Existentialism in the Middle Ages, Part 1: Metaphysics by Aristotle

This is the first part of a series I'd like to do on Existentialism in the Middle Ages. The question of Being vs Essence goes way back to the 6th century AD with Boethius, got refined by Ibn Sina, challenged by Ibn Rushd, and taken up again by Aquinas. And yes, there were lots of other philosophers and theologians in between. No surprise, the answers they came up with are all a little bit different.

It turns out all of the Islamic and Christian scholars we're going to look at lean very heavily on Aristotle as a foundation. So it only makes sense that we start with the man they simple call, The Philosopher, Aristotle, and his work on Metaphysics.

There's a zillion translations out there. I found a Ross translation on Amazon. If you have a different translation, that's fine.

Metaphysics by Aristotle, Ross translation

So, if you're interested in the intellectual roots of today's Existentialists, come join us for a discussion of the guy who got the metaphysical ball rolling.