Topics Books I and VIII

The Topics is Aristotle’s treatise on dialectical argument, a practice perhaps as old as human language, systemized for the first time by Aristotle. This seminal text offers many important insights into his conception of logic, his development of the notion of the predicables (the Five Terms), and his ideas on the method of philosophical inquiry itself. This volume contains a clear and accurate translation of Books I and VIII of Aristotle’s Topics together with a philosophical commentary on these books and additional selections from Books II and III, and from the Sophistical Refutations. These books and selections best give a general view of the main ideas, arguments, and techniques expounded in the Topics. The volume is well suited to the requirements of students, including those who do not know Greek.