Customer Reviews

Aristotle: A Contemporary Appreciation

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After reading this book I would highly recommend it. Its very well written and easy for a 'lay' person to understand without having much or any formal philisophical training. Under the guidance of Professor Veatch - surely on of the most lucid and learned mentors in ancient philosophy - Aristotle stands forth again as the philosopher who, above all, speaks simply and directly to the common sense of all mankind. Today, Professor Veatch believes, the time may be ripe for a belated recognition that Aristotle is "a truly lived option in philosophy".

Henry Veatch is Professor of Philosophy and Chairman of the Department of Philosophy at Georgetown University.

I learned about this book by reading James Schall's "Another Sort of Learning" which is another book I would recommend looking at as well.

Even after all the geniuses who came after him: Descartes,Hume,Kant,Hegel,Nietzsche,Wittgenstein, and his predecessor Plato, Aristotle remains for me the key figure in Western Philosophy.
Professor Veatch in his admirable study shows why this is so. He tackles those areas in which there has been much criticism and shows that much of the criticism is more properly directed at some of his unrelective disciples. He clearly and concisely sets forth Aristotle's contributions to logic, physics, metaphysics, ethics, and politics and shows their relevance and, indeed, their crucial importance to modern thought. Especially if your knowledge of the great thinker is largely derivative this is the best short introduction to the man whom Dante called "the master of those who know"

This is anohter great book from the reading list of James V Schall (political philosopher from Georgetown, USA). This is the kind of book where one wants to clap at the end and shout bravo! Indeed, I was reminded of another classic book: "The One and the Many" by Norris W Clarke.

Why bravo? Well because it is so clear - it gives the impression that it is written by someone who has lived and breathed Aristotle - who knows him as he knows a friend, even more, perhaps as a spouse! This is the kind of book that one can read many times and this is what I intend to do if granted the time. What one comes way with is a feeling of how commonsensical is the philosophy of Aristotle and how enfeebled is a position that bases everything on scientific empiricism. What particualrly struck me was the idea that nature has an end in itself - not a conscious end (that would be nonsensical fora dog or a horse) but an end in which it is fulfilled as a being. We live in a time where man thinks he can mould his nature like raw material - he is master of everything - there is nothing given to him simply as gift and which he must receive in grateful acceptance. But, I think Aristotle shows us how wrong thinking this is - we must work with out nature and not against it, lest nature rebels against us. Of course, Plato and Aristotle along with Aquinas are the ones who best describe the Natural Law but, as a concept, this is no longer understood and is hardly likely to be fashionable.

One final point: it seems to me that what Plato, Aristotle and Aquinas argued for is so rich and so resonates with life that it is kind of obvious and yet no doubt, their vision will be resisted and people will opt for other philosophical solutions or even one that makes no sense at all, such as relativisim. Why so? Well, Norris W Clarke makes the same point in one of his books - it is ultimately about choice and on what premises one wants to build one's life - some people wish for and choose a choatic view of reality - therein lies human freedom.