Resumen de Metafisica ed etica in Aristotele: una questione di taxis
The independence of ethics from metaphysics in Aristotle can be argued - as Gadamer did - on the basis of: 1) the link between ethics and becoming; 2) his “anti-Platonism”. Both issues are discussed following the idea of a prior/ posterior order (taxis) in which metaphysics is “prior” to ethics (viz. in particular Metaph. A 1-2; Eth. Nic. VI 3-6). Compared with metaphysics, ethics as a practical science is revealed to be (i) a homogeneous, (ii) true and (iii) relatively exact form of scientific knowledge (iv) based on its own principles. Despite this, it is human and in no sense “divine”, and as such less universal, “less free”/ “more enslaved”, “obedient”. A way to understand Aristotle’s position is to reconsider his complex “anti-Platonism” (with special regard t o Eth. Nic. I 4), which goes towards a “moderate departmentalism”, consciously expounded against the “episodic” vision of principles, being and knowledge of Speusippus (with reference to Metaph. Λ 7, 10; N 4).
