The Stylometric Study of the Aristotelian Writings
Anthony Kenny · 2000
Abstract In recent years A. Q. Morton, A. D. Winspear, and S. Michaelson have applied stylometric techniques to a number of works of Aristotle with a view to settling long-standing scholarly questions about the genuineness and composition of certain disputed texts. (See, in particular, ‘ The Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle’ , in It’ sGreektotheComputer by Morton and Winspear (1971); and ‘ The Authorship and Integrity of the Athenaion Politeia’ by Morton and Michaelson in ProceedingsoftheRoyalSocietyofEdinburgh, 1971-2). The technique used has been to select a stylistic feature (e.g. sentence-length, or the occurrence of frequent words such as conjunctions and introductory particles) and to study it both in the disputed text in question and in two or three texts taken as definitively Aristotelian-texts such as the PartsofAnimals, the DeInterpretatione, the DeCaelo, or the DeAnima, the authorship of which can be regarded as a defining characteristic of the Aristotle of tradition.