Aither is a double-blind peer review, Open Access online academic journal. It is indexed at ERIH+ and Scopus. It is published by the Faculty of Arts of the Palacký University in Olomouc in cooperation with the Philosophical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. It comes out twice a year. Every second issue is international and contains foreign-language articles (mainly in English, but also in German and French). The journal is registered under the number ISSN 1803-7860.

Aither 15/2016:72-83 | DOI: 10.5507/aither.2016.004

Aristotle's Reflection on the Tragic Concept of Cause

Kryštof Boháček
Filosofický ústav AV ČR

The article explores the possibility of Aristotle's inspiration by tragic thought in the topic of cause. In the first part, the author presents a general exposure of the theory of causes in Aristotle's philosophy. The second part focuses on the issue of cause in Posterior Analytics. In the third part the relation between cause and chance is analysed. The author builds on his earlier exploration of interrelation between nature and the human world in Aristotle. According to Boháček, Aristotle's conceptualization of this relationship is the result of reflection of the older conception of fate and chance.
Therefore, the fourth and largest part examines in extenso the textual evidence of the word-root "cause" in Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. Consequently, the author identifies a unified concept of the "tragic cause" and concludes with the view of the Aristotelian theory of cause as i.a. a result of broader reflection of an older tragic concept.

Published: March 30, 2016  Show citation

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Boháček, K. (2016). Aristotle's Reflection on the Tragic Concept of Cause. Aither, 8(15), 72-83. doi: 10.5507/aither.2016.004
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