Meteorologica

by Aristotle, H. D. P. Lee (Translator)

Aristotle, great Greek philosopher, researcher, reasoner, and writer, born at Stagirus in 384 BCE, was the son of Nicomachus, a physician, and Phaestis. He studied under Plato at Athens and taught there (367 47); subsequently he spent three years at the court of a former pupil, Hermeias, in Asia Minor and at this time married Pythias, one of Hermeias s relations. After some time at Mitylene, in 343 2 he was appointed by King Philip of Macedon to be tutor of his teen-aged son Alexander. After Philip s death in 336, Aristotle became head of his own school (of Peripatetics ), the Lyceum at Athens. Because of anti-Macedonian feeling there after Alexander s death in 323, he withdrew to Chalcis in Euboea, where he died in 322. Nearly all the works Aristotle prepared for publication are lost; the priceless ones extant are lecture-materials, notes, and memoranda (some are spurious). They can be categorized as follows: I. Practical: "Nicomachean Ethics"; "Great Ethics" ("Magna Moralia"); "Eudemian Ethics"; "Politics"; "Oeconomica" (on the good of the family); "Virtues and Vices."

II. Logical: "Categories"; "On Interpretation"; "Analytics" ("Prior" and "Posterior"); "On Sophistical Refutations"; "Topica."

III. Physical: Twenty-six works (some suspect) including astronomy, generation and destruction, the senses, memory, sleep, dreams, life, facts about animals, etc.

IV. "Metaphysics" on being as being.

V. On Art: "Art of Rhetoric" and "Poetics."

VI. Other works including the "Athenian Constitution"; more works also of doubtful authorship.

VII. Fragments of various works such as dialogues on philosophy and literature; and of treatises on rhetoric, politics and metaphysics. The Loeb Classical Library(r) edition of Aristotle is in twenty-three volumes.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Science, Classics, History

480 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Aristotle (Greek: Αριστοτέλης; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, and the arts. As the founder of the Peripatetic school of philosophy in the Lyceum in Athens, he began the wider Aristotelian tradition that followed, which set the groundwork for the development of modern science.
Little is known about Aristotle's life. He was born in the city of Stagira in northern Greece during the Classical period. His father, Nicomachus, died when Aristotle was a child, and he was brought up by a guardian. At 17 or 18, he joined Plato's Academy in Athens and remained there until the age of 37 (c. 347 BC). Shortly after Plato died, Aristotle left Athens and, at the request of Philip II of Macedon, tutored his son Alexander the Great beginning in 343 BC. He established a library in the Lyceum, which helped him to produce many of his hundreds of books on papyrus scrolls.
Though Aristotle wrote many treatises and dialogues for publication, only around a third of his original output has survived, none of it intended for publication. Aristotle provided a complex synthesis of the various philosophies existing prior to him. His teachings and methods of inquiry have had a significant impact across the world, and remain a subject of contemporary philosophical discussion.
Aristotle's views profoundly shaped medieval scholarship. The influence of his physical science extended from late antiquity and the Early Middle Ages into the Renaissance, and was not replaced systematically until the Enlightenment and theories such as classical mechanics were developed. He influenced Judeo-Islamic philosophies during the Middle Ages, as well as Christian theology, especially the Neoplatonism of the Early Church and the scholastic tradition of the Catholic Church.
Aristotle was revered among medieval Muslim scholars as "The First Teacher", and among medieval Christians like Thomas Aquinas as simply "The Philosopher", while the poet Dante Alighieri called him "the master of those who know". His works contain the earliest known formal study of logic, and were studied by medieval scholars such as Pierre Abélard and Jean Buridan. Aristotle's influence on logic continued well into the 19th century. In addition, his ethics, although always influential, gained renewed interest with the modern advent of virtue ethics.

