Metaphysics (Aristotle)

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Metaphysics is one of the principal works of Aristotle and the first major work of the branch of philosophy with the same name. The principal subject is "being qua being", or being understood as being. It examines what can be asserted about anything that exists just because of its existence and not because of any special qualities it has. Also covered are different kinds of causation, form and matter, the existence of mathematical objects, and God.

1 Title, date, and predecessors
2 Summary
3 Style
4 Bibliography
5 External links

[edit] Title, date, and predecessors

The title of the work is Τῶν μετὰ τὰ φύσικα (literally, "of the things after physics"). This is generally supposed to mean that this is just a collection of works that later editors placed after Aristotle's treatises on physics, but it may well mean that the budding philosopher should study these subjects after studying physical matters such as motion, time, and animal life. It was probably written while Aristotle was teaching at the Lyceum, i.e. between 336 and 323 B.C. Earlier Greek philosophers, such as Heraclitus and most notably Plato in his later dialogues (Parmenides, for instance), considered some of the topics covered in the Metaphysics, but Aristotle was the first to cover such a wide range in a more or less systematic way.

In the manuscripts, the first two books are both numbered with the Greek letter alpha (which also meant "one"). Since this confuses the correspondence of letters to numbers, it is customary to refer to the books by their letter names. Thus book 1 is usually called Alpha (Α); 2, little alpha (α); 3, Beta (Β); 4, Gamma (Γ); 5, Delta (Δ); 6, Epsilon (Ε); 7, Zeta (Ζ); 8, Eta (Η); 9, Theta (Θ); 10, Iota (Ι); 11, Kappa (Κ); 12, Lambda (Λ); 13, Mu (Μ); 14, Nu (Ν).

[edit] Summary

Book Alpha Outlines "first philosophy", which is a knowledge of the first principles or causes of things. At the very beginning of book Alpha, Aristotle explores the nature of wisdom by asking what the characteristics are of those who are viewed as wise. He observes that the wise are those who know all things, but not in detail, that is, that their knowledge is of a general nature. They know things that are difficult, because wisdom requires reasoning that goes beyond mere sense experience. Sense experience gives knowledge of particulars, whereas wisdom is knowledge of universals. The wise are able to teach because they know the why of things, unlike those who only know that things are a certain way based on their memory and sensations. Because of their knowledge of first causes and principles they are better fitted to command, rather than to obey. The subject matter of metaphysics therefore is the nature of being qua being. The nature of Being is the most general concept that is unique compared with the concepts of all of the other sciences, in so far as there is no higher genus under which it can be subsumed. Book Alpha also surveys previous philosophies from Thales to Plato, especially their treatment of causes. Little alpha: Further remarks on how to search for truth. Beta: A listing of metaphysical puzzles (aporiai), proposed for consideration but not definitively answered; e.g., does anything exist apart from individual things? Gamma: Starts on "the science of being qua being", in particular the principle of non-contradiction. Delta ("philosophical lexicon"): Definitions of about fifty key terms such as cause, nature, one, and many. Epsilon: further remarks on the science of being qua being and on truth.

Zeta, Eta, Theta: Often considered the core of the Metaphysics, these books form a wide-ranging discussion of ousia (substance or thinghood): its identification, its relation to matter and form, to actuality and potentiality, to change and coming-to-be. Iota: Discussion of unity, one and many, sameness and difference. Kappa: Briefer versions of other chapters and of parts of the Physics. Lambda: Further remarks on beings in general, first principles, and God or gods. This book includes Aristotle's famous description of the unmoved mover, "the most divine of things observed by us", as "the thinking of thinking". Mu and Nu: Philosophy of mathematics, in particular how numbers exist.

[edit] Style

Many scholars believe that Aristotle's works as we have them today are little more than lecture notes. Many of his works are extremely compressed and baffling to beginners. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Metaphysics. Avicenna reportedly said that he read the work forty times without understanding it.

In the 19th century, with the rise of textual criticism, the Metaphysics was examined anew. Critics, noting the wide variety of topics and the seemingly illogical order of the books, concluded that it was actually a collection of shorter works thrown together haphazardly. Werner Jaeger further maintained that the different books were taken from different periods of Aristotle's life. Everyman's Library, for their 1000th volume, published the Metaphysics in a rearranged order that was intended to make the work easier for readers—with what success one can only guess.

Nevertheless, the work has not only influenced many thinkers but remains suggestive or even inspiring to students of philosophy.

[edit] Bibliography

Greek text: Aristotelis Metaphysica. Ed. Werner Jaeger. Oxford Classical Texts. Oxford University Press, 1957. ISBN 978-0-19-814513-4 .

Greek text with English: Metaphysics. Trans. Hugh Tredennick. 2 vols. Loeb Classical Library 271, 287. Harvard U. Press, 1933-35. ISBN 0-674-99299-7, ISBN 0-674-99317-9.

Aristotle's Metaphysics. Trans. Hippocrates G. Apostle. Bloomington: Indiana U. Press, 1966.

Aristotle's Metaphysics. Trans. Joe Sachs. 2nd ed. Santa Fe, N.M.: Green Lion, 2002. ISBN 1-888009-03-9.

Thomas Aquinas. Commentary on Aristotle's Metaphysics. Trans. John P. Rowan. 1961; rpt. Notre Dame, Ind.: Dumb Ox, 1995.