Topics and Prior Analytics: Peripatetic Logic between Aristotle and Alexander of Aphrodisias

• Applicant: Dr. Laura Maria Castelli
• Subject Area: History of Philosophy
• Term: from 2015 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 272319540

Topics (Top) I-VIII and Prior Analytics (APr) I-II are two of Aristotle's logical writings. Both works provide an account of what a deductive argument is and give indications on how to find and build deductive arguments having a given proposition as their conclusion. The methods and the basic structure of deductive arguments described in the two writings are different in several respects. This fact has led modern interpreters to endorse more or less radical theses on the incoherence and incompatibility of Aristotle's theory of deduction in the two aforementioned works. The proposed project aims at analyzing and revising this traditional picture. In particular, the following three specific goals will be pursued: 1) Systematic study of the relation between Top and APr in their entirety: The impression of incompatibility is particularly pronounced by the comparison between Top and APr I 1-22. However, an analysis of APr I 23 ff. and APr II clearly hints at a stronger continuity with Top than APr I 1-26 might suggest initially. A systematic study of the relations between these two writings is not available in the literature and can in itself be considered a significant contribution to Aristotelian scholarship. 2) Discussion of basic theoretical issues: A more general discussion of the theoretical compatibility of the approaches to deductive arguments presented in Top and APr is needed in order to make clear whether there is any deep theoretical reason why the two approaches should be incompatible. 3) Reconstruction of the debate on deductive arguments in Top and APr in antiquity and late antiquity: With reference to the discussion of the general theoretical issue presented in 2), the reconstruction of the debate on this issue in antiquity and late antiquity seems promising, not only from a historical point of view, but also from a theoretical one: the hypothesis of the intellectual development of the author, often used in modern studies to explain the presence of apparently incompatible claims or sections in Aristotle's writings, is foreign to ancient readers. Consequently, ancient readers elaborate compatibilist views and read Top and APr (as well as their corresponding approaches) as parts of a unified logical system. In this way ancient interpreters explore different theoretical options which are of direct relevance for the basic issues tackled by this project.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants