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1Poetics

By Aristotle

Aristotle’s Poetics from the 4th century B.C. aims to give a short study of storytelling. It discusses things like unity of plot, reversal of situation, and character in the context of Greek tragedy, comedy and epic poetry. But it still applies today. It is especially popular with screenwriters as seen in many script gurus’ how-to books. (Summary by Robert Foster)

The <em>Politics</em>, by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, is one of the most influential texts in political philosophy. In it, Aristotle explores the role that the political community should play in developing the virtue of its citizens. One of his central ideas is that "Man is a political animal," meaning that people can only become virtuous by active participation in the political community. Aristotle also criticizes his teacher Plato, classifies and evaluates six different types of constitutions and political institutions, and describes his vision of the ideal state. Aristotle's views on women and slavery are unenlightened by today's standards, but his work remains enduring and relevant to this day. <br>(Summary by Leon Mire)

The work consists of ten books, originally separate scrolls, and is understood to be based on notes said to be from his lectures at the Lyceum which were either edited by or dedicated to Aristotle's son, Nicomachus. In many ways this work parallels the similar Eudemian Ethics, which has only eight books, and the two works can be fruitfully compared. Books V, VI, and VII of the Nicomachean Ethics are identical to Books IV, V, and VI of the Eudemian Ethics. Opinions about the relationship between the two works, for example which was written first, and which originally contained the three common books, is divided. Aristotle describes his ethical work as being different from his other kinds of study, because it is not just for the sake of contemplating what things are, but rather to actually become good ourselves. It is therefore practical rather than theoretical in the original Aristotelian senses of these terms. (Summary from Wikipedia)

The Rhetoric was developed by Aristotle during two periods when he was in Athens, the first between 367 to 347 BCE (when he was seconded to Plato in the Academy), and the second between 335 to 322 BCE (when he was running his own school, the Lyceum). The Rhetoric consists of three books. Book I offers a general overview, presenting the purposes of rhetoric and a working definition; it also offers a detailed discussion of the major contexts and types of rhetoric. Book II discusses in detail the three means of persuasion that an orator must rely on: those grounded in credibility (ethos), in the emotions and psychology of the audience (pathos), and in patterns of reasoning (logos). Book III introduces the elements of style (word choice, metaphor, and sentence structure) and arrangement (organization). Some attention is paid to delivery, but generally the reader is referred to the Poetics for more information in that area. (Summary by Wikipedia)

Categories (Lat. Categoriae, Greek Κατηγορίαι Katēgoriai) is the first of Aristotle's six texts on logic which are collectively known as the Organon. In Categories Aristotle enumerates all the possible kinds of things that can be the subject or the predicate of a proposition. Aristotle places every object of human apprehension under one of ten categories (known to medieval writers as the praedicamenta). Aristotle intended them to enumerate everything that can be expressed without composition or structure, thus anything that can be either the subject or the predicate of a proposition. The ten categories, or classes, are: Substance, Quantity, Quality, Relation, Place, Time, Position, State, Action and Affection. (Wikipedia)</p> The Categories places every object of human apprehension under one of ten categories (known to medieval writers as the praedicamenta). Aristotle intended them to enumerate everything that can be expressed without composition or structure, thus anything that can be either the subject or the predicate of a proposition.

Aristotle's On Interpretation (Greek Περὶ Ἑρμηνείας or Peri Hermeneias) or De Interpretatione (the Latin title) is the second of Aristotle's six texts on logic which are collectively known as the Organon. On Interpretation is one of the earliest surviving philosophical works in the Western tradition to deal with the relationship between language and logic in a comprehensive, explicit, and formal way. The work begins by analyzing simple categoric propositions, and draws a series of basic conclusions on the routine issues of classifying and defining basic linguistic forms, such as simple terms and propositions, nouns and verbs, negation, the quantity of simple propositions (primitive roots of the quantifiers in modern symbolic logic), investigations on the excluded middle (what to Aristotle isn't applicable to future tense propositions — the Problem of future contingents), and on modal propositions. The first five chapters deal with the terms that form propositions. Chapters 6 and 7 deal with the relationship between affirmative, negative, universal and particular propositions. These relationships are the basis of the well-known Square of opposition. The distinction between universal and particular propositions is the basis of modern quantification theory. The last three chapters deal with modalities. Chapter 9 is famous for the discussion of the sea-battle. (If it is true that there will be a sea-battle tomorrow, then it is true today that there will be a sea-battle. Thus a sea-battle is apparently unavoidable, and thus necessary). (Adapted from Wikipedia)

