Aristotle (review)

466 HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY summary. If the reader lacks an appreciation of the historical and cultural context of Greek ethical philosophy, Pamela Huby's Greek Ethics is more helpful (and written in a more lively style) than Rowe's book. If he wants considerable critical comment on Greek ethical philosophy, Alasdair Maclntyre's Short History of Ethics offers criticisms which are more wide-ranging and provocative than Rowe's, and therefore more likely to stimulate the interest of the general educated reader. The usefulness of Rowe's work is also limited by its brevity. A scant five pages are devoted to the Homeric poems and Solon, five and a half to the sophists, and five to the Epicureans and Stoics (with less than a paragraph to Stoic determinism). Even when dealing with his main subjects, Plato and Aristotle, Rowe admits that he has chosen to pass over a considerable number of texts with little or no discussion. Such a measure of economy greatly restricts the potential helpfulness of this book to students. Finally, there is a certain lack of inspiration in Rowe's writing. He does not communicate much enthusiasm for his subject matter, and his rather detached, analytic summaries render Greek ethical thought a little dry. A bit more life is desirable in a work intended for students and the general reader. W. JOSEPH CUMMINS Old Dominion Universi~ John B. Morrall. Aristotle. Political Thinkers, no. 7. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1977. Pp. 120. $14.50; $6.50, paper. This is a pleasant little book aimed at university students and general readers interested in Aristotle's political thought. Roughly one-third of the work deals with pre-Aristotelian material. One chapter focuses on the poets: Homer, Hesiod, the lyricists, Solon (who uses poetry to explain his own political activity), Aeschylus (who is said to have had a special interest in reconciling conflict between competing goods), Sophocles, and Euripides. A second chapter turns our attention toward the philosophic tradition: the pre-Socratics---especially Heraclitus, who is said to show "affinities with the poetic as well as the philosophic tradition" (p. 30) and Pamaenides, whose rejection of change "took the stuffing, as it were, out of the whole process of rational deliberation on future community policies" (pp. 31-32)--the Sophists, and Plato, who failed to achieve a "'synthesis between philosophy and politics" (pp. 39-40). A third chapter introduces the reader to Aristotle and to theories concerning his philosophic development. The period of Aristotle's residence in Plato's Academy ts studied naturally enough by a consideration of the Protrepttcus. Certain key topics are focused upon (e.g., nature as a fundamental criterion in political investigation; the distinction between phron~sis and sophia) and detailed discussion and qualification are necessarily avoided (exoteric writings are lumped together in the Academic period; a political work like the dialogue On Justice is not mentioned at all). Aristotle's absence from Athens after the death of Plato and in particular his stay on the island of Lesbos is connected with biological research and generally with the biological orientation so prominent in Aristotle's politiciat philosophy. Chapter 3 ends with remarks concerning the genuiness of the Corpus Aristotelicum. That the remarks are both brief and conservative is appropriate enough; that no serious doubts are expressed concerning the removal of Aristotle's library to Skepsis is, however, a bit too uncritical. The fourth chapter opens with a look at relevant material in the Nwomachean Ethics. Here again the introductory character of Morrall's book explains the decision to prefer the NE to the less well known Eudemian Ethics. Still, we may wonder whether the decision is a good one. For when the Politics refers to the Ethics, it seems to be referring to the EE, not to the NE; ~and when Morrall See now A. Kenny, The Aristotelian Ethics: A Study of the Relationship between the Eudemian and Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978), pp. 5-8. BOOK REVIEWS 467 comes to discuss Politics 7-8, he cannot ignore the fact that at least this portion of the Pohttcs exhibits a closer relationship to the EE than to the NE. After this look at...