Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas

Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas

The works of Plato, Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas have a plethora of different translations and editions, each with different pagination. Referencing page numbers of these texts may not be sufficient for markers to verify the quotes. Therefore, paragraph markers or argument-parts (for Aquinas), page numbers (for Aristotle and Plato), column and line numbers (for Aristotle), or vertical subdivisions of the page (for Plato). This allows every reader to locate the text being referred to, regardless of the pagination in the edition they are using. This example can also be applied to other ancient texts and works.

Plato

When referencing Plato, you will need to

1. Reference the title of the work in English,
2. Include the translation you are referring to,
3. Use the pagination and vertical subdivision from the Stephanus edition (1578, Greek-Latin)

Example Note

1. Plato, Phaedo, in The Collected Dialogues of Plato, Including the Letters, ed. Edith Hamilton and Huntington Cairns, trans. Lane Cooper and others (New York: Pantheon, 1961), 65a.

Example Shortened Note

3. Plato, Phaedo, 66c–67d.

Example Bibliography

Aristotle

When referencing Aristotle, you will need to

1. Include the standard title in English or Latin
2. Include the book number in Roman Numerals
3. The Chapter number is Arabic numerals
4. The page, column and line number of the Bekker edition (1831–36)
5. The translation you are using

Example of Note Entry

1. Aristotle, Metaphysics, in The Complete Works of Aristotle: The Revised Oxford Translation, ed. Jonathan Barnes (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1984), XII.10, 1075a11–24.

Shortened Note Entry

3. Aristotle, Metaphysics, IX.8, 1049b4–12.

Aquinas

Aquinas’ writings have a lot of divisions to reference, you will need to include

1. The title of the work
2. The part number in upper case Roman numerals (Ia, IaIIae, IIaIIae, IIIa or Suppl.IIIa)
3. The question number in Arabic numerals (e.g., q. 10 or q. 94)
4. The article number (e.g., art. 2 or art. 5)
5. the article part:
   1. one of the opposing arguments (“videtur”) cited in the opening
   2. the sed contra “on the other hand” consideration
   3. the main statement of Aquinas’ position, in his general reply to the question
   4. the response to a particular opposing argument
6. the translation you are using

Summa Theologiae

Example Note

1. Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, Blackfriars ed., vol. 2, trans. Timothy McDermott (London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1964), Ia, q. 4, art. 3, r.

Example Shortened Notes

2. Aquinas, S.T., Ia, q. 1, art. 2, 3. [refers to the third opposing argument]
3. [Refers to the fourth opposing argument of article 2, question 2, distinction 17 of book two of the Parisian Sentences Commentary] Aquinas. In Met., in Commentary on Aristotle’s ‘Metaphysics’, trans. John P. Rowan (Notre Dame, IN: Dumb Ox Books, 1995), V.2, L. 3, n. 777. [Refers to Aquinas’ Lectio three, paragraph 777, which is his commentary on book 5, chapter 2 of Aristotle’s Metaphysics]

Example Shortened Note
In short notes after your first reference, you can omit the translator details and abbreviate the title, or shorten it.

6. Aquinas, SCG, 1, 27, [9].