''Protrepticus'' ( el, Προτρεπτικός) is a philosophical work by

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ...

that encouraged the young to study

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...

. It survives only in fragments and ancient reports and is considered a

lost work A lost work is a document, literary work, or piece of multimedia produced some time in the past, of which no surviving copies are known to exist. It can only be known through reference. This term most commonly applies to works from the classical ...

. This is likely the origin of the English word Protreptics, which means, “turning or converting someone to a specific end” used in a philosophical sense, a word hardly ever used except in specialized philosophical treatises.

Fragments and ancient reports

Fragments are preserved in several works by

Iamblichus Iamblichus (; grc-gre, Ἰάμβλιχος ; Aramaic: 𐡉𐡌𐡋𐡊𐡅 ''Yamlīḵū''; ) was a Syrian neoplatonic philosopher of Arabic origin. He determined a direction later taken by neoplatonism. Iamblichus was also the biographer o ...

of Calchis.

Reconstructions

Since the 19th century, when inquiry was initiated by

Jakob Bernays Jacob Bernays (11 September 182426 May 1881) was a German philologist and philosophical writer. Life Jacob Bernays was born in Hamburg to Jewish parents. His father, Isaac Bernays (1792–1849) was a man of wide culture and the first orthodox Ge ...

(1863), several scholars have attempted to reconstruct the work. Attempted reconstructions include: *A 1961 book by

Ingemar Düring Ingemar Düring (2 September 1903 - 23 December 1984) was a Swedish Classical Philologist. From 1945 to 1970 he was a professor at Gothenburg University The University of Gothenburg ( sv, Göteborgs universitet) is a university in Sweden's ...

*A 1964 book by

Anton-Hermann Chroust Anton-Hermann Chroust (29 January 1907 – January 1982) was a German-American jurist, philosopher and historian, from 1946 to 1972, professor of law, philosophy, and history, at the University of Notre Dame. Chroust was best known for his ...

*2015 ''Protrepticus or Exhortation to Philosophy'' by Hutchinson and Johnson

Commentary

The book ''The works of Aristotle'' (1908, p. viii) mentioned :The

Historia Augusta The ''Historia Augusta'' (English: ''Augustan History'') is a late Roman collection of biographies, written in Latin, of the Roman emperors, their junior colleagues, designated heirs and usurpers from 117 to 284. Supposedly modeled on the si ...

says that

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the esta ...

's Hortensius was modelled on the ''Protrepticus'' and as the ''Hortensiu''s was a dialogue, the ''Protrepticus'' was probably one too. There is thus good evidence that several of the nineteen works that stand at the head of

Diogenes Diogenes ( ; grc, Διογένης, Diogénēs ), also known as Diogenes the Cynic (, ) or Diogenes of Sinope, was a Greek philosopher and one of the founders of Cynicism (philosophy). He was born in Sinope, an Ionian colony on the Black Sea ...

' and Hesychius' lists were dialogues; it may be inferred with high probability, though not with certainty, that the others were so too, but Stobaeus, pp. 59, 61 infra, and Athenaeus, p. 61 infra, confirm its genuineness.

Protreptic

A book review of ''Exhortations to Philosophy'' (2015), mentioned

Clark Clark is an English language surname, ultimately derived from the Latin language, Latin with historical links to England, Scotland, and Ireland ''clericus'' meaning "scribe", "secretary" or a scholar within a religious order, referring to someone ...

(1989), mentioned

Translations

1908

Elias Elias is the Greek equivalent of Elijah ( he, אֵלִיָּהוּ‎ ''ʾĒlīyyāhū''; Syriac: ܐܠܝܐ ''Eliyā''; Arabic: الیاس Ilyās/Elyās), a prophet in the Northern Kingdom of Israel in the 9th century BC, mentioned in several h ...

in ''Porph''. 3. 17-23.

1995

Pierre Hadot Pierre Hadot (; ; 21 February 1922 – 24 April 2010) was a French philosopher and historian of philosophy specializing in ancient philosophy, particularly Neoplatonism. Life In 1944, Hadot was ordained, but following Pope Pius XII’s enc ...

(into French), Michael Chase (translator into English of Hadot's volume):

2015

Hutchinson and Johnson Excerpt from a speech by the character ‘Aristotle’ (Hutchinson and Johnson, p. 12)

References

External links

* Downloadabl
reconstruction of Protrepticus
(D. S. Hutchinson and M. R. Johnson) {{Aristotelianism Works by Aristotle