The role, structure and status of Aristotle's Physics I
The essay addresses the general issues of the role, structure and status of Physics I. First, I seek to clarify the sense in which Physics I is the beginning of Aristotle’s physical project. I argue that, although Physics I’s inquiry is of a scientific and physical kind, it is a relatively free-standing treatise, which plays an introductory role aimed at, as it were, setting the scene for the project as a whole. I highlight various clues that show Physics I’s introductory role: the way in which it describes the central object of natural science (i.e.