Aristóteles en 90 minutos

Philosophers in 90 Minutes #1

by Paul Strathern

Aristóteles fue preceptor de Alejandro Magno. La Historia no registra detalles de esta relación, pero sabemos que, con el tiempo, Alejandro estuvo a punto de firmar la sentencia de muerte de Aristóteles, si bien se olvidó y se dispuso, en su lugar, a invadir la India. De no ser por este golpe de suerte, habríamos perdido al hombre cuya filosofía había de dominar el pensamiento europeo durante los 1.500 años siguientes.

Gracias a Aristóteles, el mundo medieval persistió en sus creencias de que el sol giraba alrededor de la tierra y que todo estaba compuesto de tierra, aire, fuego y agua. Una introducción y un epílogo sitúan la obra de Aristóteles dentro del panorama de la filosofía; también se ofrece una lista cronológica de fechas filosóficas importantes. Finalmente, una selección de citas de sus obras más importantes, incluyendo la Ética Nicomáquea, da indicación de sus intenciones, conceptos más importantes y de su estilo.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, History, Biography, Audiobook, Science, Biography Memoir

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Paul Strathern (born 1940) is a English writer and academic. He was born in London, and studied at Trinity College, Dublin, after which he served in the Merchant Navy over a period of two years. He then lived on a Greek island. In 1966 he travelled overland to India and the Himalayas. His novel A Season in Abyssinia won a Somerset Maugham Award in 1972.

Besides five novels, he has also written numerous books on science, philosophy, history, literature, medicine and economics.

Reviews

[Maziyar Yf · Rating 3 out of 5]

آشنایی با ارسطو آخرین جلد از فلسفه یونان از مجموعه آشنایی با فلاسفه نوشته پل استراترن هست که در آن نویسنده بیشتر به زندگی ارسطو پرداخته تا آرا و عقاید او . در حقیقت ارسطو به اندازه ای در تمام علوم مانند فیزیک ، متا فیزیک ، منطق ، زیست شناسی ، شعر ، ادبیات ، اخلاق و سیاست دست داشته که نویسنده در کتابی با این حجم کم نتوانسته و اصولا نمی توانسته مخاطب را با ارسطو آشنا کند ، بنابراین او به یک آشنایی بسیار بسیار مختصر اکتفا کرده است .
با وجود آنکه اندیشه های ارسطو توسط صومعه و کلیسا به جزیی اساسی از شرعیات مسیحی تبدیل شده و به این ترتیب در غرب نتوانست رشد کند اما در شرق ابتدا به دست ابن سینا و سپس ابن رشد ، گسترش یافته و حداقل شرق به این نتیجه رسید که عقل از ایمان برتر است . با ظهور
توماس آکویناس او موفق شد میان عقل و ایمان تعادل برقرار سازد . او اگرچه ارسطو گرایی را به صورت پایه و اساس فلسفی الهیات مسیحی تثبیت کرد اما همین امر در نهایت به فروپاشی ارسطو گرایی انجامید .
جالب ترین نکته کتاب از نگاه من گسترش آرای ارسطو در شرق و سپس نفوذ آن به غرب و در نهایت فروپاشی آن بود . باقیمانده کتاب مطلب تازه و جدیدی نداشت . آقای استراترن نتوانسته در 90 دقیقه خواننده را با اندیشه های ارسطو هر چند به شکل اندک و مختصر آشنا کند .

[Latasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, I can't say listening to this made me smarter.. This was more an overview of Aristotle's life than anything.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I expected a quick biography of Aristotle & more about his many thoughts & contributions to the world. There was some personal stuff by Strathern traveling in modern Greece & the biography was longer than I expected, although it was good perspective.

While Aristotle's contributions were covered, they were scattered, although again there was a lot of good perspective on how his works were used throughout history - mostly Christians painting themselves into a corner by making his works holy writ. Seems the Muslims allowed for some growth & change at the time, but they liked him, too.

At the end there was a section on his sayings & another thumbnail timeline of his life. Well read.

All in all, not bad, but not as good as I'd hoped. Definitely not a waste of 90 minutes, though.

[Stinger · Rating 2 out of 5]

The concept for the basic structure of this book is inviting, giving in short order a synopsis of the life of Aristotle. However, the frequent insertion of the author's opinion prohibited my enjoyment of this read. Throughout the book Strathern reveals his bias against Aristotle's philosophy; one wonders why he wrote this in the first place if not perhaps to complete a part of his "90 Minutes" book series.

