The article analyzes the quotation of Aristotle’s Metaphysics, Λ.7, 1072b24-26, which occurs in the metaphysical section of the philosophical summa Dānešnāme-ye ʿAlāʾī (Book of Science for ʿAlāʾ al-Dawla), composed by Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā, d. 1037) in Persian. In this quotation, which regards a crucial doctrine of the Metaphysics, Aristotle is called “guide of the sages and rule and master of the philosophers”, with a praise that has no parallel in Avicenna’s oeuvre. It is argued that this quotation, in all likelihood, is not taken from a Persian translation of the Metaphysics, unattested otherwise, nor is it the result of Avicenna’s own translation into Persian of the passage in question according to the Arabic translations of the Metaphysics he could dispose of. More likely, the quotation is Avicenna’s reworking in Persian of the exegesis of this passage of the Metaphysics that one finds, in Arabic, in his coeval exegetical summa Kitāb al-Insāf (Book of the Fair Judgment). The high laud of Aristotle that this quotation conveys might be part of Avicenna’s strategy of promotion of falsafa, i.e. of the philosophy of Greek origin, in the court of the Kākūyid ruler ʿAlāʾ al-Dawla (reg. 1008-1041).

“Una traduzione persiana della Metafisica di Aristotele? Avicenna e il suo Libro di Scienza per ʿAlāʾ al-Dawla”, in Scienze, filosofia e letteratura nel mondo iranico. Da Gundishapur ai nostri giorni. Omaggio a Carlo Saccone per i suoi 70 anni (Atti del VI Convegno Bolognese di Iranistica (VI CoBIran), Università di Bologna, 20-21 Ottobre 2022), Collana Indo-Iranica et Orientalia, Series Lazur, vol. 27, cur. Nahid Norozi, Paolo Ognibene, Mimesis Edizioni, Milano-Udine 2024, pp. 49-64.

Amos Bertolacci
2024-01-01

Abstract

The article analyzes the quotation of Aristotle’s Metaphysics, Λ.7, 1072b24-26, which occurs in the metaphysical section of the philosophical summa Dānešnāme-ye ʿAlāʾī (Book of Science for ʿAlāʾ al-Dawla), composed by Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā, d. 1037) in Persian. In this quotation, which regards a crucial doctrine of the Metaphysics, Aristotle is called “guide of the sages and rule and master of the philosophers”, with a praise that has no parallel in Avicenna’s oeuvre. It is argued that this quotation, in all likelihood, is not taken from a Persian translation of the Metaphysics, unattested otherwise, nor is it the result of Avicenna’s own translation into Persian of the passage in question according to the Arabic translations of the Metaphysics he could dispose of. More likely, the quotation is Avicenna’s reworking in Persian of the exegesis of this passage of the Metaphysics that one finds, in Arabic, in his coeval exegetical summa Kitāb al-Insāf (Book of the Fair Judgment). The high laud of Aristotle that this quotation conveys might be part of Avicenna’s strategy of promotion of falsafa, i.e. of the philosophy of Greek origin, in the court of the Kākūyid ruler ʿAlāʾ al-Dawla (reg. 1008-1041).
2024
9791222311807
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11771/31378
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