The volumes of the Symposium Aristotelicum have become essential reference works for the study of Aristotle. In this nineteenth volume, eleven distinguished scholars of ancient philosophy provide a running commentary on the first book of Aristotle's Physics, a central treatise of the Aristotelian corpus that aims at knowledge of the principles of physical change. Along with the general introduction, the ten chapters together comment on the entirety of the Aristotelian text and discuss the philosophical issues that are raised in it in detail. Aristotle is shown to be in dialogue with the divergent doctrines of earlier philosophers, namely with the Eleatics' monism, with Anaxagoras' theory of mixture, and finally with the Platonist dyadism that posits the two principles of Form and the Great and Small. Aristotle uses critical examination of his predecessors' views as the basis for formulating his own theory of the principles of natural things, which are fundamental for the entire Aristotelian study of the natural world. He provides his own solution to the problem of coming-to-be and passing-away by distinguishing between coming in actuality and in potentiality. Comprehensive analysis of Aristotle's doctrines and arguments, as well as critical discussion of rival interpretations, will make this volume a valuable resource for scholars of Aristotle.

About the Author:
Katerina Ierodiakonou, Professor of Ancient Philosophy, University of Athens / University of Geneva, Paul Kalligas, Professor of Ancient Philosophy (formerly), University of Athens, Vassilis Karasmanis, Emeritus Professor, National Technical University of Athens

Katerina Ierodiakonou is Professor of Ancient Philosophy at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and at the University of Geneva. She is also a member of the research programme Representation and Reality: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on the Aristotelian Tradition at the University of Gothenburg. She has published extensively on ancient and Byzantine philosophy, especially in the areas of epistemology and logic. She is currently working on a monograph about ancient theories of colour, as well as on an edition, translation, and commentary of Theophrastus' De Sensibus and of Michael Psellos' paraphrase of Aristotle's De Interpretatione.

Paul (Pavlos) Kalligas is a former Professor of Ancient Philosophy at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science of the University of Athens. He is currently the Director of the European Cultural Centre of Delphi. His main scholarly project is an edition with translation and commentary of the Enneads of Plotinus into Modern Greek, published by the Academy of Athens; six volumes of this work have appeared so far and an English translation of the commentary is due to be published by Princeton University Press. He has also worked and published extensively on Plato, Aristotle, the Sophists, and the history of Platonism.

Vassilis Karasmanis is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the National Technical University of Athens. He is a specialist in ancient philosophy, ancient science (mainly mathematics), and philosophy of technology. He has published four books and edited another eight (six of them with others), including Remembering Socrates (Oxford 2006, with Lindsay Judson). He has also published fifty two articles in various philosophical journals or collective volumes. Vassilis Karasmanis is an elected member of FISP (International Federation of Philosophical Societies) since 2013.