The Book of Causes

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First Part.

The Arabic Text of the Book of Causes.

original Latin: de causis

The manuscript tradition of the Arabic text. Pages 3—10.
A manuscript copy is found in the Leiden University Library (Codex Golii 209) 4; it dates from the year 593 of the Hijra original German: "der Flucht" (the Flight), referring to the migration of Muhammad to Medina, 1197 AD 5, but is deficient to the highest degree 7. A second copy could not be located 9. Essential aid in the critical determination of the text was provided by the Latin translation 10. The principles followed in producing the German paraphrase 10.

Evaluation of the book itself according to form and content. Its relationship to the Elements of Theology original Greek: στοιχείωσις θεολογική by the Neoplatonist Proclus. Pages 11—37.
General characterization of the book’s doctrinal view 11. As St. Thomas Aquinas already recognized, the work is an excerpt from the Elements of Theology original Greek: στοιχείωσις θεολογική 12. Critique of the book from this perspective. The lack of plan and arrangement. The vague and indefinite mode of expression 13. Insufficient understanding of the source material. The theistic and monotheistic framing of Neoplatonic thought. Other contradictions 14. Detailed proof of our book's dependency on the Elements original Greek: στοιχείωσις or the tracing of the former’s individual chapters and propositions back to the latter. The title of the book 15. § 1 15. § 2 16. § 3 18. § 4 18. § 5 20. § 6 21. § 7 22. § 8 23. § 9 24. § 10 24. § 11 25. § 12 26. § 13 26. § 14 26. § 15 27. § 16 29. § 17 29. § 18 29. § 19 30. § 20 31. § 21 31. § 22 31. § 23 32. § 24 33. § 25 33. § 26 33. § 27 34. § 28 34. § 29 34. § 30 35 § 31 36.

The origin of the book. Its traces in Arabic literature. Pages 37—57.
The Arabic text is, in all probability, an original work and not a translation. In any case, a Greek original is not to be assumed 38. Furthermore, no trace can be found of the current or former existence of a Syriac text A dialect of Aramaic that served as a major bridge for translating Greek philosophy into Arabic 40.