Current Editions

Critical Edition of the Fragmentary Latin Translation of Averroes’s Commentary on De Partibus Animalium and De Generatione Animalium

Averroes’s early commentary on Aristotle’s zoological work, a reworking of De partibus animalium and De generatione animalium in the style of his “summaries” or “epitomai”, has been partially translated to Latin in the 13th century, probably by Michael Scotus. While the Arabic original of this commentary, composed in 1169 in Seville, is lost, a complete Hebrew translation, dated to December 1302, by Jakob ben Maḵir of Marseilles, last scion of the famous Ibn Tibbon family of translators, is preserved in several manuscripts. We likewise possess a quite ample secondary transmission of this commentary in Hebrew, notably in Gersonides’s commentary to Jakob’s translation and in a summary by Shem Tov Falaquera which is based directly on the Arabic text. The projected edition of the Latin fragments will, in conjunction with a study of the Hebrew transmission, provide insight into the lost original and hopefully alow us to further study the author revisions which Averroes is known to have made to his early text at a later stage of his career. The motives and development of the Latin appropriation of Averroes’s works is another focus in this project, inasmuch as these fragments demonstrate that the Latin translators and readers were interested not merely in the series of Long Commentaries but also in a host of smaller writings by Averroes.

This project is pursued by Grégory Clesse and Támas Visi

Study of Averroes’s Long Commentary on the Physics in Hebrew and Latin Transmission

The lemma commentary (šarḥ or tafsīr) on Aristotle’s Physics is the most voluminous commentary that Averroes has ever produced, and it is, as we know from a note by the author himself, his earliest work in the group of the so-called “Long Commentaries“. While the Arabic original is lost, a Latin translation by Michael Scotus (beginning of 13th century) and a Hebrew translation probably penned by Qalonymus ben Qalonymus (beginning of 14th century) are extant. Both translations were produced independently of each other on the basis of the Arabic text. Apparently the two translators had different versions of the commentary at their disposal that reflect different strata of revision introduced by the author at different stages of his ongoing reflections on Aristotle’s natural philosophy.

While the Latin translation, being a set book at the Christian universities, is preserved in more than 70 manuscripts and has been printed several times during the Italian Renaissance, the Hebrew translation is transmitted only in a few manuscript copies, only one of which is complete. However, the Hebrew transmission is considerably enriched by a number of super-commentaries that contain lemmatized portions of Averroes’s text, in part alongside or mixed up with corresponding excerpts from Averroes’s Middle Commentary (talḫīṣ) on the Physics. The Hebrew translation of this latter commentary we likewise owe to Qalonymus, and it thus may be of some help for reconstructing the Long Commentary.

In preparation of the parallel critical edition, to be produced in the future, of the Hebrew and Latin translations of the Long Commentary, the projected study scrutinizes the complex field of transmission sketched above, and includes a sample collation.

This project is pursued by Oded Horezky and Grégory Clesse.

Critical Edition of Ibn Bāǧǧa’s Commentary on Aristotle’s Physics

The exposition of Aristotle’s Physics from the pen of Ibn Bāǧǧa belongs to the same genre of commentaries than the so-called “epitomai“ or Short Commentaries by Averroes. Ibn Bāǧǧa’s commentary has had a decisive impact on Averroes’s commentaries on the Physics, not only on the Short Commentaries, but also on the Middle and Long Commentaries even if, in these later works, Averroes rather insists on his disagreements with Ibn Bāǧǧa. The extant parts of this commentary, preserved in only two manuscripts, comprise a consecutive exposition of the contents of book I to VIII of the Physics (book VIII is incomplete), and furthermore two partial commentaries on book VIII as well as a collection of short but very dense notes on several select passages of the Aristotelian text. Of the two existing manuscripts, only one was available to earlier editiors of Ibn Bāǧǧa’s commentary. The projected edition will now study the genesis and structure of Ibn Bāǧǧa’s comments and present for the first time a complete and reliable text.

This project is pursued by Farah Cherif-Zahar.

Critical Edition of Ibn Bāğğa’s Commentary on Aristotle’s De generatione et corruptione

Ibn Bāğğa’s commentary on De generatione et corruptione (Kitāb al-kaun wa-l-fasād) has received little attention for two reasons. The first reason is the complicated nature of the Aristotelian text, which addresses a number of key concepts in Aristotle’s physics, albeit at a high level of abstraction. The second reason is that Ibn Bāğğa’s commentaries have generally been eclipsed in later scholarship by those of Ibn Rušd. Nevertheless, the importance of Ibn Bāğğa’s commentaries for Ibn Rušd’s thought is undeniable. The latter quotes extensively from Ibn Bāğğa’s works, adopts his ideas or rejects them. More importantly, Ibn Bāğğa’s commentary is interesting in its own right, as he often does not just follow Aristotle, but presents other examples and develops his own ideas.

The extant parts of this commentary have survived in two manuscripts and comprise a continuous account of the contents of the two books of De generatione et corruptione. The planned edition will examine the structure of Ibn Bāǧǧa’s commentary and make the text suitable for publication by comparing, selecting, correcting and revising the available witnesses. The edition will reproduce the original in such a way that the reader will not only be able to assess the editor’s judgements but also to reconstruct the two source manuscripts from the edited text.

This project was completed by Dr. Corrado la Martire. The critical edition is published by De Gruyter in 2021: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110706628

Critical Edition of Ibn Bāǧǧa’s Commentary on Aristotle’s Meteorology

Aristotle’s Meteorology deals with a vast range of phenomena. It covers all atmospheric and geological processes: the Milky Way, comets, shooting stars, winds, earthquakes, the salinity of the sea, lightning, typhoons and so on. It also provides us – an almost unique case in an Aristotelian work – with the plan of the researches already carried out and the programme into which Aristotle intends to insert the Meteorology. In fact, the studies of the Physics are mentioned, then those of the De Caelo and Generation and Corruption, as if the research was to fill a gap between these studies and the biological works.

In the Commentary on the Meteorology, Ibn Bāǧǧa treats the Aristotelian text in his style, i.e. he provides additions and digressions to the topics treated by Aristotle. In particular, Ibn Bāǧǧa deals with the observable meteorological phenomena of the upper part of the atmosphere and then with the phenomena that occur in the sphere of fire and are caused by friction with the fifth element. In addition, the text deals with the question of the two vapours and the group of phenomena attributed to their action. It also provides us with numerous references to other commentaries by Ibn Bāǧǧa, notably the Physics, Generation and Corruption, Liber animalium and to the Aristotelian De Caelo, or to a commentary by Ibn Bāǧǧa that has not survived. This compilation of sources underlines an aspect that already appears in his commentaries on the Physics and Generation and Corruption, namely that natural science is essentially based on the “proof of cause” (burhān al-sabab), i.e. the proof a posteriori that ascend from observed phenomena to ever more general causes.

This project is pursued by Dr. Corrado la Martire.