History of Animals 7-10

by Aristotle, Allan Gotthelf, D. M. Balme (Translator)

In "History of Animals," Aristotle analyzes differences in parts, activities, modes of life, and character across the animal kingdom, in preparation for establishing their causes, which are the concern of his other zoological works. Over 500 species of animals are considered: shellfish, insects, birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians, and mammals including human beings. In Books I IV, Aristotle gives a comparative survey of internal and external body parts, including tissues and fluids, and of sense faculties and voice. Books V VI study reproductive methods, breeding habits, and embryogenesis as well as some secondary sex differences. In Books VII IX, Aristotle examines differences among animals in feeding; in habitat, hibernation, migration; in enmities and sociability; in disposition (including differences related to gender) and intelligence. Here too he describes the human reproductive system, conception, pregnancy, and obstetrics. Book X establishes the female s contribution to generation. The Loeb Classical Library(r) edition of "History of Animals" is in three volumes. A full index to all ten books is included in the third (Volume XI of the Aristotle edition

Genres: Biology

624 pages, Hardcover

Published December 28, 1991

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

[Joe Basile · Rating 5 out of 5]

Astonishing - really. History of Animals, written over 2,300 years ago, is a major work of zoology, recording Aristotle's observations (and to some extent third party reports) of the anatomies and behaviors of more than 500 species. The work is certainly not without error, but an amazing number of Aristotle's observations are dead accurate and many could not have been made other than by concluding that he must have been a careful and accomplished dissectionist. A number of the observations recorded in History were discarded as fanciful - until they were reconfirmed by biologists' observations in the 19th century. If one reads History of Animals against the standard of a completely accurate work of zoological science, one is wasting his time and missing the point. The treatise is nothing less than a tour de force when considered in light of the surrounding body of knowledge and tools available to its author.