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Mayhew ( R. ) (ed.) The Aristotelian Problemata Physica. Philosophical and Scientific Investigations . (Philosophia Antiqua 139.) Pp. xvi + 467, ills. Leiden and Boston : Brill , 2015. Cased, [euro]168, US$218. ISBN: 978-90-04-28085-4 .
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The volume is a collection of 21 essays on the pseudo-Aristotelian Problemata physica, with a preface by the editor, an index locorum and an index nominum. With its 38 books, the Problemata physica is the third longest work in the corpus Aristotelicum. Although the work is spurious, we know for sure that Aristotle theorised the usefulness of collecting problems on different subjects for both didactic and scientific purposes. We also know that he actually worked on some such collections (on all these aspects see, in particular, Chapter 1 by I. Bodnár, Chapter 2 by S. Menn and Chapter 3 by J.G. Lennox). It is therefore likely that Aristotle's activity on problems influenced the composition of the Problemata physica as we have it, and it is possible that at least some of Aristotle's original problems were incorporated in this collection.
From the general point of view, the volume sheds light on the sense in which the Problemata can be regarded as the result of the Aristotelian approach to natural phenomena, and on how this work relates to the philosophical activity and, more generally, to the cultural life in the years of the early Peripatos. The volume does not aim at providing a systematic or unified analysis of the contents of the Problemata. Rather, it is a collection of very different contributions, ranging from the detailed reading of a particular chapter (e.g. J.G. Rheins on Probl. 30.6), to the discussion of philological problems (e.g. A.C. Bowen on the title and agenda of Probl. 15), to the analysis of broader philosophical issues...