Translator's Introduction

A. Title, Date, Authorship

Little by little, contemporary historians 1. Footnote regarding historical research. are penetrating the mystery surrounding the origins of The Book of Causes. The treatise seems to have been widely known and circulated from the beginning of the 13th century in Latin translation under two titles: Liber Aristotelis de expositione bonitatis purae Original: "Aristotle's Book on the Exposition of Pure Goodness" and Liber de causis Original: "Book of Causes". As such, it has been preserved in over 230 manuscripts. Since the pioneering studies of O. Bardenhewer 2. O. Bardenhewer, historical scholar. and M. Steinschneider, 3. M. Steinschneider, historical scholar. historians unanimously recognize that the Medieval Latin translation was originally made in the Mozarabic city of Toledo by Gerard of Cremona (d. 1187) from an Arabic exemplar. Indeed, a treatise with the title Liber de expositione bonitatis purae is included in a list of works translated by Gerard into Latin. 4. Reference to Gerard's bibliography. More recently, Adriaan Pattin 5. Adriaan Pattin, historical scholar. has published a philological study indicating that the text exhibits evidence of the Latin vocabulary characteristic of Dominic Gundisalvi, Gerard of Cremona's co-translator at Toledo. Pattin concludes that the data point not to two chronologically and substantially different texts, but rather to one basic text translated by Gerard and in places revised by Dominic. With regard, however, to the prehistory of the Liber de causis—that is, its authorship, date and place of composition, and even the original language of composition—there has been much conjecture and difference of opinion.

This contemporary confusion parallels the state of the question in the medieval Latin world. 6. Historical context of medieval scholarly debate. At different times during the Middle