ABSTRACT
An important reason for this atypical development lies with Aristotle himself and in the working method at the Lyceum: collective scientific projects with joint gathering of empirical facts, and to some extent joint authorship or working papers in which the individual writer is less prominent. Another undoubted reason is Theophrastus (c.370-c. 285), Aristotle’s slightly younger friend and long-time collaborator, who succeeded him as head of the Lyceum. He had heard Plato in his youth (Diog. Laert. V 36) and as the head of the Lyceum for many years he was a critical witness to the emergence of Epicureanism and Stoicism. He was a tireless empirical scholar, but sceptical of any synthesis, and he considered systematism with noble, aloof reserve. Like Aristotle, Theophrastus was a polyhistor. His oeuvre-which reflected both esoteric and public lectures-was voluminous (cf. V 42 ff.), and-like Aristotle-he lectured on every philosophical subject, often probably with Aristotle’s lectures as the base, although he was not unoriginal. Apparently Theophrastus never made a break with fundamental Aristotelian views, even though indirectly he aimed his aporetic scepricism at Aristotle himself.
