Commentaries on Aristotle

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One of Thomas Aquinas' commentaries on Aristotle. This edition dates from 1595. The page depicts Aristotle himself

Commentaries on Aristotle refers to the great mass of literature produced, especially in the ancient and medieval world, to explain and clarify 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.

Greek commentators

The first pupils of Aristotle commentated on his writings, but often with a view to expand his work. Thus Theophrastus invented five moods of syllogism in the first figure, in addition to the four invented by Aristotle, and stated with additional accuracy the rules of hypothetical syllogisms. He also often differed with his master,[1] including in collecting much information concerning animals and natural events, which Aristotle had omitted.

During the early

Roman empire we find few celebrated names among the Peripatetic philosophers. Nicolaus of Damascus wrote several treatises on the philosophy of Aristotle; and Alexander of Aegae also wrote commentaries on Aristotle.[2] The earliest commentaries which survive, are those written in the 2nd century by Adrastus and Aspasius.[3] Alexander of Aphrodisias (c. 200) was regarded by subsequent Aristotelians among the Greeks, Latins, and Muslims, as the best interpreter of Aristotle. On account of the number and value of his commentaries, he was called, by way of distinction, "The Commentator". Several of his works are still extant, among which is a treatise On Fate, wherein he supports the doctrine of divine providence.[2]

Many 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]

In the 6th century,

Caliph, but afterwards withdrew to a monastery.[1]

Islamic commentators

Further information: Aristotelianism § Islamic_world

In the 9th century, the Platonising school of Thābit 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]

Latin West following the Latin translations of the 12th and 13th centuries.[5]

Byzantine commentators

The line of the Aristotelian commentators was continued to the later ages of the

Nicephorus Blemmydes wrote logical and physical epitomes for the use of John III Doukas Vatatzes; 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. In the post-Byzantine period, one of the most important Aristotelian commentators is Theophilos Corydalleus
.

One Byzantine-era commentator, Allīnūs, is known only from citations and excerpts in Arabic sources.[6]

Commentators in the Latin West

Scholastic philosophy in the Latin West was decisively shaped when the works of Aristotle became widely available, at first 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. On this basis, 14th -century scholar Nicole Oresme translated Aristotle's moral works into French and wrote extensive comments on them.

Lists and indices of commentaries

A list of Medieval and Renaissance commentaries on all of Aristotle's works has been compiled by Charles H. Lohr:[7]

  • 1967: “Medieval Aristotle Commentaries: Authors A-F”, Traditio, 23, 313-413.
  • 1968: “Medieval Aristotle Commentaries: Authors G-I”, Traditio, 24, 149-245.
  • 1970: "Medieval Aristotle Commentaries: Authors Jacobus-Johannes Juff", Traditio, 26, 135-216.
  • 1971: "Medieval Aristotle Commentaries: Authors Johannes de Kanthi–Myngodus", Traditio, 27, 251-351.
  • 1972: "Medieval Aristotle Commentaries: Authors Narcissus–Richardus", Traditio, 28, 281-396.
  • 1973: "Medieval Aristotle Commentaries: Authors Robertus–Wilgelmus", 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, 228-289.
  • 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.
  • 1979: "Renaissance Latin Aristotle Commentaries: Authors N-Ph", Renaissance Quarterly, 32, 529-580.
  • 1980: "Renaissance Latin Aristotle Commentaries: Authors Pi-Sm", Renaissance Quarterly, 33, 623-734.
  • 1982: "Renaissance Latin Aristotle Commentaries: Authors So-Z", Renaissance Quarterly, 35, 164-256.

The articles are reprinted in the following volumes by Charles H. Lohr:

  • Latin Aristotle Commentaries. I.1. Medieval Authors. A-L (Corpus Philosophorum Medii Aevi. Subsidia, 17), Firenze: Sismel Edizioni del Galluzzo, 2013.
  • Latin Aristotle Commentaries. I.2. Medieval Authors. M-Z (Corpus Philosophorum Medii Aevi. Subsidia, 18), Firenze: Sismel Edizioni del Galluzzo, 2010.
  • Latin Aristotle Commentaries. II. Renaissance Authors (Corpus Philosophorum Medii Aevi. Subsidia, 6), Firenze: Leo S. Olschki, 1988.
  • Latin Aristotle Commentaries. III. Index initiorum - Index finium (Corpus Philosophorum Medii Aevi. Subsidia, 10), Firenze: Leo S. Olschki, 1988.
  • Latin Aristotle Commentaries. V. Bibliography of Secondary Literature (Corpus Philosophorum Medii Aevi. Subsidia, 15), Firenze: Sismel Edizioni del Galluzzo, 2005.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Brucker 1837, pages 349-53
  2. ^ a b c d e Whewell 1837, pages 271-5
  3. ^ a b c d e Sorabji 1998, pages 435-7
  4. ^ a b c Hegel 1896, pages 34-5
  5. ^ a b Grant 1996, page 30
  6. ^ Walzer 1962, pages 75–76
  7. ^ Heinrich Kuhn, "Aristotelianism in the Renaissance," Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy accessed September 22, 2009.

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 Institutional and Intellectual Contexts, page 30. Cambridge University Press
  • Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, (1896), Lectures on the History of Philosophy, Part Two. Philosophy of the Middle Ages, pages 34–35
  • S. M. Stern; Albert Hourani; Vivian Brown (eds.), Islamic Philosophy and the Classical Tradition: Essays Presented by His Friends and Pupils to Richard Walzer on His Seventieth Birthday
    , University of South Carolina Press, pp. 337–349    .
  • Richard Sorabji, "Aristotle Commentators" entry in Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy (1998)
  • Richard Walzer
    (1962), "New Light on the Arabic Translations of Aristotle", Greek into Arabic; Essays on Islamic Philosophy, Harvard University Press, pp. 60–113    .
  • William Whewell, (1837), History of the Inductive Sciences: From the Earliest to the Present Times, pages 271-5

Further reading

  • Fabrizio Amerini, Gabriele Galluzzo (eds.), (2013), A Companion to the Latin Medieval Commentaries on Aristotle's Metaphysics, Leiden-Boston: Brill.
  • Andrea Falcon (ed.), (2016), Brill’s Companion to the Reception of Aristotle in Antiquity, Leiden-Boston: Brill.
  • Roy K. Gibson, Christina Shuttleworth Kraus, (eds,), (2002), The Classical Commentary: Histories, Practices, Theory, Leiden-Boston: 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 Influence, 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.

External links

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