[hossein Babadi · Rating 4 out of 5]

ارسطو شاید اولین و بزرگترین متفکر جامع الاطراف بود و درباره همه چیز از شکل ماهی گرفته تا نازایی، از ماهیت روح تا هواشناس، شعر هنر و حتی تعبیر خواب مطالبی نوشت. بر هر رشته ای از دانش که انگشت گذاشت آن را دگرگون کرد (به استثنای ریاضیات که در آن افلاطون برتری خود را حفظ کرد) اما مهمتر از همه ارسطو بنیانگذار منطق است، دستاوردی که انتظار می رفت تا ابد باقی بماند.

[Thomas · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was alright, I learnt something about the range and nature of Aristotle's writing and thought, and something about his life. I was hoping for a short summary of his position on central issues, which I didn't really find. The autobiographical pieces were a little odd, since I think there is more than enough Aristotle to fill an hour. Also the author seemed unnecessarily scathing of Medieval philosophy and ended the book with a quote by Nietzsche, which was also odd.

[Latif Joneydi · Rating 3 out of 5]

این کتابِ استراترن رو از کتابش درباره افلاطون بیشتر پسندیدم. روایت با جزئیات خوبی از اندیشه و زندگانیِ ارسطو آمیخته بود و سیر دگرگشت از خامی به پختگیش رو بد در نیاورده بود. طبق معمول تو این کتاب هم مثلِ دو کتابِ قبلیش درباره سقراط و افلاطون، خُرده-داستان هایی از دیدار خودش از محل زندگیِ فیلسوف رو پیش کشیده که تکّه اولِ کتابش واقعا آزارنده و نامربوط با شوخی هایِ خُنک بود ولی در ادامه گریز هاش به جغرافیایِ یونان قابل قبول تر شد.
این تکّه های تاکید بر استقلال اندیشه ارسطو هم همیشه منو سرشوق میاره، مثلا:
"اما هوش و ذکاوت ارسطو بیش از آن بود که صرفا دنبال روی کسی باشد -حتی اگر آن کس افلاطون می بود. زمانی که ارسطو چیزی را که به نظر می‌رسید تناقض (یا خدای ناکرده، نقصانی) در آثار استادش باشد تشخیص میداد، به حکم وظیفه عقلانی اش احساس می‌کرد که باید آن را متذکر شود." ص۱۶
کتاب سال نود و شش میلادی منتشر شده و یه پیش‌بینی ای هم میکنه که الان با وضعِ جهان امروز به نظر خام اندیشی میرسه:
"امپراطوری جدید اسکندر موجبات پایان عمر دولت-شهر ها را فراهم می آورد؛ همچنان که امروز نیز اتحادیه های قاره ای (مانند اتحادیه اروپا) ممکن است ناقوس مرگ دولت های مستقل ملی را به صدا درآورند." ص۳۲
البته این نابودیِ دولت-شهر ها زمینه ای شد برایِ پا‌گرفتن فلسفه های رواقی منش و عرفانی و درونگرانه که فرجامی شدن برای تامل بر امر اجتماعی و سیاسی.
در کل بد نبود.

[Lina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Audiobook Only: I am not certain what I expected but there was just so much to go over that not a lot actually resonated or stuck with me. This audiobook had a little bit of everything, history, actual anecdotes, impact on historical leaders and present philosophies. I feel like I learned a bunch of small little trivia components but nothing substantial. I guess that’s the point of this particular series, but I sort of wish the focus had been more narrow.

[Jimena · Rating 2 out of 5]

Esta entrega me resulta la más decepcionante hasta el momento quizá porque la filosofía aristotélica es una de las que más me interesan y acá no se ve representada. El libro es más una biografía de la vida del filósofo que un testimonio o incluso un resumen de su pensamiento o ideas fundamentales.

[Jeremy Cox · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was hoping for a summary of Aristotle's theories and contributions, however, this book is a summary of his biography.

[Madeline Mace · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick overview of Aristotle’s life and briefly touching on his political views and philosophical teachings. Very very short summery.

[CC · Rating 2 out of 5]

listened to the audiobook version only because it was available on libby and i wanted something to do while i was on a walk. well it was kind of boring and made me realize i actually dont care about aristotle! there wasn't really much discussion about his theories and stuff, it was mostly about *SPOILERS!!!* getting shafted from academy teaching positions and some dumb logic examples about horses having horns or whatever.

