Because Ideas Matter...
The faculty and staff of Butler University's College of Liberal
Arts and Sciences presents
Recommended Readings
Teleology, First Principles, and Scientific
Method in Aristotle's Biology
by Allan Gotthelf, Oxford, 2012
Reviewed by Tiberiu Popa
Most readers of Aristotle are familiar with
his ethics and political philosophy. More devoted students are also
acquainted with his works on metaphysics and natural philosophy.
His biological works, however, tend to be less widely read, despite
a steady tendency in recent scholarship to make them a centerpiece
of any comprehensive attempt to grasp several crucial facets of
Aristotelian philosophy. Biological writings such as Generation of
Animals, Parts of Animals, and History of Animals ('history' should
be taken in its original sense of 'inquiry', Aristotle vigorously
resisted the notion that animal species have evolved through
successive stages) are certainly fascinating on their own. Despite
their obvious limitations, they often display extraordinary insight
and dazzle even modern readers with surprisingly accurate
observations, inspired causal explanations, and a peculiar division
of genera of animals (quite different from modern taxonomy). These
treatises can also shed light on defining aspects of Aristotle's
theories about matter, cause, and substance. The 16 essays gathered
by Allan Gotthelf in this volume elucidate key passages especially
from the three treatises mentioned above, and investigate their
many connections with Aristotle's metaphysics, "physics", and
philosophy of science. Gotthelf, a preeminent authority in
Aristotelian studies, is also careful to give the measure of the
enduring admiration for Aristotle's biology and of the influence it
has exerted. Indeed, Chapter 15 starts by quoting this line from a
letter by Darwin: "Linnaeus and Cuvier have been my two gods,
though in very different ways, but they were mere school-boys to
old Aristotle." A careful reading of Generation of Animals, etc.
can also reveal methods, concepts and claims which are relevant to
contemporary debates, e.g., in philosophy of biology. Gotthelf's
compelling account is thus a most helpful guide to understanding
not only the first major episode in the history of what we call
today biology but also the heart of Aristotle's science, philosophy
of science, metaphysics and natural philosophy.
- Tiberiu Popa is associate professor of Philosophy at Butler
University.