Introduction to Aristotle

by Aristotle, Richard Peter McKeon (Editor; Introduction)

The distinguished editor of this volume, Richard McKeon, has provided introductions to individual works as well as a general introduction to Aristotle.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Classics, History, Greece, Reference, Textbooks

667 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1947

About the author

Aristotle (Greek: Αριστοτέλης; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, and the arts. As the founder of the Peripatetic school of philosophy in the Lyceum in Athens, he began the wider Aristotelian tradition that followed, which set the groundwork for the development of modern science.
Little is known about Aristotle's life. He was born in the city of Stagira in northern Greece during the Classical period. His father, Nicomachus, died when Aristotle was a child, and he was brought up by a guardian. At 17 or 18, he joined Plato's Academy in Athens and remained there until the age of 37 (c. 347 BC). Shortly after Plato died, Aristotle left Athens and, at the request of Philip II of Macedon, tutored his son Alexander the Great beginning in 343 BC. He established a library in the Lyceum, which helped him to produce many of his hundreds of books on papyrus scrolls.
Though Aristotle wrote many treatises and dialogues for publication, only around a third of his original output has survived, none of it intended for publication. Aristotle provided a complex synthesis of the various philosophies existing prior to him. His teachings and methods of inquiry have had a significant impact across the world, and remain a subject of contemporary philosophical discussion.
Aristotle's views profoundly shaped medieval scholarship. The influence of his physical science extended from late antiquity and the Early Middle Ages into the Renaissance, and was not replaced systematically until the Enlightenment and theories such as classical mechanics were developed. He influenced Judeo-Islamic philosophies during the Middle Ages, as well as Christian theology, especially the Neoplatonism of the Early Church and the scholastic tradition of the Catholic Church.
Aristotle was revered among medieval Muslim scholars as "The First Teacher", and among medieval Christians like Thomas Aquinas as simply "The Philosopher", while the poet Dante Alighieri called him "the master of those who know". His works contain the earliest known formal study of logic, and were studied by medieval scholars such as Pierre Abélard and Jean Buridan. Aristotle's influence on logic continued well into the 19th century. In addition, his ethics, although always influential, gained renewed interest with the modern advent of virtue ethics.

Reviews

[Ted · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great introduction to Aristotle, suitable for anyone who wants a taste of his most famous works without investing a great amount of time or money in any single one of them.

I've only read most, though not all, of the selections in this book, not always from this edition.

What I have read in this edition are De Anima, Metaphysica, Ethica Nicomachea, and Politica.

The book's selections of The Posterior Analytics (Logic), On the Soul (Psychology/Biology), Nichomachean Ethics and the Poetics are all complete. These are Aristotle's writings that are probably of most interest to us modern readers, so the editor selected well I think.

(The Politics is still referred to fairly often, so a larger selection from that would have been useful.)

One thing I don't like about the book, at least this first edition of it, is the footnotes. They are very cryptic, and given in a style that seems ultra-academic, perhaps outdated, and impossible in some cases to even interpret.

For example, in the Politics selection Aristotle says, at the beginning of Chapter 11, book III, "Most of these questions may be reserved for another occasion." The footnote to this statement is

cc. 12-17, iv., vi

huh?

Well not all the footnotes are that indecipherable, thank goodness.

[Bojan Tunguz · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been said somewhere, don't remember by whom, that all of western philosophy is a series of footnotes to Plato and Aristotle. This may be a bit of an exaggeration, but the fact remains that these two seminal figures of western thought have left at least an indirect mark on all of the subsequent thinkers. And yet, it's been my experience that Plato is much more widely read and studied, in college courses and otherwise, than his equally famous erstwhile disciple. This probably has to do a lot with the style: Plato's "Socratic dialogs" have been written in a form that makes them instantly accessible to readers of all ages, and tends to belie the complexities and subtleties of the underlying ideas. Aristotle's style is much more pedantic and scholarly. One could easily see his writings appearing in peer-reviewed journals.

In part due to the above considerations, it took me a while to finally pick up a book of Aristotle's writings and try to go through at least some of them. This volume brings a few of his works in their entirety, but for most part only more important excerpts are given. Reading it requires some effort on the part of the reader, especially if you are not used to the style and substance of ancient Greek thought. However, the effort was worthwhile, and I've come away from reading this work with renewed and deepened appreciation for Aristotle. In terms of the sheer breadth of his inquiry, there has not been anyone quite like him before or since.

[Matt Chatham · Rating 2 out of 5]

To call this an "introduction" is a pretty severe exaggeration. McKeon's General Introduction (with the exception of his section on 'Aristotle's Life and Times') and his introduction to Analytica Posteriora are both horrendously written, and thus far in my reading of AP much of the content has been entirely unintelligible without outside research due to a lack of explanation within the text by Aristotle, who assumes the reader familiar with his ideas and terms, as well as an almost complete lack of glosses by the editor. I do not believe for one second that the difficulty I'm having with this text is because the ideas are to esoteric or complex for me to understand; rather, it is because of poor writing and editing on the part of McKeon. True, it is reasonable to expect the reader to put some work into a book--I'm not saying otherwise. But to expect the reader to do their own research on basic terminology and ideas goes beyond reason in a book termed an "Introduction."

[William Schram · Rating 4 out of 5]

I mostly skimmed this one but I still enjoyed it quite a bit. It reminded me of the other book on Aristotle I read, and it has the same person to introduce the works. This book includes a biography of Aristotle as well as a short introduction to each work. Since I had previously read a lot of the pieces included in this text, I really only had to read Rhetoric and some other parts that interested me. It has the same line number system that the other book has, so that must be some kind of standard for Aristotle's works, you know, like how they number Classical Music pieces.

I liked how they began with his work on Logic and the Syllogism because it is a gateway to his analytical methods of thinking and classifying things. this would be a great book to study Aristotle, but alas, I must return it since it is from the Library. Some of his thinking is really outdated, but he can't help knowing things about medicine and diseases and other stuff that had to wait for the Renaissance.

[Leila Bowers · Rating 3 out of 5]

For Omnibus we just read Ethics and Poetics - I thoroughly enjoyed Poetics, but Ethics was a slog. That said, it was worth slogging. I may be #TeamPlato, but I appreciate Aristotle's desire to really push the universals into the particulars; to deal with the here-and-now, and his philosophical honesty in recognizing that though he can define evil, he cannot actually define good - and so, at least here, he doesn't try. He operates in a broken, constrained humanistic worldview, and brilliantly does so. Without the light of the truth of God, this is virtue as good as you are going to get...and it's amorphic, subjective, and exhausting. Which explains a whole lot of what went wrong in Medieval Europe once Aristotle's teaching re-emerged on the world stage.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good introduction to one of the most famous philosophers the world has ever seen. I'd be curious to read another translation, though, as I'm not sure translations based on 19th century German translators are fully faithful to the original documents.

[Sympawtico · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy Aristotle's philosophy, but find the writing circular in the extreme. This translation does nothing to mediate that. I would love to see an edition that brought the language current. But maybe that's not possible while staying true to Aristotle's diligent categorization and analyzation of his various subjects...

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book covers substantially the same material as 'The Basic Works of Aristotle', but this edition had updated introductions by editor McKeon. My reading of it was for the new and different matters within.

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

The educational value is obvious though not easily accessible. For a great feeling of accomplishment I highly recommend pressing one's way through this volume. If you prefer an educational text to facilitate understanding look elsewhere.

[Jonathan]

None

[Debbie]

have 1947 edition