Pseudo-Aristotle: De Mundo (On the Cosmos): A Commentary

Cambridge University Press, 12/17/2020
EAN 9781108834780, ISBN10: 1108834787

Hardcover, 320 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm
Language: English
Originally published in English

De mundo is a protreptic to philosophy in the form of a letter to Alexander the Great and is traditionally ascribed to Aristotle. It offers a unique view of the cosmos, God and their relationship, which was inspired by Aristotle but written by a later author. The author provides an outline of cosmology, geography and meteorology, only to argue that a full understanding of the cosmos cannot be achieved without a proper grasp of God as its ultimate cause. To ensure such a grasp, the author provides a series of twelve carefully chosen interlocking analogies, building a complex picture in the reader's mind. The work develops a distinctly Aristotelian picture of God and the cosmos while paying tribute to pre-Aristotelian philosophers and avoiding open criticism of rival schools of philosophy. De mundo exercised considerable influence in late antiquity and then in the Renaissance and Early Modern times.

1. Introduction Pavel Gregorić and George Karamanolis
2. On philosophy and its proper subject (Chapter 1) George Karamanolis
3. The heavenly sphere (Chapter 2, 391b9–392a31) Karel Thein
4. The sublunary domain (Chapters 2–3, 392a31–393a8) Jakub Jirsa
5. Geography (Chapter 3, 392a31–393a8) Irene Pajón Leyra and Hynek Bartoš
6. Meteorology (Chapter 4) István Baksa
7. The eternity of the cosmos (Chapter 5) Pavel Gregorić
8. God's relation to the cosmos (Chapter 6) Gábor Betegh and Pavel Gregorić
9. God's many names (Chapter 7) Vojtěch Hladký.