The Unity of Aristotle’s Metaphysics
Book Ε According to the Interpretation of the Ancient Commentators
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.1981-9471.v12i2p89-132Keywords:
Aristotle, metaphysics, unity of metaphysics, unmoved moverAbstract
This paper discusses the three ancient commentaries on Book E of Aristotle’s Metaphysics, that have been handed down to us. It aims to demonstrate the fundamental part played by their particular interpretation of Aristotle’s doctrines in the birth of the traditional interpretation of his Metaphysics, according to which all the books comprising the work were written as a function of Book Λ, containing the well-known doctrine of the unmoved mover. Among the main elements supporting this assumption there is Aristotle’s distinction between three types of science - the theoretical, the practical and the productive - and his claiming the primacy of metaphysics as a theological science. According to the ancient commentators, the remainder of Book E would belong to the unitary project of the Metaphysics, since it would indicate what is not encompassed in the object of metaphysics. This would mean that Aristotle’s treatment of accidental being, being as truth and not-being as falsity, and being potentially and actually would take on a negative function. The theological interpretation of Aristotle’s Metaphysics thus retains its ultimate foundations in premises contained in the Aristotelian text itself
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References
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Alexandru, Stefan, A New Manuscript of Pseudo-Philoponus’ Commentary on Aristotle’s ‘Metaphysics’ Containg a Hitrherto Unknown Ascription of the Work, «Phronesis», 44 (1999), pp. 347-352.
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Alexandri Aphrodisiensis in Aristotelis Metaphysica commentaria (CAG 1), edidit M. Hayduck (Berolini, Reimer 1891).
Alexandri Aphrodisei Commentaria In duodecim Aristotelis libros de prima Philosophia, interprete Ioannes Genesius Sepulveda (Pariis 1536).
Alexandru, Stefan, A New Manuscript of Pseudo-Philoponus’ Commentary on Aristotle’s ‘Metaphysics’ Containg a Hitrherto Unknown Ascription of the Work, «Phronesis», 44 (1999), pp. 347-352.
Aristote, La Metaphysique, nouvelle éd. entièrement refondue avec commentaire par Jules Tricot, 2 voll. (Paris, Vrin 1962).
Aristoteles, Metaphysik, übersetzt Hermann Bonitz, neu bearbeitet, mit Einleitung und Kommentar hrsg. v. Horst Seidl, griechischer Text in der Edition von Wilhelm Christ, 2 Bde. (Hamburg, Meiner 1978/1980).
Aristotelis Metaphysica, recognovit brevique adnotatione critiqua instruxit Werner Jaeger, (Oxford, Clarendon Press 1992).
Aristotelis Opera, ex recensione Immanuelis Bekkeri, edidit Academia Regia Borussica, 2. ed., accedunt fragmenta, scholia, Index Aristotelicus/addendis instruxit fragmentorum collectionem retractavit O. Gigon, voll. I-II (De Gruyter, Berolini, 1960).
Asclepii in Aristotelis Metaphysicorum libros Α-Ζ commentaria (CAG 6.2), edidit M. Hayduck (Berolini, Reimer 1888).
Berti, Enrico, Aristote. Métaphysique Livre Epsilon. Introduction, traduction et commentaire (Paris, Vrin 2015).
Brandis, Christian August, Scholia in Aristotelem, in Aristotelis Opera, edidit Academia Regia Borussica, vol. IV (Berolini 1836).
Cauli, Norma, Commento al libro Ε (sesto). Presentazione, traduzione e note, in Giancarlo Movia (ed.), Alessandro di Afrodisia e pseudo-Alessandro, Commentario alla “Metafisica” di Aristotele, (Milano, Bompiani 2007), pp. 1129-1191.
Ebbesen, Sten, Commentators and Commentaires on Aristotle’s Sophistici Elenchi: A Study of Post- Aristotelian Ancient and Medieval Writings on Fallacies, vol. III, Appendix 8 (Leiden, Brill 1981).
Fine, Gail, Aristotle on Determinism: A Review of Richard Sorabji’s Necessity, Cause and Blame, «The Philosophical Review», 90 (1981), pp. 561-579. doi: 10.2307/2184607
Freudenthal, Jacob, Die durch Averroes erhaltenen Fragmente Alexanders zur Metaphysik des Aristoteles untersucht und übersetzt, «Abhandlungen der königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin», phil. hist. Kl., no. 1, Berlin 1884.
Heath, Thomas Little, The Thirteen Books of Euclid’s Elements with Introduction and Commentary, vol. I (New York, Dover 19562).
Jaeger, Werner, Studien zur Entstehungsgeschichte der Metaphysik des Aristoteles (Berlin, Weidmann 1912).
Jaeger, Werner, Aristoteles. Grundlegung einer Geschichte seiner Entwicklung (Berlin, Weidmann 1923).