<i>Prior Analytics</i> is the third of Aristotle's six texts on logic which are collectively known as the Organon ("Instrument"). In <i>Prior Analytics</i> Aristotle conducts a formal study of arguments. In logic an argument is a series of true or false statements which lead to a true or false conclusion. Aristotle identifies valid and invalid forms of arguments called <i>syllogisms</i>. A syllogism is an argument consisting of three sentences: two premises and a conclusion. Of the entire Aristotelian corpus, Aristotle gives priority to the study of his treatises on Logic. (Adapted from Wikipedia)

Posterior Analytics is the fourth of Aristotle's six texts on logic which are collectively known as the Organon ("Instrument"). Posterior Analytics deals with demonstration, definition, and scientific knowledge. Demonstration is distinguished as a syllogism productive of scientific knowledge, while Definition is marked as the statement of a thing's nature, a statement of the meaning of the name, or of an equivalent nominal formula. (Introduction adapted from Wikipedia)

The Topics is is the fifth of Aristotle's six texts on logic which are collectively known as the Organon ("Instrument"). The Topics constitutes Aristotle's treatise on the art of dialectic—the invention and discovery of arguments in which the propositions rest upon commonly-held opinions or endoxa. Topoi are "places" from which such arguments can be discovered or invented. In his treatise on the Topics, Aristotle does not explicitly define a topos, though it is "at least primarily a strategy for argument not infrequently justified or explained by a principle." (Adapted from Wikipedia)

The Sophistical Elenchi is the sixth of Aristotle's six texts on logic which are collectively known as the Organon ("Instrument"). In the Sophistical Elenchi Aristotle identifies 13 falacies. Verbal Fallacies are: Accent or Emphasis; Amphibology; Equivocation; Composition; Division and Figure of Speech. Material Fallacies are: Accident; Affirming the Consequent; Converse Accident; Irrelevant Conclusion; Begging the Question; False Cause and Fallacy of Many Questions. (Adapted from Wikipedia)

Metaphysics (Ancient Greek: ΜΕΤΑ ΤΑ ΦΥΣΙΚΑ; Latin: METAPHYSICA; English: After the Physics) discusses topics including substance, accident, causation and God. The text was lost in Western Europe during the Dark Ages. (Summary by Geoffrey Edwards)

On the Soul (Greek Περὶ Ψυχῆς (Perì Psūchês), Latin De Anima) is a major treatise by Aristotle on the nature of living things. His discussion centres on the kinds of souls possessed by different kinds of living things, distinguished by their different operations. Thus plants have the capacity for nourishment and reproduction, the minimum that must be possessed by any kind of living organism. Lower animals have, in addition, the powers of sense-perception and self-motion (action). Humans have all these as well as intellect. The notion of soul used by Aristotle is only distantly related to the usual modern conception. He holds that the soul is the form, or essence of any living thing; that it is not a distinct substance from the body that it is in; that it is the possession of soul (of a specific kind) that makes an organism an organism at all, and thus that the notion of a body without a soul, or of a soul in the wrong kind of body, is simply unintelligible. (He argues that some parts of the soul—the intellect—can exist without the body, but most cannot.) It is difficult to reconcile these points with the popular picture of a soul as a sort of spiritual substance "inhabiting" a body. (Adapted from Wikipedia)

Parva Naturalia [the "short treatises on nature" (a conventional Latin title first used by Giles of Rome)] is a collection of books by Aristotle, which discuss natural phenomena involving the body and the soul. The books are as follows: <br /><br /> I - On Sensation and the Sensible<br> II - On Memory and Recollection <br> III - On Sleeping and Waking <br> IV - On Dreams <br> V - On Prophecy in Sleep <br> VI - On Longevity and Shortness of Life<br> VII - On Youth and Old Age, Life and Death <br> VIII - On Respiration ( Summary Adapted from Wikipedia )

On the Heavens (Greek: Περί ουρανού, Latin: De Caelo or De Caelo et Mundo) is Aristotle's chief cosmological treatise. In it Aristotle argues that the Earth is a sphere by pointing to the evidence of lunar eclipses. Aristotle also provides a detailed explanation of his theory of 'gravity' arguing that things which contain 'earth' fall towards the centre of the Universe because 'earth' is naturally attracted to the centre of the Universe. Aristotle argues that if the planet Earth was moved to the location of the Moon then objects which contain 'earth' would not fall towards the centre of the Earth but rather towards the centre of the Universe. Aristotle believed that the more 'earth' an object contained the faster it would fall. Aristotle argues that there is another type of matter called 'fire' which is naturally repelled from the centre of the Universe. In addition to his own theories Aristotle expounds the theories of the Pythagoreans (that the Earth is one of the stars and that numbers are the literal building blocks of our world) and Democritus (that matter is made of atoms and objects float because of the motions of these atoms). (Summary by Geoffrey Edwards)

