any thing, which makes it to be what it is; and privation, or the absence of form. In order to unite matter and form, an obscure internal cause of motion and arrangement is introduced, which is called nature. Substances he divides into eternal and perishable; the former, the heavens, which revolve round the earth with a circular motion peculiar to the celestial spheres; the latter, terrestrial bodies. The universe he holds to be eternal, but finite. Bodies, according to his system, are either simple elements, produced by the union of the first matter and form, or compound terrestrial substances. Compound bodies suffer a perpetual succession of dissolution and production; and this change is effected by the action of the circular motion of the heavens, by means of which the sun and stars, the immediate agents in production and dissolution, approach towards or recede from the earth. This theoretical doctrine is branched out into many particulars, and is accompanied with descriptions of various natural bodies. These descriptions are numerous, and appear in many instances to have been the result of accurate observation. Aristotle made a judicious use of the liberal assistance afforded him by Alexander to extend his knowledge of nature. He indusHe industriously examined natural bodies, and appears to have himself dissected, or to have been present at the dissection of, many animals. (Haller Method. Stud. Med. p. 4. c. ii. Borrich. de Sap. Herm. c. 10. Schulze in Spec. Hist. Anat. v. 2. p. 6.) With respect to the soul, or principle of animal and rational life, Aristotle chose rather to employ himself in defining its several faculties, than in explaining its specific nature. In giving a general account of the soul, he makes use of a term expressive of the confused idea which he had formed of it from observing its operations: he calls it EXTEλEXEα, or Perfect Energy, denoting some unknown source of sensitive and rational life in certain organised bodies. It does not certainly appear from the writings of Aristotle whether he thought the soul of man mortal or immortal. In metaphysics, the science which passes beyond physical substances, Aristotle has left a treatise On the Universe and its Cause;" A Refutation of Xenocrates, Zeno and Gorgias" and fourteen books under the title of Metaphysics." Under this branch of science, which he calls The First Philosophy, he considers Being in the abstract, or inquiries concerning the first cause of motion. The doctrine of being, or ontology, is nothing more than the definition and arrangement of general terms; and, in this part of his writings Aris totle only gives a series of such definitions, with certain corollaries which necessarily follow from them. His doctrine concerning the First Mover is more important. Having derived all physical motion from the circular motion of the heavens, which he supposes to have been eternal, he conceived a first spring of this motion in an eternal substance, which, while it has itself remained unmoved, has, from eternity, communicated motion immediately to the "primum mobile," or first celestial sphere, and mediately to other bodies. This effect Aristotle supposed to be produced by means of some influence of pure mind upon matter. The First Mover he conceived to be simple intelligence, and the exertion of its energy he assumed as the cause of all motion. This intelligence, in the system of Aristotle, is the Being of Beings, or GOD. The Deity, in this system, is the first spring of a vast machine, perpetually and necessarily occupied in communicating motion. In the whole history of the world of science no name has obtained greater celebrity than that of Aristotle. For upwards of two hundred years after his death, indeed, though his chair was reputably filled by a succession of philosophers, his writings appear to have lain neglected: and when, after having been buried in a cavern by the heirs of Theophrastus, Aristotle's heir and successor, and lain there till they were greatly injured, they passed through the hands of Apellicon to Athens, and of Sylla to Rome, few persons attached themselves to this sect; and Cicero, who himself undertook to explain his Topics, complained (Præf. ad Topic.) that this philosopher was understood by very few even of the philosophers themselves. Under the Casars, however, the Peripatetic philsophy revived; and many learned men adopted it, and wrote voluminous commentaries upon the works of their master. Through several centuries, notes, paraphrases, arguments, summaries and dissertations were piled up under the general name of "Commentaries upon Aristotle." In the Christian school, though the simplicity of its doctrine was at first corrupted by Platonism, the sects called heretical soon learned to make a very ingenious and successful use of the Aristotelian Dialectics. Their example was followed by the orthodox clergy; and Aristotle found early advocates in Anatolius, Didymus, Jerom, and Augustine. From the sixth century to the twelfth, the credit of Aristotle continued both in the eastern and western churches; and when the clergy were no longer able to read his works in the original, his Dialectics were still studied in wretched translations or summaries. 