Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/345

Rh ARISTOTELES. attempted by Samuel Petitus. (Miscell. iv. 9.) Ttic citsitions in the separate writings are of no use for this purpose, as they are often additions made by a later hand ; and, not un frequently, two writings refer reciprocally to each other. (Hitter, Gcsc/i. der Philosophies iii. p. 29, not. 1, p. 35, not. 2.) More- over, such an arrangement is of small importance for the works of a philosopher like Aristotle. A systematic arrangement was first given to the writings of Aristotle by Andronicus of Rhodes. He placed together in pragmaties (7r/ja7)tiaTcraj) the works which treated of the some subjects, the logical, physical, &c., (Porphyr. Vit. FLotin. 24 ; Casiri, BiUioih. Arabico-Escorialens. p. 308.) His arrangement, in which the logical pragmaty came first, agreed, as it appears, in many other respects with the present arrangement in the editions. (Ravaisson, Essai sur la Metaphys. i. pp. 22 — 27.) He seems to have been followed by Adrastus, as is in part testified by the express evidence of Greek interpreters. The arrangement of Andronicus ap- pears to have been preserved in the division pecu- liar to the Latins (/cord AotiVous), e. e. to the Latin translators and expositors from the fourth to the sixth century, which is spoken of in one or two notices in the MSS. of Aristotle collated by Bekker. {Arist. 0pp. ed. Bekker, Rliet i. 8, p. 1368, b. ii. init. p. 1377, b., iii. init. p. 1403, b.) The di- visions of the Greek commentators may be found in Stahr {Aristot. ii. p. 254), with which David ad Categ. p. 24 ; Philop. ad Categ. p. 36, ed. Berolin. may be compared. They separate the writings of Aristotle into three principal divisions. 1. Theoretic. 2. Practical. 3. Logical or organical^ which again have their subdivisions. The arrangement in the oldest printed edition of the entire works rests probably upon a tradition, which in its essential features may reach back as far as Andronicus. In the Aldina the Organon (the logical writings) comes first; then foUow the works on physical science, including the Problems; then the mathematical and metaphysical writings ; at the end the writings which belong to practical philosophy, to which in the following editions the Rhetoric and Poetics are added. This arrangement has continued to be the prevailing one down to the present day. In the following survey we adhere to the arrangement adopted by Zell, who divides the works into, A. Doctrinal^ B. Historical^ c. Miscellaneous, D. Let- ters, E. Poems and Speeches. Every systematic division of course has reference principally to the first class. The principle to be kept in view in the division of these works must be determined from what Aristotle says himself. According to him, every kind of knowledge has for its object either, 1, Merely the ascertainment of truth, or 2, Besides this, an operative activity. The latter has for its result either the production of a work (iToiuv), or the result is the act itself, and its pro- cess (■jrpoTT€ij'). Accordingly every kind of know- ledge is either I. Productive, poetic (eirto-Trj/xr? irotrjTiKTJ); or IT. Practical (e7rKrTT7;U7; irpo/cTj/cr]) ; or III. Theoretical (^ttiottt^/utj i&ewpTjTtKTj).* Theo- retical knowledge has three main divisions (<^tAo- iai, TrpayiMiTe7ai), namely : 1. Physical science {hri(miiJL7} (pvffiKri) ; 2. Mathematics (eV. fiadTifiOr Ti/cTf) ; 3. The doctrine of absolute existence (in Aristotle ■>} TrpwTTj <pio(ro(pia, or eTr/oTT^/nTj ^eoKo- • Metaph. K. 6, p. 226, Brandis, E. 1 and 2 Eth. Nic. vi. 3 and 4. ARISTOTELES. 327 7«/C7f, or simply aocpla).* Practical science, or pnictical philosophy (?} <pioao<pia Trepl to dyQpoi- TTiva, t) TToXniKii, in the general sense of the word, Eth. Nic. i. 2, Magna Moral, i. 1, RM. i. 2), teaches a man to know the highest purpose of human life, and the proper mode of striving to attain it with respect to dispositions and actions. It is 1. with reference to the individual man, ethics (7}0j/cr}) ; 2. With reference to the family and do- mestic concerns, Oeconomics {olKovoixiKifi) ; 3. With reference to the state. Politics (iroAtrt/crJ, in the more restricted sense of the word ; Eth. Nic. x. 9). Lastly, in so far as science is a scientific mode of regarding knowledge and cognition itself, and its forms and conditions, and the application of them, it is — IV. *E7rj(rT7f|U77 cr/coTroucra Trepl diroSci^cws /col eTTKTTT^ixrjs {Metaph. K. i. p. 213, Brandis), which must precede the Trpunrf (pio(TO(pla. {Met. r. 3, p. 66., lin. 24.) This is Dialectics or Analytics^ or, according to our use of terms. Logic. Some- times Aristotle recognises only the two main divi- sions of practical and tlieoretical philosophy. {Me- taph. ii. 1, p. 36, Brand.) A. Doctrinal Works. 1. Dialectics and Logic. The extant logical writings are comprehended as a whole under the title Organon {i. e. instru- ment of science). They are occupied with the investigation of the method by which man arrives at knowledge. Aristotle develops the rules and laws of thinking and cognition from the nature of the cognoscent faculty in man. An insight into the nature and formation of conclusions and of proof by means of conclusions, is the common aim and centre of all the separate six works composing the Organon. Of these, some ( Topica and Elench. Sophist.) have the practical tendency of teaching us how, in disputing, to make ourselves masters of the probable, and, in attacking and defending, to guard ourselves against false conclusions (Dialectics, Eristics). In the others, on the other hand, which are more theoretical {analytica), and which contain the doctrine of conclusions (Syllogistics) and of proof (Apodeictics), the object is certain, strictly demonstrable knowledge. Literature of the Organon. — Organon, ed. Pacius a Beriga, Morgiis, 1584, Francof. 1597, 4to. ; Elementa logices Aristot. ed. Trendelenburg, Berol. 1836, 8vo. 2nd. ed.' 1842 ; Explanations thereon in Gennan, Berlin, 1842, 8vo, — Weinholtz, De finibus et pretio logices Arist. Rostochii, 1824. — Brandis, Utber die Reihenfolge der Buclter des Or- ganon, &c., in the Abliandl. d. Berl. Akad., 1835, p. 249, &c. — Biese, die Philosophic des Aristot. . pp. 45-318. — J. Barthelemy St. Hilaire, De la Logique d'^Aristoie, Memoire couronnee par I'lnstitut, Paris, 1838, 2 vols. 8vo. The usual succession of the logical writings in the editions is as follows : 1. The Karrtyoplai {Praedicamenta). In this work Aristotle treats of the (ten) highest and most comprehensive generic ideas, under which all the attributes of things may be subordinated as species. These are essence or substance (7} ov(ria), quantUy {tvSaov'), quality {iro'iov), relation {trpos ti), place (ttow), time (ttotc), situation {KitaBai), possession or having (exf'"), action {iroiiiv), siiff'ering irdax^^^)-
 * Metaphys. E. 1, K. 1, L. 1.