Aristotle's biological writings have happily been the subject of an increasing amount of attention of late. This interest has developed primarily among scholars of ancient philosophy, and has focused in the main on the lessons these treatises might provide for our understanding of central areas of Aristotle's general philosophical thought. In the book before you we present some of the most interesting recent work in this vein, in hopes of stimulating yet wider and deeper attention to this still largely untapped core of Aristotelian writing.

Though the book is addressed primarily to students of Aristotle's philosophy, its extensive attention to the whole of the biology, in matters both of detail and of general purpose and direction, should make it of interest to historians and philosophers of biology as well. We hope this is so, as we think that additional attention from these quarters to Aristotelian biology, and its relations to Aristotelian philosophy, would be beneficial both for Aristotelian studies and for the history and philosophy of biology. As in most other areas, there is much in Aristotle here that remains alive, even vital, for contemporary study. But the focus of this volume is, as we say, on the lessons of Aristotle's biology for our understanding of his philosophy.