ***Ria777, Hiplibrarianship, Deanostrodamus, Silentaria, Thompson.matthew, Diego Godoy, B9 hummingbird hovering, Leaderofearth, STBot, R'n'B, Conundrumer, Nigholith, Eliz81, Onhm, Mike.lifeguard, Xangel, Chiswick Chap, Velps,
JSellers0, Heyitspeter, Kalvorod, Joshua Issac, FuegoFish, JazzyGroove, Javitomad, Bonadea, Pdcook, Idioma-bot, Deor, Bovineboy2008,
Blob202, IPSOS, ^demonBot2, Poosap, Spinningspark, Showers, Munci, Struway, Tvinh, HybridBoy, Jivatmanx, Barkeep, SieBot, Scarian,
Oldag07, Matthew Yeager, Keilana, The Evil Spartan, Jobopoop, Arknascar44, Trang Oul, Robertcurrey, Jonnywoof, KathrynLybarger,
Spartan-James, Anchor Link Bot, Jacklemook, Astrologist, Gregpass, Explicit, Haftorang, Martarius, ClueBot, Wmd10, Mild Bill Hiccup, J8079s, Exppii, Kitsunegami, Excirial, CohesionBot, Piglarva, Jimmy da tuna, Ernobe, JamieS93, Newzealandve, Fattyjwoods,
Kakofonous, Miguelitoji, TwiLighT1126, Dark Sorcerer666, Versus22, SoxBot III, Editor2020, Party, InternetMeme, Mitsube, Jasynnash2, P824, Addbot, Jafeluv, Brandonmanrules, ClaraPau, Download, Redheylin, Verysmelly, Debresser, Legobot, Luckas-bot, Yobot,
Tohd8BohaithuGh1, Legobot II, JDC808, Jacky Li93, AnomieBOT, Icalanise, Mbarker73, Citation bot, ArthurBot, Snorlax Monster, LilHelpa, Longpatrol42, Uttam Pal, Martou, J04n, Omnipaedista, Blackdragon1157, Spikespot, Bob332, Ellenois, FrescoBot, Recognizance,
D'ohBot, MathFacts, Machine Elf 1735, Findjoshg, MastiBot, Nale, Discographer, Rosetable, Lotje, Jacob van Straten, RjwilmsiBot,
TjBot, Nethchan, EmausBot, WikitanvirBot, Syncategoremata, Sxoa, Passionless, Ornithikos, Alfredo ougaowen, BluSch, Rogueslade,
Ubikwit, ChuispastonBot, DASHBotAV, Imorthodox23, ResearchRave, ClueBot NG, MelbourneStar, Innifold, Schadrac45678, Helpful Pixie Bot, SriAnandaKubera, David Macauley, Drrsundarraj, The wikijeet, Car Henkel, Snaevar-bot, MusikAnimal, Mdforbes500,
Alangar Manickam, Cold Season, Mark Arsten, WithSelet, Kooky2, Lieutenant of Melkor, Nicoismad, Jigneshgohel, Hansen Sebastian,
Dedicant, Sowlos, Sean61961, Vanamonde93, CDH31211811, AmaryllisGardener, Lince celeste, DavidLeighEllis, Ginsuloft, Sp3hybrid,
Bladesmulti, Rohitroak007, Shah214, XKiatonx, Mercer.philosophy, Filedelinkerbot, Apolip, Dh11111, Panditamehul, Tophet, Stopcheatinggotoalibrary, Amywatson01 and Anonymous: 393
Potentiality and actuality Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potentiality%20and%20actuality?oldid=642424461 Contributors: Dan,
Ixfd64, Nagelfar, Andycjp, Jareha, ELApro, D6, Rspeer, Xezbeth, Dbachmann, Bender235, Wareh, TheProject, Crust, Stillnotelf, Tariqabjotu, StevenJRossi, Chobot, SatuSuro, RussBot, Gaius Cornelius, Shanel, Aldux, Woling, Tomisti, Andrew Lancaster, Mhenriday, Sjcodysseus, Sardanaphalus, SmackBot, Ze miguel, Bluebot, Iain.dalton, Evaspacn, Dave Meta, LoveMonkey, Potosino, Anriz, RomanSpa,
JHunterJ, Neelix, Gregbard, Mirrormundo, DumbBOT, ErrantX, Gimmetrow, PKT, JustAGal, WinBot, Narssarssuaq, Skomorokh, OckRaz, Martynas Patasius, JaGa, R'n'B, Erkan Yilmaz, Cpiral, Phatius McBlu, Idioma-bot, Dunamishouse, VolkovBot, Magarmach, Ontoraul, The Tetrast, Tugbug, WereSpielChequers, Yone Fernandes, Dabomb87, Singinglemon, Auntof6, Muhandes, Fastily, SilvonenBot,
Addbot, Fyrael, LightSpectra, JEN9841, Yobot, AnomieBOT, Citation bot, FreeRangeFrog, Erud, DaddyHet13, Omnipaedista, FrescoBot,
Machine Elf 1735, Pollinosisss, RjwilmsiBot, Syncategoremata, Porck002.306, Dreispt, ClueBot NG, Caute AF, MerlIwBot, Helpful Pixie
Bot, WithSelet, Hamish59, Vanished user sdij4rtltkjasdk3, Hong12kong, 069952497a and Anonymous: 43
Four causes Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four%20causes?oldid=640865952 Contributors: The Anome, Michael Hardy, Evercat, Ancheta Wis, FranksValli, Dave souza, BD2412, Andrew Lancaster, Sardanaphalus, Mohsens, SmackBot, Byelf2007, Agradman,
Makyen, Inquisitus, MaxEnt, Nightspore, Gregbard, Tarasnake, SteveMcCluskey, Dimo414, Epbr123, RichardVeryard, Matthew Fennell, R'n'B, Cpiral, Heyitspeter, Whatiguana, Martarius, ClueBot, The Thing That Should Not Be, Excirial, JKeck, Addbot, LightSpectra,
Yobot, Nutfortuna, AnomieBOT, Aeirom1, GPeoples, J04n, Omnipaedista, Chjoaygame, Machine Elf 1735, DrilBot, Pinethicket, RedBot,
Pollinosisss, Nightskate, EmausBot, CarlosMarti123, K6ka, Clpage86, 11614soup, ClueBot NG, BG19bot, Quarkgluonsoup, Knowledge
Examiner, Mormonfaith101, Justincheng12345-bot, ChrisGualtieri, Stephen M. Miniotis, Dhriti pati sarkar 1641981, Apollon.musegetes,
Bowingtothedust, Smlm92 and Anonymous: 70
Metaphysics (Aristotle) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphysics%20(Aristotle)?oldid=644345248 Contributors: Andres, Renamed user 4, Andrewman327, Robbot, Rich Farmbrough, Paul August, Bender235, Wareh, Hoary, Grenavitar, Fbkintanar, Rjwilmsi,
Koavf, Nivix, Wars, TeaDrinker, Antiuser, YurikBot, KeithD, Aldux, Tomisti, Gilesk, Sardanaphalus, SmackBot, Teloschistes, Chris
the speller, Bluebot, Enkyklios, LoveMonkey, Grommel, Treyp, Neddyseagoon, Funnybunny, Isokrates, Joseph Solis in Australia, Stereorock, Geremia, Cydebot, Poeticbent, Seferin, Sa.vakilian, SteveMcCluskey, Thijs!bot, Bethan 182, RichardVeryard, WinBot, D. Webb,
Astavats, Mrbrown2, The Transhumanist, Tachypaidia, Snowded, JaGa, DorganBot, Jacob Lundberg, Ontoraul, QuintusMaximus, AlleborgoBot, Tradereddy, SummerWithMorons, M^A^L, M4gnum0n, Muro Bot, Catalographer, JKeck, Beachcomber, WikHead, Tomnichols,
Addbot, LightSpectra, Peter Damian (old), Abiyoyo, Yobot, TheThomas, Keeratura, Paulatim, ArthurBot, Xqbot, J04n, Peter Damian,
Omnipaedista, FrescoBot, T of Locri, Rhalah, Tigaernach, Angstorm, MastiBot, TobeBot, Yorke71, Pollinosisss, GregKaye, Fastilysock,
EmausBot, GoingBatty, Hpvpp, Tillander, Davidiad, Mark Arsten, AthanasiusOfAlex, DiscipulusMundi, ZacharyTaylorJohnson, Aubreybardo, JaconaFrere and Anonymous: 82
Aristotle's theory of universals Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle'{}s%20theory%20of%20universals?oldid=604887208
Contributors: Bryan Derksen, Stormie, Goethean, Academic Challenger, Dave6, Beland, Discospinster, Aranel, Alansohn, RainbowOfLight, Firsfron, Graham87, Sango123, Uriah923, Alex43223, DNicholls, Wknight94, Sardanaphalus, SmackBot, KnowledgeOfSelf, Chris the speller, Bigmantonyd, IronGargoyle, RichardF, BananaFiend, Gregbard, Mattisse, Epbr123, Tellyaddict, AntiVandalBot,
R'n'B, J.delanoy, Yonidebot, Susanbryce, Dorftrottel, Bernstein2291, SieBot, Smaug123, Paul Clapham, Torchwoodwho, ClueBot, MystBot, Yoenit, LightSpectra, Luckas Blade, Materialscientist, LilHelpa, Ruby.red.roses, Machine Elf 1735, Pollinosisss, UNIT A4B1, GoingBatty, ClueBot NG, Krenair, Anbu121, BattyBot, Webclient101, Quenhitran and Anonymous: 71
Aristotelian ethics Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotelian%20ethics?oldid=636853493 Contributors: Michael Hardy,
LGagnon, Wareh, SecretAgentMan00, WhiteC, Staeiou, BlastOButter42, Mel Etitis, Woohookitty, Mandarax, Nihiltres, Uriah923, YurikBot, Gaius Cornelius, Wiki alf, Aldux, Andrew Lancaster, JLaTondre, Sardanaphalus, Attilios, SmackBot, Havermeyer, MartinPoulter, IanBailey, LoveMonkey, Peteforsyth, MickPurcell, Hkoala, Hu12, Goldfritha, In Defense of the Artist, Dimo414, Mailseth, Seaphoto, ARHC,
STBot, Anarchia, Cpiral, Kelvin Knight, TreasuryTag, Psyche825, Sish, Deneys, SieBot, Flyer22, Myrvin, The Thing That Should Not

194.2. TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

559

Be, Gaia Octavia Agrippa, Singinglemon, 7&6=thirteen, SchreiberBike, Goodvac, WikHead, Addbot, Wran, Palaigenes, LightSpectra,
Mootros, Douglas the Comeback Kid, Verazzano, AnomieBOT, Wikemina, GrouchoBot, Mario777Zelda, Omnipaedista, Eliphaletnott,
RetiredWikipedian789, FrescoBot, I dream of horses, Boaz007, EmausBot, Golfandme, 15turnsm, Rundaseinrun, Phronetic, ClueBot NG,
O.Koslowski, Widr, Helpful Pixie Bot, BG19bot, EISNERS, Mcdonnkm, Pratyya Ghosh, Pirhayati, Dexbot, 93, Gierre, Aubreybardo,
Abhikpal2509, Kaylanwilson2121 and Anonymous: 83
Nicomachean Ethics Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicomachean%20Ethics?oldid=644568030 Contributors: AxelBoldt, SimonP,
DennisDaniels, Spi, Infrogmation, Michael Hardy, Ixfd64, Poor Yorick, Adam Conover, Rednblu, Munford, Imc, Furrykef, Thue, Topbanana, Gidonb, Alba, DocWatson42, Lussmu, Carlo.Ierna, Angry candy, Gadum, Andycjp, Antandrus, Beland, Lesgles, Ccord, Karol
Langner, Karl-Henner, Ukexpat, Guppynsoup, D6, DanielCD, FranksValli, Paul August, Bender235, Jaberwocky6669, Kaisershatner,
Zenohockey, Kwamikagami, Skeppy, Causa sui, Viriditas, A.t.bruland, Arcadian, La goutte de pluie, Jumbuck, Msh210, Wikidea, WhiteC,
BlastOButter42, Velho, Mel Etitis, Woohookitty, Jjurquia, Uncle G, Cuniculosus, Tom M, Ictlogist, Koavf, Yuval Madar, MitchellTF,
Moorlock, Sango123, Nihiltres, Ubi, Common Man, BradBeattie, Chobot, Uriah923, YurikBot, Jlittlet, RJC, Shell Kinney, Gaius Cornelius, Rsrikanth05, Irrevenant, Evrik, Tomisti, Andrew Lancaster, Ephilei, Finell, Sardanaphalus, Attilios, SmackBot, MattieTK, Stephensuleeman, Eskimbot, Lombroso, Chris the speller, Iowacrusader, Hibernian, Suicidalhamster, Ig0774, AntiVan, Krizaz, Rrburke, Jlarson,
LoveMonkey, Peteforsyth, DMacks, RossF18, Will Beback, Grommel, RomanSpa, Neddyseagoon, Isokrates, Iridescent, Ioan Dyfrig, Postmodern Beatnik, Sjwanta, N2e, ShelfSkewed, Neelix, Andkore, Talented Mr Miller, Cydebot, Goldfritha, DBaba, Mattisse, Faigl.ladislav,
WinBot, Courtjester555, Antique Rose, Deective, Skomorokh, RR, Geniac, MartinBot, Gronkmeister, Anarchia, Jay Litman, Fconaway,
Adavidb, Eliz81, Sigismondo, Heyitspeter, AlanBarnet, Shoessss, Jrcla2, Osirusr, CardinalDan, Black Kite, Lazyafternoons, TXiKiBoT,
Jason131813, NatT941, Lynxmb, A4bot, Dan Polansky, SieBot, Ruanov, Flyer22, OKBot, Gaylesbian, ClueBot, EoGuy, Mild Bill Hiccup,
Vivio Testarossa, Catalographer, Deathwish644, Iate2much333, Mccaskey, WikHead, Kputney, Asrghasrhiojadrhr, Addbot, Wran, Atethnekos, LaaknorBot, Abiyoyo, Lukeorama, Famerlinck, Yobot, AnomieBOT, JadeJenni, Ihatz22, LilHelpa, Xqbot, GrouchoBot, Dirtbike
spaceman, Omnipaedista, Eliphaletnott, RedBot, Elemeno22, LilyKitty, Hriber, Saumoarush, John of Reading, E.G.Dieterich, Vsop.de,
Syncategoremata, GoingBatty, ZroBot, WeijiBaikeBianji, Crumpetnut, Aavindraa, Thedividedself, Michael bykov, Wayne Slam, Sailsbystars, Pun, Palestrina777, Sdkb, DemonicPartyHat, Jamiemills, Dream of Nyx, Helpful Pixie Bot, DrJimothyCatface, The Banner
Turbo, Davidiad, Socal212, Khazar2, Epicgenius, DangerouslyPersuasiveWriter and Anonymous: 287
Eudaimonia Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudaimonia?oldid=641091149 Contributors: Hephaestos, Michael Hardy, Angela, Poor
Yorick, Vroman, Eszett, Stormie, Banno, Robbot, Chealer, Chris 73, Sam Spade, Andycjp, Jossi, Camipco, D6, DanielCD, Discospinster,
Rich Farmbrough, Mr. Billion, Kwamikagami, Viriditas, Giraedata, Petrarchus, WhiteC, Mel Etitis, Uncle G, Wikiklrsc, BD2412, Quantum bird, Nowhither, Margosbot, RussBot, Ori.livneh, Dysmorodrepanis, Gadget850, Dast, Andrew Lancaster, Arthur Rubin, C mon,
Veinor, SmackBot, InverseHypercube, Telescope, Commander Keane bot, Hmains, Elagatis, Deli nk, Mladilozof, Can't sleep, clown
will eat me, RT Wolf, Huon, Cybercobra, LoveMonkey, Victor Eremita, Byelf2007, Dane Sorensen, Lapaz, Tim bates, Dicklyon, Keahapana, Wolfdog, Gregbard, Shanoman, Cydebot, Thijs!bot, Sobreira, WillMak050389, WinBot, Perseverantia, Deective, HypnoSynthesis, Skomorokh, Matthew Fennell, Cynwolfe, Gronkmeister, Bradgib, Anarchia, Cheezmeister, Nedhenry, Hateloveschool, Dorftrottel,
WOSlinker, Jimipop1, Kerrydouglas, AllGloryToTheHypnotoad, Quinet, Synthebot, Pjoef, Dawn Bard, Bgratias, Wikijens, Singinglemon, Nuiloa, Silversemi, Avoided, WikHead, Marklar2007, Wilderny, Addbot, Queenmomcat, Yobmod, DrJos, Nathan.besteman, ,
Zorrobot, Luckas-bot, Yobot, Ptbotgourou, KamikazeBot, AnomieBOT, Piano non troppo, CasperBraske, Wandering Courier, LilHelpa,
Xqbot, DSisyphBot, Tomwsulcer, Omnipaedista, Alexscara, Ac40214, T of Locri, Adam9389, Ahmos1991, D'ohBot, WhiteMonkey,
Machine Elf 1735, ChinaUpdater, Helios13, Pollinosisss, GregKaye, Vrenator, Antipastor, Christos Paliompeis, TjBot, Luterbach, Orphan Wiki, WikitanvirBot, Ida Shaw, Friscious, Edunoramus, Rethliopuks, Deutschgirl, ClueBot NG, Chester Markel, Helpful Pixie Bot,
Smellybells, PhnomPencil, Davidiad, Rush doc man, Excalibursword, Rytyho usa, Archie lochus, Jethro B, Vanished user sdij4rtltkjasdk3,
TheComputerScientist, 93, Pen42, Csvoss, DoctorPresident and Anonymous: 123
Politics (Aristotle) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics%20(Aristotle)?oldid=643457150 Contributors: Dwo, Pablo Mayrgundter, Shizhao, Robbot, Mathieugp, Christopher Parham, Cevlakohn, Ot, Discospinster, Arthur Holland, Guety, Wareh, Arcadian, Darwinek, Jumbuck, Gary, PaulHanson, Wikidea, Randy2063, Allen3, IIBewegung, Rjwilmsi, Koavf, MZMcBride, Crazynas, FlaBot, Chobot,
YurikBot, RJC, Gaius Cornelius, Aldux, Tomisti, JmA, Homagetocatalonia, Andrew Lancaster, Sardanaphalus, SmackBot, Hydrogen Iodide, Dblobaum, Suicidalhamster, Ankur.sinha, Snowmanradio, Anthon.E, Will Beback, Bjankuloski06en, Mr. Vernon, Nicetomeetyou,
Iridescent, Courcelles, Hyphen5, Picaroon, Erick91, Cydebot, Thijs!bot, D. Webb, WANAX, Skomorokh, Misheu, Oyst1, DerHexer, Edward321, Rickterp, MartinBot, Andinho, Ian.thomson, Reedy Bot, Sigismondo, VolkovBot, TXiKiBoT, Vipinhari, SaltyBoatr, SieBot,
Gerakibot, SummerWithMorons, PixelBot, Catalographer, Jtle515, Indopug, DumZiBoT, Blckadder8, SilvonenBot, Addbot, Binary TSO,
Ronhjones, Jncraton, PerianderOne, Mr.Xp, Luckas-bot, Yobot, Idiotypist, Omnipaedista, Eliphaletnott, SocratesPlato2009, Green Cardamom, AristO9, FrescoBot, LucienBOT, RedBot, Pollinosisss, 10Kthings, Htgalante, LilyKitty, RjwilmsiBot, Poorcollegestudent, WikitanvirBot, GoingBatty, K6ka, ZroBot, CatholicScholar, Herk1955, ClueBot NG, Helpful Pixie Bot, Hz.tiang, MusikAnimal, Davidiad,
Mosesman76, Claire101690, Arcandam, Nphar, Tentinator, Aubreybardo, Ficoman86 and Anonymous: 94
Rhetoric (Aristotle) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhetoric%20(Aristotle)?oldid=637314245 Contributors: Renamed user 4,
Banno, Barce, Thorwald, Discospinster, Paul August, Wareh, Arcadian, ParticleMan, Grutness, Wikidea, SlimVirgin, SwanSZ, Oleg
Alexandrov, Velho, Bkkbrad, Kzollman, Rjwilmsi, Koavf, Stilanas, Aldux, Semperf, Tomisti, Finell, Sardanaphalus, SmackBot, Hmains,
Chris the speller, Nixeagle, BillFlis, ChrisCork, Cooljeanius, ShelfSkewed, Cydebot, Otto4711, Alaibot, Amphipolis, Nick Number, Axiotheia, Faizhaider, JNF Tveit, Rhondalorraine, R'n'B, Deor, VolkovBot, Shinju, Usernodunno, Ontoraul, Cerebellum, Room429, Flyingw,
Cnilep, ClueBot, The Thing That Should Not Be, Wikijens, Piero-fr, Excirial, PixelBot, Spirals31, Dark Mage, Skarebo, Necropirate,
Addbot, Tassedethe, Abiyoyo, Luckas-bot, Yobot, Applechair, Rhetoricmeister, Meafortuna, Misterallaire, Jlird808, Argumentators gt,
Banger808, OCgirls, AnomieBOT, E2eamon, LilHelpa, Omnipaedista, HistUK, Artimaean, RazielZero, RjwilmsiBot, GoingBatty, Theirrulez, Abimonte, Cwahl828, Wmoss99, GeoreyEdwards, ClueBot NG, Joefromrandb, Kevin Gorman, BG19bot, Davidiad, New questions, Cbairri, Lemnaminor, Burntsierra754, Beautyon, Matipop, Slamb93 and Anonymous: 58
Poetics (Aristotle) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetics%20(Aristotle)?oldid=644595342 Contributors: AxelBoldt, SimonP, Paul
Barlow, Barce, Varlaam, Gdr, Beland, WOT, Adashiel, Mike Rosoft, CALR, Bishonen, El C, Lycurgus, Wareh, John Vandenberg, Arcadian, Nk, Jumbuck, Alansohn, Mackinaw, Visviva, Ceyockey, DeGabor, Jerey O. Gustafson, Mel Etitis, Robert K S, Wikiklrsc, Stefanomione, Mandarax, Lawrence King, BD2412, AllanBz, Rjwilmsi, Koavf, MarnetteD, Chobot, Fixifex, EamonnPKeane, YurikBot, Peter
S., Ravenous, LiniShu, Kvn8907, Aldux, Deucalionite, Bota47, Cavan, Andrew Lancaster, TheMadBaron, Singingwolfboy, Sardanaphalus,
Havardj, SmackBot, C.Fred, Suicidalhamster, MrRadioGuy, Decltype, Jwy, Jlarson, Argotechnica, Neddyseagoon, Hu12, Cyrusc, Gregbard, Cydebot, Playtime, Aristophanes68, Goldfritha, In Defense of the Artist, Lindsay658, Myonlyasset, Boptimism, JAnDbot, Xact, Magioladitis, Jim.henderson, Bot-Schafter, Funandtrvl, VolkovBot, FinnWiki, SieBot, Philgoetz, Abmcdonald, Pointe LaRoche, Eebahgum,
ClueBot, SummerWithMorons, DionysosProteus, Singinglemon, DragonBot, Spirals31, Levent, Al-Andalusi, FelixOskaloosa, DumZiBoT,

560

CHAPTER 194. XENARCHUS OF SELEUCIA

Natebard, BodhisattvaBot, Little Mountain 5, Addbot, JustyceJai, Amidelalune, Ronhjones, Fieldday-sunday, Redheylin, Meieimatai, Abiyoyo, Tide rolls, Gail, HerculeBot, Blah28948, Robson correa de camargo, AnomieBOT, Fishblubistan, Tomhock, Bige0031, ArthurBot,
LovesMacs, LilHelpa, Sionus, Amritbir, J04n, Omnipaedista, Infanteriesoldat, Belicker, FrescoBot, Voxii, OxnardMontado, Raczrobert,
Kidwet, EmausBot, Bettymnz4, MacStep, SHalliwell, ClueBot NG, Peter James, Helpful Pixie Bot, Gsolum, RecoveringAddict, Davidiad,
Davilap, Dexbot, Nasmith1234, Faizan, Maria M Lopes, Aubreybardo, Stavros Tsitsiridis, BillMoyers, Apollon.musegetes, Hannahhparkk,
Wccphilosopher, Pemberb94, Chdellac, Vikutiss and Anonymous: 130
Aristotle's views on women Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle'{}s%20views%20on%20women?oldid=642277493 Contributors: Julesd, Wjhonson, Andycjp, Camipco, Wareh, ADM, Rjwilmsi, Koavf, Sardanaphalus, SmackBot, Clevy clev, Hgilbert, JMK,
Rowellcf, Gregbard, Obiwankenobi, Ericoides, Cynwolfe, Snowded, TreasuryTag, Turgan, Ivan tambuk, Mild Bill Hiccup, Jonund, SolarWind, LightSpectra, AnomieBOT, Omnipaedista, Machine Elf 1735, Pinethicket, Pollinosisss, RjwilmsiBot, EmausBot, Gulsparv, Sdkb,
AnotherRho, Calisthenis, Helpful Pixie Bot, Bounder34, Richard Tester, Perene, BattyBot, ChrisGualtieri, EagerToddler39, Omid.espero,
Emaregretable, ReconditeRodent, Ginsuloft, Klcherry, Jthall23, Vanished user 31lk45mnzx90, Lourdes Sada, ThoughtDrifter and Anonymous: 46
Aristotelian physics Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotelian%20physics?oldid=642667220 Contributors: Ed Poor, Ewen, Edward, SebastianHelm, EALacey, Alan Liefting, Beland, Doops, DragonySixtyseven, Discospinster, Rgdboer, Art LaPella, Wareh, Giraedata, Jeltz, Ahruman, Stemonitis, Woohookitty, BD2412, Rjwilmsi, Koavf, Bgwhite, Dialectric, Moe Epsilon, Syrthiss, Sardanaphalus,
SmackBot, TestPilot, J-beda, C.Fred, Neptunius, Jagged 85, EVula, Zvis, Rigadoun, Fatworm, JHunterJ, Rinnenadtrosc, Iridescent, RekishiEJ, Chris55, , Headbomb, Colin MacLaurin, Yurei-eggtart, Giggy, JaGa, R'n'B, J.delanoy, Belovedfreak, DadaNeem, Layzner,
Treisijs, Deor, Anonymous Dissident, Jungegift, The Mad Genius, SieBot, Likebox, Dabomb87, Mr. Granger, Ideal gas equation, J8079s,
SuperHamster, Auntof6, MelonBot, Johnuniq, DumZiBoT, Jack Bauer00, JKeck, Addbot, LightSpectra, Juan During, Lightbot, Ccaarft,
Rubinbot, Almabot, GrouchoBot, Patrizio18, Ibinthinkin, Machine Elf 1735, Tetraedycal, Citation bot 1, Haida19, Jean-Franois Clet,
Angstorm, Thinking of England, DARTH SIDIOUS 2, Magmalex, RjwilmsiBot, Thomas Peardew, DASHBot, Syncategoremata, Thywob, Wayne Slam, Doctorambient, ClueBot NG, Helpful Pixie Bot, Bibcode Bot, , WithSelet, BattyBot, Gebars, ChrisGualtieri,
Khazar2, Mmxiicybernaut, IndigoDeberry, Bieber74, Ioannes Piscator and Anonymous: 73
Aristotelian Society Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotelian%20Society?oldid=605313317 Contributors: Banno, Zenohockey,
Wareh, John Vandenberg, Rjwilmsi, Tim!, Jaraalbe, Jlittlet, Isolani, Tomisti, Tom Morris, Elonka, Joseph Solis in Australia, Lindsay658,
Vodello, Aletheia, Jrcla2, GirasoleDE, Recarter, Pengyanan, Revent, Mild Bill Hiccup, Addbot, Tassedethe, Wandering Courier, FrescoBot,
Aristotelian Society, ZroBot, Patriciathornton, BG19bot, Barney the barney barney, Sonanto, Sol1 and Anonymous: 10
Aristotelian theology Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotelian%20theology?oldid=614514788 Contributors: Wesley, RK, Edward, Michael Hardy, Evercat, Goethean, Rursus, Jonel, Beland, Gary D, Blanchette, ElTyrant, Guanabot, Kbh3rd, Angr, Tomlillis, Striver,
Koavf, Closedmouth, Luk, Sardanaphalus, SmackBot, Can't sleep, clown will eat me, LoveMonkey, Cosmic girl, Rosaecruz, Gregbard,
Cydebot, Boobavon, Goldfritha, Arb, RichardVeryard, AntiVandalBot, DancingPenguin, Danrizzy, R'n'B, Magarmach, StAnselm, Lucius Sempronius Turpio, Kristamaranatha, Editor2020, Nepenthes, Finchsnows, LightSpectra, Unara, Omnipaedista, Machine Elf 1735,
Jrainey1, Everarddejong, 478jjjz, John Cline, Tolly4bolly, ClueBot NG, BattyBot, Aristokitty, AthanasiusOfAlex and Anonymous: 34
Corpus Aristotelicum Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus%20Aristotelicum?oldid=637200419 Contributors: DopeshJustin,
John K, Beland, Eroica, Pmanderson, Rich Farmbrough, Wareh, Arcadian, Stancollins, Koavf, FlaBot, Alphachimp, M3taphysical,
Saudade7, Sardanaphalus, SmackBot, InverseHypercube, Betacommand, Mladilozof, LoveMonkey, Neddyseagoon, Chris55, Eiorgiomugini, Cydebot, WANAX, P64, Snowded, Presearch, Mwidunn, Ontoraul, JhsBot, M^A^L, Al-Andalusi, JKeck, Addbot, The Sage of
Stamford, Atethnekos, LightSpectra, Lightbot, TheThomas, Interzil, Omnipaedista, CES1596, Pollinosisss, EmausBot, Frietjes, Tomasz
Raburski, ChrisGualtieri, Conchpotters and Anonymous: 20
Categories (Aristotle) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categories%20(Aristotle)?oldid=644595950 Contributors: Kku, Renamed
user 4, Haukurth, Dina, DNewhall, LeeHunter, Brian0918, Arcadian, Mdd, Velho, Mindmatrix, Allen3, BD2412, KYPark, RussBot,
ThomistGuy, Sophroniscus, Aldux, Sardanaphalus, Lestrade, Chris the speller, Oatmeal batman, Munibert, Bjankuloski06en, Neddyseagoon, Simon12, Antonio Prates, O0pyromancer0o, Tawkerbot2, Chris55, Sdorrance, Gregbard, Cydebot, Barticus88, Mr pand, PhJ, Arch
dude, Magioladitis, Jacobko, Goldsmitharmy, Nigholith, Acalamari, Coppertwig, Kenneth M Burke, Ale ashero, Funandtrvl, Ontoraul,
The Tetrast, Dan Polansky, Ptr123, CohesionBot, JKeck, Rror, Addbot, JEN9841, Legobot, Yobot, Smallvillefanatic, Omnipaedista,
AstaBOTh15, Pollinosisss, RjwilmsiBot, EmausBot, Hpvpp, Polisher of Cobwebs, MerlIwBot, Harryjamespotter1980, Azuizo, Davidiad,
Pineiro.7, Closerange897, OilandTempura and Anonymous: 32
Constitution of the Athenians Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution%20of%20the%20Athenians?oldid=628452243 Contributors: Michael Hardy, Llywrch, Wetman, Robbot, Mathieugp, Pmanderson, WhiteCrow, Rich Farmbrough, Paul August, Bender235,
Mairi, Wareh, Arcadian, Jumbuck, Wikidea, Alai, Ghirlandajo, Bacteria, Allen3, AllanBz, Rjwilmsi, Captmondo, Miskin, Conscious, Jpbowen, Varano, Tomisti, Tryphiodorus, SmackBot, Elonka, Chairman S., Will Beback, Pthag, Neddyseagoon, Isokrates, Cydebot, Kugland,
Thijs!bot, TonyTheTiger, Escarbot, VoABot II, Jeepday, Squids and Chips, SieBot, Gerakibot, Dimboukas, Ashmedai 119, Catalographer,
Addbot, LightSpectra, Longbowman, Lightbot, , Luckas-bot, Yobot, Dorieo, AnomieBOT, Xqbot, Erud, Omnipaedista,
RibotBOT, RedBot, , EmausBot, Helical gear, Davidiad, Ramenuet, Pasicles, ChrisGualtieri, 069952497a, Jononmac46
and Anonymous: 31
De Interpretatione Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De%20Interpretatione?oldid=641717620 Contributors: GTBacchus, Paul A,
Renamed user 4, Gubbubu, Beland, Eroica, MakeRocketGoNow, Dbachmann, Chalst, Sietse Snel, Wareh, Arcadian, Mdd, Jumbuck,
Freyr, Marudubshinki, BD2412, KYPark, YurikBot, Gaius Cornelius, Black Falcon, Sardanaphalus, Eskimbot, Jon Awbrey, Fuzzypeg,
Bjankuloski06en, Santa Sangre, Neddyseagoon, Gregbard, Cydebot, AniMate, Dougweller, Wikid77, Arch dude, Moz, Ontoraul, Pokemaster1234, Cnilep, SieBot, Tradereddy, Spirals31, Addbot, Renamed user 5, Logicist, Peter Damian (old), Yobot, AnomieBOT, Peter
Damian, Omnipaedista, LilyKitty, EmausBot, Psturm, Hpvpp, MusEdit, GeoreyEdwards, Polisher of Cobwebs, Jean KemperNN, Davidiad, Faizan, Ajhmerivale and Anonymous: 20
Economics (Aristotle) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economics%20(Aristotle)?oldid=631564132 Contributors: Rich Farmbrough, Tomisti, Andrew Lancaster, Cessator, Thomasmeeks, It Is Me Here, Fadesga, Jonund, MystBot, Addbot, Omnipaedista, Pollinosisss, ZroBot, GeoreyEdwards, Helpful Pixie Bot, Davidiad and Anonymous: 2
Eudemian Ethics Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudemian%20Ethics?oldid=633599206 Contributors: JoeSmack, Arcadian, Jumbuck, Allen3, RJC, Vincej, Tomisti, Andrew Lancaster, SmackBot, Bluebot, Across.The.Synapse, Isokrates, Cydebot, Icehcky8, KConWiki, Anarchia, PixelBot, MystBot, Addbot, Tide rolls, Yobot, GrouchoBot, Omnipaedista, HRoestBot, Davidiad, ChrisGualtieri and
Anonymous: 6

