In this doctoral thesis, I address questions concerning teleology, chance, and necessity in Aristotle's philosophy. These three concepts are closely related. Aristotle considers chance in relation to teleology, and contrasts his conception of teleology with his own and his predecessors' views of necessity. He explains accidental causation on the basis of the absurdity of necessitarianism. In Chapter I, I clarify Aristotle's definitions of chance events and chance in Physics B 4-6 on the basis of a detailed examination of 'coming to be accidentally' (196b23), 'for the sake of something' (196b21), 'might be done by thought or by nature' (196b22). I analyze accidental and non-accidental relations involved in the marketplace example. In Chapter II, I argue that Aristotle accepts that the regularly beneficial winter rainfall is for the sake of the crops in Physics B 8. I scrutinize Empedocles’ view as described by Aristotle and show that it is not a theory of natural selection. I seek to show that the rival view against which Aristotle argues is an amalgam of reductionism and eliminativism. In Chapter III, I analyze what Aristotle means by 'simple necessity' and 'necessity on a hypothesis' (199b34-35), and argue that, in Physics B 9, he only acknowledges hypothetical necessity. Scrutinizing the wall example and Aristotle’s reply to it, I clarify his view of the relation between teleological causation and material necessity. In Chapter IV, I clarify Aristotle's conception of accidental causes, while taking his presentation of the necessitarian argument in Metaphysics E 3 as a reductio ad absurdum. I criticize the view that Aristotle himself accepts necessitation in this chapter. In doing so, I argue that, although this point is not explicitly stated in Physics B, Aristotle thinks that what is accidental is not necessary prior to its occurrence.

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro / O objetivo deste trabalho é estudar a melancolia em duas vias: uma primeira via que chamaremos histórico-investigativa e que estudará esse conceito na filosofia antiga (Aristóteles) que carrega o legado direto da medicina hipocrática, e estudará ainda a trajetória da melancolia na psiquiatria moderna. Em outras palavras, estudar a forma como a melancolia foi construida como uma afecção do corpo nesses dois momentos históricos fundamentais do termo. Uma segunda via analisará o papel fundamental da construção do conceito de melancolia no interior e ao longo da obra de Freud, tanto na sua função de delimitação de um campo propriamente psicanalítico de reflexão sobre essa doença, como nas suas relações de vizinhança conceitual (onde estão envolvidos alguns dos conceitos mais fundamentais da obra freudiana) / This works aim is to study melancholy in two ways: the first way we call historical investigative will search for this concept in the ancien philosophy (Aristote) wich takes the legacy of hipocratical medicine, and will also study melancholy in modern psichiatry. In other words, we are going to study the way melancholy was build as a body afection in this two fundamental historical moments of the term. The second research way will analyse the fundamental inner function of melancholys concept in freudians work: its function in the construction of a proprierly psycoanalitical base of reflection on this disease, and its conceptual neighborhood relations (where are engaged some of the most important concepts of the freudian work)

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro / O objetivo deste trabalho é estudar a melancolia em duas vias: uma primeira via que chamaremos histórico-investigativa e que estudará esse conceito na filosofia antiga (Aristóteles) que carrega o legado direto da medicina hipocrática, e estudará ainda a trajetória da melancolia na psiquiatria moderna. Em outras palavras, estudar a forma como a melancolia foi construida como uma afecção do corpo nesses dois momentos históricos fundamentais do termo. Uma segunda via analisará o papel fundamental da construção do conceito de melancolia no interior e ao longo da obra de Freud, tanto na sua função de delimitação de um campo propriamente psicanalítico de reflexão sobre essa doença, como nas suas relações de vizinhança conceitual (onde estão envolvidos alguns dos conceitos mais fundamentais da obra freudiana) / This works aim is to study melancholy in two ways: the first way we call historical investigative will search for this concept in the ancien philosophy (Aristote) wich takes the legacy of hipocratical medicine, and will also study melancholy in modern psichiatry. In other words, we are going to study the way melancholy was build as a body afection in this two fundamental historical moments of the term. The second research way will analyse the fundamental inner function of melancholys concept in freudians work: its function in the construction of a proprierly psycoanalitical base of reflection on this disease, and its conceptual neighborhood relations (where are engaged some of the most important concepts of the freudian work)

This thesis focuses on the ancient reception of the Categories of Aristotle, a work which served continuously, from late antiquity into the early modern period (Frede 1987), as the student’s introduction to philosophy.  There had previously been no comprehensive study of the reception of the Categories during the age of the first philosophical commentaries (c. 80 BC to AD 220). In this study, I have collected, assigned, and analyzed the relevant fragments of commentary belonging to this period, including some that were previously undocumented or inexplicit in the source texts, and sought to establish and characterize the influence of the early commentators’ activity on the subsequent Peripatetic tradition. In particular, I trace the early evolution of criticism and defense of the text through competing accounts of its aim (skopos), which would ultimately lead Stoic and Platonic philosophers to a partial acceptance of the Categories and frame its role in the later Neo-Platonic curriculum.

Medieval philosophy in the Arabic world has sought to harmonize the Greek philosophic tradition with the Islamic religion. Many rulers, scholars and theologians were against this intellectual approach and defend the Islam from the philosophers. The position of philosophy and its followers in the Arabic realm was therefore uneasy. Many scholars had to hide their opinions between the lines and avoid to doing philosophy publicly. Alongside the unfriendly environment, the position of philosophy in the Arabic society was also determined by common notion of scholars, that the revealing of the philosophical thoughts can be harmful for uneducated citizen, as well as influenced by mysticism. The aim of this thesis is to summarize the main philosophical approaches responding to the problematic position of philosophy in the Arabic world. Crucial will be the philosophy of solitary by Ibn Bajja, where the author seeks to bond tight the philosopher's life with the city and thus present a new role of philosopher in the Arabic society. Keywords Ibn Bajja, Rule of the Solitary, Al-Farabi, Political Regime, Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Plato, The Republic, political philosophy, mysticism, ethics, philosopher, virtue, city, weeds, knowledge, governance, happiness