Eroteticism: Aristotle on the Epistemic Centrality of Curiosity

James G. Lennox (University of Pittsburgh)

ABSTRACT: In this paper I “dig into” a feature of Aristotle’s thought which is familiar to anyone with even a passing acquaintance with his philosophy—the centrality of “questions and answers” to it. I shall refer to this as the erotetic character of Aristotle’s thought, or his “eroteticism.” This paper is an historically oriented exercise in meta-philosophy, since it has to do not so much with the content of Aristotle’s philosophy, as with the way in which he approaches philosophy and the consequences of him doing so. In this paper special attention will be devoted to the centrality of erotetic frameworks in his philosophic method. This is one way in which Aristotle is at least as much an heir to the Socratic method in philosophy as is Plato.

My title stresses the epistemic centrality of Aristotle’s eroteticism. What I have in mind by this is that Aristotle not only sees the pursuit of knowledge as the seeking of answers to questions—he sees the successful pursuit of knowledge as critically dependent on the kinds of questions that are asked and on the order in which they are asked and answered. My central concern in this paper will be to explore this normative dimension to Aristotle’s eroteticism, and to display its pervasive impact on his philosophic and scientific inquiries.