Harmonizing Plato and Aristotle on Esse: Thomas Aquinas and the De hebdomadibus

STEPHEN L. BROCK
Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Rome, Italy
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It was in his second commentary on Aristotle’s Peri hermeneias that Boethius announced the famous project of translating and commenting on all the works of both Plato and Aristotle.What the effect on the subsequent history of thought might have been, had he lived to carry out more than a small fraction of the project, we can only guess. But even the announcement may have had some impact. For it endorses a decided view of the relation between the two great philosophers. “In doing these things,” Boethius declared,“I would not disdain to bring the positions of Aristotle and Plato into a certain harmony, and to show that they are not at odds about everything, as many hold, but that on most things in philosophy
they are quite in agreement.” As is well-known, the assertion of a substantial agreement between
Plato and Aristotle was typical with the neo-Platonist thinkers, among whom Boethius is usually numbered.The classification seems undeniable…
Nova et Vetera, English Edition,Vol. 5, No. 3 (2007): 465–494 465

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