The ("Book of Causes") is a philosophical work composed in Arabic in the 9th century. It was once attributed to Aristotle and became popular in West during the Middle Ages, after it was translated into Latin by Gerard of Cremona between 1167 and 1187.Lydia Schumacher, "Liber de causis," in Andrew Louth (ed.), The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 4th ed. (Oxford University Press, 2022), retrieved 12 September 2023. The original title was كتاب الإيضاح لأرسطوطاليس في الخير المحض , "The Book of Aristotle's Explanation of the Pure Good".This is the title given by . Its Latin title, , came into use following its translation. The work was also translated into Armenian and Hebrew. Many Latin commentaries on the work are extant.Edited (some only partially) in . Albertus Magnus attributed the Liber de causis to a certain David, a Jew, who in some sources appears as the author under the name of Avendauth, i.e. Ibn David.
The real authorship of the Liber remains a mystery, but most of the content is taken from the Elements of Theology of the Neoplatonic philosopher Proclus. This was first noticed by Thomas Aquinas,Fr. Battista Mondin, O.P., Ontologia e metafisica, Edizioni Studio Domenicano, 2022, 3rd edition, p. 167. following William of Moerbeke's translation of Proclus' work into Latin. As such its author is now known as pseudo-Aristotle..
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Text and translations Arabic (edition of the Arabic) (edition of the Arabic with German translation)
Latin Pattin, Adriaan, Le Liber de Causis. Edition établie a l'aide de 90 manuscrits avec introduction et notes, in Tijdschrift voor Filosofie 28 (1966) pp. 90–203
Hebrew Rothschild, Jean-Pierre: Les traductions hébraïques du Liber de causis latin. Dissertation Paris 1985, Bd. 1, S. 172–243 (synoptic edition of parts of the Hebrew translations)
Translations in modern languages Albayrak, Mehmet Barış: Nedenler Kitabı (Liber de Causis), Notos Yayınları, 2014. (Türkçe çeviri) Baumgarten, Alexander. Pseudo-Aristotel, Liber de causis, traducere, note şi comentariu de Alexander Baumgarten, Univers Enciclopedic, București, 2002 (Romanian translation) Brand, Dennis J. (ed.), tr. The Book of Causes: Liber de Causis (English translation): 1st ed. 1984 Marquette University Press, 2nd ed. 2001 Niagara University Press Magnard, Pierre; Boulnois, Olivier; Pinchard, Bruno; Solere, Jean-Luc. La demeure de l'être. Autour d'un anonyme. Etude et traduction du Liber de Causis, Paris 1990, Vrin (French translation) Schönfeld, Andreas. Liber de causis: Das Buch von den Ursachen, repr. 2005 Meiner Felix Verlag Gmbh : Latin text, German translation
Commentaries Albertus Magnus, Liber de causis et processu universitatis a prima causa (Latin) (in 2 volumes) D'Ancona, Cristina: Tommaso d'Aquino, Commento al Libro delle cause. Rusconi, Milano 1986: commentary by Thomas Aquinas Sancti Thomae de Aquino super librum De Causis expositio (Latin)
Secondary literature Alonso, Manuel Alonso. Las fuentes literarias del Liber de causis. Al-Andalus: revista de las escuelas de estudios árabes de Madrid y Granada, (10), 1945, pp. 345–382. Bächli-Hinz, Andreas. Monotheismus und neuplatonische Philosophie: Eine Untersuchung zum pseudo-aristotelischen Liber de causis und dessen Rezeption durch Albert den Großen, Frankfurt, Academia Verlag, 2002. (in 2 volumes)
D'Ancona, Cristina. Recherches sur le Liber de causis. Vrin, Paris 1995, D'Ancona, Cristina; Taylor, Richard C. "Le Liber de causis", in: Richard Goulet and others (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques, CNRS, Paris 2003, , S. 599–647
Megías, Paloma Llorente. Liber de Causis: Índice y Concordancia, Florence, Olschki 2004. Ricklin, Thomas. Die 'Physica' und der 'Liber de causis' im 12. Jahrhundert. Zwei Studien. University press, Freiburg (Switzerland) 1995, Taylor, Richard C. "The Kalām fī maḥḍ al-khair (Liber de causis) in the Islamic Philosophical Milieu" in: Jill Kraye and others (eds.): Pseudo-Aristotle in the Middle Ages, Warburg Institute, London 1986, , S. 37–52
See also Theology of Aristotle, another 9th-century Arabic adaptation of a Neoplatonic work (Plotinus' Enneads) falsely attributed to Aristotle
External links Latin: critical text of Adriaan Pattin (1966) revised by Hans Zimmermann 2001 Arabic and German text: Bardenhewer edition (1822) Latin text (UBB Cluj) Latin text (Intratext) Editions (Bibliotheca Augustana)