Page:Ferrier Works vol 2 1888 LECTURES IN GREEK PHILOSOPHY.pdf/421



1. writings of Aristotle, even in the imperfect state in which they have come down to us, are exceedingly multifarious. They are usually divided by his commentators into three departments: 1st, Logical; 2d, Theoretical; and, 3d, Practical. Under the logical division are comprised the treatises called the Organon. Under the theoretical division are placed the physics, mathematics, metaphysics, and the treatise on the soul. Under the practical division are comprehended ethics and politics. There are also extant a work by Aristotle on rhetoric, another on poetics, and several minor treatises. The only works of Aristotle on which I propose to touch in these lectures are the logic, the metaphysics, the treatise on the soul, and the ethics, and of these the ethics alone shall engage a considerable share of our attention.

2. The logic which you have already studied elsewhere is derived entirely from Aristotelian sources: and therefore, as I may presume that you are already familiar with its details, I shall touch very cursorily