ABSTRACT
In the Liber de causis, the First Principle is defined as “Pure Being,” a label that isolates it in its absolute transcendence. Proposition 8 of this short medieval treatise, written in Arabic and attributed to Aristotle, also claims that Intellect is the first offspring of this absolutely transcendent cause. This chapter discusses the philosophical foundations of that doctrine. According to Proposition 8, Intellect rules the entire cosmos. This suggests a sort of duplication at the pinnacle of the cosmic hierarchy, which echoes the difficult adjustment between the two sources of the theology of the early Arab philosophers: the divine Intellect of Aristotle’s Metaphysics Lambda and One of Plotinus’ Enneads . In order to avoid this conflict, Proposition 8 specifies that Intellect performs its universal causality only as an offspring of the One. The formula “only Being” or “Pure Being” has been interpreted as meaning “existence,” but I argue that this does not match the original meaning of the Proposition.