[Ramón S. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Una mala síntesis de la filosofía de Aristóteles junto con breves trazos sobre su vida, salpicado con mal humor y opiniones del autor bastante discutibles. Superficial y vano

[illiterate.bookworm alice humphreys · Rating 4 out of 5]

très chouette lecture ! il est dépeint comme aristocrate libertin et non grand savant pour une fois aha

[Jimmy]

A brief summary of Aristotle and goes over more of his biographical information than his beliefs in details—maybe it’s because I thought it was going to concentrate more on Aristotle ideas. In terms of the structure of the book, it seems to be rather all over the place. Today I learned that Aristotle had some issue of pride and didn’t always agree with Plato, his teacher. The most interesting part of the book for me was the chapter on Aristotle’s idea after him—from Aristotle’s influence upon the Islamic philosopher Avicenna (if any Christians know about him today it’s largely in connection to the Kalam Cosmological Argument) and Thomas Aquinas. Those looking for an introduction to Aristotle might be better served looking elsewhere.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Expecting a straight overview of Aristotle's life and writings, I was treated to more of a commentary instead of history. The 3 timelines at the end were the most helpful and maybe would have been better off towards the beginning instead of the very end. In addition, there was a series of Aristotle's quotes from random pieces.
I don't know if I was more annoyed by the obnoxious tone of the reader's voice or the author's extended harangue of his search for the "proper" birthplace of Aristotle which he repeated a couple of times, or his asides which he used to stress the disproving or "death" of Aristotelean thought, or later on his use of Nietsche to undermine quotes from Aristotle.

[Guilherme Passos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Melhor livro dessa coleção até agora, pelo menos na parte biográfica.

Não imaginava que Aristóteles era um playboy filhinho de médico que depois de umas amizades acabou se tornando um pensador que dá aulas, sensacional!

Agora, a parte que fala sobre seu pensamento, como na maioria dos livros dessa coleção, é bem fraca.

[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short summary of Aristotle. Good for someone like me since my eyes tend to glaze over when faced with too much philosophy. I mainly listened to this because it is short, I am behind in my reading challenge schedule, and to impress my brother who enjoys books such as these. :)

[Kari Olfert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aristotle in 90 minutes is exactly that. We get an overview of his childhood, love life and writings with a few key quotes from his philosophies and it ends with a timeline before and after his life to showcase how ahead of his time a lot of his ideas were.

[Carol Last · Rating 2 out of 5]

Aprendí más acerca de la relación entre Aristóteles y Alejandro Magno que de filosofía. Creo que el apartado de citas tomadas de los textos de Aristóteles tiene potencial, me hubiera gustado que el autor las comentara.
No estoy segura de si estos "90 minutos" valieron la pena.

[Bogdan Liviu · Rating 4 out of 5]

"He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god."

[Dennis · Rating 2 out of 5]

I felt like Strathern shares more about the historical life of Aristotle than what Aristotle actually wrote and philosophized about. But I learned quite a few new things.

[Realini Ionescu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aristotle in Ninety Minutes by Paul Strathern




A High Priest of…Happiness

It may seem preposterous to sum up Aristotle or any other major philosopher in ninety minutes. Perhaps it is.

But for some people, including this reader it may be a way to approach a great mind. I have tried my hand with Aristotle; I think it was Metaphysics –which comes after Physics- when I was about eighteen or twenty.

I found the treatise dry, difficult to approach and incomprehensible. The same thing happened with Kant and The Critique.

What is left then, after a direct encounter failed to produce significant results is to have it explained, like in those ethnic, sometimes degrading jokes…

An Italian, Irish or Romanian…whatever- walks into a bar. At one point, the barman, or someone at the bar says;

- Let me tell you this joke about an Italian, Irish or Romanian, etc.

- Hey, I am Italian, Irish or Romanian…

- Don’t worry, I will say it slowly- or the other version

- Never mind that, I will repeat it until you understand

The same with me, being slow I have to take it slowly and read what others have to say about Kant, Aristotle and most of the rest.

Oh, I nearly forgot- I could read Plato, since it seems so much more accessible.

Aristotle in Ninety Minutes deals with a short biography of Aristotle, even some important dates in the History of Philosophy, some quotes and important ideas and contributions.

This is not, obviously, an in extensor analysis, but it did provide some aspects that were surprising and different from what I had known.

From what I had read, I was under the impression that the relationship between Alexander the Great and Aristotle was not bad. After all, the latter had been the teacher of the former.

Strathern writes about a very tense, dramatic moment when Alexander was on the point of issuing and order to have Aristotle killed. As a dictatorial leader, with paranoid tendencies Alexander came very near the stage where he could have committed a (or is it another?) crime against humanity.

