Works of Aristotle
The works of Aristotle, sometimes referred to by modern scholars with the Latin phrase Corpus Aristotelicum, is the collection of Aristotle's works that have survived from antiquity.
According to a distinction that originates with Aristotle himself,[
Not all of these works are considered genuine, but differ with respect to their connection to Aristotle, his associates and his views. Some are regarded by most scholars as products of Aristotle's "school" and compiled under his direction or supervision. Other works, such as On Colors, may have been products of Aristotle's successors at the Lyceum, e.g.,
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 Δ, the physical works, the Ethics, and the rest of the Metaphysics.[5] Many modern scholars however, based simply on lack of evidence, are skeptical of such attempts to determine the chronological order of Aristotle's writings.[6]
History of the works
According to Strabo and Plutarch, after Aristotle's death, his library of writings went to Theophrastus (Aristotle's successor as head of the Lyceum and the Peripatetic school).[7] After the death of Theophrastus, the peripatetic library went to Neleus of Scepsis.[8]: 5
Some time later, the
Apellicon sought to recover the texts, many of which were seriously degraded at this point due to the conditions in which they were stored. He had them copied out into new manuscripts, and used his best guesswork to fill in the gaps where the originals were unreadable.[8]: 5–6
When Sulla seized Athens in 86 BCE, he seized the library and transferred it to Rome. There, Andronicus of Rhodes organized the texts into the first complete edition of Aristotle's works (and works attributed to him).[9] The Aristotelian texts we have today are based on these.[8]: 6–8
Aristotle's works by 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, 1831–1870). They take their name from the editor of that edition, the classical philologist August Immanuel Bekker (1785–1871).
Key
| ||||||
Bekker
number |
Work | Latin name | ||||
Logic | ||||||
Organon | ||||||
1a | Categories | Categoriae | ||||
16a | On Interpretation | De Interpretatione | ||||
24a | Prior Analytics | Analytica Priora | ||||
71a | Posterior Analytics | Analytica Posteriora | ||||
100a | Topics | Topica | ||||
164a | On Sophistical Refutations
|
De Sophisticis Elenchis | ||||
Physics (natural philosophy) | ||||||
184a | Physics | Physica | ||||
268a | On the Heavens | De Caelo | ||||
314a | On Generation and Corruption | De Generatione et Corruptione | ||||
338a | Meteorology | Meteorologica | ||||
391a | [On the Universe] | [De Mundo] | ||||
402a | On the Soul | De Anima | ||||
Parva Naturalia ("Little Physical Treatises") | ||||||
436a | Sense and Sensibilia | De Sensu et Sensibilibus | ||||
449b | On Memory | De Memoria et Reminiscentia | ||||
453b | On Sleep | De Somno et Vigilia | ||||
458a | On Dreams | De Insomniis | ||||
462b | On Divination in Sleep | De Divinatione per Somnum | ||||
464b | On Length and Shortness of Life |
De Longitudine et Brevitate Vitae | ||||
467b | On Youth, Old Age, Life and Death, and Respiration |
De Juventute et Senectute, De Vita et Morte, De Respiratione | ||||
481a | [On Breath] | [De Spiritu] | ||||
486a | History of Animals | Historia Animalium | ||||
639a | Parts of Animals | De Partibus Animalium | ||||
698a | Movement of Animals | De Motu Animalium | ||||
704a | Progression of Animals | De Incessu Animalium | ||||
715a | Generation of Animals | De Generatione Animalium | ||||
791a | [On Colors] | [De Coloribus] | ||||
800a | [On Things Heard] | [De audibilibus] | ||||
805a | [Physiognomonics] | [Physiognomonica] | ||||
815a | [On Plants] | [De Plantis] | ||||
830a | [On Marvellous Things Heard] | [De mirabilibus auscultationibus] | ||||
847a | [Mechanics] | [Mechanica] | ||||
859a | Problems* | Problemata* | ||||
968a | [On Indivisible Lines] | [De Lineis Insecabilibus] | ||||
973a | [The Situations and Names of Winds] |
[Ventorum Situs] | ||||
974a | [On Melissus, Xenophanes, and Gorgias] |
[De Melisso, Xenophane, Gorgia] | ||||
Metaphysics | ||||||
980a | Metaphysics | Metaphysica | ||||
Ethics and politics | ||||||
1094a | Nicomachean Ethics | Ethica Nicomachea | ||||
1181a | Great Ethics* | Magna Moralia* | ||||
1214a | Eudemian Ethics | Ethica Eudemia | ||||
1249a | [On Virtues and Vices] | [De Virtutibus et Vitiis Libellus] | ||||
1252a | Politics | Politica | ||||
1343a | Economics* | Oeconomica* | ||||
Rhetoric and poetics | ||||||
1354a | Rhetoric | Ars Rhetorica | ||||
1420a | [Rhetoric to Alexander] | [Rhetorica ad Alexandrum] | ||||
1447a | Poetics | Ars Poetica |
Fragments
Surviving fragments of the many lost works of Aristotle were included in the fifth volume of Bekker's edition, edited by
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. 2384–2465. A new translation exists of the fragments of Aristotle's Protrepticus, by Hutchinson and Johnson (2015).[12]
The works surviving only in fragments include the dialogues On Philosophy (or On the Good), Eudemus (or On the Soul), On Justice, and On Good Birth. The possibly spurious work, On Ideas survives in quotations by Alexander of Aphrodisias in his commentary on Aristotle's Metaphysics. For the dialogues, see also the editions of Richard Rudolf Walzer, Aristotelis Dialogorum fragmenta, in usum scholarum (Florence 1934), and Renato Laurenti, Aristotele: I frammenti dei dialoghi (2 vols.), Naples: Luigi Loffredo, 1987.
