LA NOZIONE DI STOICHEION NEI LIBRI ALPHA E BETA DELLA METAFISICA

The purpose of this study was to examine the notion of stoicheion in the Metaphysics Alpha and Beta books through the analysis of the contexts and the ways in which Aristotle deals with that. The thesis is aimed at confirming the complexity of the use and variety of meanings of the element notion in the work of Stagirita. Aristotle presents different ways of the development of the notion, which is observed proceeding with the reading of the passages selected. To show how complex the question of this term is, it was necessary to take in consideration the fact that Aristotle used it initially when he presented doctrines of the pres-Socratics and thus referring to the theory of the Emedocles bodies. The work of Aristotle, however, has not simple narrative and descriptive character, because, parallel to the sum up and to exam the doctrines of his predecessors, he also realizes his objectives, such as, fundamental for him, to confirm that nobody was able to make a better contribution to the theory of the four causes. In the section dedicated to the criticism of the doctrines of philosophers such as Empedocles, Anaxagoras, Pythagoras and Plato, it is already possible to notice some wider problems, since they are also examined passages in which the notion of stoicheion is a part of some epistemological and logical questions, which is also observed through the analysis of the aporetic section of the Beta book.