194.2. TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

561

Generation of Animals Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation%20of%20Animals?oldid=612248149 Contributors: Rl, RoyBoy, Wareh, Arcadian, Tomisti, Neddyseagoon, Cydebot, D. Webb, Bibi Saint-Pol, Pkeshav, Doug Coldwell, Alexbot, PixelBot, JKeck,
Addbot, Omnipaedista, EmausBot, KLBot2, Davidiad and Anonymous: 2
History of Animals Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History%20of%20Animals?oldid=640520995 Contributors: Asb, LeeHunter,
Laurascudder, Arcadian, Jumbuck, Sciurin, Wikiklrsc, Liface, Allen3, Graham87, RussBot, Zuben, Ragesoss, Tomisti, SmackBot, Sailko,
Neddyseagoon, Jaksmata, Chris55, Cydebot, 271828182, PhJ, Pkeshav, Doug Coldwell, Jeepday, Chiswick Chap, VolkovBot, FinnWiki,
Oneeyedboxer, Alexbot, MystBot, Addbot, Erutuon, Luckas-bot, Yobot, CXCV, Omnipaedista, FrescoBot, Pollinosisss, Jonkerz, EmausBot, ClueBot NG, KLBot2, Davidiad, WithSelet, OakRunner and Anonymous: 12
Magna Moralia Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magna%20Moralia?oldid=631556415 Contributors: Pmanderson, MakeRocketGoNow, Dbachmann, Arcadian, Hooperbloob, WhiteC, YurikBot, RJC, Tomisti, SmackBot, James.S, Neddyseagoon, Cydebot, Fadesga,
Addbot, Abiyoyo, Luckas-bot, Xqbot, Renaissancee, Omnipaedista, FrescoBot, ZroBot, Davidiad and Anonymous: 3
Mechanics (Aristotle) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanics%20(Aristotle)?oldid=612265766 Contributors: MakeRocketGoNow, Wareh, Polylerus, Knucmo2, RJFJR, Proyster, Tomisti, Melchoir, Cessator, Neddyseagoon, Chris55, Cydebot, Catalographer,
Addbot, Luckas-bot, Omnipaedista, Davidiad and Anonymous: 6
Meteorology (Aristotle) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteorology%20(Aristotle)?oldid=639013444 Contributors: Cybercavalier, Wetman, LeeHunter, Wareh, Arcadian, Jumbuck, Hard Raspy Sci, Allen3, Marudubshinki, Graham87, Lightsup55, Hakeem.gadi, Tomisti, Nightryder84, Sardanaphalus, Srnec, Jbergquist, Neddyseagoon, BoH, Cydebot, Rettetast, WikipediaIsSofaKingdom, Thanatos666, PericlesofAthens, ClueBot, Mild Bill Hiccup, Walrasiad, Addbot, Materialscientist, Omnipaedista, Machine Elf 1735,
Semaphoris, Tbhotch, WikitanvirBot, ZroBot, ClueBot NG, Snotbot, Davidiad, Mogism, Petesimon2, Cdhobbs9, Federico Leva (BEIC),
Nictornado and Anonymous: 12
Movement of Animals Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movement%20of%20Animals?oldid=638423261 Contributors: Michael
Hardy, Wareh, Wavelength, Tomisti, Pegship, Suicidalhamster, Grommel, Neddyseagoon, Cydebot, Epbr123, QuintusMaximus, Fadesga,
Excirial, Addbot, Omnipaedista, Dger, Animalparty, ClueBot NG, Davidiad, RHamzey and Anonymous: 5
On Breath Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On%20Breath?oldid=631433339 Contributors: Rich Farmbrough, Wareh, Cessator,
WANAX, Cynwolfe, VolkovBot, Fadesga, Addbot, Omnipaedista and RedBot
On Colors Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On%20Colors?oldid=612263758 Contributors: Tomisti, Cessator, Fadesga, Addbot, Omnipaedista, Pollinosisss, ZroBot and Davidiad
On Divination in Sleep Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On%20Divination%20in%20Sleep?oldid=612705152 Contributors: MakeRocketGoNow, Rich Farmbrough, Wareh, Arcadian, ABCD, RxS, Spencerk, Pegship, Cessator, Neddyseagoon, Cydebot, Fadesga, Addbot,
Omnipaedista, ZroBot and Davidiad
On Dreams Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On%20Dreams?oldid=612705283 Contributors: MakeRocketGoNow, Rich Farmbrough, Wareh, Arcadian, Brainy J, Grutness, Pegship, Cessator, Neddyseagoon, Cydebot, Fadesga, Addbot, Omnipaedista, ChuispastonBot and Davidiad
On Generation and Corruption Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On%20Generation%20and%20Corruption?oldid=612244622
Contributors: MakeRocketGoNow, JoeSmack, Wareh, Arcadian, Jumbuck, Grutness, Qwertyus, Ketiltrout, ThomistGuy, Tomisti, Pegship, Sardanaphalus, SmackBot, Atomist, Jon Awbrey, Neddyseagoon, CmdrObot, Cydebot, Ecphora, Appraiser, Emeraude, Fleurstigter,
PixelBot, Addbot, LaaknorBot, Omnipaedista, T of Locri, TjBot, EmausBot, Syncategoremata, ZroBot, Catlandcats, Davidiad, Dexbot
and Anonymous: 9
On Indivisible Lines Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On%20Indivisible%20Lines?oldid=611233909 Contributors: Tomisti, Cessator, Hmains, Fadesga, Addbot, Luckas-bot, Omnipaedista, Pollinosisss and Davidiad
On Length and Shortness of Life Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On%20Length%20and%20Shortness%20of%20Life?oldid=
612264856 Contributors: MakeRocketGoNow, Rich Farmbrough, Zenohockey, Wareh, Arcadian, McGeddon, Cessator, Neddyseagoon,
Cydebot, Seraphim, QuintusMaximus, Fadesga, Addbot, Xqbot, Omnipaedista, Boomphook33, ZroBot and Anonymous: 1
On Marvellous Things Heard Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On%20Marvellous%20Things%20Heard?oldid=613211399 Contributors: Wareh, Tomisti, Cessator, Fadesga, Addbot, Luckas-bot, LilHelpa, Omnipaedista, AlexanderVanLoon, Pollinosisss, Helpful Pixie
Bot, Davidiad, Melenc and Anonymous: 1
On Melissus, Xenophanes, and Gorgias Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On%20Melissus%2C%20Xenophanes%2C%20and%
20Gorgias?oldid=614513093 Contributors: Tomisti, SmackBot, Cessator, Hmains, Fadesga, WikHead, Addbot, Yobot, Omnipaedista,
Pollinosisss, EmausBot, Helpful Pixie Bot, Davidiad and Anonymous: 1
On Memory Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On%20Memory?oldid=612264746 Contributors: Pamplemousse, MakeRocketGoNow,
Rich Farmbrough, Wareh, Arcadian, Allen3, Andrew Lancaster, Cessator, Neddyseagoon, Colonel Warden, Cydebot, Fadesga, Addbot,
Luckas-bot, Omnipaedista and Davidiad
On Plants Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On%20Plants?oldid=638330941 Contributors: Tomisti, Cessator, Magioladitis, Chiswick
Chap, Funandtrvl, Fadesga, Addbot, Xqbot, Omnipaedista, Pollinosisss, ZroBot, Davidiad, Zorahia and Anonymous: 1
On Sleep Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On%20Sleep?oldid=612264427 Contributors: MakeRocketGoNow, Rich Farmbrough,
Wareh, Arcadian, Cessator, Neddyseagoon, Cydebot, AbsolutBildung, QuintusMaximus, Fadesga, Addbot, Omnipaedista, ZroBot, Davidiad and Anonymous: 1
On the Heavens Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On%20the%20Heavens?oldid=644165422 Contributors: Geraki, Andycjp, MakeRocketGoNow, Wareh, Arcadian, Jumbuck, Grutness, Velella, Tabletop, YurikBot, Pigman, Zuben, Cquan, Tomisti, Pegship, Sardanaphalus, FocalPoint, Jagged 85, Neddyseagoon, Maestlin, Gregbard, Cydebot, SteveMcCluskey, EdJohnston, Gwern, VolkovBot,
StAnselm, Singinglemon, JKeck, MystBot, Addbot, Boomur, Download, Luckas-bot, Yobot, Jchthys, Xqbot, Omnipaedista, SassoBot,
FrescoBot, Lonpross, Machine Elf 1735, EmausBot, WikitanvirBot, Helpful Pixie Bot, MPSchneiderLC, Davidiad, Apollineo!, Mogism,
Allan95, RBSeven, Aziman17 and Anonymous: 14
On the Soul Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On%20the%20Soul?oldid=637313942 Contributors: JWSchmidt, Charles Matthews,
Gamaliel, Mboverload, Cevlakohn, MakeRocketGoNow, Reex Reaction, Mike Rosoft, Robert P. O'Shea, Wareh, John Vandenberg, Arcadian, Pearle, Mdd, Grutness, Philthecow, Koavf, JdforresterBot, Bgwhite, YurikBot, Sophroniscus, Zuben, Tomisti, Sardanaphalus,

562

CHAPTER 194. XENARCHUS OF SELEUCIA

Lestrade, Jon Awbrey, RomanSpa, Neddyseagoon, Kripkenstein, CmdrObot, Richard Keatinge, Gregbard, Cydebot, ShoobyD, Miguel
de Servet, Sirmylesnagopaleentheda, Thijs!bot, Deeplogic, Mrbrown2, Boleslaw, Magioladitis, LookingGlass, WLU, VolkovBot, Messir, TXiKiBoT, Lynxmb, QuintusMaximus, Deneys, Alecs.y.rodez, Locaracle, M^A^L, Quetzapretzel, JKeck, Addbot, Leszek Jaczuk,
Legobot, Yobot, Ptbotgourou, Xqbot, DSisyphBot, Omnipaedista, SassoBot, TobeBot, Andrea105, EmausBot, XXXpinoy777, Helpful
Pixie Bot, KLBot2, Davidiad, WithSelet, Hmainsbot1, Limpwristed, Bmh81, Hannahhparkk and Anonymous: 37
On Things Heard Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On%20Things%20Heard?oldid=611235079 Contributors: Tomisti, Cessator,
Fadesga, Addbot, Luckas-bot, Omnipaedista, Pollinosisss, Helpful Pixie Bot and Davidiad
On Virtues and Vices Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On%20Virtues%20and%20Vices?oldid=614516983 Contributors: Tomisti,
Cessator, Gregbard, Fadesga, Addbot, Luckas-bot, Xqbot, Omnipaedista, Pollinosisss, Dream of Nyx, BG19bot, Davidiad and Anonymous:
1
On Youth, Old Age, Life and Death, and Respiration Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On%20Youth%2C%20Old%20Age%2C%
20Life%20and%20Death%2C%20and%20Respiration?oldid=612275435 Contributors: Wareh, Sct72, Cydebot, Cirt, Addbot, Luckasbot, Xqbot, Omnipaedista, ZroBot and Davidiad
Parts of Animals Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parts%20of%20Animals?oldid=612247871 Contributors: Michael Hardy, MakeRocketGoNow, Zenohockey, Wareh, Arcadian, Jumbuck, TheParanoidOne, Lijealso, Tomisti, Pegship, Neddyseagoon, Cydebot, Tocharianne, Pkeshav, Nigholith, VolkovBot, Messir, Phe-bot, ClueBot, Fadesga, Alexbot, PixelBot, Addbot, Xqbot, Omnipaedista, Gxlarson,
KLBot2, Davidiad and Anonymous: 6
Parva Naturalia Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parva%20Naturalia?oldid=598302216 Contributors: Wareh, Sardanaphalus, Cessator, Addbot, Luckas-bot, Lotje, Helpful Pixie Bot and Anonymous: 2
Physiognomonics Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physiognomonics?oldid=612265715 Contributors: Choster, Dbachmann, Wareh,
SmackBot, Cessator, Stevenmitchell, PamD, Cynwolfe, Catalographer, Addbot, Omnipaedista, FrescoBot, Pollinosisss, EmausBot, ZroBot
and Helpful Pixie Bot
Posterior Analytics Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posterior%20Analytics?oldid=637314180 Contributors: Pamplemousse, Renamed user 4, Charles Matthews, MakeRocketGoNow, Wareh, Arcadian, Mdd, Jumbuck, Koavf, SchuminWeb, YurikBot, BOTSuperzerocool, Avalon, Sardanaphalus, SmackBot, Suicidalhamster, Alunsalt, Neddyseagoon, Gregbard, Cydebot, Thijs!bot, CCS81,
Icarus' Dream, Deneys, AdRock, Lisatwo, PixelBot, Addbot, Logicist, Amirobot, Omnipaedista, MondalorBot, Alph Bot, EmausBot,
Hpvpp, Davidiad, Melenc and Anonymous: 7
Problems (Aristotle) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problems%20(Aristotle)?oldid=642648669 Contributors: Wareh, Tomisti,
MystBot, Addbot, Omnipaedista, Pollinosisss, ZroBot, BajaaS, BG19bot, Davidiad, Melonkelon, Dentdark and Anonymous: 4
Progression of Animals Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progression%20of%20Animals?oldid=612263945 Contributors: Christofurio, MakeRocketGoNow, Wareh, Arcadian, Jumbuck, Grutness, YurikBot, Ragesoss, Tomisti, Pegship, Grommel, Neddyseagoon, Cydebot, Fadesga, JKeck, Addbot, AnomieBOT, Omnipaedista and ZroBot
Protrepticus (Aristotle) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protrepticus%20(Aristotle)?oldid=618186627 Contributors: Bearcat,
Wareh, Rjwilmsi, Koavf, Gregbard, Bibi Saint-Pol, Presearch, Addbot, Omnipaedista, Steve Quinn, Monteransomejohnson, Helpful Pixie
Bot, Davidiad and Monkbot
Rhetoric to Alexander Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhetoric%20to%20Alexander?oldid=643857327 Contributors: Furrykef,
Wareh, Wikidea, Tomisti, Attilios, Cessator, Gregbard, Ricesp, Addbot, Luckas-bot, AlexanderVanLoon, Jonesey95, Pollinosisss, Helpful
Pixie Bot, ChrisGualtieri and Rastie
Sense and Sensibilia (Aristotle) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sense%20and%20Sensibilia%20(Aristotle)?oldid=612266969
Contributors: MakeRocketGoNow, Wareh, Arcadian, Ben davison, Omphaloscope, Neddyseagoon, Tawkerbot2, Cydebot, D. Webb, Mccaskey, Addbot, Luckas-bot, AnomieBOT, Omnipaedista and Anonymous: 2
The Situations and Names of Winds Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The%20Situations%20and%20Names%20of%20Winds?
oldid=612194703 Contributors: Tomisti, Cessator, WANAX, GrahamHardy, Fadesga, Addbot, Xqbot, Omnipaedista, Pollinosisss,
ZroBot, Helpful Pixie Bot and Davidiad
Sophistical Refutations Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophistical%20Refutations?oldid=637313389 Contributors: Rursus, MakeRocketGoNow, Wareh, Arcadian, Mdd, Jumbuck, Koavf, Finell, Sardanaphalus, Octahedron80, Bjankuloski06en, Neddyseagoon, Gregbard, Cydebot, Thijs!bot, LookingGlass, Sbowers3, PixelBot, CKCortez, Addbot, Omnipaedista, SassoBot, Hpvpp, ZroBot, Davidiad,
Ihaveacatonmydesk and Anonymous: 3
Topics (Aristotle) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topics%20(Aristotle)?oldid=644231668 Contributors: Renamed user 4, MakeRocketGoNow, Wareh, Arcadian, Jumbuck, Stefanomione, KYPark, YurikBot, Closedmouth, Sardanaphalus, Havardj, SmackBot, Drpedsen, Chris the speller, Bjankuloski06en, Neddyseagoon, Geremia, Gregbard, Cydebot, Thijs!bot, , VoABot II, VolkovBot, CWii,
Ontoraul, Alcmaeonid, Lisatwo, Singinglemon, Bvlax2005, SchreiberBike, Mccaskey, Addbot, Yobot, Omnipaedista, Azurfrog, January,
SunyataCL, EmausBot, Lop'6*, Hpvpp, ZroBot, Polisher of Cobwebs, Davidiad, Eyesnore and Anonymous: 6
Aristotelianism Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotelianism?oldid=642573374 Contributors: Olivier, Earth, SebastianHelm,
Deselms, Tpbradbury, Shizhao, Rich Farmbrough, Dbachmann, Paul August, Zenohockey, Kwamikagami, Wareh, Tabletop, BD2412,
Moorlock, FayssalF, Nivix, Tdoune, Kjlewis, Pigman, Pseudomonas, Jpbowen, Tomisti, Canadianism, Sardanaphalus, Veinor, SmackBot, Elonka, InverseHypercube, KnowledgeOfSelf, Jagged 85, Baronnet, WikiPedant, Jgoulden, Bo99, Smith609, SQGibbon, Lenoxus,
Wolfdog, Talented Mr Miller, Gregbard, Cydebot, Thijs!bot, Deective, The Transhumanist, Bongwarrior, MartinBot, Anarchia, R'n'B,
Pomonomo2003, Kelvin Knight, Phatius McBlu, Madhava 1947, The Jackal God, TreasuryTag, Jimmaths, Jacob Lundberg, Floddinn,
Lynxmb, A4bot, Magarmach, Ontoraul, Wassermann, Mmairs, Newbyguesses, Mild Bill Hiccup, Singinglemon, Arjayay, DumZiBoT,
Good Olfactory, Addbot, LightSpectra, Tanhabot, Download, Ginosbot, SamatBot, Yobot, Ptbotgourou, Nravi00, AnomieBOT, Xqbot, Ulf
Heinsohn, GrouchoBot, Omnipaedista, D'ohBot, Machine Elf 1735, Citation bot 4, Fifth Fish Finger, Pollinosisss, DixonDBot, RjwilmsiBot, DASHBot, EmausBot, John of Reading, WikitanvirBot, Mustafa logos, MisterDub, Phronetic, ClueBot NG, Chris Van Hutsul,
Redyka94, Helpful Pixie Bot, Europeanhistorian, BattyBot, Fiddlersmouth, Archer47, Denysbondar, Moagim, CsDix, Stamptrader, Josmust222 and Anonymous: 61
Ancient commentators project Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient%20commentators%20project?oldid=631878960 Contributors: Lar, Fram, TreasuryTag, Ontoraul, Singinglemon, Addbot, Omnipaedista, Pollinosisss, Editor with a background in philosophy and
Anonymous: 3

194.2. TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

563

Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commentaria%20in%20Aristotelem%20Graeca?oldid=


634386863 Contributors: Wareh, Mandarax, Spacepotato, Tomisti, Ousia, TreasuryTag, Addbot, Atethnekos, Omnipaedista, Pollinosisss,
D41d4l05, Lacegreekocr, Ghfranz and Anonymous: 3
Commentaries on Aristotle Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commentaries%20on%20Aristotle?oldid=637331937 Contributors:
Paul August, Bender235, Wareh, Snowolf, Woohookitty, Koavf, WLight, Lar, Tomisti, Fram, Sardanaphalus, R'n'B, Ontoraul, 3rdAlcove, Singinglemon, Addbot, Yobot, AnomieBOT, I Feel Tired, HRoestBot, Pollinosisss, A history of the modern world, Editor with a
background in philosophy, Mouramoor, Pasicles, Ihaveamac-alt and Anonymous: 6
Hexis Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexis?oldid=641354906 Contributors: Pmanderson, Hydriotaphia, BD2412, Kbdank71,
Koavf, RussBot, Woling, Tomisti, Andrew Lancaster, Sardanaphalus, SmackBot, Ze miguel, Commander Keane bot, Jordansmith, Woodshed, Blue-Haired Lawyer, Gregbard, Cydebot, Mentisto, RandyS0725, Martinkugler, XLinkBot, Yobot, Backslash Forwardslash, LilHelpa, Omnipaedista, Pollinosisss, Hriber, Donner60, Helpful Pixie Bot, BG19bot, Everymorning and Anonymous: 6
Hyle Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyle?oldid=619715537 Contributors: Redwalker, Bender235, Kwamikagami, Tastyummy,
RJFJR, BD2412, FlaBot, Mathrick, Alynna Kasmira, SmackBot, Imz, Bluebot, Gregbard, Peterdjones, Aey, Morgaledh, XyBot, Deective, PhilKnight, FisherQueen, VolkovBot, JimmyBoy28, Addbot, Yobot, Ptbotgourou, Waxworklibation, YakbutterT, Omnipaedista,
Pantarbe, Machine Elf 1735, Pollinosisss, Jacob van Straten, Wrotesolid, ChuispastonBot, ClueBot NG, Helpful Pixie Bot, Car Henkel,
PhnomPencil, WithSelet and Anonymous: 7
Instantiation principle Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instantiation%20principle?oldid=644551112 Contributors: FranksValli,
Nicholasink, Jaraalbe, Tavilis, SmackBot, Monkeycheetah, Radagast83, Gregbard, Shogun Luis, Alphachimpbot, Magioladitis, Philosopher123, Steevven1, Brokenplates\, AnomieBOT, Sae1962, Utility Monster, GoingBatty, Yiosie2356, ChrisGualtieri, Malina47 and
Anonymous: 5
The Kitsch Movement Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The%20Kitsch%20Movement?oldid=641393260 Contributors: Koavf, Orland, InverseHypercube, MikeWazowski, Gregbard, Nick Number, Freshacconci, CommonsDelinker, Monty845, Coastside, ImageRemovalBot, Sun Creator, SchreiberBike, Addbot, Download, Yobot, AnomieBOT, FrescoBot, Freebirds, Callanecc, EmausBot, Bork93,
JDMohier, Kitschpainter, MrNiceGuy1113, Rtscott01, Zarathustra7 and Anonymous: 15
George E. McCarthy Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George%20E.%20McCarthy?oldid=644715141 Contributors: Reinkefj, Polarscribe, Mandarax, NawlinWiki, Gilliam, Waacstats, MetsBot, Johnpacklambert, Ammain, RogDel, Nomoskedasticity, RjwilmsiBot,
Roccodrifter and Anonymous: 3
Michael III of Constantinople Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael%20III%20of%20Constantinople?oldid=639282653 Contributors: Varangian, Cplakidas, Rigadoun, Gregbard, Waacstats, VolkovBot, Addbot, FrescoBot, Kibi78704, ZroBot, Jbribeiro1 and
Stilbes
Mimesis Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimesis?oldid=641426609 Contributors: Dieter Simon, Kingturtle, Rossami, Rednblu,
Rbellin, Robbot, Pigsonthewing, Geogre, Millosh, Snobot, Anym, DocWatson42, Bensaccount, Jpg, Rich Farmbrough, DcoetzeeBot,
Idmillington, Ejrrjs, Oolong, Gssq, Logologist, SlimVirgin, Maqs, Uncle G, BD2412, Agrumer, Koavf, , NeonMerlin, Rmatney, FlaBot, Margosbot, ElfQrin, Quuxplusone, YurikBot, John Quincy Adding Machine, Nobs01, Pigman, Bill52270, Tony1,
Bota47, Andrew Lancaster, Sardanaphalus, SmackBot, YellowMonkey, Argrig, Reedy, Number seven, Antrophica, Eskimbot, Josephprymak, Mike hayes, ErikHWiki, Anvilman, Richard001, SashatoBot, LtPowers, Meco, Justinevanson, Cyrusc, CRGreathouse, Neelix, Gregbard, Cydebot, Languagehat, Kiske, Chastev, West Brom 4ever, AntiVandalBot, Ririana, Danny lost, JAnDbot, Barney Jenkins, JNW,
Logolego, Nitku, Esprqii, What's in a name, Misarxist, G-my, Johnbod, Plasticup, Master shepherd, Wibil, VolkovBot, FinnWiki, Symane,
Mark13732, Smilo Don, Wetwarexpert, SlackerMom, SummerWithMorons, LAX, Ribaldhumor, DionysosProteus, Keraunoscopia, METALFREAK04, Estevoaei, Estirabot, HarrivBOT, SilvonenBot, Addbot, MrOllie, Tide rolls, ScAvenger, Zorrobot, Wiki apprentice, Yobot,
AnomieBOT, Galoubet, Xqbot, TheAMmollusc, Petropoxy (Lithoderm Proxy), Omnipaedista, Aaron Kauppi, Malithgow, Captain-n00dle,
Quinn d, Haeinous, Baxtalo4, Cansem, Pollinosisss, LilyKitty, Walkinxyz, Beyond My Ken, EmausBot, John of Reading, WikitanvirBot,
RememberingLife, Mykus, ClueBot NG, Jsammartino, Chester Markel, Helpful Pixie Bot, Xinas3, Davidiad, Drift chambers, Mythpage88,
Mrt3366, Dafplan, Star767, Seventhgenerationsage, Alcott1129 and Anonymous: 95
Minima naturalia Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minima%20naturalia?oldid=637336237 Contributors: Sardanaphalus, Rinnenadtrosc, Hebrides and Machine Elf 1735
Peripatetic school Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peripatetic%20school?oldid=644525891 Contributors: SimonP, Kierant, Robbot,
Goethean, SchmuckyTheCat, Waltpohl, Per Honor et Gloria, Noe, Beland, Neutrality, Lonoak, Rich Farmbrough, Xezbeth, Dbachmann,
Brian0918, Mindmatrix, Ortcutt, Roboto de Ajvol, SatuSuro, Eleassar, KSchutte, Dysmorodrepanis, Grafen, Aldux, Botteville, Tomisti,
Queezbo, Sardanaphalus, SmackBot, Jagged 85, Onebravemonkey, StefanB sv, NaySay, Jbergquist, Texas Dervish, Isokrates, JMK, Bons,
GeorgeLouis, Outriggr, Gregbard, Khatru2, SteveMcCluskey, Thijs!bot, Mr pand, D. Webb, Sewnmouthsecret, JAnDbot, Joaquimoly,
Cynwolfe, EagleFan, Kkrystian, B9 hummingbird hovering, Cyborg Ninja, Belovedfreak, Tim-DC, Ontoraul, Brleed, D. Recorder, Meldor, OKBot, Rsubramanian, SlackerMom, Singinglemon, Alexbot, Lartoven, Rui Gabriel Correia, DumZiBoT, Addbot, LightSpectra,
CanadianLinuxUser, AnnaFrance, Numbo3-bot, Lightbot, , Luckas-bot, Rushmore cadet, Materialscientist, LilHelpa, Xqbot, Erud,
PrometheusDesmotes, Almabot, J04n, Omnipaedista, Slarty2, Verbum Veritas, FrescoBot, D'ohBot, Citation bot 1, RedBot, Pollinosisss,
EmausBot, Hpvpp, ZroBot, MisterDub, Pedanti, 97, SusikMkr, Vacation9, Helpful Pixie Bot, BG19bot, Vagobot, AK456 and
Anonymous: 36
Substance theory Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Substance%20theory?oldid=643355597 Contributors: Tobias Hoevekamp, The
Anome, Larry Sanger, Kurt Jansson, Paul Barlow, Wapcaplet, BenKovitz, Poor Yorick, Renamed user 4, Banno, Anthony Fok, Robbot, Goethean, Rursus, Paul Murray, Wile E. Heresiarch, Snobot, Kusunose, JimWae, Guppynsoup, Dbachmann, RoyBoy, Blakkandekka, ADM, Merenta, Jjhake, MIT Trekkie, Ceyockey, Graham87, Christophers, Koavf, TheRingess, Goclenius, Srleer, Chobot,
YurikBot, Jlittlet, Sophroniscus, Rodasmith, Dlyons493, Bota47, Jeisenberg, Sardanaphalus, SmackBot, Lestrade, Srnec, Kurykh, Fluri,
Atomist, LoveMonkey, Lapaz, Dl2000, PaulGS, Igoldste, CmdrObot, Neelix, Gregbard, JayParaki, Peterdjones, Kallerdis, Mirrormundo,
SteveMcCluskey, Omicronpersei8, Gimmetrow, AntiVandalBot, JAnDbot, Matthew Fennell, Yobol, Anarchia, Maurice Carbonaro, Inquam, Idioma-bot, JohnBlackburne, Ontoraul, Billinghurst, Spinningspark, SieBot, Emptymountains, ClueBot, Brews ohare, Ice Cold
Beer, Addbot, Fyrael, Leszek Jaczuk, LaaknorBot, Redheylin, Legobot, Yobot, Ptbotgourou, KamikazeBot, JackieBot, Omnipaedista,
Sewblon, Machine Elf 1735, HRoestBot, Vrenator, LilyKitty, Obankston, Esoglou, EmausBot, GoingBatty, RememberingLife, ZroBot,
Grundsatzfrage, Helpful Pixie Bot, Lugia2453, Awesome113 and Anonymous: 59

