12/5 Physics II.8, 648-650; Parts of Animals I.1, 682, 686; Parts of Animals II.1 photocopy; Generation of Animals IV.4 photocopy

Themes: Norms and accidents in biology

1. How does Aristotle argue that nature acts not from necessity or by chance but for an end (i.e., teleologically)?

2. Aristotle acknowledges that abnormalities occur in nature (e.g., unseasonable weather) and uses the example of errors in human action to explain how they happen. How does he do this?

3. Perhaps the starkest examples of abnormalities in nature are deformities in living creatures. According to Aristotle, how do they happen? How does this relate to Aristotle’s much criticized claim that males contribute the form of the child and females only the material?