Qualche osservazione sulla tradizione araba di Metafisica Iota 2

The paper devoted to the Arabic reception of Metaphysics Iota 2 tries to show how the investigation on the one proposed by Aristotle is understood by the Arab commentators – even if in very different readings – such as the properly metaphysical inquiry on the first principle. After an introduction to Aristotle’s text, the Arabic tradition of Metaphysics Iota 2 is presented through the Arabic translation of Usṭāṯ, a translator of al-Kindī’s circle (IX cent.). This translation has been preserved in Averroes’ Great Commentary on the Metaphysics, survived in the unicum manuscript Leiden, Universiteitsbibliotheek, Or. 2074 (cod. Arab. 1692). In his commentary, Averroè preserves some passages of a second Arabic version of Metaphysics Iota, commonly attributed to the Nestorian Isḥāq ibn Ḥunayn. Finally, we find a paraphrase of Iota 2 in the Book on the Science of Metaphysics (Kitāb fī ʿilm mā baʿd al-ṭabīʿa) by ‘Abd al-Laṭīf al-Baġdādī (1162-1231).