Commentary Tradition on Aristotle's Works Based on the Different Concerns of the Commentators, a Case Study: Comparing the Commentaries of Ammonius, Boethius and Al-Farabi on the Ninth Chapter of the Book on Aristotle on Interpretation

Document Type : Scientific-research

Author

Department of Philosophy and Theology, Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

After the collection of Aristotle's works by Andronicus of Rhodes, the tradition of commenting on Aristotle's works began in a special and wide way. By examining the remaining explanations, it is highlighted that the tradition of commenting on Aristotle's works was carried out both for its own sake and for a better understanding of his opinions, which was usually used by the Peripatetics, or for a better understanding. Plato's philosophy that the Platonists usually interpreted Aristotle’s views with this aspect. A comparison of the comments of Ammonius, Boethius, and al-Farabi in the ninth chapter of the book on Aristotle on Interpretation indicates that each of these three philosophers had different concerns and approaches to the explanation of Aristotle's opinions. Ammonius, who is concerned with Aristotle and Plato, looks at the topics of this chapter with a theological approach, Boethius tries to defend Aristotle against the misconceptions of the essentialist Stoics in the space of propositions and the relationships between subjects and their predicates. Although al-Farabi is the inheritor of the tradition of Ammonius, he tries to explain this chapter in the same logical space and establishes the position of Aristotle's logic as a tool (organon) of philosophy.

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References

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