Aristoteles, Guillelmus de Morbeka
De progressu animalium. De motu animalium
Translatio Guillelmi de Morbeka
P. De Leemans (ed)
- Pages: 118 p.
- Size:170 x 255 mm
- Language(s):Latin, English
- Publication Year:2011
- € 150,00 EXCL. VAT RETAIL PRICE
- ISBN: 978-2-503-54093-1
- Hardback
- Available
"(the author produces) the definitive critical texts of two apparently minor Aristotelian writings in their Medieval Latin version and offers a series of very useful thoughts regarding their context and textual evidence." (J. A. Tellkamp, in: Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 2012.02.45).
"Les deux oeuvres d’Aristote qui sont éditées dans les fascicules XVII 1.III et XVII 2.II-III de l’Aristoteles Latinus ne comptent certainement pas parmi les ouvrages les plus prestigieux du Stagirite, mais grâce à l’extraordinaire érudition de Pieter De Leemans cette édition révèle des aspects fascinants et captivants du travail intellectuel au Moyen Âge [...].
Il est à peine nécessaire d’insister sur l’apport scientifique extraordinaire de ce volume : non seulement Pieter De Leemans rend accessible une nouvelle traduction d’un texte aristotélicien, mais surtout, et cela me paraît capital, il nous permet d’assister à la genèse des textes albertiniens que l’on a l’habitude d’appeler des paraphrases. On voit – visu – et comprend – intellectu – comment le maître de Cologne ne commente pas le texte, mais littéralement tisse un nouveau texte (comme il l’a d’ailleurs très bien expliqué dans le prologue de la Physica). Ce volume nous ouvre donc une fenêtre qui permet d’assister de très près au travail intellectuel concret de Maître Albert."
(Ruedi Imbach dans: Revue des Sciences philosophiques et théologiques 96 (2012), p. 751-755).
"A masterpiece of fine scholarship about an intricate textual tradition that may serve as a model for further investigations." (A. Touwaide, in: Scriptorium, Bulletin codicologique 2013, 1, p. 11*)
"Among the merits of De Leemans' editions, we should note the clarity with which he guides the reader through his large and complex critical introductions." (Pietro B. Rossi, in: Aestimatio, 11, 2014, p. 71-88. Reviewed together with De motu animalium. Fragmenta translationis anonymae.)
Pieter De Leemans (1973-2019) was Professor at the De Wulf-Mansion Centre for Ancient, Medieval, and Renaissance Philosophy (KU Leuven, Belgium) and academic secretary of the Aristoteles Latinus edition project.
This volume offers the first critical edition of the medieval Latin translations of Aristotle's On the movement of animals (De motu animalium) and On the progression of animals (De progressu animalium). It was in the translation by William of Moerbeke, made in the early sixties of the thirteenth century, that these texts were known to medieval readers. They circulated at the University of Paris as a part of Aristotle's Books on Animals (Book XI and XII respectively), but also figured in a collection of short Aristotelian and pseudo-Aristotelian treatises (including the physiological Parva Naturalia).
The introduction first considers the textual tradition of these translations and then focuses on Moerbeke's Greek sources. It appears that, as in many other cases, Moerbeke continued to revise his initial translations. This is especially clear for De motu animalium, of which three chronologically distinct versions are extant.