On the Gait of Animals
Encyclopedia
Progression of Animals is a text by Aristotle
on the details of gait and movement in various species of animals.
Aristotle's approach to the subject is to ask "why some animals are footless, others bipeds, others quadrupeds, others polypods, and why all have an even number of feet, if they have feet at all; why in fine the points on which progression depends are even in number."
It's a good example of the way he brought teleological
presumptions to empirical studies.
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
on the details of gait and movement in various species of animals.
Aristotle's approach to the subject is to ask "why some animals are footless, others bipeds, others quadrupeds, others polypods, and why all have an even number of feet, if they have feet at all; why in fine the points on which progression depends are even in number."
It's a good example of the way he brought teleological
Teleology
A teleology is any philosophical account which holds that final causes exist in nature, meaning that design and purpose analogous to that found in human actions are inherent also in the rest of nature. The word comes from the Greek τέλος, telos; root: τελε-, "end, purpose...
presumptions to empirical studies.
Texts and translations
- Greek text and English translation by E.S. Forster (Loeb Classical LibraryLoeb Classical LibraryThe Loeb Classical Library is a series of books, today published by Harvard University Press, which presents important works of ancient Greek and Latin Literature in a way designed to make the text accessible to the broadest possible audience, by presenting the original Greek or Latin text on each...
, Aristotle Parts of Animals, Movement of Animals, Progression of Animals, 1937): archive.org - On the Gait of Animals, translated by A. S. L. Farquharson, Oxford, 1912: Google Books,Adelaide (HTML), MIT Classics (HTML)
- Greek text with Farquharson's translation facing
- Greek text with French translation and commentary by Jules Barthélemy-Saint-HilaireJules Barthélemy-Saint-HilaireJules Barthélemy-Saint-Hilaire was a French philosopher, journalist, statesman, and possible illegitimate son of Napoleon I of France.- Biography :...