  Beginning with the first edition of his Discussiones peripateticae in 1571, Patrizi initiated a more critical assessment of the character and philosophical reasoning of Aristotle than had characterized his earlier writings. That work, followed by the expanded edition of 1581, provided a close comparison of the views of Aristotle and Plato on a wide range of philosophical issues, arguing that Plato's views were preferable on all counts (Kristeller 1964, 115), although it should be noted that the three books added to the 1581 edition exhibit a far more aggressive tone than the initial edition. In addition, Patrizi echoes the theme put forward earlier by Christian Platonists such as Augustine, Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, and his own Renaissance predecessor Marsilio Ficino, that Platonism is more in harmony with Church doctrine than the Stagirite's were. Later, by including the spurious work Theology of Aristotle, derived largely from the Neoplatonist Plotinus, as an appendix to his Nova de universis philosophia (1591), he implied that Aristotle in fact agreed with many of the Platonic doctrines he openly attacked in his corpus of attributed works, thus suggesting an underlying duplicity on Aristotle's part in order to bolster his own philosophic credentials as an independent thinker. And Patrizi's own “novel” philosophical system would underscore the anti-Aristotelian attitude he had expressed throughout his career.