Aristotle’s Metaphysics is divided into
fourteen books, which are usually named after the first thirteen
letters of the Greek alphabet. The books, in order, are Alpha, Alpha
the Lesser, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta, Eta, Theta, Iota,
Kappa, Lambda, Mu, and Nu. Though all fourteen books treat certain
common themes, many of them are independent of all the others. Scholars
believe that the Metaphysics is really a compilation
of a number of Aristotle’s writings that later editors grouped together.
Some of the material in the Metaphysics repeats
that covered in the Physics.
Summary
Knowledge consists of particular truths that we learn
through experience and the general truths of art and science. Wisdom
consists in understanding the most general truths of all, which
are the fundamental principles and causes that govern everything.
Philosophy provides the deepest understanding of the world and of
divinity by pursuing the sense of wonder we feel toward reality.
There are four kinds of cause, or rather kinds of explanation,
for how things are: (1) the material cause, which explains what
a thing is made of; (2) the formal cause, which explains the form
a thing assumes; (3) the efficient cause, which explains the process
by which it came into being; and (4) the final cause, which explains
the end or purpose it serves. The explanations of earlier philosophers
have conformed to these four causes but not as coherently and systematically
as Aristotle’s formulation. Aristotle acknowledges that Plato’s Theory
of Forms gives a strong account of the formal cause, but it fails
to prove that Forms exist and to explain how objects in the physical
world participate in Forms.
Book Alpha the Lesser addresses some questions of method. Though
we all have a natural aptitude for thinking philosophically, it
is very difficult to philosophize well. The particular method of study
depends on the subject being studied and the inclinations of the
students. The important thing is to have a firm grasp of method before
proceeding, whatever the method. The best method is that of mathematics,
but this method is not suitable for subjects where the objects of
study are prone to change, as in science. Most reasoning involves
causal chains, where we investigate a phenomenon by studying its
causes, and then the cause of those causes, and so on. This method
would be unworkable if there were infinitely long causal chains,
but all causal chains are finite, meaning that there must be an
uncaused first cause to every chain.
Book Beta consists of a series of fifteen metaphysical
puzzles on the nature of first principles, substance, and other
fundamental concepts. In each case, Aristotle presents a thesis
and a contradicting antithesis, both of which could be taken as
answers to the puzzle. Aristotle himself provides no answers to
the puzzles but rather takes them as examples of extreme positions
between which he will try to mediate throughout the rest of the Metaphysics.
Book Gamma asserts that philosophy, especially metaphysics,
is the study of being qua being. That is, while
other sciences investigate limited aspects of being, metaphysics
investigates being itself. The study of being qua being
amounts to the search into first principles and causes. Being itself
is primarily identified with the idea of substance, but also with
unity, plurality, and a variety of other concepts.
