Poetics - Aristotle

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Résumé :
In Poetics, Aristotle sets about laying the foundations of critical thought about the arts. One of the most influential books in Western civilization, Poetics reveals not only a great intellect analyzing the nature of poetry, music, and drama, but also a down-to-earth understanding of the practical problems facing the poet and playwright.

Biographie:
Aristotle (Greek: ??????????? Aristot?l?s, pronounced [aristot?l??s]; 384-322 BC)[A] was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Lyceum, the Peripatetic school of philosophy, and the Aristotelian tradition. His writings cover many subjects. including physics, biology, zoology, metaphysics, logic, ethics, estheticspoetry, theatre, music, rhetoric, psychology, linguistics, economics, politics, and government. Aristotle provided a complex synthesis of the various philosophies existing prior to him. It was above all from his teachings that the West inherited its intellectual lexicon, as well as problems and methods of inquiry. As a result, his philosophy has exerted a unique influence on almost every form of knowledge in the West and it continues to be a subject of contemporary philosophical discussion. Little is known about his life. Aristotle was born in the city of Stagira in Northern Greece. His father, Nicomachus, died when Aristotle was a child, and he was brought up by a guardian. At seventeen or eighteen years of age he joined Plato's Academy in Athens and remained there until the age of thirty-seven (c. 347 BC).[4] Shortly after Plato died, Aristotle left Athens and, at the request of Philip II of Macedon, tutored Alexander the Great beginning in 343 BC.[5] He established a library in the Lyceum which helped him to produce many of his hundreds of books on papyrus scrolls. Though Aristotle wrote many elegant treatises and dialogues for publication, only around a third of his original output has survived, none of it intended for publication.[6] Aristotle's views on physical science profoundly shaped medieval scholarship. Their influence extended from Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages into the Renaissance, and were not replaced systematically until the Enlightenment and theories such as classical mechanics. Some of Aristotle's zoological observations found in his biology, such as on the hectocotyl (reproductive) arm of the octopus, were disbelieved until the 19th century. His works contain the earliest known formal study of logic, studied by medieval scholars such as Peter Abelard and John Buridan. Aristotle's influence on logic also continued well into the 19th century. He influenced Islamic thought during the Middle Ages, as well as Christian theology, especially the Neoplatonism of the Early Church and the scholastic tradition of the Catholic Church. Aristotle was revered among medieval Muslim scholars as The First Teacher and among medieval Christians like Thomas Aquinas as simply The Philosopher. His ethics, though always influential, gained renewed interest with the modern advent of virtue ethics, such as in the thinking of Alasdair MacIntyre and Philippa Foot.

Sommaire:
Aristotle, born in 384 BCE in Stagira, Greece, was a pivotal figure in ancient philosophy and a student of Plato. After studying at Plato's Academy in Athens, he later tutored Alexander the Great, which helped shape his wide-reaching influence. He founded his own school, the Lyceum, where he taught and conducted research on subjects ranging from biology and ethics to politics and metaphysics.Aristotle's contributions spanned nearly every field of knowledge, making him one of history's most comprehensive thinkers. His works on logic, especially the development of syllogistic reasoning, laid the foundation for centuries of philosophical and scientific thought. In ethics, his Nicomachean Ethics remains a key text in understanding moral philosophy, focusing on the pursuit of virtue and the good life.Though Aristotle died in 322 BCE, his impact on Western thought is unparalleled. His writings were instrumental in shaping both medieval scholasticism and the Renaissance. His ideas continue to influence modern philosophy, natural sciences, and political theory, cementing his legacy as one of history's greatest intellectuals....