Historical Background of Othologia

The present paper is concerned with the historical background of Othologia and the different views expressed about it. Othologia has been a significant and influential treatise in the Islamic world so examination of its content and its historical background is considered as necessary for a thorough understanding of philosophy in the Islamic world. This book entered the Islamic world as a major source of Greek philosophy and since then it has caught the attention of the great thinkers of the Islamic world including Kandi, Pharabi, Avicenna Sohravardi, Mirdamad, Mollasadra, Molla Hadi Sabzevari. Othologia has been influential in the Islamic world for at least two of its aspects: (1) It has originated a lot of commentaries, complementary notes and treatises. (2) Its content has had an impact on issues in theology in its general and specific sense and in theological psychology. Othologia has been known to be the work of Aristotle with a commentary by Porphyry, but recent studies show that it is taken from the fourth, fifth and sixth Plotinean Enneads. Today the fact is that the content of Othologia includes Plotinus’s views. This paper intends to show that Othologia is a free translation from two sources: Plotinus’s and Aristotle’s views. Its content is taken from Ploinus and its method from Aristotelian argument compiled for the purpose of teaching philosophy.