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The Basic Works of Aristotle

aristotle richard peter mckeon c.d.c. reeve

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Edited by Richard McKeon, with an introduction by C.D.C. Reeve
 
Preserved by Arabic mathematicians and canonized by Christian scholars, Aristotle’s works have shaped Western thought, science, and religion for nearly two thousand years. Richard McKeon’s The Basic Works of Aristotle —constituted out of the definitive Oxford translation and in print as a Random House hardcover for sixty years—has long been considered the best available one-volume Aristotle. Appearing in paperback at long last, this edition includes selections from the Organon, On the Heavens, The Short Physical Treatises, Rhetoric, among others, and On the Soul, On Generation and Corruption, Physics, Metaphysics, Nicomachean Ethics, Politics, and Poetics in their entirety.

1487 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,-0322

This edition

Format
1487 pages, Paperback
Published
August 19, 2009 by Modern Library/Random House (NY)
ISBN
9780375757990
ASIN
0375757996
Language
English

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aristotle

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Aristotle (Greek: Αριστοτέλης; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, and the arts. As the founder of the Peripatetic school of philosophy in the Lyceum in Athens, he began the wider Aristotelian tradition that followed, which set the groundwork for the development of modern science.
Little is known about Aristotle's life. He was born in the city of Stagira in northern Greece during the Classical period. His father, Nicomachus, died when Aristotle was a child, and he was brought up by a guardian. At 17 or 18, he joined Plato's Academy in Athens and remained there until the age of 37 (c. 347 BC). Shortly after Plato died, Aristotle left Athens and, at the request of Philip II of Macedon, tutored his son Alexander the Great beginning in 343 BC. He established a library in the Lyceum, which helped him to produce many of his hundreds of books on papyrus scrolls.
Though Aristotle wrote many treatises and dialogues for publication, only around a third of his original output has survived, none of it intended for publication. Aristotle provided a complex synthesis of the various philosophies existing prior to him. His teachings and methods of inquiry have had a significant impact across the world, and remain a subject of contemporary philosophical discussion.
Aristotle's views profoundly shaped medieval scholarship. The influence of his physical science extended from late antiquity and the Early Middle Ages into the Renaissance, and was not replaced systematically until the Enlightenment and theories such as classical mechanics were developed. He influenced Judeo-Islamic philosophies during the Middle Ages, as well as Christian theology, especially the Neoplatonism of the Early Church and the scholastic tradition of the Catholic Church.
Aristotle was revered among medieval Muslim scholars as "The First Teacher", and among medieval Christians like Thomas Aquinas as simply "The Philosopher", while the poet Dante Alighieri called him "the master of those who know". His works contain the earliest known formal study of logic, and were studied by medieval scholars such as Pierre Abélard and Jean Buridan. Aristotle's influence on logic continued well into the 19th century. In addition, his ethics, although always influential, gained renewed interest with the modern advent of virtue ethics.

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Rating(4.1 / 5.0, 81 votes)
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virgingod
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Beyond the incredible historical and cultural import of the works, the fact that the writings of a scientist and philosopher who lived some 2300+ years ago resonate so clearly with the modern reader speaks to their brilliance--even in the cases where philosophical and scientific advances made some ideas outdated.
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vinizinnn
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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In order to understand scholastic philosophy and theology with any kind of respectable measure, I believe one must also have read or at least be familiar with the works of Aristotle.
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Nedarb111
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Aristotle is one smart cookie. I honestly think hylomorphism (form + matter) is a big step in thought
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Iscarabaid
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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This is a special book - I used it while in college. My youngest son used it while in college. Now I am using it again in grad school.
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MissHades
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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I remember reading a quote claiming that while Plato was the first to ask the eternal problems of philosophy, Aristotle was the first to formulate them in a such a way that they might be solved. The sheer clarity and simplicity of Aristotle's work makes one understand its seductiveness to the Scholastics.
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gilisonwallace
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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I read maybe an eighth of this book and understood an eighth of that eighth. Recommend for smart people.
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BeniChan
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Makes up for the dryness and, at times, boring-ness inherent to the explication of causative factors involved with physics, movement, cosmology, and so forth, by his sheer lucidity and clarity in explicating the nature of How Things Are. Or, rather, how the classical, ancient mind determined things were, further expounding upon how things behave, shape themselves, are derived, form, generate, move, stop, descend, ascend, etc.

Perhaps the main reason to read Aristotle is to begin see the first mental explorations of epidemiologic, scientific and empirical inquiry attempting to derive sources, meanings, and reasonings from the universal chaos. His metaphysics and meditations on the nature of satisfaction, happiness and a life well-lived are especially meaningful and well thought out. I began to understand why so much of western conceptualization- religious or otherwise- has since derived from the prismatic brilliance of Aristotle's mind. Highly recommended. Tough to slog through, at times- but give it patience and time. It's worth it.
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