Aristotle

In this extensively revised new edition of his excellent guidebook Christopher Shields introduces the whole of Aristotleâs philosophy showing how his powerful conception of human nature shaped much of his thinking on the nature of the soul and the mind ethics politics and the arts. Beginning with a brief biography Shields carefully explains the fundamental elements of Aristotleâs thought: his explanatory framework his philosophical methodology and his four-causal explanatory scheme. Subsequently he discusses Aristotleâs metaphysics the theory of categories logical theory and his conception of the human being as a composite of soul and body. The last part concentrates on Aristotleâs value theory as applied to ethics and politics and assesses his approach to happiness virtue and the best life for human beings before turning to a consideration of Aristotle's theory of rhetoric and the arts with a special focus on his perennially controversial treatment of tragedy. This second edition includes an expanded discussion of Aristotle's method and new sections on key issues in perception thought akrasia and mimesis. It concludes with an expanded assessment of Aristotle's legacy sketching currently emerging Neo-Aristotelian movements in metaphysics and virtue ethics. . Language: English