On Generation and Corruption (Ancient Greek: Περὶ γενέσεως καὶ φθορᾶς, Latin: De Generatione et Corruptione, also known as On Coming to Be and Passing Away) is a treatise by Aristotle. Like many of his texts, it is both scientific and philosophic (although not necessarily scientific in the modern sense). The philosophy, though, is essentially empirical; as in all Aristotle's works, the deductions made about the unexperienced and unobservable are based on observations and real experiences. The question raised at the beginning of the text builds on an idea from Aristotle's earlier work The Physics. Namely, whether things come into being through causes, through some prime material, or whether everything is generated purely through "alteration." From this important work Aristotle gives us two of his most remembered contributions. First, the Four Causes and also the Four Elements (earth, wind, fire and water). (Summary Adapted from Wikipedia)

Physics (Greek: Φυσικὴ ἀκρόασις; Latin: Physica, or Physicae Auscultationes) discusses concepts including: substance, accident, the infinite, causation, motion, time and the Prime Mover. (Summary by Geoffrey Edwards)

The Constitution of Athens (Greek: Ἀθηναίων πολιτεία) was written by Aristotle or his student. The text was lost until discovered in the late 19th century in Egypt. Topics discussed include Solon's legislative reforms abolishing debt slavery and the rise and decline of democracy and tyranny in Athens. (Summary by Geoffrey Edwards)

Eudemian Ethics (Greek: ΗΘΙΚΩΝ ΕΥΔΗΜΙΩΝ Latin: ETHICA EUDEMIA) discusses topics including virtue, friendship, happiness and God. It is believed to have been written before Nicomachean Ethics and to be named after Eudemus of Rhodes. Books IV, V, and VI of Eudemian Ethics are identical to books V, VI, and VII of Nicomachean Ethics and are excluded from this translation. (Summary by Geoffrey Edwards)

Magna Moralia (Ancient Greek: ΗΟΙΚΩΝ ΜΕΓΑΛΩΝ, English: Great Ethics) discusses topics including friendship, virtue, happiness and God. It is disputed whether Aristotle wrote Magna Moralia. This author concludes that it is absurd to suggest that God contemplates only God but does not propose an alternative activity for God. (Summary by Geoffrey Edwards)

Economics (Greek: ΟΙΚΟΝΟΜΙΚΑ; Latin: Oeconomica) may not have been written by Aristotle. The author provides examples of methods used by the state to raise money including debt, currency devaluation, commodity controls, tariffs, sales tax, fines, violence and sacrilege. (Summary by Geoffrey Edwards)

Opuscula is a collection of shorter books that may or may not have been written by Aristotle.<br><br> 1. On Colours<br> 2. On Things Heard<br> 3. Physiognomonics<br> 4. On Plants<br> 5. On Marvellous Things Heard<br> 6. Mechanics<br> 7. On Indivisible Lines<br> 8. The Situations and Names of Winds<br> 9. On Melissus, Xenophanes, and Gorgias<br> - Summary by Geoffrey Edwards

22Ἀθηναίων πολιτεία (The Constitution of the Athenians)

By Aristotle

Η Αθηναίων Πολιτεία του Αριστοτέλη γράφτηκε μεταξύ 328 και 322 πΧ. Περιέχει πολλές πληροφορίες για την πολιτειακή εξέλιξη των Αθηναίων αλλά και για το Αστικό και για το Δημόσιο Αττικό Δίκαιο.<br> Το σύγγραμμα διαιρείται σε δυο μέρη: το Ιστορικό και το Περιγραφικό μέρος.Το ιστορικό μέρος είναι ελλιπές στην αρχή του επειδή δεν υπάρχει η ιστορία των Αθηνών εως τη συνωμοσία του Κύλωνα. Το περιγραφικό μέρος είναι ελλιπές γιατί λόγω της φθοράς του παπύρου λείπει η περιγραφή του οργανισμού και των δικονομικών τύπων των Αθηναϊκών δικαστηρίων.<br> Ο Αριστοτέλης πήρε πληροφορίες απο τους: Ηρόδοτο, Σόλωνα, Θουκιδίδη, Θεόπομπο, αλλά και από τους Ατθιδογράφους, Κλεόδημο, Φανόδημο και Ανδροτίωνα. Πολλές πληροφορίες επίσης πήρε από τα διατάγματα και τα επίσημα έγγραφα του Κρατερού του Μακεδόνα απο επιγραφές, τα ποιήματα, τα μνημεία του Σόλωνα, τα λαϊκά άσματα και παροιμίες.<br> Στο δεύτερο μέρος του έργου, ο Αριστοτέλης δεν αναφέρεται σε ιστορικές πηγές γιατί περιγράφεται το σύγχρονό του πολιτειακό σύστημα, αντιλαμβανόμενος και πληροφορούμενος ο ίδιος τα πράγματα.<br> Από ιστορική αλλά και από φιλολογική άποψη, η Αθηναίων Πολιτεία είναι ένα από τα πολυτιμότερα κειμήλια που κληροδοτήθηκαν σε εμάς από την κλασσική Ελληνική αρχαιότητα. (Summary by karampas1968)

