Aristotle's Topics is a handbook for dialectic, which can be understood as a philosophical debate between a questioner and a respondent. In book 2, Aristotle mainly develops strategies for making deductions about 'accidents', which are properties that might or might not belong to a subject (for instance, Socrates has five fingers, but might have had six), and about properties that simply belong to a subject without further specification. In the present commentary, here translated into English for the first time, Alexander develops a careful study of Aristotle's text. He preserves objections and replies from other philosophers whose work is now lost, such as the Stoics. He also offers an invaluable picture of the tradition of Aristotelian logic down to his time, including innovative attempts to unify Aristotle's guidance for dialectic with his general theory of deductive argument (the syllogism), found in the Analytics. The work will be of interest not only for its perspective on ancient logic, rhetoric, and debate, but also for its continuing influence on argument in the Middle Ages and later.

This work deals with Aristotle's Topics, a textbook on how to argue successfully in a debate organised in a certain way. The origins of the three branches of logic can be found here: logic of propositions, of predicates and of relations. Having dealt with the structure of the dialectical debates and the theory of the predicables, the central notion of the topos is analysed. Topoi are principles of arguments designed to help a disputant refute his opponent and function as hypotheses in hypothetical syllogisms, the main form of argument in the Topics. Traces of the crystallization of their theory can be found in the Topics and Analytics. The author analyses a selection of topoi including those according to which categorical and relational syllogisms are constructed.

Of all the writings on theory and aesthetics - ancient, medieval, or modern - the most important is indisputably Aristotle's "Poetics", the first philosophical treatise to propound a theory of literature. The author offers a fresh interpretation of the lost second book of Aristotle's "Poetics".

This volume presents a new translation of Aristotle's Topics Book VI by Annamaria Schiaparelli, accompanied by a detailed commentary and textual notes providing insight into the history of the transmission of the text with its variants. In the Topics, Aristotle aims at developing his dialectical method. He introduces the four predicables (property, genus, accident, and definition) which are necessary for the classification and application of the topoi, or commonplaces. Book VI of the Topics is entirely devoted to the discussion of definition, the most extended and refined discussion of this subject handed down to us from the classical period. The concept of definition plays a central role not only in Aristotle's logic but also in his ontology. Issues connected with definitions emerge constantly throughout his works. Moreover, definitions are at the centre of Platonic philosophy and sparked a lively discussion in philosophy of the Hellenistic and late classical periods.

Charles E. Butterworth provides a bilingual edition (Arabic and English) of several of this influential twelfth-century philosopher's greatest works.

"Aristotle's Topics is a handbook for dialectic, which can be understood as a philosophical debate between a questioner and a respondent. In book 2, Aristotle mainly develops strategies for making deductions about 'accidents', which are properties that might or might not belong to a subject (for instance, Socrates has five fingers, but might have had six), and about properties that simply belong to a subject without further specification. In the present commentary, here translated into English for the first time, Alexander develops a careful study of Aristotle's text. He preserves objections and replies from other philosophers whose work is now lost, such as the Stoics. He also offers an invaluable picture of the tradition of Aristotelian logic down to his time, including innovative attempts to unify Aristotle's guidance for dialectic with his general theory of deductive argument (the syllogism), found in the Analytics. The work will be of interest not only for its perspective on ancient logic, rhetoric, and debate, but also for its continuing influence on argument in the Middle Ages and later"--

Aristotle's Topics is about dialectic, which can be understood as a debate between two people or the inner debate of one thinker with himself. Its purposes range from philosophical training to discovering the first principles of thought. Its arguments concern the four predicables (definition, property, genus and accident). Aristotle explains how these four fit into his ten categories, and in Book 1 begins to outline strategies for debate, such as the definition of ambiguity. Alexander's commentary on Book 1 discusses how to define Aristotelian syllogistic argument, why it stands up against the rival Stoic theory of interference, and what is the character of inductive interference and of rhetorical argument. He distinguishes inseparable accidents such as the whiteness of snow from defining differentiae such as its being frozen, and considers how these fit into the scheme of categories. He speaks of dialectic as a stochastic discipline in which success is to be judged not by victory but by skill in argument, a view parallel to that sometimes taken in antiquity of medical practice. And he investigates the subject of ambiguity which had also been richly developed since Aristotle by the rival Stoic school.

"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"--