Reviews

[Erick · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I mentioned in my last review of Aristotle, I read this more from the desire to study Aristotle thoroughly. I don't think this book would qualify as essential Aristotle, but if one were to grade his books on philosophical priority, it might qualify as a less essential physical work. It is a companion treatise to his Physics, but not quite as interesting.

It is intriguing to get a glimpse into the state of science/natural philosophy during this period of time. Obviously, Aristotle didn't have access to the same technological means to measure natural phenomena, so his experiments were almost certainly rudimentary. That being said, Aristotle did have remarkably correct understanding in regards to the role that temperature plays in weather and meteorological phenomena. He wasn't correct in all of his opinions regarding how temperature influences weather, but he did correctly understand that it was an important factor. He also understood many of the properties of water evaporation, condensation and precipitation. He must have performed some experiments himself in regards to the properties of solids and liquids when cooled or heated. One has to be slightly impressed by his inquisitive zeal and close theoretical approximations.

Aristotle believed that earthquakes were caused by wind being caught in subterranean cavities and that shooting stars were a product of the ignition of terrestrial gaseous exhalations. I'm sure if Aristotle found out that earthquakes are caused by the movement of tectonic plates and that shooting stars were actually falling cosmic debris, he would be thrown for quite a loop. The actual primary cause of these phenomena are less complicated than his theories.

As I said before, I don't give negative reviews based on obsolete scientific knowledge. This work I only found minorly interesting. It provides a glimpse into archaic natural philosophy, but doesn't provide much in terms of practical knowledge. I rate it at about 2-and-half to 3 stars.

[Hamzeh Zamani · Rating 5 out of 5]

رساله‌ی حاضر یعنی رساله‌ی آثار عُلوی به طور کلی ارائه‌ی نظریه‌ی بدیع وجود دو بخار خشک و تر است که ارسطو به یاری آن پدیده‌هایی را که در جو و خشکی و دریا روی می‌دهد، مانند شهاب، ستارگان دنباله‌دار، راه شیری، باران، مه، برف، تگرگ، زمین‌لرزه، رعد و برق و صاعقه و رنگین کمان، هاله، رودها و دریاها، سنگ‌ها و فلزات، را تبیین می‌کند.
ارسطو بر آن است که گویی جریانی دائمی از مرکز زمین به سوی بالاترین نقاط جو حرکت می‌کند و دوباره به آن باز می‌گردد. رساله‌ی آثار عُلوی، که تا آستانه‌ی رنسانس متن اصلی این علم محسوب می‌شد، از جهت تاریخی اهمیت بسزایی دارد.

[Per · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/met...

Both a good example of how the four elements (fire, air, water, earth) and qualities (hot, cold, dry, moist) were used to explain things in and of physical reality AND a good example of taking things too far with the same approach. On the one hand, he did pretty good for his time as it came to explaining things like rainbows, quoting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow... ...

The classical Greek scholar Aristotle was first to devote serious attention to the rainbow. According to Raymond L. Lee and Alistair B. Fraser, "Despite its many flaws and its appeal to Pythagorean numerology, Aristotle's qualitative explanation showed an inventiveness and relative consistency that was unmatched for centuries. After Aristotle's death, much rainbow theory consisted of reaction to his work, although not all of this was uncritical."

... but, on the other hand, he does explain earthquakes as wind getting caught underground. Still, he's a step ahead as far as flat-earthers go, stating that as far as our knowledge of the earth goes, the horizon always changes with a change in our position, which proves that the earth is convex and spherical.

I wouldn't say this is essential reading unless you're interested in the four elements, or you want to cover all the Aristotle bases.

[Truls Ljungström · Rating 2 out of 5]

Detta är mer av en kuriositet än en användbar text. Den redogör för Aristoteles föreställningar om hur den fysiska världen hänger samman. Det intressanta är hur tydligt den gör det att hans doktriner bör ses som processorienterade snarare än faktaorienterade.

För de som vill förstå Aristoteles på djupet kan den vara en källa till exempel. Jag är inte säker på att den ger så mycket därutöver.