66 Melancthon adhered to this system; and, by means of his compendium entitled " "Philip pics," it was introduced into almost all the German Protestant schools. So implicit was the deference at that time paid to the authority of Aristotle, that, as we learn from Melancthon, his "Ethics" were sometimes read to the people in sacred assemblies instead of the Sunday lectures. (Spanhem. Orat. Geneva, Restit. 1635.) And even to this day, though the name of Aristotle is no longer held sacred, the forms of his system are retained in public schools, and the terms of his philosophy are interwoven in modern language more than is commonly observed. With the dawn of science appeared the philosophy of Aristotle among the Saracens. In the Arabian schools his writings were diligently studied in Arabic translations from Latin or Sy riac versions, made by Greek Christians; and the name of Aristotle rose into such superstitious veneration, that, in the twelfth century, Averröes, one of the most celebrated of the Arabian philosophers, speaks of him in terms of idolatry. The writings of Aristotle (says he in the preface to his Physics,") are so perfect, that none of his followers, through a space of fifteen hundred years, have been able to make the smallest improvement upon them, or to discover the least error in them; a degree of perfection truly miraculous, which proves him to have been The charm by which Aristotle, for a long sea divine rather than a human being." And again: ries of ages, fascinated the world, is at length "The doctrine of Aristotle is the perfection of broken; and we may now venture to examine truth; and his understanding attained the ut- the merit of his writings, and to inquire on most limit of human ability; so that it might be what grounds the edifice of his authority has truly said, that he was created and given to the been raised. Without adopting in its fullest world by Divine Providence, that we might see extent the elegant but extravagant encomium in him how much it is possible for man to know. preserved in Suidas, that Aristotle was "the se(Brucker.) Even among the Jews the name of cretary of nature, and dipped his pen in intellect," Aristotle, at this time, held the next place to that [Αριστοτελης της φύσεως γραμματεύς ην, τον καλα of Moses; and it was pretended that he had por añosρEXY ELS vev.] it may be admitted, that learned his philosophy in Judæa, and borrowed he possessed a profound and penetrating genius, his morals from Solomon. (Maimonid. Ep. ad and a wonderful power of classing ideas, definR. Jibbon.) In the scholastic age of the Chris- ing terms, and analysing the faculties and opetian church, Aristotle was the oracle of the rations of the human mind. It cannot be doubt schools, and his philosophy one of the main ed that he had also an extensive acquaintance pillars of the ecclesiastical hierarchy. So inti- with natural objects, and was a diligent observer mate an union was established between the Pe- of physical and moral phænomena. Had he ripatetic philosophy and the Christian religion, employed those powers of discrimination and that Aristotle became the interpreter, and even arrangement upon natural bodies, which he the judge, of Paul, and was scarcely second in wasted upon words, he might have been a Linauthority to Christ. All attempts to stop the næus; or had he been so fortunate as to have progress of this phrensy, which has very pro- fallen upon the method of philosophising adoptperly been called the Aristotelomania, even by ed by the moderns, and contented himself with the authority of synods, councils and popes, pursuing knowledge by the slow but sure proproved ineffectual. The writings of Aristotle cess of deducing general principles from facts were, by express statute, appointed to be read in and experiments, he might have been a Bacon, a universities; professors were required to pro- Boyle, or a Newton. Instead of this, his ambimise upon oath, that in their public lectures tion to distinguish himself among philosophers they would follow no other guide; and, in the as the founder of a new sect, at a period when disputations of the schools, the scholar was re- the moral wisdom of the Socratic school had quired to prove his thesis from the writings of yielded to the subtleties of speculation in the Aristotle, and, in reasoning upon his subject, Academy of Plato, induced him to try his intelnot to contradict his decisions. Even the refor- lectual strength in abstruse disquisitions. Hypomation did not destroy the authority of this phi-thetical conjectures concerning the causes of