Retrieving Aristotle in an Age of Crisis

261 Pages·2013·3.55 MB·English

by  Aristotle.

Retrieving Aristotle in an
Age of Crisis
SUNY series in Ancient Greek Philosophy
—————
Anthony Preus, editor
Retrieving Aristotle in an
Age of Crisis
DAVID ROOCHNIK
Cover image of the tree: © Olaru Radian-Alexandru/Bigstockphoto.com
Cover image of the DNA: © Scott R. Bowlin/Bigstockphoto.com
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2013 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever
without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic,
magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior
permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
www.sunypress.edu
Production by Diane Ganeles
Marketing by Fran Keneston
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Roochnik, David.
Retrieving Aristotle in an age of crisis / David Roochnik.
p. cm. — (SUNY series in ancient Greek philosophy)
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 978-1-4384-4518-2 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-4384-4519-9 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Aristotle. I. Title.
B485.R565 2012
185—dc23 2012005001
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
A Note to the Reader ix
Prologue xi
Introduction: Why Aristotle Matters. 1
Chapter One: The Stars Are Eternal. 17
I.1: There Are Only Three Dimensions. 17
I.2: Threeness Determines Wholeness. 21
I.3: There Are Four Elements. 30
I.4: Elements Naturally Move to Their Natural Place. 31
I.5: The Circle Is Perfect. 35
I.6: The Body Moving in Circular Orbit Is Eternal. 37
I.7: History Is More or Less Bunk. 38
I.8: Religion Bears Witness to the Truth. 42
Chapter Two: Nature is Purpose. 45
II.1: Teleology Is Good Science. 45
II.2: Intelligent Design Isn’t All Stupid. 54
II.3: Some Beings Are Natural; Others Are Not. 57
II.4: Form Is Nature More than Matter. 60
II.5: Form Is More Divine than Matter. 63
II.6: Nature Is Hierarchical. 67
II.7: To Understand Nature, Study Its Best Examples. 69
II.8: The Finite Is Better than the Infinite. 71
II.9: Good Science Appreciates Things as They Are. 77
vi / Contents
Chapter Three: Being Is Good. 81
III.1: Metaphysics Is Onto-Theology. 81
III.2: There Are Substances Out There. 84
III.3: We Know a Substance When We See One. 92
III.4: God Is Alive and Good. 98
III.5: To Stand Firmly on the Side of Life. 109
Chapter Four: Truth Is Easy. 115
IV.1: If the Eye Were an Animal, Vision Would Be Its Soul. 115
IV.2: The World Is Nourishing. 118
IV.3: Perceiving Is Like Eating. 119
IV.4: We Are Wrong More Often than Not. 131
IV.5: Thinking Is Like Perceiving (Which Is Like Eating). 136
IV.6: We Can Say What We Think. 142
IV.7: We “Truth” the World. 144
Chapter Five: The Theoretical Life Is Divine. 149
V.1: Life Is Meaningful. 150
V.2: Happiness Is Objective. 153
V.3: Good Life Comes from Good Habits. 158
V.4: Freedom Isn’t All It’s Cracked Up To Be. 162
V.5: Moral Evaluation Requires Stories. 165
V.6: Smart Moral People Are Better than Dumb Moral People. 167
V.7: Lack-of-Leisure Is for the Sake of Leisure. 173
V.8: Theôria Is Not “Contemplation.” 178
Chapter Six: Enough Is Enough. 189
VI.1: The Best City Needs the Best Life. 191
VI.2: The Practical Life Is Not the Best. 193
VI.3: Natural Slavery Is Justified. 196
VI.4: A Woman’s Place Is in the Home. 201
VI.5: Small, but Not Too Small, Is Beautiful. 207
VI.6: War Is for the Sake of Peace. 213
VI.7: Philosophy Cures. 213
Epilogue 217
Notes 219
Bibliography 233
Index 237
Acknowledgments
I am grateful to several generations of Boston University students who
allowed me to think through Aristotle’s writings with them. In particular,
I would like to thank Nir Eisikovits, who, as a member of a seminar that
took place more than a decade ago, helped me to understand better what
it is I find so profoundly attractive in the Philosopher’s thought.
I am grateful to the Humanities Center of Boston University for grant-
ing me a semester of research leave during which I wrote the first draft of
this book. I am fortunate to have had two fine colleagues and friends who
also doubled as chair of my department during the years of preparation it
took to write this book: Charles Griswold and Dan Dahlstrom.
The University of Chicago Press generously allowed me to reprint a
portion of my article “What is Theoria? Nicomachean Ethics, Book 10.7–8,”
which appeared in Classical Philology (©2009 by the University of Chicago),
as did the Review of Metaphysics for “Aristotle’s Defense of the Theoretical
Life: Comments on Politics VII” (2008).
Mr. I-Kai Jeng provided me with valuable editorial assistance and pre-
pared the index for this book. Any mistakes that remain are surely my own.
vii

A Note to the Reader
Like Aristotle, I begin many a sentence with “we.” This pronoun is meant
to refer to the reader and myself. I use it on two occasions. First, I often
discuss what I take to be experiences we all share. So, for example, we
experience physical bodies as having three dimensions and time as being
constituted by a past, present, and future. Second, sometimes “we” refers
to us as residents of contemporary culture who hold certain views and
general conceptions that have been taken for granted since the advent of
the modern period (conceived as around 1600). So, for example, we know
that the earth orbits the sun. My use of the pronoun may sometimes seem
presumptuous. If so, the reader is invited to challenge it. Indeed, a goal of
this book is precisely to make us wonder who “we” are.
The genius of Aristotle’s thought is found in its comprehensiveness
and its coherence. He thinks through the entire world from top (the stars)
to bottom (the earth). As a result, no part of his work, no individual argu-
ment or theoretical bit, can be fully appreciated without an understanding
of where it fits in the whole. For this reason, this book must, at least in
summary fashion, address the entirety of his worldview. I urge readers to
defer judgment on any particular item that is discussed until they are able
to locate it within the context of the whole thought. As a guide to doing
this, I will frequently point to later sections of the book by using the sym-
bol (>). So, for example, to refer ahead to chapter 3, section 5, the reader
will see (>III.5). To offer reminders of what has already been discussed, I
will use the symbol (<).
As Aristotle scholars will quickly realize, I sometimes devote a short
section to a topic that would require a long book to be fully addressed. To
compensate for such brevity, in the endnotes I often cite scholarly works
that offer accounts far more elaborate than my own. I also point the reader
to background material and occasionally discuss textual points that are par-
ix