564

CHAPTER 194. XENARCHUS OF SELEUCIA

Substantial form Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Substantial%20form?oldid=637331868 Contributors: Charles Matthews, PeterPoe, Koavf, Spencerk, Sardanaphalus, SmackBot, Gregbard, ShoobyD, Maurice Carbonaro, Reedy Bot, Phatius McBlu, VolkovBot,
Cnilep, Addbot, JEN9841, Rubinbot, Omnipaedista, Machine Elf 1735, Ongar the World-Weary, Pollinosisss, GoingBatty, PBS-AWB,
Suslindisambiguator, ClueBot NG, Hon-3s-T, Aisteco, Awesome113 and Anonymous: 11
List of writers inuenced by Aristotle Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List%20of%20writers%20influenced%20by%20Aristotle?
oldid=642772847 Contributors: Wareh, SmackBot, Colonies Chris, N2e, Matthew Fennell, BashBrannigan, Kelvin Knight, Hotcrocodile,
Last Contrarian, Tassedethe, Wandering Courier, Srich32977, Machine Elf 1735, Greco22, Pollinosisss, Caute AF, Jan Spousta, Aa team
and Anonymous: 19
J. L. Ackrill Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J.%20L.%20Ackrill?oldid=613825572 Contributors: Charles Matthews, Elembis, Stemonitis, Canadian Paul, Rjwilmsi, Gregbard, Cydebot, Yorkshiresky, Coyets, D. Webb, Laureapuella, Waacstats, Keith D, TXiKiBoT,
Rcb1, Catalographer, Addbot, The Sage of Stamford, Lightbot, Yobot, Omnipaedista, Uoeia, Foobarnix, Full-date unlinking bot, RjwilmsiBot, ChrisGualtieri, VIAFbot and Anonymous: 5
Adrastus of Aphrodisias Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrastus%20of%20Aphrodisias?oldid=627547172 Contributors: Smalljim, Woohookitty, Tomisti, Hmains, Fordmadoxfraud, Cydebot, Flyer22, Alfreddo, Singinglemon, Alexbot, Catalographer, Addbot, NjardarBot, Lightbot, Omnipaedista, Davidiad and Anonymous: 1
Ahmad ibn al-Tayyib al-Sarakhsi Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmad%20ibn%20al-Tayyib%20al-Sarakhsi?oldid=
630225353 Contributors: Cplakidas, Cydebot, Lugnuts, S711, Mild Bill Hiccup, Al-Andalusi, Addbot, RjwilmsiBot, ZroBot, Captain
Assassin!, Helpful Pixie Bot, Titodutta, HistoryofIran and Anonymous: 2
Alexander of Aegae Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander%20of%20Aegae?oldid=592703714 Contributors: Wareh, Deucalionite, Hmains, Fordmadoxfraud, Cydebot, Nick Number, Singinglemon, Catalographer, Addbot, JEN9841, DefaultsortBot, RjwilmsiBot, ZroBot, Davidiad and Anonymous: 1
Alexander of Aphrodisias Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander%20of%20Aphrodisias?oldid=636007671 Contributors:
Panairjdde, MrH, Michael Hardy, Delirium, Stan Shebs, Charles Matthews, Rbraunwa, Haukurth, Phoebe, GreatWhiteNortherner, Varlaam, Rich Farmbrough, Elwikipedista, CanisRufus, Wareh, Vervin, Jumbuck, Snowolf, Woohookitty, Kzollman, BD2412, Rjwilmsi,
Matt.whitby, Jaraalbe, Roboto de Ajvol, Hellbus, Aldux, SmackBot, Reedy, Kimon, Hmains, Bluebot, Will Beback, Sailko, Hu12, Skapur,
Jpfw, Fordmadoxfraud, Cydebot, Thijs!bot, Jonathan Stokes, R'n'B, Northutsire, Ash, Kimedoncius, Belovedfreak, DorganBot, Catherine de Burgh, Rei-bot, Ontoraul, AlleborgoBot, PipepBot, J8079s, Singinglemon, SchreiberBike, BOTarate, Catalographer, Kbdankbot,
NjardarBot, Lightbot, Legobot, Ptbotgourou, AnomieBOT, Cmsreview, Omnipaedista, FrescoBot, Atlantia, Nirmos, DefaultsortBot, Crusoe8181, Pollinosisss, RjwilmsiBot, Alph Bot, EmausBot, ZroBot, PBS-AWB, ClueBot NG, Helpful Pixie Bot, Davidiad, Pasicles, Summax07, Lindagili and Anonymous: 18
Andronicus of Rhodes Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andronicus%20of%20Rhodes?oldid=631632592 Contributors: Tobias Hoevekamp, BryceHarrington, Delirium, Adam Bishop, Gubbubu, Rich Farmbrough, John Vandenberg, Guthrie, PatGallacher, Eras-mus,
Wars, Jaraalbe, Occono, Deucalionite, Bluebot, O keyes, Stevenmitchell, SashatoBot, Eastlaw, Gregbard, Cydebot, Alaibot, Thijs!bot,
Liquid-aim-bot, .anacondabot, Margacst, Ontoraul, ClueBot, Singinglemon, Solar-Wind, Catalographer, Chronicler, Kbdankbot, Addbot,
Legobot, Luckas-bot, Yobot, Amirobot, Omnipaedista, Atlantia, DefaultsortBot, EmausBot, Pasicles, ChrisGualtieri, Hmainsbot1, Xenxax
and Anonymous: 9
David the Invincible Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David%20the%20Invincible?oldid=639220563 Contributors: Wareh, Kappa,
YurikBot, Kelovy, Fram, SmackBot, Chaojoker, Schmiteye, MalafayaBot, Ahakobyan, Doug Bell, Cydebot, MarshBot, Fedayee, Skomorokh, Magioladitis, Dekimasu, EtienneDolet, Ontoraul, LARAMA, Fadesga, Singinglemon, Auntof6, Lumberjake, Good Olfactory,
Addbot, Sardur, Lightbot, Luckas-bot, Yobot, Xqbot, Omnipaedista, Hovhannesk, Dinamik-bot, EmausBot, Yerevantsi, KJ1890, MrNiceGuy1113, Dexbot, Mogism, VIAFbot and Anonymous: 6
Asclepius of Tralles Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asclepius%20of%20Tralles?oldid=610654814 Contributors: Delirium, Paul
August, Wareh, Rjwilmsi, Algebraist, Tomisti, Cplakidas, Cronholm144, SMasters, Isokrates, Cydebot, Alaibot, Bibi Saint-Pol, Waacstats,
Ontoraul, Fadesga, Singinglemon, MystBot, Addbot, Yobot, Omnipaedista, HRoestBot, DefaultsortBot, RjwilmsiBot, MALLUS, Davidiad,
VIAFbot and Anonymous: 2
Aspasius Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspasius?oldid=627548435 Contributors: Delirium, Stan Shebs, Alexander.stohr, Wareh,
VivaEmilyDavies, Woohookitty, FeanorStar7, Cbustapeck, BD2412, Eubot, YurikBot, Zwobot, Tomisti, SMasters, RandomCritic, Cydebot, RobotG, Jonathan Stokes, Alfreddo, Singinglemon, Catalographer, Addbot, Lightbot, Verazzano, Bob Burkhardt, Omnipaedista,
Spacelib, LucienBOT, DefaultsortBot, Crusoe8181, ChuispastonBot, VIAFbot, Xenxax and Anonymous: 2
Avempace Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avempace?oldid=643755739 Contributors: XJaM, SimonP, Delirium, William M. Connolley, Joy, Owen, Fredrik, Stewartadcock, Nagelfar, Kbahey, Bosmon, Klemen Kocjancic, VilleAine, Rich Farmbrough, Irishpunktom,
Hooperbloob, Anthony Appleyard, Amorymeltzer, Japanese Searobin, Mel Etitis, Uncle G, Chochopk, Farhansher, BD2412, Rjwilmsi,
Koavf, FlaBot, Jidan, YurikBot, KSchutte, Shanel, Hakeem.gadi, Klingsor, Wiqi55, Kubra, Asterion, Attilios, Jagged 85, Adul, Hmains,
Arab Hafez, Wizardman, MJO, Courcelles, Cydebot, Alaibot, Legis, Thijs!bot, Esowteric, S710, WinBot, Liquid-aim-bot, Lanov, Dsp13,
Escarlati, Waacstats, Aziz1005, JaGa, Jahangard, Gwern, Danieliness, Jon2777, Plindenbaum, VolkovBot, AlnoktaBOT, TXiKiBoT,
Maxim, SieBot, Meldor, S711, J8079s, Niceguyedc, Alexbot, BOTarate, Al-Andalusi, Badmachine, Addbot, Manuel Trujillo Berges,
Lightbot, Vasi, WikiHendrik, Luckas-bot, Yobot, , NoPity2, LlywelynII, Bob Burkhardt, Xqbot, J04n, Omnipaedista,
RibotBOT, Rudimae, Alex299006, RedBot, Hidanovic21, RjwilmsiBot, InbalabnI, WikitanvirBot, ZroBot, Knight1993, Jonathan.kade,
ChuispastonBot, 19thPharaoh, CocuBot, Rezabot, Helpful Pixie Bot, Sy hala, Tachn, Mughal Lohar, Lizara82, VIAFbot, Avampace,
Polymath1900, Yehianumb, Filedelinkerbot, Bemes and Anonymous: 32
Averroes Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Averroes?oldid=644563213 Contributors: AxelBoldt, Bryan Derksen, AstroNomer, Malcolm Farmer, Danny, XJaM, Deb, William Avery, Valhalla, Mrwojo, Ubiquity, Michael Hardy, Yann, Jakub, Looxix, William M. Connolley, Darkwind, Ineuw, Raven in Orbit, JASpencer, Radgeek, Prumpf, Markhurd, Hyacinth, Wetman, Finlay McWalter, Wst, Robbot, Sam
Spade, Hadal, Wikibot, Giftlite, DocWatson42, Kbahey, Zigger, Dissident, Curps, Per Honor et Gloria, Solipsist, Khalid hassani, Sohailstyle, Kharoon, Antandrus, Mustafaa, Phil Sandifer, Aikibum, Ellsworth, Ihsuss, Karl-Henner, Urhixidur, Uaxuctum, Muijz, Fanghong,
Aziri, Simonides, Fpga, An Siarach, Rich Farmbrough, Guanabot, FranksValli, Mani1, Stbalbach, Bender235, Mashford, Chalst, Zenohockey, Kwamikagami, Rizman Suzaidi, Wareh, Whosyourjudas, Nk, Utilitaritron, Obradovic Goran, Mdd, OneGuy, Anthony Appleyard,
Sherurcij, Vonaurum, Kazvorpal, Dejvid, Bobrayner, Velho, Mel Etitis, FeanorStar7, StradivariusTV, Jacobolus, Stancollins, Wikiklrsc,
Arwcheek, Striver, TotoBaggins, Farhansher, Mondher, Palica, Askewmind, Cuchullain, Rjwilmsi, Chirags, Sango123, Yamamoto Ichiro,

194.2. TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

565

FayssalF, Ian Pitchford, Cherubino, RexNL, Jidan, Chobot, YurikBot, Wavelength, Lar, Zhaladshar, SEWilcoBot, Badagnani, Jakash,
Daniel Bonniot de Ruisselet, RL0919, Natkeeran, Cardsplayer4life, Wheelybrook, Wiqi55, Andrew Lancaster, Fram, Whobot, JLaTondre, T. Anthony, Curpsbot-unicodify, Bluezy, Elijahmeeks, GrinBot, SmackBot, Hazam, Jagged 85, Eagleswings, CuriousOliver, Alsandro, Gilliam, Ohnoitsjamie, Hmains, Chris the speller, Jaw101ie, Josteinn, Mladilozof, Afc0703, Rrburke, Shaolin128, Khoikhoi,
Ryandward, Tapered, Downwards, Derek R Bullamore, Only, Wikiklaas, Ugur Basak Bot, Will Beback, SashatoBot, Ckatz, The Man in
Question, Loadmaster, Rizome, Johnny 0, Pwforaker, Twas Now, Nubzor, Afghana, JForget, Bluerain, Jnordmar, Gregbard, Logicus, Cydebot, Jasperdoomen, Future Perfect at Sunrise, Daio, Languagehat, Llort, Sirmylesnagopaleentheda, Thijs!bot, Wikid77, Missvain, S710,
Mmortal03, Histrydude, RobotG, Prolog, Fayenatic london, Sluzzelin, Fennessy, JAnDbot, Deective, Skomorokh, Matthew Fennell, Magioladitis, Connormah, Bongwarrior, Jsqb, Waacstats, RuthieK, Avicennasis, Sam Medany, IbnKhaldoun, Awwiki, Aziz1005, Komputist,
Prester John, Khalid Mahmood, Thestick, Gun Powder Ma, Mschier, Skarioszky, Jonathan Stokes, Jim Yar, R'n'B, Maurice Carbonaro,
Yonidebot, Balthazarduju, Kecheshire, Belovedfreak, NewEnglandYankee, Chicaben, Kansas Bear, STBotD, Inwind, Hugo999, VolkovBot,
TreasuryTag, Johan1298, TXiKiBoT, A4bot, CoJaBo, JhsBot, Jookieapc, Melvin toast, AlleborgoBot, SieBot, Portalian, Arkwatem, Nihil
novi, Gerakibot, Fabbosko, Lachrie, S711, Monegasque, Ekindedeoglu, Antonio Lopez, Werldwayd, Alefbe, WikipedianMarlith, ClueBot, PipepBot, The Thing That Should Not Be, Kafka Liz, Parkjunwung, XPTO, Singinglemon, Ashashyou, Jagdfeld, Avisena, DragonBot,
Alexbot, PixelBot, Estirabot, Al-Andalusi, DumZiBoT, Mccaskey, Addbot, Colibri37, Moldut, Cst17, CarsracBot, Ahmad2099, Peter
Damian (old), SpBot, West.andrew.g, Aratak80, Lightbot, HerculeBot, Legobot, Luckas-bot, Yobot, Ptbotgourou, Samaraaa, AnomieBOT,
Archon 2488, NoPity2, LlywelynII, Mahmudmasri, Citation bot, Ibn yaqoub, Bob Burkhardt, PIL1987, ArthurBot, Xqbot, Arslan-San,
Zeropoint001, Averroist, J04n, GrouchoBot, Omnipaedista, RibotBOT, H 09G, Krscal, GhalyBot, Prari, FrescoBot, Citation bot 1, The
Egyptian Liberal, HRoestBot, Moonfades2009, DefaultsortBot, Tom.Reding, RedBot, Meaghan, Reconsider the static, Lotje, Rain drop
45, Reaper Eternal, Saint Augustine, AXRL, RjwilmsiBot, Alph Bot, EmausBot, Editor with a background in philosophy, Syncategoremata, GoingBatty, Wikipelli, AvicBot, PBS-AWB, Omar-Toons, Kaka Mughal, RyanNJK, Muslimsson, Herk1955, AFKM i, Khestwol,
Wafaashohdy, ClueBot NG, Chris Van Hutsul, MelbourneStar, Gpmat, Widr, Helpful Pixie Bot, Curb Chain, Ramaksoud2000, Aryazzz,
BG19bot, Dzlinker, Tachn, Red Baboon, Midnight Green, Amolbot, Mughal Lohar, LuLxFakie, MrBill3, Frankgoldman, 220 of Borg,
Jason from nyc, BattyBot, JovanAndreano, Alburzador, Hmainsbot1, Inayity, Makecat-bot, Mezzkal, Churn and change, DepartmentChair,
Nimetapoeg, Howicus, LTblb, Transphasic, Yum Pop, Debka1, Lambdafreeman, N0n3up, Federico Leva (BEIC) and Anonymous: 269
Avicenna Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avicenna?oldid=644378261 Contributors: Magnus Manske, Brion VIBBER, Mav, Andre
Engels, Mathijs, Rmhermen, Deb, Zoe, Rsabbatini, Camembert, Hephaestos, Olivier, Spi, Michael Hardy, Nixdorf, Alireza Hashemi,
Looxix, Ellywa, Kingturtle, Ciphergoth, Andres, Jeandr du Toit, Ruhrjung, Charles Matthews, Radgeek, Sertrel, Markhurd, Tpbradbury,
Hyacinth, Phoebe, Philopp, Samsara, Morven, Joseaperez, Wetman, Carbuncle, RadicalBender, Robbot, PBS, Zandperl, Gak, Nkv, Mirv,
SchmuckyTheCat, Diderot, Halibutt, Jondel, Wikibot, JackofOz, Seano1, Giftlite, Peruvianllama, Varlaam, Rpyle731, Erich gasboy, Andycjp, Toytoy, Sonjaaa, Antandrus, Williamb, JoJan, MistToys, Tothebarricades.tk, Karl-Henner, Caton, Neale Monks, Agari, Uaxuctum,
Robin klein, Picapica, Mike Rosoft, Zartosht, An Siarach, Rich Farmbrough, Guanabot, Oliver Lineham, Florian Blaschke, Aris Katsaris, Eric Shalov, Mani1, Bender235, Phaust, Kaisershatner, El C, Kwamikagami, Laurascudder, Susvolans, Sietse Snel, Rizman Suzaidi,
Wareh, Cmdrjameson, Khakbaz, Bgeer, Nk, Flammifer, Dmanning, Jakew, Ogress, HasharBot, GK, Jumbuck, OneGuy, Alansohn, Gary,
Mick Knapton, Ben davison, Omerlives, Pouya, Sligocki, Ynhockey, Bart133, Velella, SidP, Helixblue, Saga City, Grenavitar, SteinbDJ,
Ghirlandajo, Zereshk, Iustinus, Tainter, Oleg Alexandrov, Agingjb, Angr, Mel Etitis, Woohookitty, FeanorStar7, Merlinme, Rocastelo,
Miaow Miaow, Jacobolus, Pbhj, Briangotts, Ruud Koot, Je3000, Cibeckwith, Cbdorsett, Striver, GregorB, Julo, SDC, Dmitry Gerasimov, Farhansher, SqueakBox, Tibetibet, BD2412, Amir85, Reisio, Ketiltrout, Drbogdan, Rjwilmsi, Mbahrami, Mike s, Camdic, FayssalF,
Miskin, Sasanjan, MisterSquirrel, RexNL, Enon, Mehrshad123, Jfraatz, Chobot, Jaraalbe, LatinoMuslim, Bgwhite, Aminadibi, YurikBot,
Wavelength, Spacepotato, RobotE, Deeptrivia, RussBot, DanMS, Gaius Cornelius, CambridgeBayWeather, Alex Bakharev, Kimchi.sg,
NawlinWiki, Dialectric, Test-tools, Grafen, Aleichem, Bota47, Hakeem.gadi, Nescio, Elkman, AjaxSmack, Igin, KateH, Mike Serfas,
Wiqi55, Andrew Lancaster, Raafat, Mike Selinker, Fram, Whobot, Trhermes, Willtron, JLaTondre, T. Anthony, Tajik, Arad, Allens,
Kungfuadam, Nima.nezafati, GrinBot, Sangak1, NiTenIchiRyu, Izayohi, Farshied86, Rcorazzon, Sardanaphalus, Attilios, David Straub,
SmackBot, Daryou, Selfworm, Herostratus, Slashme, Prodego, McGeddon, Shoy, Unyoyega, C.Fred, Od Mishehu, Shervink, Jagged 85,
Paxse, Flamarande, Pasha Abd, Aryobarzan, Aksi great, Peter Isotalo, Ohnoitsjamie, Hmains, Hozien, Betacommand, MB, ParthianShot,
Abukaspar, Ioprwe, Jero77, QEDquid, Bluebot, MK8, Vjam, Behaafarid, Mladilozof, Can't sleep, clown will eat me, Ammar shaker, Gol,
OrphanBot, Rrburke, Xarshiax, Khoikhoi, Boray, RandomP, Nepaheshgar, Jan.Kamenicek, Smerus, Clicketyclack, Ohconfucius, Will Beback, Snowgrouse, Nishkid64, GiollaUidir, PBarak, Kipala, Breno, Mgiganteus1, Behrad18n, ManiF, Mitso Bel, Ghlobe, Bless sins, Kirbytime, Beetstra, Mr Stephen, Ferhengvan, Jose77, Hu12, Pejman47, K, Zmmz, Clarityend, Armatura, Daraheni, MehrdadNY, Twas Now,
MJO, Courcelles, Khosrow II, Mrjahan, Afghana, Eastlaw, Mostergr, Planktonbot, CRGreathouse, Postmodern Beatnik, CmdrObot, Irwangatot, JohnCD, Bluerain, Itaqallah, WeggeBot, Lgh, Fordmadoxfraud, Gregbard, Beh-nam, Badseed, Cabolitae, Cydebot, Kayikcioglu,
Anthonyhcole, Siba, Amandajm, Sa.vakilian, Dougweller, DumbBOT, Chrislk02, Sirmylesnagopaleentheda, SteveMcCluskey, Nol888,
Lid, Thijs!bot, DerDoc, Mbell, Davron, Sry85, N5iln, Sobreira, Esowteric, Missvain, Itsmejudith, EdJohnston, The Fat Man Who Never
Came Back, Worldweaver, Napmor, Escarbot, Hajji Piruz, AntiVandalBot, RobotG, Vanjagenije, NSH001, Darklilac, Gh5046, Wayiran, Katxijasotzaile, Sluzzelin, JAnDbot, Dogru144, Ekabhishek, Dsp13, Scythian1, Hassanfarooqi, Cancerward, RebelRobot, Acinari,
Addtok, Yahel Guhan, Mardavich, FaerieInGrey, Ma000055, Magioladitis, VoABot II, Diamond2, Kaodk, Jaykb, Waacstats, Mischami,
Avicennasis, Snowded, Ujalm, Animum, Chemical Engineer, LookingGlass, David Eppstein, Aziz1005, JaGa, Edward321, Jahangard,
JdeJ, Rickard Vogelberg, Hedwig in Washington, Danieliness, Schmloof, Mr WR, Ghorbanalibeik, Jonathan Stokes, Analytikone, Hoerkan, Naohiro19, Anaxial, R'n'B, CommonsDelinker, Fconaway, LedgendGamer, Mausy5043, AlphaEta, J.delanoy, Kimse, DrKiernan,
Skeptic2, Bogey97, Rizan, Artacoana, MezzoMezzo, Dogg187, Rhkasmlm, William Rehtworc, Plasticup, NobleHelium, Belovedfreak,
Kansas Bear, Mufka, Potatoswatter, Ravshanrahmanov, Sigmundur, KylieTastic, Joshua Issac, Homer Landskirty, Artemidoros, Cuckooman4, Bibliobaggins, Idioma-bot, Realking, Nima007, Ibnsina786, VolkovBot, TreasuryTag, Rayis, Buriwolf, Maziarc, Jennavecia,
Nburden, Maghnus, TXiKiBoT, Java7837, Rei-bot, Cihangir21, Glacialfury, Hekmatullah Nafe, Ontoraul, DennyColt, Macseoinin, Abdullais4u, Molkhal, Vgranucci, Natg 19, Alborz Fallah, Y, Cantiorix, Weiszman, Wavehunter, Carticus, Zaf159, Symane, Logan, Arash the
Archer, EmxBot, Klaksonn, LOTRrules, DiamondA, SieBot, Anoshirawan, WereSpielChequers, Fabullus, Temp07, Viskonsas, Mnbitar,
Georeywatson, DevOhm, Syed Tirmizi, OKBot, Werldwayd, Svick, Aumnamahashiva, StaticGull, Alefbe, Wuhwuzdat, Maralia, ImageRemovalBot, Athenean, Martarius, INEAS, De728631, ClueBot, FiveRupees, DFRussia, Zachariel, Yuslo, Fadesga, Kafka Liz, Azraq,
EoGuy, Drmies, J8079s, Oxvox, Zaeem asia 7, Imamoglu, Niceguyedc, Mensurs, RafaAzevedo, SamuelTheGhost, Jagdfeld, Zlerman,
Lovelyartin, CrazyChemGuy, Iraswe, Verum, SpikeToronto, Bkveida, Rhododendrites, Jhaasdijk, MrTsunami, Tahmasp, Bayrak, Razorame, BOTarate, Al-Andalusi, Bald Zebra, Notthe600, Versus22, Yozer1, Johnuniq, Urgehip, XLinkBot, Kurdo777, Fastily, Wertuose,
Aqwseasw, Larno Man, Al-Fan, WikHead, Maijinsan, Bradley0110, Good Olfactory, Awalli, Nabuchadnessar, Addbot, Proofreader77,
DOI bot, Tcncv, Levantine, Zahd, Arabian-Editor, Cuaxdon, SwatiAfridi, Gordoncph, Djamik84, Snazeeram, Redheylin, Ahmad2099,
AndersBot, AmjadSafa, Debresser, Favonian, Rajpoot91, Blaylockjam10, Distillersteel, Raayen, Numbo3-bot, Lightbot, Luckas Blade,

