Aristotle (384-322)

Unlike the work of Plato, his so-called “exoteric” works, addressed to the general public, have been lost and only a few fragments remain. Instead, we have bequeathed the “esoteric” works that he developed for his courses, doors inside the Lyceum.

Andronicus of Rhodes, around 60 B.C. made a compilation of Aristotle's works. The work of organizing the work led to the assumption that Aristotle had been a systematic thinker who developed a definite thought from the first works. In this way, it is counterbalanced with Plato, whose work shows a permanent evolutionary process. It was only in the 20th century that W Jaeger demonstrated that this had not been the case and that, on the contrary, Aristotle's thought was also the product of an evolutionary process. Like Plato, Aristotle was a permanent seeker and always open to reviewing his own ideas.

The classification of Andronicus of Rhodes

Logical Treatises:

Categories, About Interpretation, Analytical, Topical, Ssophistic Refutations.

Physical Treatises:

Physics (eight treatises), About Heaven, About Generation and Corruption, Meterological, About Soul, History of Animals, About Parts of Animals.

“Metaphysics” treatises:

Catroce treatises on the “first philosphophy” and that Andronicus decided to place behind the physicists (hence his name): meta ta physika

Ethical Treatios:

Ethics to Eudemo, Ethics to Nicomaco, Great morale and Politics.

Rhetoric and Poetics (incomplete)

The Lyceum, the Aristotle Project

Unlike Plato, whose work had a clear moral and political intent, Aristotle's project has a scientific objective. These motivations were theoretical:

  1. Adjusting the deficiencies in the Platonic theory of Ideas: Aristotle may have sought to perfect Platonism definitively (as opposed to the mathematical versions of Eupeusipus and Jenocrates).

  2. Develop a method: continuing the tradition of the Jonian philosophers, interest is focused on the empirical.

por Graciela Paula Caldeiro