Anonymous (Kalam fi mahd al-khair) prop bardenhewer 1 · pattin prop 1 · bardenhewer page 58-61

بسم اللّه الرحمن الرحيم وما توفيقى الّا باللّه كتاب الايضاح لارسطوطاليس فى الخير المحض قال كلّ علّة اوليّة فهى اكثر فيضا على معلولها من العلّة الكلّية الثانية فاذا رفعت العلّة الكلّيّة الثانية قوّتها عن الشىء فانّ العلّة الكلّيّة الاولى لا ترفع قوّتها عنه وذلك انّ العلّة الكلّية الاولى تفعل فى معلول العلّة الثانية قبل ان تفعل فيه العلّة الكلّيّة الثانية التى تليه فاذا فعلت العلّة الثانية التى تلى المعلول لم يستغنِ فعلها عن العلّة الاولى التى فوقها واذا فارقت العلّة الثانية المعلول الذى يليها لم تفارقه العلّة الاولى التى فوقها لانّها علّة لعلّته فالعلّة الاولى اذن اشدّ علّة للشىء من علّته القريبة التى تليه، ونحن ممثّلون ذلك بالانّيّة والحىّ والانسان وذلك انّه ينبغى ان يكون الشىء انّيّة اوّلا ثمّ حيّا ثمّ انسانا فالحىّ هو علّة الانسان القريبة والانّيّة هى علّته البعيدة فالانّيّة اشدّ علّة للانسان من الحىّ لانّها علّة للحىّ الذى هو علّة للانسان وكذلك اذا جعلت النطق علّة للانسان كانت الانّيّة اشدّ علّة للانسان من النطق لانّها علّة لعلّته والدليل على ذلك انّه اذا رفعت القوّة الناطقة عن الانسان لم يبق انسانا وبقى حيّا متنفّسا حسّاسا واذا رفعت عنه الحىّ لم يبق حيّا ويبقى انّيّا لانّ الانّيّة لا ترتفع عنه ويرتفع الحىّ لانّ العلّة لا ترتفع بارتفاع معلولها فيبقى الانسان انّيّا فاذا لم يكن الشخص انسانا كان حيوانا وان لم يكن حيوانا كان انّيّا فقط، فقد بان ووضح انّ العلّة الاولى البعيدة اكثر إحاطة واشدّ علّة للشىء من علّته القريبة ومن اجل ذلك صار فعلها اشدّ لزوما للشىء من فعل علّته القريبة وانّما صار هذا على هذا لانّ الشىء انّما ينفعل اوّلا من القوّة البعيدة ثمّ ينفعل ثانيا من القوّة التى هى دون الاولى والعلّة الاولى قد تعين العلّة الثانية على فعلها لانّ كلّ معلول علّة تفعله العلّة الثانية والعلّة الاولى ايضا لكنّها تفعله بنوع آخر اعلا وارفع واذا رفعت العلّة الثانية عن معلولها لم تفارقه العلّة الاولى لانّ فعل العلّة الاولى اعظم واشدّ لزوما للشىء من فعل علّته القريبة وانّما ثبت معلول العلّة الثانية بقوّة العلّة الاولى وذلك انّ العلّة الثانية اذا فعلت شيئا افاضت العلّة الاولى التى فوقها على ذلك الشىء من قوّتها فتلزمه لزوما شديدا وتحفظه فقد بان ووضح انّ العلّة الاولى هى اشدّ علّة للشىء من علّته القريبة التى تليه وانّها تفيض قوّتها عليه وتحفظه ولا تفارقه مفارقة علّته القريبة وقد تبقى فيه وتلزمه لزوما شديدا على ما بيّنّا واوضحنا

In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. My success is in God alone. The Book of the Exposition by Aristotle on the Pure Good. He said: Every primary cause pours more upon the thing it causes than the universal second cause does. So when the universal second cause removes its power from the thing, the universal first cause does not remove its power from it. That is because the universal first cause acts upon what the second cause causes before the universal second cause which follows it acts upon it. So when the second cause, which follows the thing caused, acts, its action is not independent of the first cause which is above it; and when the second cause departs from the thing it causes, which follows it, the first cause which is above it does not depart from it, because it is a cause to it. The first cause, then, is a stronger cause to the thing than its proximate cause which follows it. And we illustrate this by being and the living and the human being. For a thing must be being first, then living, then a human being. The living, then, is the proximate cause of the human being, and being is its remote cause. Being, then, is a stronger cause to the human being than the living, because it is the cause of the living, which is the cause of the human being. And likewise, when you make the rational faculty the cause of the human being, being is a stronger cause to the human being than the rational faculty, because it is the cause of its cause. And the proof of this is that when you remove the rational power from the human being, he does not remain a human being, but there remains something living, breathing, sensing; and when the living is removed from him, he does not remain living, but remains being, because being is not removed from him, but the living is removed, since a cause is not removed by the removal of what it causes. So the human being remains a being. So when the individual is not a human being, it is an animal; and if it is not an animal, it is being only. It has now become clear and evident that the first remote cause is more comprehensive and a stronger cause to the thing than its proximate cause; and for that reason its action is more strongly bound to the thing than the action of its proximate cause. And this is so only because the thing is acted upon first by the remote power, and then acted upon secondly by the power which is below the first. And the first cause aids the second cause upon its action, because everything the second cause causes, the first cause causes too, but it causes it in another way, higher and loftier. And when the second cause is removed from the thing it causes, the first cause does not depart from it, because the action of the first cause is greater and more strongly bound to the thing than the action of its proximate cause. And what the second cause causes is established only by the power of the first cause; that is because, when the second cause acts upon something, the first cause which is above it pours upon that thing of its own power, so that it is bound to it strongly and preserves it. So it has become clear and evident that the first cause is a stronger cause to the thing than its proximate cause which follows it, and that it pours its power upon it and preserves it, and does not depart from it with the departure of its proximate cause, but remains in it and is bound to it strongly, according to what we have set out and made clear.

The section opens with the basmala and the book's Arabic title, both printed as part of the text: 'In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. My success is in God alone. The Book of the Exposition by Aristotle on the Pure Good. He said:' The ascription to Aristotle is the manuscript's, not this edition's finding; see the witness's attribution.

Plate-verified: transcribed line by line from the page images of Bardenhewer 1882 (leaves n83-n104 of archive.org diepseudoaristo00bardgoog).

In the crux Liber de causis, proposition 1