Peripatetic School

Aristotle's School, by Gustav Adolph Spangenberg

The Peripatetics were members of a school of philosophy in ancient Greece. Their teachings derived from their founder, the Greek philosopher Aristotle and peripatetic (περιπατητικός) is a name given to his followers. As an adjective, often used to mean itinerant, wandering, meandering, or walking about.

Background

The term means "the ones walking about". The name may derive from the public walk at the Lyceum in Athens which Aristotle and his disciples frequently took, where the covered walkways were known as peripatoi. However some writers on Aristotle suggest that the sect of his followers was called this because Aristotle walked about as he discoursed with his students.^{[citation needed]}

"Peripatetics" is also sometimes used to describe those philosophers not having any fixed academy or building.

Aristotle founded the Peripatetic school in 335 BC when he first opened his philosophical school at the Lyceum. The most prominent member of the school after him was Strato of Lampsacus, who increased the naturalistic elements of Aristotle's philosophy and embraced a form of atheism.

According to some writers, the Peripatetics were not in fact the direct followers of Plato or Aristotle, but rather a set of admirers perpetually following the philosophers and their students in their daily walk. Such accounts also suggest that sometimes these "followers" were known for their use of drink and unruly behavior.^{[citation needed]}

Notable members of the school

Members of the Peripatetic School include:

• Theophrastus
• Aristoxenus
• Satyrus the Peripatetic
• Eudemos of Rhodes
• Andronicus of Rhodes
• Olympiodorus the Elder
• Clearchus of Soli
• Strato of Lampsacus

References

Walter Kaufman, History of Ancient Philosophy Vol 1-2.

See also

• Porphyry (philosopher)

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