Printed editions
Aristotle's works have been published in many printed editions, either as complete editions of all surviving writings or as partial collections. English complete editions include:
- W. D. Ross translation, 12 vols. (Oxford University Press, 1955)
- Jonathan Barnes translation, 2 vols., 1984
Notes
- ^ Barnes 1995, p. 12; Aristotle himself: Nicomachean Ethics 1102a26–27. Aristotle himself never uses the term "esoteric" or "acroamatic". For other passages where Aristotle speaks of exōterikoi logoi, see W. D. Ross, Aristotle's Metaphysics (1953), vol. 2, pp. 408–410. Ross defends an interpretation according to which the phrase, at least in Aristotle's own works, usually refers generally to "discussions not peculiar to the Peripatetic school", rather than to specific works of Aristotle's own.
- ^ House, Humphry (1956). Aristotles Poetics. p. 35.
- ^ Barnes 1995, p. 12.
- ISBN 0-8014-2688-X. p. 15
- ^ W. D. Ross, Aristotle's Metaphysics (1953), vol. 1, p. lxxxii. By the "physical works", Ross means the Physics, On the Heavens, On Generation and Corruption, and the Meteorology; see Ross, Aristotle's Physics (1936), p. 3.
- ^ E.g., Barnes 1995, pp. 18–22.
- ^ Strabo. Historical Sketches. Vol. XIII.
- Plutarch. "Life of Sulla". Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans.
- ^ a b c d e Aristotle (1885). "On the Nicomachean Ethics, in relation to the other Ethical Writings included among the Works of Aristotle". In Grant, Alexander (ed.). The Ethics of Aristotle, Illustrated with Essays and Notes. Vol. 1 (4th ed.). Longmans, Green & Co.
- ^ Porphyry. The Life of Plotinus. 24.
- ^ Laërtius, Diogenes. "V. Aristotle". The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers.
- ^ "CU-Boulder Expert Wins $75,000 Award For Research On Aristotle," Archived 2016-04-18 at the Wayback Machine University of Colorado Office of News Services, December 14, 2005.
- ^ D. S. Hutchinson & Monte Ransome Johnson (25 January 2015). "New Reconstruction, includes Greek text".
Sources
- Works cited
- Barnes, Jonathan (1995). "Life and Work". The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle.
- Lynch, John Patrick (1972). Aristotle's School: a Study of a Greek Educational Institution. University of California Press.
- Novak, Joseph A. (2001). "Abduction and Aristotle's Library" (PDF). Scholarship at Uwindsor.
- Watson, Walter (2012). The Lost Second Book of Aristotle's Poetics. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226875101.
External links
- Aristotle's theory of state
- The Ancient Catalogues of Aristotle's Writings. A Survey of Current Research
- The Rediscovery of the Corpus Aristotelicum with an annotated bibliography
- Bekker's Prussian Academy of Sciences edition of the complete works of Aristotle at Archive.org
- Lazaris, S. "L’image paradigmatique: des 'Schémas anatomiques' d’Aristote au 'De materia medica' de Dioscoride", Pallas, 93 (2013), p. 131-164 ext. link
- Oxford Translation of The Works of Aristo
tle at Archive.org