566

CHAPTER 194. XENARCHUS OF SELEUCIA

Abjiklam, Luckas-bot, Yobot, Berkay0652, TaBOT-zerem, ArchonMagnus, KamikazeBot, AnomieBOT, Pukhtunman, Galoubet, Dwayne,
Scythian77, RaidenFM, LlywelynII, Ulric1313, Barf73, Materialscientist, Skipper2, Citation bot, Bob Burkhardt, BrokenMirror, LilHelpa,
MauritsBot, Xqbot, Timir2, Alirezaabbas, ManasShaikh, Kiddamez, Anonymous from the 21st century, J04n, GrouchoBot, Xashaiar,
Omnipaedista, RibotBOT, Wikireader41, Ashrf1979, Mathonius, Wiki emma johnson, Krscal, Sahehco, GhalyBot, In fact, Shadowjams, Erik9, Salih-rock, Tatom2k, St. Hubert, FrescoBot, Tobby72, Recognizance, Alarics, D'ohBot, HJ Mitchell, Sakimonk, Citation
bot 1, DrilBot, Mazhar Zarif, HRoestBot, Abductive, DefaultsortBot, Bionicuser01, Rameshngbot, Ghazne, Cpaidhrin, Mrt9089, Leone,
Osman Tuna, FormerIP, Mrsfaqiri, Annbrepols, Heybabyitsme, Jauhienij, Orenburg1, Morere34, TobeBot, Trappist the monk, BrokenMirror2, Lotje, Dont101, , Reaper Eternal, Jerd10, Farhikht, Diannaa, Persia2099, AYousefzai, LienEmpire, Guerillero,
TjBot, Math920, DASHBot, EmausBot, John of Reading, WikitanvirBot, Shazam55, ScottyBerg, Syncategoremata, GoingBatty, ZxxZxxZ,
Slightsmile, Tommy2010, Wikipelli, Djembayz, Pahlavannariman, Werieth, Kkm010, HrRo, ZroBot, Hashemi1971, Knight1993, DragonTiger23, Imadjafar, Vargavandnick, Mithradatha, Bigman50, Esb2, Jonathan.kade, SporkBot, Imcreativelearner, CanonofMedicine,
Rallyeye, Factnderz, Khodabandeh14, Chewings72, Muslimsson, ChuispastonBot, Diako1971, EdoBot, Maximilianklein, Nugagerube,
Senator2029, Herk1955, ZelosRaine, Khestwol, ClueBot NG, GoetheFromm, Gareth Grith-Jones, Dr. Persi, Behrooz1809, Cuparsk,
Chris Van Hutsul, Movses-bot, Irandyar, Shahravand, Rossi101, Sjuraboev, 570ad, Vincent Moon, O.Koslowski, Smdlangari, Daiel Grant,
Runehelmet, Widr, Niemin2, WikiHuda, Helpful Pixie Bot, Deutschmark82, Petan-Bot, SzMithrandir, Curb Chain, Arsaces, Philosopherkrista, Orion229, Carjoyg, BG19bot, Yamaweiss, M7S6M, Hza a 9, Ali Historian, MusikAnimal, Btuh, Jahnavisatyan, Midnight
Green, Mughal Lohar, Xooon, Popalafg, Amirosein, Brad7777, AEOIID, Afg saddiq, Winter Gaze, Jaqeli, BattyBot, Biosthmors, Ariaveeg, EMr KnG, ChrisGualtieri, M.daryalal, Dexbot, Majilis, TommyAtKettering1, Mogism, Hishampgm, VIAFbot, Zyma, Vortexion,
Slurpy121, Solomon100001, Fliederbach, Lifehappens10, Worldchampion101, Epicgenius, Waddlesplash, UsmanullahPK, HistoryofIran,
RNealK, Shrikarsan, B14709, Usmaan khawer, Ugog Nizdast, Amy Gigsy, Pokebub22, Krzysztof hun, Afghanistan777, ShinHerzl, Esn6,
N0n3up, Grizzly162534, Sgila145, Monkbot, Filedelinkerbot, PersianTomcat, Why should I have a User Name?, Ikonsana1, Turalhemidli,
Wikisah, Alireza.aghazadeh, Haitham peace, M.Smaxor, Nahid285, HasanDogoozblayi, ChamithN, Akhil roshan, Arman53, Turan22,
Samim.karimyar, Bilga07, TajikIran, Gastroking and Anonymous: 751
Benedict of Norwich Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict%20of%20Norwich?oldid=559670036 Contributors: Gregbard, Dr.
Blofeld, Dsp13 and Ulric1313
Boethus of Sidon Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boethus%20of%20Sidon?oldid=613390016 Contributors:
Delirium,
Woohookitty, BD2412, Tomisti, Hmains, Cydebot, Wikid77, VolkovBot, Singinglemon, Estirabot, Catalographer, Chronicler,
Kbdankbot, Addbot, Omnipaedista, LucienBOT, DefaultsortBot, EmausBot, ZroBot, Pasicles and Anonymous: 1
Zarmanochegas Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zarmanochegas?oldid=639552951 Contributors: Malaiya, Gregbard, Waacstats,
Dthomsen8, Yobot, NimbusWeb, Tychokysong, Ribena786, Liz and Piledhighandeep
Damascius Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damascius?oldid=632983759 Contributors: PierreAbbat, Llywrch, Kricxjo, Stan Shebs,
Rbraunwa, Zoicon5, Dimadick, GreatWhiteNortherner, Everyking, DanielCD, Xezbeth, Dbachmann, Wareh, Woohookitty, Sburke, Yuber, FlaBot, CJLL Wright, Chobot, Pigman, Tomisti, GrinBot, SmackBot, Bluebot, LoveMonkey, Harryboyles, Fredwords, SMasters,
The Man in Question, Eastlaw, Cydebot, Kosunen, Thijs!bot, WVhybrid, Roger Pearse, Deective, KonstableBot, Waacstats, Baristarim,
Belovedfreak, TXiKiBoT, Xcalibur2, MenoBot, Singinglemon, Catalographer, MystBot, Addbot, Zozo2kx, Lightbot, Luckas-bot, Getoryk, Omnipaedista, Rja05, RjwilmsiBot, WikitanvirBot, Laurel Lodged, Habeeb Anju, Zalmoxis21, VIAFbot, Gmilanese, Wikisportedit,
Markunit23, Library Guy, DavidBrooks-AWB and Anonymous: 17
David (commentator) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David%20(commentator)?oldid=610658301 Contributors: Tomisti, SmackBot, Dougweller, Singinglemon, Addbot and Omnipaedista
Dexippus (philosopher) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dexippus%20(philosopher)?oldid=610654238 Contributors: Delirium, Dimadick, Wareh, FeanorStar7, Tomisti, Cessator, Cydebot, CharlotteWebb, Waacstats, GhostofSuperslum, Singinglemon, Addbot, Atethnekos, Lightbot, Luckas-bot, Omnipaedista, BenzolBot, DefaultsortBot, Dinamik-bot, RjwilmsiBot and Thespeaker8
Elias (commentator) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elias%20(commentator)?oldid=618390243 Contributors: Tomisti, Dougweller, Singinglemon, Addbot, Luckas-bot, Omnipaedista, John Cline, ClueBot NG, Island Monkey, Qj.woods and Anonymous: 3
Eudorus of Alexandria Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudorus%20of%20Alexandria?oldid=600475638 Contributors: Snowolf,
Woohookitty, Dsp13, Jalo, Flyer22, Yone Fernandes, Singinglemon, Catalographer, Addbot, Luckas-bot, EmausBot, Nimetapoeg and
Anonymous: 2
Eustratius of Nicaea Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eustratius%20of%20Nicaea?oldid=617269369 Contributors: Varangian,
Wareh, FeanorStar7, SmackBot, FocalPoint, Cplakidas, Ericus, Cydebot, R'n'B, Martarius, Singinglemon, Hinko Gnito, MatthewVanitas, Addbot, Omnipaedista, Pollinosisss and Renato de carvalho ferreira
Al-Farabi Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Farabi?oldid=640419840 Contributors: XJaM, Zoe, Rambot, Alireza Hashemi,
Goatasaur, William M. Connolley, Kingturtle, Jiang, JASpencer, Stone, Zoicon5, Hyacinth, Phoebe, Phil Boswell, Baldhur, Romanm,
Blainster, Superm401, Kbahey, Xerxes314, Muke, Jorge Stol, Katangoori, Ccord, Karl-Henner, Masmith, Deglr6328, Flex, RevRagnarok,
Mike Rosoft, Lucidish, Simonides, CALR, Discospinster, Rich Farmbrough, Somegeek, Parishan, MeltBanana, Murtasa, Mani1, Bender235, Wareh, Sole Soul, Whosyourjudas, La goutte de pluie, HasharBot, Truelove, Alansohn, Wiki-uk, Babajobu, Pouya, Cdc, Snowolf,
Jheald, Grenavitar, Zereshk, Kazvorpal, Ondrejk, Velho, Mel Etitis, Woohookitty, FeanorStar7, Rocastelo, Jacobolus, Ruud Koot, Je3000,
Striver, Farhansher, Dover, Palica, BD2412, Rjwilmsi, Mbahrami, Staecker, HappyCamper, Kalogeropoulos, Fluoronaut, FayssalF, FlaBot,
A.Garnet, Jidan, Chobot, Bgwhite, YurikBot, Spacepotato, RussBot, Splash, Gaius Cornelius, CambridgeBayWeather, Kimchi.sg, Dialectric, Aldux, Jbourj, Mmrezaie, Avraham, Wiqi55, Andrew Lancaster, Mehrdadd, Dspradau, Curpsbot-unicodify, Tajik, Kourosh ziabari,
Arad, GrinBot, Sangak1, SmackBot, C.Fred, KocjoBot, Jagged 85, Adul, Hmains, ParthianShot, Bluebot, TimBentley, Afasmit, Mladilozof, Vanished user llkd8wtiuawfhiuweuhncu3tr, Jahiegel, Worrydream, Khoikhoi, BlueEyedCat, Nepaheshgar, Salamurai, Bidabadi,
SashatoBot, Hmbr, ManiF, Alexander.Hainy, AdultSwim, Jose77, Pejman47, Zmmz, Daraheni, MehrdadNY, Twas Now, Jonathanjohnson,
Khosrow II, Johnstevens5, Denizz, Drinibot, Raimex, Slazenger, Cabolitae, Cydebot, Jgtl2, Ntsimp, Jasperdoomen, SyntaxError55, Alucard (Dr.), Sa.vakilian, Selnformation, Dougweller, DumbBOT, Sirmylesnagopaleentheda, Bomzhik, Tiger-man, Thijs!bot, Deepblue06,
Memty Bot, Headbomb, Missvain, PsychoInltrator, AlefZet, Hajji Piruz, RobotG, TimVickers, Wayiran, JAnDbot, Hassanfarooqi, Mohammad ihs, Kingnosis, Albany NY, East718, Mardavich, Magioladitis, A.M.R., JamesBWatson, Jerome Kohl, Ling.Nut, Waacstats,
Lonewolf BC, EagleFan, Marmoulak, Aziz1005, JaGa, Jonathan Stokes, Tekleni, David J Wilson, R'n'B, CommonsDelinker, Wiki Raja,
AlphaEta, J.delanoy, Anas Salloum, Rizan, Lizrael, Nigholith, Belovedfreak, Kansas Bear, DorganBot, Jarry1250, Hugo999, VolkovBot,
Rayis, TXiKiBoT, Cihangir21, Anna Lincoln, Corvus cornix, Alborz Fallah, Weiszman, Carticus, Ashkazakh, SieBot, Anoshirawan, Meldor, Mazdakabedi, Selerian, Radon210, Maelgwnbot, Alefbe, Ken123BOT, EmanWilm, Erlik, INEAS, ClueBot, FiveRupees, The Thing

194.2. TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

567

That Should Not Be, Kafka Liz, Alexbot, Eheadstream, Verum, Rhododendrites, WillMcD999, Arjayay, BOTarate, Al-Andalusi, Djk3,
Yozer1, Polysynaptic, Heironymous Rowe, Terry J. Carter, Kurdo777, Ladsgroup, Al-Fan, MystBot, Addbot, EasternAfrican, LaaknorBot, FiriBot, AmjadSafa, Tassedethe, Lightbot, , Luckas-bot, Yobot, Samaraaa, Michael Khntopf, KamikazeBot, M0h.z0rg, Hinio,
Iroony, Tempodivalse, AnomieBOT, Jim1138, Scythian77, Materialscientist, Citation bot, Ozguroot, LilHelpa, Xqbot, Bihco, Cavila,
Hanberke, Jayzames, Masterius, Xashaiar, Albergenius, Omnipaedista, RibotBOT, Ashrf1979, Braingle, Dae Jang Geum, LivingBot,
In fact, Misortie, Dougofborg, Salih-rock, GnarlyLikeWhoa, FrescoBot, Sourenaaa, D'ohBot, Emperor khosro, Citation bot 1, Ghazne,
Akocsg, Dront, Horhesof, Full-date unlinking bot, Inuit18, FoxBot, Trappist the monk, GoshtaspLohrasp, Lotje, , GoshtaspLohraspi, Isurvivedzombies, Everyone Dies In the End, Farhikht, AXRL, RjwilmsiBot, Arattaman, DASHBot, SepehrMaleki, EmausBot,
John of Reading, Lucien504, Syncategoremata, Aquib American Muslim, Disambigutron, Chetory12, ZxxZxxZ, Hichimichi, RustamDastani, Sanbadik, Pahlavannariman, ZroBot, DragonTiger23, Vargavandnick, , Mithradatha, H3llBot, Cosmonautkarl,
, KazekageTR, Farabicollegephalia, Tekisch, Monakhrst, Helpsome, Pooyaf, ClueBot NG, Dr. Persi, Demize.public, Cntras,
Lysozym, Seair21, Helpful Pixie Bot, Alizz77, Lowercase sigmabot, BG19bot, PhnomPencil, Ali Historian, Arash areobarzan, Mughal
Lohar, Xooon, BattyBot, Bamintor, Belisariusgroup, Majilis, BozokluAdam, TommyAtKettering1, Hishampgm, Jafar64, Khatary1, VIAFbot, Zyma, Faizan, Epicgenius, HistoryofIran, MaskedHero, Mvvakili, Azizpatel27, Angel.asa, Ardabiligit, , Bemes,
Isteponaviciute, Arman53, AlexUzb and Anonymous: 333
Hans-Georg Gadamer Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans-Georg%20Gadamer?oldid=642175567 Contributors: Mav, Slrubenstein, Sara Parks Ricker, KF, Hephaestos, Gabbe, Eric119, Sir Paul, Poor Yorick, Longevitymonger, Malbi, Charles Matthews, Wik, Itai,
Nv8200p, Buridan, Marc Girod, Dimadick, Fredrik, Goethean, David Hoeer, Ojigiri, Cholling, Hadal, HaeB, Diberri, Fabiform, Folks at
137, Brentk, Bovlb, Clossius, Matthead, Chipbruce, Ot, Phil Sandifer, Jmax, Cun, D6, Simonides, Varada, Rich Farmbrough, Alex Golub,
Bender235, Zenohockey, Kwamikagami, Susvolans, Whosyourjudas, Nicke Lilltroll, Smithmatt, Tresoldi, (aeropagitica), HasharBot, Jumbuck, Gregmcpherson, Cecil, Redvers, RyanGerbil10, Velho, Cruccone, DESiegel, Varchoel, Olessi, FlaBot, OpenToppedBus, AllyD,
YurikBot, RussBot, Manicsleeper, Vincej, Varano, Lt-wiki-bot, Nikkimaria, Tom Morris, Sardanaphalus, Attilios, SmackBot, Aim Here,
Stephensuleeman, Eskimbot, Thumperward, WikiPedant, Jon Awbrey, Joshua Scott, Quarty, NJA, MTSbot, Skapur, Hawkestone, Smdo,
Monstradamus, CmdrObot, WeggeBot, Gregbard, Cydebot, Jasperdoomen, Soetermans, Universitytruth, Thijs!bot, 271828182, Jorge
Acevedo Guerra, Qarel, Wtv, Matthew Fennell, Nwe, Magioladitis, Jacques Custard, Felixgerena, Rickard Vogelberg, Mearny, Mtevfrog,
CommonsDelinker, Drsocialism, Johnbod, Kelvin Knight, Pastordavid, Inwind, EdRicardo, Ingram, VolkovBot, Areteichi, Abtinb, Rei-bot,
Alcmaeonid, Errantry, Deconstructhis, SieBot, YliVakkuri, Althena, Psychless, Monegasque, Bonio, Vojvodaen, Timeineurope, All Hallow's Wraith, TheDucksNuts, Jebearce, Spirals31, Dustpelt96, TFBCT1, Deineka, Addbot, AndersBot, Favonian, Numbo3-bot, Yobot,
AnomieBOT, Mauro Lanari, Rubinbot, Wandering Courier, ArthurBot, Xqbot, GrouchoBot, Omnipaedista, Green Cardamom, FreeKnowledgeCreator, BenzolBot, Welshentag, Brightwind3, RedBot, RjwilmsiBot, RichardHoenigswald2, EmausBot, WikitanvirBot, Gney,
Berislav, N6n, Tillander, Taina xrista, Frietjes, Helpful Pixie Bot, Wikikrax, Dksd72, Samitcha, Anthrophilos, Pirhayati, VIAFbot, Annie
Gravity, AuerbachsMimesis, EvaristoAugello, OccultZone, Tigercompanion25, Oto Vega Ponce, Shihan007, Jacobnayar and Anonymous:
94
David W. Hamlyn Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David%20W.%20Hamlyn?oldid=641055027 Contributors: Xezbeth, Ser Amantio di Nicolao, Gregbard, Waacstats, Tommieboi, Omnipaedista, FreeKnowledgeCreator, Ad Orientem, Statelaw1944 and Anonymous:
1
Ammonius Hermiae Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonius%20Hermiae?oldid=634871723 Contributors: Andre Engels, MrH,
Llywrch, Charles Matthews, Adam Bishop, Haukurth, Phoebe, Dimadick, Michael Snow, GreatWhiteNortherner, DanielCD, Rich Farmbrough, Bender235, Wareh, FeanorStar7, BD2412, Rjwilmsi, YurikBot, Pvasiliadis, Aldux, Tomisti, Closedmouth, Reedy, Kimon, Bluebot,
Robertg9, Isokrates, Hu12, Eastlaw, Fordmadoxfraud, Cydebot, Thijs!bot, Skomorokh, Magioladitis, Waacstats, Jonathan Stokes, Kimedoncius, DorganBot, Ask123, Ontoraul, J8079s, Singinglemon, Catalographer, Mccaskey, Lightbot, Legobot, Luckas-bot, KamikazeBot,
Rubinbot, Xqbot, Omnipaedista, PHansen, Kobrabones, Rja05, RedBot, Kibi78704, Dinamik-bot, ZroBot, MALLUS, ClueBot NG,
Widr, Helpful Pixie Bot, Pasicles, Dexbot, VIAFbot and Anonymous: 10
Mulla Muzaar Hussain Kashani Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulla%20Muzaffar%20Hussain%20Kashani?oldid=
610851417 Contributors: Gregbard, Waacstats, WereSpielChequers, KathrynLybarger, Arjayay, PaintedCarpet, OccultZone, Mehdi ghaed
and Amortias
Al-Kindi Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Kindi?oldid=643567195 Contributors: XJaM, Rsabbatini, Michael Hardy, William M.
Connolley, Silver Maple, Scott, Andres, Charles Matthews, Grendelkhan, Topbanana, Stormie, AnonMoos, Dimadick, Giftlite, Tom harrison, Meursault2004, Michael Devore, Matt Crypto, Chameleon, D3, Icairns, Karl-Henner, Urhixidur, Jayjg, Jyp, Xezbeth, Brian0918,
Maclean25, Shanes, Wareh, Bobo192, Conny, Pouya, Snowolf, Knowledge Seeker, VivaEmilyDavies, Grenavitar, Zereshk, Oleg Alexandrov, Firsfron, Mel Etitis, Woohookitty, FeanorStar7, Rocastelo, Ruud Koot, Tabletop, Striver, Joe Beaudoin Jr., Farhansher, Palica,
Ashmoo, BD2412, Rjwilmsi, Koavf, FlaBot, RobyWayne, Jidan, Bgwhite, YurikBot, Deeptrivia, CltFn, Pigman, Sophroniscus, Gaius
Cornelius, Alex Bakharev, Salsb, Cunado19, Lemon-s, Dialectric, Aeusoes1, Grafen, Heraclius, Aldux, Tony1, Zwobot, Karl Meier, Trex, Iubilus, Tomisti, Wiqi55, Dast, Andrew Lancaster, Ninly, Carabinieri, M.A.Dabbah, Katieh5584, SmackBot, Selfworm, Prodego,
Lawrencekhoo, Jagged 85, Eskimbot, Filius Rosadis, Bluebot, MARVEL, Colonies Chris, Cplakidas, Gatherton, Arab Hafez, Khoikhoi,
Bejnar, Dfass, Alexander.Hainy, JHunterJ, Jaiwills, Alanmaher, Hu12, ChrisCork, Gregbard, Cabolitae, Cydebot, Gogo Dodo, Sa.vakilian,
BhaiSaab, SteveMcCluskey, Tiger-man, Mattisse, Sagaciousuk, Missvain, Cyrus111, S710, RobotG, QuiteUnusual, Darklilac, Lanov,
JAnDbot, GurchBot, Dekimasu, JamesBWatson, Jerome Kohl, Waacstats, Sam Medany, KConWiki, Aziz1005, Gun Powder Ma, Kkrystian, Misarxist, M3tal H3ad, Jonathan Stokes, CommonsDelinker, Fconaway, Anas Salloum, Paris1127, MezzoMezzo, Belovedfreak,
Homer Landskirty, Inwind, Dorftrottel, Hugo999, VolkovBot, TreasuryTag, Neodymium-142, Yaago, Waez71, TXiKiBoT, ElinorD, Anna
Lincoln, John Carter, Ontoraul, Mussav, Logan, Deconstructhis, Al Ameer son, SieBot, Tiddly Tom, Zephyrus67, Fabullus, FunkMonk,
Harry, Hello71, Mike2vil, Denisarona, ClueBot, Treharne, Zachariel, EoGuy, RashersTierney, J8079s, RafaAzevedo, Singinglemon,
Auntof6, SamuelTheGhost, DragonBot, Excirial, Alexbot, Lionmoreh, Mikaey, El bot de la dieta, Chrono1084, Al-Andalusi, Error
128, Meisenstrasse, Johnuniq, AncientToaster, Kurdo777, Good Olfactory, Addbot, Dawynn, Cst17, Ahmad2099, AndersBot, SamatBot, Tassedethe, OlEnglish, Zachen3, Luckas-bot, Yobot, Dhogan1999, O Fenian, Ptbotgourou, Intothewoods29, Doctorhook, Gongshow, Hinio, SwisterTwister, AnomieBOT, Law, Materialscientist, ImperatorExercitus, Citation bot, Bob Burkhardt, ArthurBot, Xqbot,
PrometheusDesmotes, Davshul, Anne Bauval, J04n, GrouchoBot, Dirrival, Omnipaedista, Jezhotwells, Ashrf1979, Moxy, FrescoBot,
Izzedine, Te5, Cannolis, Citation bot 1, Tom.Reding, Orenburg1, Tbhotch, TjBot, DASHBot, EmausBot, WikitanvirBot, Syncategoremata, Aquib American Muslim, Islamuslim, ZroBot, PBS-AWB, Alpha Quadrant (alt), Wayne Slam, Kendite, Muslimsson, 19thPharaoh,
EdoBot, Jhsheikh, ClueBot NG, Niemin2, Z0mByr, Helpful Pixie Bot, Candy10001, Xxmariaxx1001, Q46mariaboo, BG19bot, Serafn33,
Carinae986, Jason from nyc, Egyptianhelper, Nusaybah, Dexbot, VIAFbot, Polymath1900, Yehianumb, Whitelotus111, Andywear1, Bupka
En and Anonymous: 132

568

CHAPTER 194. XENARCHUS OF SELEUCIA

Ignacio Lpez de Ayala Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignacio%20L%C3%B3pez%20de%20Ayala?oldid=641047691 Contributors: Bgwhite, Gregbard, Dr. Blofeld, Tom.Reding, EmausBot and ArmbrustBot
Theodore Metochites Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore%20Metochites?oldid=625842207 Contributors: Deb, MrH, Llywrch, Adam Bishop, Eugene van der Pijll, Frazzydee, Dimadick, Flauto Dolce, Alan Liefting, Wareh, Man vyi, Garzo, Gryndor, Jaraalbe,
Whitejay251, Wiqi55, SmackBot, Droll, Cplakidas, LoveMonkey, Clicketyclack, David ekstrand, Cydebot, Igorwindsor, BokicaK, Totila,
Waacstats, R'n'B, Keesiewonder, Johnbod, VolkovBot, Margacst, Alexmed, Vojvodaen, Martarius, PixelBot, Katanada, Chronicler, Good
Olfactory, Addbot, Lightbot, Luckas-bot, Yobot, VitalyLipatov, Ntetos, Alexikoua, Omnipaedista, LucienBOT, Full-date unlinking bot,
RjwilmsiBot, Sverigekillen, EmausBot, ZroBot, Jbribeiro1, Helpful Pixie Bot, VIAFbot and Anonymous: 14
Michael of Ephesus Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael%20of%20Ephesus?oldid=631559008 Contributors: Wareh, MZMcBride, Reedy Bot, Kafka Liz, Omnipaedista and Anonymous: 2
Nicolaus of Damascus Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaus%20of%20Damascus?oldid=630554309 Contributors: Llywrch,
Stephen C. Carlson, Wetman, Robbot, Hpc, Per Honor et Gloria, Gdr, Antandrus, Jayjg, Xezbeth, Summer Song, Wareh, J Heath,
FeanorStar7, AllanBz, Rjwilmsi, Graibeard, Yuber, Str1977, Valentinian, Jaraalbe, SmackBot, Jagged 85, Bluebot, Calabrian, Stevenmitchell, Iblardi, Andrew Dalby, SMasters, , Ikokki, Joseph Solis in Australia, Cydebot, Dougweller, Thijs!bot, Roger Pearse,
Dsp13, KonstableBot, JaGa, Chiswick Chap, DorganBot, Hugo999, Deor, Margacst, TXiKiBoT, AlleborgoBot, Nihil novi, Archaeogenetics, Victor Chmara, Singinglemon, Catalographer, Asmith44, Chronicler, Addbot, Lightbot, Luckas-bot, Yobot, JackieBot, Xqbot,
Omnipaedista, Orijentolog, DefaultsortBot, NimbusWeb, Lipsio, ZroBot, ChuispastonBot, BG19bot, Davidiad, IluvatarBot, Jacob van
Maerlant, Fastidipedia, Dexbot, VIAFbot, Xenxax and Anonymous: 20
Olympiodorus the Younger Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympiodorus%20the%20Younger?oldid=640563198 Contributors:
Dimadick, Pmanderson, Klemen Kocjancic, Wareh, Polylerus, Woohookitty, Rjwilmsi, Jaraalbe, EverettColdwell, Tomisti, Chris Brennan, SmackBot, Hmains, Honbicot, Chris the speller, NaySay, RandomCritic, Maestlin, Cydebot, Escarbot, Fayenatic london, Waacstats,
Johnpacklambert, DorganBot, Hugo999, Rei-bot, John Carter, Singinglemon, Solar-Wind, PixelBot, BOTarate, MystBot, Addbot, Olympiodorus, Steakandchips, Sardur, Lightbot, Xqbot, Omnipaedista, MakeSense64, RjwilmsiBot, Laurel Lodged, ZroBot, Zalmoxis21, Dexbot
and Anonymous: 8
Lorraine Smith Pangle Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorraine%20Smith%20Pangle?oldid=631104272 Contributors: Scope
creep, Derek R Bullamore, Yobot, 220 of Borg and Pirhayati
John Philoponus Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John%20Philoponus?oldid=625514592 Contributors: Delirium, Qed, Charles
Matthews, Dandrake, Alan Liefting, Ancheta Wis, Everyking, Cglassey, Bender235, Chewie, Laurascudder, Lima, Wareh, Nk, Jheald,
Kazvorpal, Woohookitty, Linas, Uncle G, BD2412, Rjwilmsi, Lar, BrainyBroad, Tomisti, Fram, T. Anthony, SmackBot, RDBury, Jagged
85, Hardyplants, Hmains, Betacommand, Cplakidas, LoveMonkey, The Man in Question, Keahapana, John Wilkins, Logicus, Cydebot,
Hebrides, Thijs!bot, Marek69, Igorwindsor, Deective, Magioladitis, BjrnF, Waacstats, Clive sweeting, SquidSK, TomS TDotO, Johnbod,
VolkovBot, Sporti, StevenBell, StAnselm, WereSpielChequers, Gerakibot, Wolfcm, Vojvodaen, Firey322, The.helping.people.tick, PipepBot, Mild Bill Hiccup, J8079s, Singinglemon, Estirabot, DumZiBoT, SilvonenBot, MystBot, Addbot, Lykos, Abvgd, Alcove, Lightbot,
Luckas-bot, Yobot, Amirobot, Gregorovivs, Valkyrie62, Citation bot, Bob Burkhardt, ArthurBot, Xqbot, Omnipaedista, FreeKnowledgeCreator, Kobrabones, DefaultsortBot, Editor with a background in philosophy, Syncategoremata, Wikipelli, ZroBot, PBS-AWB, Dannus,
Maherkaldas, ClueBot NG, Slowking4, Helpful Pixie Bot, Davidiad, CitationCleanerBot, Dexbot, Hmainsbot1, VIAFbot and Anonymous:
31
Porphyry (philosopher) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porphyry%20(philosopher)?oldid=640826087 Contributors: Michael
Hardy, Delirium, Charles Matthews, Kenatipo, Wetman, Dimadick, Robbot, MrJones, Chris 73, Rainwaterfall, Mirv, Rursus,
GreatWhiteNortherner, Mdmcginn, Everyking, Bkonrad, Per Honor et Gloria, Proslaes, Bacchiad, Quadell, Pmanderson, Sam Hocevar,
Mike Rosoft, DanielCD, Rich Farmbrough, Dbachmann, Livajo, QuartierLatin1968, Wareh, Bill Thayer, Viriditas, Hujaza, VivaEmilyDavies, Gpvos, Mel Etitis, FeanorStar7, Kzollman, Marudubshinki, Rjwilmsi, FlaBot, Str1977, YurikBot, NTBot, 4C, RussBot, Zaroblue05, Pigman, Yamara, Schoen, BlackAndy, Bota47, Tomisti, Jkelly, Sshadow, Josh3580, Kramden, GrinBot, Gaudio, Tadorne, SmackBot, Selfworm, Jagged 85, AndreasJS, RlyehRising, Hmains, Honbicot, Durova, Mladilozof, Bigturtle, MilitaryTarget, LoveMonkey,
Ocanter, Dfass, Ckatz, RandomCritic, Sheherazahde, Hu12, Michaelbusch, Notque, Zeusnoos, Bairam, Connection, Antioco79, Cydebot,
Jasperdoomen, Bmcln1, Barticus88, Roger Pearse, Widefox, Glokplopit, JAnDbot, WANAX, Txomin, Waacstats, DraiconeBot, Johnbibby, Hveziris, Jonathan Stokes, Terrek, Ian.thomson, LordAnubisBOT, M-le-mot-dit, Zuiddam, Idioma-bot, TXiKiBoT, Nxavar, IPSOS, John Carter, Ontoraul, Martin451, Broadbot, Vahagn Petrosyan, SieBot, Gerakibot, Dimboukas, Wfgh66, Zachariel, Singinglemon,
SchreiberBike, Grisunge, Catalographer, Asmith44, Yunuswesley, MystBot, Addbot, Stinssd, GK1973, Peter Damian (old), Lightbot,
Luckas-bot, Yobot, , Amirobot, Rubinbot, JackieBot, ArthurBot, Xqbot, Omnipaedista, FrescoBot, T of Locri, Jwhosler,
Muslim-Researcher, Leonidas Metello, DefaultsortBot, MastiBot, MondalorBot, , RjwilmsiBot, Lung salad, EmausBot, WikitanvirBot,
Dewritech, GoingBatty, ZroBot, Jhholden, Oxford73, Helpful Pixie Bot, Hamilqart, Dexbot, VIAFbot, EntroDipintaGabbia, GoGandhi,
Juc123, Fractal91, RoyBurtonson, Deweyd8210 and Anonymous: 63
Simplicius of Cilicia Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simplicius%20of%20Cilicia?oldid=614538991 Contributors: Derek Ross,
XJaM, Kku, Delirium, Charles Matthews, Adam Bishop, Dimadick, Michael Snow, GreatWhiteNortherner, TOO, Jastrow, Wareh, Jumbuck, BaronLarf, Sketchee, Vary, FlaBot, Pigman, Tomisti, Selfworm, Radulfr, Chris the speller, Bluebot, Nbarth, Stevenmitchell, LoveMonkey, SMasters, Eastlaw, Switchercat, Antioco79, Cydebot, Nishidani, Thijs!bot, Roger Pearse, Escarbot, Jj137, Magioladitis, Waacstats, David Eppstein, VolkovBot, TXiKiBoT, Ask123, Ontoraul, Singinglemon, SilvonenBot, MystBot, Addbot, Atethnekos, Jonathan
Harking, Roaryk, Lightbot, Xqbot, GrouchoBot, Omnipaedista, Pollinosisss, Kasradaneshvar, WikitanvirBot, Laurel Lodged, ZroBot,
Tillander, Rezabot, Helpful Pixie Bot, BG19bot, Pasicles, AutomaticStrikeout, VIAFbot, Markunit23 and Anonymous: 25
Sophonias (commentator) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophonias%20(commentator)?oldid=637459623 Contributors: Michael
Hardy, Wareh, FeanorStar7, SMasters, Waacstats, Singinglemon, Addbot, DrilBot, DefaultsortBot, VIAFbot and Anonymous: 1
Stephen of Alexandria Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen%20of%20Alexandria?oldid=630296789 Contributors: Delirium,
Charles Matthews, Bender235, Wareh, CltFn, SmackBot, Durova, Cplakidas, Twas Now, Cydebot, Meno25, Alaibot, Roger Pearse,
Waacstats, Anarchia, Fratrep, J8079s, Singinglemon, Olivierdufault, Addbot, Zorrobot, Ulf Heinsohn, Car Henkel, MrBill3, Khazar2
and Anonymous: 6
Syrianus Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrianus?oldid=618222564 Contributors: Stan Shebs, Dimadick, Wareh, Ben davison, VivaEmilyDavies, Linnea, Marudubshinki, SmackBot, Radulfr, Bluebot, TimBentley, KRBN, LoveMonkey, Robertg9, SMasters, Eastlaw,
Cydebot, Escarbot, WANAX, Waacstats, Singinglemon, SchreiberBike, Muro Bot, Catalographer, Addbot, Lightbot, Luckas-bot, Yobot,

