Pseudo-Aristotle: De Mundo (On the Cosmos)
A Commentary

De mundo is a protreptic to philosophy offering a unique view of God and the cosmos, inspired by Aristotle.

Pavel Gregori? (Edited by), George Karamanolis (Edited by)

9781108834780, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 17 December 2020

320 pages, 8 b/w illus. 2 maps
15 x 23 x 1.5 cm, 0.53 kg

De mundo is a protreptic to philosophy in the form of a letter to Alexander the Great and is traditionally ascribed to Aristotle. It offers a unique view of the cosmos, God and their relationship, which was inspired by Aristotle but written by a later author. The author provides an outline of cosmology, geography and meteorology, only to argue that a full understanding of the cosmos cannot be achieved without a proper grasp of God as its ultimate cause. To ensure such a grasp, the author provides a series of twelve carefully chosen interlocking analogies, building a complex picture in the reader's mind. The work develops a distinctly Aristotelian picture of God and the cosmos while paying tribute to pre-Aristotelian philosophers and avoiding open criticism of rival schools of philosophy. De mundo exercised considerable influence in late antiquity and then in the Renaissance and Early Modern times.

1. Introduction Pavel Gregori? and George Karamanolis
2. On philosophy and its proper subject (Chapter 1) George Karamanolis
3. The heavenly sphere (Chapter 2, 391b9–392a31) Karel Thein
4. The sublunary domain (Chapters 2–3, 392a31–393a8) Jakub Jirsa
5. Geography (Chapter 3, 392a31–393a8) Irene Pajón Leyra and Hynek Bartoš
6. Meteorology (Chapter 4) István Baksa
7. The eternity of the cosmos (Chapter 5) Pavel Gregori?
8. God's relation to the cosmos (Chapter 6) Gábor Betegh and Pavel Gregori?
9. God's many names (Chapter 7) Vojt?ch Hladký.

Subject Areas: Western philosophy: Ancient, to c 500 [HPCA], History of Western philosophy [HPC], Philosophy [HP], Humanities [H]