Aristotle’s Metaphysics, books M and N: introduction, translation and commentary

Abstract

The grasp of Aristotle’s Metaphysics has proven to be a difficult task for both the ancient and the modern scholars. The reason lies firstly in Aristotle’s complicated argument in most of Metaphysics’ books and secondly in the many-sided targeting of this treatise. The Metaphysics consists of fourteen books, in the majority of which Aristotle discusses the introduction of, and several problems related to, a universal science of being qua being. However, in the last two books of the Metaphysics -namely in books M and N- Aristotle seems to move the focus away from the primary science of being qua being and onto the objects of the mathematical sciences that are numbers and geometrical figures. The subject of these two books is undoubtedly connected to the subject of the other books, because in M and N the discussion concerns the ontological status of mathematical objects and thus their relation to the things-that-are as well as to their principles. Nevertheless, the inclusion of these two books in the Metaphysics is highly problematic, since the science of being qua being -which is dealt with in the preceding twelve books- has been explicitly distinguished from both physics and mathematics. Therefore, books M and N seem to be a self-contained section of the Metaphysics. This PhD thesis mainly aims at laying the foundation for the following two correlative problems to be more clearly displayed and discussed: a) the relation of books M and N to the other books of the Metaphysics and, hence, b) the relation of the mathematical sciences to the universal science of being qua being. For this goal to be achieved, the ancient text of Metaphysics’ last two books has been accurately translated and thoroughly commented upon. Aristotle’s philosophy of mathematics can be detected in the questions that are raised by him and the reasoning through which he answers them in M and N. Aristotle’s reasoning, the problems that arise and the scholars’ and commentators’ views on the right way of understanding the Aristotelian claims are the principal topics that are densely dealt with in the introduction and extensively analyzed in the detailed interpretative account of the main part of the thesis. The originality of this study can be found in the constant and systematic effort to elucidate the obscure points of books M and N firstly through the method of close-reading analysis and secondly through individual observations and comments that are put forward within the framework of a fruitful dialogue with the most recent hermeneutic approaches.

Στα βιβλία Μ και Ν των Μετὰ τὰ Φυσικὰ ο Αριστοτέλης ασχολείται καταρχάς με τη μελέτη της φύσεως των μαθηματικών αντικειμένων και τη διερεύνηση του ρόλου τον οποίο αυτά διαδραματίζουν στη σύσταση των όντων. Μοιάζει να προσπαθεί, δηλαδή, μέσω της προσεκτικής εξέτασης και του κριτικού ελέγχου των απόψεων των Πυθαγορείων, του Πλάτωνα και των Ακαδημαϊκών, να ανακαλύψει και να αναδείξει την αλήθεια για την οντολογία των μαθηματικών αντικειμένων. Αντικείμενο της εν λόγω διδακτορικής διατριβής αποτελούν ο αναλυτικός σχολιασμός και η ερμηνεία των δύο βιβλίων, με μόνιμο στόχο την κατά το δυνατόν πληρέστατη κατανόηση των απόψεων του Αριστοτέλη σχετικά με τα αντικείμενα της μαθηματικής επιστήμης.