Aristotle

The Routledge Philosophers

by Christopher Shields

In this excellent introduction, Christopher Shields introduces and assesses the whole of Aristotle s philosophy, showing how his powerful conception of human nature shaped much of his thinking on the nature of the soul and the mind, ethics, politics and the arts.

Beginning with a brief biography, Christopher Shields carefully explains the fundamental elements of Aristotle s thought: his explanatory framework, his philosophical methodology and his four-causal explanatory scheme. Subsequently he discusses Aristotle s metaphysics and the theory of categories and logical theory and his conception of the human being and soul and body.

In the last part, he concentrates on Aristotle s value theory as applied to ethics and politics, and assesses his approach to happiness, virtues and the best life for human beings. He concludes with an appraisal of Aristotelianism today.

"

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction

472 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good general guide to the different areas of Aristotle's philosophy.

[Molsa Roja(s) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excel·lent, la veritat. Aquest i el de Mosterín formen un gran tàndem, tant a nivell d’extensió com d’intensitat conceptual. Algun dia llegiré a Aristòtil, però no serà ara ni, de fet, aviat. Les quatre causes, les categories del ser, la distinció potència-acte, la certificació de l’existència del canvi contra Parmènides, la instauració dels axiomes lògics per excel·lència i els requeriments de l’episteme fan d’Aristòtil un pilar d’Occident, a nivell epistèmic d’una importància majúscula comparada amb la mística platònica.

[Kamakana · Rating 3 out of 5]

200311: i feel like i have read this before, not a big surprise as aristotle shows up everywhere in western philosophy. thus, i like it but am not blown away. it is nice to hear where the contemporary conversation is on his ideas. also very acute, sometimes sharply disagreeing and refusing to accept attempts to apologize, re women, slaves. truly, as with a friend who is wrong, piety bids us value truth before him…

if there is one thing i remember of his system it is the fourfold scheme of causes: material, formal, efficient, and final. have never actually read a, just read on him or arguments referring to him on the way. so i know a little more than i do not know. this book does mention problems with concepts of teleology, such as fuels later thought, but this book makes it clear why he was known as ‘the philosopher’ by medieval monks…

i also seem to remember, maybe here maybe elsewhere, aristotle’s metaphysical picture as opposing plato: how rather than an ideal horse in which form all others participate, there are the actual horses of which each may be partly perfect and so the ideal is created mentally out of combining elements of them all and is therefore ‘construction’ rather than ‘derivative’... and i have to agree: humans by nature desire to know. and to be human is to be polis. and so on...

[Ramzzi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Exemplar, according to Ian Hacking on his introduction of The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn—if I recall him correctly—is a word that Aristotle invoked for having to share many beliefs after a paradigm of work has been pursued. In relation to this, I find this work by Christopher Shields a very good introduction, but the examples very American.

[Samuel Weiss · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good general introduction

[James Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having read the Ethics, Politics, Poetics and chunks of other works, and having been inspired by some of Peter Adamson's discussion in The History of Philosophy Podcast series to wish to read a good deal more, I found this a brilliant introduction. Shields ties together the various strands of Aristotelian thought and shows how the metaphysics underpins the Ethics, Politics, etc. despite their seemingly less technical nature.

There is a fair amount of technical vocab most of which is explained in the glossary, but iff (if and only if) and some other terminology would repay closer attention. The tone is accessible, with a generous use of examples to clarify points, ranging from anthrax dealing postmen to the chord structure of little known composers (sometimes a tad idiosyncratically chosen).

It is usually a sign of a good introduction that it makes you want to read more in the original and next up is the Irwin and Fine Selections from Aristotle Aristotle: Selections

[Teerabhat Ruensiri · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best introductions to Aristotle. Shields has offered many good examples, some of which I employed to teach my class. Nevertheless, I believe that he delved too deep in certain passage for an introduction.

[Max Solis · Rating 5 out of 5]

El artículo que estoy leyendo sobre Aristóteles solo tiene 55 páginas, y es Christopher Shields su autor. Uso este libro como referencia para dejar plasmada la lectura de dicho artículo entre mis libros leídos de Goodreads.

[Lucas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clear and concise introduction to Aristotle. Thorough, so not a quick read, but very well written.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Top notch.

[Mills College Library]

185 S5552 2014

[Phil Garland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent intro to Aristotle, but a book to concentrate on while reading--no tv or multitasking here, just letting your mind work through A's problems and concepts.