Aristocles of Messene was a philosopher of the Peripatetic school, which followed the tradition of Aristotle. His exact identity and dates are uncertain. While sometimes placed in the 4th century BCE, his activity is usually assigned to the 1st century CE. This later dating is based on his detailed critiques of post-Aristotelian philosophies like Skepticism and Epicureanism.
He is best known as the teacher of Alexander of Aegae, who later instructed the Roman emperor Nero. His only known work is On Philosophy, a large-scale critical history of philosophy that survives only in fragments quoted by later authors like Eusebius of Caesarea. This work was organised into at least ten books and provided summaries and refutations of doctrines from the Pre-Socratics to his own time.
Aristocles matters chiefly through these fragments, which preserve information about other philosophers. His summaries are particularly important for understanding early Pyrrhonian Skepticism, as he provides one of the key surviving accounts of the thinker Pyrrho. Academics view his work as an important example of Peripatetic engagement with and criticism of other Hellenistic schools during the early Roman Imperial period.
Also published as PDF.