In this volume P. offers a French translation of Aristotle's Metaphysics book Alpha, without the Greek text but with explanatory notes. Although there are two other reliable French translations of the Metaphysics – J. Tricot (1953²) and M.-P. Duminil/A. Jaulin (2008) – this new version is justified inasmuch as it takes into consideration the new edition of the Greek text of book Alpha by O. Primavesi (2012) as well as other recently published bibliography.

After the introduction, P. provides a detailed plan of the book and a reference to the Greek text and its editions. This is followed by the two central parts of the work: the translation and the explanatory notes. Next, P. adds four useful indexes: one of key philosophical terms, which also includes their textual references, and one of ancient authors. A third index lists the passages of Aristotle cited by P. both in the introduction and in the notes, and the last one sorts his references to ancient texts by author. The last section contains the bibliography, divided into primary sources and modern studies.

The introduction goes far beyond simply presenting the Metaphysics and providing a synthesis of each chapter of Alpha. P. takes a stance on the issues of Aristotle's main concern in this treatise and of the extent to which he follows Plato's concept of philosophy. In this regard, P. argues that book A establishes a curriculum and designs the horizon for its fulfilment, given that philosophy is, for Aristotle, the knowledge of the first principles and causes of everything and that the definition of the four causes is its basic condition. This is, in fact, the subject addressed in the opening two chapters of Alpha, while the lengthy doxographical discussion that extends from Chapter 3 onwards examines the theories of causality articulated by his predecessors, who, according to Aristotle, either could not identify its four modalities or had done so confusingly. This is why P. thinks that the critical assessment of previous philosophers inserted in A allows Aristotle to declare that he is the only one who has accomplished the programme Plato articulated in the Phaedo.

The weight of the doxographical passage in book A naturally leads to an appraisal of Aristotle as a historian of philosophy. In this respect, P. follows H. Cherniss (1935 and 1944) in considering that for Aristotle his theory is the culmination of the philosophical reflection on causality and in questioning his intellectual honesty, accusing him of distorting the aims and the arguments of his predecessors as well as of fitting the ancient doctrines in a reductive mould (pp. 41–3; 63–5). This thesis has received objections from W. Jaeger (1937, pp. 350–6), M. Gentile (1939, pp. 7–13), M. Dal Pra (1950) and W. Guthrie (1957, pp. 35–41), but it was later taken up by J. Stevenson (1974, pp. 138–43), J. Mansfeld (1990, pp. 48) and A. Nightingale (2004, pp. 26–9). For a fairer appraisal, it is necessary to take into consideration what Aristotle recommends in De An. 1.2.403b20–4: receiving aid from the opinions of the predecessors who have said something about the topic under research, taking up what has been well said and being on guard against anything not well said. This is the aim pursued in his historical investigations. But as E. Berti and C. Rossitto (2002, pp. 9–10) have pointed out, the doxographical examination offered in Alpha has an unusual character: if in other treatises it serves the purpose of establishing a new doctrine, here it is introduced to confirm a theory already elaborated in the Physics. This difference is explained, I believe, by the double use that Aristotle makes of preceding doctrines. He takes them as a starting point in order to appropriate whatever truth they might contain, and he then comes back to them with new concepts to evaluate their successes and shortfalls. This second movement has given rise to the accusation of distortion, a criticism that obscures the degree to which Aristotle's position is the result of his examination of early philosophy. In fact, the superimposition of his conceptual scheme on the preceding proposals can be seen as the presentation of Aristotle's solution to the problems that his predecessors left unresolved.

Regarding the first moment, that of appropriation, it is frequently acknowledged by P. in assertions such as ‘la Métaphysique ne se présente nullement comme un rejet critique de la philosophie de Platon. La raison en est que le livre Alpha donne à la philosophie un programme qui est construit depuis l’œuvre de Platon et ses exigences’ (p. 71). In this regard, P. aligns himself with the majority of the ancient commentators, who believed that it was possible to remain faithful to Plato and to follow his philosophical work, criticising and rejecting, nonetheless, those aspects that were not considered pertinent. Such an understanding has also been recently advocated by V. Politis (2004) and L. Gerson (2005).

Concerning the Greek text, modern editors have identified two families of manuscripts, denominated α and β. P. uses W.D. Ross's edition, based mainly on family β, due to its merits (p. 82), though introducing small variants (pp. 83–4). He contrasts it with Primavesi's edition, who favours family α. But P. seems to criticise Primavesi for his strict adherence to that family, since he asserts that, instead of preferring the readings of one family over the other mechanically, it is necessary to assess the linguistic pertinence and the lexical or argumentative coherence of the readings in order to choose the variants.

For his translation, P. has consulted assiduously Ross's English version (1928²), Tricot's French rendition (1953²) and Berti's Italian translation (2017), due to its clarity. It is well known that the Metaphysics is a text difficult to translate, because of both its syntax and its vocabulary. In his fine and smooth translation P. has remained close to the Greek text, but has also attempted, with great success, to provide an intelligible version for specialised readers, avoiding the typical use of angle brackets when he inserts new words. In terms of the wording, his effort to restore the original meaning of the text is remarkable. P. has also made a conscious effort to maintain the correspondence between Greek and French matching expressions, so as to allow readers to detect the usage of the most important Greek terms in the text, with the exception of very polysemic words such as λόγος, which he alternatively translates as ‘discours’, ‘raison’, ‘explication’ or ‘définition’, depending on the context.

The notes are included after the translation and, though printed in a smaller font, occupy more than half of the book. They contain commentaries on the text that seek to render it more intelligible, making reference mainly to other Aristotelian works. P. also clarifies his choice of the variants whenever he departs from Jaeger's or Ross's editions, and often invokes Primavesi's work, either to explain why he does not follow it or to amplify his commentary. The references to Plato's dialogues are numerous, most probably to support P.'s interpretation regarding Aristotle's Platonism. Ancient commentators are not cited with great frequency. Regarding modern scholarship, P. throughout takes into account Ross's commentary, the works of Cherniss (1935 and 1944), L. Robin (1908) and W. Leszl (1975) and, in particular, the commentaries included in C. Steel's book (2012).

The translation and commentary shed light on the intricate treatise Metaphysics A. They offer to both students and scholars a penetrating exposition of the problems and arguments posed by Aristotle in Alpha, which has been accurately considered the first history of western philosophy. Judiciously, P. also provides a comprehensive picture of Aristotle's purpose for this treatise, which is to propose a concept of philosophy that follows Socrates’ project presented in the Phaedo with regard to the knowledge of the first causes of everything. Yet, this concept is also characterised by the persistent role of questions, which can likewise be approached with P.'s guidance and translation of book B (2021).