Pseudo-Aristotle

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Pseudo-Aristotle is a general cognomen for authors of philosophical or medical treatises who attributed their work to the Greek philosopher Aristotle, or whose work was later attributed to him by others.

Aristotle had produced so many works on such a variety of subjects that it was possible for writers in many different contexts—notably medieval Europeans, North Africans and Arabs—to write a work and ascribe it to Aristotle. Attaching his name to such a work guaranteed it a certain amount of respect and acceptance, since Aristotle was regarded as one of most authoritative ancient writers for the learned men of both Christian Europe and the Muslim Arab lands. It is generally not clear whether the attribution to Aristotle of a later work was done by its own author or by others who sought to popularize such works by using his name.

Notable Pseudo-Aristotles included the second century North African writer Apuleius of Madauros, the author of the Greek cosmographic work De Mundo, as well as the medieval Muslim author of the geological Arabic work, De Proprietatibus Elementorum.^[1]