Book Description

"Aristotle's Topics is a handbook for dialectic, or philosophical debate between a questioner and a respondent. In book 3, Aristotle develops strategies for arguing about comparative claims, in which properties are said to belong to subjects to a greater, lesser, or equal degree. Aristotle uses a single illustration, the property of choiceworthiness. For instance, should we prefer justice in our friends, or in our adversaries? In this commentary on Topics 3, here translated for the first time into English, Alexander of Aphrodisias argues for Aristotelian views in logic and ethics, and engages in debates with other philosophical schools, notably the Stoics. The commentary provides new evidence for Alexander's theory of the logic of comparison, which is notoriously difficult to fit in the framework of the general theory of deduction (syllogistic) of the Prior Analytics. In addition, Alexander's sensitive discussion of Aristotle's arguments about what is more, less, or equally choiceworthy provides a relatively neglected source for Aristotelian ethics in later antiquity. Finally, Alexander helpfully explains and analyzes Aristotle's often compressed arguments. This volume will be valuable reading for students of Aristotle and later ancient thought, and represents an important stage in the development of Aristotelian logic, ethics, and rhetoric"--