Bibliography for Chapter Two

Aristotle's original texts. The texts of Aristotle's various works that you'll find on the web are of varying quality. Some excellent scholarly work has been done over the last twenty years or so  on most of the Aristotelian corpus, so that recently published translations and editions are generally much more accurate and readable than the earlier, more famous works (which much of  the older professoriate still cherishes for various reasons that aren't relevant to a beginning philosopher). All this means that many of the best translations are not in the public domain, and hence not on the web (at least not legally, except for snippets here and there). For instance, my favorite translation of the Nicomachaen Ethics is by Terence Irwin (Hackett, 1985), which you won't find on the web (fortunately, it is in paperback). So my advice is to use web-based texts for convenience but not for that Big Paper that you might be writing someday for an Aristotelian seminar or any other sort of specialized course. When you get to that point, seek advice, since at this time there is no single edition of Aristotle's collected works that wins the prize of being the "definitive edition." (Here is a challenge for anyone who finds the history of art important. Can you identify the great Renaissance artist who drew the sketch of Aristotle shown here? Hint: He was Italian!)

Secondary works. Once again, the secondary sources listed by Palmer at the end of his chapter are all quite good, though I don't know why he listed Christopher Biffle's Guided Tour  as a primary source (it's much more valuable for what it says about Aristotle). I think that most students will find Timothy Robinson's Aristotle in Outline (Hackett, 1995) useful, since as its title indicates it offers an overview of Aristotle's entire system of thought, but does not "dumb it down." One of my own favorite secondary works is W.F.R. Hardie's Aristotle's Ethical Theory (Oxford, 1968). Even though the book is rather technical, a beginning student can go to its excellent index, find the topic  he or she is investigating, and then read that section with profit without having to wad through the whole volume.