Aristotle

336 Pages·2008·1.86 MB·English

by  David Ross

ARI STOTLE
Written by reknowned Aristotelian scholar Sir David Ross, this
study has long been established as one of the foremost surveys of
Aristotle’s life, work and philosophy.
With John L.Ackrill’s introduction and updated bibliography,
created for the sixth edition, the book continues to serve as a
standard guide, both for the student of ancient history and the
general reader.
Sir David Ross was White’s Professor of Moral Philosophy and
Vice Chancellor of Oxford University.
John L.Ackrill was Professor of the History of Philosophy at the
University of Oxford. He has published widely on Aristotle.
ARISTOTLE
With an introduction by John L.Ackrill
Sixth Edition
Sir David Ross
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 1923
Second edition published 1930
Third edition published 1937
Fourth edition published 1945
Fifth edition published 1949
First published as a University Paperback 1964
Reprinted five times by Methuen & Co. Ltd
Sixth edition published 1995
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
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© 1923, 1930, 1937, 1945, 1949, 1964 Sir David Ross
© 1995 The Estate of Sir David Ross
Introduction and new material © 1995 John L.Ackrill
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission
in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested
ISBN 0-203-37953-5 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-63715-1 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0-415-32857-8 (Print Edition)
CONTENTS
Preface v
Introduction vii
I LIFE AND WORKS 1
II LOGIC 21
III PHILOSOPHY OF NATURE 65
IV BIOLOGY 1 18
V PSYCHOLOGY 1 36
VI METAPHYSICS 1 62
VII ETHICS 1 97
VIII POLITICS 2 47
IX RHETORIC AND POETICS 2 84
Bibliographical Note (1995) 3 07
Short Bibliography 3 09
Chronology of Aristotle’s successors and commentators 3 16
Index 3 18
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION
There are several types of book about Aristotle which it would
be interesting to write and perhaps not unprofitable to read. In
one, it might be shown how almost the whole of his thought is
a mosaic of borrowings from his predecessors, and yet is
transformed by the force of his genius into a strikingly original
system. In another, the attempt might be made to trace the
chronological development of his thought; this has recently
been done with marked success by Prof. W.Jaeger, in a book to
which I should have owed much more had it reached me before
mine was in the press. In another, the penetrating influence of
Aristotle on subsequent philosophy might be followed down the
centuries. I have not attempted any of these tasks, but have
tried simply to give an account of the main features of his
philosophy as it stands before us in his works. I have written
little by way of criticism. If it is true that ‘die Weltgeschichte ist
das Weltgericht,’ it is especially true that the history of
philosophy is an implicit criticism of the earlier systems of
thought. What is true in Aristotle has become part, and no
small part, of the heritage of all educated men; what is false
has been gradually rejected, so that explicit criticism is now
hardly necessary.
My greatest obligations are to the teachers from whom I have
learnt most of what I know about Aristotle, Mr. R.P.Hardie and
Prof. J.A.Smith; next to them, I would express my gratitude to
Lt.-Col. A.S.L.Farquharson, who has read the proofs and made
many valuable suggestions. Of recent books, Prof. H.Maier’s
Die Syllogistik des Aristoteles, Prof. A.Mansion’s Introduction à
la Physique Aristotélicienne, and Prof. H.H.Joachim’s edition of
the De Generatione et Corruptione are those which I have found
most helpful.
W.D.ROSS
vi
September 15, 1923
PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION
In issuing this revised edition, I wish to express my gratitude to
Professor H.H.Joachim, F.B.A., for the full and careful
comments on the first edition which he was good enough to
send me, as well as to the late Professor W.Rhys Roberts and Mr
H.W.B.Joseph for some valuable hints. I hope that this edition
has profited considerably by their suggestions and those of
various reviewers.
PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION
Further corrections have been made in this edition, and I have
brought the bibliography up to date. I append (on p. viii), for
the convenience of readers, a list of the abbreviations which I
have used in this book for the names of Aristotle’s works.
PREFACE TO FOURTH EDITION
Further corrections have been made in this edition, and the
bibliography has been brought up to date.
PREFACE TO FIFTH EDITION
The bibliography has again been brought up to date in this
edition, and again for its 1953 reprint.
INTRODUCTION
Ross’s book gives a concise and comprehensive account of
Aristotle’s philosophical works—and no better account exists.
In this Introduction I will say something about Ross and about
his book, and I will then outline some of the ways in which the
study of Aristotle has developed in the years since he wrote it.
Sir David Ross was born in 1877 and died in 1971. He made
his mark in public life and as a university teacher and
administrator, and he wrote influential books on ethics. But it
is as the leading Aristotelian of the first half of the century that
he will be most remembered. In a series of magisterial editions,
beginning with that of Metaphysics in 1924, he brought to bear
superb scholarship and exceptional sharpness of thought and
clarity of expression. He was familiar with the great
achievements of nineteenth-century German philology, and he
drew from it; but his great strength lay in his intimate
knowledge of Aristotle’s works and in his ability to elucidate