194.2. TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

569

Ptbotgourou, Rubinbot, Omnipaedista, Pollinosisss, Dinamik-bot, RjwilmsiBot, EmausBot, WikitanvirBot, Hamilqart, Trier1954, Hmainsbot1, VIAFbot, Lacegreekocr and Anonymous: 5
Themistius Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Themistius?oldid=637616502 Contributors: Docu, Charles Matthews, Rbraunwa,
Dimadick, Hapsiainen, Wareh, Woohookitty, FeanorStar7, BD2412, Dvyost, RussBot, Tomisti, Eskimbot, Cplakidas, Cydebot,
Sirmylesnagopaleentheda, Thijs!bot, Luna Santin, Alexander Domanda, Waacstats, Jonathan Stokes, Nafpaktiakos, TXiKiBoT, AlleborgoBot, Vahagn Petrosyan, Singinglemon, BOTarate, Catalographer, Dthomsen8, Felix Folio Secundus, Addbot, LaaknorBot, Lightbot,
Luckas-bot, Yobot, Ptbotgourou, Rubinbot, InsucientData, TakenakaN, Omnipaedista, MondalorBot, Pollinosisss, Cimlaneath, Malymac, Youngerpliny, RjwilmsiBot, ZroBot, PBS-AWB, Philafrenzy, Helpful Pixie Bot, Davidiad, Pasicles, Dexbot, VIAFbot, Markunit23
and Anonymous: 14
Gaetano da Thiene (philosopher) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaetano%20da%20Thiene%20(philosopher)?oldid=522915341
Contributors: Charles Matthews, MZMcBride, Bgwhite, SmackBot, Gregbard, Magioladitis, Omnipaedista, Syncategoremata, Helpful Pixie
Bot and VIAFbot
Diego Mateo Zapata Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diego%20Mateo%20Zapata?oldid=595136676 Contributors: Gregbard,
Waacstats, Philafrenzy and BG19bot
Albert of Saxony (philosopher) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert%20of%20Saxony%20(philosopher)?oldid=616901500
Contributors: SimonP, Renamed user 4, Charles Matthews, Phoebe, Joy, Chl, Gentgeen, Peruvianllama, Matthead, Karl-Henner,
DanielCD, Jvraba, Srd2005, Wareh, Woohookitty, FeanorStar7, Kzollman, Bluemoose, BD2412, Rjwilmsi, Koavf, Krishnavedala,
Jaraalbe, Hede2000, Aldux, Tomisti, T. Anthony, Attilios, Bluebot, Wikiklaas, Nellis, Twas Now, ErikNorvelle, Courcelles, Gregbard,
Cydebot, Thijs!bot, Dr. Submillimeter, Andy Ross, DGG, Jonathan Stokes, VolkovBot, TreasuryTag, Jimmaths, Anna Lincoln, Ontoraul,
Vinz1789, Mbz1, Monegasque, PipepBot, DumZiBoT, RogDel, Addbot, Wissembourg, Lightbot, Luckas-bot, Ulf Heinsohn, RedBot,
Full-date unlinking bot, Oracleofottawa, RjwilmsiBot, ZroBot, Akasseb, Helpful Pixie Bot, VIAFbot, Liz and Anonymous: 4
Albertus Magnus Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albertus%20Magnus?oldid=643358340 Contributors: Magnus Manske, Kpjas,
MichaelTinkler, Bryan Derksen, Andre Engels, Deb, Renata, Rbrwr, Delirium, William M. Connolley, Irmgard, Poor Yorick, Andres,
Sethmahoney, Charles Matthews, Radgeek, Zoicon5, Tpbradbury, Maximus Rex, Phoebe, Raul654, Chl, Gentgeen, Robbot, Nilmerg,
Snobot, Tom harrison, Varlaam, Pteron, Jorge Stol, Matthead, Chowbok, Andycjp, Antandrus, Phil Sandifer, Necrothesp, Icairns,
Karl-Henner, Nulzilla, Karl Dickman, Tstevenson, Lucidish, D6, Jayjg, Simonides, DanielCD, Discospinster, Rich Farmbrough, Dbachmann, Stbalbach, Brian0918, Wareh, Whosyourjudas, Ruszewski, Caeruleancentaur, Knucmo2, Alansohn, Hektor, Rosenzweig, JoaoRicardo, Sligocki, Noosphere, Marianika, OwenX, Mindmatrix, FeanorStar7, Rocastelo, Benbest, Hailey C. Shannon, Scm83x, Relarity,
Ignus, Doric Loon, Palica, Jwoodger, Lawrence King, Graham87, Cuchullain, BD2412, Icey, Mayumashu, Nightscream, Koavf, Lockley,
Josiah Rowe, FlaBot, RexNL, Jaraalbe, DVdm, VolatileChemical, YurikBot, Nighm, Serinde, Pigman, Rapomon, NawlinWiki, Clashfrankcastle, Gerhard51, Pyroclastic, Aldux, Mlouns, ToddC4176, Zwobot, Tomisti, Dolledre, Saranghae honey, Spondoolicks, JoanneB,
Staelde, Palthrow, Whobot, T. Anthony, GrinBot, Sardanaphalus, SmackBot, Reedy, Notay, Istvan, KocjoBot, Jagged 85, Sebesta,
Carl.bunderson, Endopol, Ludi, Bluebot, Josteinn, John Reaves, Leinad-Z, Liontooth, Stevenmitchell, Pastorwayne, RJN, Hgilbert, Sbluen,
Victor Eremita, TenPoundHammer, SashatoBot, Esrever, Eliyak, Ser Amantio di Nicolao, Sailko, Chrisch, MTSbot, Kripkenstein, Hu12,
Clarityend, Catherineyronwode, MJO, Maelor, Eastlaw, J Milburn, CmdrObot, Gholson, Geremia, 5-HT8, Ken Gallager, Chicheley,
Gregbard, Shanoman, Vaquero100, Cydebot, Aristophanes68, Bellerophon5685, Lugnuts, Chrislk02, SteveMcCluskey, Gimmetrow, Mattisse, Malleus Fatuorum, Thijs!bot, Memty Bot, Fluxbot, Itsmejudith, TheDean, Juxtatype, Escarbot, AntiVandalBot, Goldenrowley, Mary
Mark Ockerbloom, Fayenatic london, Hannes Eder, Dr. Submillimeter, LawfulGoodThief, XyBot, Andonic, ForDorothy, Boris B, Magioladitis, VoABot II, GearedBull, Ling.Nut, JMBryant, Alekjds, Martynas Patasius, STBot, Johnpacklambert, Trusilver, Gem-fanat, Polenth,
Kimedoncius, It Is Me Here, Skier Dude, Pastordavid, VolkovBot, TXiKiBoT, RRKennison, Java7837, Rei-bot, John Carter, Ontoraul,
JhsBot, Scotthendrix, Irojius, SieBot, Jauerback, thelwold, Parhamr, Jorgelopez5000, Monegasque, Android Mouse Bot 3, Lightmouse,
Ealdgyth, Albertbollstadt, Pinkadelica, Francvs, Gr8opinionater, LAX, GorillaWarfare, The Thing That Should Not Be, Parkjunwung,
Razimantv, TheOldJacobite, CounterVandalismBot, Coolercircle, Dcrocket, Auntof6, Anossal, Alexbot, Rhododendrites, Elizium23, Editor2020, Schinleber, Ambrosius007, Lastentwife, XLinkBot, Valtyr, Dthomsen8, Mahmudss, The Sage of Stamford, Pitt 32, CanadianLinuxUser, Rmkiernan, , Numbo3-bot, VASANTH S.N., Lightbot, Legobot, Luckas-bot, Yobot, Ptbotgourou, Japanx7, Azylber, Roltz, AnomieBOT, Mnewhous, Baraqa1, JoopRemme, Law, Carolina wren, Citation bot, Xqbot, Jayarathina, Sionus, Frosted14, Omnipaedista, Mattis, Shadowjams, Schekinov Alexey Victorovich, Erik9, Green Cardamom, Jc3s5h, Chenopodiaceous, Skyerise, A8UDI,
Bmclaughlin9, RedBot, Ezrdr, Julien1978, TobeBot, Trappist the monk, Lotje, Freemium Man, Fastilysock, Daniel the Monk, RjwilmsiBot, EmausBot, FreshCorp619, WikitanvirBot, Farragutful, Werieth, B77002, PBS-AWB, CanonLawJunkie, ZH2010, EWikist, Akasseb,
Jbribeiro1, Ruan1d10t, Jensenkennedy, ClueBot NG, Mannanan51, Helpful Pixie Bot, Rylinrocks, Carjoyg, Kempf EK, Vagobot, Omnispo, Theol11111, Marcocapelle, Johnpfmcguire, Supremeaim, MrBill3, Nheyob, Summax07, BattyBot, ChrisGualtieri, 2Flows, Aronstandley, Rollbacker, Hmainsbot1, Webclient101, Ssnowman, Makecat-bot, VIAFbot, BirgittaMTh, Topn, Glockyer, XercesBlue1991,
Spaghettiman19, Meteor sandwich yum, BillMoyers, Happymommy65, Netwt and Anonymous: 201
Robert Balfour (philosopher) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert%20Balfour%20(philosopher)?oldid=598694197 Contributors: Smelialichu, Ams80, CatherineMunro, Kimiko, Charles Matthews, Cynical, D6, Wareh, FeanorStar7, Jaraalbe, SmackBot, RDBrown,
Chicheley, Cydebot, Pgg7, Thijs!bot, Waacstats, The Duke of Waltham, Boleyn, Tassedethe, Lightbot, Legobot, Yobot, Bob Burkhardt,
GrouchoBot, BlR33, PBS-AWB, VIAFbot and Anonymous: 2
Domingo Bez Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domingo%20B%C3%A1%C3%B1ez?oldid=642287180 Contributors: JASpencer,
Charles Matthews, Topbanana, Rich Farmbrough, Wareh, Deacon of Pndapetzim, Woohookitty, Attilios, SmackBot, Srnec, Cydebot, Studerby, JustAGal, Waacstats, Ontoraul, Akerbeltz, SieBot, StAnselm, Francvs, Niceguyedc, Excirial, Estirabot, MystBot, Addbot, Luckas-bot,
Yobot, LilHelpa, Omnipaedista, BenzolBot, Full-date unlinking bot, Oracleofottawa, EmausBot, PBS-AWB, Corlier, VIAFbot, OccultZone
and Anonymous: 4
Bartholomaeus of Bruges Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartholomaeus%20of%20Bruges?oldid=634647339 Contributors:
Charles Matthews, Gregbard, Lugnuts, Xenxax and Monkbot
Boethius Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boethius?oldid=643537343 Contributors: AxelBoldt, MichaelTinkler, Jimbo Wales, Jeronimo, Tim Chambers, XJaM, Ktsquare, Isis, Pamplemousse, Llywrch, Nixdorf, GTBacchus, AugPi, Djnjwd, Rob Hooft, Schneidegger,
Denny, JASpencer, Tom Peters, RodC, Charles Matthews, Radgeek, Grendelkhan, Topbanana, Mksmith, Dimadick, RedWolf, Rholton,
Phthoggos, Wikibot, JackofOz, J.Rohrer, TOO, Jyril, Treanna, Tom harrison, Peruvianllama, Bkonrad, Dsmdgold, Phil Sandifer, Kuralyov, Pmanderson, Karl-Henner, Lucidish, Simonides, Freakofnurture, DanielCD, Pasquale, Rich Farmbrough, Guanabot, Pmsyyz, Amicuspublilius, Stbalbach, Bender235, Kwamikagami, Wareh, Whosyourjudas, Polylerus, Jumbuck, Mark Dingemanse, Logologist, Jheald,

570

CHAPTER 194. XENARCHUS OF SELEUCIA

Shoey, Ghirlandajo, Nightstallion, Notcarlos, Sterio, Mel Etitis, Woohookitty, FeanorStar7, David Haslam, Sburke, Kosher Fan, Kam
Solusar, Chochopk, Bkwillwm, KevinOKeee, SDC, Stefanomione, Palica, Graham87, Dvyost, Casey Abell, Koavf, Commander, Sbp,
FlaBot, Nivaca, Akhenaten0, Jaraalbe, GrimmC, EamonnPKeane, YurikBot, Retaggio, Pigman, Chris Capoccia, Burek, BirgitteSB, Aldux, Mlouns, Syrthiss, Anshumanbhatia, Pegship, Ninly, Philmcl, Curpsbot-unicodify, GrinBot, SmackBot, Selfworm, Jagged 85, Eskimbot, Hardyplants, Georgef1776, Edonovan, Hmains, Bluebot, TimBentley, Croquant, Eusebeus, Mladilozof, Dumpendebat, Cplakidas,
Sumahoy, Chlewbot, Bigturtle, StephenMacmanus, Zadignose, Andrew Dalby, Eliyak, Khazar, John, Mattbarton.exe, RandomCritic, Gkerkvliet, Bwpach, ErikNorvelle, Eastlaw, GeordieMcBain, Mellery, Geremia, CBM, Rwammang, Atamata, Fordmadoxfraud, Gregbard,
Cydebot, Measly pawn, DavidRF, DBaba, SteveMcCluskey, Kingstowngalway, Thijs!bot, BokicaK, Chubbles, Centrepull, DagosNavy,
JAnDbot, Deective, Kosboot, Cynwolfe, VoABot II, BlaiseMuhaddib, Jerome Kohl, Tedickey, Awwiki, Vssun, Hans Dunkelberg, Javits2000, Jsepeta, Statelibraryvictoria, Kansas Bear, DorganBot, Inwind, GrahamHardy, VolkovBot, TreasuryTag, Brando130, Captain
Courageous, John Carter, Ontoraul, Broadbot, Mauror, Eisbaer4419, SieBot, Meldor, VVVBot, Olor, Svick, G.-M. Cupertino, Vanished user ewsn2348tui2f8n2o2utjfeoi210r39jf, WikipedianMarlith, Philosophy.dude, Lord Horatio Nelson, Niceguyedc, Singinglemon,
Bwwm, Alexbot, Rhododendrites, CowboySpartan, Tseno Maximov, Catalographer, Schinleber, EstherLois, DumZiBoT, Rosenleben, SilvonenBot, Refreshing29, Addbot, Renamed user 5, Ratstail91, Logicist, MrOllie, CarsracBot, Favonian, Abiyoyo, Lightbot, Jinxuandi,
Legobot, Luckas-bot, Yobot, Oriana Naso, Shutka, AnomieBOT, Glenfarclas, Citation bot, Neurolysis, Xqbot, TakenakaN, J04n, Ajahnjohn, Omnipaedista, RibotBOT, That fellow who did that thing, Green Cardamom, Alpinehermit, FrescoBot, LucienBOT, Platonykiss,
Haeinous, Kovart, Rebel Tomcat's Dad, Brvictormc, Austinkp, Davide41, Julien1978, FoxBot, Pollinosisss, DixonDBot, Oracleofottawa,
Abie the Fish Peddler, TjBot, P Aculeius, Sroyon, Alaarz, EmausBot, Faolin42, Zhanna Mukash, ZroBot, PBS-AWB, Akasseb, ChuispastonBot, Mjbmrbot, Catholic nerd, ClueBot NG, Steve Icemen, Tillander, Mannanan51, Helpful Pixie Bot, BoethianAcolyte, Carjoyg,
Zschon95, Bosstopher, Op47, Joshua Jonathan, The Illusive Man, Archer47, Dexbot, Afterlifeperfection, ElHef, Clarkdav04, Library Guy,
Monkbot, Tobermory Womble, Griit12, Trackteur, Capistranese and Anonymous: 113
Boetius of Dacia Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boetius%20of%20Dacia?oldid=636977000 Contributors: Renamed user 4, Paul
August, Mel Etitis, FeanorStar7, Lar, Tomisti, Modify, Fram, Hide&Reason, Bluebot, Sokrat3000, Poa, SMasters, Twas Now, Gregbard,
Cydebot, Goldfritha, Thijs!bot, Dsp13, LookingGlass, Johnpacklambert, Ironie, VolkovBot, Ontoraul, Meldor, Jan1nad, Saddhiyama, Mild
Bill Hiccup, Addbot, Latinist, Lightbot, Yobot, Ptbotgourou, Ca$e, DefaultsortBot, Oracleofottawa, Editor with a background in philosophy,
ZroBot, Midas02, Mogism, VIAFbot, Xenxax and Anonymous: 8
Adam de Buckeld Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam%20de%20Buckfield?oldid=610095595 Contributors: Charles Matthews,
Klemen Kocjancic, Saga City, FeanorStar7, Rjwilmsi, SmackBot, Hmains, Robertg9, CmdrObot, Magioladitis, Waacstats, JaGa, LordAnubisBOT, Addbot, Yobot, PBS-AWB, Pasicles and Anonymous: 1
Jean Buridan Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean%20Buridan?oldid=635662497 Contributors: Bryan Derksen, Danny, XJaM,
Hephaestos, Michael Hardy, Gabbe, Karada, SebastianHelm, William M. Connolley, Paul Stansifer, Haukurth, Rbellin, Cutler, Alan Liefting, Jyril, Keith Edkins, Icairns, Cglassey, Klemen Kocjancic, Lucidish, D6, Discospinster, Rich Farmbrough, Jvraba, Bender235, Flapdragon, Chalst, Wareh, Nk, Haham hanuka, Polylerus, Mdd, Mark Dingemanse, Logologist, Woohookitty, Kbdank71, Porcher, Rjwilmsi,
Koavf, Thomas Arelatensis, FlaBot, Nivaca, YurikBot, Aldux, T. Anthony, Curpsbot-unicodify, SmackBot, KocjoBot, Jagged 85, Srnec,
Gilliam, Bluebot, Nbarth, Colonies Chris, Leinad-Z, RandomCritic, Fir-tree, Kripkenstein, Twas Now, CmdrObot, Cydebot, Xanthoptica,
Astrochemist, Thijs!bot, Top.Squark, Dr. Submillimeter, JAnDbot, Magioladitis, Waacstats, Amitchell125, Student7, STBotD, Ontoraul,
Broadbot, Mbz1, Renatops, Monegasque, BobShair, Firey322, EoGuy, J8079s, DragonBot, Alexbot, UrsoBR, BOTarate, RogDel, Nick
Campion 2, Addbot, LaaknorBot, Lightbot, Luckas-bot, Amirobot, Uugedsaz, AnomieBOT, Xqbot, Omnipaedista, LucienBOT, D'ohBot,
Oracleofottawa, Daniel the Monk, EmausBot, Syncategoremata, Knight1993, Akasseb, ClueBot NG, BG19bot, Supremeaim, Michael of
Cesena, Sceadwefax, VIAFbot, Nimetapoeg, Negative24, Scotus12 and Anonymous: 33
Walter Burley Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter%20Burley?oldid=644541789 Contributors: Delirium, Charles Matthews,
Wareh, Rodw, Palica, Rjwilmsi, Nivaca, RussBot, Aldux, Tomisti, Tonywalton, Jcbarr, Sara Uckelman, Ohconfucius, Dfass, Gregbard,
Cydebot, Julian Mendez, Malleus Fatuorum, JustAGal, Dsp13, Fetchcomms, Johnpacklambert, Bot-Schafter, DorganBot, Jimmaths,
Ontoraul, Broadbot, Francvs, SchreiberBike, Boleyn, SilvonenBot, Addbot, LaaknorBot, Peter Damian (old), Lightbot, Yobot, AdjustShift, LilHelpa, Omnipaedista, DefaultsortBot, WikitanvirBot, Philosophy Teacher, Peter Damian IV, Peter Damian V, Helpful Pixie Bot,
Alf.laylah.wa.laylah and Anonymous: 8
Niccol Cabeo Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niccol%C3%B2%20Cabeo?oldid=633108300 Contributors: Michael Hardy, Charles
Matthews, Klemen Kocjancic, RJHall, Wareh, Polylerus, Alansohn, FeanorStar7, Etacar11, Koavf, Gaius Cornelius, Attilios, Bluebot,
RandomCritic, Amalas, Rwammang, Cydebot, Ssilvers, Lopakhin, Johnpacklambert, Skeptic2, ARTE, BOTijo, SieBot, JerroldPeaseAtlanta, Ideal gas equation, El bot de la dieta, Dthomsen8, Addbot, Lightbot, Yobot, Citrusmangler, Full-date unlinking bot, TobeBot,
Oracleofottawa, ZroBot, Akasseb, RockMagnetist, Stephenwanjau, Brad7777, VIAFbot, Nimetapoeg and Anonymous: 8
John Case (Aristotelian writer) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John%20Case%20(Aristotelian%20writer)?oldid=612189231
Contributors: Charles Matthews, Wareh, Rjwilmsi, SmackBot, Gracenotes, RandomCritic, Neddyseagoon, Cydebot, Waacstats, Johnpacklambert, Chironomia, Boleyn, RogDel, Kbdankbot, Ironholds, Tassedethe, Lightbot, Yobot, RjwilmsiBot, PBS-AWB, DoctorKubla,
VIAFbot, Fallen skirts and Anonymous: 1
Conimbricenses Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conimbricenses?oldid=637194682 Contributors: Jmabel, Wareh, Koavf, Sardanaphalus, SmackBot, Hmains, RandomCritic, Cydebot, Kugland, Ontarioboy, Ontoraul, Pentium1000, WereSpielChequers, Addbot,
Licor, Feliciomendes, Miguel in Portugal and Anonymous: 1
Cesare Cremonini (philosopher) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesare%20Cremonini%20(philosopher)?oldid=632023435 Contributors: Charles Matthews, MistToys, Art LaPella, Wareh, Graham87, BD2412, Random user 39849958, Attilios, IstvanWolf, Robma,
JzG, Drinibot, Gregbard, Cydebot, Sirmylesnagopaleentheda, Thijs!bot, Magioladitis, DadaNeem, Inwind, Omegastar, TXiKiBoT, Tragic
Baboon, Ccg 1, GirasoleDE, Addbot, Yobot, AnomieBOT, Rubinbot, Omnipaedista, Kissmaiden, Full-date unlinking bot, Lipsio, Solomonfromnland, Helpful Pixie Bot, Supremeaim, VIAFbot, OccultZone and Anonymous: 10
Duns Scotus Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duns%20Scotus?oldid=644567574 Contributors: Derek Ross, Deb, Ortolan88, Hephaestos, Renata, Mahjongg, Karada, Delirium, Mpolo, Docu, , Poor Yorick, Kaihsu, Sethmahoney, EdH, JASpencer, Charles
Matthews, Rbraunwa, Hyacinth, Dimadick, Robbot, Wertperch, Academic Challenger, Counsell, Fergananim, Phil Sandifer, Necrothesp,
DanielZM, Ukexpat, Karl Dickman, D6, Simonides, Blanchette, YUL89YYZ, MeltBanana, Sfahey, Wareh, Jamesdowallen, Bill Thayer,
Bobo192, Circeus, Whosyourjudas, Ruszewski, Tronno, Polylerus, Mdd, Jumbuck, Pinar, Arthena, Philip Cross, Batmanand, Deacon
of Pndapetzim, VivaEmilyDavies, Woohookitty, Sandius, FeanorStar7, Sburke, Kzollman, Huhsunqu, Aristotle Pagaltzis, Graham87,
Rjwilmsi, Angusmclellan, FlaBot, Vclaw, MacRusgail, Str1977, Maltesedog, Jaraalbe, EamonnPKeane, Ravenswing, YurikBot, Hairy

194.2. TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

571

Dude, Pigman, NawlinWiki, LiniShu, Deskana, Joel7687, PhilipC, Nikkimaria, Tevildo, Palthrow, Mais oui!, Argo Navis, Demogorgon's Soup-taster, GrinBot, RJO, SmackBot, Tony164, Unyoyega, Stephensuleeman, Edonovan, Sara Uckelman, Hmains, Wje, Chris the
speller, Bluebot, Grimhelm, Mladilozof, Leinad-Z, Nakon, VegaDark, Lpgeen, Kismetmagic, BryanG, Workman, SashatoBot, Lambiam, Ser Amantio di Nicolao, PeterNisbet, Gobonobo, Trit, Ckatz, RandomCritic, Elb2000, Dl2000, RadPilBar, Delepine, GiantSnowman, Igni, CmdrObot, Tarchon, Rwammang, Neelix, Gregbard, Shanoman, Cydebot, Anthonyhcole, Blaisorblade, Sirmylesnagopaleentheda, SteveMcCluskey, Stevens1, Malleus Fatuorum, Thijs!bot, Wikid77, Walterego, PsychoInltrator, EdJohnston, David-the-Monk,
Brendandh, Greyduck2, Sluzzelin, Luc007, Hiplibrarianship, Glen, Lesabendio, Trevor Burnham, Wowaconia, CommonsDelinker, Littlebum2002, Johnbod, Phatius McBlu, Lyonski, Goku122, Inwind, VolkovBot, TXiKiBoT, Rei-bot, Ontoraul, The Tetrast, Broadbot,
Eldredo, FinnWiki, Cnilep, SieBot, Kernel Saunters, Meldor, Ulysses54, Afernand74, MrsKrishan, Le vin blanc, Tradereddy, GioCM,
The.helping.people.tick, Beou, Keinstein, Beeblebrox, ClueBot, Safebreaker, PipepBot, DragonBot, Alexbot, Jumbolino, JO 24, Sun
Creator, Suramik, Johnuniq, Schinleber, VarlamTikhonovich, Ambrosius007, JKeck, XLinkBot, Feinoha, Piratejosh85, Good Olfactory,
Ikzing, Addbot, Justme45, Peter Damian (old), Lightbot, MuZemike, Contributor777, Luckas-bot, Yobot, Ptbotgourou, Gongshow, Bility,
AnomieBOT, Rubinbot, AdjustShift, Materialscientist, LilHelpa, Analphabot, Xqbot, ChildofMidnight, Jsmith1000, Peter Damian, ProtectionTaggingBot, Omnipaedista, RibotBOT, 78.26, Sabrebd, FrescoBot, Blackguard SF, Quodvultdeus, Biker Biker, RedBot, Full-date
unlinking bot, Kibi78704, Julien1978, Crusoe8181, Lotje, Daniel the Monk, RjwilmsiBot, TjBot, Angel1storage, Mukogodo, EmausBot, WikitanvirBot, Syncategoremata, Michaelgfalk, Short lived account, PBS-AWB, Sahimrobot, Polisher of Cobwebs, Orange Suede
Sofa, Mentibot, FirstScot, Jlknapp, LikeLakers2, ClueBot NG, Raghith, Quisquiliae, Joao AMA, Helpful Pixie Bot, Lowercase sigmabot,
Carjoyg, Thinklines111, Kristephanie, Don eriugena, Theol11111, BizarreLoveTriangle, Stapletongrey, ASCIIn2Bme, The Theosophist,
Minsbot, Run to the hills, cos the end of the world is soon!, AK456, William of Attainder, Dexbot, Kimvanderkim, William the Surveyor,
Br'er Rabbit, Collingwood, Mogism, Salorra, Dune Scooter, MattSucci, VIAFbot, Donut Scuss, Duns Sage, Editor300, Technoscotus, Don
Scots, William Meltdown, Davenbrutte, Brutdaven, CsDix, Arildnordby, John of Dunse, Dune Scutos, Idiosyncratic philosopher, Mqassem,
Patar Demien, U all so mad right now, Urban elephant, , Monkbot, Epi100, Scotus12, DiCorpoR, Jack Zupko and Anonymous:
127
Philip Faber Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip%20Faber?oldid=605417324 Contributors: Charles Matthews, Klemen Kocjancic, Wareh, FlaBot, SmackBot, Gregbard, Magioladitis, Waacstats, Omegastar, Addbot, Lightbot, Full-date unlinking bot, RjwilmsiBot,
VIAFbot and OccultZone
Pedro da Fonseca (philosopher) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro%20da%20Fonseca%20(philosopher)?oldid=608020810
Contributors: Paul A, Klemen Kocjancic, Koenige, Wareh, Eubot, Jaraalbe, The Ogre, SmackBot, Waacstats, Ignacio Icke, TXiKiBoT,
Ontoraul, AlleborgoBot, Fadesga, XPTO, Good Olfactory, Addbot, Lightbot, Luckas-bot, Omnipaedista, RjwilmsiBot, EmausBot, VIAFbot, OccultZone and Anonymous: 4
Sebastin Fox Morcillo Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebasti%C3%A1n%20Fox%20Morcillo?oldid=598748964 Contributors:
Everyking, DanielCD, Jacobolus, Raymond Cruise, Alarix, Gaudio, SmackBot, DCDuring, Bluebot, Cydebot, Dsp13, Waacstats, Monegasque, FlamingSilmaril, Fadesga, Singinglemon, Auntof6, DumZiBoT, RjwilmsiBot, EmausBot, Tillander and Anonymous: 4
Gilbert de la Porre Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert%20de%20la%20Porr%C3%A9e?oldid=598489019 Contributors:
Olivier, Delirium, Charles Matthews, Adam Bishop, Rbellin, Tubedogg, Rich Farmbrough, Number 0, Bender235, Wareh, Bobo192,
.:Ajvol:., Dvyost, Rjwilmsi, Jaraalbe, Roboto de Ajvol, YurikBot, Curpsbot-unicodify, SmackBot, Srnec, Bluebot, Andrew Dalby, Violncello, Lucio Di Madaura, ErikNorvelle, Cydebot, Thijs!bot, Waacstats, Johnbod, AndreasJSbot, TreasuryTag, Broadbot, Chillowack,
StAnselm, Ptolemy Caesarion, Ealdgyth, RogDel, Addbot, Lightbot, Jjgull, Omnipaedista, DefaultsortBot, RjwilmsiBot, Ripchip Bot,
EmausBot, ZroBot and Anonymous: 16
Giles of Rome Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giles%20of%20Rome?oldid=644382424 Contributors: Menchi, Poor Yorick, Renamed user 4, Charles Matthews, Adam Bishop, Joy, Gentgeen, Merovingian, D6, Rich Farmbrough, Aecis, Wareh, Man vyi, Polylerus,
FeanorStar7, Kzollman, EnSamulili, YurikBot, Bluebot, Mariannep, Leinad-Z, Neddyseagoon, Skapur, ErikNorvelle, Cydebot, Njamesdebien, Thijs!bot, .anacondabot, Waacstats, Chesdovi, Sam Medany, VirtualDelight, Eliz81, Omegastar, TXiKiBoT, Addbot, Lightbot, Ulf
Heinsohn, Omnipaedista, FrescoBot, LucienBOT, Marcoranuzzi, SkinnyPrude, Full-date unlinking bot, Daniel the Monk, WikitanvirBot,
ChrisGualtieri, VIAFbot, Federico Leva (BEIC) and Anonymous: 10
John Hennon Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John%20Hennon?oldid=552160175 Contributors: Wareh, Srnec, Gregbard, R'n'B,
VolkovBot, Fortdj33, EmausBot, Syncategoremata, Helpful Pixie Bot and Anonymous: 1
List of medieval Latin commentators on Aristotle Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List%20of%20medieval%20Latin%
20commentators%20on%20Aristotle?oldid=520370621 Contributors: Charles Matthews, Gregbard and Ontoraul
John Major (philosopher) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John%20Major%20(philosopher)?oldid=624308915 Contributors:
Michael Hardy, Charles Matthews, Timrollpickering, Mpntod, Karol Langner, Cynical, Klemen Kocjancic, Wareh, (aeropagitica),
Geschichte, Merenta, Woohookitty, Commander Keane, Obersachse, BD2412, Angusmclellan, AllyD, RussBot, Rincewind42, Gaius Cornelius, Davidkinnen, Tonywalton, Deville, Mais oui!, SmackBot, Tony164, Srnec, Commander Keane bot, Bluebot, Kleinzach, Ohconfucius, John, Yaninass2, Mmdoogie, Cydebot, Zachary, Nick Number, Brendandh, Dsp13, Ronstew, Catgut, Alemelopes, Johnpacklambert,
BigrTex, Master shepherd, Hugo999, Deor, Chironomia, Technopat, FinnWiki, GlassFET, Iamthedeus, PolarBot, Vojvodaen, Francvs,
ClueBot, HUB, RogDel, Addbot, Leszek Jaczuk, , Tassedethe, Lightbot, Scrivener-uki, Johnhousefriday, Omnipaedista,
Sabrebd, FrescoBot, Naimehob, Tra, Trappist the monk, Marlene Yocum, ChuispastonBot, Pokbot, Uzahnd, Passignano, VIAFbot,
Vieque and Anonymous: 14
Lambertus de Monte Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambertus%20de%20Monte?oldid=628968289 Contributors: YUL89YYZ,
Wareh, BD2412, Srnec, Waacstats, Rosenknospe, Addbot, Abiyoyo, Yobot, RibotBOT, Ashvamitra, Helpful Pixie Bot and VIAFbot
William of Ockham Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William%20of%20Ockham?oldid=642594948 Contributors: MichaelTinkler,
Eloquence, Mav, Zundark, Jeronimo, Ed Poor, Mark Christensen, Mswake, Heron, Hirzel, Bdesham, Michael Hardy, Liftarn, Angela, AugPi, Djnjwd, Sethmahoney, Renamed user 4, RodC, Charles Matthews, Guaka, Vanished user 5zariu3jisj0j4irj, Markhurd, Hyacinth, Jjshapiro, Rbellin, Wetman, Proteus, Carbuncle, Robbot, Giftlite, Maarten van Vliet, Antandrus, 1297, Phil Sandifer, Necrothesp,
Mschlindwein, Klemen Kocjancic, Deglr6328, Lucidish, D6, R, Simonides, DanielCD, Discospinster, Rich Farmbrough, Dusoft, Paul
August, Bender235, El C, Lycurgus, Kwamikagami, Gilgamesh he, Wareh, Whosyourjudas, John Vandenberg, Darwinek, PWilkinson,
(aeropagitica), Knucmo2, Gunter.krebs, Mark Dingemanse, Philip Cross, Saga City, Abanima, Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ), Kzollman,
Briangotts, Ruud Koot, Trdel, Thruston, Pictureuploader, MarcoTolo, Graham87, BenJonson, Cuchullain, Maros, Kbdank71, Reisio,
Porcher, Josh Parris, Ketiltrout, Koavf, Stilgar135, R.e.b., FlaBot, Nihiltres, Woozle, Nivaca, Chobot, MithrandirMage, Jaraalbe, Bgwhite, Debivort, EamonnPKeane, YurikBot, Hede2000, Pigman, Gaius Cornelius, Vincej, Xaviervd, Welsh, Howcheng, Jpbowen, Zwobot,