losopher. Luther, indeed, boldly denied the utility of the Peripatetic philosophy, and asked, (Declarationes ad Heidelb. apud Werensdorf. Diss. de Progressu emend. per Luth. Rel. p. 20.) "What doth it contribute towards the knowledge of things, to be perpetually trifling and cavilling in words prescribed by Aristotle?" But phænomena, and abstract investigations and arrangements respecting matter, mind, and deity; respecting the principles and modes of reasoning; and respecting universal ideas of existence, attributes, and relations, separated from real be. ing, form the principal materials of his writ ings. These difficult subjects are treated with great precision, indeed, of language, and distinctness of method, but with a degree of conciseness, which necessarily creates obscurity. The darkness in which his conceptions are involved is often so impenetrable, that his readers experience a mortifying conviction of the truth of his apology to Alexander for disclosing the secrets of his school, that his doctrines were published and not published. His general propositions are often obscure for want of examples; and even when examples are introduced, they are often as unintelligible as the doctrines they are intended to illustrate. In those parts of his writings, which are most perspicuous, he is more occupied in defining and arranging terms, than in ascertaining facts or deducing principles. Even his grand invention, the syllogistic art, of whatever use it may be in multiplying hypothetical propositions, or in practising or detecting sophistry, affords no assistance in the discovery of truth. The conclusion in every syllogism is, in fact, contained in the premises; if the premises have not been previously proved by other means than syllogistic reasoning, the conclusion is not established; if they have, the syllogism is unnecessary. The truth is, as Dr. Reid (see his brief account of Aristotle's Logic in the appendix to the third volume of Lord Kaim's "Sketches of Man,") has well observed, that this kind of reasoning, independently of observation and experiment, only carries a man round, like a a horse in a mill, without any real progress. On the whole, notwithstanding all the homage which has been paid to the name of Aristotle, we must conclude his philosophy to have been rather that of words than of things. His descriptions in natural history, and his observations on political, moral, and critical subjects, are a valuable treasure: but the subtleties of his metaphysics and dialectics, to which he owed his unrivalled fame and supreme authority in the Arabian, Jewish and Christian schools, have been so far from contributing to the advancement of science, that they have fatally obstructed its progress. In pursuit of the phantoms of abstraction raised by the Peripatetic philosophy, men for ages neglected substantial knowledge; and it was not till they were emancipated from their vassalage to Aristotle, that the human mind asserted its native freedom and dignity, and that genuine science began to enlighten the world. Aristotle's principal writings have, separately, passed through innumerable editions. Some of the more valuable are the following: "Organon," Gr. fol. ap. Ald. 1495. 4to. VOL. I. ap. Morell, Paris, 1562. 8vo. Oxon, 1759. Of the entire works of Aristotle, the principal He was a ARISTOXENUS, an eminent musician and philosopher of antiquity, was a native of Tarentum, and son of the musician Mnesias or Spintharus; he studied first under his father and Lamprus of Erythræ, at Mantinæa in Arcadia, afterwards under Xenophilus the Pythagorean, and finally under Aristotle. Hence he is to be placed in the age of Alexander the Great and his immediate successors. copious writer on a variety of subjects, philosophical, historical, philological, &c. but he principally attained eminence as a writer on music, which science in the opinion of Cicero, filled his head to the exclusion of clear ideas on other topics. A catalogue of all his lost works is to be found in Fabricius's Biblioth. Græc. Nothing remains to our times but his three books of "Harmonic Elements," which are the most ancient treatises on music extant, and appear to have been in great reputation, as they ́ are referred to by many of the writers of antiquity. The Greek text of this work was first published by Meursius, along with the musical treatises of Nicomachus and Alypius, at Leyden, 4to. 1616. A Latin version of Aristoxenus by Gogavin had appeared at Venice as 3 D " With the dawn of science appeared the philosophy of Aristotle among the Saracens. In the Arabian schools his writings were diligently studied in Arabic translations from Latin or Syriac versions, made by Greek Christians; and the name of Aristotle rose into such superstitious veneration, that, in the twelfth century, Averröes, one of the most celebrated of the Arabian philosophers, speaks of him in terms of idolatry. The