Aristotelianism

Aristotelianism is a philosophical tradition rooted in the ideas of Aristotle, marked by a focus on deductive logic and an analytic, inductive approach to studying nature and metaphysics. It applies a system of natural law to the social sciences, explains why things happen through four causes—including purpose or *telos*—and stresses virtue ethics. In the broadest sense, any school of thought that starts from one of Aristotle’s distinctive positions can be called Aristotelian, meaning different Aristotelian theories (say, in ethics or ontology) may share little in common beyond their reference to Aristotle.

In Aristotle’s era, philosophy encompassed natural philosophy, which predated modern science. His works were first defended by the Peripatetic school, then by Neoplatonists, who wrote many commentaries on them. During the Islamic Golden Age, Avicenna and Averroes translated Aristotle into Arabic, and along with Al-Kindi and Al-Farabi, Aristotelianism became central to early Islamic philosophy. Moses Maimonides drew on Islamic scholars to base his *Guide for the Perplexed* on Aristotle, forming the basis of Jewish scholastic philosophy. Some of Aristotle’s logic was known in western Europe, but only after Latin translations in the 12th century and the rise of scholasticism did his full works and Arabic commentaries become widely available. Scholars like Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas then interpreted and systematized Aristotle’s ideas within Catholic theology.

After criticism from modern natural philosophers pushed Aristotelianism back, the idea of teleology was passed through Wolff and Kant to Hegel, who applied it to history as a whole. Trendelenburg and Brentano criticized this as non-Aristotelian, yet Hegel’s influence is often seen as a major source of Aristotelian themes in Marx. Recent Aristotelian ethical and practical philosophy—from thinkers like Gadamer and McDowell—often rejects Aristotle’s traditional metaphysical or theoretical philosophy. From this angle, the early modern tradition of political republicanism, which sees the *res publica* or state as constituted by citizens’ virtuous activity, can appear thoroughly Aristotelian. Alasdair MacIntyre, a notable modern Aristotelian, revived virtue ethics in *After Virtue*, revising Aristotelianism by arguing that the highest temporal goods, internal to human beings, are realized through participation in social practices.

**History**

**Ancient Greek** Aristotle’s original followers were the Peripatetic school. After Aristotle, Theophrastus and Strato of Lampsacus continued his research. During the Roman era, the school focused on preserving and defending his work, with Alexander of Aphrodisias as the key commentator. With Neoplatonism’s rise in the 3rd century, Peripateticism as an independent philosophy ended, though Neoplatonists incorporated Aristotle’s philosophy into their own system and produced many commentaries.

**Byzantine Empire** Byzantine Aristotelianism emerged after 1118 when Princess Anna Comnena commissioned scholars to write commentaries on neglected works of Aristotle. Michael of Ephesus commented on Aristotle’s animal biology, the *Sophistical Refutations* (the only *Organon* work without a commentary), and the *Politics*, completing the series of commentaries on Aristotle’s extant works. Byzantine philosophers also filled gaps in surviving commentaries; for example, Alexander of Aphrodisias’ commentary on the *Metaphysics* (only the first five books survived) was completed by Michael of Ephesus, who, with Eustratius, compiled fragmentary commentaries on the *Nicomachean Ethics* and added their own interpretations.

**Islamic World** In the Abbasid Empire, foreign works were translated into Arabic, large libraries were built, and scholars were welcomed. Under caliphs Harun al-Rashid and his son Al-Ma’mun, the House of Wisdom in Baghdad flourished. Christian scholar Hunayn ibn Ishaq (809–873) oversaw translation work for the caliph, translating 116 writings—including works by Plato and Aristotle—into Syriac and Arabic. With the House of Wisdom, the entire preserved Aristotelian corpus (except the *Eudemian Ethics*, *Magna Moralia*, and *Politics*) became available, along with Greek commentaries, providing a uniform foundation for Islamic Aristotelianism. Al-Kindi (801–873), the first Muslim Peripatetic philosopher, worked to introduce Greek and Hellenistic philosophy to the Arab world, blending Aristotelian and Neoplatonist thought into an Islamic framework, which helped popularize Greek philosophy in Muslim intellectual circles. In the 9th century, Persian astrologer Albumasarl’s *Introductorium in Astrologiam* also drew on these ideas.