572

CHAPTER 194. XENARCHUS OF SELEUCIA

Gamingexpert, Homagetocatalonia, Mopcwiki, D'Agosta, Palthrow, Curpsbot-unicodify, Katieh5584, Mohsens, Scolaire, SmackBot,
Elindstr, Lestrade, Unyoyega, Peter Isotalo, Gilliam, Bluebot, JackyR, MalafayaBot, Gypsiesoul420, Josteinn, Go for it!, Solidusspriggan,
Ncameron, A Geek Tragedy, Leinad-Z, Aboudaqn, Savidan, Only, Jon Awbrey, SashatoBot, Lambiam, Potosino, John, CharlesDexterWard,
RandomCritic, Knights who say ni, Dicklyon, Kripkenstein, Norm mit, Michaelbusch, JoeBot, Twas Now, Nkayesmith, Jesusito, Tawkerbot2, D4rk0, Dycedarg, Brunellus, Gregbard, Logicus, Theo Clark, Cydebot, Tmrussell, Consequentially, Sdoradus, Ishdarian, Astynax,
Catsmoke, Adam Brink, KevinWho, RobotG, Antique Rose, Lyricmac, Dr. Submillimeter, Silver seren, DShamen, Manu bcn, JAnDbot,
Deective, Xact, Luc007, Magioladitis, JaGa, CommonsDelinker, Yekwah, Siryendor, S.T.Franklin, Ryangdotexe, Mister.eratosthenes,
STBotD, DorganBot, Grantypants, Inwind, Joeoettinger, Jimmaths, Technopat, John Carter, Ontoraul, Chevauxmargaux, SieBot, BotMultichill, Jojalozzo, Android Mouse Bot 3, Lightmouse, Afernand74, Seedbot, Le vin blanc, Francvs, WikipedianMarlith, Keynyn, Niceguyedc,
Pittsburgh Poet, Alexbot, Jotterbot, Kcallen78, Schinleber, EstherLois, Ambrosius007, YouRang?, JKeck, Neuralwarp, RogDel, Avoided,
SilvonenBot, Good Olfactory, Addbot, Latinist, FeRD NYC, Peter Damian (old), AndersBot, Tassedethe, Bungalowbill430, Lightbot, Zorrobot, HerculeBot, Luckas-bot, Yobot, Autrecourt, Amirobot, Uugedsaz, PMLawrence, N00bcannonball, KamikazeBot, Ciphers, Rubinbot, Piano non troppo, Citation bot, ArthurBot, Ekwos, Omnipaedista, Moscarlop, RibotBOT, Mephizzle, FreeKnowledgeCreator, FrescoBot, Artimaean, LucienBOT, RedBot, Wotnow, Pollinosisss, Larkhillv, Tesseract2, EmausBot, Bua333, Syncategoremata, Dishcmds,
Winner 42, ZroBot, PBS-AWB, Gipsy1, WilliamHamant, Akasseb, , Epn10, Mcc1789, Amoigni, ClueBot NG, Utziputz, Shawn eagles, Helpful Pixie Bot, BG19bot, Grstratford, Anthrophilos, Dins Scotis, VIAFbot, CsDix, FiredanceThroughTheNight, NABRASA,
POLY1956, SpiritTrak, Monkbot and Anonymous: 158
Gerardus Odonis Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerardus%20Odonis?oldid=638703881 Contributors: JASpencer, Charles
Matthews, Joy, Klemen Kocjancic, Bender235, Wareh, FeanorStar7, SmackBot, Cydebot, M-le-mot-dit, Ontoraul, Lightbot, Yobot, FrescoBot, Kissmaiden, RjwilmsiBot, Marcocapelle, Mugsalot and Anonymous: 1
Peter of Auvergne Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter%20of%20Auvergne?oldid=638704856 Contributors: JASpencer, Charles
Matthews, Wareh, HenkvD, Srnec, Kyoko, Nenyedi, Arch dude, Murgh, Dekimasu, M-le-mot-dit, Ontoraul, Peterkulik, SchreiberBike,
Addbot, Yobot, Ca$e, Ulf Heinsohn, ZroBot, PBS-AWB, Marcocapelle and Anonymous: 4
Pietro Pomponazzi Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pietro%20Pomponazzi?oldid=623421943 Contributors: Magnus Manske, Paul
A, JASpencer, Michael Devore, Naufana, Neutrality, Rich Farmbrough, Wareh, Cruccone, Bluemoose, FlaBot, M7bot, Kummi, E rulez,
Lt-wiki-bot, Attilios, SmackBot, Lestrade, Silentfever, Ian Spackman, Poa, RandomCritic, Cydebot, Waacstats, Johnpacklambert, Sumek,
SieBot, BotMultichill, PolarBot, Addbot, Lightbot, ArthurBot, Omnipaedista, FreeKnowledgeCreator, D'ohBot, Marcoranuzzi, MastiBot,
RjwilmsiBot, EmausBot, ZroBot, Diego Grez Bot, Eskisehirili, VIAFbot and Anonymous: 17
Francesco Robortello Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesco%20Robortello?oldid=614985819 Contributors: Deb, Charles
Matthews, Wetman, Icairns, Wareh, Logologist, Bibh wkp, Marcus Cyron, SCZenz, Aldux, SmackBot, Jfurr1981, Kcordina, Cyrusc,
79spirit, Waacstats, Johnbod, Santiperez, StAnselm, Phe-bot, Sfan00 IMG, Addbot, Luckas-bot, AnomieBOT, Omnipaedista, Pollinosisss,
RjwilmsiBot, EmausBot, BG19bot, Hmainsbot1, VIAFbot and Anonymous: 3
Jakob Schegk Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jakob%20Schegk?oldid=615164312 Contributors: Deb, Waacstats, StAnselm, Monegasque, Oschroeder, Addbot, Yobot, LilHelpa, Davshul, Omnipaedista, Gamonetus, John of Reading, Helpful Pixie Bot, PhnomPencil,
VIAFbot and Anonymous: 1
Domingo de Soto Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domingo%20de%20Soto?oldid=633353664 Contributors: Deb, Jadepearl,
JASpencer, Charles Matthews, Klemen Kocjancic, Maestrosync, Wareh, Woohookitty, FlaBot, Jaraalbe, Bluebot, Geremia, Cydebot,
Luc007, Magioladitis, Waacstats, JaGa, TreasuryTag, Ontoraul, Monegasque, Dabomb87, Francvs, MystBot, Kbdankbot, Addbot, John
Rolstead, Ironholds, Lightbot, Zorrobot, Guerinsylvie, Ulf Heinsohn, Biker Biker, Fatherted09, Jonkerz, ZroBot, VoroSP, Lathe1, Federico Leva (BEIC) and Anonymous: 7
Guido Terrena Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guido%20Terrena?oldid=644265170 Contributors: Charles Matthews, Wareh,
Rjwilmsi, SmackBot, Cydebot, Waacstats, Ontoraul, Niceguyedc, DumZiBoT, Lightbot, Yobot, AnomieBOT, Esoglou, TomIzbick, Helpful
Pixie Bot, BG19bot and Anonymous: 1
Thomas Aquinas Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas%20Aquinas?oldid=643822770 Contributors: Magnus Manske, Paul Drye,
Kpjas, MichaelTinkler, Brion VIBBER, Eloquence, 0, RK, Youssefsan, Danny, XJaM, Deb, SJK, SimonP, Mswake, R Lowry, Olivier,
Clintp, Edward, Michael Hardy, DopeshJustin, Nixdorf, BoNoMoJo (old), Gabbe, Sannse, Shoaler, Miciah, Karada, Ahoerstemeier,
William M. Connolley, Jumbo, Susan Mason, Darrell Greenwood, Stefan, Poor Yorick, Netsnipe, Andres, Sethmahoney, JamesReyes,
Raven in Orbit, JASpencer, Quizkajer, Adam Conover, Charles Matthews, Adam Bishop, Rbraunwa, JCarriker, Radgeek, Jwrosenzweig,
Tb, Tpbradbury, David Shay, Buridan, Bevo, Kenatipo, AnonMoos, Pollinator, Jni, Gentgeen, Chrism, Jmabel, Mayooranathan, Mirv,
Puckly, Rursus, Humus sapiens, LGagnon, Aetheling, Xanzzibar, Wile E. Heresiarch, Pablo-ores, Unfree, Dinomite, Wolfkeeper, Netoholic, Tom harrison, Meursault2004, Rj, Capitalistroadster, Lussmu, Curps, Michael Devore, Jdavidb, Yekrats, Joshuapaquin, Gzornenplatz, Gadum, Andycjp, Quadell, Antandrus, JoJan, Jossi, SethTisue, Imlepid, Ellsworth, PFHLai, Bodnotbod, Darnel, Icairns, KarlHenner, Trc, Gscshoyru, Neutrality, Burschik, Joyous!, JohnArmagh, Klemen Kocjancic, Engleman, Safety Cap, Flex, Zro, Grstain,
Lucidish, D6, Mormegil, Poccil, Pmadrid, CALR, Ultratomio, Shipmaster, Buyg, Noisy, Discospinster, Rich Farmbrough, Guanabot,
FranksValli, Wclark, Pjacobi, Dbachmann, Paul August, Bender235, ESkog, Djordjes, Pietzsche, El C, Edwinstearns, Kwamikagami,
PhilHibbs, Tom, Wareh, Spinboy, Bobo192, Meggar, Ruszewski, Smalljim, Wipe, Flxmghvgvk, Atomique, Beige Tangerine, Oop, Jojit
fb, Brainy J, Obradovic Goran, Sam Korn, Haham hanuka, Polylerus, Teeks99, Dmanning, Kubiwan, Knucmo2, ADM, Alansohn, Eixo,
Ungtss, Hackwrench, Fadookie, Arthena, Sponge, Wtmitchell, Melaen, Velella, AndreasPraefcke, KingTT, Almafeta, Grenavitar, Ephestion, SteinbDJ, Pwqn, Iustinus, Kazvorpal, Tm1000, Spartacus007, Angr, Velho, Mel Etitis, Woohookitty, FeanorStar7, CrimsonPenguin,
Kzollman, Robert K S, Lincher, Ruud Koot, WadeSimMiser, MONGO, Ailric, Damicatz, Macaddct1984, Prashanthns, Stefanomione,
Mandarax, Jwoodger, Lawrence King, Magister Mathematicae, Cuchullain, BD2412, Kbdank71, V95micfa, Island, RxS, Porcher, Josh
Parris, Crzrussian, Rjwilmsi, Mayumashu, Koavf, Vary, JHMM13, Gawain, Trlovejoy, Nneonneo, Sohmc, ElKevbo, Blueskyboris, SeanMack, Afterwriting, The wub, DoubleBlue, Cfortunato, Reinis, Hanshans23, Falphin, FlaBot, Massachusetts2005, RobertG, Musical Linguist, Trekkie4christ, Fragglet, Andy85719, RexNL, Gurch, Kiwirad, Ologgio, Str1977, Wlkernan, Tomgerety, Butros, Chobot, Jaraalbe,
DVdm, Aethralis, Gdrbot, Bgwhite, FrankTobia, Roboto de Ajvol, YurikBot, Sceptre, Nighm, RussBot, Hede2000, Pigman, Sophroniscus, Chensiyuan, Shell Kinney, Rsrikanth05, Wimt, Thane, NawlinWiki, Zhaladshar, Wiki alf, LaszloWalrus, ZacBowling, GrumpyTroll,
Thesloth, Dureo, Irishguy, Aldux, Moe Epsilon, Mlouns, Amcfreely, Tony1, Zwobot, Syrthiss, Morgan Leigh, DeadEyeArrow, Bota47,
Evrik, Jpeob, Botteville, Ben Parsons, Joewcunningham, Wknight94, Avalon, Vexilloid, Homagetocatalonia, Drstrangeluv25, Lt-wiki-bot,
Closedmouth, DardanAeneas, Rms125a@hotmail.com, Reyk, Staelde, Shyam, Palthrow, Philjohnson, Demogorgon's Soup-taster, Allens,
Katieh5584, TLSuda, Ben D., DearPrudence, GrinBot, C mon, Sardanaphalus, Attilios, Crystallina, Havocrazy, Sarah, SmackBot, Skubicki, NatashaWickedWeasel, Herostratus, InverseHypercube, C.Fred, Blue520, Jagged 85, Piccadilly, Sciintel, Canthusus, Gcmarino,

194.2. TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

573

Srnec, Commander Keane bot, Vassyana, Medicscout, Gilliam, Titopao, Hmains, Bbbbbecca, Carl.bunderson, Andy M. Wang, Rst20xx,
Ludi, DarkAdonis255, Chris the speller, Bluebot, Persian Poet Gal, MalafayaBot, TheLeopard, Go for it!, Markbarnes, DHN-bot, Colonies
Chris, Darth Panda, FoATy88, HLwiKi, William percy, TKD, Kcordina, Anthon.E, Stevenmitchell, Harvest day fool, Pastorwayne,
Sokrat3000, Nakon, Blake-, Bullytr, Dacoutts, RandomP, LoveMonkey, DavidSSabb, Richard0612, Amenra, Ohconfucius, Will Beback,
Maxwellsteer, Xlandfair, SashatoBot, Nishkid64, Tamentis, Krashlandon, Divadnagrom, Zahid Abdassabur, Vanished user 9i39j3, Kuru,
Khazar, Geoinline, Scientizzle, Cronholm144, Enlightened, Mriehm, IronGargoyle, RandomCritic, Grumpyyoungman01, Slakr, Noah
Salzman, Alatius, Stizz, Caballaria, Michael Greiner, Neddyseagoon, Mathsci, Kripkenstein, Dl2000, Delta x, OlympiaDiego, MJO, Wwallacee, DavidOaks, Ziusudra, Angeldeb82, Tawkerbot2, George100, JForget, Fetofsbot2, Ohnobinki, Ale jrb, Geremia, Hyphen5, Fried
Gold, Rwammang, Drinibot, Dgw, Sax Russell, Thomasmeeks, Sdorrance, Casper2k3, Maima, Karenjc, Gregbard, Nauticashades, Ekajati, Fairsing, Fer rios25, Equendil, Vaquero100, Cydebot, Jonathan Tweet, Conquistador2k6, Aristophanes68, JFreeman, ST47, Huysman,
*ossie*, Tawkerbot4, DBaba, Jguard18, Gimmetrow, Mamalujo, Thijs!bot, Kalossoter, Epbr123, Wikid77, VETTEMAN, JoySeven,
Yboord028, Oliver202, John254, NorwegianBlue, Itsmejudith, Ros Power, Cool Blue, Sturm55, Bobajimmy, Blathnaid, Natalie Erin,
Afabbro, RoboServien, AntiVandalBot, Crabula, QuiteUnusual, Antique Rose, D. Webb, Spencer, David aukerman, Wahabijaz, Gkhan,
Res2216restar, Sluzzelin, JAnDbot, Narssarssuaq, Deective, Tanyia, MER-C, Skomorokh, Dsp13, Matthew Fennell, Janejellyroll, Andonic, Xeno, Hut 8.5, PhilKnight, Msalt, .anacondabot, Geniac, Magioladitis, Celithemis, VoABot II, Daniel Moniz, JamesBWatson, ObeyScient, Sarahj2107, Rivertorch, Jim Douglas, D vazquez, Avicennasis, Domingo Portales, Indon, Alekjds, KeineLust90, Loonymonkey,
28421u2232nfenfcenc, LookingGlass, Afaprof01, DerHexer, Edward321, Shadowthedog, HaveAPinch, Hbent, S3000, STBot, Arjun01,
Munawarali, Rettetast, Anaxial, Kostisl, CKnapp, AlexiusHoratius, Szczur Zosia, Johnpacklambert, Tgeairn, J.delanoy, Boromir Captain
of Gondor, Trusilver, Nmmad, Uncle Dick, Libroman, SU Linguist, St.daniel, It Is Me Here, Bot-Schafter, Prince of Dharma, Katalaveno,
Johnbod, DarkFalls, McSly, Katharineamy, Brenna.gray, Bailo26, Hubacelgrand, JayJasper, Exdejesus, NewEnglandYankee, Malerin,
Toon05, Student7, Shoessss, Smbarnzy, Jamesontai, Stymphal, Mazingspidrman, Gemini1980, Natl1, Ad43, Useight, Ntrval, M. Frederick,
TheNewPhobia, Guillermogp, Egghead06, Frege1b, Sept douleurs, CWii, ABF, Gehezi126, DSRH, Jennavecia, DarkArcher, AlnoktaBOT,
Phil Franco, Chienlit, Omegastar, Barneca, Philip Trueman, Aicchalmers, Af648, TXiKiBoT, Wau2, Mrbrownn, Bdb484, KevinTR, Almitydave, Mlsutton, Anonymous Dissident, Tupolev154, JayC, Qxz, John Carter, Corvus cornix, Bradl333, Jackfork, LeaveSleaves, Autodidactyl, Guitarist9189, Robert1947, Viator slovenicus, Eubulides, BobTheTomato, Y, Cantiorix, Daufer, Falcon8765, Enviroboy, Ivain,
MCTales, Palaeovia, AlleborgoBot, Symane, Quantpole, Logan, Davidshenba, Sfmammamia, EmxBot, Deconstructhis, IntellectualHonesty, Xolaam, Hmwith, Athenastreet, EJF, Sldlucy, SieBot, StAnselm, Nubiatech, Tresiden, Iddli, Weeliljimmy, Doug3331, StMichael71,
Dawn Bard, Caltas, Triwbe, Lucas.masonbrown, Megan.rw1, Srushe, Chinesearabs, Bentogoa, Flyer22, Radon210, Exert, RawEgg1, Theun
k, Sophz x, Demack, RobertMel, Ptolemy Caesarion, Zharradan.angelre, Iain99, Iamwillrule, BenoniBot, Ohkami, OKBot, A E Francis, WikiMasterCreator, Vojvodaen, Vanished user ewsn2348tui2f8n2o2utjfeoi210r39jf, Neo-Thomist, Bepimela, Jacob.jose, Mygerardromance, Bowei Huang 2, Altzinn, Gideonpena, The.helping.people.tick, Pnelnik, LarRan, Locaracle, Francvs, Groglo09, Lloydbaltazar, Gr8opinionater, Avemarpr, WikipedianMarlith, Faithlessthewonderboy, Martarius, ClueBot, Kl4m, PipepBot, WinedAndDined, The
Thing That Should Not Be, Qiangjohn, Loko8181, Shark96z, Vinimensor, TheOldJacobite, Uncle Milty, Polyamorph, Skpperd, CounterVandalismBot, Bryan.kromenacker, Niceguyedc, Blanchardb, Historian 1000, Wkd123321, SamuelTheGhost, LeoFrank, Sox Mcghee,
Excirial, Alexbot, Jusdafax, CrazyChemGuy, PixelBot, Aquinian, Leonard^Bloom, Estirabot, Tom Sauce, Yorkshirian, NuclearWarfare,
Arjayay, Jotterbot, Gizurr, Kaiba, Sophisquitry, Muro Bot, Gennarous, Thingg, Aitias, Satellite1203, Ubardak, SoxBot III, Marontia,
Goodvac, Schinleber, Dancecasea101, EstherLois, Finalnight, Ambrosius007, JKeck, Comte de Maistre, Forbes72, Agentmatt1, Luke
Jaywalker, Nepenthes, NellieBly, JinJian, Thatguyint, Addbot, Proofreader77, American Eagle, Linuxgeek71, Amiens984, C6541, LightSpectra, AkhtaBot, Ronhjones, Fieldday-sunday, KorinoChikara, Fluernutter, Douglas the Comeback Kid, Liamcarrington, Download,
Jomunro, LinkFA-Bot, Organic Cabbage, TroyisKing44, Numbo3-bot, Tide rolls, BrianKnez, Lightbot, Avono, Jklemke, Quantumobserver, LuK3, Middayexpress, Luckas-bot, Yobot, 2D, Tohd8BohaithuGh1, Ptbotgourou, Cm001, Legobot II, Rsquire3, Liberatedto,
Oriana Naso, Ajh16, THEN WHO WAS PHONE?, Azylber, Jimjilin, Ningauble, Tempodivalse, AnomieBOT, A More Perfect Onion,
1exec1, Agapitus, ThaddeusB, Jim1138, Piano non troppo, Vican, Kingpin13, Ulric1313, Magog the Ogre 2, Bluerasberry, Materialscientist, Citation bot, Frankenpuppy, Neurolysis, LovesMacs, Jemandwicca, Xqbot, Sionus, Intelati, Ekwos, JimVC3, Capricorn42, Lunation, Cavila, Arslan-San, Reskujafs, Kikk1010, Maddie!, Srich32977, ArtemisHu, GrouchoBot, Peter Damian, Omnipaedista, 78.26,
Philip of Montferrat, GhalyBot, Dougofborg, FreeKnowledgeCreator, George2001hi, FrescoBot, Artimaean, Oldman14, SkoolisFOfoolS,
Stevenalteri, Girlwithgreeneyes, Bobbybobbill, Throw it in the Fire, Cannolis, RandomNumberSee, Citation bot 1, Anthony on Stilts, I
dream of horses, Kiefer.Wolfowitz, Gugu102, Joycto13, Asoleil09, Cpaidhrin, Yahia.barie, Tomcat7, Paterson Brown, Wikijos, Beao,
Lineslarge, RazielZero, Davide41, Julien1978, FoxBot, TobeBot, Roy McCoy, Oracleofottawa, Vrenator, I kind of like boxes, Kielbasa1,
Diannaa, Theologiae, Kufan22, Pma jones, Richardneale, Daniel the Monk, DARTH SIDIOUS 2, McVahl, SebastianPDX, RjwilmsiBot, Adamburnetti, Ripchip Bot, DASHBot, Esoglou, EmausBot, Santamoly, Acather96, WikitanvirBot, Opalescent Parrot, Heracles31,
Deogratias5, Advisor5, Syncategoremata, Tko96, Mychele Trempetich, Gimmetoo, Spongie555, Alhena, Wikipelli, Razbadaza124, Girevik24, AvicBot, Ryan.vilbig, PBS-AWB, CanonLawJunkie, Dlegge1, H-40706, Resolver-Aphelion, Hyattathilton, Hazard-SJ, Cackleberry
Airman, Suslindisambiguator, SporkBot, Erianna, Enterinlast, Jbribeiro1, Abbyzwart, The Talking Toaster, Donner60, Korruski, Parvulus
scholasticus, Chewings72, Pun, Peter Karlsen, U3964057, Scoprioni, BonaFideVandy, Bad edits r dumb, Count of Rymnik, Earthbound058, Jaxas, Helpsome, Recop911, ClueBot NG, Orestesg2, Sunshtommy, Discipleofbloch, MelbourneStar, CallidusUlixes, 6ii9,
Gavinpalmer1984, Mfound1955, Snotbot, NinetailedfoxBrianna, Hazhk, O.Koslowski, Pcjivs, Dream of Nyx, Widr, WikiPuppies, Helpful Pixie Bot, Calabe1992, Wbm1058, Philosopherkrista, Carjoyg, Koosg, Petrarchan47, JohnChrysostom, Marcocapelle, Europeanhistorian, CitationCleanerBot, Maksymilian Sielicki, Mcsharryj, Rialtodude1, MrBill3, Jfhutson, Brad7777, Mr.molle, Polmandc, PlasmaTime,
Glacialfox, RscprinterBot, Klilidiplomus, Hthomson12, G.M. Sir Lawrence, Anthrophilos, Pratyya Ghosh, Monozigote, Khazar2, EuroCarGT, NikvB, AthanasiusOfAlex, Tahc, Qexigator, AutomaticStrikeout, Dexbot, Belisariusgroup, Sae Harshberger, Polsky215, Denysbondar, Lugia2453, VIAFbot, MZalewski, Drewbigs, Afterlifeperfection, LeoXXVI, Ndmnmi, Matty38218, Faizan, Epicgenius, CsDix,
Speahlman, Acetotyce, I am One of Many, SunnySundown777, Sonanto, Cherubinirules, Twilightstorm, Claudius972, Silviabe333,
Topn, DavidLeighEllis, Origamite, Blister'dTei, Ugog Nizdast, Ginsuloft, Quenhitran, Aubreybardo, MagicatthemovieS, Morriec4233,
Bowlikeaboss, TuxLibNit, Litonhumayun, Monkbot, Sushikingman, BethNaught, Mmsmith777, TheQ Editor, Wfritz152, Hebytr, JoeHebda, Ephemeratta, Netwt, Apomp, W.W.Wuuwuu, TerryAlex, San Pedroo, Luthien22, Ethan226201, Bcantalice, Dead=Shoggoth,
Creeper7500, Nicknorthcott and Anonymous: 1356
Francisco de Toledo (Jesuit) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco%20de%20Toledo%20(Jesuit)?oldid=636975696 Contributors: Charles Matthews, Bender235, Wareh, Gryndor, Jaraalbe, KSchutte, Chris the speller, Courcelles, Johnpacklambert, Ng556, Zerged,
Anglicanus, Kbdankbot, Addbot, Leszek Jaczuk, Lightbot, Yobot, RjwilmsiBot, ZroBot, PBS-AWB, BG19bot, VIAFbot, Penguins53
and Anonymous: 2
Cuthbert Tunstall Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuthbert%20Tunstall?oldid=637288676 Contributors: Deb, Djnjwd, John K,
Charles Matthews, Rbraunwa, Lord Emsworth, Eugene van der Pijll, Wereon, Mrabbits, Peruvianllama, MRSC, Klemen Kocjancic, Reex

