The Complete Works of Aristotle, Volume 1

This is a profound and remarkably boring/pedantic work (as are most original philosophical tomes). Despite that, Aristotle still has relevance today and has influenced science, philosophy, and knowledge management (long before the latter was even a discipline). I have purchased both volumes of this work and am slogging through the first. I hope to be finished with the first 1200 pages in a couple of weeks and if I have the stomach I will crack open Volume 2.

I have long wanted to read Aristotle. Although I read ancient Greek, Aristotle is simply over my head, so I am hoping this English translation will get me through it all.... Oh, how I wish someone had written "The Portable Aristotle." But there is this.  Too bad I already purchased seven pounds of Aristotle. (Yes, I weighed them.)

******20 Feb 2010******
I have now completed Volume 1, and I must say, I am flabbergasted. Contrary to university lore, everything I was taught about Aristotle was wrong. First, Aristotle's method was not purely deductive; he also made regular use of observation and induction. Not only did Aristotle make copious use of observation in many of his works (especially "History of Animals"), he was an astute observer. However, and at the risk of being classed as an iconoclast, nearly every conclusion Aristotle draws is abject nonsense. No doubt, he retarded science by millennia with his reliance on the four elements (earth, water, fire, and air) and their affectations (dry/moist, light/heavy, hot/cold) to explain all phenomena. When commenting on anything that was not directly observable he was wrong in virtually every conclusion he drew. A few examples from biology will make my point.

"Smooth chinned men are less inclined to baldness.... When men are afflicted with varicose veins they are less inclined to take on baldness; and if they be bald when they become thus afflicted, some get their hair again (p 823)."

"[W]e should reasonably expect baldness to come about this age upon those who have much semen.... [T]he front part goes bald because the brain is there, and man is the only animal to go bald because his brain is much the largest and the moistest. Women do not go bald because their nature is like that of children, both alike being incapable of producing seminal secretion. (p 1211)"

"Men go grey on the temples first, because the back of the head is empty of moisture owing to its containing no brain... (p 1212)"

"[H]air protected by hats or other coverings goes grey sooner (for the winds prevent decay and the protection keeps off the winds)... (p 1213)"

Or regarding menstruation...

"In most cases the menstrual discharge recurs for some time after conception has taken place, its duration being mostly thirty days in the case of a female and about forty days in the case of a male child.... After conception, and when the above-mentioned days are past, the discharge no longer takes its natural course but finds its way to the breasts and turns to milk. (p 913,914)"

Or again...

"Males have more teeth than females in the case of men, sheep, goats, and swine.... Those that have more teeth are longer lived as a rule; those with fewer teeth more thinly set are shorter-lived as a rule. (p 797)"

Nor are Aristotle's faux pas confined to natural science. He is dead wrong about cosmology, astrology, meteorology, and virtually every subject he considers. Aristotle reaches false and absurd conclusions so regularly and with such conviction that he should have classed arrogance as his fifth element. More surprisingly, he commits logical fallacies with near perfect regularity.

Still, I must recommend this volume because to read the author is his own words is absolutely eye-opening. I will never again look at Aristotle in the same way. His philosophy is deeply suspect and like Santa Claus there seems to be a large-scale conspiracy to keep his myth alive.

Well now... on to Volume 2."