BUPHI344A01—Metaphysics
PHI791—ReadingSeminarinPhilosophyI
Aristotle'sMetaphysics
TuesdayandThursday,1PMMOR06
BenoîtCastelnérac
Départementdephilosophieetd'éthiqueappliquée
Facultédeslettresetscienceshumaines,UniversitédeSherbrooke
benoit.castelnerac@usherbrooke.ca
A4‐152(UniversitédeSherbrooke)
L’enseignement de ce cours se déroulera en anglais, et nous encourageons à s’y inscrire les
étudiantes et les étudiants à l’aise avec la compréhension orale et écrite de cette langue. La
remise des travaux et la participation en classe peuvent s’effectuer en français suite à l’accord
préalable avec le professeur.
Coursedescription(fromBU'swebsite)
Aninvestigationofsomebasicmetaphysicalproblems.Thesemayinclude:thequestionof
being,thehistoricaldevelopmentofmetaphysicalsystems,issuesandproblemsinontology
andepistemology,issuesandproblemsinontologyandlogic.
ReadingSeminaronAristotle'sMetaphysics
TheaimofthisSeminaristogetafirsthandacquaintancewithAristotle'sMetaphysics,
throughreadingandcommentingonspecificpassagesfrombooks1,3,4,7‐9,12‐14.The
interpretationwillbesupportedbyahistoricalandphilosophicalexegesis,buttheaimof
theseminaristoleaveasmuchroomaspossiblefortheparticipationofeveryoneinthe
discussion.Participantswillbeaskedtoreadinadvancethesectionofthetextdiscussedin
classinordertofuelthediscussionwiththeirowninterpretationandremarks.Thenext
texttoreadwillbedeterminedattheendofeachclass.
Theevaluationwillbeprogressive,andadaptedtotheacademiclevelofthestudentstaking
theseminar(twoessaysof10pages—max.3000words—countfor70%,plusaglobal
noteof30%fortheparticipationintheseminar,whichimpliesatleastoneformal
presentationofapassage).
ThefirstessayisdueonOctober27.ThesecondessayisdueonDecember15.Theprogram
oftheoralpresentationswillbescheduledinclass.Thebasicstructureandintentofthe
essaywillbeexplainedinclass,threeweeksbeforethefirstessayisdue(October4).
Tosupportourreadingwewillfollow:Politis,Vasilis,AristotleandtheMetaphysics,
London,Routledge,2004.
FewScatteredReferences
Pleaseuseoneoftheseeditions:
AristotelisMetaphysica,ed.byW.Jaeger,Oxford,OxfordUniversityPress(Greektext).
Aristotle'sMetaphysicstranslatedbyW.D.Ross,canbefoundeitherinMcKeon,TheBasic
WorksofAristotle,Chicago,UniversityofChicagoPressorat
<classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/metaphysics.html>
TheCompleteWorksofAristotle,vol.2,ed.byJ.Barnes,Princeton,PrincetonUniversity
Press.
Aristotle,Metaphysics,2vol.,translatedbyH.Tredennick,Harvard,HarvardUniversity
Press(withtheGreektext).
Foragoodintroduction,ausefulbibliographyofcontemporaryscholarshipandaglossary
ofAristotelianterminology,see:
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle‐metaphysics/