the texts and analyse the arguments. There is a refreshing
directness in his approach, and an avoidance of pretentions or
obscure jargon.
Besides the great editions—of Metaphysics (1924), Physics
(1936), Analytics (1949), Parva Naturalia (1955), and De Anima
(1961)—Ross made excellent translations of Metaphysics and
Nicomachean Ethics in the Oxford Aristotle translation series,
of which he was General Editor. The book Aristotle was first
published in 1923 and has been often reprinted.
The book is a straightforward account of Aristotle’s works,
containing marvellous summaries of difficult theories and
complicated arguments, together with brief but suggestive
critical comments. It is not an elementary introduction for the
absolute beginner: Ross takes for granted some acquaintance
with traditional philosophical terminology. There are three
viii
types of reader for whom it will be useful. There is the general
reader who is interested to know something about Aristotle. He
or she will be well advised not to read the book straight
through, nor to start at the beginning; the easiest approach
would be through the chapters on ethics and politics and then
on philosophy of nature. Secondly, the university student will
find that a good framework and starting-point for his work on
any part of Aristotle will be provided by the reading of the
relevant chapter or section of Ross’s book. Finally, the
professional will read (or re-read) Ross with interest and profit
—to admire the clarity of the exposition, to evaluate the
comments, and to reflect on the ways in which the study of
Aristotle has developed since Ross wrote.
There certainly have been developments. Aristotelian studies
have flourished remarkably in recent decades. Several factors
combine to explain the strength and nature of this
renaissance. In the 1950s and 1960s there was a great
increase in the number of philosophers appointed in English-
speaking universities. Of the new philosophers a considerable
number had trained as graduates at Oxford—Ross’s home,
where there had been a long and strong tradition of Aristotelian
(and Platonic) study. At Oxford the study of classics was
combined with that of philosophy (modern as well as ancient);
and Aristotle was studied as a philosophical (rather than as a
literary or historical) text. Philosophy graduates, including
those not able to read Greek, were encouraged to study Plato
or Aristotle as philosophers—to argue with and about them. So
the new wave of philosophers caught an enthusiasm for Greek
philosophy which they carried to their various universities; and
Aristotelian studies in recent years have been characterised
both by the spread of interest (especially in USA and UK) and
by the interaction between general philosophy and work on
Aristotle.
To meet the needs of Greekless philosophers and their pupils
new translations of Aristotle appeared, which aimed at a higher
degree of accuracy and of philosophical sensitivity than was
usual in earlier translations. The close study of Aristotle in
good translations became a regular feature of philosophical
courses at universities, and mainstream philosophers were
able and willing to engage with Aristotle (as they always had
been with Descartes or Kant). Some of the most striking
ix
developments in Aristotelian studies in recent years have been
due to the influence of ideas and trends in general philosophy.
External factors have also contributed to promote lively
activity in this area (as in other areas) of academic study. Easy
travel has encouraged the holding of international conferences
at which ideas are exchanged and papers read. The quick
publication of papers, in journals or in collections, keeps the
intellectual pot boiling; the paper rather than the big book is
where a new idea is tried out.
I turn now to a few particular subject areas, starting with
logic. The interpretation of Aristotle’s formal logic (Prior
Analytics) has been enriched by the application of the
techniques of mathematical logic. The structure of his theory
of the syllogism, and its limitations and presuppositions have
been brought to light with a clarity and precision hardly
possible without such techniques. Recent work on Posterior
Analytics—Aristotle’s account of demonstrative scientific
knowledge and of scientific definition-has brought to life a text
that had for some time seemed odd and unrealistic. There are
thought-provoking similarities or analogies between the
procedures and explanatory aims that Aristotle attributes to
the scientist and the procedures and aims of (some parts of)
contemporary science. The last work on logic, Topics, is
concerned with dialectical arguments—arguments about all
sorts of matters, based on merely probably premises. It is a
work for which Ross had little sympathy: ‘the discussion
belongs to a by-gone mode of thought.’ However, the
investigation of ‘informal logic’ has an interest and importance
of its own—after all, this is the logic of most arguments in daily
life, in politics, and in the law-courts. Moreover, dialectic (and
not demonstration) has a claim to be the only possible route to
establishing ‘first principles’ in philosophy; how it may be
supposed to do this is under discussion.
Metaphysics is the Mount Everest of Aristotle’s treatises.
Ross’s edition, following that of his great predecessor Bonitz,
gave a secure foundation for all subsequent study. Recent work
has reflected trends in general philosophy. After being under a
cloud for some years metaphysics re-emerged as a vigorous
subject—not obscure or dogmatic but a questioning conceptual
investigation paying close attention to language. The
characteristics of Aristotle’s philosophising and many of his
particular ideas and arguments made his work very congenial