What Is Aristotle’s Metaphysics About?

What is it about?

There is a lot of controversy among Aristotelian scholars as to the what the so-called ‘central books’ of his Metaphysics, Books Ζeta (VII) and Eta (VIII) are about, how they fit into the wider project of the Metaphysics, which Aristotle calls ‘first philosophy, and whether they are instead a part of natural science (which he calls ‘second philosophy’). This article argues that although the central books have the same starting-point as Aristotle’s natural science – the principles of changing substances (things such as animals and plants) – these inquiries are nonetheless distinct because natural science uses these principles in its detailed investigations into natural substances, whereas the central books reflect on the principles themselves. It also argues that the central books are an integral part of Aristotle’s inquiry into the principles of all substances, both changing and unchanging (the latter, in Aristotle’s view, are divine beings): they are not merely preliminary to an inquiry into the latter kind. They are also an integral part of Aristotle’s ‘first philosophy’, alongside theology’s study of the nature and activity of unchanging substances.

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