TIDA

Text and Idea of Aristotle's Science of Living Things

01/10/2022 to 30/09/2027

The goal of the project is a new overall interpretation of Aristotle's science of living things. The project breaks with the methodological interpretive approach that has dominated research on Aristotle's so-called "psychological" writings, and in particular on his famous treatise "De anima," over the last five decades. According to that approach, these writings are to be counted as belonging to the philosophy of mind. Contrary to this trend, TIDA aims to show that De anima is not concerned with philosophy of mind as such, and that such an approach would indeed be alien to Aristotle's way of thinking; rather, the De anima is primarily concerned with defining the first principle of a much broader science of living things (humans, animals, and plants). TIDA aims to work out how the De anima and other related writings share explanatory work in the scientific explanation of the phenomena of living things, to then show what Aristotle's science of living things has to say about the fundamental questions of the philosophy of mind. How does Aristotle approach the questions and problems of philosophy of mind from his biological perspective?
Methodologically, TIDA consists of a close cooperation between philosophers and philologists: Aristotle's treatise On the Soul (De anima) and related treatises are to be subjected to a new and comprehensive philosophical interpretation; at the same time, the original Greek text of De anima is to be made available in a way that meets current standards of textual criticism. TIDA is based on the conviction that only a the closest collaboration between philosophers and philologists will lead to robust results. The end result of the project should be improved original texts and a new and philosophically more informative perspective on Aristotleʼ science of living things.