Christof Rapp, Dr. phil.
Professor of Ancient and Modern Philosophy
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Geboren 1964 in Rottweil/Neckar
Studium der Fächer Philosophie, Griechisch, Logik und Wissenschaftstheorie an den Universitäten Tübingen und München
Project
Commentary on Aristotle's Metaphysics: Books VI, VII, VIII
Die unter dem Titel Metaphysik zusammengefassten 14 Bücher des Aristoteles enthalten Abhandlungen zur Ontologie, zur Substanzlehre, zur philosophischen Theologie sowie kritische Analysen der vor-aristotelischen Philosophie. Auch in der philosophischen Debatte des 20. Jahrhunderts gab es zahlreiche Versuche, die Lehren aus dieser Schrift zu aktualisieren und mit den Mitteln der Gegenwartsphilosophie zu diskutieren. Bislang gibt es aus neuerer Zeit jedoch keinen vollständigen Kommentar zu dieser Schrift. In einem mit Christoph Horn und zwei weiteren Forschern gemeinsam betriebenen Projekt soll nun eine vollständige Neuübersetzung mit Kommentar zu diesem Werk erstellt werden. Mir fällt dabei insbesondere die Kommentierung der Bücher VI, VII, VIII zu. Zentrales Thema der sogenannten "mittleren" Bücher der "Metaphysik" ist Aristoteles' berühmte Theorie der Substanz (ousia). Es geht dabei um die Frage, worin die Grundlage allen Seins besteht: Handelt es sich dabei um allgemeine Begriffe oder um diejenigen materiellen Teile, aus denen alles zusammengesetzt ist? Aristoteles' Lösung ist, dass es eine substantielle Form gibt, die Ursache für das Sein von allem Seienden ist.Lektüreempfehlung
Rapp, Christof. Identität, Persistenz und Substantialität. Freiburg/München: Alber, 1995.
-. Vorsokratiker. München: Beck, 1997.
-. Aristoteles' Rhetorik, Übersetzung und Kommentar. 2 Bde. In Aristoteles - Werke in deutscher Übersetzung. Bd. 4. Berlin: Akademie, 2002
Colloquium, 27.04.2004
Commenting on Aristotle's Metaphysics
Aristotele's Metaphysics is one of the key texts of Western philosophy. The Metaphysics consists of 14 parts or 'books' that address some very disparate topics. The various treatments range from an outline of the pre-Aristotelean history of philosophy (Book I), through a defense of the principle of non-contradiction (Book IV), a discussion of the ambiguity of basic philosophical terms (Book V), the search for the ground of Being or Substance (Book VII), and a treatment of the ontological status of numbers (Books XIII-SIV), to a proof of the existence of an Unmoved Mover (Book XII). Aristotle himself does not call his project 'metaphysics', but consistently speaks of 'first philosophy', 'first science', or simply 'wisdom (sophia)'. In the first chapter of the Metaphysics, he says that all people regard it as a matter of wisdom to investigate first principles and causes. The search for first principles and causes in fact then creates the thematic tie among the various 'books'. An alternative description of the theme of the Metaphysics is that it investigates Being, insofar as it is. This formulation is misleading: it surely does not mean that only certain things will be investigated, but others not; more probably, it means that Being (everything that is) is to be investigated by asking why and with what justification it is called 'being'. At the same time, this question is the occasion for an investigation of Substance. What we generally translate as 'Substance' is 'ousia' in the Greek. 'Ousia' means the fundamental Being upon which all other being depends.
Together with Christoph Horn and two other colleagues, I am working on a German edition of the Metaphysics. This edition will comprise a new translation as well as a philosophical commentary on the Metaphysics. The edition has been in planning since the 1950s, ever since a new complete edition of Aristotle's works in the German language was begun. Various authors have meanwhile been entrusted with working on this edition, but all have given up the commission after a few years, probably because in recent decades the international discussion of Artistotle's Metaphysics has been very intense and on a very high level, so that an individual redactor can hardly maintain an overview of the whole field of research. One consequence of this development has been that partial editions have repeatedly appeared in various languages, but that there has been no recent commentary on the entire Metaphysics that takes the current state of research into account.
The lecture will present this project of a new translation and new commentary, will delve into the concept of metaphysics and of Aristotle's theory of Substance, and will introduce the associated problems of interpretation.
Publications from the Fellows' Library
Rapp, Christof (2018)
Aporia and dialectical method in Aristotle
Rapp, Christof (Berlin [u.a.], 2015)
Werke in deutscher Übersetzung, Analytica priora ; Buch 2 Werke in deutscher Übersetzung
Rapp, Christof (Berlin, 2013)
Werke in deutscher Übersetzung ; Bd. 16,1, Buch 1/2 Zoologische Schriften I
Rapp, Christof (2011)
Friedrich Nietzsche and Pre-Platonic philosophy
Rapp, Christof (2004)
Rapp, Christof (München, 2002)
Wörterbuch der antiken Philosophie Beck'sche Reihe ; 1483
Rapp, Christof (Hamburg, 2001)
Aristoteles zur Einführung Zur Einführung ; 246
Rapp, Christof (München, 1997)
Vorsokratiker Beck'sche Reihe ; 539
Rapp, Christof (1996)
"Kein Allgemeines ist Substanz" (Z13, 14-16)
Rapp, Christof (1996)
