ARISTOTLE

 ARISTOTLE

INTRODUCTION

The Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) made significant and lasting contributions to nearly every aspect of human knowledge, from logic to biology to ethics and aesthetics. Though overshadowed in classical times by the work of his teacher Plato, from late antiquity through the Enlightenment, Aristotle’s surviving writings were incredibly influential. In Arabic philosophy, he was in the West, he was “The Philosopher.”

ARISTOTLE’S EARLY LIFE

Aristotle was born in 384 B.C. in Stagira in northern Greece. Both of his parents were members of traditional medical families, and his father, Nicomachus, served as court physician to King Amyntus III of Macedonia. His parents died while he was young, and he was likely raised at his family’s home in Stagira. At age 17 he was sent to Athens to enroll in Plato’s Academy. He spent 20 years as a student and teacher at the school, emerging with both a great respect and a good deal of criticism for his teacher’s theories. Plato’s own later writings, in which he softened some earlier positions, likely bear the mark of repeated discussions with his most gifted student.

Did You Know?

Aristotle's surviving works were likely meant as lecture notes rather than literature, and his now-lost writings were apparently of much better quality. The Roman philosopher Cicero said that "If Plato's prose was silver, Aristotle's was a flowing river of gold."

When Plato died in 347, control of the Academy passed to his nephew Speusippus. Aristotle left Athens soon after, though it is not clear whether frustrations at the Academy or political difficulties due to his family’s Macedonian connections hastened his exit. He spent five years on the coast of Asia Minor as a guest of former students at Assos and Lesbos. It was here that he undertook his pioneering research into marine biology and married his wife Pythias, with whom he had his only daughter, also named Pythias.

In 342 Aristotle was summoned to Macedonia by King Philip II to tutor his son, the future Alexander the Great—a meeting of great historical figures that, in the words of one modern commentator, “made remarkably little impact on either of them.”

ARISTOTLE AND THE LYCEUM

ARISTOTLE’S WORKS

It was at the Lyceum that Aristotle probably composed most of his approximately 200 works, of which only 31 survive. In style, his known works are dense and almost jumbled, suggesting that they were lecture notes for internal use at his school. The surviving works of Aristotle are grouped into four categories. The “Organon” is a set of writings that provide a logical toolkit for use in any philosophical or scientific investigation. Next come Aristotle’s theoretical works, most famously his treatises on animals, cosmology, the “Physics” (a basic inquiry about the nature of matter and change) and the “Metaphysics” (a quasi-theological investigation of existence itself).

Third are Aristotle’s so-called practical works, notably the “Nicomachean Ethics” and “Politics,” both deep investigations into the nature of human flourishing on the individual, familial and societal levels. Finally, his “Rhetoric” and “Poetics” examine the finished products of human productivity, including what makes for a convincing argument and how a well-wrought tragedy can instill cathartic fear and pity.

MAJOR WORKS

Logic

The six works known collectively as theOrganon are: Katēgoriai (Categories); Peri hermēneias (Latin trans., De interpretatione; Eng. trans., On Interpretation); Analytika protera (Prior Analytics); Analytika hystera(Posterior Analytics); Topika (Topics); and Peri sophistikōn elegchōn (Sophistical Refutations).

Biology and zoology

Peri ta zōa historiai (History of Animals); Peri zōōn moriōn (Parts of Animals); Peri zōōn kinēseōs (Movement of Animals); Peri poreias zōōn (Progression of Animals); Peri zōōn geneseōs (Generation of Animals); Peri makrobiotētos kai brachybiotētos (On Length and Shortness of Life); Peri neotētos kai gērōs(On Youth and Old Age); Peri zōēs kai thanatou(On Life and Death); Peri anapnoēs (On Respiration); and Peri pneumatos (spurious;On Breath).

Physics and metaphysics

Physikē (Physics); Peri ouranou (On the Heavens); Peri geneseōs kai phthoras (On Generation and Corruption; On Coming to Be and Passing Away); Meteōrologika(Meteorology); Peri kosmou (spurious; Latin trans., De mundo; Eng. trans., On the Universe); and Ta meta ta physika(Metaphysics).

Psychology and philosophy of mind

Peri psychēs (Latin trans., De anima; Eng. trans., On the Soul); and the works collectively known as the Parva naturalia:Peri aisthēseōs (On the Senses and Their Objects; On Sense and Sensible Objects); Peri mnēmēs kai anamnēseōs (On Memory and Recollection); Peri hypnou kai egrēgorseōs (On Sleep and Waking); Peri enypniōn (On Dreams); and Peri tēs kath hypnon mantikēs(On Divination in Sleep; On Prophecy in Sleep).

Ethics

Ēthika Nikomacheia (Nicomachean Ethics);Ēthika Eudēmeia (Eudemian Ethics); Ēthika megala (spurious; Latin and Eng. trans.,Magna moralia); and Peri aretōn kai kakiōn(spurious; On Virtues and Vices).

