Not Not To Be

Malcolm Schofield

• A New History of Western Philosophy, Vol. I: Ancient Philosophy by Anthony Kenny
  Oxford, 341 pp, £17.99, June 2005, ISBN 0 19 875273 3

The hero of this genial and highly accessible book – first of a projected quartet – is Aristotle. What prompts Anthony Kenny’s admiration above all is evidence for the first time in Aristotle of detailed observations of natural phenomena; a sound and pioneering grasp of the roles of observation and theory in scientific method; the invention of the notion of a system of scientific disciplines; the corresponding organisation of student lectures into a syllabus of courses by the first proper professor; the creation of the first research institute and research library in the Western world. In short, with Aristotle philosophy invented the idea of ‘science as we understand it today’. His impact on subsequent human thought has accordingly, in Kenny’s judgment, been unrivalled among ancient philosophers (interestingly, the theologian Augustine is selected as runner-up).