‘Aristotle in 90 Minutes’ by Paul Strathern is an introduction to Aristotle. This book is a very easy short brief and amusing commentary to Aristotle. The main content ‘Aristotle’s Life & Works’ is a chronologically description of Aristotle’s life along with works and thoughts. ‘Afterword’ describes the influences of Aristotle’s philosophy to islamic world, medieval Christian philosophy and world of nowadays. Strathern introduced Aristotle’s personal and scholarly characteristic, relations with his master Plato and his pupil Alexander the Great, compared Aristotle’s with them. Aristotle is the greatest polymath, thus this book mainly commented on Aristotle’s thoughts of politics, biology, art (drama, poem), logic, aim of philosophy (today’s science, study or scholarship) and ethics.
The remarkable commentary of this book is the differences of fundamental thought and inclination between Aristotle and Plato. ‘Aristotle had a natural inclination toward the practical and the scientific. This led him to view Plato’s ideas from increasingly realistic standpoint. Plato believed that the particular world we perceive around us consists of mere appearances. Thus ultimate reality lies in a further world of idea, which resemble forms or ideals.’ ‘Where Plato’s approach to the world was essentially religious, Aristotle’s tended toward the scientific.’ ‘Where Plato viewed forms as ideas that had a separate existence, Aristotle saw forms (or universals, as he called them) more as essence embodies in the substance of the world, with no separate existence of their own.’
This books is interesting and the most plain guide to Aristotle. I recommend this book utterly beginners to Aristotle and beginners to philosophy.
Aristotle in 90 Minutes (Philosophers in 90 Minutes Series)
Paul Strathern
Ivan R. Dee, Chicago, September 1 1996
83 pages $9.95
ISBN: 978-1-56663-125-9
Contents:
Introduction
Aristotle’s Life and Works
Afterword
From Aristotle’s Writing
Chronology of Significant Philosophical Dates
Chronology of Aristotle’s Life
Chronology of Aristotle’s Era
Recommended Reading
Index