亞里斯多德幾乎什麼都搞錯了。宇宙是有限的。星辰是永恒的，它們忙著思考且不斷以完美的圓形運動著。地球在宇宙的中心。演化論是錯的。自然有目的，且不作多餘的事。生物有靈魂。感官是可靠的。「幸福是什麼？」有客觀答案。我們如果夠努力，幸福是可以實現的。理論即使無用，仍然是好的。男人天生比女人優越。奴隸制有正當性。放高利貸是不自然的。最好的社會不追求自由，而是追求美德；於是，侷限自由有正當性。
所以，看起來，對追求真理的人而言，在二十一世紀讀亞里斯多德根本是浪費時間。已經知道是錯的東西，讀了幹什麼？！可是，有三個理由鼓勵我們跟著他一起思考。一、許多現代思想家相信，以反亞里斯多德起家的近現代哲學（以及以近現代哲學為原則而構想並創造的現代社會）處於危機之中。這一危機促使我們想重新審視過往，理解危機從何而來。二、即使我們不同意近現代哲學或現代社會處於危機中，亞里斯多德也可以幫助我們捍衛現代哲學/世界的原則與價值，因為他是這些原則與價值思考最為周詳的對手。三、有可能，儘管他錯了這麼多，某些重要的，最重要的事情，他仍然是對的。這些仍然是對的想法，有沒有可能在我們批判地理解後，可以與當今的知識相容而尚未過時呢？有沒有可能接受亞里斯多德對的想法，但不需要同時接受那些錯的呢？出於以上三個理由，本課程將對亞里斯多德的哲學作一概覽。

Aristotle got almost everything wrong. The universe is finite. Stars are eternal. They think and move in perfect circles. The earth is at the center of the universe. Evolution is wrong. Nature has purpose and does nothing in vain. Living beings have souls. We can trust our senses. There is an objective answer to what human happiness is. It is possible to achieve that happiness if we try hard enough. Theory is good even if it has no practical benefits. Men are by nature superior to women. Slavery can be justified. Charging interest for lending money is unnatural. The best society is not one that values freedom, but one that values virtue, which justifies restrictions on freedom.
It seems, therefore, that Aristotle is not worth our time (if "we" are those who love truth above all else) anymore. If we already know he's wrong, why bother studying him? Three reasons, however, suggest that we reopen the debate between Aristotle and the moderns. (a) Many thinkers believe that modern thought (and modern societies created by it) is in a crisis. This crisis encourages us to carefully reflect on the past: how did we get here? (b) Even if one does not accept that modern thought is in a crisis, revisiting Aristotle will help us defend modern thought better because Aristotle remains hitherto the most formidable opponent of the principles and values of that thought. (c) It is possible that, despite all what he got wrong, Aristotle is still right about some other important things--things that can still be critically accepted by us as compatible with what we now know about the world. What are those things? And is it possible to accept them without also accepting what Aristotle got wrong? For these reasons we shall engage in a survey of Aristotle's philosophy.