DOI 10.1515/rhiz-2013-0002 RHIZ 2013; 1(1):30–62 Gábor Betegh, Francesca Pedriali, Christian Pfeiffer The Perfection of Bodies: Aristotle’s De Caelo I.1 Abstract: In this paper we give a detailed reconstruction of the first chapter of De Caelo I.1. Aristotle attempts to prove there that bodies are complete and perfect in virtue of being extended in three dimensions. We offer an analysis of this argu- ment and argue that it gives important insight into the role the notion of body plays in physical science. Contrary to other interpretations, we argue that it is an argument about physical, as opposed to mathematical, bodies and that the perfection and completeness of bodies is due to their nature. Moreover, Aristotle heavily relies in his proof on the premise that the number three implies perfec- tion, a view he ascribes to the Pythagoreans. We review the possible sources of this view, as well as its role in Aristotle’s argumentative strategy. Keywords: Aristotle, body, physical science, Pythagoreans. Gábor Betegh: Department of Philosophy, Central European University, Nádor utca 9, H-1051, Budapest, Hungary, E-Mail: beteghg@ceu.hu Christian Pfeiffer: Lehrstuhl für Philosophie III, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1, D-80539 München, E-Mail: Pfeiffer.Ch@lmu.de Francesca Pedriali: Graduate School of Ancient Philosophy, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, D-10099 Berlin, E-Mail: f.pedriali@philosophie.hu-berlin.de Nearly sixty years ago Olof Gigon remarked that what was missing from discus- sions of Aristotle's philosophy were detailed studies of how Aristotle runs an argument in the course of a single chapter.¹ As a first attempt at remedying the situation, Gigon himself provided a detailed analysis of the first chapter of De * This paper originated in the context of a workshop in Zadar, Croatia in 2010 organized by Pavel Gregoric and Luka Borsic. We would like to thank all participants for their comments. We also would especially like to thank Alan Code, Istvan Bodnar and Christopher Noble whose sug- gestions helped us to improve our paper. Finally, we would like to express our gratitude to the Excellence Cluster TOPOI and MAG Zrt ERC_HU BETEGH09 research project for their generous inancial support while preparing this article. 1 Gigon (1952), p. 114: ‘Was der Aristotelesforschung heute noch am meisten zu fehlen scheint, sind Interpretationen, also Untersuchungen, die dem Kontinuum eines bestimmten Textes nach- gehen und den Sinn jedes einzelnen Satzes für sich und in seiner Umgebung zu verstehen su- chen.’ Authenticated | gregoric.pavel@gmail.com Download Date | 7/17/13 10:15 AM