Book synopsis: Aristotle's account of female nature has received mostly negative treatment, emphasising what he says females cannot do. Building on recent research, this book comprehensively revises such readings, setting out the complex and positive role played by the female in Aristotle's thought with a particular focus on the longest surviving treatise on reproduction in the ancient corpus, the Generation of Animals. It provides new interpretations of the nature of Aristotle's sexism, his theory of male and female interaction in generation, and his account of inherited features. It also discusses a range of more general issues which can and should be re-examined in light of Aristotle's account of female animals: his methodology, hylomorphism, teleology and psychology. Aristotle on Female Animals will be valuable to all those interested in Aristotle's philosophy and the history of gender.

On Aristotle's Metaphysics 2 & 3

Aristotle on Female Animals: A Study of the Generation of Animals

My dissertation focuses on what I call Aristotle’s “problem of katholou ” in order to distinguish it from the “problem of universals” which is traditionally framed as the problem about the ontological status of universals. Aristotle coins the term katholou (traditionally translated as “universal”) and defines it as “that which is by nature predicated of many things". Yet, the traditional focus on the ontological status of universals is not Aristotle’s. His positive remarks about universals remain neutral with regard to their ontological status and escape the standard divide of realism and nominalism. I start with Aristotle’s neutrality and focus on the problem he is concerned with, namely, the problem of katholou.
This problem is to explain how what is most real can also be most knowable. It is generated by two of Aristotle’s philosophical commitments: (i) particulars are most real and (ii) universals are most knowable (since knowledge is of the universal). These commitments are supposed to lead to what is traditionally called a discrepancy between the real and the knowable, and many authors think that it constitutes the most serious, perhaps insoluble, problem in Aristotle's philosophy. I believe it is soluble, but I do not assume that there must be only one solution. My main task is to show that Aristotle’s writings reveal three related solutions to the problem: one that appeals to the ontological interdependence between universals and particulars; one that appeals to the corresponding epistemological interdependence (and to notions of potentiality and actuality); and one that invokes the concept of form. In the last chapter of the dissertation, I show that Aristotle’s commentator, Alexander of Aphrodisias, adopted primarily the last solution, which appeals to forms. I suggest that Alexander deeply influenced the future direction of the discussions of both Aristotle’s problem of katholou" and the traditional problem of universals.

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The Problem of Katholou (Universals) in Aristotle

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Passive Dispositions: On the Relationship between πάθος and ῎ἕξις in Aristotle

Sources for Stoicism present conflicting accounts of the Stoic principles. Some suggest that the principles are inseparable from each other. Others suggest that they are separable. To resolve this apparent interpretive dilemma, I distinguish between the functions of the principles and the bodies that realize those functions. Although the principles cannot separate when realizing their roles, the Stoic theory of blending entails that the bodies that realize those roles are physically separable. I present a strategy for further work on the principles in light of this interpretation.

On Aristotle's Metaphysics 2 & 3

Citations

Aristotle on Female Animals: A Study of the Generation of Animals

The Problem of Katholou (Universals) in Aristotle

Passive Dispositions: On the Relationship between πάθος and ῎ἕξις in Aristotle

On the Separability and Inseparability of the Stoic Principles

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