Kirwan, Christopher, Aristotle, Metaphysics Books Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon, transl. with notes (Oxford, Clarendon Press 1971, 19932 , repr. 1998).
Kremer, Klaus, Der Metaphysikbegriff in den Aristoteles-Kommentaren der Ammonius-Schule (Münster, Aschendorff 1961).
Little Heath, Thomas, The Thirteen Books of Euclid’s Elements with Introduction and Commentary, vol. I (New York, Dover 19562).
Luna, Concetta, Trois études sur la tradition des commentaires anciens à la Métaphysique d’Aristote (Leiden-Boston-Köln, Brill 2001).
Mignucci, Mario, L’argomentazione dimostrativa in Aristotele. Commento agli Analitici secondi, vol. I (Padova, Antenore 1975).
Moraux, Paul, Alexandre d’Aphrodise, exégéte de la Noetique d’Aristote (Liège, Faculté de philosophie et lettres and Paris, Droz 1942).
Moraux, Paul, Aristoteles Werk und Wirkung, Bd. 2: Kommentierung, Überlieferung, Nachleben (Berlin, De Gruyter 1987.)
Moraux, Paul, Der Aristotelismus bei den Griechen von Andronikos bis Alexander von Aphrodisias, Bd. 3: Alexander von Aphrodisias, herausgegeben Jürgen Wiesner (Berlin-New York, De Gruyter 2001).
Movia, Giancarlo (a cura), Alessandro di Afrodisia e la “Metafisica” di Aristotele (Milano, Vita e Pensiero 2003).
Movia, Giancarlo (ed.), Alessandro di Afrodisia e pseudo-Alessandro, Commentario alla “Metafisica” di Aristotele (Milano, Bompiani 2007).
Patrizi Franciscus, Discussionum Peripateticarum, T. IV, quibus Aristotelica philosophiae universa historiae atque dogmata cum veterum placitis collata eleganter et erudite declarantur (Basel 1581).
Praechter, Karl, recensione a CAG ΧΧΙΙ, 2, in «Göttingische gelehrte Anzeigen», 11, 1906, pp. 882- 899.
Pseudo-Johannis Philoponi Expositiones in Omnes Ζ Aristotelis Libros Metaphysicos (CAGL 2), Übersetzt Franciscus Patritius, Neudruck der ersten Ausgabe Ferrara 1583 mit einer Einleitung von Charles Lohr (Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt 1991).
Ptolomeys’s Almagest, translated and annotated by Gerald James Toomer, with a foreword by Owen Gingerich (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1998).
Ravaisson, Félix, Essai sur la Metaphysique d’Aristote, 2 voll. (Hildesheim, Olms 1963).
Reale, Giovanni, Introduzione, traduzione e commentario alla Metafisica di Aristotele, (Milano,
Bompiani 2004).
Ross, William David, Aristotle’s Metaphysics. A Revised Text with Introduction and Commentary, 2 voll. (Oxford-New York, Oxford University Press for Sandpiper Books 1997).
Salis, Rita, Il commento di pseudo-Alessandro al libro Λ della Metafisica di Aristotele, (Soveria Mannelli, Rubbettino 2005).
Salis, Rita, The Accident and its Causes: Pseudo-Alexander on Aristotle (Metaphysics Ε 3), in Konstantinos Boudouris (ed.), Proceedings of the XXIII World Congress of Philosophy (Athens, 4-10 August 2013) (Charlottesville, Virginia 2018, Philosophy Documentation Center, vol. 2, section II) pp. 297-302. doi: 10.5840/wcp232018221323
Schwegler, Albert, Die Metaphysik des Aristoteles, Grundtext, Übersetzung und Commentar, nebst Erläuternden Abhandlungen, 4 Bde. (Frankfurt am Main, Minerva 1960).
Sharples, Robert William, Pseudo-Alexander on Aristotle, Metaphysics Λ, in Giancarlo Movia, Alessandro di Afrodisia e la «Metafisica» di Aristotele (Milano, Vita e Pensiero 2003), pp. 187-218.
Sorabji, Richard, Necessity, Cause, and Blame: Perspectives on Aristotle’s Theory (London, Durckwort 1980). doi: 10.5040/9781472598196
Tarán, Leonardo, Syrianus and pseudo-Alexander’s commentary on Metaph. E-N, in Paul Moraux, Aristoteles Werk und Wirkung, Bd. 2: Kommentierung, Überlieferung, Nachleben (Berlin, De Gruyter 1987), pp. 215-232.
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2018-12-18
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How to Cite
Salis, R. (2018). The Unity of Aristotle’s Metaphysics: Book Ε According to the Interpretation of the Ancient Commentators. Journal of Ancient Philosophy, 12(2), 89-132. https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.1981-9471.v12i2p89-132
