Since its translation from Greek into Latin in the 13th century, the phenomenon of incorporation of Aristotelian political lexicon into the Latin context raises issues regarding which terminology was left out and which one was taken in. These questions are raised not only concerning the translation of the Politics by William of Moerbeke, but also the first commentaries on the Aristotelian Latin text by Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas, as well as the possible reverberation of those new Moerbek…
Read moreSince its translation from Greek into Latin in the 13th century, the phenomenon of incorporation of Aristotelian political lexicon into the Latin context raises issues regarding which terminology was left out and which one was taken in. These questions are raised not only concerning the translation of the Politics by William of Moerbeke, but also the first commentaries on the Aristotelian Latin text by Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas, as well as the possible reverberation of those new Moerbekian political vocables in some readers of the Politics in the 14th century. This is neither only about verifying who has used or not used certain vocabulary nor about pronouncing judgments on these practices in order to stick a label on a thinker. Rather, this is about trying to specify the beginning of a new way of thinking and to understand that domain of human life that is its public dimension, or rather, its political dimension from the use of vocables. More specifically, this paper intends to understand how a new conceptual framework emerges from the Latin translation of the Politics, i.e., the political sphere. It is granted that the translation of the Politics by Moerbeke sets a new vocabulary and a new conceptual framework that will be among the grounds of the political thinking from then on.O fenômeno da incorporação do corpo lexical político aristotélico transliterado do grego ao contexto latino do século XIII nos remete a problemas sobre as presenças e ausências terminológicas, não somente na tradução da Política, feita por Guilherme de Moerbeke, e nos comentários de Alberto Magno e Tomás de Aquino ao texto latino de Aristóteles, mas também à possível reverberação desses vocábulos políticos moerbekianos em alguns leitores da Política, no século XIV. Não se trata apenas de verificação de quem usou ou não usou tais ou quais termos, nem mesmo da elaboração de juízos sobre esses usos, como que para rotular pensadores; antes, trata-se de tentar individuar, a partir dos usos terminológicos, o surgimento de um novo modo de pensar e compreender a esfera da vida humana que é a dimensão pública, ou melhor, política. Tentaremos compreender, neste artigo, especificamente como emerge, a partir dessa tradução latina da Política, um novo quadro conceitual, a saber: a esfera política. Constataremos que a tradução da Política de Moerbeke consolida um novo vocabulário e um novo quadro conceitual que será, doravante, um dos fundamentos do pensamento político.