The Science of Life in Aristotle and the Early Peripatos

David Lefebvre, Ph.D. (Sorbonne 2000), is Professor of Ancient Philosophy at Sorbonne University. He has published on Aristotle, the Peripatos and Aristotle’s biology, including a French translation of his treatise On the Generation of Animals (2014).

Presentation


Abbreviations


Notes on Contributors





Part 1: From the Study of the Soul to the Study of Perishable Life in Aristotle and Theophrastus


1 Life and Soul in Aristotle’s De Anima


 Sean Kelsey





2 The Soul Itself in Aristotle’s Science of Living Things


 Klaus Corcilius





3 The Peripatetic Study of Perishable Life: Prospects and Limits


 Andrea Falcon





4 The Minimal Requisites of Life in Aristotle and Theophrastus


 Luciana Repici





Part 2: Explaining Perishable Living Things


5 Perittôma vs. Suntêgma: Was Aristotle Unfair in Equating Pangenesis with the “Seed as Suntêgma” Theory?


 Claire Louguet





6 How Does a Living Animal Come to Be from Semen? The Puzzles of Aristotle’s Generation of Animals II 1–3


 Sophia M. Connell





7 All around the Body: Organism and Surrounding Environment in Aristotle


 Pierre-Marie Morel





8 Living and Well-Living in Aristotle’s Zoology


 Andrea Libero Carbone





9 Simple Solutions to Complex Problems: Spontaneous Generation in [Aristotle], Problemata physica X


 Robert Mayhew





10 Aristotle, Generation of Animals III 11: in Search of a Place for the Fourth Kind of Living Being


 David Lefebvre





Part 3: Life beyond Perishable Lives: Aristotle on the Unity of Life


11 Perishable and Imperishable Lives: Aristotle’s Analogy with the Heavenly Element in GA II 3.736b29–737a5


 Diana Quarantotto





12 “We Think of the Stars as Mere Bodies”: Aristotle’s Epistemological Confrontation with the Academy on Heavenly Bodies


 Mai-Lan Boureau





13 The Life of Aristotle’s Prime Mover: Metaphysics Λ 7.1072b26–30


 Fabienne Baghdassarian





Coda: Aristotle’s Biology and Modern Biology


14 Can Aristotle Be Considered a Biologist?


 Pierre Pellegrin





Index nominum





Index locorum