Arabic Plotinus: A Philosophical Study of the 'Theology of Aristotle'

by Peter S. Adamson

"The Arabic Plotinus" was the most important source for Neoplatonic ideas in the Arabic world. Falsely attributed to Aristotle and known as the "Theology of Aristotle", the Arabic version of Plotinus' "Enneads" was influential on Muslim philosophers from al-Kindi to Avicenna and beyond. This book is a study of the philosophical transformation undergone by the works of Plotinus when they were rendered into Arabic as the "Theology". The translator's approach to Plotinus was creative and historically decisive: he tried to make Neoplatonism compatible with the religions of Christianity and Islam, and to assimilate Plotinus to the thought of the genuine Aristotle. This study of the text is devoted to understanding the ideas and motivations of the translator who helped to determine how philosophers for centuries thereafter would confront Greek thought.

Genres: Philosophy

256 pages, Hardcover

First published March 17, 2003

About the author

Peter Scott Adamson is an American academic who is professor of philosophy in late antiquity and in the Islamic world at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich as well as professor of ancient and medieval philosophy at Kings College London.