The Longer Theology of Aristotle, Book X.14–17a: a Critical Edition and Translation

Abstract

The Longer Theology of Aristotle (LThA) is an interpolated version of the Theology of Aristotle (the latter being an Arabic adaptation of Plotinus’ Enneads IV–VI). LThA is preserved mainly in Judeo-Arabic manuscripts and a sixteenth-century Latin translation. Its importance lies in the fact that some non-Plotinian interpolations contained therein may be witnesses to lost Arabic philosophical sources (such as “Ibn Ḥasdāy’s Neoplatonist” postulated by Stern). The present study offers a critical edition and translation of LThA, Book X.14–17a. This passage contains several significant non-Plotinian interpolations. In particular, it exhibits a unique “Logos theology,” i.e., the idea that the divine “Logos” or “Word” (in Arabic: al-Kalima) constitutes an intermediary hypostasis between the Creator and His first creation, the Intellect. LThA shares this Logos theology with several Ismāʿīlī thinkers, notably the tenth-century Ismāʿīlī theologian Abū Yaʿqūb al-Sijistānī; in fact, the passage edited and translated herein (as well as the immediately preceding section: LThA, X.6–13) contains nearly-verbatim parallels to al-Sijistānī’s Kitāb al-Maqālīd. These parallels are presented in the Appendix.