Alexander of Aphrodisias

Alexander von Aphrodisias with Aristotle (from Stageira) in a relief representation of Andrea Briosco from the 16th century, today in the Berlin Bode-Museum

Alexander of Aphrodisias (Greek Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Ἀφροδισιεύς Aléxandros ho Aphrodisieús , Latin Titus Aurelius Alexander ) was an ancient philosopher who lived around 200 AD. He belonged to the group of the peripatetic .

Life

Alexander came from the city of Aphrodisias in the southwest of Asia Minor and lived at the turn of the 2nd to the 3rd century. He studied and taught first in Aphrodisias and became a student of Herminos , Sosigenes the Peripatetic and Aristotle of Mytilene . Between 198 and 211 he was called to teach at the Athens Peripatetic School. He was one of the best-known peripatetics and is considered the most important and powerful Aristotle commentator of antiquity (his honorary name was "Commentator").

Works

Commentaria in Analytica priora Aristotelis , 1549

Comments on the topic , the Analytica priora , De sensu et sensibilibus , the Meteorologica and the metaphysics have been preserved . A comment on the Sophistici elenchi previously attributed to him is inauthentic . He also wrote treatises on the soul , fate, ethics and natural history. Some of his writings are only preserved in Arabic translations.

His work On Fate was dedicated to the emperor Septimius Severus and his co-regent Caracalla , as thanks for the appointment to the Aristotelian chair in Athens . This means that the creation of this work can be narrowed down to the period between 198 and 209.

Teaching

Alexander was the first to use the term “ logic ” for the teaching of correct reasoning. Aristotle, who is considered the founder of logic, used the term "analytics" for it.

In the syllogistics Alexander set up the theory of figure formation. It says that the second and third figures were created by converting a premise from the first figure. The properties of the modes of the first figure were transferred to the modes of the other figures. With this theory Alexander ties in with an approach in the Analytica priora of Aristotle; the theory does not yet exist in Aristotle. It was represented by the later Peripatetics, especially Themistius , while the Neoplatonists disagreed.

Alexander stayed away from the syncretism of his time and advocated a “pure”, naturalistic Aristotelianism that went as far as denying the immortality of the soul. The objects or things were for him original and the names or concepts only as abstractions derived from them . In the medieval dispute about universals he was therefore regarded as a representative of nominalism.

Between the two extreme points of view, according to which fate is unchangeable from the start ( fatalism ) or everything is just pure chance or arbitrariness, he tries to develop an independent, middle, Aristotelian position on fate and human control.

reception

Double rainbow with Alexander's dark ribbon

A dark area of the rainbow (between the main and secondary rainbow ) was named in his honor of Alexander's dark ribbon .

expenditure

Alexandri in Aristotelis analyticorum priorum librum I commentarium , ed. Max Wallies , Reimer, Berlin 1883
Alexandri Aphrodisiensis in Aristotelis metaphysica commentaria , ed. Michael Hayduck , Reimer, Berlin 1891
Alexandri in Aristotelis meteorologicorum libros commentaria , ed. Michael Hayduck, Reimer, Berlin 1899
Alexandri in librum de sensu commentarium , ed. Paul Wendland , Reimer, Berlin 1901
Alexandri Aphrodisiensis in Aristotelis topicorum libros octo commentaria , ed. Max Wallies, Reimer, Berlin 1891 ( digitized from Gallica )
Alexandri Aphrodisiensis praeter commentaria scripta minora: De anima liber cum mantissa , ed. Ivo Bruns , Reimer, Berlin 1887 ( digitized at Gallica ; limited preview in Google Book Search - USA )
Alexandri Aphrodisiensis praeter commentaria scripta minora: Quaestiones, De fato, De mixtione , ed. Ivo Bruns, Reimer, Berlin 1892 ( digitized by Gallica )

Translations

German

The fate , trans. by Andreas Zierl , Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1995, ISBN 3-05-002303-1 (non-critical edition of the Greek text with translation and commentary)
Helmut Gätje : The Arabic translation of the writing of Alexander von Aphrodisias about the color . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht , Göttingen 1967.

English

Ethical Problems , trans. by Robert W. Sharples , Cornell University Press, Ithaca (NY) 1990, ISBN 0-8014-2267-1 .
On Aristotle, Metaphysics 1 , trans. by William E. Dooley, Duckworth, London 1989, ISBN 0-7156-2243-9 .
On Aristotle, Metaphysics 2 & 3 , trans. by William E. Dooley and Arthur Madigan, Cornell University Press, Ithaca (NY) 1992, ISBN 0-8014-2740-1 .
On Aristotle, Metaphysics 4 , trans. by Arthur Madigan, Duckworth, London 1993, ISBN 0-7156-2482-2 .
On Aristotle, Metaphysics 5 , trans. by William E. Dooley, Duckworth, London 1993, ISBN 0-7156-2483-0 .
On Aristotle's Meteorology 4 , trans. by Eric Lewis, Cornell University Press, Ithaca (NY) 1996, ISBN 0-8014-3225-1 .
On Aristotle, On Coming-to-Be and Perishing , trans. by Emma Gannagé , Duckworth, London 2005. ISBN 0-7156-3303-1 .
On Aristotle, On Sense Perception , trans. by Alan Towey, Duckworth, London 2000, ISBN 0-7156-2899-2 .
On Aristotle, Topics 1 , trans. by Johannes M. Van Ophuijsen, Duckworth, London 2001. ISBN 0-7156-2853-4 .
Quaestiones 1.1-2.15 , trans. by Robert W. Sharples, Duckworth, London 1992, ISBN 0-7156-2372-9 .
Quaestiones 2.16-3.15 , trans. by Robert W. Sharples, Duckworth, London 1994, ISBN 0-7156-2615-9 .
Supplement to On the Soul , trans. by Robert W. Sharples, Duckworth, London 2004, ISBN 0-7156-3236-1 .
On Aristotle, Prior Analytics 1.1-7 , trans. by Jonathan Barnes u. a., Duckworth, London 1991, ISBN 0-7156-2347-8 .
On Aristotle, Prior Analytics 1.8-13 (with 1.17,36b35-37a31) , trans. by Ian Mueller and Josiah Gould, Duckworth, London 1999, ISBN 0-7156-2855-0 .
On Aristotle, Prior Analytics 1.14-22 , trans. by Ian Mueller and Josiah Gould, Duckworth, London 1999, ISBN 0-7156-2876-3 .
On Aristotle, Prior Analytics 1.23-31 , trans. by Ian Mueller, Cornell University Press, Ithaca (NY) 2006, ISBN 978-0-8014-4442-5 .
On Aristotle, Prior Analytics 1.32-46 , trans. by Ian Mueller, Duckworth, London 2006, ISBN 0-7156-3408-9 .

