Description
Book SynopsisThis definitive biography shows that Aristotle's philosophy is best understood on the basis of a firm knowledge of his life and of the school he founded. First published in Italian, and now translated, updated, and expanded for English readers, this concise chronological narrative is the most authoritative account of Aristotle's life and his Lyceum
Trade ReviewOne of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles Top 25 Academic Books for 2014 "Gathering, distilling, and analyzing all the evidence and previous scholarship, Carlo Natali, one of the world's leading Aristotle scholars, provides a masterful synthesis that is accessible to students yet filled with evidence and original interpretations that specialists will find informative and provocative."--World Book Industry "Natali assembles all of the relevant ancient sources for the life of Aristotle and offers judicious assessments of their reliability and significance. The result, when it comes to the life of Aristotle, is that Natali's work is now the standard biography... This book both satisfies the highest standards of scholarship and is accessible to any intelligent readers. Every college and university library should have it."--Choice "Having read this book, I now have a much better grasp of the issues involved in ancient biography as it applies to Aristotle and other Peripatetics, and of what we know and we do not know (and knowing what we do not know is a kind of knowledge."--Robert Mayhew, Institute for Research in Classical Philosophy and Science
Table of ContentsPreface (2013) - p. vii Introduction (1990) - p. 1 Chapter One - The Biography of Aristotle: Facts, Hypotheses, Conjectures - p. 5 *1. Many Facts, Not All of Equal Interest - p. 5 *2. Stagira - p. 6 *3. A Family of Notables - p. 8 *4. A Provincial Pupil - p. 17 *5. A Sudden Interruption - p. 31 *6. At the Courts of Princes and Kings - p. 32 *6.1. Atarneus - p. 32 *6.2. Macedonia - p. 42 *7. The Adventure of Callisthenes - p. 52 *8. Athens Revisited - p. 55 *9. Trial and Flight - p. 60 *10. From Traditional Customs, a New Model - p. 64 Chapter Two - Institutional Aspects of the School of Aristotle - p. 72 *1. The Three Conditions of the Theoretical Life in Aristotle - p. 72 *2. The Organization of Theoria: The Nature and Organization of the Philosophical Schools - p. 77 *3. The Organization of Theoria: Philosophical Schools and Permanent Institutions - p. 83 *4. Subsequent Events - p. 90 Chapter Three - Internal Organization of the School of Aristotle - p. 96 *1. The Collections of Books - p. 96 *2. Methods of Gathering and Interpreting Information - p. 104 *3. Teaching Supports and Instruments of Research - p. 113 *4. Teaching While Strolling - p. 117 Chapter Four - Studies of Aristotle's Biography from Zeller to the Present Day - p. 120 *1. Sources of Aristotle's Biography - p. 120 *1.1. Texts of Aristotle - p. 120 *1.2. Official Documents - p. 124 *1.3. Ancient Biographies of Aristotle - p. 125 *1.4. The Testimonia of Ancient Authors - p. 130 *2. Images of Aristotle from the Nineteenth Century to the Present - p. 135 Postscript (2012) - p. 145 Notes to: ch. 1 - p. 153; ch. 2 - p. 170; ch. 3 - p. 175; ch. 4 - p. 177 Index of Sources - p. 181 i) epigraphy - p. 181; ii) papyri - p. 181; iii) ancient authors -p. 181; iv) ancient biographies of Aristotle - p. 193; v) modern collections of evidence - p. 194 Bibliographical Index - p. 196 Index of Persons and Places - p. 211
