Aristotle in 90 Minutes

This book is a delightful addition to Paul Strathern's Philosophers in 90 Minute series. Though the title might seem a trifle flippant, don't underestimate this short but potent book. Strathern himself is a truly remarkable individual, a polymath, widely travelled, with award winning fictional and non-fictional books. He knows his stuff, and speaks with an enthusiasm and fluidity that clearly illustrates Strathern's love of his subject matter. He approaches philosophy with a perspective far broader and (to me) more interesting than can anyone whose home base is limited to philosophy alone. In a two part approach that mirrors other books in the 90 Minute series, Strathern presents a sparkling biography of Aristotle, including his family life, his rise to fame, and his near brush with execution late in life. Concluding Aristotle's life story, Strathern moves on to examine the enormous impact that Aristotle's thinking, for better or for worse, had on Western civilization. Aristotle's key concepts are discussed with lucidity, and cogent criticisms of Aristotelian limitations are presented respectfully and clearly. In proof of the concept that pursuit of knowledge need not be dreary, Strathern's Aristotle in 90 Minutes is permeated by dry and excellent British wit. No pre-requisite knowledge of philosophy is required to fully enjoy this wonderful review of the life and thoughts of one of the West's most influential thinkers. Both fascinating and funny, it's a definite two thumbs up!

I enjoyed this 90-minute romp through the world of Aristotle. Starting with a discussion of his obscure birthplace in Macedonia through his involvement with Plato's Symposium and the estiablishment of his own rival Lyceum, the book gave shape to the world Aristotle inhabited. One will hear of personalities, politics and marriage. But one cannot do justice in under 2 hours to the subtlety of Aristotle's thought. Instead, author Paul Strathern focuses on the effect of Artistotle on Arab philossophers like Avicenna and Averroes and on the medieval Christian Church, notably Thomas Aquinas's effort to intergate Aristotle with Church teaching. The major shortcoming of the book is that it slights Aristotle's actual teaching -- you do not hear much Aristotle. This is unfortunate but probably necessary -- it's not possible for the lay reader to understand the subtelty of the arguments without much cogitation and effort. Strathern does a decent job of describing both Aristotle's contributions (logic, categorization, the focus on the world being real) as well as his errors (the flatness of the Earth, the theory of the humors, etc.) and his biases (democracy bad, tyranny OK). While his book does not succeed in transmitting detailed knowledge of Aristotelian thought, it does succeed in making Aristotle a real person whose inquisitiveness and openness to new ideas, unfortunately, was not always practiced by those who spoke in his name.

'All men by their nature desire to know, but a few men desire to know everything". As Strathern says at the outset Aristotle is one the great polymaths of all time, and he investigated every subject that he met. 'The master of all those who know'made the Universe his subject, adding both much to human knowledge and much to human error and misconception. Strathern tells Aristotle's story , his studying at the Academy under the teacher who gave him the basis of his thought, Plato, his tutoring of the world- conqueror who almost had him done away with , his effort after Plato's passing to become head of the Academy, and his having to settle with establishing his own Lyceum, his two marriages and his apparent decency as a human being. But most importantly of course his work, his being the real founding father of Logic, his metaphysics, his epistemology, his way of seeing purposes in physical nature that led real investigation of it to be held back for centuries, his researches in many areas of botany and biology, his aesthetics, his theory of drama, his Ethics , his much more empirical and realistic political work than that of his mentor Plato. For Strathern Aristotle is despite the Scholasticism that came out of him one of the great benefactors of Mankind. And the fact that Science went nowhere for close to two thousand years because in part it followed Aristotelian conceptions is not strongly held against him. Aristotle is not the literary stylist Plato was. And what we have of his work is not any of his completed works, but rather lecture notes of his students. They are not ordinarily easy or pleasant reading. But they are profound reading in ethics, politics, aesthetics metphysics. Aristotle believed the ideal life was in contemplation. He believed that the selected few reach in this contemplation the truest of all happiness. At the end of his days exiled from Athens, driven from his own Lyceum, on a bit of land inherited from his father on the Greek Island of Chalcis Eubea , without the beat of drums or the applause of the crowds , in disappointment he took his leave . Posterity would grant him a degree of honor and attention his own contemporaries could not manage.

Strathern's book on Aristotle is a great little book. He manages to capture the main elements of Aristotle's work in just a few pages and adds personal information about Aristotle's life and times, which brings the book to life. For someone who doesn't have much time to read philosophy but who wants to learn something about Aristotle, this book is a great introduction.

Strathern is a master at this kind of work, which mixes biography, critical analysis, historical context and humor all in a concise, informative & entertaining package. He lists a time line for the philosopher, his place in world/philosophic history & a selection of works for furthur reading. This series of books by Strathern is a wonderful course in Philosophy 101 without ever having to go to college!