Abstract

Trendelenburg’s essay De Aristotelis categoriis is presented for the first time in Italian translation. It exposes the famous theses concerning the derivation of the Aristotelian categories from the analysis of the proposition and their correspondence with the parts of speech. While highlighting the connection of the Aristotelian categories with the spoken language, at the same time it points out that Aristotle’s primary interest was in the nature of things and concepts. The introduction, through a biographical draft, sketches Trendelenburg’s cultural formation; subsequently, it presents an analysis of De Aristotelis categoriis; finally, it discusses the reception of Trendelenburg’s interpretation in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In addition to the criticisms of scholars like Heinrich Ritter, Eduard Zeller, Hermann Bonitz, Carl Prantl, Franz Brentano and Otto Apelt, it examines the affinities between Trendelenburg’s concept and those of two front-ranking linguists, Émile Benveniste and Louis Hjelmslev. The bibliography contains all the works cited in Trendelenburg’s essay and those related to it.