Liber de Causis (The Book of Causes)

made its principal impact on the Scholastics of the Latin West. Few Schoolmen did not incorporate at least some of the metaphysics of the Liber into their personal syntheses. While the medievals were the philosophical heirs of Aristotle, they were nonetheless in possession of a legacy of persistent and pervasive Neo-Platonism bequeathed by Augustine, Pseudo-Dionysius, Avicenna, and, to a lesser extent, by Ibn Gabirol. The De causis is a central part of this Neo-Platonic heritage. Despite the striking similarities between the Liber and the Elements, the two works differ in several fundamental respects. 35. While the Elements of Theology is in a very real sense a systematic summary of pagan Neo-Platonism, The Book of Causes, on the contrary, is an epitome of monotheistic Neo-Platonism. The reinterpretation of Proclus' thought along lines consistent with divine revelation is perhaps the