Aristotle's First Principles

Aristotle's First Principles
Author: Terence Irwin
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 721
Release: 1990
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0198242905

Aristotle's reliance on dialectic as a method of philosophy appears to conflict with his metaphysical realist view of his conclusions. This book explores Aristotle's philosophical method and the merits of his conclusions, and shows how he defends dialectic against the objection that it cannot justify a metaphysical realist's claims. The author does not presuppose extensive previous acquaintance with Aristotle. Greek texts are translated, and Greek words transliterated.

Teleology, First Principles, and Scientific Method in Aristotle's Biology

Teleology, First Principles, and Scientific Method in Aristotle's Biology
Author: Allan Gotthelf
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 464
Release: 2012-02-23
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0191629162

This volume presents an interconnected set of sixteen essays, four of which are previously unpublished, by Allan Gotthelf—one of the leading experts in the study of Aristotle's biological writings.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.

The Great Mental Models, Volume 1

The Great Mental Models, Volume 1
Author: Shane Parrish
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 209
Release: 2024-10-15
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0593719972

Discover the essential thinking tools you’ve been missing with The Great Mental Models series by Shane Parrish, New York Times bestselling author and the mind behind the acclaimed Farnam Street blog and “The Knowledge Project” podcast. This first book in the series is your guide to learning the crucial thinking tools nobody ever taught you. Time and time again, great thinkers such as Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett have credited their success to mental models–representations of how something works that can scale onto other fields. Mastering a small number of mental models enables you to rapidly grasp new information, identify patterns others miss, and avoid the common mistakes that hold people back. The Great Mental Models: Volume 1, General Thinking Concepts shows you how making a few tiny changes in the way you think can deliver big results. Drawing on examples from history, business, art, and science, this book details nine of the most versatile, all-purpose mental models you can use right away to improve your decision making and productivity. This book will teach you how to: Avoid blind spots when looking at problems. Find non-obvious solutions. Anticipate and achieve desired outcomes. Play to your strengths, avoid your weaknesses, … and more. The Great Mental Models series demystifies once elusive concepts and illuminates rich knowledge that traditional education overlooks. This series is the most comprehensive and accessible guide on using mental models to better understand our world, solve problems, and gain an advantage.

Physics

Physics
Author: Aristotle
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 246
Release: 1999
Genre: Physics
ISBN: 9780198240921

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.

Aristotle's First Principles

Aristotle's First Principles
Author: Terence Irwin
Publisher: Clarendon Press
Total Pages: 726
Release: 1989-01-12
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 019151991X

Aristotle's reliance on dialectic as a method of philosophy appears to conflict with his metaphysical realist view of his conclusions. This book explores Aristotle's philosophical method and the merits of his conclusions, and shows how he defends dialectic against the objection that it cannot justify a metaphysical realist's claims. The author does not presuppose extensive previous acquaintance with Aristotle. Greek texts are translated, and Greek words transliterated.

Bridging the Gap between Aristotle's Science and Ethics

Bridging the Gap between Aristotle's Science and Ethics
Author: Devin Henry
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 319
Release: 2015-05-05
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1107010365

Explores the extent to which Aristotle's ethical treatises employ the concepts, methods, and practices developed in his 'scientific' works.

Aristotle and the Science of Nature

Aristotle and the Science of Nature
Author: Andrea Falcon
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 172
Release: 2005-09-08
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780521854399

Exploration of Aristotle's philosophy of nature in the light of scholarly insights.

An Aristotelian Account of Induction

An Aristotelian Account of Induction
Author: Louis Groarke
Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
Total Pages: 528
Release: 2009-11-01
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0773575766

In An Aristotelian Account of Induction Groarke discusses the intellectual process through which we access the "first principles" of human thought - the most basic concepts, the laws of logic, the universal claims of science and metaphysics, and the deepest moral truths. Following Aristotle and others, Groarke situates the first stirrings of human understanding in a creative capacity for discernment that precedes knowledge, even logic. Relying on a new historical study of philosophical theories of inductive reasoning from Aristotle to the twenty-first century, Groarke explains how Aristotle offers a viable solution to the so-called problem of induction, while offering new contributions to contemporary accounts of reasoning and argument and challenging the conventional wisdom about induction.

The Knowledge of the First Principles in Saint Thomas Aquinas

The Knowledge of the First Principles in Saint Thomas Aquinas
Author: Mary Christine Ugobi-Onyemere
Publisher: Peter Lang Gmbh, Internationaler Verlag Der Wissenschaften
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2015
Genre: Catholic Church and philosophy
ISBN: 9783034315685

This monograph, The Knowledge of the First Principles in St. Thomas Aquinas, has a well-articulated vision of the issue addressed, both from the metaphysical and epistemological perspectives. It surveys the nature, roles, and habits of basic principles from the Thomistic view. It is a study directed towards a wise understanding of basic reality.

Aristotle's On Generation and Corruption I Book 1

Aristotle's On Generation and Corruption I Book 1
Author: Frans de Haas
Publisher: Clarendon Press
Total Pages: 366
Release: 2004-09-23
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780191553929

Jaap Mansfeld and Frans de Haas bring together in this volume a distinguished international team of ancient philosophers, presenting a systematic, chapter-by-chapter study of one of the key texts in Aristotle's science and metaphysics: the first book of On Generation and Corruption. In GC I Aristotle provides a general outline of physical processes such as generation and corruption, alteration, and growth, and inquires into their differences. He also discusses physical notions such as contact, action and passion, and mixture. These notions are fundamental to Aristotle's physics and cosmology, and more specifically to his theory of the four elements and their transformations. Moreover, references to GC elsewhere in the Aristotelian corpus show that in GC I Aristotle is doing heavy conceptual groundwork for more refined applications of these notions in, for example, the psychology of perception and thought, and the study of animal generation and corruption. Ultimately, biology is the goal of the series of enquiries in which GC I demands a position of its own immediately after the Physics. The contributors deal with questions of structure and text constitution and provide thought-provoking discussions of each chapter of GC I. New approaches to the issues of how to understand first matter, and how to evaluate Aristotle's notion of mixture are given ample space. Throughout, Aristotle's views of the theories of the Presocratics and Plato are shown to be crucial in understanding his argument.