French

Alexandre d'Aphrodise, Traité du destin . Texts établi et traduit by Pierre Thillet . Les Belles Lettres, 1984.
Alexandre d'Aphrodise, Traité de la providence . Version arabe d'Abū Bišr Mattā ibn Yūnus éd. by Pierre Thillet. 1979, reprinted in Verdier, 2003.

Italian

Fazzo, Silvia and Zonta, Mauro. Alessandro di Afrodisia. La provvidenza, Questioni sulla provvidenza. A cura di S. Fazzo, traduzione dal greco di S. Fazzo, traduzione dall'arabo di M. Zonta, Milano: Rizzoli (BUR), 1998. [with text edition]

Latin (medieval)

Commentaire sur les Météores d'Aristote, traduction de Guillaume de Moerbeke , ed. Alfons J. Smet, Publications Universitaires, Louvain 1968 (critical edition of the Latin translation by Wilhelm von Moerbeke )

literature

Overview representations

Richard Goulet, Maroun Aouad: Alexandros d'Aphrodisias . In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques , Vol. 1, CNRS, Paris 1989, ISBN 2-222-04042-6 , pp. 125-139; Addendum by Silvia Fazzo in the volume Supplément , Paris 2003, ISBN 2-271-06175-X , pp. 61–70.
Gundolf Keil : Alexander of Aphrodisias. In: Werner E. Gerabek u. a. (Ed.): Encyclopedia of medical history. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-015714-4 , p. 31.
Inna Kupreeva: Alexander of Aphrodisias. In: Christoph Riedweg et al. (Hrsg.): Philosophy of the imperial era and late antiquity (= outline of the history of philosophy . The philosophy of antiquity. Volume 5/1). Schwabe, Basel 2018, ISBN 978-3-7965-3698-4 , pp. 386–405, 442–450
Robert W. Sharples : Alexandros 26. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 1, Metzler, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-476-01471-1 , Sp. 480-482.

Investigations

Kevin L. Flannery: Ways into the Logic of Alexander of Aphrodisias . Brill, Leiden 1995, ISBN 90-04-09998-0
Andree Hahmann: What is free will? Alexander of Aphrodisias on fate . Tectum, Marburg 2005
Gili Luca: La sillogistica di Alessandro di Afrodisia. Sillogistica categorica e sillogistica modale nel commento agli "Analitici Primi" di Aristotle . Olms, Hildesheim 2011, ISBN 978-3-487-14614-0
Paul Moraux : Aristotelianism among the Greeks from Andronikos to Alexander of Aphrodisias , Volume 3: Alexander of Aphrodisias . De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2001, ISBN 3-11-016822-7
Silvia Fazzo : Aporia e sistema. La materia, la forma, il divino nelle Quaestiones di Alessandro di Afrodisi a, “Pubblicazioni della Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia dell'Università di Pavia”, 97, Edizioni ETS, Pisa 2002, ISBN 978-88-467-0439-9 .
Silvia Fazzo, Mauro Zonta: The first account of Aristotle's Metaphysics in fourteen books: Alexander of Aphrodisias' 'Fragment Zero' . In: Rivista di Filosofia Neo-Scolastica , ISSN 0035-6247 , 4 (2016), pp. 985-995.

Web links

Literature by and about Alexander von Aphrodisias in the catalog of the German National Library
Works by and about Alexander von Aphrodisias in the German Digital Library
Dorothea Frede : Entry in Edward N. Zalta (Ed.): Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy .
De intellectu ( Memento of December 30, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), Latin translation by Gerhard von Cremona
Alexandri Aphrodisiei commentaria in duodecim Aristotelis libros de prima philosophia , translated by Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda , Paris 1536 ( digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf )

Footnotes

↑ Alexander von Aphrodisias, In analytica priora 1,4.
↑ Tae-Soo Lee: The Greek tradition of Aristotelian syllogistics in late antiquity , Göttingen 1984, pp. 120–128.

personal data
SURNAME	Alexander of Aphrodisias
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Alexandros ho Aphrodisieús Aphrodisieús
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Aristotle commentator
DATE OF BIRTH	2nd century
PLACE OF BIRTH	Aphrodisias
DATE OF DEATH	2nd century or 3rd century

[1] Alexander von Aphrodisias, In analytica priora 1,4.

[2] Tae-Soo Lee: The Greek tradition of Aristotelian syllogistics in late antiquity , Göttingen 1984, pp. 120–128.