Such a stunning cover design, as per usual with the post-1992 editions of the Modern Library Classics. I'm proceeding through these extensive collations of über-dry genius in the following order:

n  Ethics
Politics
Poetics
On Interpretation
Physics
Metaphysics
Categories
On The Soul
Rhetoricn

I anticipate completion to be achieved circa mid-century...

I love Aristotle (I don't agree with him though)

Tough reading

Very very dense. Sometimes hard to follow his arguments. It's worth reading to understand how foundational Aristotle is to Western thought but nonetheless not an easy read.

This book is very interesting to read, it has a lot of insight

Honestly, not as dry as I expected. Interesting to see how much of our common thought today that we don’t even question derived from Aristotle.

Aristotle focus in “The Basic Works of Aristotle” is that “all men suppose what is called wisdom to deal with the first causes and the principles of things.” These causes and principles are the subject matters referred to as “first philosophy.” Considered to be one of the first true scientists, he created an early version of the scientific method to observe and draw conclusions. The approach begins with reviewing the opinions of others and even the history of thought.

He drew distinctions between things that are “better known to us” and things that are “better known in themselves,”. He said we start with what is best known to us and then move to things better known in themselves.

Aristotle’s said “the study of being qua “is frequently and easily misunderstood, because it seems to suggest that there is a single subject matter—being qua being. The subject matter of “being” included within it three things: (1) a study, (2) a subject matter (being), and (3) a way the subject matter is studied (qua being).

Much of Aristotle’s teachings were preserved by Arabic mathematicians and canonized by Christian scholars. His works have shaped Western thought, science, and religion for nearly two thousand years. Richard McKeon’s The Basic Works of Aristotle is the one-volume source for understanding this scholar.

The books approach is especially useful in comparing him to Plato. Plato's world was one of changeless things assigned for lofty contemplation and for Aristotle, as we are told in the introduction, it was a world for empirical investigation. Aristotle had a fascination with living things.

The contents list a Preface, Introduction, Bibliography, Organon (logical treatises), Physica, DeCaelo, De Generatione, Parva Naturalia, Historia Animalium, De Partibus, De Generatione, Metaphysica, Ethica Nicomachea, Politica, Rhetorica, and De Poetica.

In the preface it tells us that this book is an aid to understanding the man and his thoughts. A study of an ancient writer. The re-discovery and assemblage of useful items of information and knowledge and inquiry into truths whose specifications do not change with time. “The Basic Works of Aristotle by Richard McKeon” is a must-have book to understand and have a useful reference for understanding this important scholar. For more on this book see web site at www.connectedeventsmatter.com

A decent selection of the major Aristotelian works. Many of the translations are dated, but it serves as a handy source book for people who do not care to use online versions.

The inclusion of this volume is a bit of a cheat at I have never actually read through all of its translations of representative works by Aristotle. Rather, what I did, after reading much of Aristotle through college, seminary and graduate school, was to read this edition's translations of the works I hadn't yet read elsewhere--a much less formidable task.

It’s slow going through dense stuff, but Jonathan Lear (Aristotle: The Desire to Understand) is a good guide. The Oxford translation's been updated since this 1930s version, but unfortunately there's no fat, cheap one volume edition of it. But Lear's a good guide there too, critiquing both translations and explaining key terms and concepts.

I accept that this is regarded as a major milestone in human understanding but it's very hard to follow. A picture here and there would be illuminating. An edition with pictures or "Cole's Notes" explaining what the heck Aristotle is talking about would be nice.

I'm mostly reading this to dispel the mystery of what it's about and to check it off the list so I'm not taking the time to try and understand the content based on the content itself; I'd go to Khan Academy or a similar resource if I actually wanted to learn the content. Maybe learning from an ancient text alone would strengthen my reading comprehension and academic conviction but I'm not passionate about either of those.

This text was my introduction to Aristotle during my college years. I read from this work alongside readings from the dialogues of Plato. Then I decided I was at heart an Aristotelian. That means among other things that I "desire to know" as Aristotle puts it in his Metaphysics. It also means that I am interested in the real world and that there is such a world that exists independent of my mind. Aristotle's works have been part of my reading life ever since. This is one of the best one volume collections of his work. I would recommend it to all who are interested in philosophy and have the desire to know.