''On Melissus, Xenophanes, and Gorgias'' ( grc-gre, Περὶ Μελίσσου, Ξενοφάνους καὶ Γοργίου; la, De Melisso, Xenophane, Gorgia) is a short work falsely attributed to
Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...
. The work was likely written during the 1st century CE or later by a member of the
peripatetic school
The Peripatetic school was a school of philosophy in Ancient Greece. Its teachings derived from its founder, Aristotle (384–322 BC), and ''peripatetic'' is an adjective ascribed to his followers.
The school dates from around 335 BC when Aristo ...
.
[Guthrie (1962:367).]
Modern Criticism
Jaap Mansfeld argures that the work's style of argumentation may have been influenced by the Pyrrhonist modes of
Agrippa the Skeptic
Agrippa ( el, Ἀγρίππας) was a Pyrrhonist philosopher who probably lived towards the end of the 1st century CE. He is regarded as the author of "The Five Tropes (or Modes, in el, τρόποι) of Agrippa", which are purported to esta ...
.
[Jaap Mansfeld ''DE MELISSO XENOPHANE GORGIA: Pyrrhonizing Aristotelianism'' Rheinisches Museum für Philologie Neue Folge, 131. Bd., H. 3/4 (1988), pp. 239-276 http://www.rhm.uni-koeln.de/131/Mansfeld.pdf]
See also
*
Melissus
*
Xenophanes
Xenophanes of Colophon (; grc, Ξενοφάνης ὁ Κολοφώνιος ; c. 570 – c. 478 BC) was a Greek philosopher
A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φ ...
*
Gorgias
Gorgias (; grc-gre, Γοργίας; 483–375 BC) was an ancient Greek sophist, pre-Socratic philosopher, and rhetorician who was a native of Leontinoi in Sicily. Along with Protagoras, he forms the first generation of Sophists. Several doxogr ...
Notes
References
*
Guthrie, W. K. C. (1962). ''A History of Greek Philosophy Volume I: The Earlier Presocratics and the Pythagoreans''.
Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press
A university press is an academic publishing hou ...
.
External links
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(Pseudo)-Aristotle, ''On Melissus, Xenophanes, and Gorgias''(Greek text and English translation)
Aristotle, ''Minor Works''__notoc__
Pseudoaristotelian works
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