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 | | Complete Works of Aristotle, Vol. 1 by Aristotle, J. Barnes (Editor) ISBN-10: 069101650X ISBN-10: 0-691-01650-X ISBN-13: 9780691016504 ISBN-13: 978-0-691-01650-4 Hardcover 1971 Princeton University Press Find Lowest Price |
Editorials | ||
Product Description The Oxford Translation of Aristotle was originally published in 12 volumes between 1912 and 1954. It is universally recognized as the standard English version of Aristotle. This revised edition contains the substance of the original Translation, slightly emended in light of recent scholarship; three of the original versions have been replaced by new translations; and a new and enlarged selection of Fragments has been added. The aim of the translation remains the same: to make the surviving works of Aristotle readily accessible to English speaking readers. | ||
Reviews | ||
Worth every penny Aristotle is known as THE philosopher for a reason. The Complete Works of Aristotle is a two volume set that contains great translations of Aristotle. He covered almost any topic you can imagine and it is worth your time to read what he had to say. | ||
Comprehensive set, but lacks commentary This is a two-volume edition of all the known works ascribed to Aristotle -- both genuine and those that are generally agreed to be spurious. They are presented in the traditional ordering with no commentary or annotation of any kind (other than a few notes about variant readings), and no introductions. If you know that this is what you need or want, then the set will work well for you. However, the lack of annotation and introduction will likely make the works overwhelming to a reader who is not well versed in philosophy, and even some who are. I realize that this was necessary to keep the size of the set down, but it still presents a problem. The writing style of Aristotle (or his students) is very terse and complex -- even specialist scholars often have trouble understanding what the texts say. This is particularly acute in the case of the Organon (the logical works), but is true in some sense of every work in the corpus. A number of the more famous works (De Anima, Poetics, Rhetoric, Politics, and the Nicomachean Ethics, for example) are available in annotated editions with good introductions from the Penguin Classics or Oxford World Classics. If you have access to a good library (or a lot of money), the Clarendon Press (Oxford) editions of the works offer very detailed commentary and annotation of a number of the works, including most of the Organon. These editions are likely to prove of more value to the beginning reader. However, if your goal is to eventually read all of Aristotle, you will need a complete edition at some point, since not everything is available in these other editions (this is particularly true of the spurious works), and this is probably the best one you can get. However, there are online editions of Aristotle's works in English -- printing those out will be cheaper than paying almost $100 for this set, and may fit the bill just as well. In the end, I find the lack of annotation to be a serious flaw of this set, and I give it two stars because I think this set will be of use primarily to people who already have a good grounding in Aristotle and have a specific need for a compact edition of his complete works. | ||
The Entire Aristotelian Corpus Presented in a Fine English Translation For readers seeking the greatest affiliation with the works of Aristotle, one need not look any further than to the two-volume set presented here by Princeton U. in the classic Oxford translation, revised by Jonathan Barnes. In these two stellar volumes, the entire Aristotelian Corpus is made available to the English speaking world; and also contained here are the various treatises considered to be doubtful or spurious, which nonetheless belong to the Aristotelian tradition regardless of their authenticity. Furthermore, it must be noted that the English is smooth and exceedingly direct, making this edition very readable and illuminating. In short, it may be said that this two-volume set is for readers striving to go beyond the basics [see, Mckeon's Basic Works of Aristotle] to embrace a much more comprehensive command of Aristotle's philosophy. | ||
Marvelous- It's ALL in here folks! (BOTH VOLUMES) I studied philosophy in a French speaking Institute in Europe. These two volumes came in very handy. The first question that may come to mind for those shopping for Aristotle is whether it's necessary to purchase the "Complete Works" and not just a volume of Major Works. In fact, it's not necessary- you'll get so much enrichment from even one major work of The Philosopher, especially with the aid of a competent professor. However, the complete works will ensure you that you have everything, and provide a good deal more reading enjoyment (even Aristotle's final will and testament is printed in Vol. II). Aside from that, the translations contained in these works are considered the best available in English (and perhaps any) language other than the original Greek. To testify to this fact, some of my native French professors would occassionally ask to borrow my volumes to make photocopies of certain passages (or more), telling me that they felt the English translations were far better done than those in their native tounge! (And we know how much the French care for their native tounge!) All in all, excellent books and money well spent. | ||
a bit of irony is that, although these volumes contain the absolute worst translations of aristotle available, they're probably the best bet for people who are serious about aristotle and the worst bet for people who are just reading this or that text for a class, personal interest, etc. the reason they're good for people who are serious about aristotle is the very simple reason that it's all there, so if you're scanning your bonitz and bonitz says the definition of some term or another is in one of the writings on animals, you can at least (with a bit of detachment) see what in hell he's talking about (if the greek isn't there) without having to get up! in other words, you've got it all, sister!, which is really the only advantage to be culled from having these books. the margins are just meaty enough to import greek phrases, retranslate sections of text, etc., so it turns out to be a nice reference tool for scholars. why? because it's all there! now, if you're just 'into' aristotle, as i said, don't (for godsakes) get these books. read apostle's translations. sachs is alright, but he can throw you off. of course, you can also get the real cheapies from hackett, and some of them aren't bad (in general, by the way, hackett's the way to go for translations). besides, these things are weighty and difficult to maneuver; they're really for reading at a table, so you can't really tuck up with them, if you see what i mean. another nice thing about these volumes is that they stay open by themselves (no finagling with or breaking the binding)! i'm not joking: aristotle scholars couldn't have a better english-language resource. | ||