Aristotle, On the Life-Bearing Spirit (De spiritu)

Aristotle, On the Life-Bearing Spirit (De spiritu)
Author: Abraham Paulus Bos
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 219
Release: 2008-01-31
Genre: History
ISBN: 9047432681

In contrast to what is often thought, the work De spiritu is entirely Aristotelian. It provides an indispensable part of Aristotle’s philosophy of living nature. In this work he is the first Greek to argue that the most fundamental vital principle is not breath but vital heat. This vital heat forms a unity with the soul, as its instrumental body (sôma organikon). The treatise is mainly a debate with Plato's Timaeus. This new book consists of an Introduction, a Translation, and an extensive Commentary on the text of De spiritu. The main value of this book is to show convincingly that Aristotle’s theory of soul and biology have been misconstrued since 200 AD due to the intervention of Alexander of Aphrodisias.

Aristotle on God's Life-Generating Power and on Pneuma as Its Vehicle

Aristotle on God's Life-Generating Power and on Pneuma as Its Vehicle
Author: Abraham P. Bos
Publisher: SUNY Press
Total Pages: 342
Release: 2018-02-01
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1438468296

Proposes an innovative rethinking of Aristotle’s work as a system that integrates his theology with his doctrine of reproduction and life. In this deep rethinking of Aristotle’s work, Abraham P. Bos argues that scholarship on Aristotle’s philosophy has erred since antiquity in denying the connection between his theology and his doctrine of reproduction and life in the earthly sphere. Beginning with an analysis of God’s role in the Aristotelian system, Bos explores how this relates to other elements of his philosophy, especially to his theory of reproduction. The argument he develops is that in talking about the cosmos, Aristotle rejected Plato’s metaphor of artisanal production by a divine Demiurge in favor of a biotic metaphor based on the transmission of life in reproduction, in which pneuma—not breath as it is often interpreted but the life-bearing spirit in animals and plants—plays a key and sustaining role as the vital principle in all that lives. In making this case, he defends the authenticity of the treatises De Mundo and De Spiritu as Aristotle’s, and demonstrates Aristotle’s works as a unified system that sharply and comprehensively refutes Plato’s, and in particular replaces Plato’s doctrine of the soul with a theory in which the soul is clearly distinguished from the intellect. “Bos offers a fresh, interesting, and important perspective. His interpretation will be very controversial, but if he is right, the standard Anglo-American interpretation of Aristotle will have to change radically.” — Malcolm Wilson, author of Structure and Method in Aristotle’s Meteorologica: A More Disorderly Nature

Plutarch in the Religious and Philosophical Discourse of Late Antiquity

Plutarch in the Religious and Philosophical Discourse of Late Antiquity
Author: Fernando Lautaro Roig Lanzillotta
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2012
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9004234748

Either as insider or as sensitive observer, Plutarch provides us with exceptional evidence to reconstruct the spiritual and intellectual atmosphere of the first centuries CE. This collection of articles sheds important light on the religious and philosophical discourse of Late Antiquity.

Aristotle - Contemporary Perspectives on his Thought

Aristotle - Contemporary Perspectives on his Thought
Author: Demetra Sfendoni-Mentzou
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 343
Release: 2018-07-23
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 3110564548

This collection of essays by leading Aristotle scholars worldwide covers a wide range of topics on Aristotle's work from metaphysics, politics, ethics, bioethics, rhetoric, dialectic, aesthetics, history to physics, psychology, biology, medicine, technology. The thorough exploration of the issues investigated deepens our knowledge of the most fundamental concepts, which are crucial for an overall understanding of Aristotle’s work. Moreover, the contributors explore the relevance of Aristotle’s ideas to contemporary issues and provide new perspectives on the study of Aristotle’s thought. The essays of the volume were presented at the plenary sessions of the World Congress "Aristotle 2400 Years," organized by the Interdisciplinary Centre for Aristotle Studies of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, on May 23-28 2016, in commemoration of the 2400th anniversary of Aristotle’s birth. The aim of the congress was to advance scholarship on all aspects of Aristotle’s work, both in philosophy and in the fundamental disciplines of science. The impressive number of 250 papers from 40 countries highlighted the fact that Aristotle’s work continues to exercise an influence on our intellectual lives on a global scale.

