The
Problemata physica is the third longest work in the corpus Aristotelicum, but among the least studied. It consists of 38 books, over 900 chapters, covering a vast range of subjects, including medicine and music, sex and salt water, fatigue and fruit, animals and astronomy, moderation and malodorous things, wind and wine, bruises and barley, voice and virtue.
Aristotelian Problemata Physica
: Philosophical and Scientific Investigations consists of 21 essays by scholars of ancient Greek philosophy and science. These essays shed light on this mysterious work, providing insights into the nature of philosophical and scientific inquiry in the Lyceum during Aristotle’s life and especially in the years following his death.
Robert Mayhew, Ph.D. (1991, Georgetown University) is Professor of Philosophy at Seton Hall University (New Jersey). He has published monographs, translations, and articles in ancient Greek Philosophy, including most recently
Prodicus the Sophist: Texts, Translations, and Commentary (Oxford 2011) and
Aristotle: Problems (Loeb Classical Library – Harvard 2011).
Contributors are: Han Baltussen, Andrew Barker, Istvan Bodnár, Alan C. Bowen, Bruno Centrone, William W. Fortenbaugh, Stefan Hagel, James G. Lennox, Mariska Leunissen, Robert Mayhew, Stephen Menn, David C. Mirhady, Katerina Oikonomopolou, Jason G. Rheins, Eckart Schütrumpf, Byron J. Stoyles, Liba Taub, Oliver Thomas, John Wilkins and Malcolm Wilson.
1 The
Problemata physica: An Introduction
Istvan Bodnar 2 Democritus, Aristotle, and the
Problemata Stephen Menn 3 Aristotle’s Posterior Analytics and the Aristotelian
Problemata James G. Lennox 4 The
Problemata’s Medical Books: Structural and Methodological Aspects
Katerina Oikonomopoulou 5 Creating
Problemata with the Hippocratic Corpus
Oliver Thomas 6 On
Problemata 3: Wine-Drinking and Drunkenness
William W. Fortenbaugh 7 Material and Teleological Explanations in
Problemata 10
Byron J. Stoyles 8 Sound Reasoning in
Problemata 11? Disentangling the Components of Voices
Stefan Hagel 9 Understanding Odours in
Problemata12–13: Peripatetic Problems Concerning the Elusive Sense of Smell
Han Baltussen 10 The Ethnography of
Problemata 14 in (Its Mostly Aristotelian) Context
Mariska Leunissen 11 Problemata 15: Its Title and Agenda
Alan C. Bowen 12 Musical Pitch and the Enigmatic Octave in
Problemata 19
Andrew Barker 13 Food and Health in
Problemata 21–22: Cooking (
pepsis) in the Kitchen and “Cooking” (
pepsis) in the Body
John Wilkins 14 On
Problemata 23: Little Problems on the Vast Sea
Malcolm Wilson 15
Problemata 26 and Theophrastus’
De ventis: A Preliminary Comparison
Robert Mayhew 16 On
Problemata 27: Problems Connected with Fear and Courage
William W. Fortenbaugh 17 On
Problemata 28: Temperance and Intemperance, Continence and Incontinence
Bruno Centrone 18
Problemata 29 and Athenian Law
David C. Mirhady 19 Black Bile as the Cause of Human Accomplishments and Behaviors in
Pr. 30.1: Is the Concept Aristotelian?
Eckart Schutrumpf 20
Homo numerans, venerans, or imitans? Human and Animal Cognition in
Problemata 30.6
Jason G. Rheins 21 ‘Problematising’ the
Problemata: The
Problemata in Relation to Other Question-and-Answer Texts
Liba Taub
Index locorum
Index nominum
Anyone interested in ancient Greek philosophy and science (including medicine and mathematics, but also moral philosophy), and especially that of Aristotle and the later Peripatetic philosophers.