Theophrastus On First Principles

Simultaneous critical editions based on all available evidence, with an introduction, English translations, and commentaries of the Greek text and a medieval Arabic translation of Theophrastus’s On First Principles (“metaphysics”), together with a methodological excursus on Graeco-Arabic editorial technique and normative glossary.

Simultaneous critical editions based on all available evidence, with an introduction, English translations, and commentaries of the Greek text and a medieval Arabic translation of Theophrastus s "On First Principles" ( metaphysics ), together with a methodological excursus on Graeco-Arabic editorial technique and normative glossary.

This book emphasises the systemic character of Aristotle's philosophy by examining questions on metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy and mind and ethics. His reliance on dialectic as the method of philosophy appears to conflict with the metaphysical realist view of his conclusions.

This volume presents an interconnected set of sixteen essays, four of which are previously unpublished, by Allan Gotthelf—one of the leading experts in the study of Aristotle's biological writings. Gotthelf addresses three main topics across Aristotle's three main biological treatises. Starting with his own ground-breaking study of Aristotle's natural teleology and its illuminating relationship with the Generation of Animals, Gotthelf proceeds to the axiomatic structure of biological explanation (and the first principles such explanation proceeds from) in the Parts of Animals. After an exploration of the implications of these two treatises for our understanding of Aristotle's metaphysics, Gotthelf examines important aspects of the method by which Aristotle organizes his data in the History of Animals to make possible such a systematic, explanatory study of animals, offering a new view of the place of classification in that enterprise. In a concluding section on 'Aristotle as Theoretical Biologist', Gotthelf explores the basis of Charles Darwin's great praise of Aristotle and, in the first printing of a lecture delivered worldwide, provides an overview of Aristotle as a philosophically-oriented scientist, and 'a proper verdict' on his greatness as scientist.

William of Moerbeke was a prolific medieval translator of Aristotle and other ancient philosophical and scientific authors from Greek into Latin, and he played a decisive role in the acceptance of Aristotelian philosophy in the Latin world. He is often criticized for an allegedly deficient translation method. However, this book argues that his approach was a deliberate attempt to allow readers to reach the correct understanding of the source texts in accordance with the medieval view of the role of the translator. William’s project to make all genuine works of Aristotle – and also of other important authors from Antiquity – available in Latin is framed against the background of intellectual life in the 13th century, the deliberate policy of his Dominican order to reconcile Christian doctrine with worldly knowledge, and new trends in book production that influenced the spread of the new translations. William of Moerbeke’s seemingly modest acts of translation started an intellectual revolution, the impact of which extended from the Middle Ages into the early modern era. The Friar and the Philosopher will appeal to researchers and students alike interested in Medieval perceptions of Aristotle, as well as other works from Antiquity.

This book explains Aristotelian astronomy, in connection with his cosmology, physics, and metaphysics. A friendly book, in which the reader celebrates the magnificent explanatory graphics. A book matured, coherent, creative, and intense, both profitable by students and scholars.

This text underlines the importance for scholars to have at their disposal reliable scientific text editions of Aristotle's works in the Semitico-Latin, and the Graeco-Latin, translation and commentary traditions.