Why the Metaphysics?

Aristotle largely defined the way we think, he introduced fundamental terms and categories of our language (sorry Chomsky-ites, but "substance" and "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts" and "prime matter" are learned rather than hard-wired; we mainly learned them from Aristotle), and the Metaphysics is a great intellectual workout, a towering landmark of philosophical achievement. If there's such a thing as a Great Book this is one of them.

On the other hand, while I'm inclined to agree with much of what Aristotle said about ethics, I tend to disagree with all of his metaphysical views that I understand. Generally I take that as a sign that I probably don't understand his metaphysical views well enough. So intellectual integrity and fairness require spending some serious time with this work.

Those are all good reasons to read the Metaphysics. Of course, they've been good reasons for decades--but not good enough to get me to read the thing. So why now?

On pages 92-97 of Umberto Eco's novel The Island of the Day Before there's a long account of a mechanical Aristotelian Metaphor Machine invented by a character named Padre Emanuele. It's ridiculous and long digression, described in the kind of excruciating detail Eco sometimes indulges... the thing is I'm pretty sure I'm not getting the whole joke. So, in typical OCD Philosopher style, let's spend twelve weeks researching a joke.

We start with Book Alpha on Wednesday.

Not busy enough this summer

Each summer for as long as I recall, I have gone back to read one of Plato's dialogues. Great stuff, and there are a few left yet to read. But it's time for a change of pace: let's take on Aristotle's Metaphysics!

Having been inspired by David Plotz's "Blogging the Bible" project on Slate.com back in September 2006, I've also decided to blog the whole project. We'll see how it develops.

I'm inviting some friends, colleagues, and maybe students to join in actual weekly face-to-face discussions of the work. No idea who or how many yet. Not sure whether we'll try to make it through the whole work, either. Maybe a chapter a week? Dunno.

We start the first week of May. Basic ground rules: focus on the text, try to make sense of what it says, minimal reliance on commentaries. But let's not be masochists or Puritans on that last one: I've already got S. Marc Cohen's article on the Metaphysics from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, and Jonathan Barnes's chapter from the Cambridge Companion to Aristotle on hand. I'm not heading into this wilderness entirely without a map.