The first book of NE is organised on the model of investigating definitions described in the second Book of the Posterior Analytics, although, of course, with some adaptation due to the subject matter. It first establishes if the object exists and looks for the meaning of the terms used in common language to indicate it, next considers some necessary qualities of the object and then concludes with a definition of the object. We find there a dialectical syllogism of definition, and (...) not the procedure in three steps described in NE VII 1, sometimes called 'the method of ethics'. In fact, the method described in NE VII 1 does not apply to the first book of the NE. Its relevance for the NE has been somehow exaggerated. (shrink)

There are fields of research on NE which still need attention: the edition of the text the style and rhetorical and logical instruments employed by Aristotle in setting out his position. After indicating the situation of the research on the text of NE, I describe some rhetorical devices used by Aristotle in his work: the presence of a preamble, clues about how the argument will be developed, a tendency to introduce new arguments in an inconspicuous way and the articulation of (...) general definitions through more specific analyses. At a deeper level NE seems to be organised on the model of investigating definitions described in the second Book of the Postenor Analytics, and not according the so-called' dialectical method'. In conclusion I argue that NE is not an early or a confused work, as some scholars maintain, but rather a skilful construction, the fruit of a mature intelligence. (shrink)

This is a profound study of Aristotle's concept of phronesis, or practical wisdom. Carlo Natali critically reconsiders Aristotle's famous doctrine of contemplations, relating it to contemporary theories of the good life.

The volume contains 11 contributions of the best experts on the topics of fate, fortune and free will, in reference to Ancient Philosophy: Plato, Aristotle, Stoicism, Epicureanism, Plotinus.

A distinguished international team of scholars under the editorship of Carlo Natali have collaborated to produce a systematic, chapter-by-chapter study of one of the most influential texts in the history of moral philosophy. The seventh book of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics discusses weakness of will in its first ten chapters, then turns in the last four chapters to pleasure and its relation to the supreme human good.

A distinguished international team of scholars under the editorship of Carlo Natali have collaborated to produce a systematic, chapter-by-chapter study of one of the most influential texts in the history of moral philosophy. The seventh book of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics discusses weakness of will in its first ten chapters, then turns in the last four chapters to pleasure and its relation to the supreme human good.

En la presentación de Aristóteles, Gorgias parece ser sólo un retórico incapaz de expresar cualquier propuesta filosóficamente interesante. La razón de esto es que, en la opinión de Aristóteles, una manera clara y precisa de hablar es una cualidad necesaria de todo filósofo, y Gorgias prefiere un estilo de discurso complejo y obscuro. Desde el punto de vista de la evolución de la retórica, Aristóteles cree que Gorgias tiene una desventaja, pues él apela a las emociones y a las pasiones, (...) y no al logos. (shrink)

"Enrico Berti has had a profound influence on the birth and development of Italian studies in ancient philosophy. His sizable work has shaped a great part of Italian studies on Aristotle and other ancient philosophers. To celebrate him and express their gratitude for his work, some of his disciples, under the impulse of the late Franco Volpi, have brought together a volume in his honour, requesting the participation of some foreign scholars particularly close to him. The volume comprises essays by (...) Pierre Aubenque, Jonathan Barnes, Terence H. Irwin, Tomás Calvo-Martínez, Jaap Mansfeld, Pierre Pellegrin, Gerhard Seel and Alejandro G. Vigo. The main themes are Aristotle's metaphysics and practical philosophy. A Selected Bibliography by E. Berti himself completes the volume."--Publisher's website. (shrink)

Aristotle has a rather extreme concept of change: Alteration is the change of a sensible quality in a thing. This is produced when a thing comes into immediate contact with another thing and is affected by the opposite sensible quality of the latter. Book VII, chapter 3 of the Aristotelian Physics is the crucial text to explore this topic. The present volume sets out to analyze and clarify the reason of this approach.

Selon certains interprètes, chez Aristote l'action n'est dans le temps que par accident, mais par essence elle est intemporelle. Cette opinion est ici critiquée à partir d'une analyse de la notion d' « être dans le temps » en Phys., IV, 12. L'action n'est pas dans le temps de la même manière qu'y est le mouvement, essentiellement destiné à atteindre un terme. Il y a une différence entre réaliser une fin qui requiert un certain temps pour être produite et accomplir (...) une action qui a elle-même pour fin, et qui se déploie dans un certain laps de temps. Mais cela ne revient pas à dire que l'action n'est dans le temps que par accident : l'action se donne comme étant mesurée par le temps, bien que ce ne soit pas là sa nature propre. L'action est dans le temps à la manière dont le sont les substances composées de matière et de forme. According to a few interpreters, with Aristotle, action is not in time by accident but by essence is it timeless too. Such an opinion is here criticized starting from an analysis of the concept of « being in time », in Phys., IV, 12. Action does not rest in time in the same way as movement may, intended as it is in reaching some kind of end. There's a difference between achieving an end that calls forth some time to be produced and carrying out an action having its own self as end and unfolding itself within some lapse of time. But that does not necessarily entails that action should be in time just by accident : action is given as a data being measured by time though it may not be thus its nature as such. Action is in time in the same way as are substances composed both of matter and form. (shrink)

In the paper I discuss three theses defended by A. Kenny: in antiquity up to Aspasius or to Alexander of Aphrodisias the EE was considered the most important version of Aristotle’s ethical discourse; the idea that the common books belonged to the one or to the other treatise; the opposition between the theory of happiness of EN I and X and that of EE II and VIII.