Sometimes scholars read Aristotle as if he were a colleague next door. For those who are interested in a historically accurate account of Aristotle's life and school, N.'s book is the best available in English. Although originally published in Italian 21 years ago it remains an outstanding contribution to scholarship. Having said that I must add that the English version surpasses the Italian version in two significant ways. First, it contains a postscript which provides a concise overview of relevant scholarship that appeared after the Italian version was published. Second, it contains a new translation by the editor D.S. Hutchinson of the primary sources based on the most recent critical editions.
Besides these improvements the main virtue of the book remains intact. Its value lies not so much in any new claim it makes, but rather in the fact that it ‘is a summary of the situation’ (p. 3), i.e. a complete assessment of the available sources of Aristotle's biography. N. manages to give an admirably balanced account of Aristotle's life, taking into account previous scholarship.
The book consists of four chapters and a postscript (2012). The first chapter is, in its impartial discussion of the various and often contradictory reports, the definitive biographical account of Aristotle's life. Chapters 2 and 3 concern the school. Chapter 2 deals with the institutional aspects of the school of Aristotle. N.'s main interpretative claim is that ‘the principal purpose of the establishment of philosophical school was … the implementation of the ideal of the theoretical life’ (p. 86). Here N. dissents from the views that its purpose was the worship of the Muses or the education of the young (p. 82). Nor were the school's activities for Aristotle (or Plato) ‘a choice of a social role … a Beruf in the Weberian sense’ (p. 70). Rather philosophy represented ‘a life choice’ (p. 88), ‘a way of giving meaning to their … lives’ (p. 70).
Chapter 3, ‘The Internal Organization of Aristotle's School’, covers topics such as the collection of books, how research was conducted and teaching practices. What could have been discussed more extensively is the nature of the ‘logoi’ (p. 109) that constitute what we now know as the Corpus Aristotelicum. Were these logoi constantly updated so that no clear chronology is possible? If so, this has important consequences for an interpretation like Jäger's that tries to reconstruct Aristotle's intellectual evolution on the basis of his extant works.
Chapter 4 contains a very helpful survey of the sources of Aristotle's biography and, together with the postscript, a succinct and balanced guide to Aristotelian studies from Zeller to the present. I liked the decision to print the primary sources in boldface throughout the book. This, together with the index of sources, allows the reader to find quickly the main texts on which N.'s interpretation is based.
Without doubt this outstanding and extremely readable book is a must for students and researchers alike.
