Eustratius’ Comments On Posterior Analytics II 19

Abstract

The author studies the illuminating and intriguing comments on Posterior Analytics , the Aristotelian treatise which has survived from the Byzantine period. The specific topics addressed in connection with Eustratius' comments include: Eustratius' account of the knowledge of first principles; and the distinction, according to Eustratius, between art and science. The aim of the study is to get clearer about how Aristotle's Posterior Analytics II 19 was read and interpreted in the twelfth century by a scholar who had access to ancient commentaries on this text which are now lost, but who also was deeply immersed in the Christian culture of his time. Eustratius' work provides us with a good example of a Byzantine commentary which contains philosophically interesting interpretations of an innovative character. Eustratius does not blindly copy the previous commentators in their assessment of Aristotle's or of Plato's doctrines. Keywords: Aristotle; art; Eustratius; Plato; Posterior Analytics ; science