Political theory

Politika (Politics); Oikonomika (spurious;Economics); and Athēnaiōn politeia(incomplete; Constitution of Athens).

Rhetoric and poetics

Technē rhētorikē (Rhetoric); Rhētorikē pros Alexandron (spurious; Rhetoric to Alexander); and Peri poiētikēs (incomplete; Poetics).

Other works

These remain in the corpus but are believed by scholars to be falsely attributed to Aristotle: Peri chrōmatōn (On Colours); Peri akoustōn (On Things Heard);Physiognōmonika (Physiognomonics); Peri phytōn (On Plants); Peri thaumasiōn akousmatōn (On Marvellous Things Heard);Mēchanika (Mechanics); Problēmata(Problems); Peri atomōn grammōn (On Indivisible Lines); Anemōn theseis kai prosēgoriai (The Situations and Names of Winds); and Peri Melissou, peri Xenophanous, peri Gorgiou (On Melissus, Xenophanes, Gorgias).

Texts

The standard edition of the Greek text is the Berlin Academy edition, Aristotelis Opera, ed. by Immanuel Bekker, 5 vol. (1831–70, reissued 5 vol. in 4, 1960–61); and the standard edition of the fragments is Aristotelis qui Ferebantur Librorum Fragmenta, ed. byValentin Rose (1870, reissued 1967). For most works these texts have been superseded by more-recent editions, notably by the volumes of the Teubner series, the Oxford Classical Text series, the Loeb Classical Library series (with English translations), and the Budé series (with French translations). The medieval Latin translations of Aristotle are printed inAristoteles Latinus, ed. by L. Minio-Paluello, 2 vol. (1939–1955); and in Aristotelis opera cum Averrois commentaries, Venetiis, Apud Junctas, 1562–1574 (1962). In addition, there is much useful information of a textual nature in the early Greek commentaries, the most important of which have been published in Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca, 23 vol. in 46 (1882–1909). An invaluable aid to the study of Aristotle isHermann Bonitz, Index Aristotelicus, 2nd ed. (1870, reprinted 1955).

Numerous English translations of the major treatises are available. The standard complete edition is Jonathan Barnes (ed.), The Complete Works of Aristotle: The Revised Oxford Translation (1984, reissued 1995). Of the many editions of and commentaries on individual works, the following may be mentioned: J.L. Ackrill (trans.), Categories, and De interpretatione (1963, reprinted 1978);W.D. Ross (ed.), Prior and Posterior Analytics, new ed. (1965, reprinted 1980), and Physics(1936, reissued 1979); W. Charlton (trans.),Aristotle’s Physics: Books 1 & 2 (1970, reissued 1983); Edward Hussey (trans.),Aristotle’s Physics, Books III and IV (1983);Harold H. Joachim (ed.), Aristotle on Coming-to-Be and Passing-Away (De generatione et corruptione) (1922, reprinted 1982); C.J.F. Williams (trans.), Aristotle’s De generatione et corruptione (1982); R.D. Hicks (trans.), De anima (1907, reissued 1991); W.D. Ross (ed.),Parva naturalia (1955, reissued 2000); G.R.T. Ross (trans.), De sensu and De memoria (1906, reprinted 1973); Richard Sorabji, Aristotle on Memory, 2nd ed. (2004); D.M. Balme (trans.),Aristotle’s De partibus animalium I; and, De generatione animalium I (1972, reissued 1992); Martha Craven Nussbaum (trans.),Aristotle’s De motu animalium (1978, reissued 1985); W.D. Ross (ed.), Metaphysics (1924, reprinted 1997); Christopher Kirwan (trans.),Metaphysics, 2nd ed. (1993), Books 4–6;Myles Burnyeat (ed.), Notes on Book Zeta of Aristotle’s Metaphysics (1979), and Notes on Books Eta and Theta of Aristotle’s Metaphysics (1984); Julia Annas (trans.),Aristotle’s
Metaphysics (1976, reissued 1988), Books 13–14; J.A. Stewart, Notes on the Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle, 2 vol. (1892, reissued 1999); Michael Woods(trans.), Eudemian Ethics: Books I, II, VIII, 2nd ed. (1992); W.L. Newman (ed.), The Politics of Aristotle, 4 vol. (1887–1902, reissued 2000);Richard Robinson (trans.), Politics, Books III and IV (1962, reprinted 1995); Edward Meredith Cope (ed.), The Rhetoric of Aristotle, 3 vol. (1877, reissued 1966); D.W. Lucas (ed.),Poetics (1968, reissued 1972); P.J. Rhodes(trans.), The Athenian Constitution (1984); and Ingemar Düring (ed.), Protrepticus: An Attempt at Reconstruction (1961).

(reference :Wikipedia)