Generation of Animals is one of Aristotle's most mature, sophisticated, and carefully crafted scientific writings. His overall goal is to provide a comprehensive and systematic account of how animals reproduce, including a study of their reproductive organs, what we would call fertilization, embryogenesis, and organogenesis. In this book, international experts present thirteen original essays providing a philosophically and historically informed introduction to this important work. They shed light on the unity and structure of the Generation of Animals, the main theses that Aristotle defends in the work, and the method of inquiry he adopts. They also open up new avenues of exploration of this difficult and still largely unexplored work. The volume will be essential for scholars and students of ancient philosophy as well as of the history and philosophy of science.

Generation of Animals is one of Aristotle's most mature, sophisticated, and carefully crafted scientific writings. His overall goal is to provide a comprehensive and systematic account of how animals reproduce, including a study of their reproductive organs, what we would call fertilization, embryogenesis, and organogenesis. In this book, international experts present thirteen original essays providing a philosophically and historically informed introduction to this important work. They shed light on the unity and structure of the Generation of Animals, the main theses that Aristotle defends in the work, and the method of inquiry he adopts. They also open up new avenues of exploration of this difficult and still largely unexplored work. The volume will be essential for scholars and students of ancient philosophy as well as of the history and philosophy of science.

English summary: Although Aristotle never used the term "metaphysics," the primary link between philosophy and physics is a central issue of his philosophy, which has largely determined the history of Western metaphysics. The contributions all study questions related to this link. French text. French description: La metaphysique se definit etymologiquement comme ce qui est au-dela de la physique. Bien qu'Aristote n'ait jamais fait usage du terme metaphysique, le lien entre la philosophie premiere et la physique est une question centrale de sa philosophie, qui a largement determine l'histoire de la metaphysique occidentale. Aristote, a plusieurs reprises, affirme que si seuls les etres naturels existaient, la physique serait la premiere sagesse, mais ajoute que, comme il y des etres au-dela de ceux-ci, c'est la science qui les a pour objets qui est premiere. Pourtant, on constate que certains objets relevent a la fois de la physique et de la metaphysique: l'ame, le premier moteur . Comment ces objets peuvent-ils appartenir a deux sciences differentes? Comment la metaphysique est-elle et peut-elle etre a la fois science de l'etre en tant qu'etre (ce qu'on appellera plus tard l'ontologie), science de la substance, theologie, ou encore science des principes et des premieres causes? Quel rapport ces differentes conceptions de la metaphysique entretiennent-elles avec la physique? Quel est le contenu de la metaphysique? Comment determiner son statut par rapport a la physique? Telles sont les questions que l'on trouvera traitees dans les etudes reunies ici, qui ont fait l'objet, sous la direction de Jonathan Barnes, de communications et de discussions dans le cadre du seminaire 2005-2007 du Centre de recherches sur la Pensee Antique (Centre Leon Robin)