Aristotle of Mytilene
Aristotle of Mytilene (or Aristoteles, Greek: Ἀριστοτέλης ὁ Μυτιληναῖος; fl. 2nd century) was a distinguished Peripatetic philosopher in the time of Galen. It has been argued that he was a teacher of Alexander of Aphrodisias.
Galen (writing c. 190) referred to him as "a leading figure in Peripatetic scholarship."[1] According to Galen, Aristotle of Mytilene never drank cold water because it gave him spasms, but he was attacked with a disease in which it was thought necessary for him to take it. He drank the cold water and died.
It was argued by in 1967 that Aristotle of Mytilene was a teacher of Alexander of Aphrodisias.[2] Previous scholars had noted that ancient texts refer to an "Aristotle" as a teacher of Alexander of Aphrodisias, and, unaware of any 2nd-century philosophers by that name, had emended the name to "Aristocles". If Moraux's theory is correct, and Aristotle of Mytilene was Alexander's teacher, then his philosophical views are represented in a passage of Alexander's On Intellect dealing with the doctrine of "the external intellect".[3]
This theory, however, was criticised by in 1984.[4] Thillet argued that the text that refers to Aristotle as Alexander's teacher might merely mean that Alexander learned from the writings of the famous Aristotle.
Notes[]
- ^ Galen, De Consuetudinibus (Peri Ethon)
- ^ P. Moraux, "Aristoteles, der Lehrer Alexanders von Aphrodisias", Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 49 (1967) 169-182
- ^ Robert B. Todd, (1976), Alexander of Aphrodisias on Stoic Physics, pages 11-12. BRILL
- ^ P. Thillet (ed.), Alexandre d'Aphrodise: Traité du Destin, Paris 1984, xix-xxxi.
- 2nd-century Greek people
- 2nd-century philosophers
- Ancient Mytileneans
- Roman-era Peripatetic philosophers