Primary "Ousia"

Michael J. Loux here presents a fresh reading of two of the most important books of the Metaphysics, Books Z and H, in which Aristotle presents his mature theory of primary substances (ousiai). Focusing on the interplay of Aristotle's early and late...

Michael J. Loux is George N. Shuster Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. He is the editor of The Possible and the Actual, also from Cornell.

This work clearly makes a highly significant contribution to the study of Books Z and H, the center of Aristotle's Metaphysics.

Primary Ousia should be read by everyone with a serious interest in Aristotle. Its sharp focus and straightforward style will be appreciated by students seeking guidance through the tangled thickets of Metaphysics Z and H. Scholars will be rewarded by its detailed arguments and its careful consideration of alternative views.

Loux's investigation of the difficult central books of Aristotle's Metaphysics is clearly the result of a sustained, minute study of the text.... It offers a sensitive, carefully crafted interpretation of Aristotle's mature theory of substance.

Charlotte Witt, author of Substance and Essence in Aristotle:

Primary Ousia is a work of the very highest philosophical and scholarly quality, and, as a bonus, it is written in lucid and lively prose. It is timely, useful, and important.