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