Peripatetic epistemology after Aristotle: theorising knowledge from Theophrastus to Aristocles

Abstract

This paper assesses the evidence for Peripatetic epistemology after Aristotle, in particular how the Peripatetics dealt with their Aristotelian heritage. It examines the fragmentary remains of Peripatetic works between the death of Aristotle and the first century BCE. The account attempts to reconstruct some of the views in logical works and those sources which were inspired in part by Aristotle’s wide-ranging views on knowledge acquisition and justification. Apart from Theophrastus, the main figures discussed (including some of their interactions with other thinkers) are Strato of Lampsacus, Hieronymus of Rhodes, Aristo of Ceos, Critolaus, Boethus of Sidon and Aristocles of Messene.