Aristotle and Peripatetics

Abstract

AbstractThe chapter examines evidence on the use of the dialogue by Aristotle and philosophers associated with his school. It discusses testimonies on the formats of dialogues employed by Aristotle and on exoteric character of his dialogic works (they were aimed at a wider audience and composed in a literary style), and examines extant fragments, in particular of On Nobel Birth and Eudemus or On the Soul, which allow a glimpse of Aristotle as a dialogue writer. It next discusses the employment of the dialogue by Aristotle’s students (Theophrastus, Clearchus, Dicaearchus, Aristoxenus, Demetrius of Phaleron, and Chamaeleon), and by the next generations of Peripatetics (Praxiphanes, Prytanis, Hieronymus of Rhodes, Aristo of Ceos).