on madigan's aristotle's aporias

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hilosophical Review

Metaphysics Book B and K 1-2 by Aristotle; Arthur MadiganReview by: Christopher ShieldsThe Philosophical Review, Vol. 112, No. 2 (Apr., 2003), pp. 251-253Published by: Duke University Press on behalf of Philosophical ReviewStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3595536 .

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BOOK REVIEWS

ThePhilosophicaleview,ol. 112,No. 2 (April2003)

Aristotle,MetaphysicsookB andK 1-2. Trans. Arthur

Madigan.New York:

OxfordUniversityress,1999.Pp. xl, 185.

For thosewhowish osolveproblems, uggestsAristotle,it shelpful o statetheproblemswell Metaphysics95a27); and,evidently,e acceptshis ownrec-ommendation s a fairly eep methodologicalprecept. n addition to settingout the appearances (phainomena) nd canvassingthe credible opinions(endoxa) ttending oanyparticular omain of nquiry, ristotle egards s an

indispensable precursorto philosophical progresscarefulattention o the

properformulation f any problemsto be addressed.About thismuchhe

seems perfectlyight.A philosopherconcerned with theproblemof con-sciousness woulddowell toreflect t thebeginning fthedayon theproblemto be tackled ndthemethods o be employed. s itanalysis?fso, s the nalysispresumedto be intensional?Essence-specifying?ust the outcome respectnaturalized onstraints?ndwhat, recisely,re those constraints?Without tleast thatmuchreflectiont thebeginning fan inquiry,uccess at theotherend is likely oremain lusive tbest.

IfAristotle'sautionaryounsel seemsrightwith espect oquestions fcon-

sciousness, ll themore is the reason to takeit seriouslywhenapproachingmetaphysicalmatters, here ssuesbecomequickly paque, abstract,nd,rel-ative vento their wn tartingoints, bstruse. t s, ccordingly, elcome hatAristotle eeds hisown advice with vengeance in the thirdbook ofhisown

Metaphysics,etaphysics,which s dedicated tosetting orth omefifteenuz-zles or difficultiesaporiae) boutbeing. Theirexactnumber sdisputed, incesomeofthemrun ntoone another, nd others ontain tatements f ub-prob-lems thatmight hemselves e regarded s independentproblems.)Thesefif-teenpuzzlesrangeover hostoftopics, nly ome ofwhich re addressed aterin the treatise.1

heyconcern such matters s whether here s one science

appropriate o the nvestigationf all kindsofsubstances Meta.997a15-25),whether uch a scienceshould seek to nvestigatessences Meta.997a25-34),and whether here renonperceptibleubstances, here his ncludes heques-tionofwhether here re Platonic orms Meta. 97a34-998a19).

Unfortunately,owever xemplary ristotle's ffortst nitial laritymay e,therehavealways een puzzlesabouthispuzzles, n terms fboth their ormand their ontent.On theformal ide,Aristotlemainly rguesdialecticallyroand conon a given ssue, eaving he mpression hathe issimply etting ut ni-tialconsiderationso be adduced on either ide of a matter o be

investigatedthoroughlyt some laterpoint (for xample,Meta.998b14-999a23); at other

timeshe arguesdogmatically,s ifconclusively,s whenhe decides that,no,there reno PlatonicForms Meta.997a34-998a19). So,some ofhis difficultiesare ust difficultieso be explored;and some are difficultiesn need of no

exploration, incethey re difficultiesncurredbyothersdue to theirhaving

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BOOKREVIEWS

promulgated ndefensible heories.On thematerial ide, t is sometimes er-plexingpreciselywhatproblemAristotle as inview, s when he askswhetherthe

principles archai)of

thingsre thekinds nd

generapredicatedof them

or are rather heconstituentshat ompose them Meta.998a20-b14).ArthurMadiganhas offeredn admirableguide tothesepuzzlesabout Aris-

totle'spuzzles,fulfillingn a welcomeway hepromiseoftheClarendon Aris-totleSeries, nwhichhisbookappears,byproviding n accuratetranslation fAristotle's ext,togetherwith a philosophically nformed nd illuminatingcommentary.t is inthefirstnstancerefreshinghatMadiganhas resisted he

temptation-a temptation o which other authors in thisseries have suc-cumbed-to write rincipally,r evenexclusively,or n audience ofAristote-lian

scholars.He has nstead akenhis roleas

commentatoreriously ymakingithis first oal simply o explainAristotle's robablemeaning, o laybarehis

argumentativetrategies,nd tohelp illuminate ndividual assagesby upply-ingamplecross-referenceso orient he nterested onspecialist.

