Commentary On Aristotle S Physics

No Marketing Blurb

Aristotle's Physics is one of the least studied "great books"--physics has come to mean something entirely different than Aristotle's inquiry into nature, and stereotyped Medieval interpretations have buried the original text. Sach's translation is really the only one that I know of that attempts to take the reader back to the text itself. -- Leon Cass, University of Chicago

Aristotle's Physics and Its Reception in the Arabic World presents a survey of what Arabic philosophers, as commentators of Aristotle's Physics, have contributed to philosophy and science in the Middle Ages. It investigates to what extent they influenced one another and to what extent they were influenced by previous Greek commentators. Besides Ibn Bājja's commentary on the Physics, which had up to now only partially been edited, the commentaries of Ibn as-Samḥ, Abū Bišr Mattā, Abū l-Faraj ibn aṭ-ṭayyib and Ibn Rušd are surveyed and discussed. The book also contains an account of an Arabic paraphrase of Philoponus' commentary on the Physics, which is of special interest because this commentary was partly lost. A special feature of the book is the edition of the unpublished parts of Ibn Bājja's commentary.

The eighth book of Aristotle's Physics is the culmination of his theory of nature. He discusses not just physics, but the origins of the universe and the metaphysical foundations of cosmology and physical science. He moves from the discussion of motion in the cosmos to the identification of a single source and regulating principle of all motion, and so argues for the existence of a first 'unmoved mover'. Daniel Graham offers a clear, accurate new translation of this key text in the history of Western thought, and accompanies the translation with a careful philosophical commentary to guide the reader towards an understanding of the wealth of important and influential arguments and ideas that Aristotle puts forward.

In Aristotle’s Ever-turning World in Physics 8 Blyth analyses the reasoning in Aristotle’s explanation of cosmic movement, with detailed evaluation of ancient and modern commentary on this central text in the history of ancient and medieval philosophy and science.

Since every science is in the intellect, it should be understood that something is rendered intelligible in act insofar as it is in some way abstracted from matter. And inasmuch as things are differently related to matter they pertain to different sciences.