writings of Aristotle (says he in the preface to his Physics,") are so perfect, that none of his followers, through a space of fifteen hundred years, have been able to make the smallest improvement upon them, or to discover the least error in them; a degree of perfection truly miraculous, which proves him to have been a divine rather than a human being." And again: "The doctrine of Aristotle is the perfection of truth; and his understanding attained the utmost limit of human ability; so that it might be truly said, that he was created and given to the world by Divine Providence, that we might see in him how much it is possible for man to know. (Brucker.) Even among the Jews the name of Aristotle, at this time, held the next place to that of Moses; and it was pretended that he had learned his philosophy in Judæa, and borrowed his morals from Solomon. (Maimonid. Ep. ad R. Jibbon.) In the scholastic age of the Christian church, Aristotle was the oracle of the schools, and his philosophy one of the main pillars of the ecclesiastical hierarchy. So intimate an union was established between the Peripatetic philosophy and the Christian religion, that Aristotle became the interpreter, and even the judge, of Paul, and was scarcely second in authority to Christ. All attempts to stop the progress of this phrensy, which has very properly been called the Aristotelomania, even by the authority of synods, councils and popes, proved ineffectual. The writings of Aristotle The writings of Aristotle were, by express statute, appointed to be read in universities; professors were required to promise upon oath, that in their public lectures they would follow no other guide; and, in the disputations of the schools, the scholar was required to prove his thesis from the writings of Aristotle, and, in reasoning upon his subject, not to contradict his decisions. Even the reformation did not destroy the authority of this philosopher. Luther, indeed, boldly denied the utility of the Peripatetic philosophy, and asked, (Declarationes ad Heidelb. apud Werensdorf. Diss. de Progressu emend. per Luth. Rel. p. 20.) "What doth it contribute towards the knowledge of things, to be perpetually trifling and cavilling in words prescribed by Aristotle?" But Melancthon adhered to this system; and, by means of his compendium entitled "Philippics," it was introduced into almost all the German Protestant schools. So implicit was the deference at that time paid to the authority of Aristotle, that, as we learn from Melancthon, his "Ethics" were sometimes read to the people in sacred assemblies instead of the Sunday lectures. (Spanhem. Orat. Geneva, Restit. 1635.) And even to this day, though the name of Aristotle is no longer held sacred, the forms of his system are retained in public schools, and the terms of his philosophy are interwoven in modern language more than is commonly observed. The charm by which Aristotle, for a long series of ages, fascinated the world, is at length broken; and we may now venture to examine the merit of his writings, and to inquire on what grounds the edifice of his authority has been raised. Without adopting in its fullest extent the elegant but extravagant encomium preserved in Suidas, that Aristotle was "the secretary of nature, and dipped his pen in intellect," [Αριστοτελης της φύσεως γραμματεύς ην, τον καλαor anosрEXY IS VERY.] it may be admitted, that he possessed a profound and penetrating genius, and a wonderful power of classing ideas, defining terms, and analysing the faculties and operations of the human mind. It cannot be doubt ed that he had also an extensive acquaintance with natural objects, and was a diligent observer of physical and moral phænomena. Had he employed those powers of discrimination and arrangement upon natural bodies, which he wasted upon words, he might have been a Linnæus; or had he been so fortunate as to have fallen upon the method of philosophising adopted by the moderns, and contented himself with pursuing knowledge by the slow but sure process of deducing general principles from facts and experiments, he might have been a Bacon, a Boyle, or a Newton. Instead of this, his ambition to distinguish himself among philosophers as the founder of a new sect, at a period when the moral wisdom of the Socratic school had yielded to the subtleties of speculation in the Academy of Plato, induced him to try his intellectual strength in abstruse disquisitions. Hypothetical conjectures concerning the causes of phænomena, and abstract investigations and arrangements respecting matter, mind, and deity; respecting the principles and modes of reasoning; and respecting universal ideas of existence, attributes, and relations, separated from real being, form the principal materials of his writings. These difficult subjects are treated with 11 great precision, indeed, of language, and distinctness of method, but with a degree of conciseness, which