Aristotle

Students explore the philosophical ideas of Aristotle, perhaps the most celebrated and influential thinker in the history of philosophy. Particular attention will be paid to Aristotle's theory of being, which addresses the organic structure of both living things (plants and animals) and entities whose complex articulation is similarly organic (human political communities, works of art and other human artifacts). Readings will be from a variety of Aristotle's writings and may include Physics, Metaphysics, On the Soul, On the Parts of Animals, Politics, Poetics, and Aristotle's writings on logic, ethics, and rhetoric.