Similar Isagoge, Categories, De divisione naturae, Topics, De Interpretatione | ||
The Categoriae decem, also known as the Ten Categories and as the Paraphrasis Themistiana, was a Latin summary of the Categories of Aristotle. It is thought to date to the fourth century. Once and traditionally attributed to St. Augustine, it is now no longer thought to be his work.
From the eighth century onwards, this text became one of the major sources of logical teaching in medieval Europe, where it was taken at times as a full translation of Aristotle's work, rather than a compression. Its importance rests in the revival of the study of logic it stimulated in the early medieval West, beginning, it would seem, at the court of Charlemagne. Those influenced included Alcuin, particularly in his De Dialectica, Fridugisus and Johannes Scotus Eriugena.
From around the eleventh century the influence of the Categoriae decem waned, as translations of the original work of Aristotle gained currency in Western Europe.