Abstract

THE most influential figure in Aristotelian scholarship in modern times was undoubtedly Werner Jaeger. There had been great original thinkers about Aristotle in the hundred years before Jaeger: one need only mention Brandis in Germany and Case in England. There were also fine scholars contemporary with Jaeger, like Sir David Ross, the editor and commentator on Aristotle. But no Aristotelian scholar made such an impact as Jaeger. His arguments for Aristotle’s development, for his declining Platonism and growing empiricism, started a sort of revolution in Aristotelian studies. Jaeger’s position has been very much questioned since but it would be ungenerous to call his work on Aristotle anything other than a great contribution to scholarship. But Jaeger did not attempt an extended analysis and criticism of central problems in Aristotle’s philosophy. And the same must be said of other prominent contributors to Aristotelian scholarship in this century. Ross’s editions and commentaries on Aristotle are invaluable but his commentary often seems to leave off just when the problem is getting interesting. This may be explained by his reported answer to the question of whether he actually agreed with Aristotle: ‘Oh, my dear child, I am a scholar, not a philosopher’. This might not be the answer of Ingemar During who has written the latest big scholarly book covering all aspects of Aristotle’s thought but one feels at times that it should be, and particularly when Düring is dealing with Aristotle’s metaphysics.