Galen: On Antecedent Causes

A new edition of Galen's text on causal theory, and the first translation of it into a modern language.

A new edition of On Antecedent Causes, Galen's fascinating treatise on causal theory. The text is accompanied by the first translation of the treatise into a modern language. The volume also contains notes on Galen's life and work on the background to his causal theory, and on the history of the text itself.This book is a new edition of a short but fascinating treatise by Galen on causal theory. This text survives only in a Latin translation of the fourteenth century, and it is this which appears here. The volume also contains the first translation of the treatise into any modern language, and the first philosophical commentary thereon. The commentary ranges widely in Galen's voluminous œuvre, and compares his views with those of other ancient theorists. The introduction deals in detail with Galen's life and work, with the background both philosophical and medieval to his causal theory, and with the history of the text itself.