Aristotle and Tragic Temporality treats a theme that has drawn scholarly attention for millennia: Aristotle on time and our experience of it. It does so, however, in a wholly unprecedented way, grounding its interpretation in his Poetics and Ethics, rather than the natural philosophy of the Physics. Sean D. Kirkland first takes up Aristotle's discussion of our tragic temporal situatedness—our having to act, think, and live always between a determining past we can never fully master and a projected future we can never fully anticipate. It is this condition that comes powerfully to light for Aristotle on stage in the performance of a tragic drama. The familiar Aristotelian ‘virtue ethics’ then becomes something radically new in the transforming light of the Poetics’ temporality - an outline of how humans can inhabit that irremediably tragic condition, never overcoming or suspending it, and arrive nonetheless at something like happiness and excellence.

In Aristotle and Tragic Temporality, Sean D. Kirkland offers a fresh interpretation of Aristotle’s ethics following an unexpected but fruitful path through his Poetics and Physics. Taking aim at those who would too readily impute a metaphysics of presence and a modern division of subject and object to Aristotle, this book upsets now-canonical truisms of Aristotelian philosophy-- the reduced status of dialectic, time as objective or subjective, the separation of epistemological and metaphysical principles—and affirms the fundamental importance of appearance for how we initially engage and understand the world. It is a book for scholars of Aristotle and it is a book for humans concerned to live and act in the face of an uncertain future. -- Adriel M. Trott, Wabash College
The book deftly bridges classical philosophy and post-Heideggerian thought, making it both a contribution to Aristotle studies and a work of contemporary philosophical reflection. Kirkland's prose is dense but deliberate, demanding close attention. His analysis of phronesis as temporally situated judgment is especially valuable for rethinking virtue ethics in our uncertain world. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty. -- F. A. Grabowski, Rogers State University * CHOICE *

Sean D. Kirkland is Professor of Philosophy at DePaul University and serves as the Co-Director of DePaul's Institute for Nature and Culture. He specializes in ancient Greek philosophy, as well as 19th and 20th century continental philosophy. He is the author of Heidegger and the Destruction of Aristotle (Northwestern, 2023) and The Ontology of Socratic Questioning (SUNY, 2012), as well as co-editor of A Companion to Ancient Philosophy (Northwestern, 2018) and The Returns of Antigone (SUNY, 2014).