Aristóteles y la rnelancolía. En torno a Problemata XXX, 1

Abstract

Melancholy was not unknown in the classic era. On the contrary, that was a time in which melancholic men were many. Aristotle, in the Problems XXX, 1, introduces a precision about this topic. He says: All the exceptional men are melancholic. This condition obeys, according to the Estageira-born, to physical causes - an excess of black bile - and, therefore, all those who have this excess will take part also of the exceptional nature that is reserved to the eminent figures. That is a strange statement if we bear in mind other Aristotelic passages, and it has raised a wide range of interpretations as well as numerous comments. In this work I analyze the question of melancholy in this text, beginning with the contextualization of the problem in the classic world, advancing then towards a definition of melancholy according to the spirit of the Estageira-born and its place inside his doctrinal corpus, finishing with a conclusion that proposes a basic interpretation in some concepts of medieval inspiration.