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Reading Aristotle: Argument and Exposition argues that Aristotleâs treatises must be approached as progressive unfoldings of a unified position that may extend over a single book, an entire treatise, or across several works. Contributors demonstrate that Aristotle relies on both explanatory and expository principles. Explanatory principles include familiar doctrines such as the four causes, actualityâs priority over potentiality and natureâs doing nothing in vain. Expository principles are at least as important. They pertain to proper sequence, pedagogical method, the role of reputable views and the opinions of predecessors, the equivocity of key explanatory terms, and the need to scrupulously observe distinctions between the different sciences. A sensitivity to expository principles is crucial to understanding both particular arguments and entire treatises.
William Wians, Ph.D., (Professor of Philosophy at Merrimack College and adjunct professor at Boston College) writes on ancient philosophy. His edited collection Logos and Muthos: Philosophical Essays in Greek Literature was published by SUNY Press. A second volume is in preparation.
Ron Polansky, Ph.D., (Professor of Philosophy and Chair, Duquesne University) has published on Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Descartes, Locke, and medical ethics, including monographs on Platoâs Theaetetus and Aristotleâs De Anima, and edited collections on Aristotleâs Nicomachean Ethics and bioethics. He has edited the journal Ancient Philosophy (Mathesis Publications) for thirty-six years.
Ron Polansky, Ph.D., (Professor of Philosophy and Chair, Duquesne University) has published on Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Descartes, Locke, and medical ethics, including monographs on Platoâs Theaetetus and Aristotleâs De Anima, and edited collections on Aristotleâs Nicomachean Ethics and bioethics. He has edited the journal Ancient Philosophy (Mathesis Publications) for thirty-six years.
Abbreviations
About the Contributors
Introduction
âWilliam Wians and Ron Polansky
1 Ways of Proving in Aristotle
âMarco Zingano
2 Aristotleâs Scientific Method
âEdward C. Halper
3 Aristotleâs Problemata-Style and Aural Textuality
âDiana Quarantotto
4 Natural Things and Body: The Investigations of Physics
âHelen Lang
5 Surrogate Principles and the Natural Order of Exposition in Aristotleâs De Caelo II
âMariska Leunissen
6 Arrangement and Exploratory Discourse in the Parva Naturalia
âPhilip van der Eijk
7 The Place of De Motu in Aristotleâs Natural Philosophy
âAndrea Falcon
8 Is Aristotleâs Account of Sexual Differentiation Inconsistent?
âWilliam Wians
9 The Concept of Ousia in Metaphysics Alpha, Beta and Gamma
âVasilis Politis and Jun Su
10 Aristotleâs Nicomachean Ethics is a Work of Practical Science
âRon Polansky
11 Aristotle on the (Alleged) Inferiority of History to Poetry
âThornton C. Lockwood
12 Aristotle on the Best Tragic Plot: Re-reading Poetics 13â14
âMalcolm Heath
Bibliography
Index
About the Contributors
Introduction
âWilliam Wians and Ron Polansky
1 Ways of Proving in Aristotle
âMarco Zingano
2 Aristotleâs Scientific Method
âEdward C. Halper
3 Aristotleâs Problemata-Style and Aural Textuality
âDiana Quarantotto
4 Natural Things and Body: The Investigations of Physics
âHelen Lang
5 Surrogate Principles and the Natural Order of Exposition in Aristotleâs De Caelo II
âMariska Leunissen
6 Arrangement and Exploratory Discourse in the Parva Naturalia
âPhilip van der Eijk
7 The Place of De Motu in Aristotleâs Natural Philosophy
âAndrea Falcon
8 Is Aristotleâs Account of Sexual Differentiation Inconsistent?
âWilliam Wians
9 The Concept of Ousia in Metaphysics Alpha, Beta and Gamma
âVasilis Politis and Jun Su
10 Aristotleâs Nicomachean Ethics is a Work of Practical Science
âRon Polansky
11 Aristotle on the (Alleged) Inferiority of History to Poetry
âThornton C. Lockwood
12 Aristotle on the Best Tragic Plot: Re-reading Poetics 13â14
âMalcolm Heath
Bibliography
Index
Students, scholars, and libraries interested in how one must approach the writings of Aristotle, including treatises on logic, natural science, metaphysics, ethics, and poetics, and the nature of his method.