Aristotle, A Very Short Introduction

177 Pages·2009·3.77 MB·English

Aristotle: A Very Short Introduction
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Jonathan Barnes
ARISTOTLE
A Very Short Introduction
1
For Richard Robinson
3
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6dp
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Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press
in the UK and in certain other countries
Published in the United States
by Oxford University Press Inc., New York
© Jonathan Barnes 2000
The moral rights of the author have been asserted
Database right Oxford University Press (maker)
First published 1982 as an Oxford University Press paperback
Reissued 1996
Revised and published as a Very Short Introduction 2000
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press,
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Data available
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Data available
ISBN 0–19–285408–9
7 9 10 8
Typeset by RefineCatch Ltd, Bungay, Suffolk
Printed in Great Britain by
TJ International Ltd., Padstow, Cornwall
Contents
List of Illustrations ix
List of Maps xii
1
The Man and His Work 1
2
A Public Figure 7
3
Zoological Researches 14
4
Collecting Facts 24
5
The Philosophical Background 30
6
The Structure of the Sciences 39
7
Logic 46
8
Knowledge 53
9
Ideal and Achievement 59
10
Reality 64
11
Change 75
12
Causes 83
13
Empiricism 92
14
Aristotle’s World-Picture 97
15
Psychology 105
16
Evidence and Theory 110
17
Teleology 116
18
Practical Philosophy 123
19
The Arts 131
20
Afterlife 136
References 143
Chronological Table 151
Further Reading 153
Index 157
List of Illustrations
1 Bust of Aristotle: a copy of 5 A teacher and pupils: a
believed to have been relief from the second
commissioned by century ad 27
Alexander the Great 2
6 A mosaic from Pompeii,
Courtesy of Alinari
made in about 100 bc,
2 Page from a medieval showing Plato’s
manuscript showing Academy 32
Aristotle as tutor to the Courtesy of Alinari
young Alexander 10
7 Head of Plato 36
© Archivo Iconografico, S.A./Corbis
Courtesy of the Fitzwilliam Musem,
3 Parts of the later city wall of Cambridge
Assos, where Aristotle and
8 Illustration of the Tree of
his companions spent their
Knowledge from a
time in philosophical
scholastic textbook of the
discussion 15
Renaissance 44
© Ruggero Vanni/Corbis
Courtesy of the American
4 Engraving of Theophrastus, Philosophical Society
Aristotle’s pupil, colleague,
9 Manuscript written by the
and intellectual heir 17
monk Ephraim in
Courtesy of Hulton Getty
November 954 48
Reproduced from R. Barbour, Greek
Literary Hands