Complete Works of Aristotle, Volume One (Bollingen)

Although the treatises on Sleep intrigued me prior to reading this, I really read this collection more for the sake of thoroughness than anything else. I have to say that it is probably the least interesting of the Aristotelian collections--and given Aristotle's pedantic tendencies, that's really saying something. I skipped the treatise on Memory and Reminiscence here because I had already read it previously in a book coupled with his De Anima.

I am not going to grade the book on it's obsolete knowledge; that would be anachronistically unfair; given the march of 2300 years, one has to accept that science (then called natural or physical philosophy) was in it's infancy at that time. It is interesting though that some of the philosophers show more that Aristotle maligns were actually closer to the truth than he was. It does indicate that someone's logic can seem totally valid and still be totally wrong.

If one keeps in mind Aristotle's general approach to nature and philosophical physics, one can anticipate most of the basic arguments of this book without reading it. The four elements (i.e. earth, water, air, fire) and how they influence environment and bodies (e.g. in moistness/dryness and heat/cold) figure into most of Aristotle's positions. Temperature seems to be the main deciding factor for life according to Aristotle. If an animal is too hot it dies from exhaustion, if too cold, from depletion.

I was disappointed with the treatises on Sleep. I thought at least the one on Divination In Dreams would be somewhat novel and metaphysical, but it wasn't. I shouldn't have been surprised given Aristotle's very mundane explanations for all phenomena.

I give this book probably about two-and-a-half to three stars. Honestly, one can easily skip this collection if one wants to concentrate on Aristotle's essential philosophy. There's not much here that isn't discussed in other works--and probably in more interesting ways in those. The treatise On Memory and Reminiscence is probably the best of what is here and that can be obtained in a book coupled with his De Anima and that is the one I would recommend rather than this. show less

Prior analytics was the worse thing I ever read. On the other hand for a guy so smart he sure got a lot of stuff wrong but this reading has helped me understand the basis for things. Hoping volume two is a bit more relevant and intriguing.

12/8/21