It is hard to disagree with his apparent assumption that Aristotle scholars already want to consider this book and that he need motivate only those not already drawn to Aristotle. He tries to appeal to “readers who are not predisposed to be interested in Aristotle and to give those readers a way into Θ” (xxii). Avoiding or “finessing” (e.g., xxii, 66, 227) historical questions in favor of conceptual ones seems to be a deliberate strategy. He proceeds by formulating claims from the text and then analyzing their meaning, supporting argumentation, and implications in relation to issues of interest or other Aristotelian claims. Generally, his interpretation is conceptual rather than historical.

Makin charts a path through the text and genuinely engages with its arguments (xx).

The fifteen-page translation of Aristotle’s central text on potentiality and actuality paired with some 285 pages of commentary (including the introduction) strikes a fair balance. To learn more about how and for what purposes Amazon uses personal information (such as Amazon Store order history), please visit our Privacy Notice.Stephen Makin has produced an interesting and demanding contribution to the Clarendon Aristotle Series: Metaphysics Theta. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie Preferences, as described in the Cookie Notice. Click ‘Customise Cookies’ to decline these cookies, make more detailed choices, or learn more. Third parties use cookies for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalised ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. This includes using first- and third-party cookies, which store or access standard device information such as a unique identifier. If you agree, we’ll also use cookies to complement your shopping experience across the Amazon stores as described in our Cookie Notice. We also use these cookies to understand how customers use our services (for example, by measuring site visits) so we can make improvements. We use cookies and similar tools that are necessary to enable you to make purchases, to enhance your shopping experiences and to provide our services, as detailed in our Cookie Notice.

Aristotle metaphysics commentary