Il Περὶ νοῦ di Alessandro di Afrodisia: versioni araba e latina

One of the most famed controversies of the 13th century opposes Averroes’ interpretation of the De Anima as it features in the Long Commentary and Thomas Aquinas’ interpretation as it is provided in works going from the Sentencia libri de anima to the De Unitate intellectus. Here in particular Thomas famously challenges Averroes’ interpretation, claiming to side with Alexander of Aphrodisias and Themistius in his understanding of Aristotle’s De Anima. One of the aspects of this question which is understudied is that of the acquaintance which the philosophers involved in the controversy had with Alexander’s Περὶ νοῦ. There is general scholarly consensus that his position was known mostly in an indirect way, more precisely through Averroes’ Long Commentary. However, Alexander’s Περὶ νοῦ was available in Latin translation since the mid-12th century. The translation was made from Arabic, and is the focus of the present article. After the 1924 edition, the Latin De Intellectu has not attracted much scholarly attention; however, it is interesting on many respects. Here some materials are discussed, including the notes of the translator from Greek into Arabic Ishaq ibn Hunayn (d. 911), which feature also in the Latin version.