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Aristotle wrote as many as 200 treatises, of which approximately 30 survive. What we have are largely lecture notes and draft manuscripts, edited by ancient scholars — most notably Andronicus of Rhodes (~60 BCE). The standard reference system uses Bekker numbers, based on the 1831–1870 Prussian Academy edition.


Logic — The Organon

The six logical works collectively called the Organon (“instrument”), dealing with the methodology of reasoning.

WorkNotes
CategoriesOn the basic kinds of predication
On Interpretation (De Interpretatione)On propositions and truth
Prior Analytics (2 books)Formal syllogistic logic
Posterior Analytics (2 books)Scientific demonstration and knowledge
Topics (8 books)Dialectical reasoning
Sophistical Refutations (De Sophisticis Elenchis)Logical fallacies

Natural Philosophy / Physics

WorkNotes
Physics (8 books)Change, causality, motion, the infinite
On the Heavens (De Caelo, 4 books)Cosmology and celestial bodies
On Generation and Corruption (2 books)Coming-to-be and passing-away
Meteorology (4 books)Atmospheric and geological phenomena

Biology & Natural History

WorkNotes
History of Animals (Historia Animalium, 10 books)Descriptive zoology
On the Parts of Animals (4 books)Functional anatomy
On the Movement of AnimalsAnimal locomotion
On the Progression of AnimalsModes of movement
On the Generation of Animals (5 books)Reproduction and heredity
On PlantsAuthenticity disputed; possibly by Nicolaus of Damascus
On ColoursLikely by students at the Lyceum

Psychology

On the Soul

  • On the Soul (De Anima, 3 books) — The foundational treatise on psyche, perception, intellect

Parva Naturalia

Nine short psychological treatises:

Work
On Sense and Sensibilia
On Memory and Reminiscence
On Sleep and Sleeplessness
On Dreams
On Divination in Sleep
On Length and Shortness of Life
On Youth, Old Age, Life and Death, and Respiration

Metaphysics

  • Metaphysics (14 books) — On “first philosophy”: being qua being, matter and form, the four causes (material, formal, efficient, final), potentiality and actuality, the Prime Mover

Ethics

WorkNotes
Nicomachean Ethics (10 books)His most celebrated ethical work; virtue ethics, eudaimonia, friendship
Eudemian Ethics (7 books)Earlier, less comprehensive treatment; three books overlap with the NE
Magna Moralia (2 books)Abstract of the other ethical works; partly spurious (Stoic elements)
On Virtues and VicesSpurious

Politics & Economics

WorkNotes
Politics (8 books)Theory of the polis, constitutions, citizenship
Economics (Oeconomica, 3 books)Household and state management; partly spurious
Constitution of Athens (Athenaion Politeia)History of Athenian political development to ~328 BCE; rediscovered 1879

Rhetoric & Poetics

WorkNotes
Rhetoric (Ars Rhetorica, 3 books)Modes of persuasion: ethos, pathos, logos
Poetics (1 surviving book)Tragedy and epic poetry; second book on comedy is lost

Works Surviving Only in Fragments

WorkNotes
ProtrepticusExhortation to philosophy; known through later paraphrases
On Philosophy (On the Good)Dialogue; fragments in later authors
Eudemus (On the Soul)Dialogue on the soul and immortality
On JusticeFragment only
On Good BirthFragment only
On IdeasSurvives in quotations by Alexander of Aphrodisias

Transmission History

Aristotle (d. 322 BCE)
  → Theophrastus (successor at the Lyceum)
    → Neleus of Scepsis
      → Hidden in a cellar (~150 years, poor conditions)
        → Purchased by Apellicon; returned to Athens (~100 BCE)
          → Seized by Sulla; taken to Rome (86 BCE)
            → Andronicus of Rhodes — first complete edition (~60 BCE)
              → Bekker edition, Prussian Academy (1831–1870) — modern standard

Notes

  • Works marked spurious are generally held to be by students or later Peripatetics, not Aristotle himself.
  • The surviving corpus is essentially lecture notes, which accounts for the dense, unpolished style.
  • Standard citations use Bekker numbers (e.g., NE 1094a1 = page 1094, column a, line 1 in the Bekker edition).
  • The complete English translation is the Revised Oxford Translation, ed. Jonathan Barnes (Princeton, 1984), 2 vols.