Ontology and the Art of Tragedy

Martha Husain is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Brock University.

"Husain shows us how the Poetics fits into Aristotle's philosophy considered as a systematic whole. In the process she offers persuasive new solutions to problems that have long plagued students of this extraordinarily difficult book. This is a work that everyone interested in Aristotle or in the philosophy of art will have to read and digest." — C. D. C. Reeve, author of Substantial Knowledge: Aristotle's Metaphysics"Original and well-argued, Husain's book is a direct challenge to the growing and influential socio-political interpretation of the significance of the art of tragedy." — John P. Anton, author of Categories and Experience: Essays on Aristotelian Themes

• PrefaceIntroduction 1. Approach to the Corpus as a Whole 1.1 The Systematic, the Chronological, the Aporetic Approach1.2 The Pervasive Substantive-Methodological Conceptual Constants 1.2.1 The Concept of Being1.2.2 The Categories of Being1.2.3 The Categorial Priority of Ousia1.2.4 Immanent Causal Form-Matter Constitution in the Category of Ousia1.2.5 The Ontological and Cognitive Priority of the Object 2. Approach To The Poetics 2.1 The Poetics As A Special Science2.2 Techne-Physis (Mimesis 1)2.3 Artistic Techne (Mimesis 2)2.4 Poetical Techne, Tragic Techne2.5 Tragedy as an Ousia 3. Levels within the Poetics 3.1 The First Level: Being 3.1.1 The Concept of Being3.1.2 The Categories of Being 3.1.3 The Categorial Priority of Ousia3.1.4 Immanent Causal Form-Matter Constitution in the Category of Ousia3.1.5 The Ontological and Cognitive Priority of the Object 3.2 The Second and Third Levels: Mimesis 1 and Mimesis 23.3 The Aporia of Mimesis and Aristotle’s Solution 3.3.1 Liberties Art May Not Take3.3.2 Liberties Art May Take3.3.3 Liberties Art Must Take 4. Agent-Centering, Patient-Centering, Object-Centering 4.1 Agent-Centering and Object-Centering 4.1.1 Agent-Centering4.1.2 Object-Centering4.1.3 Comparison of Ethical and Tragic Action 4.2 Patient-Centering and Object-Centering 4.2.1 Patient-Centering4.2.2 Comparison of Rhetorical and Tragic Action ConclusionAppendix: Textual EvidenceNotesReferencesIndex of NamesSubject IndexIndex of Passages Cited