Diana Quarantotto, L’universo senza spazio. Aristotele e la teoria del luogo, Bibliopolis, Naples, 2017, 290 p., ISBN 978-8870886481, € 29.75

Abstract

In this book Diana Quarantotto carries out an analysis of Aristotle’s conception of place. The title of the text, L’universo senza spazio. Aristotele e la teoria del luogo (The universe without space: Aristotle and the theory of place) briefly encapsulates how Aristotle conceives of things’ location: space, as a three-dimensional extension existing independently of the things that occupy it, is not Aristotle’s considered understanding of location; rather for Aristotle things are in a place, for it is true of them to say that they are somewhere. Conversely, every portion of space turns out to be occupied by a body – if only by air – so that Aristotle’s universe is a plenum, that is, a universe where no space is empty. In such a universe, explains Quarantotto, to hypothesise the existence of space would be to multiply entities unnecessarily (p. 38). Since antiquity Aristotle’s theory of place has never failed to provoke controversy, and in fact has been rarely accepted as it stands. The theory has been deemed irremediably unsatisfying, ‘open to serious objections’ (Ross),1 ‘inadequate’ (Hussey),2 vel sim. In the recent debate, however, interpreters have started to reassess Aristotle’s theory and to pay due respect to its own philosophical merits. Quarantotto belongs to this camp in so far as she attempts to bring out the virtues of Aristotle’s theory; but she also highlights the reasons why such a theory may well fail to command agreement to contemporary readers. Quarantotto’s book consists of a close analysis of Aristotle’s Physics IV.1–5.3 Accordingly, the volume breaks down into 5 chapters, each chapter being devoted to its correspondent chapter in Aristotle’s Physics. The reader will find a glossary at the end, with key terms, as well as an index locorum. An introduction is devoted to frame Aristotle’s investigation within the larger project of his Physics. This makes for a succinct but highly illuminating lead-in to Aristotle’s treatise as