The aspect which makes me ever more interested in Aristotle is his writings on happiness. He is the one who said that

- The whole purpose of life is the pursuit of happiness

- Happiness depends on ourselves

- The highest degree of happiness comes from the cultivation of virtue

- Theoretical thinking provides some of the highest degrees of happiness

Aristotle was the first personal coach, inspirational trainer, motivator and self-help artist. More than that and leaving jokes apart- he is the one who inspired much of the positive psychology of today

Another interesting thing I have learned from this good book is that fact that even today, the church still relies officially on the philosophy of Aristotle. In the Middle Ages, after a tour though the Arabian lands, Aristotle came back to set the basis of religious dogma, in an interpretation that was accepted and became law. As Stathern observes, Aristotle, as an innovator and genius with an open mind, would have been horrified to find that his teachings are used to stifle any exploration, any new philosophical research.

There are plenty of sites on Aristotle, like this one:

http://www.pursuit-of-happiness.org/h...

As a human being, albeit a genius, Aristotle had failures, but his merits make him one of the greatest people to have lived.

[Daniel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Taking forever to get to the meat of it, considering the stated length.

And I’m back and this is bs. Over half way thru and author has said virtually nothing useful about Aristotle’s thought, but about anyone he happened to have bumped into — or not.

There is a sad little fascination with the absurd. Fine! Be entertaining, as you see it. But not at the cost of content when you are giving a quick overview.

This is no overview. This is crap.

But the author in conjunction w the narrator seems himself quite the wit

If only.

Regret ever having touched this

***
It’s as if knowing he knows nothing beyond the average (at best!) about Aristotle’s substance , the author has devised to go on and on about Alexander the Great. One of A’s students, sure. And we all knew it. But no one knows what if anything good and useful and true came of it. And since it appears no, nothing much came of it, then why use up at least 10 pct if not 15 or more, on this homicidal ass? Augh.
***
Ok, he won a star back. The man knows something. Why he thinks so little of his audience when he has so little time to pass along the wisdom of one of the foundational and greatest?
***
And he has lost that point—again. He says Nietzsche takes out the law of non contradiction. He says this with much hand waving.

But the first move in classical logic is
A is not non-A.

Is this true?

Or is it simply that we cannot — as N says — affirm both at the same time?

I think the author acts as if the good that is still the good left us by Aristotle is disregardable. And suspect in a way that practically it is not. And arguably in logic it is not. Quite arguably. Unless you want to re-write what we are doing.

Perhaps I have misjudged the author. Perhaps he — recognizing his small time — only wants to generate an interest in Aristotle.

But I don’t think so. I think the fellow is bright and intent on showing us. That he is a cool, hip, and interesting writer and prof. . . But he sits with the mockers and has wasted this opportunity by 85%.

And in the 15 pct, I’d estimate he provides misimpression in half of it.

Disappointed. Low regard. Contempt. Or whatever it is that Harry says in the tennis balls scene.
—Henry V

[Jennifer Putney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good introduction.

Small rant: I'm not sure why the author kept trying to push moral relativism or the broader idea of "all truth is relative" into the conversation...clearly Aristotle was not a relativist. Instead of trying to insert his own conclusions about reality, Strathern should have just focused on Aristotle and what HE thought and taught.

Small rant aside - the actual summary of Aristotle was pretty good. I don't love philosophy, but I do need to learn more of it. Reading small, bite-sized introductions to philosophers has been an enjoyable way to dip my toes into the subject.

Notes:
- Aristotle gave us the "syllogism" and is considered the father of western logic
- Studied nature and attempted to categorize plants and animals
- Came up with the idea of the Golden Mean, or the idea that a virtue is found in the "mean" (middle) balanced between 2 vices of extremes.
- Heavily influenced Medieval thinkers, especially Aquinas.

Quotes:

'...There is evidence that while Alexander was on his great expedition of conquest, he sent back assorted unknown plants and a zoo of exotic animals for his old tutor to classify. Horticultural lore has it that this was how the first rhododendrons reached Europe from central Asia. If so, Aristotle must have misclassified this species: rhododendron means rose tree in ancient Greek.'

'"Human good turns out to be the active exercise of the soul in conformity with excellence or virtue, and if there is more than one excellence or virtue, in conformity with the best and most complete. But this activity must take place throughout a complete lifetime, for one swallow does not make a summer, any more than one fine day. Likewise, one day or a brief flight of happi- ness does not make a man completely blessed or happy."
-Nicomachean Ethics, Book 1, 1098a 16-19'

[Matias · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aristóteles en 90 Minutos

Aristóteles es uno de mis filósofos favoritos y creo que este libro explica e ilustra de una manera muy entretenida la vida y obra de Aristóteles. Ya he leido tambien Platon en 90 Minutos y Aristóteles en 90 Minutos me ha gustado mucho más, honestamente no sé si es por mi fanatismo hacia a Aristóteles o la manera en la que los libros están escritos. Esta colección me gusta mucho por que los libros no son escritos mecánicamente, Paul Strathern escribe cada libro a su antojo y eso le da un toque único y muy orgánico a su obra. Y eso se puede notar en Aristóteles en 90 Minutos, Paul empieza con una experiencia personal de cuando visitó Estagira lo cual me gusto mucho comparado con otros libros de su serie. El libro está escrito de una manera orgánica, muy informativa y muy enriquecedora.

