The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle (Cambridge Companions to Philosophy) First Edition

This is the best introduction to one of the most - if not the most - important philosophers in human history.Aristotle's body of work is extremely wide-ranging as well as dense in detail, and often extremely complex and subtle. This Cambridge Companion simplifies and explains - without the loss of fidelity to the complex and subtle and innovative nature of his teachings - the most important of his teachings.This Cambridge Companion to Aristotle has essays by preeminent scholars in the field. The book focuses on the most important and influential of Aristotle's philosophical thinking.It includes essays on Aristotle's logic, metaphysics, ethics, philosophy of science and science generally, and psychology, poetics, rhetoric, and politics. These are the core subjects in Aristotle's canon. It is generally believed among scholars that most all of the work of Aristotle that has survived and come down to us today, consists of copies of lecture notes that his students took at his school (known as the Lyceum). Thus, much of his "writings" - though copied for generations and then edited by translators - often seems disjointed or unnecessarily complex in terms of its clarity and organization.If you are new to studying philosophy, I suggest you start with this Cambridge Companion or the one on Plato. If you start with the one on Aristotle, I suggest you read this Companion and then either at the same time or right after, begin reading the primary texts. You can read all the secondary and ancillary texts you want on philosophers and philosophy, but they are never a substitute for the primary texts. The primary texts are infinitely more rewarding, provided you are able to understand them - and that is where guides like this one come in hand.To start off on some of his most readable and understandable works (yet still highly important), I suggest you start with poetics (which is about the construction of and study of drama and story (think "plays" or stories like the Illiad by Homer), and narrative structure. What we have of poetics is short, excellent, and is generally believed to be only one part of a larger teaching that has been lost to humanity. I then suggest you read Aristotle's Rhetoric and then Politics. These are easy to understand, but you will gain tremendously by re-reading them over time in greater detail. You can then move on to his Logic (which Aristotle is known as the founder of logic, he invented, or depending on your view, discovered, the tri-partite syllogism and syllogistic structure and logical argument. You can then move on to his Metaphysics, but I suggest that you read and study Plato before embarking on Aristotle's Metaphysics, as you will understand Aristotle better by first reading Plato, as Aristotle was a student of Plato, and Aristotle's Metaphysics takes into account, is a reaction to, and is an extension and modification (or overturning of most aspects- depending on your viewpoint), of Plato's metaphysics (Plato's Ideas vs. Aristotle's Universals). The Cambridge Companion to Plato is also excellent. If you are embarking on a serious study of philosophy for the first time, you may want to read Plato and the Cambridge Companion to Plato before embarking on Aristotle. You will understand Aristotle better if you understand Plato's works first. These are the two most important philosophers in Western civilization, and in my view - and depending on your viewpoint - world history and civilization.In any event I highly recommend this Cambridge Companion to Aristotle. This is the first one I purchased and read, and I have subsequently enjoyed and found extremely useful other Cambridge Companions for other philosophers.

Aristotle is one of the great names in the Western philosophical tradition. His thought was a dominant force for ten centuries in Europe, losing its preeminent role only at the dawn of the modern era in the 17th century. Medieval thinkers called him "the master of those who know." His writings are challenging and often difficult, hence the need for helpful secondary sources. This fine collection of original essays is aimed at undergraduate and graduate students new to Aristotle, but any intelligent person with some background in philosophy will find much of value here.A strong point of this anthology is the high quality of the essays. Jonathan Barnes, the editor, is a renowned Aristotle scholar and also the editor of The Complete Works of Aristotle: The Revised Oxford Translation. In this Cambridge Companion he authors three essays, including the important chapter on metaphysics. R.J. Hankinson, our best expert on ancient philosophy of science, contributes essays on Aristotle's science and also his philosophy of science. Readers particularly interested in the latter subject will want to purchase Hankinson's authoritative work, Cause and Explanation in Ancient Greek Thought. Everson's chapter on psychology and Hutchinson's on ethics are also ones I found especially noteworthy.Any good philosophical companion will have reader-friendly editorial adjuncts. This volume excels in this area, especially the huge bibliography. Though somewhat dated (the book was published in 1995), The 80+ pp. have over 1000 items listed. A truly valuable compendium for scholars.For students with a desire for more advanced essays on Aristotle, I can heartily recommend The Oxford Handbook of Aristotle (ed. Christopher Shields), and my personal favorite, Essays on Aristotle's Ethics (ed. Amelie Rorty).

The work of Aristotle is difficult, wide-ranging and dry. As Joanathan Barnes explained in the introduction in this book, this is probably because Aristotle's work is an unauthorized collection of lecture notes. Therefore, an introduction to the main themes in his work is an invaluable help to approaching the master's work. The Cambridge guide has chapters on metaphysics, logic, ethics, philosophy of science, science, psychology, politics, rhetoric. It also contains a massive bibliography. The essays concentrates on explaining the content of Aristotle's work, but it also introduce readers to modern controveries in interpretating Aristotle. The essay of Barnes on the very confusing work Metaphysics is pure gold. Other essays are excellent too.

The 'Cambridge Companion' to philosophy series has put out some great products. In my opinion this may be the best. Absolutely splendid articles that help the reader understand Aristotle rather than some philosopher's interpretation of him. For such a polymath as Aristotle, the authors did a good job of focusing on key facets of his philosopy that adequately prepare and stimulate the reader to investigate other of Aristotle's writings, which the Companion could not cover for lack of space. The bibliography and subject guides to the secondary liturature are well done.