574

CHAPTER 194. XENARCHUS OF SELEUCIA

Reaction, D6, Haruo, Wareh, Ricky81682, Snowolf, Saga City, Woohookitty, FeanorStar7, Eilthireach, Hackloon, Jaraalbe, Spaully, Danbarnesdavies, AnnaKucsma, Rms125a@hotmail.com, Ybbor, SmackBot, Geo.powers, Bluebot, Fredpawi, Bessarion, Pax85, TenPoundHammer, Neddyseagoon, PMJ, Dl2000, Iridescent, Adam sk, Todowd, Cydebot, Travelbird, Ameliorate!, Phoe, John Carter, Blurpeace,
Bashereyre, AlleborgoBot, Kernel Saunters, Ealdgyth, Fuddle, Francvs, Alexbot, PixelBot, Dougatwiki, Boleyn, RogDel, Addbot, Scooge,
Ironholds, Leszek Jaczuk, Lightbot, Luckas-bot, Yobot, AnomieBOT, Tuesdaily, Buchraeumer, DefaultsortBot, Plucas58, Cnwilliams,
Laurel Lodged, PBS-AWB, Helpful Pixie Bot, VIAFbot, NickGeorge1993 and Anonymous: 9
Jacopo Zabarella Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacopo%20Zabarella?oldid=638306367 Contributors: Renamed user 4, Charles
Matthews, Joy, Wareh, Rjwilmsi, Bubuka, FlaBot, Jaraalbe, Kjlewis, YurikBot, KSchutte, Leutha, Attilios, SmackBot, Cydebot, Future
Perfect at Sunrise, Sirmylesnagopaleentheda, Luc007, Magioladitis, Waacstats, VolkovBot, Ontoraul, SQL, VVVBot, PolarBot, Benjamin.mayes, XLinkBot, RogDel, Mccaskey, Addbot, Peter Damian (old), Luckas-bot, Yobot, LilHelpa, Xqbot, Ulf Heinsohn, Omnipaedista, ChuispastonBot, Tawrinbaker, VIAFbot, Transphasic and Anonymous: 8
Archestratus (music theorist) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archestratus%20(music%20theorist)?oldid=613522869 Contributors: Wareh, Jerome Kohl, TreasuryTag, Cptmurdok and Omnipaedista
Aristo of Ceos Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristo%20of%20Ceos?oldid=627546646 Contributors: Delirium, Wareh,
Woohookitty, Jaraalbe, RussBot, Cplakidas, SMasters, Gregbard, Cydebot, Languagehat, Dsp13, Gerakibot, Singinglemon, Catalographer, Chronicler, Kbdankbot, Addbot, Lightbot, JEN9841, Luckas-bot, Yobot, Ptbotgourou, Omnipaedista, DefaultsortBot, Crusoe8181,
ChuispastonBot, Xenxax and Anonymous: 1
Aristobulus of Paneas Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristobulus%20of%20Paneas?oldid=639656908 Contributors: MrH, Charles
Matthews, Gwalla, DanielCD, Deacon of Pndapetzim, Doric Loon, Tomisti, Hmains, Cplakidas, Racklever, The Man in Question, Cydebot,
Thijs!bot, Waacstats, TXiKiBoT, Singinglemon, SchreiberBike, Catalographer, Chronicler, Felix Folio Secundus, Addbot, Luckas-bot,
Yobot, Matanya, Omnipaedista, BenzolBot, DefaultsortBot, Pollinosisss, , Clarice Reis, In ictu oculi, Hmainsbot1, Eio-cos and
Anonymous: 5
Aristoxenus Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristoxenus?oldid=625429130 Contributors: SimonP, Panairjdde, DopeshJustin,
Gabbe, Delirium, Phoebe, Robbot, Altenmann, Blanchette, Hidaspal, Bender235, Wareh, Binabik80, Woohookitty, Rjwilmsi, FlaBot,
Jaraalbe, AllyD, BOT-Superzerocool, Tomisti, KnightRider, SmackBot, Mscuthbert, Angelosante, Bluebot, KRBN, Jbergquist, SashatoBot,
SMasters, Fordmadoxfraud, Gregbard, Cydebot, Thijs!bot, Nick Number, Jerome Kohl, Waacstats, VolkovBot, TXiKiBoT, AlleborgoBot,
Granite07, Singinglemon, Solar-Wind, Jo Lorib, Catalographer, Chronicler, Kbdankbot, Addbot, Leszek Jaczuk, Roaryk, Richard0612AWB, Lightbot, , JEN9841, Yobot, Fraggle81, AnomieBOT, Xqbot, Erud, Omnipaedista, Spongefrog, Reviewer34, DefaultsortBot,
RjwilmsiBot, EmausBot, MusEdit, ZroBot, Esc2003, Philafrenzy, ChuispastonBot, EauLibrarian, Helpful Pixie Bot, ChrisGualtieri, VIAFbot, Tolixus and Anonymous: 22
Calliphon Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calliphon?oldid=545091692 Contributors: Delirium, CmdrObot, Cydebot, Singinglemon,
Catalographer, Chronicler, Addbot and ArthurBot
Chamaeleon (philosopher) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamaeleon%20(philosopher)?oldid=642047310 Contributors: Delirium, Woohookitty, Jaraalbe, Tomisti, Cydebot, Waacstats, Singinglemon, Catalographer, Chronicler, MystBot, Kbdankbot, Addbot, Lightbot, Omnipaedista, DefaultsortBot, Pollinosisss, RjwilmsiBot and Anonymous: 1
Clearchus of Soli Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clearchus%20of%20Soli?oldid=613389979 Contributors: Xezbeth, Woohookitty,
Eubot, RussBot, Aldux, Tomisti, SmackBot, Elonka, Kimon, Radulfr, Hmains, KRBN, Andrew Dalby, SMasters, The Man in Question,
Bridesmill, Fordmadoxfraud, Cydebot, Waacstats, PolarBot, Singinglemon, Estirabot, Catalographer, Chronicler, MystBot, Addbot, Tony
Esopi, Lightbot, Luckas-bot, Yobot, Xqbot, Omnipaedista, Herbert antunes, LucienBOT, Aelfan1, EmausBot, PhnomPencil, Davidiad,
Pasicles and Anonymous: 3
Critolaus Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critolaus?oldid=622803395 Contributors: Delirium, Charles Matthews, Jerey Smith,
Brian0918, Kwamikagami, Markussep, PoptartKing, Woohookitty, Sburke, FlaBot, Jaraalbe, YurikBot, Lar, Tomisti, Fram, Lcarsdata,
Srnec, Bluebot, Eastlaw, Cydebot, Ludde23, Deective, Waacstats, VolkovBot, Maelgwnbot, Singinglemon, Catalographer, Practical321,
Chronicler, Kbdankbot, Addbot, Lightbot, Luckas-bot, J04n, RjwilmsiBot, EmausBot, Editor with a background in philosophy, ZroBot,
ChuispastonBot and Anonymous: 5
Demetrius of Phalerum Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demetrius%20of%20Phalerum?oldid=639918296 Contributors: Bryan
Derksen, Delirium, John K, Adam Bishop, Wetman, Babbage, Klemen Kocjancic, Haiduc, Paul August, Jumbuck, Markaci, The wub,
Jaraalbe, Bgwhite, YurikBot, RJC, Deucalionite, Stevenmitchell, Mikanator, Yannismarou, Popszes, Cydebot, Meladina, 271828182, Escarbot, Waacstats, Pere prlpz, Kostisl, M-le-mot-dit, DorganBot, Senator.gravett, Koranjem, Ontoraul, SieBot, Rodhullandemu, Wikijens,
Singinglemon, Catalographer, Chronicler, RogDel, MystBot, Kbdankbot, Addbot, Jafeluv, LaaknorBot, , Omnipedian, Lightbot, Luckas-bot, Yobot, Soulfare, Xqbot, Geranian Nestor, Omnipaedista, RibotBOT, FrescoBot, Hanay, EmausBot, ZroBot, Y-barton,
Movses-bot, Bazuz, Pasicles, VoiceOfTheCommons, Eio-cos and Anonymous: 14
Dicaearchus Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dicaearchus?oldid=639894974 Contributors: XJaM, Nonenmac, Gabbe, Ahoerstemeier, Stan Shebs, Hidaspal, Grutness, PoptartKing, Binabik80, FeanorStar7, Sburke, Ortelius, AllanBz, Electionworld, Ketiltrout,
Jaraalbe, YurikBot, RussBot, Rmky87, Aldux, Emersoni, Deucalionite, Caerwine, Tomisti, Igin, AlexD, Sardanaphalus, Selfworm,
OrphanBot, KRBN, The Man in Question, Bridesmill, Cydebot, Languagehat, Deective, Goshr, Waacstats, R'n'B, Margacst, TXiKiBoT,
Nono le petit robot, SieBot, VVVBot, Gerakibot, Alfreddo, Singinglemon, Catalographer, Chronicler, Kbdankbot, Addbot, ,
Lightbot, Luckas-bot, Yobot, Piano non troppo, Erud, J04n, Omnipaedista, RjwilmsiBot, McOoee and Anonymous: 11
Echecratides Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echecratides?oldid=623376430 Contributors: Viriditas, Sandstein and Niceguyedc
Erymneus Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erymneus?oldid=627546253 Contributors: Andrewman327, LadyofShalott, Gregbard,
Waacstats, Fadesga, Eeekster, Phlar, Atethnekos, Omnipaedista, Patchy1, Pasicles and MrNiceGuy1113
Eudemus of Rhodes Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudemus%20of%20Rhodes?oldid=610709116 Contributors: Delirium, Dimadick, Peruvianllama, Klemen Kocjancic, Wareh, Hu, Woohookitty, Twthmoses, Dodo78, Jaraalbe, Alma Pater, Deucalionite, Tomisti,
Sebastianbohnen, Selfworm, Tarret, Kilo-Lima, Egsan Bacon, Doug Bell, Anlace, Aleator, Hans van Deukeren, Maestlin, Mfried60, Cydebot, Caroldermoid, Waacstats, DorganBot, Ariobarzan, Sam Blacketer, VolkovBot, Koranjem, Ontoraul, Singinglemon, DragonBot,
Catalographer, Chronicler, Kbdankbot, Addbot, Lightbot, HerculeBot, Ca$e, JackieBot, TechBot, Omnipaedista, HRoestBot, MastiBot,
EmausBot, ZroBot, Suslindisambiguator, TheJJJunk and Anonymous: 9

194.2. TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

575

Hermippus of Smyrna Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermippus%20of%20Smyrna?oldid=619171404 Contributors: Llywrch,


Delirium, Charles Matthews, Woohookitty, Jaraalbe, Tomisti, Hmains, Cydebot, Bibi Saint-Pol, Ontoraul, Kmhkmh, Singinglemon, Catalographer, Chronicler, SilvonenBot, Kbdankbot, Addbot, LaaknorBot, SamatBot, Yobot, LilHelpa, Omnipaedista, RibotBOT, Duy Bartek,
LucienBOT, ZroBot and Anonymous: 3
Hieronymus of Rhodes Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hieronymus%20of%20Rhodes?oldid=627546687 Contributors: BD2412,
Jaraalbe, Tomisti, Cydebot, Singinglemon, Catalographer, Chronicler, MystBot, Addbot, Lykos, Omnipaedista, Pollinosisss, Thespeaker8
and Davidiad
Lyco of Troas Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyco%20of%20Troas?oldid=644677778 Contributors: Delirium, Everyking, Klemen
Kocjancic, Woohookitty, Jaraalbe, Deucalionite, Tomisti, Cydebot, Waacstats, Adavidb, VolkovBot, ForeignerFromTheEast, Singinglemon,
Catalographer, Chronicler, Kbdankbot, Addbot, Lykos, Lightbot, Xqbot, Omnipaedista, Tatufan, Hamilqart, Rileystewart, TheJJJunk and
Anonymous: 3
Nicomachus (son of Aristotle) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicomachus%20(son%20of%20Aristotle)?oldid=614540732 Contributors: Delirium, Haiduc, BDD, Canadian Paul, Jaraalbe, Tomisti, Isokrates, Cydebot, Filipo, Singinglemon, Bracton, Catalographer,
Chronicler, Kbdankbot, Addbot, Yobot, Soulfare, Omnipaedista, DefaultsortBot, Pollinosisss, EmausBot, Syncategoremata, Thespeaker8,
Hmainsbot1, Makecat-bot and Anonymous: 3
Phaenias of Eresus Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phaenias%20of%20Eresus?oldid=639135152 Contributors: Magnus Manske,
GTBacchus, Wetman, CALR, DanielCD, Wareh, Woohookitty, BD2412, Jaraalbe, RussBot, Tony1, Tomisti, Bluebot, SMasters, Picaroon, Cydebot, Dsp13, Bibi Saint-Pol, Waacstats, R'n'B, Filipo, Fratrep, Niceguyedc, Singinglemon, Muro Bot, Catalographer, Chronicler,
Kbdankbot, Addbot, SpBot, Abiyoyo, Lightbot, Yobot, Xqbot, Delusion23 and Makecat-bot
Praxiphanes Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Praxiphanes?oldid=627547051 Contributors: Woohookitty, Jaraalbe, Tomisti, Cplakidas, Cydebot, Lightmouse, Singinglemon, Catalographer, Chronicler, Kbdankbot, Addbot, Omnipaedista and WikitanvirBot
Ptolemy-el-Garib Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemy-el-Garib?oldid=544994227 Contributors: Wareh, Dougweller, KConWiki, Ontoraul, Jan1nad, Singinglemon, Catalographer, Addbot, Davidiad and Anonymous: 1
Satyrus the Peripatetic Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satyrus%20the%20Peripatetic?oldid=627546583 Contributors:
Woohookitty, Sbp, Jaraalbe, Andrew Dalby, Cydebot, Biruitorul, Escarbot, Alyelle, Singinglemon, Catalographer, Oskar71, Chronicler,
Kbdankbot, Addbot, Luckas-bot, Xqbot, Omnipaedista, HRoestBot, RedBot, ZroBot, Jbribeiro1 and Anonymous: 1
Strato of Lampsacus Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strato%20of%20Lampsacus?oldid=626650992 Contributors: XJaM, Michael
Snow, WpZurp, ELApro, CDN99, VivaEmilyDavies, Adrian.benko, Woohookitty, FeanorStar7, Eras-mus, Jaraalbe, Yamara, FocalPoint, Unyoyega, JohnWheater, KRBN, Andrew Dalby, George100, Cydebot, Thijs!bot, Escarbot, Meredyth, Waacstats, Fang 23, Cyborg
Ninja, Anna Lincoln, McM.bot, Falcon8765, Fabullus, Singinglemon, Catalographer, Chronicler, MystBot, Kbdankbot, Addbot, Lightbot,
Luckas-bot, Yobot, Roltz, Rubinbot, JackieBot, Xqbot, Omnipaedista, RedBot, EmausBot, ZroBot, Cntras, Helpful Pixie Bot, BG19bot,
Markunit23, Jordan valdiviez1, Macofe and Anonymous: 15
Theophrastus Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theophrastus?oldid=638669821 Contributors: Eclecticology, Gianfranco, Leandrod,
JohnOwens, NuclearWinner, Ellywa, Djnjwd, Charles Matthews, Adam Bishop, Rbraunwa, N-true, Marshman, Wetman, Dimadick, Robbot, Stephan Schulz, Romanm, Postdlf, MPF, Curps, Yekrats, Espetkov, Almit39, El-Ahrairah, Zondor, Haiduc, Frehorse, Jnestorius,
Bill Thayer, Polylerus, Ben davison, Ciceronl, VivaEmilyDavies, Derbeth, Woohookitty, FeanorStar7, Scriberius, Sburke, Chochopk, SDC,
AllanBz, Lhademmor, Rjwilmsi, Koavf, Mahlum, FlaBot, Ben-w, Jaraalbe, YurikBot, RussBot, Luis Fernndez Garca, RJC, Aldux, Mike
Serfas, Mike Dillon, Anclation, Katieh5584, GrinBot, EncycloPetey, HeartofaDog, Durova, Bluebot, DocKrin, Colonies Chris, Skoglund,
Sumahoy, Elendil's Heir, Alexandra lb, KRBN, Vina-iwbot, Kukini, Ben Levine, Andrew Dalby, Peterlewis, Vincent Battesti, Timmeh,
Micahbode, Dr.K., JMK, Maestlin, Gregbard, Cydebot, Dougweller, 271828182, Headbomb, Nick Number, Rie, D. Webb, JAnDbot,
WANAX, Magioladitis, Meredyth, Theunrealsuperman, Waacstats, EagleFan, Peter coxhead, Marcello74, Kirakiwibug, Crvst, Keith D,
CommonsDelinker, Bogey97, Gem-fanat, Maurice Carbonaro, Johnbod, Chiswick Chap, Belovedfreak, Corriebertus, Mrmuk, Inwind,
Squids and Chips, VolkovBot, Hersfold, TXiKiBoT, Utgard Loki, Tusbra, Andreas Kaganov, Ontoraul, Pjoef, AlleborgoBot, Linguist1,
SieBot, Arkwatem, BotMultichill, Mbz1, Altzinn, SlackerMom, ClueBot, Fadesga, J8079s, Singinglemon, Enrico Dirac, DragonBot,
Alexbot, Sun Creator, Antiquary, SchreiberBike, Muro Bot, Rui Gabriel Correia, Catalographer, Asmith44, Chronicler, Kbdankbot, DannyHuttonFerris, MrR64, Addbot, Ekluf, AtheWeatherman, Tassedethe, Numbo3-bot, Lightbot, Legobot, Luckas-bot, MassimoAr, Susyfus,
DiverDave, AnomieBOT, Geriech, Soulfare, Quebec99, Xqbot, Omnipaedista, RibotBOT, Chris.urs-o, Hamamelis, Leonidas Metello,
FoxBot, TobeBot, Pollinosisss, Tom Hulse, Mean as custard, RjwilmsiBot, EmausBot, PBS-AWB, Ida Shaw, Habeeb Anju, Robshort, BajaaS, Chewings72, Cornell92, ClueBot NG, Helpful Pixie Bot, MsEightiesfan, Carjoyg, Mastacrillak, Davidiad, Jahnavisatyan, Asisman,
Makecat-bot, Josephk, GoGandhi, Henry1792, ThomasKatsaros, Wethar555 and Anonymous: 62
Ammonius of Athens Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonius%20of%20Athens?oldid=610138671 Contributors: Jumbuck,
Woohookitty, Ketiltrout, Rjwilmsi, RussBot, Connection, Hemlock Martinis, Gregbard, Cydebot, D. Webb, Kyle the bot, TXiKiBoT, GlassFET, Singinglemon, Catalographer, Addbot, Lightbot, Yobot, JackieBot, Xqbot, Omnipaedista, DefaultsortBot, MALLUS and Anonymous:
1
Aristo of Alexandria Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristo%20of%20Alexandria?oldid=612301343 Contributors: Woohookitty,
Cydebot, Singinglemon, Catalographer, Addbot, Lightbot, Luckas-bot, Omnipaedista, DefaultsortBot, ZroBot and Anonymous: 1
Aristocles of Messene Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristocles%20of%20Messene?oldid=588647518 Contributors: Charles
Matthews, Wareh, Pharos, Woohookitty, FeanorStar7, Cbustapeck, BD2412, Jaraalbe, BOT-Superzerocool, Tomisti, Hmains, Dolive21,
Sebastian Bohnen, RandomCritic, Cydebot, Escarbot, RobotG, Singinglemon, Catalographer, Kbdankbot, Addbot, Istvnka, Viking59,
XZeroBot, Omnipaedista, BenzolBot, DefaultsortBot, ChuispastonBot and Anonymous: 5
Aristotle of Mytilene Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle%20of%20Mytilene?oldid=545872784 Contributors: Hmains, Cydebot, Singinglemon, Addbot and Luckas-bot
Athenaeus Mechanicus Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athenaeus%20Mechanicus?oldid=541090641 Contributors:
Woohookitty, Cydebot, Singinglemon, Catalographer, Chronicler, Addbot, Luckas-bot, DefaultsortBot and Helpful Pixie Bot

Wareh,

Gnaeus Claudius Severus Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnaeus%20Claudius%20Severus?oldid=545838272 Contributors: Dimadick, Hmains, Cplakidas, Anriz, Cydebot, Addbot, Luckas-bot, Miyagawa, TobeBot and Anonymous: 1

576

CHAPTER 194. XENARCHUS OF SELEUCIA

Cratippus of Pergamon Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cratippus%20of%20Pergamon?oldid=638370813 Contributors: Delirium,


Bender235, Woohookitty, Deucalionite, Tomisti, Hmains, SMasters, Cydebot, Dsp13, Waacstats, Singinglemon, Catalographer, Chronicler,
Kbdankbot, Addbot, Tusculum, Tassedethe, Luckas-bot, Yobot, Omnipaedista, LucienBOT, Atlantia, Pasicles and Hmainsbot1
Diodorus of Tyre Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diodorus%20of%20Tyre?oldid=627546133 Contributors:
Delirium,
Woohookitty, Tomisti, Cydebot, Robert Daoust, Elie plus, Singinglemon, Catalographer, Chronicler, MystBot, Addbot, Omnipaedista,
Rezabot and Hmainsbot1
Herminus Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herminus?oldid=545096905 Contributors: Snowolf, Cydebot, Singinglemon, Catalographer, Addbot, Lightbot and Pollinosisss
Olympiodorus the Elder Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympiodorus%20the%20Elder?oldid=626709480 Contributors:
(aeropagitica), FeanorStar7, Tomisti, Tadorne, Gilliam, Hmains, NaySay, RandomCritic, Cydebot, Lilliputian, Bibi Saint-Pol, Alekjds,
Bapti, Fadesga, Singinglemon, Catalographer, Addbot, Sardur, Lightbot, Yobot, Omnipaedista, Laszlovszky Andrs, Thespeaker8,
Khazar2, Gierre and Anonymous: 2
Gnaeus Claudius Severus Arabianus Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnaeus%20Claudius%20Severus%20Arabianus?oldid=
614000779 Contributors: Llywrch, Eregli bob, SmackBot, Cplakidas, Racklever, Anriz, Cydebot, Saddhiyama, Felix Folio Secundus,
Addbot, D'ohBot, RjwilmsiBot, ZroBot, Hmainsbot1, Krakkos and Anonymous: 1
Sosigenes the Peripatetic Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sosigenes%20the%20Peripatetic?oldid=611596479 Contributors: XJaM,
Delirium, Marcika, Pmanderson, Wareh, Snowolf, Woohookitty, Tomisti, Hmains, Bluebot, Cydebot, Magioladitis, Alfreddo, Singinglemon, Catalographer, Addbot, Numbo3-bot, Luckas-bot, ArthurBot, ChuispastonBot, ChrisGualtieri, Library Guy and Anonymous: 3
Xenarchus of Seleucia Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenarchus%20of%20Seleucia?oldid=626747394 Contributors: Delirium,
Wareh, Woohookitty, Cydebot, R'n'B, Singinglemon, Catalographer, Kbdankbot, Addbot, EmausBot, WikitanvirBot, AvocatoBot, Stauracius and Anonymous: 2

194.2.2

Images

File:0372_-_Pavia_-_S._Pietro_-_Cripta_-_Tomba_Boezio_-_Foto_Giovanni_Dall'Orto,_Oct_17_2009.jpg
Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/0372_-_Pavia_-_S._Pietro_-_Cripta_-_Tomba_Boezio_-_Foto_Giovanni_
Dall%27Orto%2C_Oct_17_2009.jpg License: Attribution Contributors: Own work Original artist: G.dallorto
File:046CupolaSPietro.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/046CupolaSPietro.jpg License: CC BY-SA
3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: MarkusMark
File:0959_-_Keramikos_cemetery,_Athens_-_Street_of_tombs_-_Photo_by_Giovanni_Dall'Orto,_Nov_12_2009.jpg
Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/0959_-_Keramikos_cemetery%2C_Athens_-_Street_of_tombs_-_Photo_by_
Giovanni_Dall%27Orto%2C_Nov_12_2009.jpg License: Attribution Contributors: Own work Original artist: Giovanni Dall'Orto
File:161Theophrastus_161_frontespizio.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/161Theophrastus_161_
frontespizio.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: http://www.abocamuseum.it/uk/bibliothecaantiqua/Book_View.asp?Id_Book=
161&Display=P&From=S&Id_page=98935 Original artist: Henricus Laurentius (editor)
File:2004_Kln_Sarkophag_Albertus_Magnus.JPG Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/2004_K%C3%
B6ln_Sarkophag_Albertus_Magnus.JPG License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Kempf EK
File:AiKhanoumMaxim.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/AiKhanoumMaxim.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Al-Farabi.png Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Al-Farabi.png License: Public domain Contributors:
Own work Original artist: Al-Farabi
File:Al-kindi_cryptographic.png Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Al-kindi_cryptographic.png License:
Public domain Contributors: en:Image:Al-kindi_cryptographic.gif Original artist: Al-Kindi
File:Albertus_Magnus-Denkmal.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/Albertus_Magnus-Denkmal.jpg
License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Tim Bartel
File:Albertus_Magnus_Painting_by_Joos_van_Gent.jpeg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/Albertus_
Magnus_Painting_by_Joos_van_Gent.jpeg License: Public domain Contributors: Unknown Original artist: Justus van Gent (. 1460
1480)
File:Alchemy_air_symbol.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/Alchemy_air_symbol.svg License: Public
domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: Bryan Derksen
File:Alchemy_earth_symbol.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Alchemy_earth_symbol.svg License:
Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: Bryan Derksen
File:Alchemy_fire_symbol.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Alchemy_fire_symbol.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: Bryan Derksen
File:Alchemy_water_symbol.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Alchemy_water_symbol.svg License:
Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: Bryan Derksen
File:Alexander_of_Aphrodisias_de_Fato_1658_page_7.jpg
Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/
Alexander_of_Aphrodisias_de_Fato_1658_page_7.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Alexandri Aphrodisiensis - Ad Imperatores
De Fato et de eo quod nostrae potestatis est. Original artist: Alexander of Aphrodisias
File:Alexandria18.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/Alexandria18.jpg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Pakeha
File:Ambox_important.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Ambox_important.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work, based o of Image:Ambox scales.svg Original artist: Dsmurat (talk contribs)

194.2. TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

577

File:Ammonios_Hermeiou.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/Ammonios_Hermeiou.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Transferred from de.wikipedia; transferred to Commons by User:Ireas using CommonsHelper.
Original artist: Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. Original uploader was Anamnesis at de.wikipedia
File:Andrea_briosco,_aristotele_e_alessandro_di_afrodisia.JPG Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/
Andrea_briosco%2C_aristotele_e_alessandro_di_afrodisia.JPG License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: sailko
File:Andrea_di_Bonaiuto._Santa_Maria_Novella_1366-7_fresco_0001.jpg Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/
commons/1/1f/Andrea_di_Bonaiuto._Santa_Maria_Novella_1366-7_fresco_0001.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: scan
Original artist: Andrea di Bonaiuto (14* th century)
File:Arabic_aristotle.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/Arabic_aristotle.jpg License: Public domain
Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Archytas_of_Tarentum_MAN_Napoli_Inv5607.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Archytas_
of_Tarentum_MAN_Napoli_Inv5607.jpg License: CC BY 2.5 Contributors: Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) Original artist: Marie-Lan Nguyen
File:Aristosseno.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Aristosseno.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchdetail.cfm?trg=1&strucID=338476&imageid=1100826&total=1&e=r Original
artist: Guglielmo Morghen
File:Aristoteles_De_Caelo_page_1.png Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Aristoteles_De_Caelo_page_1.
png License: Public domain Contributors: http://grid.ceth.rutgers.edu/ancient/greek/aristotle_greek/ Original artist: ?
File:Aristoteles_Louvre.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/Aristoteles_Louvre.jpg License: CC BY-SA
2.5 Contributors: Eric Gaba (User:Sting), July 2005. Original artist: After Lysippos
File:Aristotelis_De_Moribus_ad_Nicomachum.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Aristotelis_De_
Moribus_ad_Nicomachum.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Aristotelis_De_anima.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Aristotelis_De_anima.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: http://www.enluminures.culture.fr/public/mistral/enlumine_fr?ACTION=CHERCHER&FIELD_98=AUTR&
VALUE_98=Johannes%20Buridanus&DOM=All&REL_SPECIFIC=1 Original artist: Johannes Buridanus
File:Aristotelous_Oikonomikos.png Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Aristotelous_Oikonomikos.png
License: Public domain Contributors: Google books Original artist: Sumptibus C.H. Walzii
File:Aristotle-constitutions-2.png Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Aristotle-constitutions-2.png License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: Aristotle's Politics Original artist: Mathieu Gauthier-Pilote (User:Mathieugp)
File:Aristotle_-_Jefferson_Building_-_Library_of_Congress.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/
Aristotle_-_Jefferson_Building_-_Library_of_Congress.jpg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Djembayz
File:Aristotle_Opera_Logica.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Aristotle_Opera_Logica.jpg License:
Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Aristotle_Physica_page_1.png Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Aristotle_Physica_page_1.png License: Public domain Contributors: http://grid.ceth.rutgers.edu/ancient/greek/aristotle_greek/ Original artist: ?
File:Aristotle_Politics_and_Poetics_Shimer_College_1973.jpg Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/
Aristotle_Politics_and_Poetics_Shimer_College_1973.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: 1973-1974 catalog of Shimer College
Original artist: Shimer College
File:Aristotle_Theophrastus_Strato_Lebiedzki_Rahl.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Aristotle_
Theophrastus_Strato_Lebiedzki_Rahl.jpg License: Public domain Contributors:
Aristotle_and_his_disciples_Lebiedzki_Rahl.jpg Original artist: Aristotle_and_his_disciples_Lebiedzki_Rahl.jpg: Eduard Lebiedzki, after a design by Karl Rahl
File:Aristotle_and_his_disciples_Lebiedzki_Rahl.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Aristotle_and_
his_disciples_Lebiedzki_Rahl.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: http://nibiryukov.narod.ru/nb_pinacoteca/nbe_pinacoteca_
artists_l.htm Original artist: Eduard Lebiedzki, after a design by Karl Rahl
File:Aristotle_in_Nuremberg_Chronicle.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/Aristotle_in_Nuremberg_
Chronicle.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Assistants_and_George_Frederic_Watts_-_Hope_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/
commons/e/eb/Assistants_and_George_Frederic_Watts_-_Hope_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg License: Public domain Contributors:
CgGv3RqPFUZk4A at Google Cultural Institute, zoom level maximum Tate Images (http://www.tate-images.com/results.asp?image=
N01640&wwwflag=3&imagepos=1) Original artist: George Frederic Watts and workshop
File:AtheneOudheid.JPG Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/61/AtheneOudheid.JPG License: Public domain
Contributors: Tekening zelf gemaakt Original artist: Napoleon Vier
File:Athens_-_Ancient_road_to_Academy_1.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/Athens_-_Ancient_
road_to_Academy_1.jpg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Tomisti
File:Athens_Plato_Academy_Archaeological_Site_2.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/Athens_
Plato_Academy_Archaeological_Site_2.jpg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Tomisti
File:AverroesAndPorphyry.JPG Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/AverroesAndPorphyry.JPG License:
Public domain Contributors: Monfredo de Monte Imperiali Liber de herbis, 14th century. Reproduction in Inventions et decouvertes
au Moyen-Age, Samuel Sadaune Original artist: Monfredo de Monte Imperiali
File:AverroesColor.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/AverroesColor.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Averroes_closeup.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/Averroes_closeup.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Unknown Original artist: Raphael

578

CHAPTER 194. XENARCHUS OF SELEUCIA

File:Avicenna.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/Avicenna.jpg License: Public domain Contributors:


http://www.berfrois.com/2013/02/how-western-europe-developed-scientific-method-christopher-beckwith/ Original artist: Beckwith
File:Avicenna_Mausoleum_interior.jpg Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Avicenna_Mausoleum_
interior.jpg License: CC BY 2.0 Contributors: originally posted to Flickr as Avicenna Mausoleum Original artist: Nick Taylor
File:Bekker_1831_page184.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/41/Bekker_1831_page184.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Benozzo_Gozzoli_-_Triumph_of_St_Thomas_Aquinas_-_WGA10334.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/
commons/2/2d/Benozzo_Gozzoli_-_Triumph_of_St_Thomas_Aquinas_-_WGA10334.jpg License:
Public domain Contributors:
Web Gallery of Art: <a href='http://www.wga.hu/art/g/gozzoli/5various/7aquinas.jpg' data-x-rel='nofollow'><img alt='Inkscape.svg'
src='//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/Inkscape.svg/20px-Inkscape.svg.png'
width='20'
height='20'
srcset='//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/Inkscape.svg/30px-Inkscape.svg.png
1.5x,
//upload.wikimedia.
org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/Inkscape.svg/40px-Inkscape.svg.png 2x' data-le-width='60' data-le-height='60' /></a>
Image <a href='http://www.wga.hu/html/g/gozzoli/5various/7aquinas.html' data-x-rel='nofollow'><img alt='Information icon.svg'
src='//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Information_icon.svg/20px-Information_icon.svg.png'
width='20'
height='20' srcset='//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Information_icon.svg/30px-Information_icon.svg.png 1.5x,
//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Information_icon.svg/40px-Information_icon.svg.png 2x' data-le-width='620'
data-le-height='620' /></a> Info about artwork Original artist: Benozzo Gozzoli
File:Benozzo_Gozzoli_004a.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Benozzo_Gozzoli_004a.jpg License:
Public domain Contributors:
The Yorck Project: 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei. DVD-ROM, 2002. ISBN
3936122202. Distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH. Original artist: Benozzo Gozzoli
File:Beryl_emeralds_cut_XH.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Beryl_emeralds_cut_XH.jpg License:
CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Bnf_lat16151_f22.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/Bnf_lat16151_f22.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Bnf_lat_9335.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/Bnf_lat_9335.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Boethius.consolation.philosophy.jpg Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/Boethius.consolation.
philosophy.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Boethius_imprisoned_Consolation_of_philosophy_1385.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/
Boethius_imprisoned_Consolation_of_philosophy_1385.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Boethius_initial_consolation_philosophy.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/Boethius_initial_
consolation_philosophy.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:By23_colophonsmaller.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/By23_colophonsmaller.jpg License:
Public domain Contributors: Incunabula Original artist: Duns Scotus's Sentences edited by Thomas Penketh (d. 1487) and Bartolomeo
Bellati (d.1479). Printed by Johannes de Colonia and Johannes Manthen in Venice in 1477
File:Canon-Avicenna.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Canon-Avicenna.jpg License: Public domain
Contributors: http://www.iptra.ir/images/docs/n00000781-r-b-015.jpg Original artist: ?
File:Canon_ibnsina_arabic.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Canon_ibnsina_arabic.jpg License: CCBY-SA-3.0 Contributors: Transferred from en.wikipedia; transferred to Commons by User:Ali Esfandiari using CommonsHelper. Original
artist: Original uploader was Danieliness at en.wikipedia
File:Canons_of_medicine.JPG Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Canons_of_medicine.JPG License: Public domain Contributors: personal picture Original artist: en:User:Zereshk
File:Carrara_7.JPG Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Carrara_7.JPG License: GFDL Contributors: Own
work Original artist: Lucarelli
File:Castello_di_Monte_San_Giovanni_Campano_9.JPG Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Castello_
di_Monte_San_Giovanni_Campano_9.JPG License: CC BY 3.0 Contributors: Transferred from it.wikipedia; transfer was stated to be
made by User:Amiens984. Original artist: Io Original uploader was Amiens984 at it.wikipedia
File:Cinnamomum_verum_-_Khlers_Medizinal-Pflanzen-182.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/
24/Cinnamomum_verum_-_K%C3%B6hler%E2%80%93s_Medizinal-Pflanzen-182.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: List of
Koehler Images Original artist: Franz Eugen Khler, Khler's Medizinal-Panzen
File:Coat_of_Arms_of_Cardinal_Francisco_de_Toledo.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Coat_of_
Arms_of_Cardinal_Francisco_de_Toledo.svg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work, PioM, AnonMoos Original artist: Ng556
File:Coat_of_arms_of_the_Holy_See.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Coat_of_arms_Holy_See.svg
License: Public domain Contributors:
Bruno Bernhard Heim, Heraldry in the Catholic Church: Its Origin, Customs and Laws (Van Duren 1978 ISBN 9780391008731), p. 54;
Original artist: F l a n k e r
File:Colliget_Auerrois_totam_medicinam_V00026_00000002.tif Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/
Colliget_Auerrois_totam_medicinam_V00026_00000002.tif License: Public domain Contributors: Available in the digital library of the
European Library of Information and Culture and uploaded in partnership (ID: V00026_00000002).
Original artist: Averroes
File:Commons-logo.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg License: ? Contributors: ? Original
artist: ?

