The Manuscript Tradition of the Arabic Text.

The Latin text of the Book on Causes original: "liber de causis" used by the Scholastics medieval philosophers and theologians who taught in European universities reveals itself through its linguistic peculiarities to be a translation of an Arabic text. A. Jourdain¹ had already suggested that the original title of the Latin text was likely not the Book on Causes, but rather the Book on the Essence of Pure Goodness original: "liber de essentia purae bonitatis". This is the title used for the book by Alan of Lille original: "Alanus ab Insulis", and Alan (who died around 1202) is the earliest Latin-speaking author in whose works a specific citation of the book by name can be identified. Due to a lack of available sources, Jourdain was unable to determine the exact origin of the Latin translation. Had he been able to, he would have added that the translator themselves gave the version the title: Aristotle’s Book on the Exposition of Pure Goodness original: "liber Aristotelis de expositione bonitatis purae".

Several Hebrew versions of our book are of a more recent date than the Latin translation, stemming partly from the Arabic and partly from the Latin. The oldest of these, produced by Zerahiah ben Isaac original: "Serachja ben Isaak" around 1284 from an Arabic source, bears the title: "Book of the Discourse on Absolute Good."

Thus, clues were provided from two different sides, both pointing toward the suspicion that the Arabic "Book of the Discourse of Aristotle on Pure Goodness," which is mentioned in the—

1 Researches on the Ancient Latin Translations of Aristotle original: "Recherches sur les anciennes traductions latines d'Aristote" p. 183. I cite this work, which remains indispensable today, always according to the second edition published in Paris in 1843, overseen by the author's son, Ch. Jourdain. The first edition appeared in 1819. Adolf Stahr provided a German adaptation, Halle 1831.