necessarily creates obscurity. The darkness in which his conceptions are involved is often so impenetrable, that his readers experience a mortifying conviction of the truth of his apology to Alexander for disclosing the secrets of his school, that his doctrines were published and not published. His general propositions are often obscure for want of examples; and even when examples are introduced, they are often as unintelligible as the doctrines they are intended to illustrate. In those parts of his writings, which are most perspicuous, he is more occupied in defining and arranging terms, than in ascertaining facts or deducing principles. Even his grand invention, the syllogistic art, of whatever use it may be in multiplying hypothetical propositions, or in practising or detecting sophistry, affords no assistance in the discovery of truth. The conclusion in every syllogism is, in fact, contained in the premises; if the premises have not been previously proved by other means than syllogistic reasoning, the conclusion is not established; if they have, the syllogism is unnecessary. The truth is, as Dr. Reid (see his brief account of Aristotle's Logic in the appendix to the third volume of Lord Kaim's "Sketches of Man,") has well observed, that this kind of reasoning, independently of observation and experiment, only carries a man round, like a a horse in a mill, without any real progress. On the whole, notwithstanding all the homage which has been paid to the name of Aristotle, we must conclude his philosophy to have been rather that of words than of things. His descriptions in natural history, and his observations on political, moral, and critical subjects, are a valuable treasure: but the subtleties of his metaphysics and dialectics, to which he owed his unrivalled fame and supreme authority in the Arabian, Jewish and Christian schools, Fave been so far from contributing to the advancement of science, that they have fatally Obstructed its progress. In pursuit of the phantoms of abstraction raised by the Peripatetic philosophy, men for ages neglected substantial knowledge; and it was not till they were emancipated from their vassalage to Aristotle, that the human mind asserted its native freedom and dignity, and that genuine science began to enlighten the world. Aristotle's principal writings have, separately, passed through innumerable editions. Some of the more valuable are the following: Organon," Gr. fol. ap. Ald. 1495. 4to. VOL. I. 66 ap. Morell, Paris, 1562. 8vo. Oxon, 1759. Gr. and Lat. 2 vols. 4to. Pacii, Franc. 1597. 8vo. Hanov. 1598. "Rhetorica," 4to. Basil, 1529. Paris, 1562. Gr. and Lat. 4to. Goulstoni, Lond. 1619. 8vo. Battie, Cant. 1728. "Poetica," Gr. fol. ap. Ald. 1508. 12mo. Oxon, 1760. Gr. and Lat. 4to. Goulston, Lond. 1623. 8vo. Cant. 1696. 12mo. Glasg. 1745. Ethica," Gr. and Lat. fol. Turnebi, Paris, 1555. 8vo. Heinsii, Lugd. Bat. 1607. Wilkinsoni, Oxon. 1716. "Politica, Gr. 4to. Paris, 1556. Gr. and Lat. Heinsii Jenæ, 1660. "De Animalibus," Gr. fol. Ald. 1503. Gr. and Lat. fol. Scaliger, Tolosa, 1619. Physica,' Gr. 4to. Morelli, Paris. Mechanica, Gr. and Lat. Paris, 1599. "Oeconomica," Gr. 4to. Morell, Paris, 1560. "De Anima," Gr. and Lat. 8vo. Pacii, Franc. 1621. “ De Mundo," Gr. and Lat. 12mo. Franc. 1601. Glasg. 1745. 66 66 Of the entire works of Aristotle, the principal editions are, Gr. 6 vols. fol. ap Ald. Venet. 1498. 6 vols. 12mo. Ald. 1552. 10 vols. 4to. Sylburgii, Franc. 1587. Gr. and Lat. fol. Casauboni, Lugd. 1590, 1646, fol. Genev. 1605. 8vo. Lugd. 1597. 2 vols. fol. Du Val, Paris, 1629, 1654. Diog. Laërt. Dionys. Halic. Epist. ad Ammæum. Ammonii Herm. vel Philoponi, Anst. Vit. Suidas. Fabric. Bibl. Grac. lib. iii. c. 6. Bayle. Stanley. Brucker. -E. ARISTOXENUS, an eminent musician and philosopher of antiquity, was a native of Tarentum, and son of the musician Mnesias or Spintharus; he studied first under his father and Lamprus of Erythra, at Mantinea in Arcadia, afterwards under Xenophilus the Pythagorean, and finally under Aristotle. Hence he is to be placed in the age of Alexander the Great and his immediate successors. He was a copious writer on a variety of subjects, philosophical, historical, philological, &c. but he principally attained eminence as a writer on music, which science in the opinion of Cicero, filled his head to the exclusion of clear ideas on other topics. A catalogue of all his lost works is to be found in Fabricius's Biblioth. Græc. Nothing remains to our times but his three books of "Harmonic Elements," which are the most ancient treatises on music extant, and appear to have been in great reputation, as they are referred to by many of the writers of antiquity. The Greek text of this work was first published by Meursius, along with the musical treatises of Nicomachus and Alypius, at Leyden, 4to. 1616. A Latin version of Aristoxenus by Gogavin had appeared at Venice as 3 D |