The Peripatetics: Aristotle’s Heirs 322 BCE - 200 CE

191 Pages·2016·2.1 MB·English

by  Han Baltussen

The Peripatetics
Aristotle’s Heirs, 322 bce–200 ce
This is an accessible and reliable introduction to a little-known but historically
pivotal tradition within ancient thought: the followers of Aristotle from his
immediate successors to the great commentator Alexander of Aphrodisias.
Baltussen is particularly interesting on the question of authority. He shows
that allegiance to Aristotle was compatible with originality, and charts dis-
agreements between the Peripatetics as well as their attempts to defend the
Aristotelian position against rival schools. Ultimately Aristotle would become
“the” philosopher, and study of his works would become synonymous with
philosophy itself; Baltussen explains the pre-history of that development.
Professor Peter Adamson,
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany
The Peripatetics explores the development of Peripatetic thought from Theo-
phrastus and Strato to the work of the commentator Alexander of Aphrodisias.
The book examines whether the internal dynamics of this philosophical school
allowed for a unity of Peripatetic thought, or a fundamental tension between
philosophical creativity and the notions of core teachings and canonisation.
The book discusses the major philosophical preoccupations of the Peripatetics,
interactions with Hellenistic schools of thought, and the shift in focus among
Greek philosophers in a changing political landscape. It is the first book of its
kind to provide a survey of this important philosophical tradition.
Han Baltussen is Hughes Professor of Classics at the University of Adelaide,
Australia. After completing his PhD at Utrecht (Netherlands), he held post-
doctoral positions in Utrecht, Washington, and London. His research interests
include intellectual history and the history of ideas, as well as ancient philosophy.
Ancient Philosophies
This series provides fresh and engaging new introductions to the major schools
of philosophy of antiquity. Designed for students of philosophy and classics, the
books offer clear and rigorous presentation of core ideas and lay the founda-
tion for a thorough understanding of their subjects. Primary texts are handled
in translation and the readers are provided with useful glossaries, chronologies,
and guides to the primary source material.
The Ancient Commentators Neoplatonism
on Plato and Aristotle Pauliina Remes
Mirra Touminen
Plato
Ancient Scepticism Andrew S. Mason
Harald Thorsrud
Presocratics
Confucianism James Warren
Paul R. Goldin
Stoicism
Cynics John Sellars
William Desmond
The Philosophy of Early
Epicureanism Christianity
Tim O’Keefe George Karamanolis
Indian Buddhist Philosophy
Amber Carpenter
The Peripatetics
Aristotle’s Heirs, 322 bce–200 ce
Han Baltussen
First published 2016
by Routledge
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© 2016 Han Baltussen
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has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of
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ISBN: 978-1-844-65575-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-844-65576-2 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-71909-2 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo Std
by Swales & Willis, Exeter, Devon, UK
Dedicated to the memory of R.W. Sharples (1949–2010) in
gratitude for his exemplary scholarship and generous support.

Contents
Sources and abbreviations viii
Preface xi
1 Aristotle’s Heirs 1
2 The natural world and its (hidden) foundations 27
3 Things and words: language, logic, and reasoning 55
4 Ethics and politics: on morality and citizenship 80
5 Continuity and criticism in the Peripatos 106
6 Intellectual context: rivals and devotees 127
7 Epilogue: from Theophrastus to Alexander of Aphrodisias 158
Appendix A: Known Peripatetics 322 bce–250 ce 165
Appendix B: Modern editions and commentaries on the Peripatetics 171
Index 174
Sources and abbreviations
Anonymous
In Tht. = in Theaetetum (Commentary on Plato’s Theaetetus)
Athenaeus
Deipnosophistai (Sophists at Dinner), D. Olson (Loeb Classical Library)
Aristotle
De an. = De Anima (On the Soul)
Sens. = De Sensu (On Sense Perception)
EE = Eudemian Ethics
EN = Nicomachean Ethics
Metaph. = Metaphysics
Phys. = Physics
Pol. = Politics
Rh. = Rhetoric
CAG
Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca, (ed.) H. Diels, Berlin 1882–1909
(23 vols).
Cicero
Ac.= Academica = Academics
Att.= Ad Atticum = Letters to Atticus
De or. = De oratore = On the orator
Div. = De divinatione = On divination
De fin. = De finibus = On the limits of good and evil
Leg. = De legibus = On laws
ND = De nature deorum = On the nature of the gods
Off. = De officiis = On Duties
Rep. = De Republica = On the Republic
Top. = Topica (i.e., Dialectic)
Tusc. = Disputationes Tusculanae (Discussions held at Tusculum)
CMG = C orpus Medicorum Graecorum (editions of Greek physicians, published
by the Berlin Academy)
DL = Diogenes Laertius
Lives = R. D. Hicks, 1980, Lives of Eminent Philosophers (trans. Loeb,)
(Cambridge: Harvard University Press/London: W. Heinemann).
Sources and abbreviations ix
New text: T. Dorandi 2013, Lives of Eminent Philosophers (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press).
E–K = Edelstein–Kidd
L. Edelstein and I. G. Kidd (eds). Posidonius of Apamea. Vol. 1: ‘The
Fragments’ (1971; second ed. 1989); vol. 2 ‘The Commentary’ (2 vols.,
1988); vol. 3 ‘Translation of the Fragments’ (1999). (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press).
F and S = Fortenbaugh and Schütrumpf = RUSCH vol. IX
Fortenbaugh, W. W. and E. Schutrümpf (eds). 1999. Demetrius of
Phalerum (Text, Translation and Discussion) (New Brunswick and
London: Transaction Publishers).
FHSG = Fortenbaugh, W. W., P. Huby, R. W. Sharples and D. Gutas
(eds). Theophrastus of Eresus. Sources for his Life, Writings, Thought and
Influence. 2 vols. (Leiden: E. J. Brill).
H and M = Hellmann and Mirhady = RUSCH vol. XIX
O. Hellmann and D. Mirhady (eds). 2015. Phaenias of Eresus (Text,
Translation and Discussion) (New Brunswick and London).
LS = Long and Sedley
A. A. Long and D. Sedley (eds). 1987. The Hellenistic Philosophers
(vol. 1: translations of the principal sources; vol. 2: Greek and Latin
texts with notes and bibliography) (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press).
MM and M = Martano, Matelli and Mirhady = RUSCH vol. XVIII
A. Martano, E. Martelli and D. Mirhady (eds). 2012, Praxiphanes of
Mytilene and Chamaeleon of Heraclea, (NJ: Transaction Publishers).
Phainias
Fragmenta in Wehrli 1969 (= W.) vol. IX, B. (Basel/Stuttgart:
Schwabe & Co.).
RUSCH
Rutgers University Studies in Classical Humanities series of editions, trans-
lations and essays on the Theophrastus and other Peripatetics) (Listed
in Appendix B).
Seneca
De benef. = De beneficiis (On Acts of Beneficence)
SOD = P. Stork, J. Opsomer, T. Dorandi = RUSCH vol. IX
Stork, P., W. W. Fortenbaugh, J. Opsomer, T. Dorandi, edition of
the fragments of Demetrius in Fortenbaugh and Schütrumpf (eds)
Demetrius of Phalerum (Text, Translation and Discussion).
Sext. Emp. = Sextus Empiricus, sceptic and physician of the second century
ce
M = Against the Mathematicians
PH = Outlines of Pyrrhonism (Phyrroneiai Hypotyposes)
Stork = P. Stork = RUSCH XII
in W. W. Fortenbaugh and S. White (eds). Lyco of Troas and Hieronymus
of Rhodes (Texts, Translations and Discussion).