Aristotle: On Sophistical Refutations

The Clarendon Aristotle Series is designed for both students and professionals. It provides accurate translations of selected Aristotelian texts, accompanied by incisive commentaries that focus on philosophical problems and issues. The volumes in the series have been widely welcomed and favourably reviewed. Important new titles are being added to the series, and a number of well-established volumes are being reissued with revisions and/or supplementary material.

This is the first English translation with an associated commentary of Aristotle’s On Sophistical Refutations in more than a century. Aristotle’s treatise on fallacious arguments has been the starting point of accounts of fallacies for over two millennia. Apart from its importance in the history of logic and argumentation, the work also sheds light on many aspects of Aristotle’s philosophy and its development. This new translation and commentary takes account of the extensive scholarly work on Aristotle’s treatise in recent decades, much of it in languages other than English. It will be of interest to academics and university students in Philosophy and in Classics. As a volume in the Clarendon Aristotle Series, it emphasizes the analysis of Aristotle’s arguments from a philosophical perspective and points out instances where Aristotle’s positions are of interest to contemporary philosophers. The commentary does not assume any knowledge of ancient Greek, though philological issues are discussed in a separate section of Notes on the Text. Aristotle’s technical vocabulary is explained through a Glossary giving both the Greek equivalents for important terms in English and, correspondingly, the English translations used for important Greek terms.

Author Biography

Robin Smith is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Texas A&M University. He specializes in ancient Greek philosophy, especially Aristotle. Smith’s prior works include translations with commentary of Aristotle’s Prior Analytics and of Books I and VIII of his Topics (the latter in the Clarendon Aristotle Series). He is also the author of approximately 25 articles and book chapters, primarily on Aristotle’s logic and its interpretation.