The Magna Moralia and its Contribution to Medieval Moral Philosophy

The project focuses on the medieval reception of the Magna Moralia, a treatise on ethics traditionally attributed to Aristotle. This Greek treatise was translated into Latin in the second half of the thirteenth century by Bartholomew of Messina, and became in this translation accessible to Latin Western scholars. The first phase of the project consists of providing a critical edition of the Latin translation of the Magna Moralia, based on a reading of all the extant manuscripts. In the second phase, we will study the virtually unknown medieval reception history of this ethical treatise. By focusing, on the one hand, on the marginal annotations in the manuscripts, and, on the other, the use and role of the Magna Moralia in medieval compendia and commentaries – which usually focused on the more popular Ethica Nicomachea –, we will determine the place and contribution of the Magna Moralia to medieval moral philosophy.

Keywords:Magna Moralia, moral philosophy, reception history

Disciplines:History of philosophy, History of ideas