Teleology, First Principles, and Scientific Method in Aristotle's Biology (Oxford Aristotle Studies Series)

This volume presents an interconnected set of sixteen essays, four of which are previously unpublished, by Allan Gotthelf--one of the leading experts in the study of Aristotle's biological writings. Gotthelf addresses three main topics across Aristotle's three main biological treatises. Starting with his own ground-breaking study of Aristotle's natural teleology and its illuminating relationship with the __Generation of Animals__, Gotthelf proceeds to the axiomatic structure of biological explanation (and the first principles such explanation proceeds from) in the __Parts of Animals__. After an exploration of the implications of these two treatises for our understanding of Aristotle's metaphysics, Gotthelf examines important aspects of the method by which Aristotle organizes his data in the __History of Animals__ to make possible such a systematic, explanatory study of animals, offering a new view of the place of classification in that enterprise. In a concluding section on 'Aristotle as Theoretical Biologist', Gotthelf explores the basis of Charles Darwin's great praise of Aristotle and, in the first printing of a lecture delivered worldwide, provides an overview of Aristotle as a philosophically-oriented scientist, and 'a proper verdict' on his greatness as scientist This Volume Draws Together Allan Gotthelf's Pioneering Work On Aristotle's Biology. He Examines Aristotle's Natural Teleology The Axiomatic Structure Of Biological Explanation, And The Place Of Classification In The Three Great Works With Which Aristotle Laid The Foundations Of Biological Science. Teleology, Irreducibility, And The Generation Of Animals (ga): Aristotle's Conception Of Final Causality : Postscript 1986 ; The Place Of The Good In Aristotle's Natural Teleology ; Understanding Aristotle's Teleology ; Teleology And Embryogenesis In Aristotle's Generation Of Animals Ii. 6 ; 'what's Teleology Got To Do With It?' : A Reinterpretation Of Aristotle's Generation Of Animals V / Co-authored With Mariska Leunissen ; Teleology And Spontaneous Generation In Aristotle : A Discussion -- First Principles And Explanatory Structure In The Parts Of Animals (pa): First Principles In Aristotle's Parts Of Animals ; The Elephant's Nose : Further Reflections On The Axiomatic Structure Of Biological Explanation In Aristotle ; Division And Explanation In Aristotle's Parts Of Animals -- Metaphysical Themes In Pa And Ga: Notes Towards A Study Of Substance And Essence In Aristotle's Parts Of Animals Ii-iv ; A Biological Provenance : Reflections On Montgomery Furth's Substance, Form And Psyche : An Aristotelean Metaphysics -- Starting A Science : Theoretical Aims Of The History Of Animals (ha): Data-organization, Classification, And Kinds : The Place Of The History Of Animals In Aristotle's Biological Enterprise ; Appendix : A Case For The Ordering Of The Books Of Ha Vii-ix And A Question About The Biological Study Of Man That Arises Therefrom / Co-authored With Pieter Beullens ; History Of Animals I.6 490b7-491a6 : Aristotle's Megista Genē ; Historiae I : Plantarum Et Animalium -- Aristotle As Theoretical Biologist: Darwin On Aristotle ; Coda : Aristotle As Scientist : A Proper Verdict (with Emphasis On His Biological Works). Allan Gotthelf. Includes Bibliographic References (p. [399]-413) And Indexes. This book — an interconnected set of sixteen chapters, four previously unpublished, addresses in parallel three main topics and Aristotle's three main biological treatises. Starting with a set of six studies of central aspects of Aristotle's natural teleology, including its basis in what the book calls ‘irreducible potentials for form’, the book proceeds to the axiomatic (and other explanatory) structure of biological explanation to be found in the Parts of Animals , identifying three sorts of first principles involved in that structure. An exploration, in Part III, of the implications of these two treatises for our understanding of Aristotle's metaphysics (including the teleological basis of his theory of substance and essence), is followed in Part IV by a study of the method by which Aristotle, in the History of Animals , organizes the data that makes possible such systematic, explanatory study of animals; this study offers a new view of the place of classification in that enterprise. The concluding part, on ‘Aristotle as Theoretical Biologist’, first explores the basis of Charles Darwin's great 1882 praise of Aristotle, and then, in the first printing of a general lecture long delivered worldwide, provides an overview of Aristotle's practice as a philosophically oriented biologist, and ‘a proper verdict’ on his greatness as a scientist This volume draws together Allan Gotthelf's pioneering work on Aristotle's biology. He examines Aristotle's natural teleology, the axiomatic structure of biological explanation, and the reliance on scientifically organized data in the three great works with which Aristotle laid the foundations of biological science.