On the Heavens is Aristotle

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...

's chief cosmological treatise: it contains his astronomical theory and his ideas on the concrete workings of the terrestrial world. It should not be confused with the spurious work On the Universe (De mundo, also known as On the Cosmos).

According to Aristotle, the heavenly bodies are the most perfect realities, (or "substances"), whose motions are ruled by principles other than those of bodies in the sublunary sphere

Sublunary sphere

The sublunary sphere is a concept derived from Greek astronomy. It is the region of the cosmos from the Earth to the Moon, consisting of the four classical elements: earth, water, air, and fire. Beginning with the Moon, up to the limits of the universe, everything is made of aether...

. The latter are composed of one or all of the four classical element

Classical element

Many philosophies and worldviews have a set of classical elements believed to reflect the simplest essential parts and principles of which anything consists or upon which the constitution and fundamental powers of anything are based. Most frequently, classical elements refer to ancient beliefs...

s (earth

Earth (classical element)

Earth, home and origin of humanity, has often been worshipped in its own right with its own unique spiritual tradition.-European tradition:Earth is one of the four classical elements in ancient Greek philosophy and science. It was commonly associated with qualities of heaviness, matter and the...

, water

Water (classical element)

Water is one of the elements in ancient Greek philosophy, in the Asian Indian system Panchamahabhuta, and in the Chinese cosmological and physiological system Wu Xing...

, air

Air (classical element)

Air is often seen as a universal power or pure substance. Its supposed fundamental importance to life can be seen in words such as aspire, inspire, perspire and spirit, all derived from the Latin spirare.-Greek and Roman tradition:...

, fire

Fire (classical element)

Fire has been an important part of all cultures and religions from pre-history to modern day and was vital to the development of civilization. It has been regarded in many different contexts throughout history, but especially as a metaphysical constant of the world.-Greek and Roman tradition:Fire...

) and are perishable; but the matter the heavens are made of is imperishable aether

Aether (classical element)

According to ancient and medieval science aether , also spelled æther or ether, is the material that fills the region of the universe above the terrestrial sphere.-Mythological origins:...

, so they are not subject to generation and corruption

On Generation and Corruption

On Generation and Corruption , , also known as On Coming to Be and Passing Away) is a treatise by Aristotle. Like many of his texts, it is both scientific and philosophic...

. Hence their motions are eternal and perfect, and the perfect motion is the circular one, which, unlike the earthly up-and down-ward locomotions, can last eternally selfsame. As substances, celestial bodies have matter (aether) and a form: it seems that Aristotle did regard them as living beings with a rational soul as their form (see also Metaphysics

Aristotelian view of God

The Aristotelian and Neo-Aristotelian views of God have been influential in Western intellectual history.-The Metaphysics:In his book on first philosophy, which most now call the Metaphysics, Aristotle discussed the meaning of "being as being". Aristotle concluded that "being" primarily refers to...

, bk. XII)

English Translations

(in reverse chronological order)

• Stuart Leggatt, On the Heavens I and II (Warminster: Aris & Phillips, 1995). ISBN 0856686638
• William Keith Chambers Guthrie
  W. K. C. Guthrie
  William Keith Chambers Guthrie was a Scottish classical scholar, best known for his History of Greek Philosophy, published in six volumes between 1962 and his death.-Early life and education:...
  
  , Aristotle On the Heavens (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press "Loeb Classical Library", 1939).
• John Leofric Stocks, On the Heavens (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1922).
  • Adelaide Etexts
  • Sacred Texts
  • InfoMotions
  • MIT (incomplete)
• Thomas Taylor, The treatises of Aristotle, on the heavens, on generation & corruption, and on meteors (Somerset, England : The Prometheus Trust, 2004, 1807). ISBN 1898910243

Commentaries

• Alan C. Bowen, Christian Wildberg, New perspectives on Aristotle's De caelo (Brill, 2009).
• Elders, L., Aristotle’s Cosmology: A Commentary on the De Caelo (Assen, Netherlands: Van Gorcum, 1966).

French

• Dalimier, C. and Pellegrin, P. (2004) Aristote. Traité du ciel (Paris).
• Moraux, P. (1965) Aristote. Du ciel (Paris).
• Tricot, J. (1949) Aristote. Traité du ciel. Traduction et notes (Paris).

German

• Gigon, O. (1950) Vom Himmel, Von der Seele, Von der Dichtkunst (Zurich).
• Prantl, C. (1857) Aristoteles’ Vier Bücher über das Himmelsgebäude und Zwei Bücher über Entstehen und Vergehen (Leipzig).
• Prantl, C., (1881) De coelo, et de generatione et corruptione (Leipzig).

Italian

• Jori, A. (1999) Il cielo (Milan).
• Longo, O. (1961) Aristotele. De caelo (Florence).

External links

• "On the Heavens" in Greek is found in the 2nd volume of the 11-volume 1837 Bekker edition of Aristotle's Works in Greek (PDF|DJVU)