Aristotle's Philosophy of Biology: Studies in the Origins of Life Science » (1st Edition)

The papers collected in this volume focus on Aristotle's systematic investigation of animals.

Part I. Inquiry and Explanation: Introduction;

1. Divide and explain: the Posterior Analytics in practice;
2. Between data and demonstration: the Analytics and the Historia Animalium;
3. Aristotelian problems;
4. Putting philosophy of science to the test: the case of Aristotle's biology;
5. The disappearance of Aristotle's biology: a Hellenistic mystery;

Part II. Matter, Form and Kind: Introduction;
6. Are Aristotelian species eternal?;
7. Kinds, forms of kinds, and the more and less in Aristotle's biology;
8. Material and formal natures in Aristotle's De Partibus Animalium;
9. Nature does nothing in vain...;

Part III. Teleological Explanation: Introduction;
10. Teleology, chance, and Aristotle's theory of spontaneous generation;
11. Aristotle on chance;
12. Theophrastus on the limits of teleology;
13. Plato's unnatural teleology.