On the Parts of Animals (Greek: ΠΕΡΙ ΖΩΩΝ ΜΟΡΙΩΝ; Latin: De Partibus Animalium) by Aristotle (ΑΡΙΣΤΟΤΕΛΗΣ). The first book asks whether animals were designed or came into existence by chance. The remaining three books focus on particular examples of various animals and the functions of their organs. The translator William Ogle, who was both a medical doctor and classicist, presented Charles Darwin with a copy of this translation. (Adapted from Wikipedia by Geoffrey Edwards)

(Greek: Τῶν περὶ τὰ ζῷα ἱστοριῶν, Ton peri ta zoia historion, "Inquiries on Animals"; Latin: Historia Animalium, "History of Animals") <br> <br> Book I Grouping of animals and the parts of the human body. <br> Book II Different parts of red-blooded animals. <br> Book III Internal organs. <br> Book IV Animals without blood (invertebrates). <br> Books V & VI Animal reproduction. <br> Book VII Human reproduction. <br> Book VIII Habits (food, migration, health, diseases). <br> Book IX Social behavior. <br> Book X Dealing with barrenness in women was excluded from the translation of D'Arcy Thompson for being spurious so the translation of the Clergyman Richard Cresswell (Vicar of Salcombe Regis, Devon) is used instead. <br> <br> Sir D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson was a biologist, mathematician and classicist who also wrote On Growth and Form which discusses the mathematical patterns and structures formed in plants and animals. (Geoffrey Edwards)

Movement of Animals (or On the Motion of Animals; Greek Περὶ ζῴων κινήσεως; Latin De Motu Animalium) begins with a discussion of the physics of motion and asks whether God, the Unmoved Mover, exists outside of our Universe. <br> <br> Progression of Animals (or On the Gait of Animals; Greek: Περὶ πορείας ζῴων; Latin: De Incessu Animalium) asks why animals have the parts they do and to what end these parts are possessed. - Summary by Geoffrey Edwards

Generation of Animals (or On the Generation of Animals; Greek: Περὶ ζῴων γενέσεως (Peri Zoion Geneseos); Latin: De Generatione Animalium) <br> <br> Book 1: Sexual Parts, Semen & Sexual Generation <br> Book 2: Sexes, Embryo Development & Sterility <br> Book 3: Birds, Fish, Cephalopods, Insects, Bees & Testacea <br> Book 4: Causes of Sex, Heredity & Teratology <br> Book 5: Distinction between Necessity and the Final Cause <br> <br> Charles Darwin wrote: "Linnaeus and Cuvier have been my two gods, though in very different ways, but they were mere schoolboys to old Aristotle." (Life and Letters, vol. iii, p. 252) - Summary by Geoffrey Edwards

Meteorology (Greek: Μετεωρολογικά; Latin: Meteorologica or Meteora) by Aristotle <br> Translated by Erwin Wentworth Webster before he fell in action in 1917. <br> Book I: The Celestial Sphere, Stars & Precipitation <br> Book II: Seas, Winds & Earthquakes <br> Book III: Halos, Rainbows & Mock Suns <br> Book IV: The Elements & Secondary Qualities <br> <br> On the Universe (Greek: Περὶ Κόσμου; Latin: De mundo) is attributed to Aristotle but may have been written by Posidonius the Stoic or someone well acquainted with his work. Two candidates for the Alexander addressed in the text are Alexander the Great and Tiberius Claudius Alexander, nephew of Philo Judaeus and Procurator of Judaea, and in A.D. 67 Prefect of Egypt. The text describes a geocentric universe and theorizes that other continents must exist beyond the Atlantic. Translated by Edward Seymour Forster. <br> <br> On Breath (Greek: Περὶ πνεύματος; Latin: De spiritu) is attributed to Aristotle but may have been written by Theophrastus, Strato of Lampsacus or Erasistratus. The author rejects Aristogenes' theory that air is digested in the lungs through a form of transit and contact. Translated by John Frederic Dobson. <br> <br> (Summary Adapted from Wikipedia and the Text by Geoffrey Edwards)

Rhetoric to Alexander (Latin: Rhetorica ad Alexandrum; Ancient Greek: Τέχνη ῥητορική) is attributed to Aristotle but may have been written by Anaximenes of Lampsacus. Translated by Edward Seymour Forster. <br> <br> On Virtues and Vices (Latin: De Virtutibus et Vitiis Libellus; Ancient Greek: Περὶ Ἀρετῶν καὶ Κακιῶν) is the shortest of the four ethical treatises attributed to Aristotle. Translated by J. Solomon. (Summary Adapted from Wikipedia by Geoffrey Edwards)