Abstract

This translation and commentary is a valuable addition to the Aristotle Series begun by the late professor J. L. Austin and continued by J. L. Ackrill. The translation offers the English reader a fresh approach to the nature of Aristotle's metaphysical inquiry contained in books Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon. The opening lines of book Gamma which are traditionally read as "There is a science which studies being qua being," is rendered here as "There is a discipline which studies that which is qua thing-that-it-is." Significant in this new version is the translation of: 'episteme' as 'discipline' instead of the now-specialized term 'science'; 'to on' as 'that which is'; 'on' as 'thing-that-it-is'. Justification for these and other new translations are offered in notes that comprise two-thirds of the volume. The translator's notes avoid the age-old controversy concerning the subject matter of Aristotle's Metaphysics--whether it be everything that is, or some special kind of things that are. By limiting the selection to these three books, the editor's chief concern is with the nature of the study, rather than with the nature of the things being studied. It is what we might call Aristotle's meta-Metaphysics.--J. J. R.