Product Description

The influence of Aristotle, the prince of philosophers, on the intellectual history of the West is second to none. In this book Jonathan Barnes examines Aristotle's scientific researches, his discoveries in logic and his metaphysical theories, his work in psychology and in ethics and politics, and his ideas about art and poetry, placing his teachings in their historical context.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #34099 in Books
• Published on: 2000-10-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

About the Author
Jonathan Barnes is Professor of Ancient Philosophy at the University of Geneva. He has edited the Revised Oxford Translation of Aristotle, and he is the author of books and papers on Aristotle and other ancient luminaries.

Customer Reviews

A Solid Introduction to a Difficult Subject
Early on in this book Barnes points out what a mammoth task providing a short introduction to someone as prolific in output as Aristotle is going to be. It is estimated that his output easily reached fifty volumes of work, on subjects as diverse as the theatre to zoology. Even though only about a quarter of that survives, it is still a massive amount of work.

This book therefore, really is an introduction. There are short, concise chapters that cover a great deal of the themes and ideas he introduced. The most time is spent discussing his work with animals and plants and his work on ethics, logic and philosophy.

As with all these Very Short Introductions there are illustrations, but here it seems almost a shame, because the illustrations add little, and a few more pages of written material would have been much more helpful.

As ever there are excellent bibliographies and further reading suggestions in the back which will give you places to go after this, depending on your interest.

Given the complexity of the ideas discussed and the amount of material condensed this is an excellent book, although further reading will definitely be required.

Excellent review of the great philosopher
In the Thirteenth Century the great Dominican friar, St Thomas Aquinas referring in his writings such as the "Summa Contra Gentiles" to Aristotle, repeatedly called him 'the philosopher' as if there had been no others.

The Church in the Middle Ages elevated Aristotle to a position of authority not much lower than that of the Holy Bible. This is a position that Aristotle himself wouldn't have wanted or recognised.

During the modern period following on from advances in science e.g. Newtonian physics, a better understanding of human anatomy, the rise of experimental psychology, competing political theories and new approaches to the study of logic from the late Nineteenth Century onwards Aristotle's immense achievements have been downgraded.

We need to reach a fair view whereby we recognise the great man's achievements and avoid either deifying him on the one hand or else criticising him unfairly without taking into account the time in which he lived and the then development of science and philosophy on the other hand.

Julian Barnes provides a good introduction in a slim volume and I recognise the author as the editor of some of the Penguin works by Aristotle.

In the case of Plato we seem to have got his published works but lost his notebooks whereas in the case of Aristotle his published works have been lost and all we have are notes put together by his students. His works are not always an easy read but are well worth the effort.

This book is a simple but excellent introduction to the works of one of greatest thinkers that the human race has ever produced by a leader Aristotle scholar.