Gestures of Grace

Gestures of Grace
Author: Joshua Lee Harris
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 303
Release: 2023-12-13
Genre: History
ISBN: 1666776025

Gestures of Grace is a celebration of the life and career of Robert Sweetman, H. Evan Runner Chair in the History of Philosophy at the Institute for Christian Studies (2001–present). These essays, written by students and colleagues, testify to the remarkable breadth and depth of Sweetman’s research and teaching, from his early scholarly career at the Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies to his time at ICS. Throughout the volume, there is extensive engagement with Sweetman’s influential historical scholarship on topics such as the emergence and development of the Dominican order in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, medieval women authors, Thomas Aquinas and Duns Scotus, and indeed on Sweetman’s own systematic contribution to the nature and promise of Christian scholarship today.

Aristotle’s ›Generation of Animals‹

Aristotle’s ›Generation of Animals‹
Author: Sabine Föllinger
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 500
Release: 2022-06-21
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 3110762013

Aristotle’s work "On Generation of Animals" is fascinating. By integrating empirical facts into contexts of justification and by explaining reproduction in the framework of his general theory Aristotle wrote a biological ‘masterpiece’. At the same time it raises many issues because due to the difficulty of the subject under investigation (for example, the egg-cell had not yet been discovered) the theory is complex and often speculative. The contributions in this volume resulting from a conference held in Marburg in 2018 study the challenging writing from various perspectives. They examine the structure of the work, the method and the manner of writing, its relation to other writings, and its scientific context. By investigating the underlying philosophical concepts and their relation to the empirical research offered in "On Generation of Animals" the contributions also try to solve puzzles which Aristotle’s explanation of the role of male and female offers as well as his idea of embryogenesis. An outlook for the history of reception rounds off the volume.

Explanation and Teleology in Aristotle's Science of Nature

Explanation and Teleology in Aristotle's Science of Nature
Author: Mariska Leunissen
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages:
Release: 2010-08-26
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1139490419

In Aristotle's teleological view of the world, natural things come to be and are present for the sake of some function or end (for example, wings are present in birds for the sake of flying). Whereas much of recent scholarship has focused on uncovering the (meta-)physical underpinnings of Aristotle's teleology and its contrasts with his notions of chance and necessity, this book examines Aristotle's use of the theory of natural teleology in producing explanations of natural phenomena. Close analyses of Aristotle's natural treatises and his Posterior Analytics show what methods are used for the discovery of functions or ends that figure in teleological explanations, how these explanations are structured, and how well they work in making sense of phenomena. The book will be valuable for all who are interested in Aristotle's natural science, his philosophy of science, and his biology.

Aristotle's De motu animalium

Aristotle's De motu animalium
Author: Christof Rapp
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2020-10-09
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0192572490

The volumes of the Symposium Aristotelicum have become essential reference works for the study of Aristotle. In this twentieth volume, ten renowned scholars of ancient philosophy offer a running commentary on Aristotle's De motu animalium. It is in this text, one of his most intriguing works, that Aristotle sets out the general principles of animal locomotion. A philological and a philosophical introduction sketch the current state of research on this treatise, situating current thought in the context of three decades of scholarly debates. The nine contributed essays together comment on each chapter of the Aristotelian text, discussing in detail the philosophical issues that are raised across the different sections of the text. Comprehensive analyses of Aristotle's doctrines and arguments, as well as critical discussion of rival interpretations, make this volume a valuable resource for scholars of Aristotle. The present volume also includes a newly reconstructed Greek text with a facing English translation by Benjamin Morison.

Aristotle's Chemistry

Aristotle's Chemistry
Author: Aristotle
Publisher: Hackett Publishing
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2022-12-01
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 164792099X

This new translation of On Coming to Be and Passing Away and Meteorology 1 and 4 fits seamlessly with the other volumes in the New Hackett Aristotle Series, enabling Anglophone readers to study these works in a way previously not possible. The Introduction describes the book that lies ahead, explaining what it is about, what it is trying to do, how it goes about doing it, and what sort of audience it presupposes. Sequentially numbered, cross-referenced endnotes provide the information most needed at each juncture, while a detailed Index indicates the places where focused discussion of key notions occurs.