The volumecontains: i) an introduction,ii) a clearand accurate transla-tion ofMetaphysics,togetherwith omeparallelpassagesfrom hebeginningofK, (iii) a commentary,iv) briefnoteson thetext nd translation,v) a ser-viceablebibliography,vi) shortGreek-Englishnd English-Greek lossaries,and (vii) threeconcise ndices.The introductionswell nformed ythedom-

inantscholarship, nd offers:a) an overview fthewhole of book B, (b) aninquirynto the enses n whichAristotle'sresentationsto be regarded sdia-

lectical, poretic, nd preliminary,c) a discussion ftPeplace ofB inAristo-tle'sdevelopment,d) an assessment f thedegreetowhichB setstheagendafortherestof theMetaphysics,nd (e) a briefnote on therelationship fB toa similar tatement fproblemsfromMetaphysics1-2.

Some questionsabout the aspirations f Metaphysicsare also questionsabout how besttoregard tsrelationshipothe restofAristotle'smetaphysicalthought. hould it,for nstance, e read as an authenticrecord of Aristotle's

ownperplexity,s a seriesofdifficulties hose answershe did not knowwhenhe posed thequestions?Or isit rather seriesof difficulties hose resolutionsAristotlenvisages venwhilecomposingthem,perhapsto thepointthat hesolutions hemselves houldbe understood o structure hestatements fthe

problems?These questions ntersectwith ome difficultiesegardingAristo-tle'sdevelopment.fMetaphysicsis a record ofgenuineperplexity,s itthenalsosomething rom isowntime ntheAcademy,s evidentlymplied tsomemoments n thetext forexample,Meta.990b9-23, 992al 1, 25-28, 997b3-4,1002b14)?Or is trather omething omposed ater, fter ristotle ad left he

Academy? n either ase, should the aterbooksoftheMetaphysics,ncludingespecially hemiddle books which containAristotle'smost maturethinkingabout substance,be read onlywithB close at hand? These questionsshouldmatter othose nclinedto nvestigate ristotle'smature ccountofsubstance,insofar s there eemstobe a scholarly orollaryn theconverse fAristotle's

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BOOK REVIEWS

injunction boutproblem etting:hosewishing o understandAristotle'solu-

tionswilldo well oappreciate heproblems e understandsimself o be solving.

Judgedfrom hatperspective, arrow hough t s,Metaphysicsmay n theend proveto be of ess value than one might nitially ope. In fact hemiddlebookscontainno clear references ack toB,though omepassagesdo seemtobe addressing t east omeof thequestionsposed there especiallyMetaphysicsZ 10-13,andportions fZ 16, ncluding 040b16-24). In this ense,Madigan'sexemplaryworkmayntheendhave the effect fdownplayinghe ignificanceof the texthe discusses.He himself oncludeshisbrief oraynto this angleof

questionswith conservative,athermodestverdict: Ifwedo not ook nBforAristotle'smost trikingnsightsrhismost ntricaterguments, edo well to

look for igns fwhatmotivated he rgumentsndsparked he nsightsf aterand richerbooks (xxxviii).So much s perfectlyudicious. Attemptsoread

more,or ess, nMetaphysicsoften esultninterpretationshat re nonewayoranotherundulypolemicalorunhelpfully octrinaire.

Madigan'scommentaryssimilarlyensible.He does notspenda greatdealof timeengaging he views fother cholars, houghhisremarks eflect amil-

iaritywith theirmain contributions. nly veryoccasionallywould greaterengagement eem warranted. ne suchplace concernsAristotle'selebrated

claim,made in Aporia 7 (in Madigan's numbering), hatneitherbeingnor

unitys a genus (Meta.998b14-999al). Afterppropriatelyiting more ntri-cate treatment f these same contentions n Topics .6, Madigan onlyverybrieflynd without eference o the voluminous iteraturen this opicreca-

pitulatesAristotle's asic argumentative osture.This is a pity, ince this s

probably he inglemost itedpassageofMetaphysics,andalso themostphilo-sophically onsequential.Here,Madigan mighthave donewell todeviate romhis otherwiseaudabletendency frefrainingrom ngaging heviews fotherscholars.Atanyrate,one would welcomea moreovertlyritical ngagementwith he ssuesraisedby his assage.Asthings tand, tudentslongwith chol-

arsmaywellbe leftwantingmore.Again,however,cholarsdo notformMadigan'sprimary eadership, ven

thoughtheywillno doubtreadhis ntroduction nd commentary ith rofit.Students ndnonspecialists ill ppreciatenotonly he ntroduction nd com-

mentary,ut the readable and accurate translation s well.Happily, tudentsand scholars likenowhave,forthe first ime n English, clear, ntelligent,and well-executed uideto Aristotle'sMetaphysics.

CHRISTOPHERSHIELDS

UniversityfColoradot Boulder

Notes

1For succinctndreasonablettemptorelate heproblemsrticulatednMeta-physics to therest f theMetaphysics,ee W.D. Ross,Aristotle, etaphysics,ol.1(Oxford: 924), xiii-xxiv.

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on madigan's aristotle's aporias

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