The Fragments of Aristotle: A Reconstruction of his Lost Works

Introduction

One of the greatest minds of antiquity was no doubt Aristotle. He left a lasting impression on Western civilization, influencing among others the Founding Fathers in designing the US constitution.

Preservation of Works

But what many do not know is that only a fraction of his works survive. Those preserved through medieval transmission - his so-called esoteric works - go back to college lectures and were intended to be used by his small circle of students.

Wider Audience

However, Aristotle also wrote many works for a wider audience, which survive only in "fragments," i.e., citations in later authors, and a number of epitomes. In fact, what is preserved today is not what Aristotle was famous for throughout most of antiquity or even what he intended to be known for.

Focus of Modern Research

Yet modern research focuses almost exclusively on the esoteric works. The result is that the Aristotle one meets in contemporary scholarship is really only the Aristotle of the preserved school writings.

Understanding Aristotle's Views

In order to truly understand his views on politics, ethics, poetry, rhetoric, logic, and the soul or his approach as a scientist and historian, we must also study the lost works. The fragments are essential to understand his philosophy and assess his impact on Western thought.

Project Aim

FragArist aims to shift the attention back to what were initially his most important works and establish a new understanding of Aristotle by reconstructing and interpreting his lost works.

Methodology

We will combine methods taken from:

• Philology
• Papyrology
• Philosophy
• Ancient history
• Digital Humanities

We will apply pioneering editing techniques and the latest cutting-edge imaging techniques. For the first time, we will also incorporate the fragments found in Syriac and Arabic sources.

Expected Outcomes

We will create a radically new perspective on Aristotle's personality and elucidate his influence on later authors, including:

1. The Alexandrian grammarians
2. Roman philosophers
3. Neoplatonic philosophers
4. Christian authors

This will also revolutionize our knowledge of the history of literature and science.