Eventi, seminari e convegni

FragArist Workshop | Aristotle’s Predecessors and Philosophical Competitors in his Lost Works

Sala Bortolami, Palazzo Jonoch Gulinelli - via del Vescovado, 30, Padova

Dal 22.09.2026 al 23.09.2026

22-23 September 2026

Aristotle’s engagement with the previous philosophical tradition and his direct competitors in the Academy is ubiquitous in the extant works. Texts such as Metaph. A, with its survey of philosophical views ranging from the Physicists to Plato and the Academy, or Metaph. M and N, with their discussion of Academic metaphysical principles, are just two among many possible examples of Aristotle’s dialectical usage of rival doctrines as a springboard for the development of his own solutions to
philosophical problems shared with other thinkers.

Yet, the extant treatises only tell part of the story, since Aristotle’s fragmentary works preserve crucial – yet still largely understudied – evidence for refining our understanding of Aristotle’s modes of engagement with the previous philosophical tradition. Indeed, many of these works offer the unique opportunity to observe Aristotle approach this tradition under radically different circumstances than those of the preserved treatises, including a wider intended readership and a different literary form (e.g.,
dialogue). Accordingly, how (if at all) do these factors influence Aristotle’s way of engaging with his predecessors and his former colleagues in the Academy? How (if at all) does Aristotle’s presentation of his competitors’ views in his lost works differ from his exposition of them in the preserved corpus? What are Aristotle’s local dialectical strategies and his overall philosophical goals in confronting the tradition?

This workshop aims to make progress on these topics by focusing on a selection of test cases which may include, but need not be limited to, the following themes:

  • Pythagoras and the Pythagorean tradition in lost Aristotle
  • The Physicists and the Atomists in lost Aristotle
  • Plato in lost Aristotle (esp. the Forms, the Timaeus, and soul)
  • The Academy in lost Aristotle (esp. the theories of Forms and mathematical objects)

Organisers: Edoardo Benati (University of Padua), Gertjan Verhasselt (University of Padua)

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Photo: By Gerd Eichmann - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=115356855