This book explores the dynamics of the commentary and textbook traditions in Aristotelian natural philosophy under the headings of doctrine, method, and scientific and social status. It enquires what the evolution of the Aristotelian commentary tradition can tell us about the character of natural philosophy as a pedagogical tool, as a scientific enterprise, and as a background to modern scientific thought. In a unique attempt to cut old-fashioned historiographic divisions, it brings together scholars of ancient, medieval, Renaissance and seventeenth-century philosophy. The book covers a remarkably broad range of topics: it starts with the first Greek commentators and ends with Leibniz.

Cees Leijenhorst, Ph.D. (1998), Utrecht University, is a Researcher at the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Natural Philosophy at the University of Nijmegen.
Christoph Lüthy, Ph.D. (1995), Harvard University, is a Research Fellow of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences at the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Natural Philosophy. He is the Editor of Early Science and Medicine, published by Brill.
Johannes M.M.H. Thijssen is Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Natural Philosophy.