Aristotle’s Physics Reading List

Texts, Translations, and Commentaries

• Ross, W.D. Aristotelis Physica (Clarendon: 1950)

• Ross, W.D. Aristotle's physics: a revised text with introduction and commentary (Oxford, 1936)

For some parts of the Physics, the OUP Clarendon Aristotle series provides accurate translations into English with commentary:

• Charlton, W. Aristotle's Physics. Books I and II (Clarendon: 1970 and 1992)

• Hussey, E. Aristotle Physics. Books III and IV (Clarendon: 1983)

• Graham, D.W. Aristotle's Physics. Book VIII (Clarendon: 1999)

Introductory and General Works:

• Ackrill, J, Aristotle the Philosopher (Oxford: 1981)

• Lear, J., Aristotle: the Desire to Understand (Cambridge 1988)

• Ross, W. D., Aristotle (Methuen: 1923)

• Shields, C., Classical Philosophy: a Contemporary Introduction (Routledge: 2003), esp. ch. 4

• Shields, C., Aristotle (Routledge: 2007)

• Sorabji, R., Necessity Cause and Blame (Duckworth: 1980)

• Sorabji, R., Time, Creation and the Continuum (Duckwoth: 1983)

• Sorabji, R., Matter, Space and Motion (Duckworth: 1988)

• Waterlow, S., Nature Change and Agency in Aristotle's Physics

(Clarendon: 1982) Collections:

• Barnes, J. ed., The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle (Cambridge: 1995), esp. chs. 4 and 5

• Barnes, J., M. Schofield, & R Sorabji eds., Articles on Aristotle,

Volume 1: Science, (Duckworth, 1975) and Volume 2: Metaphysics,

(Duckworth, 1979)

• Gotthelf, A., ed. Articles on Nature and Living Things (Bristol Classical Press; 1982)

• Gotthelf, A. and J. Lennox eds., Philosophical Issues in Aristotle's

Biology (Cambridge: 1987)

• Judson, L. ed., Aristotle's Physics: A Collection of Essays (Clarendon: 1991)

Special Topics

A. The Principles of Natural Science (Physics i)

• Bolton, R., ‘Aristotle's Method in Natural Science: Physics I,’ L. Judson, ed., Aristotle's Physics: a Collection of Essays (Clarendon: 1991), 1-29

• Bostock, D., ‘The Principles of Change Physics I,’ in M.

Nussbaum and M. Schofield, eds., Language and Logos (CUP: 1982), 179-196

B. Explanations and the Four Causes

• Annas, J., ‘Inefficient Causes,’ Philosophical Quarterly v.32 (1982), 311-326

• Moravcsik, J. M. `What makes Reality Intelligible?' Judson, L.

ed., Aristotle's Physics: A Collection of Essays (Clarendon: 1991), 31-48

• Scofield, M., ‘Explanatory Projects in Physics 2, 3 and 7,’ Oxford

Studies in Ancient Philosophy Supplementary Volume (1991), 29-40

C. Luck and Chance (Physics ii 4-6)

• Frede, D., ‘Aristotle and the Limits of Determinism: Accidental Causes in Metaphysics E 3,’ in A. Gotthelf ed., Articles on Nature and Living Things (Bristol Classical Press, 1982), 207-225

• Freeland. C., ‘Accidental Causes and Real Explanations,’ in L.

Judson, ed. Aristotle's Physics: A Collection of Essays (Clarendon: 1991), 49-72

• Judson, L., ‘Chance and "Always For the Most Part" in Aristotle,’

in L. Judson ed., Aristotle's Physics: A Collection of Essays

(Clarendon: 1991), 73-100 D. Teleology and Necessity (Physics ii 8-9)

• Charles, D., ‘Teleological Causation in the Physics,’ in L. Judson, ed., Aristotle's Physics: A Collection of Essays (Clarendon: 1991), 101-128

• Cooper, J., ‘Aristotle on Natural Teleology,’ in M. Nussbaum

and M. Schofield eds., Language and Logos (Cambridge: 1982), 197-222

• Cooper, J., ‘Hypothetical Necessity,’ in A. Gotthelf, ed., Articles

on Nature and Living Things (Bristol Classical Press, 1982), 151-168

• Gotthelf, A., ‘Aristotle's Conception of Final Causality,’ in A

Gotthelf and J. Lennox eds., Philosophical Issues in Aristotle's Biology (Cambridge: 1987), 204-242

• Lennox, J., ‘Teleology, Chance and Aristotle's Theory of

Spontaneous Generation,’ Journal of the History of Philosophy Vol. 20 (1982), 219-238

• E. Change and Motion (Physics iii 1-3; v)

• Graham, D., ‘Aristotle's Definition of Motion,’ Ancient Philosophy 8 (1988), 209-215

• Kosman, L.A., ‘Aristotle’s Definition of Motion,’ Phronesis 14

(1969), 40-62 F. The Infinite (Physics iii 4-8)

• Charlton, W., ‘Aristotle's Potential Infinities,’ in L. Judson ed., Aristotle's Physics: A Collection of Essays (Clarendon: 1991), 129-150

• Lear, L., ‘Aristotelian Infinity,’ Proceedings of the Aristotelian

Society 80 (1980), 187-210 G. Place and the Void (Physics IV 1-9)

• Morison, B., On Location: Aristotle’s Concept of Place (Oxford: 2002)

H. Time (Physics iv 10-14)

• Bostock, D, ‘Aristotle's Account of Time,’ Phronesis 25 (1980), 148-169

• Inwood, M., ‘Aristotle on the Reality of Time,’ in Judson, L. ed.,

Aristotle's Physics: A Collection of Essays (Clarendon: 1991), 151-178

• Owen, G.E.L., ‘Aristotle on Time,’ in Owen, G.E.L. Logic, Science,

and Dialectic, ed. M. Nussbaum (Duckworth: 1986), 295-314 I. Continuity, Continua and Zeno's Paradoxes of Motion (Physics vi,

viiii 8)

• Bostock, D., ‘Aristotle on Continuity in Physics,’ in L. Judson, ed., Aristotle's Physics: A Collection of Essays (Clarendon: 1991), 179-212

• White, M. J., The Continuous and the Discrete (Clarendon, 1992),

esp. chs. 1-4 J. Self-movers and chains of changes (Physics VII, VIII 1-5)

• Furley, D., ‘Self-Movers,’ in G.E.R. Lloyd ad G.E.L. Owen eds., Aristotle on Mind and the Senses (Cambridge: 1978), 165-179

• Wardy, R., The Chain of Change: a study of Aristotle's Physics VII

(Cambridge: 1990) K. The Unmoved Mover

• Akrill, J.L., ‘Change and Aristotle's Theological Argument,’ Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy Supplementary Volume (1991), 57-66

• Khan, C.H., ‘The Place of the Prime Mover in Aristotle's

Teleology, in A. Gotthelf, ed., Articles on Nature and Livings (Bristol Classical Press, 1982), 183-206