What is reality, and how do we understand our place within it?

For more than two thousand years, questions like these have been shaped by Aristotle’s Metaphysics, one of the most influential works in the history of philosophy.

The title Metaphysics does not come from Aristotle himself, who spoke instead of a “first philosophy.” Over time, however, the concept of metaphysics has come to signify the most fundamental questions: first principles and causes and something Aristotle calls “being as being”. Drawing on dialogue with Plato and the early Greek thinkers, the text develops Aristotle’s own perspective, which today continues to inspire debate and new interpretations.

Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters has this year published the first Swedish edition of Aristotle’s Metaphysics, with an introduction, commentary, and notes accompanying the translation by Jan-Ivar Lindén. The volume makes Aristotle’s thought more accessible both to scholars and to a broader audience.

The publication is available as an e-book and in print from the Tiedekirja Bookstore (Snellmaninkatu 13, 00170 Helsinki).