[Jairo Fraga · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's fun to read old explanations for many sky phenomena like shooting stars. Nonetheless, Aristotle makes a great impression on a very wide range of topics, which easily surpass his contemporaries.
There is a theory for everything here, from why the seas are salty to the existence of two kinds of evaporation, and much more.
Also, there is a really primitive theory for earthquakes being the result of winds that collide with each other.
It's easy to judge those hilarious assumptions nowadays, but it's still quite impressive coming up with many theories that could well make sense (knowing Aristotle logic) at the time, when things like electricity and tectonic plates were unknown.
At the end, the focus is on chemistry, relationships of temperature and the nature of some substances.
Not a very interesting book, but good to know those old theories.

[Santiago González (puntoartica) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me parece el menos interesante de las 3 obras físicas más importantes (Física y De Caelo) pero aún así tiene cosas interesantes.

Aristóteles estudia fenómenos naturales diversos (el libro realmente no se limita (ni mucho menos) a meteorológicos como indica el título) y da explicaciones sólidas y bien planteadas, aunque a veces no acierta.

Muy curioso que Aristóteles desde el Ática pudiese ver perfectamente auroras boreales

[Andy Febrico Bintoro · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is more easy to understand than the previous book. By meteorology in that time, the meaning is what happened in the earth atmosphere (the body). This book talk about weather, some astrology, geology things, and a bit biology. From this we could understand how they think in that time. There are also myths here which refuted by aristotle.

[Carter Reads Classics · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aristotle born 384 b.c roughly 400 years after Homer, begins his book with a strong assertion about the first cause (I.e god) being the cause for all motion to exist including meteors. This assertion is why I loved this book.

[David]

Pretty boring overall. Some of it is fun to think about, like where do rivers come from, why is the ocean salty, stuff that I never really wondered. It also got me thinking about the structure of metals.

[Michael]

book 3; part 13 - 14 rivers

[Brian Schiebout · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meteorology written by Aristotle and translated into English by E. W. Webster is a smorgasbord of ancient scientific knowledge. The four books which make up the work could be described as very rambling but that is mostly because the last book doesn't seem to fit with the other three. The first book deals with what Aristotle believed were the low heavens in which he included the comets, meteors, milky way, and clouds. We knowing what we know today would find this grouping quite strange but to him it all makes sense because he believed that all these elements had to do with the way in which the eternal heavens interacted with the Earth which he saw as changing. I guess this does explain something which I wondered which is why the study of weather is called meteorology. While most of what he said was inaccurate in the first books his work on evaporation works out as true. However his work on winds is completely overcomplicated which makes sense as Aristotle like to explain things through logic which works as long as your axioms are right but his theory on movement was very inaccurate. The book ends with sections on optics and mater which demonstrates many things which are inaccurate. His issue with optics explains most of the issues which are prevalent through the rest of the work because it was the advances in optics which allowed the advances in astronomy and chemistry which demonstrated the falsity of his elemental view of matter. I found the work well done even if most of the information in it is quite inaccurate because of how it shows that someone could go about making a systematic system of knowledge which could last many years and yet be wrong. I believe this book will help me better understand what ideas the early renaissance scientists where confronting.

[Joe Basile · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another "tough read", but worthwhile for anyone interested in the history of scientific thought. Aristotle comes up with some pretty wild explanations for various natural phenomena (for example he thinks that lightening is caused by wind that had caught on fire, and he explains earthquakes as the expulsion of air that became trapped under the earth's surface). His problem is that he attempts to explain natural phenomenon solely on the basis of observation - experimentation was either unknown to him or not thought useful for his project. However he makes a major step forward in seeking to explain natural phenomena on the basis of other natural phenomena rather than intervention of the gods. And some of the observations that he does make - for example, that one sees oars hit water before hearing the related sound - are very amazingly perceptive and laid the groundwork for later scientific discoveries.

[Cindy DeLong · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring!