ALEXANDER OF APHRODISIAS, pupil of Aristocles of Messene, the
most celebrated of the Greek commentators on the writings of
Aristotle, and styled, by way of pre-eminence, o exegetes ("the
expositor"), was a native of Aphrodisias in Caria. He came
to
Athens towards the end of the 2nd century A.D., became
head of the Lyceum and lectured on peripatetic philosophy. The
object of his work was to free the doctrine from the syncretism
of Ammonius and to reproduce the pure doctrine of Aristotle.
Commentaries by Alexander on the following works of Aristotle
are still extant:--the Analytica Priora, i.; the Topica;
the Meteorologica; the De Sensu; and the Metaphysica,
i.-v., together with an abridgment of what he wrote on the
remaining books of the Metaphysica. His commentaries were
greatly esteemed among the Arabians, who translated many of
them. There are also several original writings by Alexander still
extant. The most important of these are a work On Fate, in
which he argues against the Stoic doctrine of necessity; and
one On the Soul, in which he contends that the undeveloped
reason in man is material (nous ulikos) and inseparable
from the body. He argued strongly against the doctrine of
immortality. He identified the active intellect (nous
poietikos), through whose agency the potential intellect
in man becomes actual, with God. Several of Alexander's works
were published in the Aldine edition of Aristotle, Venice,
1495-1498; his De Fato and De Anima were printed along
with the works of Themistius at Venice (1534); the former
work, which has been translated into Latin by Grotius and also
by Schulthess, was edited by J. C. Orelli, Zurich, 1824; and
his commentaries on the Metaphysica by H. Bonitz, Berlin,
1847. J. Nourisson has treated of his doctrine of fate (De
la liberte et du hazard, Paris, 1870). In the early
Renaissance his doctrine of the soul's mortality was adopted
by F. Pomponazzi against the Thomists and the Averroists.
See PERIPATETICS (ad fin.); ALEXANDRISTS; POMPONAZZI, PIETRO;
also A. Apelt, "Die Schrift d. Alex. v. Aphr.," Philolegus,
xlv., 1886: C. Ruelle, "Alex. d'Aphr. et le pretendu Alex.
d'Alexandrie," Rev. des etudes grecques, v., 1892; E.
Zeller's Outlines of Gk. Phil. (Eng. trans., ed. 1905, p. 296).
Initial text from 1911 encyclopedia -- Please update as needed
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