This paper deals with Aristotle's definiton of arthron in the XX chapter of the Poetics. This definition has always been considered as an unsolvable dilemma. Starting with a detailed analysis of the Greek text, and of the various attempts to make sense of it, the paper attempts to read it in an innovative way. The xx chapter of the Poetics is not a classification of parts of speech, as it is usually considered; we have to read it in light of Aristotle's biological program. Arthron (as well as syndesmos, syllabé) are biological terms. In linguistics as well as in biology arthron is thus a 'joint': it has nothing to do with the «article» in later grammatical sense. In this light, the book offers a new textual conjecture for the first example of arthron in the Poetics.

patrizia laspia (2019). Dalla biologia alla linguistica. La definizione di arthron del XX capitolo della poetica di Aristotele. In M. Capocci, M. Cilione, F. Giorgianni (a cura di), I nomi del male e i segni dell'eredità. Pensare, nominare e curare la malattia 'genetica' dai Greci a noi (pp. 239-258). Bologna : il Mulino.

Dalla biologia alla linguistica. La definizione di arthron del XX capitolo della poetica di Aristotele

patrizia laspia
2019-01-01

Abstract

This paper deals with Aristotle's definiton of arthron in the XX chapter of the Poetics. This definition has always been considered as an unsolvable dilemma. Starting with a detailed analysis of the Greek text, and of the various attempts to make sense of it, the paper attempts to read it in an innovative way. The xx chapter of the Poetics is not a classification of parts of speech, as it is usually considered; we have to read it in light of Aristotle's biological program. Arthron (as well as syndesmos, syllabé) are biological terms. In linguistics as well as in biology arthron is thus a 'joint': it has nothing to do with the «article» in later grammatical sense. In this light, the book offers a new textual conjecture for the first example of arthron in the Poetics.
2019
patrizia laspia (2019). Dalla biologia alla linguistica. La definizione di arthron del XX capitolo della poetica di Aristotele. In M. Capocci, M. Cilione, F. Giorgianni (a cura di), I nomi del male e i segni dell'eredità. Pensare, nominare e curare la malattia 'genetica' dai Greci a noi (pp. 239-258). Bologna : il Mulino.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10447/483680
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