194.2. TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

579

File:Constitution_of_Athens_BL_Papyrus_131.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/Constitution_of_


Athens_BL_Papyrus_131.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: This le has been provided by the British Library from its digital
collections.It is also made available on a British Library website. Original artist: Aristotle
File:Costantinopoli,_aristotele,_historia_animalium_e_altri_scritti,_xii_sec.,_pluteo_87,4.JPG Source: http://upload.wikimedia.
org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/Costantinopoli%2C_aristotele%2C_historia_animalium_e_altri_scritti%2C_xii_sec.%2C_pluteo_87%
2C4.JPG License: CC BY 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Sailko
File:Crisis_mdica_sobre_el_antimonio_(1701)_Diego_Mateo_Zapata.jpg Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/
commons/c/c9/Crisis_m%C3%A9dica_sobre_el_antimonio_%281701%29_Diego_Mateo_Zapata.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: http://bibliotecadigitalhispanica.bne.es/view/action/singleViewer.do?dvs=1338312392875~{}852&locale=es&VIEWER_URL=
/view/action/singleViewer.do?&DELIVERY_RULE_ID=10&frameId=1&usePid1=true&usePid2=true Original artist: Diego Mateo
Zapata
File:Crystal_Clear_app_Login_Manager_2.png Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c2/Crystal_Clear_app_Login_
Manager_2.png License: ? Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:David_-_The_Death_of_Socrates_detail.jpg Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/David_-_The_
Death_of_Socrates_detail.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: dtail driv de (detail from) : David_-_The_Death_of_Socrates.jpg
Original artist: Tableau de Charles Matthew Griego, La mort de Socrate.
File:David_Anhaght_(2).JPG Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/David_Anhaght_%282%29.JPG License:
CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Armineaghayan
File:Duns_Scotus_plaque_University_Church_Oxford.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/Duns_
Scotus_plaque_University_Church_Oxford.jpg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Kaihsu Tai
File:Edit-clear.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f2/Edit-clear.svg License: Public domain Contributors: The
Tango! Desktop Project. Original artist:
The people from the Tango! project. And according to the meta-data in the le, specically:Andreas Nilsson, and Jakub Steiner (although
minimally).
File:Egidio_-_In_secundum_librum_sententiarum_quaestiones,_1581_-_4373725_BEIC3_V00027-1_F0005.tif
Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Egidio_-_In_secundum_librum_sententiarum_quaestiones%2C_1581_-_
4373725_BEIC3_V00027-1_F0005.tif License: Public domain Contributors: Available in the digital library of the European Library of
Information and Culture and uploaded in partnership (ID: BEIC3_V00027-1_METS).
Original artist: Egidio : Romano
File:Emblem_of_the_Papacy_SE.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/Emblem_of_the_Papacy_SE.svg
License: Public domain Contributors:
File:Coat of arms Holy See.svg Original artist: Cronholm144 created this image using a le by User:Hautala - File:Emblem of Vatican City
State.svg, who had created his le using PD art from Open Clip Art Library and uploaded on 13 July 2006. User talk:F l a n k e r uploaded
this version on 19 January 2007.
File:Epicurus-PergamonMuseum.png Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Epicurus-PergamonMuseum.
png License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: Own Work (photo) Original artist: Keith Schengili-Roberts
File:Euphlyctis_hexadactylus_1831.jpg Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Euphlyctis_hexadactylus_
1831.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Illustrations de zoologie ou recueil de gures d'animaux, peintes d'aprs nature Original
artist: Ren-Primevre Lesson
File:Firenze,_alberto_magno,_de_animalibus,_1450-1500_ca._cod_fiesolano_67,_01.JPG Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.
org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/Firenze%2C_alberto_magno%2C_de_animalibus%2C_1450-1500_ca._cod_fiesolano_67%2C_01.JPG
License: CC BY 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Sailko
File:Flag_of_Armenia.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/Flag_of_Armenia.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: Own work Original artist: SKopp
File:Flag_of_Iran.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Flag_of_Iran.svg License: Public domain Contributors: URL http://www.isiri.org/portal/files/std/1.htm and an English translation / interpretation at URL http://flagspot.net/flags/ir'.html
Original artist: Various
File:Flag_of_Portugal.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Flag_of_Portugal.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: http://jorgesampaio.arquivo.presidencia.pt/pt/republica/simbolos/bandeiras/index.html#imgs Original artist: Columbano
Bordalo Pinheiro (1910; generic design); Vtor Lus Rodrigues; Antnio Martins-Tuvlkin (2004; this specic vector set: see sources)
File:Flag_of_Scotland.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/Flag_of_Scotland.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: http://kbolino.freeshell.org/svg/scotland.svg Original artist: none known
File:Flag_of_Spain.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9a/Flag_of_Spain.svg License: ? Contributors: ? Original
artist: ?
File:Flag_of_the_United_States.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a4/Flag_of_the_United_States.svg License: ?
Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Folder_Hexagonal_Icon.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/48/Folder_Hexagonal_Icon.svg License: Cc-bysa-3.0 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Fotothek_df_tg_0006472_Theosophie_\__xunadd_text_character:nN{\textasciicircum}{^}{}_Philosophie_\__xunadd_
text_character:nN{\textasciicircum}{^}{}_Sonifikation_\__xunadd_text_character:nN{\textasciicircum}{^}{}_Musik.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Fotothek_df_tg_0006472_Theosophie_%5E_Philosophie_%5E_
Source:
Sonifikation_%5E_Musik.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Deutsche Fotothek Original artist: ?
File:Fotothek_df_tg_0007129_Theosophie_\__xunadd_text_character:nN{\textasciicircum}{^}{}_Alchemie.jpg Source: http://
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/Fotothek_df_tg_0007129_Theosophie_%5E_Alchemie.jpg License: Public domain
Contributors: Deutsche Fotothek Original artist: ?

580

CHAPTER 194. XENARCHUS OF SELEUCIA

File:Four_elements_representation.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/Four_elements_representation.


svg License: Public domain Contributors: Transwikied from en:. Originally uploaded by en:User:Heron. Recompressed with OptiPNG by
Michael. Converted to SVG by tiZom Original artist: en:User:Heron
File:France_Strasbourg_Cathedral_Tympanum.jpg Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/France_
Strasbourg_Cathedral_Tympanum.jpg License: CC BY 2.5 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Rebecca Kennison
File:Francesco_Hayez_001.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/Francesco_Hayez_001.jpg License:
Public domain Contributors: The Yorck Project: 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei. DVD-ROM, 2002. ISBN 3936122202. Distributed by
DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH. Original artist: Francesco Hayez
File:Francesco_Robortello.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/Francesco_Robortello.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: http://www.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de/philo/galerie/neuzeit/image84.jpg Original artist: Unknown
File:Gloriole_blur.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Gloriole_blur.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: Eubulides
File:Gottfried_Wilhelm_von_Leibniz.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Gottfried_Wilhelm_von_
Leibniz.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: /gbrown/philosophers/leibniz/BritannicaPages/Leibniz/LeibnizGif.html Original artist:
Christoph Bernhard Francke
File:Greek_letter_uppercase_Phi.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Greek_letter_uppercase_Phi.svg
License: ? Contributors: A character from the font Linux Libertine. Original artist:
SVG by Tryphon
File:Greeks-stub-icon.png Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/Greeks-stub-icon.png License: CC-BY-SA3.0 Contributors: own work, based on Image:Crystal Clear app Login Manager.png (GFDL) and Image:Flag of Greece.png (GFDL) Original
artist: Vassia Atanassova - Spiritia
File:Hector_Cassandra_Pomarici_Santomasi.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Hector_Cassandra_
Pomarici_Santomasi.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: own work, from the Iliade exhibition at the Colosseum, September 2006
February 2007 Original artist: Jastrow
File:IbnSinaCanon1.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/IbnSinaCanon1.jpg License: Public domain
Contributors: http://portal.unesco.org/ci/photos/showphoto.php/photo/4453 Original artist: Abu Ali Ibn Sina
File:Iranian_Farabi.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/Iranian_Farabi.jpg License: Public domain
Contributors: http://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%BE%D8%B1%D9%88%D9%86%D8%AF%D9%87:138-2-Iranian_Farabi.jpg Original artist: Unknown
File:JohnDunsScotus_-_full.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/JohnDunsScotus_-_full.jpg License:
Public domain Contributors: Unknown Original artist: Justus van Gent (. 14601480)
File:John_Mair.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/John_Mair.jpg License: Public domain Contributors:
From 1954 Volume of the Innes Review, reproducing a picure of a sixteenth century woodcut Original artist: unknown
File:Justinian.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/Justinian.jpg License: Public domain Contributors:
Originally from en.wikipedia; description page is/was here. Original artist: Original uploader was Adam Bishop at en.wikipedia
File:KazakhstanP20-200Tenge-1999-donatedoy_f.jpg
Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/
KazakhstanP20-200Tenge-1999-donatedoy_f.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Ron Wise's World Paper Money [1] Original artist: (National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan) (banknote), Omer Yalcinkaya
(photo)
File:Kierkegaard_-_Philosophical_Fragments.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/Kierkegaard_-_
Philosophical_Fragments.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Kirchenfenster_Bckweiler.jpg Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Kirchenfenster_B%C3%
B6ckweiler.jpg License: CC BY-SA 2.0 Contributors: http://www.flickr.com/photos/11596438@N00/2435169073/sizes/o/in/
photostream/ Original artist: tiegeltuf
File:Libr0310.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Libr0310.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: ?
Original artist: ?
File:Libri_decem_de_iustitia_BEIC3_V00025_F0005.tif Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/Libri_
decem_de_iustitia_BEIC3_V00025_F0005.tif License: Public domain Contributors: Available in the digital library of the European
Library of Information and Culture and uploaded in partnership (ID: BEIC3_V00025_F0005).
Original artist: ?
File:Liebig_Company_Trading_Card_Ad_01.12.003_front.tif Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/
Liebig_Company_Trading_Card_Ad_01.12.003_front.tif License: Public domain Contributors: Chemical Heritage Foundation Original
artist: Unknown
File:Logic_portal.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/Logic_portal.svg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: <img alt='Mate2code.svg' src='//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b0/Mate2code.
svg/24px-Mate2code.svg.png' width='24' height='24' srcset='//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b0/Mate2code.svg/
36px-Mate2code.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b0/Mate2code.svg/48px-Mate2code.svg.png 2x'
data-le-width='360' data-le-height='360' /> mate2code
File:Lyco_Nuremberg_Chronicle.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Lyco_Nuremberg_Chronicle.jpg
License: Public domain Contributors:
Nuremberg_chronicles_f_082v_5.png Original artist: Nuremberg_chronicles_f_082v_5.png: Hartmann Schedel
File:Map_of_the_Periplus_of_the_Erythraean_Sea.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/Map_of_the_
Periplus_of_the_Erythraean_Sea.jpg License: GFDL Contributors: self-made, background topographical map from Wikipedia Commons
Image:Topographic30deg N0E60.png Original artist: PHGCOM

194.2. TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

581

File:Mateo_Zapata.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Mateo_Zapata.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Fotografa en B/N de acuarela. Original artist: Francisco Goya
File:Medieval-university.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/Medieval-university.jpg License: Public
domain Contributors: Image from: Innozence IV, Apparatus super V libros Decretalium, 296., Paris, Bibliothque de la Sorbonne, ms.
31, f. 278
This le from http://www.educ.fc.ul.pt/docentes/opombo/hfe/momentos/modelos/universidade.htm
Original artist: French school, 14th century
File:Meister_von_San_Vitale_in_Ravenna_004.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Meister_von_
San_Vitale_in_Ravenna.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: The Yorck Project: 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei. DVD-ROM,
2002. ISBN 3936122202. Distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH. Original artist: Meister von San Vitale in Ravenna
File:Mercury_symbol.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Mercury_symbol.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: Own work Original artist: Lexicon
File:Meta-moerbeke_jpeg031-part.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Meta-moerbeke_jpeg031-part.
jpg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Peter Damian
File:Monument_Avicenna_in_Qakh.JPG Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/Monument_Avicenna_in_
Qakh.JPG License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Turalhemidli
File:Naturalist_on_the_River_Amazons_figure_17.png Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Naturalist_
on_the_River_Amazons_figure_17.png License: Public domain Contributors: Scanned from The Naturalist on the River Amazons by Henry
Walter Bates, University of California Press version, published 1962. Original artist: Unknown
File:Neon_orbitals.JPG Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/Neon_orbitals.JPG License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Neoptolemos_und_Priamossohn.jpg Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/Neoptolemos_und_
Priamossohn.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Nuremberg_chronicles_f_097r_2.png Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/Nuremberg_chronicles_f_
097r_2.png License: Public domain Contributors: Own work (scan from original book) Original artist: Hartmann Schedel
File:Nuvola-inspired_File_Icons_for_MediaWiki-fileicon-doc.png Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/
Nuvola-inspired_File_Icons_for_MediaWiki-fileicon-doc.png License: LGPL Contributors: Own work Original artist: Michael180
File:Octopus3.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/Octopus3.jpg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors:
ma photo Original artist: albert kok
File:Odd_Nerdrum.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/bc/Odd_Nerdrum.jpg License: Fair use Contributors:
http://www.combustus.com/13/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Memorosa-Odd-Nerdrum-600.jpg Original artist: Original work: Odd
Nerdrum
Depiction: Odd Nerdrum
File:Office-book.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Office-book.svg License: Public domain Contributors: This and myself. Original artist: Chris Down/Tango project
File:Oman_Dhofar_Frankincense.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Oman_Dhofar_Frankincense.
jpg License: CC BY 2.5 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Eckhard Pecher
File:Opera_Logica_1578.png Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/Opera_Logica_1578.png License: Public
domain Contributors: Scan of photographic reproduction in De Methodis Libri Quatuor, Liber De Regressu (Bologna: CLUEB, 1985)
Original artist: Jacopo Zabarella
File:PD-icon.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/62/PD-icon.svg License: ? Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:P_christianity.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/P_christianity.svg License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Padlock-silver.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/Padlock-silver.svg License: CC0 Contributors:
http://openclipart.org/people/Anonymous/padlock_aj_ashton_01.svg Original artist: This image le was created by AJ Ashton. Uploaded
from English WP by User:Eleassar. Converted by User:AzaToth to a silver color.
File:Paullicalthapalustris.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Paullicalthapalustris.jpg License: Public
domain Contributors: Transferred from de.wikipedia; transfer was stated to be made by User:PHansen. Original artist: Original uploader
was Kresspahl at de.wikipedia
File:People_icon.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/People_icon.svg License: CC0 Contributors: OpenClipart Original artist: OpenClipart
File:Persian_Scholar_pavilion_in_Viena_UN_(Avicenna).jpg Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/
Persian_Scholar_pavilion_in_Viena_UN_%28Avicenna%29.jpg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist:
Yamaha5
File:Persian_Scholar_pavilion_in_Viena_UN_(Avicenna,Biruni).jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/
66/Persian_Scholar_pavilion_in_Viena_UN_%28Avicenna%2CBiruni%29.jpg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Yamaha5
File:Plato'{}s_Academy_mosaic_from_Pompeii.jpg Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Plato%27s_
Academy_mosaic_from_Pompeii.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/History/Carnegie/
plato/academy.html Original artist: Unknown

582

CHAPTER 194. XENARCHUS OF SELEUCIA

File:Plato-raphael.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Plato-raphael.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Unknown Original artist: Raphael
File:Plato_and_Aristotle_in_The_School_of_Athens,_by_italian_Rafael.jpg Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/
commons/f/ff/Plato_and_Aristotle_in_The_School_of_Athens%2C_by_italian_Rafael.jpg License: Public domain Contributors:
Original artist: Raphael
File:Plotinos.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Plotinos.jpg License: Public domain Contributors:
Ostiense Museum, Ostia Antica - ROME, Italy Original artist: Anonymous
File:Plume_pen_w.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Plume_pen_w.svg License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors:
Plume_pen_w.png Original artist: Plume_pen_w.png: notash - Delphine Mnard
File:Porphyry.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/Porphyry.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: ?
Original artist: ?
File:Portal-puzzle.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fd/Portal-puzzle.svg License: Public domain Contributors: ?
Original artist: ?
File:Question_book-new.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/99/Question_book-new.svg License: Cc-by-sa-3.0
Contributors:
Created from scratch in Adobe Illustrator. Based on Image:Question book.png created by User:Equazcion Original artist:
Tkgd2007
File:Quill_and_ink.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Quill_and_ink.svg License: CC BY-SA 2.5 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Ebrenc at Catalan Wikipedia
File:REPIN_Ivan_Terrible&Ivan.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/REPIN_Ivan_Terrible%26Ivan.
jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Dhl.net Original artist: Ilya Repin
File:Raffael_070.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/Raffael_070.jpg License: Public domain Contributors:
The Yorck Project: 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei. DVD-ROM, 2002. ISBN
3936122202. Distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH. Original artist: Raphael
File:Rembrandt_-_Aristotle_with_a_Bust_of_Homer_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/
commons/4/4c/Rembrandt_-_Aristotle_with_a_Bust_of_Homer_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg License: Public domain Contributors:
lwEkk2dA5kBGjg at Google Cultural Institute, zoom level maximum Original artist: Rembrandt
File:Rembrandt_Harmensz._van_Rijn_013.jpg
Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Rembrandt_
Harmensz._van_Rijn_013.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Unknown Original artist: Rembrandt
File:Rod_of_Asclepius2.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/Rod_of_Asclepius2.svg License: CC BYSA 3.0 Contributors: This le was derived from: Rod of asclepius.png
Original artist:
Original: CatherinMunro
File:Saint_Thomas_Aquinas_Diego_Velzquez.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Saint_Thomas_
Aquinas_Diego_Vel%C3%A1zquez.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: File:Velazquez-Oriola.jpg Original artist: Diego Velzquez
File:Salt_symbol_(alchemy).svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Salt_symbol_%28alchemy%29.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: User:ZooFari
File:Sanzio_01.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/Sanzio_01.jpg License: Public domain Contributors:
Stitched together from vatican.va Original artist: Raphael
File:Sanzio_01_Plato_Aristotle.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/Sanzio_01_Plato_Aristotle.jpg
License: Public domain Contributors: Web Gallery of Art: <a href='http://www.wga.hu/art/r/raphael/4stanze/1segnatu/1/athens1.jpg' datax-rel='nofollow'><img alt='Inkscape.svg' src='//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/Inkscape.svg/20px-Inkscape.svg.
png' width='20' height='20' srcset='//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/Inkscape.svg/30px-Inkscape.svg.png
1.5x,
//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/Inkscape.svg/40px-Inkscape.svg.png
2x'
data-le-width='60'
data-le-height='60'
/></a>
Image
<a
href='http://www.wga.hu/html/r/raphael/4stanze/1segnatu/1/athens1.html'
data-xrel='nofollow'><img alt='Information icon.svg' src='//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Information_icon.svg/
20px-Information_icon.svg.png' width='20' height='20' srcset='//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Information_
icon.svg/30px-Information_icon.svg.png
1.5x,
//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Information_icon.svg/
40px-Information_icon.svg.png 2x' data-le-width='620' data-le-height='620' /></a> Info about artwork Original artist: Raphael
File:Scientist.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Scientist.svg License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors:
Own work Original artist: Viktorvoigt
File:Seal_of_Patriarch_Michael_III_of_Anchialos.jpg Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/Seal_of_
Patriarch_Michael_III_of_Anchialos.jpg License: CC BY-SA 2.5 Contributors: CNG Original artist: User:Cplakidas (uploader)
File:Shakespeare2.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/76/Shakespeare2.jpg License: PD-US Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Simplicius_Commentary_on_Aristotle_De_Caelo.jpg
Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/
Simplicius_Commentary_on_Aristotle_De_Caelo.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: ibiblio.org Vat. gr. 254 fol. 9 recto
medbio03 NAN.12 Original artist: Simplicius of Cilicia, copied in the 14th century
File:Socrates.png Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/Socrates.png License: Public domain Contributors:
Originally from en.wikipedia; description page is/was here. Original artist: Original uploader was Magnus Manske at en.wikipedia Later
versions were uploaded by Optimager at en.wikipedia.

194.2. TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

583

File:Socrates_Louvre.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/Socrates_Louvre.jpg License: CC BY-SA 2.5


Contributors: Eric Gaba (User:Sting), July 2005. Original artist: Copy of Lysippos (?)
File:Socrates_thumb.png Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/Socrates_thumb.png License: Public domain
Contributors: Transferred from en.wikipedia; transferred to Commons by User:Sreejithk2000 using CommonsHelper. Original artist: Jiy
at en.wikipedia
File:Spangenberg_-_Schule_des_Aristoteles.jpg Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/Spangenberg_-_
Schule_des_Aristoteles.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Speaker_Icon.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Speaker_Icon.svg License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Sphaera_Civitatis.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3a/Sphaera_Civitatis.jpg License: PD-US Contributors:
? Original artist: ?
File:St._Thomas_Aquinas_Confounding_Averroes.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/St._Thomas_
Aquinas_Confounding_Averroes.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Saint Louis Art Museum ocial site Original artist: Giovanni
di Paolo
File:StJohnsAshfield_StainedGlass_GoodShepherd_Portrait_cropped.jpg Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/
commons/8/89/StJohnsAshfield_StainedGlass_GoodShepherd_Portrait_cropped.jpg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors:
StJohnsAsheld_StainedGlass_GoodShepherd.png Original artist: StJohnsAsheld_StainedGlass_GoodShepherd.png: Stained glass: Alfred Handel, d. 1946[2], photo:Toby Hudson
File:Strato_Nuremberg_Chronicle.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Strato_Nuremberg_Chronicle.
jpg License: Public domain Contributors:
Nuremberg_chronicles_f_082v_4.png Original artist: Nuremberg_chronicles_f_082v_4.png: Hartmann Schedel
File:Sulphur.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Sulphur.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Transferred from en.wikipedia Original artist: Original uploader was Frater5 at en.wikipedia
File:Symbol_list_class.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/db/Symbol_list_class.svg License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:TajikistanP17-20Somoni-1999(2000)-donatedsb_f.jpg
Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/
TajikistanP17-20Somoni-1999%282000%29-donatedsb_f.jpg License: Public domain Contributors:
(National Bank of Tajikistan) Original artist: (National Bank of Tajikistan) (banknote), Steve Burke [1]
(photo)
File:Teofrasto_Orto_botanico_detail.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Teofrasto_Orto_botanico_
detail.jpg License: CC BY-SA 2.5 Contributors:
Teofrasto_Orto_botanico_PA.jpg Original artist: Teofrasto_Orto_botanico_PA.jpg: tato grasso
File:Text_document_with_red_question_mark.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/Text_document_
with_red_question_mark.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Created by bdesham with Inkscape; based upon Text-x-generic.svg
from the Tango project. Original artist: Benjamin D. Esham (bdesham)
File:Theodore_Metochites_in_the_Dedication_Mosaic_at_Chora_Church.jpg Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/
commons/c/c2/Theodore_Metochites_in_the_Dedication_Mosaic_at_Chora_Church.jpg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own
work Original artist: Jos Luiz
File:Theophrastus.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Theophrastus.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Theophrastus_Nuremberg_Chronicle.jpg Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Theophrastus_
Nuremberg_Chronicle.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: http://www.beloit.edu/nuremberg/book/images/People/Classical/
Original artist: Nuremberg Chronicle
File:Theory_of_impetus.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/Theory_of_impetus.svg License: CC0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Krishnavedala
File:Thomas_Aquinas_in_Stained_Glass.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Thomas_Aquinas_in_
Stained_Glass.jpg License: CC BY-SA 2.0 Contributors: Flickr Original artist: e3000
File:Thomas_von_Aquin_17th_century_sculpture.jpeg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Thomas_von_
Aquin_17th_century_sculpture.jpeg License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: Self-photographed Original artist: User:Svencb
File:Tomus_sextus_operum_Aristotelis_Stagiritae_V00235_00000004.tif Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/
3/37/Tomus_sextus_operum_Aristotelis_Stagiritae_V00235_00000004.tif License: Public domain Contributors: Available in the digital
library of the European Library of Information and Culture and uploaded in partnership (ID: V00235_00000004).
Original artist: Meteorolo
File:Torpedo_fuscomaculata2.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/Torpedo_fuscomaculata2.jpg License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Tower_of_the_Great_Mosque_of_Kairouan.JPG Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Tower_of_the_
Great_Mosque_of_Kairouan.JPG License: CC BY-SA 2.0 de Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Triakis_semifasciata.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/Triakis_semifasciata.jpg License: Public
domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Uni_Freiburg_-_Philosophen_4.jpg
Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Uni_Freiburg_-_
Philosophen_4.jpg License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: Own work (eigenes Bild) Original artist: Cipri Adolf Bermann
File:Vincenzo_onofri,_sant'alberto_magno,_1493.JPG Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Vincenzo_
onofri%2C_sant%27alberto_magno%2C_1493.JPG License: CC BY 2.5 Contributors: Own work Original artist: sailko

584

CHAPTER 194. XENARCHUS OF SELEUCIA

File:Wiki_letter_w.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6c/Wiki_letter_w.svg License: Cc-by-sa-3.0 Contributors: ?


Original artist: ?
File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg License:
CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors:
Wiki_letter_w.svg Original artist: Wiki_letter_w.svg: Jarkko Piiroinen
File:Wikiquote-logo.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Wikiquote-logo.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Wikisource-logo.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg License: CC BY-SA 3.0
Contributors: Rei-artur Original artist: Nicholas Moreau
File:Wikiversity-logo-Snorky.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Wikiversity-logo-en.svg License: CC
BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Snorky
File:Wikiversity-logo.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/Wikiversity-logo.svg License: CC BY-SA 3.0
Contributors: Snorky (optimized and cleaned up by verdy_p) Original artist: Snorky (optimized and cleaned up by verdy_p)
File:Wiktionary-logo-en.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Wiktionary-logo-en.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Vector version of Image:Wiktionary-logo-en.png. Original artist: Vectorized by Fvasconcellos (talk contribs), based
on original logo tossed together by Brion Vibber
File:William_of_Ockham_-_Logica_-_1341.jpg Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/William_of_
Ockham_-_Logica_-_1341.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Young_Spartans_National_Gallery_NG3860.jpg Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/Young_
Spartans_National_Gallery_NG3860.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: National Potrait Gallery Original artist: Edgar Degas
File:__(__).jpg Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/%D0%
A4%D0%B0%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B5_%D1%87%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%82%D0%
B8_%D0%9B%D0%9F%28%D0%B8%D0%B7_%D0%B8%D0%B7%D0%B4_%D0%9A%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BE%
D0%BD%D0%B0%29.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: ARISTOTLE ON THE ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION TRANSLATED
WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES By F. G. KENYON, London, 1891. http://www.archive.org/details/aristotleonathen00arisrich
Original artist: Unknown

194.2.3

Content license

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0

You might also like