Thomas Pangle’s Neo-Epicurean Reading of Aristotle’s Biology

Abstract

In his 2020 reading of Aristotle’s biology, “A Synoptic Introduction to the Ontological Background of Aristotle’s Political Theory,” Thomas L. Pangle (2020) speaks de facto on behalf of contemporary Neo-Epicureanism. For Pangle reads Aristotle by way of advancing the cause of an Epicurean use of Plato. Proposing to liberate Aristotle from a 2,400 year-old Platonic tradition having allegedly unduly minimized the importance of biology in understanding both ontology and politics, Pangle argues for fundamental compatibility between the Stagirite and Darwinian evolutionism. The present article offers strong reasons to reject Pangle's central contentions.