Abstract

As the basis for this translation, Robb has used the Latin text of the Quaestiones de anima which he edited in 1968. Since both the English version and the Latin text are responsibilities of the same scholar, should the former be judged by the quality of the latter? This approach does not seem fair, especially since Robb did not present his original text as a critical edition, but rather as a "corrected" edition, designed to serve students of medieval philosophy until the Leonine Commission published its definitive text. In fact Robb's edition achieved its goal very well, and has been an excellent tool for many studies of Thomas's anthropology. However, our analysis of the whole tradition of Quaestiones de anima has revealed two facts unknown to Robb: first, that the manuscript he used for his edition, although excellent, represents a late stage in the transmission of the text; and second, that the independent family, whose existence Robb was able to establish, is both larger than Robb thought and more authoritative than the university tradition. We hope to prove these points in the edition we are preparing for the Leonine Commission, which will differ from Robb's Latin text in many details. Given these conditions, we shall here limit ourselves to examining Robb's translation with respect to two questions: is it faithful to the text of Robb's Latin edition? and in what sense does it represent an improvement over this edition?