Creo que a cualquiera que le interese o no la filosofia deberia de leer este libro. Ya sea para el estudio filosófico o la vida cotidiana Aristóteles nos puede ayudar a vivir vidas que valen la pena ser vividas, ¿y que mejor libro para conocer de manera introductoria a Aristóteles que Aristóteles en 90 Minutos?

Mis frases favoritas definitivamente son las que Paul Strathern pone al final del libro citando directamente las obras de Aristóteles. De todas las citas de Aristóteles las que más me gustan son las de la Ética a Nicómaco. El primer fragmento que Paul decide poner en su libro es, “Hacemos la guerra para poder vivir en paz.” y me parece muy inteligente de su parte por que esta frase resume gran parte la filosofía de Aristóteles.

Definitivamente quiero invertir tiempo de mi vida en la filosofía de Aristóteles y este libro me ha servido como introducción para poder empezar el estudio de una manera muy ajena y agradable.

[Joseph Spuckler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another Audible.com free book from the "Channels" program and another slow day in the shop.

Aristotle is responsible for the beginnings of scientific classifications of plants and animals. He is also known as the father of logic. He is also accidentally created metaphysics. When his works were being put together subjects were recorded as geology and physics. The section after physics was called in "after physics" or in Greek metaphysics. His writings and interest were well rounded and much more diverse than Socrates or Plato. He even expanded out into psychology -- memory and dreams.

Aristotle's work was lost to the west for five centuries. It was Thomas Aquinas who is responsible for returning Aristotle to the West. He blended Christian theology with Aristotle which was translated from Arabic.

This is a 90 minute that just does not do justice to the philosopher. 90 minutes is just not enough time. It is also more of a biography than a philosophy lesson.

[TB · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finished it in 64 minutes so it holds up to the title. As the name of the book suggests it will provide you with a short overview of Aristotle. From a synopsis point of view it is quite commendable as the author base the history and background for Aristotle's thought and philosophy and what happens throughout his 63 years of life.
What I would criticise is although the author says something about Aristotle's philosophies he doesn't talk about his epistemology and how it could have influenced his sciences. And the other reviews already say the annoying part is that he includes in his opinions frequently which the readers don't actually come looking for( as the name literally suggests it will give you an overview). Though it was funny here and there but needless. In mentioning arabic commentators on Aristotle he misses Al Farabi when he is literally called the ' Second Teacher'. He also claims Averroes(Ibn Rushd) was of the opinion that revelation was lower than reason which is far from the truth.

[Chandler Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like these short biographies on the key philosophers of history. Each book introduces you to the philosopher’s life and thought, key quotes from their works, a summary timeline of the philosopher’s life, as well as a broader historical timeline of key events taking place during the life of the philosopher. This book even has an afterward on the Christian and Muslim reception of Aristotle—an appropriation that we can feel in Christian theological work to this very day. Strathern is also helpfully critical of Aristotle in all of Aristotle’s originality. There is a key interest in Aristotle’s political thought in this little book. Though, I feel like discussions on Aristotle’s philosophical contributions are a little too scattered in this book. I think the book would have benefitted from a more systematic organization in which Strathern discussed the life then the philosophy of Aristotle. I also found interesting Strathern’s discussion on the differences between Plato’s Academy and Aristotle’s Lyceum. Good book if you want to learn about Aristotle in an accessible and quick manner.

[Kez · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a bad little book. Gives some of Aristotle's biography and brushes briefly on some of his general contributions and how they were received by the world. I think I would have preferred less on his biography and more on his actual theories and ways of thinking, but overall not a bad very brief introduction to Aristotle.

Might have gotten 3 stars, but I do feel the whole rambling anecdotal section on the author's visiting Aristotle's home town could have been entirely removed from this book in light of how much there is of Aristotle to fit into 90 minutes. Wasting several minutes on stories only very loosely related to the man we're all here for is kinda just rude when there is such a time restriction. I want to hear about the highlights of Aristotle and his life as succinctly as possible. Not hear about the author getting lost and caught in the rain somewhere near where Aristotle was born.